Are general skills all that important to a pure Wizard?

[LordBacl]

Currently (at 32) I have 25 ranks of perception, climbing and swimming and 5 ranks each of disarm and lock picking. And I'm wondering, what on Elanth do I need this junk for? How does perception really help me? I've never seen any direct use of it other than making 416 more effective when I cast at boxes. Boxes which still blow up in my fac esometimes when I try and disarm despite the 5 disarm trainings. And I have never once climbed or swam anywhere.

So I'm thinking, why not have ZERO general skills. Magic all the way. Am I really going to miss the perception? The lock picking trains? Aren't there only like two or three areas that need swimming or climbing? I think I can do without, don't you?

What'd'ya think?

[Stunseed]

15 ranks of perception.
30 ranks climb/swim by 66.

No pick/disarm, my 47th train Wizard can 407/408 TK boxes.

[Kitsun]

25 ranks of perception will help you find the oddball searchables all over the place. Off the top of my head the pathway to EN from the elven village, the chest to get into the Sheruvian monestary, uhh might be it.

Disarm and picking are highly scrappable.

Eventually you'll want to clmb and swim places. The TPs saved from a couple ranks ain't going to mean much in the long run.

[AnticorRifling]

30 climb
30 swim
30 perception

No picking, disarm, FA, etc.

Unless I am forced to change my hunting style I don't see myself ever having the points to pick up any of the extra stuff like that.

[Trinitis]

I'm not sure why, but I've always 1x'ed Perception with all my PCs.

I normally aim for 25-30 climb/swim as soon as I can work it.

[Meges]

A-Certain-Wizard, (at level 100), your current skill bonuses and ranks (including all modifiers) are:

...

Perception.........................| 70 15
Climbing...........................| 90 20
Swimming...........................| 105 25

No problem finding hidden paths and I could care less about pick pocketing rogues. No problem swimming anywhere, well, except for the pool on the Wave Dancer... Nor any problem climbing anywhere. If need be, I 416/404/408/403/407 boxes, but I have a rogue that picks all my boxes, so that's moot. Even if I did not have a rogue who could pick my boxes, I wouldn't waste the points, because a Wizard is rarely able to pick their own boxes, especially higher up. Unless you get your jollies under hunting and picking to show off, then it's a waste. First Aid is crap; carry herbs or have an empath. I guess if you're big into skinning, then FA and Survival might come in handy. Otherwise, they're a total waste of TPs in my opinion.

My version of a classical Wizard should at least double in most of the relevant magical skills (MIU, AS, SA, and Spells - triple as often as possible with Spells). Although, I haven't done this with Lores or Harness Power. 340 mana and Mana Leech have always been enough to get by on and have a bit left over. The extra points from not doubling in HP have been dumped into Spell training, which also offers mana. My guy has also capped Edged training and a few other skills have a few ranks as well because of the way I play and the benefits I enjoy from this type of training. This isn’t all my training, but it’s close.

In GemStone IV, I would think a pure Wizard would be a rune staff user and focus solely on magical skills. At least doubling in MIU, AS, HP, EMC, SA, Lores, and Spells. Any points left over should be dumped into Spells. Of course, you'll need PT and you'll also need Climbing and Swimming at some point, so you'll have to figure out when to pick those skills up as well. I'm not even sure if you would need Perception. You have Haste and Presence. I would like to train my Wizard like this, but I do not like rune staves for a couple of reasons and I’m not really into lores that much. My Wizard is more of a classical GemStone III pure, I guess.

Meges