ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

Ive found this class extremely underpovered. They start quite weak early ( compared to mages even corruptors ) and i dont see them getting powerfull late.
(i managed to kill master )I maxed force-of-will first and feed skills along with conf/stun / pining resistance. later i died to first orc patrol but anyway this was much harder then playing mage alchemist or what ever. Any tips or you agree that they sucks? Are these shadows usefull ? I really cant understund why punishments for example have such underpowered spells : reproach for example - range 2?? Damage average to single target without any special effects unless you skill madness (which also looks like underpowered passive ) lvl 4 talent and damage gets spread. Compared to pretty much any other mages offensive spell it looks really pathetic. Others talents in that tree look unimpressive too. force-of-will - good damage early game + knockback but damage is physical and range is completely pathetic - only spamable skill Willful Strike 4th range. Looks antisynergic with darkness too. Also why 2 of his talent trees use inteligence and others will ?

I made a Doomed winner here. Doomed characters suffer from a lack of low cooldown skills. In order to compensate, you need to play tactically with what you have. I usually opened the fight with Devour Life (lvl 5+) then Agony, then moved on to other skills, (Reproach, Force of Will or Dark Torrent) giving Agony time to reach high damage per turn, as well as letting the enemies come a few tiles nearer, into the range of other skills. Call Shadows is very nice to have, but I didn't put anything past one point in the tree until the late game, after maxing most other things. Blast is an extremely powerful spell. Not only does it hit for high damage, but it knocks enemies into each other if positioned correctly, doubling the damage dealt. Another benefit of Blast is if you can get "powerful attacks" that boost your Hate by 0.4 if it hits for high enough damage (35% of your max HP I believe) making it a net gain against enough enemies. I also invested heavily in +healing and +HP regen items to offset the intrinsic -50% healing. Cruel Vigor is a very nice skill as well, although you need to unlock a tree to get it. The +45% to global speed usually lasted throughout entire fights, and boosted the range of my movement infusion, allowing me to go between fights virtually uninterrupted, therefore limiting Hate loss.

I won with a Doomed, too. I found that the Pity talent in the Dark Figure tree helped a lot with the range problem. Punishments work best as a means of spreading Madness. Agony, as a mind DOT, is nice to use on ranged foes and tough enemies, because every turn there is another chance for them to go mad.

For me, the worst parts of being a Doomed were the 50% healing penalty, and the way that a simple shopping trip could make you go from hating the world to being a friend to all creatures.