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AERLINTHE JOURNAL CONTENTS:


Preparation


Preparation, eh? Yep. Wipe that puzzled look off your face, my friend - this part is much easier than it sounds =). There are three things an aspiring Archmage must always be careful about - spell components, spells themselves, and "gear."

Spell components... My personal favorite stock-up spot is the Mayoi Archmage (63.5S 85.8E), because she sells all the needed components (with the exception of special spell components such as Diamond Scarabs and Chorizite) and peas. So, how do I stock up? You must keep an eye on your components and see which ones burn the fastest (i.e. which spells you use most often). I try to keep around 100 of each component that burns fast (for me - Damiana, Colcothar, Red Tapers, Powdered Amber, Powdered Onyx, etc). I keep the rest at 40-80, depending on the type of component - 80 for Tapers, 40 for Scarabs, etc. Trust me, my friend, it is NOT fun to find yourself at 30 health, trying to drain your opponent, and getting that pleasant message - "You don't have the components needed to cast this spell." I have three full packs of components and two full packs of peas (plus left-over peas in the main backpack). So, all stocked up? Let's move on to the spells themselves.

A good Archmage organizes his/her spell bars efficiently, in a way he/she can use them best to his/her advantage. Here're my spellbars:


So, what's this? As you can see in the Spell Bar 1, I have the spells needed for my survival - Drain Health, Drain Stamina, Drain Mana, Stamina-to-Health, Stamina-to-Mana. Speaking about the Stamina-to-Health - keep this handy, it's a lifesaver. I use the level 1 verson of this spell, since it's the fastest. Nothing like gaining 80 hit points back in an instant =). I also have some of my fighting spells in Bar 1 - Fire Vulns and Fire Bolts, Lightning Vulns and Lightning Vulns, and also, if the picture would continue to the right, you'd see Bludgeoning Vulns and Shockwave, along with one of my favorite spells.. Magic Yield. The Fire spells are for Tuskers, the Lightning - for Banderlings, and the Bludgeoning - for Coral Golems. Magic Yield, is of course for everything =). Now, for the second bar:


In Spell Bar 2, I have my Creature and Life Dispells, the level VII war spells, and some attribute buffs - Focus, Self, Quicknes... and Sprint Self. Remember, the way you arrange your spells should NOT necessarily be the same as mine - you should arrange your spells the way most convinient to YOU! This is Spell Bar 3:


This is my self-buff bar. Here you see my basic Magic Schools buffs - Life Mastery, War Mastery, etc. I also have Arcane Enlightenment, Staff Mastery, Strength, Coordination, and Jump Mastery in that spell bar. Next:


This is my miscellaneous bar. I have the basic Lifestone Recall, Portal Recall, Portal Tie, Portal Summon, Recall the Sanctuary, and Portal Summon 3 in this spell bar. Then, the bar continues into the Item weapon buffs (Blood Drinker, etc) and into "Other" spells, such as Armor Other, Endurance Other, Sword Mastery Other, etc. And the last bar:


Here we see all the Life Protects (Armor, Bludgeoning Protection, etc) and Item spells (Impenetrability, Bludgeon Bane, etc). This is the bar that I use to buff my puny self (and my armor) against those beastly hits the high level creatures deliver.

All right. Now, let's get to that other "gear." What do I mean by this "gear" word? Basically your armor and any additional things you take with you, such as Mana Stones, Healing Kits, Jewelry, etc. The additional things are common sense, so let's get to armor. Below is a picture of the most common clothing sets you will see on Aerlinthe:


Here you see five different "armor" sets - armor in quotation marks, because you can see that two of these sets are robes. Going from left to right, let's check out these items and their advantages/disadvantages.

  • Pre-Patch GSA - AL 190 [a/a/a/a/a/a/ba] - the holy Pre-Patch GSA, the king of all. If you have this suit of armor, be happy and be proud. Very rare and very expensive (can no longer be obtained). On Aerlinthe, if you have the time/mana to buff this thing (you will have to buff the coat, leggings, sollerets, gauntlets, and helmet) - read below for Buffing, you will have an awesome suit of armor protecting you. Buffed with level 6's on Morningthaw, the AL becomes 404, which is doubled by the Unparalled protection multiplier (assuming you buffed the elementals to Unparalleled) to the impressive 808! But again, it involves a lot of buffing - at least three spells per piece (Impenetrability, Flame Bane, Frost Bane), so fifteen spells total.
  • Post-Patch GSA - AL 150 [a/a/a/p/p/p/p] - the "nerfed" version of GSA. Its elemental protections can only be buffed to Excellent, with base AL of about 364. If we use a 1.7 multiplier for the Excellent protection, we get a total of around 619 for a given attack. Most players with Post-Patch GSA choose to stick a Major Stone in it, like the one below.
  • Post-Patch Lightning GSA - AL 170 [a/a/a/ab/ab/n/u] - the same thing as above, except with a the Major Sparkling Stone in it. Why Sparkling Stone? Well this provides Unparalleled protections against Lightning attacks (this is what the hordes of Altered Drudges use) and it provides pretty good elemental protection against Fire and Cold attacks, which are used by the Banderlings. No Acid protection leaves you open to Wasteland Rats, but those are pretty sparce on the Island. Keep in mind, however, GSA with a Major Stone in it is NOT buffable, so you are stuck with the 170 AL. This is good armor to use for Melee characters who don't like to buff.
  • Hoary Mattekar Robe - AL 40 [aa/a/a/ba/u/a/u] - this rare robe, crafted from the hide of an extinct white beast, is, in my opinion, the best armor a mage could have. The elemental protections on this baby are what make it trade value higher than a suit of Post-Patch GSA. AL 40 will buff to appoximately AL 254 (so, about 508 AL for each attack, if every protection is Unparalleled). All the protections can be buffed to Unparalleled, and you ALREADY have two Unparalleled protections against Lightning and Cold attacks! This saves you at least one extra spell. Now, keep in mind that this robe covers the whole body except the hands and the head, meaning you only have to use eight spells to completely buff your set (two for the robe, three for gaunts, three for helmet). Disadvantage? Drops on death (if you don't have death items) and... once the Item buffs are gone, you better run. You will be taking some massive hits with this thing on unbuffed.
  • Faran Robe with Hood - AL 0 [a/a/a/p/p/p/p] - a regular store-bought robe (actually this one is dyed green, but it has the same stats). The protections I listed will only exist if the robe has an Impenetrability spell cast on it.. otherwise it will have NO protections at all! Why in the world would anyone want to wear this? Well, not everyone has a Hoary Mattekar Robe, so this acts as a substitute. It actually has a small advantage over the Mattekar Robe, because it also covers the head, saving three spells. So, only six spells needed to buff this thing if you are fighting Banderlings (might also want to throw a Lightning Bane on it... but I'll talk about that in the Buffing section later). Disadvantage - the elemental protections will only be buffed to Excellent. So, with buffed AL of 214, each elemental AL can be 364 (again, using a 1.7 multiplier because of Excellent). Kind of low compared to a suit of Pre-Patch GSA eh? =) The bad thing about a regular robe, if the buffs on it die, you are off worse than if you are wearing a Hoary Mattekar Robe - this thing has no protections when unbuffed, because it has no base AL! So... it's as if you are not wearing at all.. Can be painful.

I am also wearing AL 225 base blue gauntlets in all of the instances above (approximately buffed AL 440 with all Unparalleled). Banderlings and Golems hit everything, so it's important to keep every part of your body covered. As for headgear, I choose to wear the Virindi Mask - AL 120 [aa/a/a/u/ba/u/a], because it basically has the same elemental protections as the Hoary Mattekar Robe. It is also very light - 300 burden units. It actually saves me some extra mana, because it has Unparalleled protections against Cold (and Lightning), so I only have to use two spells to buff it. Another choice of headgear may be the Ice Heaume of Frore. It has base AL of 160 and Unparalleled protection for Fire and Cold - perfect for fighting Banderlings (saves you two spells - Flame and Frost Bane)! This Heaume is Na'il headgear of choice =). Of course, these are not the only possible suits of armor to wear on Aerlinthe. You will see many people wear Mattekar Hide Coats (same protections as Hoary Mattekar Robe but AL 120.. covers upper body and girth areas only) with some decent leggings. You will also see high level people wear weird unmatched suits of armor - they are actually pieces put together that have high level Creature Magic spells, saving these guys much jewelry space (and money getting the jewelry!).



On to Getting to Aerlinthe