>What are your casters' relative stats?
>If your mage has low
>speed, it's possible that your
>alchemist and other party members
>keep killing everything before the
>mage has a chance to
>cast, which would lead to
>the mage getting less practice
>and falling behind skillwise.This is definitely not the problem, my Mage beats just about every other spellcaster to the punch. Besides, if the opponents are wimpy enough to be killed that quickly, I generally use them as sparring partners to get more practice, casting Heal Wounds on them to keep them alive as long as possible..
> If
>you're putting in a lot
>of "practice time" to pump
>up skills and your alchemist
>has way more piety than
>the mage, they'll be getting
>a little edge in skill
>increases, too.
This could very well be a factor.
>Also, how are you distributing skill
>points at level up? The
>mage has a much broader
>range of offensive spells to
>pick from, and if you
>try to put points in
>all of them equally the
>more specialized alchemist is going
>to pull ahead.
I generally avoid putting any points in magic skills beyond the three to get each realm and the book of magic started. I would rather add skill points to magic with practice and add the level up skill points to weapons, communication, etc.
>Any problems you're experiencing are probably
>not due to innate differences
>between mages and alchemists in
>general; the alchemist doesn't really
>have much built-in edge in
>terms of realm skills (they're
>likely to beat mages out
>in the Earth realm, since
>alchemists get a head start
>and mages are probably putting
>skill points into other realms
>that are more important to
>them; if you use Heal
>Wounds lots and lots they
>might be able to build
>up higher Divine skill but
>for me Enchanted Blade and
>Magic Missiles tend to see
>more use).
This might go a long ways towards explaining the difference. In combat against weak opponents I completely deplete the alchemist's Divine realm, generally actually using more spell points than are initially available because a few regenerate during the extended combat enabled by casting Heal Wounds on the opponents. If I need healing for the party, there are always potions if the Divine realm is depleted. By contrast, Enchanted Blade gets cast only once, and then only when the opponents are strong, and I rarely use Magic Missiles. If I can get into position to avoid getting surrounded, I try to let my warriors take care of the attackers, saving at least half of the spellpoints in case of back to back encounters. If I get surrounded, Magic Missiles is of limited use, so spells like Acid Bomb, Fireball, Fire Bomb, Firestorm, Ring of Fire, Noxious Fumes, Toxic Cloud, and Razor Cloak are preferable for direct damage.
Dale LaRoy Splitstone
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