Young Warmage check up

[Axhinde]

So, I've decided to roll up a Wizard because I was feeling nostalgic about the one I used to play. The Warmage style really appeals to me in the early stages, especially since I set his stats for growth long-term. Also rolled up a sorcerer who is pretty awesome but can't decide between the two, such is my curse. Enchanting isn't a real goal for this character, I'm mainly looking to play him for fun and RP.

Basically, what I'd like to know is...

1.) Combat Maneuvers. Is it worth training in early on considering all I'd have to give up? 902 already grants an additional +10 skill on top of my 4x weapon.
2.) Armor Use. Currently I've stopped at fulls since it is so prohibitive to go any further, and I feel as though I'll switch over to pure before this becomes an issue for a war mage. Should I bite the bullet and go for doubles anyways? What should I give up to do so?
3.) Stats are set up to be beastly starting around 50, but all that aren't 100 will be over 90 at cap. Would it be wiser to shoot for TPs instead?
4.) Mana could be an issue, as it is at level. I understand war mages don't cast much, especially early on, but would bumping Aura up to compensate really make that much of a difference?

For clarity, here's the list of stats and skills:

Name: Someguy Race: Sylvankind  Profession: Wizard (shown as: Spellbinder)
Gender: Male    Age: 450    Expr: 178212    Level:  12
                  Normal (Bonus)  ...  Enhanced (Bonus)
    Strength (STR):    91 (20)    ...   91 (20)
Constitution (CON):    87 (18)    ...   87 (18)
   Dexterity (DEX):    64 (17)    ...   64 (17)
     Agility (AGI):    74 (17)    ...   74 (17)
  Discipline (DIS):    84 (12)    ...   84 (12)
        Aura (AUR):    63 (11)    ...   63 (11)
       Logic (LOG):    68 (9)     ...   68 (9)
   Intuition (INT):    58 (4)     ...   58 (4)
      Wisdom (WIS):    67 (8)     ...   67 (8)
   Influence (INF):    56 (3)     ...   56 (3)
Mana:  38

Someguy (at level 12), your current skill bonuses and ranks (including all modifiers) are:
  Skill Name                         | Current Current
                                     |   Bonus   Ranks
  Armor Use..........................|      20       4
  Two-Handed Weapons.................|      66      14
  Physical Fitness...................|      66      14
  Arcane Symbols.....................|      62      13
  Magic Item Use.....................|      62      13
  Spell Aiming.......................|     108      26
  Harness Power......................|      58      12
  Elemental Mana Control.............|      62      13
  Elemental Lore - Air...............|      62      13
  Perception.........................|      62      13
  Climbing...........................|      50      10
  Swimming...........................|      15       3

Spell Lists
  Major Elemental....................|              12

Spell Lists
  Minor Elemental....................|               2

Spell Lists
  Wizard.............................|              13

[megadeth]

1) Yes.
2) Wear Doubles or Leather Breastplate.
3) Set for growth at 30 days, or set for TPs and buy a fixstat later. Those are really the only two options.
4) You're a warmage. Single in HP, that's enough.

[Maerit]

You're focusing a little too heavily on Wizard spell ranks. A warmage doesn't need wizard ranks this early. You want to shoot to get 425 at level 25 for the AS bonus, so you will definitely want to switch to MnE. On top of that, you'll be much more self-reliant and won't need outside elementals (though they are relatively easy to obtain). The other benefit is getting 411 - attuning to an element - and then being able to e-blade 1x weapons when you have 25 ranks in the elemental lore you're attuned with. This gives you a 5x weapon with hard-hitting flares.

I do recommend CM over Spell Aiming. If you're a warmage, swing your weapon, don't worry about bolting until later when it helps improve your quality of life (i.e. not requiring a blessed weapon for undead - just bolt them). Every 2 points in CM is another +1 AS, and CM points to train things like Feint/Disarm/etc - skills you'll want and can use. Eventually your TPs will free up to some extent, and you can catch up with Spell Aiming. I was able to max my SA out to 2x by level 50 on my brawling warmage.

If you switch to Ranged Weapons, you can generally fit Spell Aiming into the training plan, but with THW or any other melee weapon style, TPs are tight and CM is a more useful investment. How often do you find yourself casting bolt spells as a warmage? Ask that question and then decide how useful Spell Aiming is for your current hunting style. If the answer is never, then you're heavily trained into something that provides zero benefit.

[megadeth]

I agree. I'm a mid 50's bow mage and I very rarely bolt. Other than 410/518 when swarms get crazy, bolting isn't as efficient as a hasted arrow volley in my opinion.

[Whirlin]

1) CMAN is good... but with the added TP requirement of needing to maintain Air Lore Training until you reach RT reduction goals, points will be light. Train in this whenever you have the additional TP available (likely won't be until after you finish Armor Use). Pure mages dump their extra TP into Spell Research, you should dump your extra TP into CMAN.
2) Double Leathers, 15 ranks of Armor Use. Leather Breastplate is good, but Double leathers are a more standard stopping point, and will be more readily available on the open market to purchase, don't need to worry about partial armor coverage for arm/head/legworns if you ever find a minor enhancive, and less TP.
3) Stats are a COMPLETELY subjective decision based on your own anticipated outlook of how long you'll play a character. I originally placed Whirlin's stats to be maxing out around level 60, and it's relatively costly to correct. It's very rare that I've heard people regret placing their stats for growth to max at cap, but you hear lots of regrets from people that cap that placed their stats to max out early.
4) Don't go above your level in Harness Power. You're TP starved as it is, and haven't been training CMAN yet.

I disagree with Maerit on two points... First being Spell Research, however, I also assume you're stopping WIZ at 13 ranks now that you've unlocked 913. Plenty of time to focus on MnE to unlock 425 at 25.
Second, with 513 no longer reducing melee AS, your find yourself with a much stronger Bolt AS without the trade off of melee AS. Pair this with 506's reduced effectiveness for a while, your fastest hunting style will be a combination of both bolting/swinging to utilize your mana effectively. Especially once you unlock Tonis Bolt at 20 ranks of Air Lore, and can utilize that as a strong single target opener with a high chance of knockdown/stun. I do agree with Megadeth and Maerit that once you reach 506's max effectiveness and can swing at 1s, you'll likely be bolting a hell of a lot less though. But at that point, your TP will have stabilized, you'll likely have completed training in skills like climbing and swimming, and you'll likely be able to afford it.

[Axhinde]

Thanks all. Lots of really good info, with differing opinions. Tough choices will be in my future.

Whirlin, excellent work on the guides man! Read them a number of times. Reminds me of the golden days of Commandant's Warrior Guide, Lord Sylvendale's Statistical Sorcerer Guide, and the like.

p.s. When are you gonna update the Sorcerer guide, man?

[khorpulent]

Ehh, you don't need spell aiming. I'd just get the CM ranks regardless of where you are with your 506 RT reduction. Warmages are super easy for the first 30ish levels -- bashing stuff with a claid in like 3 seconds is still easier than managing your mana and casting bolts. As a warmage, you'll want the extra AS bump from the CM ranks.

I think Whirlin's point is that at early levels you don't get much of a RT reduction from 506 in the first place, but you can compensate for this by just using a faster weapon for a while (a bastard sword, which has a 6-sec min rt, for example). I'd rather swing a weapon in 2 or even 3 seconds for a few levels than have to mess with bolts at low levels. I started a polearm elf wizard a few years back and I've gotten him up to 96 now without a single rank of spell aiming. Swinging the lance takes a lot of air lore though (62 for a 1-sec rt I think?), so I felt like I could never spare the points for spell aiming. Plus, I've found feint to be surprisingly useful.

There are plenty of spells you can use without bolting, though I mostly just find myself using 410, 909, and 415. The tappable EVOKEd version of 909 is pretty awesome for a waramge. You gotta 1x minor elementals until 75 anyhow (once you hit 425, at least), so you'll end up with a decent CS for 415 -- it's a pretty reliable knockdown. I also occasionally find myself using open 504 and 912 (plenty of air lore, after all, though I don't really have enough wizard ranks for 912 to be effective).

Also, I think Whirlin's #3 is spot on. Nobody ever thinks they're gonna cap a character, but you'll surprise yourself and do it eventually and then curse yourself for not setting optimal stats in the first place. The nice thing about a warmage is that, to get your stats optimized for cap, you'll end up setting your physical stats on the high side to start anyhow.

[Axhinde]

Ok. Going to try the no bolting option, though I do find it harder to hunt things like level than when I was straight bolting. Could fry easily with mana to spare. Here's where I am sitting right now.

  Skill Name                         | Current Current
                                     |   Bonus   Ranks
  Armor Use..........................|      20       4
  Combat Maneuvers...................|      70      15
  Two-Handed Weapons.................|      80      17 (902 bonus)
  Physical Fitness...................|      70      15
  Harness Power......................|      66      14
  Elemental Mana Control.............|      35       7
  Elemental Lore - Air...............|      70      15
  Perception.........................|      74      16
  Climbing...........................|      50      10

Spell Lists
  Major Elemental....................|              11

Spell Lists
  Minor Elemental....................|               7

Spell Lists
  Wizard.............................|              11
Training Points: 37 Phy 0 Mnt (40 Phy converted to Mnt)

I'd like to keep Blurs as it definetly helps. I can hit 425 with time to spare.

Swinging my maul at 141 AS in 2 seconds. Was trying darkwoodes but their DS is a bit high, but I'm in Voln so I need to rank up in that. Any suggestions for undead hunting(preferably, but could always switch later) at around level 14?

[khorpulent]

Wolfshades are easy, though they have no treasure whatsoever. Wraiths should be doable. Tomb wights and ghoul masters in the graveyard might be worth a try, too.

For the first 20 levels, you should just adjust your skills for whatever is easiest for whatever you're hunting. If you find bolting stuff easier for now, there's no reason not to. The 26 AS (or 39 against undead) you'll get from mastering Voln will make a big difference with that maul. I did sunfist with my warmage, so I was able to use a claid against all the low-level stuff I hunted and I didn't have to mess with undead.

The warmage build definitely has its challenges. I have to wizards within a few levels of each other, and in every level range there are always some creatures that the warmage just can't handle. On the other hand, there have also been a lot of creatures that the warmage just destroys compared to his pure counterpart. Definitely have to be more selective in what you hunt, but I think it's mostly worth it.