The purpose of this document it to pass on the experience of a long
time Wizard player in Legends of Kesmai to others who might think of
playing such a character. At the time of writing, Catweazle is a
level 19 Lord of Illusions (magic level 16.9), born and developed in
Legends (i.e. not transferred from Islands of Kesmai), so I feel that
I have quite a lot of history to draw upon. The views and opinions
expressed herein are all my own and would not necessarily be shared
by all Wizards. This is very much a personal treatise.

Why play a Wizard? Despite the disadvantages of the character, to
which I will refer later, the Wizard is perhaps the player character
that is most feared by the critters of Kesmai. Perhaps the only
creatures who do not fear his approach are the most powerful lair
inhabitants and even they will succumb to his attacks under the right
circumstances. What other player type has such an array of powerful
spells? The advanced Wizard has powerful personal spells that can
inflict huge damage on the toughest of opponents, awesome area spells
that can lay waste hoards of monsters, turn woodlands into wastelands
and even permanently change the architecture of buildings and a
protective shield spell that can save lives (his own and other's). So
what are the disadvantages? Well for all his power, the Wizard is the
weakest of characters and until he reaches the super league will
never see 200 hit points. This makes him vulnerable during close
encounters. For this reason, Wizards must quickly learn to "get them
before they get you". Because of his vulnerability, the Wizard must
rely very heavily on his magic rather than conventional weapons and
must strive to develop his mystical skills rapidly. However, magic
training is expensive and as a result the Wizard is almost always
penniless as are any other player characters that contribute to his
development. But gold does no good in the bank and what better way to
spend it than on the training of a big Wizard?

When creating a Wizard, it is important to allocate your creation
points properly and to choose the correct homeland. Avoid Hovath and
Mu as these both start Wizards at the lowest possible magic level.
Barbarian is probably the best choice as it offers some skill in both
greatsword and mace. Draznia offers some greatsword and bow skill
(possibly useful when mana runs out). You will have 18 creation
points to play around with. You must put at least one point in
constitution otherwise your new character will not have the maximum
hit and stamina points. If you feel comfortable in the Underworld, or
have a drake potion to spare, just put one into constitution. Take
your dock baby to Praetoseba or drink the DP to get the other three.
If you don't like this option, set your constitution to 18, otherwise
you will get bad rolls at level up time. You will only get this
opportunity to set your intelligence to 18, so take it. Set your
strength and dexterity to 15, otherwise you will not get all the adds
available at level up. Pump everything else into Wisdom. No matter
what you do, you will not be able to make a perfect point allocation.
Intelligence and Wisdom are both needed to maximise your mana point
gain at level up. These cannot be maximised without sacrificing some
other character statistic unless you save three points by taking the
underworld or drake potion option. If you have permanent strength,
dexterity or wisdom potions available, you might as well give them to
your Wizard now to maximise these statistics. Finally, Wizards start
out with only 10 Charisma points. There is a lot of debate about the
value of Charisma. My understanding and experience has been that
charisma helps on two fronts. Firstly, when faced with a group,
critters tend to attack the player with the lowest charisma first or
(in the case of critters that move from player to player) attack the
player with the lowest charisma more often. This makes charisma
important to the Wizard, as he is usually the group member with the
lowest hit points and therefore most likely to die if attacked.
Secondly, high charisma increases the chances that a summoned demon
will be lawful. I am not suggesting that creation points be put into
charisma when rolling your Wizard, but I do recommend that he drinks
any potions you may have stored away and certainly consume any he
finds until he is maximised.

You can start a Wizard character from scratch but it is not the
easiest exercise in the world. Wizards are born with the lowest hit
points of any character, thirty-six, hardly enough to fend off a
single skeleton. Still, if you must start him from scratch, spend
your first hour or so casting bonfires in the woods east of town in
order to get your magic skill raised a bit. You can then move to the
first level of the dungeon. With your low hit points you will have to
play smart rather than bravely. If you find a relatively quiet facet,
you can stay near the stairs and cast magic missiles at every critter
you see. If you get into trouble you can dash back up the stairs to
the temple where the friendly NPCs can handle anything that follows
you up. You will have to follow this routine for quite a while,
gaining experience and magic levels. Grab every coin and every piece
of treasure you can find and train in magic. If you have spare cash,
by all means get weapon and martial arts training, but remember that
magic is what wizardry is all about and never sacrifice magic
training at the early stages of your character's development. At
magic level 4 you will be able to buy the protection from fire spell.
This will enable you to be a little more adventurous as you will be
able to cast bonfire on your own hex. Just be sure that you keep
yourself protected. Killing yourself with your own spells is part of
being a wizard, but it is profoundly embarrassing, especially on the
upper levels of the dungeon. Once you start using bonfire, you will
get your first taste of real wizard power as you watch creature after
creature fall to a single cast and your love affair with the
scorching element will begin. There are two important things to
remember about fire. Firstly, be careful with it when other players
are around. Most players on the upper levels of the Kesmai dungeon
won't have fire protection and will die in your fire just a quickly
as any creature. Indeed, some malicious players may even step in your
fire deliberately to set a self-defence flag against you, allowing
them to attack you without fear of karma or mark. Secondly, when you
kill critters with bonfire, or any area spell, you will only get
about 40% of the experience gain compared to killing them with a
personal spell or in hand to hand combat. So, keep your fire for the
bigger groups and using magic missiles when ever possible.

I would suggest that you continue the above strategy until you reach
level 6 magic, Shaper of Fire.

If you already have some advanced characters in the game you may want
to opt for a fast start option with your baby Wizard. There are two
useful options; ancestoring and experience buying. Ancestoring a
knight or a martial artist to a Wizard will give you half of the
experience points of the ancestor character and also pass on some of
the skills. The weapon and martial arts skill can be useful to a
Wizard, but never forget that magic is your primary weapon. You can
also elect to buy your new Wizard up to a decent level by just
spending some cash with the sage. 20,000 coins will take him to level
8, 40,500 will take him to level 9 and 81,500 to level 10. Assuming
good level up rolls, this should get his hit points into the 60's or
70's - enough to survive. If you have drake potions, feed them to
your Wizard. There is no character that needs to have his hit points
maximised more. If you really have money to burn, you may want to buy
your experience levels up one at a time and carefully watch you magic
point rolls. The maximum per level is seven and (at least for the
moment) there is no way to regain any you lose during level up.
Therefore, if you see rolls of 2 or 3 mana points over the first few
level rises, you may want to think about scrapping that character and
starting over. Don't get too hung up on mana points. My own character
did not always get the best rolls and has only 77 points at level 19
against a possible maximum of 121. Yet he can hold his own with the
best of them. It's not how many you have that count as much as how
you use them.

The new wizard should try to acquire the usual equipment such as
rings, bracers, armour, etc., but there are some important points to
remember. The most important item of clothing to any magic user is a
robe. The merits of various robes can be argued, but regardless of
these, the Wizard needs it for the increased mana regeneration it
bestows. Wearing any robe of power will double the normal rate at
which your magic points are restored and it is this feature that
makes it the basis of any magic user's wardrobe. Always wear one and
keep a couple of spares in your locker for emergencies. For those
Wizards want to develop martial arts skill, it is said that the green
kimono and the saffron robe are less encumbering than others. Armour
is also important for its protective properties. However, Wizards
should not wear metal armour as it interferes with magic casting. If
you have to supply your own armour, troll scales make a good starting
choice. Next best is salamander - useful because of its, admittedly
weak, fire protection. As you advance, you may work up to the better
scales - dragon, drake and ice-dragon. If you can get your hands on
fire and ice protection (in the form of an amulet or ring) it will
help to preserve you from your own spells. Finally, at least at the
early stages, shield is more important than strength because of your
low hit points. As you advance, your shield spell will become more
powerful and you can substitute strength rings for shield. Believe
me, you'll need the strength for all the gold you will be hauling
around. As for weapons choice, that is really up to you. Your weapon
is really only a second line of attack. Personally I prefer to use
weapons with good blocking power which I regard as more important
than attacking power. The black broadsword is useful and a returning
weapon such as the returning hammer or axe can be handy. For the
longest time I used a returning axe in my right hand (for both
hacking and throwing) with a +3 threestaff in my left (for blocking).
Nowadays I use a +3 staff in my right with my left empty and find it
quite effective. Martial arts skill is always a good backup and it's
worth putting in some time into getting this skill up to black belt
or better. In the end though, playing a Wizard is all about magic.

The wizard who has been "bought up" or ancestored, should follow a
similar routine to the virgin Wizard, as outlined above. He can
probably venture a little further and run away or recall a little
less, but the basic strategy is the same.

People often ask how to maximise their magic skill gain. There is
only one way - cast then train then cast then train. When you have
done that then do it again and again and again. Players often wonder
what are the best spells to cast and the simple answer is "any spell
that achieves its objective". That is to say, if you cast an
attacking spell like magic missile at a critter and it hits, then you
have gained magic skill. If you cast shield on yourself or any player
not already protected by a shield spell, then you gain magic skill.
However, if you repeatedly cast shield spell on yourself, before the
previous one wears off, you gain no skill whatsoever. Remember that
there is no advantage to having a full magic point bar. As you walk
through town cast protection spells on anyone you meet, including
NPCs. Do the same to players in the locker room. When you get the
Wizard Eye spell you can make toads then kill them with whatever
weapon you are carrying to gain both magic and weapon skill (though
the weapon skill gain will be low). Make those magic points work for
you. And train! Put every cent you have into the pocket of the Wizard
trainers. You made this character for his magical ability - don't
complain about the expense!

Before we go any further, here are a few important "don'ts". Don't
attempt to cast area spell within the confines of any town. Casting
spells like fireball, ice storm, etc. in town is forbidden. Not only
will they not work but you will turn neutral and be attacked by all
the lawful NPCs. Don't engage in unattended scripting in order to
increase your magic skill. (If you don't know what scripting is, just
ignore that statement and don't bother trying to find out). If you
are caught scripting you will be drummed out of the game - possibly
permanently. Don't cast fire unless you are sure you are alone or
that all the players around you have fire protection. Don't leave
home without at least one silver dagger on your belt. Apart from
thieves, Wizards spend the most time in a neutral state. Unlike
thieves, Wizards have to apologise by taking a silver dagger to the
confessor ghost and asking for forgiveness. As you advance, you will
get ever more powerful spells. Don't cast them willy nilly - they can
(and do) kill other players. Don't ever warm Dragon's Breath then
double click on your own hex!

Moving along, I suggest that you consider your Wizard a novice until
he reaches Shaper of Fire - magic level 6. It is at this point that
he will be able to buy perhaps the Wizard's most used spell -
fireball. By now, he will hopefully be fully fire protected - he's
going to need it. The fireball spell delivers a short but effective
burst of fire across multiple hexes, destroying just about everything
in its path. When you first get it, it will only cover a 3 X 3 area.
As you advance in magic prowess, this will expand. It is important to
learn how to cast this spell properly for the best effect. I always
keep this spell macroed. Even though its full range is not available
through text commands, it is useful to be able to cast it with a
couple of keystrokes during those emergency situations, without
having to bring up your spell palette. Let's say that your chant for
the spell is "asti nimba iluni zit", you can assign it to a macro
(say number 3) by typing, in command mode, DEFINE 3 '"asti nimba
iluni zit"'. Thereafter, if you type "$3" <enter> "CAST" or "C"
<enter> (in command mode), it will cast a 3 X 3 fireball centred on
your hex. That particular routine has saved my hide on many
occasions. Under less stressful conditions, the spell is more
effectively cast using the spell palette and mouse. First warm the
spell, then single left click on the warmed spell icon. This should
change the cursor to crosshairs. You may then track out a path for
the spell by single left clicking on adjacent hexes and double left
clicking on the final, target hex. This final hex will be the centre
of the fireball. Of course, if you want the fireball to be centred on
your own hex or any hex adjacent to your own, you can simple double
left click the crosshairs on the appropriate spot. Casting fireball
three hexes away from yourself will cause fire in areas beyond your
field of vision therefore will burn critters (or players) who cannot
see you. This can be extremely useful in areas where you know there
are critters lurking around the corner - but always be mindful of the
possibility of other players being there too.

Once you get fireball, you can consider yourself a mid-range Wizard.
By playing intelligently you can solo areas where players classes
with more hit points would die in a flash. This is because your
spells can take out all or most of the critters in a single round.
Stay away from lairs though - you are not ready for these yet. I will
talk more about lair critters later on. Don't be afraid to run. If
you see a zoo back off to warm your spell, then go after them. That
hit point of yours won't last long if they get close to you. More
spells will come as you progress. Ice storm is a bit like fireball
but does more damage (to you as well as to your victims). The fire
resistant enemies you me will probably fall to your ice. Concussion
is quite powerful and can even knock holes in solid walls, but be
sure to cast it three hexes away from yourself and anybody else you
don't wish to harm. At magic level 12 you will get firebolt -
stronger than fireball and more concentrated. One more level and you
will get the dreaded whirlwind spell which can devastate huge areas.
This is another spell which requires diligence if you are not to kill
yourself or other players. Eventually you will get the famous Ice
Spear (magic level 14) at which point you can regard yourself as a
real Wizard.

The Mage (for so the Wizard is called at magic level 14) is one of
the most sought after players in the game. This is because of his
powerful ice spear. The great book of help says:

"Wizards use this spell to direct a large, sharp, high speed
projectile of ice at a creature. The velocity of the ice shard is
such that it is never blocked by armour. To throw an ice spear, first
warm the spell, then double left click on the spell icon in the
warmed-spell rack. The mouse cursor will change to a crosshair;
place the crosshair over the icon of the poor, unfortunate creature
that you wish to strike down with the spell. Left click once to cast
the spell. This spell will do about twelve times the Wizard's magic
skill level in hit points of damage. Ice spear will affect even
those creatures that are normally immune to cold, since not many of
them are also immune to being struck by a high velocity piece of
ice."

What this means is that ice spear hurts everything, including
critters that normally require silver or blue-glowing weapons. This
includes lair critters like Dragons, Drakes, Vampires and even Ice
Dragons. Not only that, but the extent of the damage inflicted is
enormous. Using the help file formula, a Mage should typically
inflict over 150 hit points of damage per cast. Of course different
critters will take different amounts of damage depending on their
susceptibility, but the ice spear is still a formidable weapon that
can take down the mightiest of foes. Once you have it, you will be
invited or can volunteer to partake in some interesting lair critter
hunts, although you will still have to wait a year or more before
considering a solo effort on a drake, vampire or ice-dragon. I will
briefly mention the wizard strategy for two for the most popular lair
critter hunts.

I'd like to say a word or two about lair hunts at this point. There
is nothing in the "rules" about what you may or may not do, but there
are some guidelines to good and considerate behaviour. If you come
across another hunt party or individual on the scene before you, do
them the courtesy of letting them do their thing first without any
interference from you. Many thieves have died because a Mama party
arrived on their ledge, thus attracting the attention of the drake.
Always ask before jumping in to help if another party is in the
throes of battle. Always decide in advance what the booty carve up is
going to be. That way there will be no arguments later on. Your first
thought should always be for the other members of your party. If
someone dies, grab his body and possessions, get the heck out of
there and have him raised and re-equipped. If someone is eaten and
goes to the Underworld, grab his deathpile. The lair critter will
always be there, but personal items can be hard to replace. Finally,
as far as possible, only hunt with people you know and trust. Lair
hunting is a team sport and without trust and co-operation between
the members, problems are inevitable.

Without the help of a Wizard, any successful attempt on the ice
dragon's lair (Mama) will probably last an hour or more. With a
wizard along, 15 to 20 minutes is the norm. The hunting party should
include a high level martial artist or two, a knight or two or a
combination of both. A thaumaturge is handy to have along, with no
other purpose than healing the injured or raising the dead. The
Wizard will need several mana potions (probably 3 or 4 if he is the
only one in the party). If there is no thaumaturge present, a staff
of healing will help keep the other players fit and healthy. The
other players will probably load up with shield rings and bracers and
so will not have the strength to carry the dragon corpse and may no
even have a recall ring. Therefore, you should wear enough strength
to carry the dead Mama and a recall ring set for the town so you can
get the scales. There is a preferred hex on which the Wizard(s)
should stand. This is the one that normally has a pillar of stone on
it, though often this will have already been reduced to a pile of
rubble. If the pillar is intact create a portal on it. Next, using
Wizard Eye, make a toad and place it on the (now) portal hex. Rest to
detach from the toad, move your character away from the toad and cast
Find Secret Door. This will destroy the pillar and the unfortunate
toad. The fighters should now move to the mouth of the lair and
attract Mama out to the ledge. This is when you should start your ice
spear bombardment. Use the text command "cast at dragon" rather than
the mouse pointer as this will make your casting more accurate. If
the dragon attacks you jump down (and pray that the drake has not
regenerated) - your weakling wizard will not stand up to many Mama
attacks. With 17 Charisma points, she has rarely attacked me unless
all the other players have jumped out of the lair entrance area. Keep
a watch out for players dying or jumping down so that you are not the
only player up there. One advantage of fighting at the entrance
rather than in the lair is that deathpiles may be retrieved out of
sight of the dragon. It usually takes about 20 to 30 ice spears to
complete the conquest, depending on how often you have to jump down
and regroup, leaving the dragon time to recover somewhat.

Vlad, the Vampire, is another popular target for parties with an
advanced Wizard. He represents a trickier victim as the Wizard is
likely to be wounded more often than at Mama's. In addition he has a
menagerie of dangerous cohorts and a powerful hide spell. On top of
that, he has recently acquired the ability to age players (bring a
youth potion). To cap it all, the critter regeneration rate has
recently been increased making escape more problematic. The Wizard
should have little difficulty in clear the Tower of Darkness and the
hunting party should assemble at the level below the penthouse. The
knight(s) and/or MAs should go up first, followed by the Wizard. The
first job is to clear the griffins, salamanders and liches. I find
that ice storm does this quite effectively, though it takes several
casts. Others have told me that firestorm helps, but I have never
tried it personally. The important point for the Wizard is that all
the fighting must be done on the stair hex. In that way he has a
quick escape route down - simply typing "D" <enter> in command mode
should take you to relative safety, where you can balm and recover
your composure. Once the menagerie has been slain it is time to
concentrate on Vlad. All the party members should take position on
the stair hex. Then everyone should just pepper the vampire with
everything they've got - silver greataxe in the case of the fighters
and ice spear in the case of the Wizard. Players will be wounded and
deathpile recovery from Vlad's penthouse is difficult, so caution is
advised. If someone dies, grab the corpse, the weapons and jump. If
you are wounded, go down a level and balm (watch out for regenerating
critters on the level below). If the Wizard is left alone with Vlad,
get out of there as quickly as possible as you won't last two rounds
on your own. I cannot repeat often enough, that the secret to success
is everybody staying on the same stair hex. Only that way can
everybody see and hit Vlad and have an effective escape route. If
players get knocked off the hex, they should head back to it rather
than try to fight on a different spot.

I should also mention a little about the Underkingdom, I guess. This
has become an important land for the advanced wizard for three main
reasons. Firstly if offers some great financial rewards. Gems can be
found there that are worth up to 20,000 coins. I rarely return from
a UK hunting trip without a net gain of 100,000 or more coins.
Secondly, this is where you can find the famed PIMP (permanent
increase mana potion) which when drunk will add up to six mana
points. To get a PIMP, you will need to locate the kobold princess
under the troll king's throne room and lead her on the perilous
journey back to her father, Kookoo, king of the kobolds. For your
information, she is whiney and slow (one hex per round) and getting
her home is at least a two man job. She cannot see in the dark and
having a thief cast night vision on her doesn't help. To open her
cell, you will first have to buy a key from Googog and getting to
him can also be a dangerous journey. Good luck!
Thirdly, the UK is where you can acquire the Stormhalter staff. I
don't intend to provide a step by step recipe for killing the
Overlord, which is what you have to do to get the staff, but suffice
it to say that it is a quest that requires a lot of planning, hit
points and personnel. Stormhalter should be held in the right hand
for maximum effectiveness. It will add +1 to your mana regeneration
(i.e. if you wear a robe and hold the staff your mana will come back
at three points per round). It is an excellent blocking weapon,
although is offensively useless. To gain staff skill you will need
to fight with a regular staff. Stormhalter also increases the eff-
ectiveness of your cast shield spell (not shield rings). If you
hold the staff in your left hand, it loses most of its properties
although it will still block somewhat. With it in your right and
another weapon in your left, it will not block properly but its
other properties will still apply.

One final word about the Underkingdom .. the reason that Wizards
do so well there is mainly due to the fact that almost all its
inhabitants cannot see in the dark. Most of us have developed the
technique of casting one hex of darkness on ourselves and dishing
out destruction from the safety of that sanctuary. Another spell I
use quite a lot there is Wizardeye - especially before venturing
down any stairs.

What else can you do with your advanced Wizard? Well, I really don't
want to give away too much and destroy the thrill of discovery.
Anyway different players use their Wizards in different ways and who
am I to say that they are right or wrong. We all have our own
favourite hunting grounds and our own ways of hunting them. When you
move into the more dangerous areas of play, you will encounter many
critters that are immune to various spells. Not every creature will
burn and more are immune to ice. Experiment with your spells and
their effects on the enemy and you will soon develop a hunting method
for each area. Wizards make great solo hunters because of their
ability to take out vast zoos with a single cast. You major problem
will be money for training. At level 16 magic I stopped magic
training simply because I couldn't keep up with the cost (estimated
at about 3,000,000 per rank). Instead I started to work on a variety
of weapon skills and martial arts. Any money left over went to the
sage. After all, only experience level rises will gain us the hit
points with value so much.

In summary, a Wizard is perhaps the most difficult character class to
start and the most expensive to run. However, once he gets up to
about level 15 in experience and has the ice spear spell, he is a
character that can venture to the toughest of areas and harvest the
greatest of treasure. Most important of all, your Wizard will provide
with endless hours of online entertainment.