Well this came to me just now so it will likely get ripped apart :P

At any rate its a riff off of Daev's post about finding skills that are fairly useless/redundant/etc. after a certain level and it struck me that some skills are useless damn near immediately because they are mastered then never used again. A big set of these is weapon skills for mages. Transmuters at hero pretty much only use staffs because lash is unreliable from what has been said over the years. Shifters use claws, fangs, etc. NOT whips, etc. except for the occassional brave soul who unshifts mid-fight to lash. Invokers tend to go bare-handed or use exotics/other stuff. They don't really use weapons is what I'm saying here. Mages certainly don't tend to use all their weapon skills, most likely like transmuters have a favored weapon that most benefits their class or dont use weapons at all (except to increase stats)...at least thats my thought.

So here is the idea: Battlemages vs. Arcane Scholars or basically creating a option within each mage class that focuses more on mixing that class's magic spells with their weapon skills at the sacrifice to their ability in magic (either sacrificing specific spells or sacrifing overall success rate in casting because while the arcanes were studying you were fighting)

So instead of the edges you create a system that allows for even more custumization (which imho has been the general trend in CF).

Arcane Scholars would be AS IS - you can assume for this post that mages right now ARE Arcane Scholars...so the following examples are strictly for what I would envision as the Battlemage option for a few mage classes each using a dagger. ( I think all mages use daggers)

Class: Invoker
Option: Battlemage
Weapon: Dagger

Skill: Infuse Dagger - This skill allows an invoker to infuse any dagger they are using with the 'touch' that they have up giving the dagger specific properties and attack type of that 'touch'.

EX: Battlemage invoker has 'acidic secretion' up. They are using a flame dagger of some sort. Attack type of the dagger would switch to 'acidic bite' and dagger has a small chance to 'damage' armor with each hit (like dent but more in the thought of slowly melting your armor away with acid like that room in Ktengs)

Class: Transmuter
Option: Battlemage
Weapon: Dagger

Skill: Quickstab - This skill allows a hasted and malleable transmuter to attempt a series of quick stabs to key parts of the body with the intent to disable an opponent based on their extensive knowledge of anatomy.

EX: Battlemage transmuter is hasted and malleable. They try to quickstab.

Battlemage Transmuter tries to cut you above the eyes and succeeds, the spray of blood blinds you!

Battlemage Transmuter then stabs you in a nerve bundle within your arm! You find you cannot feel that arm anymore! (-str, chance target drops weapon (like grease))

Battlemage Transmuter finishes his quickstab by aiming a last stab at your stomach and succeeds leaving you hurt badly! (Hemoragging)

With this one there obviously is a chance to miss any particular stab.


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I realized as I was writing this down that most mage classes don't lend themselves to doing much with weapons at all...so perhaps limit this idea to those classes that do which I think would be invokers, transmuters, and per the idea floating out there with 'partial' shifted shapeshifters, perhaps Battlemage shapeshifters could be shapeshifters who specialize in fighting partially shifted and allow them to learn swords but they lose the option for a full shapeshift.

Something like that.

Anyways, this wasnt a fully fleshed out thing, just throwing it up for thought.

I can't imagine wanting to weaken my spell casting abilities for some marginal melee ability. Unless you got dodge and third/fourth attack added to your skill list it wouldn't be worth it to trade high end spells or spell level strength in exchange for a on-use melee skill (you're going to be casting, pretty much all the time).

FWIW also, mages should typically use exotics *except* for malleability style transmuters (drows, elves, arials?) because one held + better parry > defensive spin on a low dex class.

It'd take a lot to make me want to use a dagger as a main weapon on a mage class and even more to make me want to use melee attacks instead of my spells.

Goihng off what you mentioned about mages using exotics except malleability transmuters, are you suggesting that a transmuter who isn't very dexy is better off using an exotic than a staff as their main nelee weapon if they are for example more into using hardening/calcify vs. malleability?

Because I could then get a held item for 40+ HP, some mana, some saves and etc. Whether or not parry for staff is better or worse than say, parry with a club-type exotic - I don't know that's way too in the weeds for me to understand with an Imm specifically saying so. In my experience though, exotics seem to parry very very well.