ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

Thought I'd have a go at this class-making lark, and I've had a half-idea floating around for a while. And now you've all got to suffer through it

The Neomage

The general idea behind this was a return to the ToME 2 thaumaturge - a real 'attack' mage, sacrificing some utility for access to some heavy-duty (and potentially costly) attack spells. Anyway, since I've only got a loose grasp on the balance in this game this is likely to be full of holes and problems. ...

Description - "While archmages seek to study and learn from magic, neomages seek simply to abuse it. While their lack of formal study or training harms their capacity for mana, their eagerness for power and sheer lack of inhibition allow them to delve into wild and forbidden schools of magic others wouldn't dream of using. Irresponsible at best and outright diabolical at worst, sometime's it a little difficult to tell whether the neomage is wielding the magic, or the magic is wielding the neomage..."

Pre-Existing Skill Trees - Cunning / Survival, Spell / Fire, Spell / Water (all 0.90 mastery and locked)

Skill Tree - Talent / Neomagery [1.20] (generic)

Break Staff (activated)

• Mana Cost: 0

• Cooldown: 10

Breaks your currently equipped staff, resulting in a massive explosion of arcane energies similar to that of a disruption shield's. Your character resists (50 + skill*10)% of the explosion's damage. (elemental egos could change the element of the explosion)

Manawell (passive)

• Mana Cost: 0

• Cooldown: 0

Increases your natural rate of mana generation. (+0.20 per level)

Hardened Psyche (passive)

• Mana Cost: 0

• Cooldown: 0

You've seen things that couldn't possibly be imagined so many times you've actually started imagining them. Each level of this skill grants 20% confusion resistance, 5% stun resistance, and +3 mental save.

Mana Absorption (sustained)

• Mana Cost: 100

• Cooldown: 100

Any time you are struck by a damaging spell, you regenerate skill*10 mana.

Skill Tree - Spell / Forbidden [1.20] (skill)

Overcharge (activated)

• Mana Cost: 0 (but only usable when at 100+% mana)

• Cooldown: 40

Wilfully infuses your body with more mana than it can normally handle. Increases your mana by 25% of its maximum, up to a true maximum of (150 + skill*10)%. This overflow of mana depletes by itself, more slowly with a higher skill level. Also, it does not come without risk: Every time you cast a spell while overcharged, there is a 20% chance to be damaged for 10% of your max HP.

Disintegration (activated)

• Mana Cost: 20

• Cooldown: 5

Fires a bolt of obliterative force, dealing physical damage. Slightly more power than an equivalent manathrust, but with no beaming capabilities. Additionally, since the spell relies on disintegrating mass, it is notably more effective on smaller foes. (a human foe would be just above baseline damage, to actually make it useful. not many lilliputian menaces late-game, is there?)

Additionally, there's a reason why this spell is forbidden. With each casting, you have a (20 - skill*3)% chance to disintegrate an item in your inventory. No currently equipped items or artefacts, of course.

Devastation Orbit (activated/sustained?)

• Mana Cost: 30

(per orb)

• Cooldown: 30

Each casting of this spell conjures an orb of arcane energy to swirl around the caster. More than one orb may be conjured, one by one, up to a maximum of 5, one per skill level. Any melee attack on the caster will deal arcane damage to the attacker, increasing with the amount of orbs summoned. Furthermore, the orbs may be launched individually as ranged attacks once conjured, with no mana cost or cooldown.
(perhaps this could use two skills: 'devastation orbit - conjure' and 'devastation orbit - launch')

Manastorm (activated)

• Mana Cost: 35

• Cooldown: 10

Fires beams of arcane energy at all visible foes, each equivalent to beaming manathrusts. The drawback? A mounting HP penalty for large amounts of foes:

• 1 enemy: 0% HP damage.

• 2 enemies: 0% HP damage.

• 3 enemies: 0% HP damage.

• 4 enemies: 5% HP damage.

• 5 enemies: 10% HP damage.

• 6 enemies: 15% HP damage.

• 7 enemies: 20% HP damage.

And so on. The maximum possible backlash damage is (45 - skill*5)%. Used correctly, this spell can be devastating: If two enemies are in a line, the first enemy won't just get hit by its own beam, but also the beam of the enemy behind it!

Skill Tree - Spell / Dimensional [1.20] (skill)

Dimensional Veil (sustained)

• Mana Cost: 60

• Cooldown: 40

Envelops the caster in a dimensional rift. All damage to the caster is reduced by 5*skill%, plus all physical damage is warped to a random elemental damage type, and subject to any elemental resistances you possess. The big drawback is that you cannot move while it is active, including teleportation.

Sanity Blast (activated)

• Mana Cost: 35

• Cooldown: 10

Laying hands on the target, the caster channels a few nice things that should not be seen into the victim's mind . Stuns the target for 1+skill turns and deals darkness damage. (dark enemies would be more used to such horrors)

Warp Door (activated)

• Mana Cost: 30

• Cooldown: 20

Gives the caster the 'warping' effect for five turns, which randomly teleports them to a location in their line of sight every turn. Enemies in your line of sight have a small chance of being confused for a few turns, and at skill level 5 the final teleport can be controlled a la phase door. (why yes, i did have teleport spam on the brain when i thought of this )

Malefic Portal (activated)

• Mana Cost: 60

• Cooldown: 100

Both summons a group of 4-6 demons, the chances of them being major demons improving with your skill levels, and randomly teleports you. The demons are both hostile to you and your enemies, do not disappear over time, and give neither experience nor items. This spell may not be cast again on any given level if demons from a previous summoning remain.

Thoughts:
I chose fire and water magic for the neomage since they both consist entirely of attack spells. However, they both also have stunning spells, and with the stunning and confusion spells already available...
To unlock this sort of class, maybe you'd have to deal a large amount of damage, 500-600, with a single spell. "Feeling so much power from your spells, you start to wonder: Just how much power is it possible for magic to give you?"
Regardless of length, I'm hardly serious about this

I absolutely love your class description.
The idea of turning the caster into a tool for the magic.. its tempting to think of the possibilities.

Haha, thank yew. I oughta type while drowsy more often

Also, regarding becoming a tool of your magic, I had rather blurry idea for a sidequest. After casting enough forbidden magic, your character could suddenly pass out, waking up in the middle of a freshly-massacred Bree with blood on your hands and a rightfully-ticked battalion from Minas Tirith rapidly approaching. "... Oh dear."

Your journey to the east would be all the more justified!