ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

I played a Higher Archmage up to level 30 or so and was surprised at how useless I found my racial talents. Gift of the Highborn didn't help with shields, of course, and anyway to get much use out of it you need to buff Willpower. But the more you buff Willpower, the less useful Highborn's Bloom becomes, since in that case you're mainly limited by your cooldowns.(Plus, Highborn's Bloom is often an actively *bad* idea if you're using Disruption Shield, since the mana costs help stop it from overcharging.)

I could see Highers *maybe* being okay for defilers, necromancers, and chronomancers? Is there anything I'm missing?

The elemental bonus damage for X turns is a big deal for single element builds. This makes them make decent reavers, corruptors, anorithil's (sort of.), sun paladins, and anything else that stacks a single element.

Highborn Bloom is useful early, but mid-endgame it's kinda meh. The other racials turn out to be useful or not, depending on your build. I realy like Overseer of Nations, for long-range (11+) nuking with Gravity Well, Earthquake, that kind of spell. Or long range debuffing with Inferno+Cleansing Flames.

Highers could use another round of buffing, in my opinion. Their big thing is easier resource management, but there really aren't any classes that struggle with resources so badly as to base their choice of race around it. They make OK Necromancers (mana problems) and Chronomancers (range cheese) but other races are better in both cases. And Highborn's Bloom is a complete joke (although it's true that you can abuse it for a free turn with Fungus, since it's an instant regen).

Edit: How about replacing Highborn's Bloom with Highborn's Will:

If you fall to negative HP, you don't die until the NEXT round (if still at negative HP then). At level 5, gives you an additional turn's grace. Might need a cooldown? Not sure since you'll run out of heals if you spend every turn healing. Is a magical ability and does not work with antimagic (so only Wyrmics can stack it with instant heals from Fungus).

Crim, The Red Thunder wrote:The elemental bonus damage for X turns is a big deal for single element builds. This makes them make decent reavers, corruptors, anorithil's (sort of.), sun paladins, and anything else that stacks a single element.

Stacks a single element and casts spells.

Born Into Magic could even work for non-arcane classes if attack Rune didn't suck so much. If they could count on getting a 12-cooldown Heat Beam or Acid Wave, then a Higher Wyrmic could benefit from that racial.

The regen does help once you forfeit your mortality.

They make for a fun, if somewhat racially wasted, time with Oozemancers.

Their instant regen talent is amazing with high levle Fungus. When you trigger it, you still get time back, without spending it first. This allows you to get two turns in a row after that.

Shadowstep is one of the few talents you can target to range 11, so I've got a bit of mileage out of Overseer of Nations for an attack the enemy can't anticipate. Situational, though.

Higher are rather awkward since there really aren't many classes that can benefit from all of their racials, but there are a few that can pick one a benefit from it. Mainly willpower classes don't cast spells, and spellcasters don't pump will. One exception is Chronomancers who need will to handle their paradox, Higher paradox mage might be decent.

The regen is usable for fungus builds, not for the healing but for the free turn from ancestral life, instant regen that returns 80%+ of a turn, then you can right click and cancel it if you want. It can also work well for willpower casters if you use direct healing infusions.

The sight range is situational, but can help rogues by extending heightened senses, and can work with some classes that can hit past range 10, usually with AEs. Wands of Conjuration also happen to be range 14 I believe.

The damage bonus is pretty straight forward, there are plenty of casters who can benefit, and even 2 element builds get something. Also Arcane resistance is useful since a fair number of enemies pack manathrust, and manaclash can be devastating for casters. Spell save can also help you not get spellshocked which is a pretty nasty debuff to resists, so it might be pulling weight without it being apparent.

Highborn's Bloom I found most useful for rogue subclasses. They are glassy and want to frontload damage and they have a ton of instant cast skills. They also burn out their resources faster than most classes. Blinding Speed, Willful Combat, Deadly Strikes, and sometimes Dirty Fighting can be unloaded for free without even costing a turn, and most of them offer lasting buffs. Blinding Speed even lets you fit more skills into your Bloom. And of Course you can just unload all your expensive attacks like Whirlwind and Sweep.

Necros also I believe don't consume souls if they summon during Bloom. Plus Liches lack healing so the regen has some use even if it's weak, and they can make use of the damage bonus.

Arcane Blades might also do well with Highborn's Bloom, they share a lot of talents with rogues if they dual wield, the damage bonus will apply to their melee (if you go stone) and proc off their spell procs, and they can burn a ton of resources very fast due to procs.

Overall I found the last two skills most useful, and the regen not stacking with other regens means it's almost useless on many classes and scales poorly even for willpower classes. The last two talents are useful enough to actually invest multiple points into.

Rogue and defiler subclasses, arcane blades and necros would be my main choices.