First of all: the more points you put into one element the more damage it's spells do. This means that spreading out your points will give you a broad range of weak spells. Focusing will give you few but strong spells.

If you want access to the advanced spells and options like damage buffs or the Circles of Protection for a certain magic school you need to focus on that element. It's simply not possible to unlock everything because the numbers of obtainable skill points is finite. If you really know what you're doing and planned it well a mage is able to unlock 2 Circles of Protection tops.

Would you recommend a broad range of spells or a specialization? My mage is level 8, with a few weak spells. I wish I could do more damage and all, but I am on dungeon level 5 and don't want to start the game over. Unless, it comes to that. And I guess this whole situation also applies for warriors and rogues...? Your thoughts?

You guessed correctly: with the number of obtainable skill points being finite all classes need to make a decision regarding their skills. While having a broad range sounds nice i recommend specialization.

You surely noticed that each class has 4 offensive, 1 defensive and 1 utility skill.

Here is a basic skill selection rule for LoG:
- pick one offense skill and stick with it
- invest in your picked offensive skill as much as possible
- invest in your character's defense and utility skill as much as needed to reach a desired ability

A usual character is able to collect 48 skill points past it's creation which means you can plan with 49 to 55 skills points depending on race and trait selection. Of course the total number of reachable skill points varies i.e. less when areas are skipped or more when extra grinding is done.

Examples:
Minotaur warrior with Maces 33 (offense), Arnor 16 (defense) and Athletics 0 (utility).
Human rogue with Unarmed Combat 30 (offense), Dodge 17 (defense) and 8 Assassination (utility).
Insectoid mage with Fire Magic 32 (offense), Staff Defense 8 (defense) and Spellcraft 18 (utility)

Now when a character will always be in the back row - or you're dodging very good - you can stray from this basic rule by neglecting defense for more offense or utility.

Examples:
Lizardman back row rogue
- melee with Daggers 33, Dodge 0, Assassination 20
- ranged with Throwing or Missile 50, Dodge 0, Assassination 4

Human back row mage with Fire Magic 24, Ice Magic 24, Spellcraft 10

A quick question for players out there... My characters are level 8 (I believe), and I have my mage set up to have 13 points in Fire and Ice, and some in Spellcraft. I believe I now have the best combat/offense spells in those two elements (Fire & Ice)... but should I start allocating points for Air and Earth, to get the best offense spells for those too? Any advice is appreciated!

Originally posted by gavindalemarchovia:

A quick question for players out there... My characters are level 8 (I believe), and I have my mage set up to have 13 points in Fire and Ice, and some in Spellcraft. I believe I now have the best combat/offense spells in those two elements (Fire & Ice)... but should I start allocating points for Air and Earth, to get the best offense spells for those too? Any advice is appreciated!

Hold your horses. True, you can now cast the basic Fireball and Frostbolt but only at a rate of highest energy needed vs lowest damage done. To make them the best combat/offense spells of their element you'll need the upgrade at 24 points and for the best energy vs damage ratio as many points as you can spare.

Dr. Disaster - thanks for the heads up, I appreciate your advice. I will continue with adding points to my current elements.

Originally posted by gavindalemarchovia:

A quick question for players out there... My characters are level 8 (I believe), and I have my mage set up to have 13 points in Fire and Ice, and some in Spellcraft. I believe I now have the best combat/offense spells in those two elements (Fire & Ice)... but should I start allocating points for Air and Earth, to get the best offense spells for those too? Any advice is appreciated!

Definitely not. It won't do any good to spread yourself that thin. Leave those other schools at zero.

Originally posted by Dr.Disaster:

You guessed correctly: with the number of obtainable skill points being finite all classes need to make a decision regarding their skills. While having a broad range sounds nice i recommend specialization.

You surely noticed that each class has 4 offensive, 1 defensive and 1 utility skill.

Here is a basic skill selection rule for LoG:
- pick one offense skill and stick with it
- invest in your picked offensive skill as much as possible
- invest in your character's defense and utility skill as much as needed to reach a desired ability

A usual character is able to collect 48 skill points past it's creation which means you can plan with 49 to 55 skills points depending on race and trait selection. Of course the total number of reachable skill points varies i.e. less when areas are skipped or more when extra grinding is done.

Examples:
Minotaur warrior with Maces 33 (offense), Arnor 16 (defense) and Athletics 0 (utility).
Human rogue with Unarmed Combat 30 (offense), Dodge 17 (defense) and 8 Assassination (utility).
Insectoid mage with Fire Magic 32 (offense), Staff Defense 8 (defense) and Spellcraft 18 (utility)

Now when a character will always be in the back row - or you're dodging very good - you can stray from this basic rule by neglecting defense for more offense or utility.

Examples:
Lizardman back row rogue
- melee with Daggers 33, Dodge 0, Assassination 20
- ranged with Throwing or Missile 50, Dodge 0, Assassination 4

Human back row mage with Fire Magic 24, Ice Magic 24, Spellcraft 10

Great answer, thank you! (I know it is 8 years old)

hello, newbie here. I started an ice mage but Ive only encountered fire and earth spells so far. Im guessing this is intendend as the early stages do not seem procedural?

Originally posted by Friends with Benedicts:

hello, newbie here. I started an ice mage but Ive only encountered fire and earth spells so far. Im guessing this is intendend as the early stages do not seem procedural?

Yes everything is handplaced. You can sort of experiment with the runes based off of other elements if you stare at it long enough and don't mind burning mana on fizzles until you figure it out.

The first ice spell scroll isn't too far in the game though, so if you want to hold off can have your mage just chuck rocks or use a spear for the time being.

I just managed to guess 2 ice spells. Even using the logic of the other spells do not apply. Thank god I discovered the frost bolt some four levels before it actually appeared on lvl 5

Originally posted by Friends with Benedicts:

I just managed to guess 2 ice spells. Even using the logic of the other spells do not apply. Thank god I discovered the frost bolt some four levels before it actually appeared on lvl 5

imagine the grid of 9 cells as numbers 1-3 first row, 4-6 second, etc/

1 3 7 9 are stand for fire, air, poison (earth) and ice respectively
so you can guess basic spells for 3/4 of them - its their own element by itself only

5 is a defense button, so element + 5 => elemental shield

2 is light and 8 is dark thats why "defend light" results in light spell and defend dark results in darkness spell. Adding air to darkness results in invisibility

"bolts" type of spell usually adds air to it. Sometimes with something else. Like ice + air = frost bolt, and earth + air = poison bolt. Fire ball requires additional button, and air cannot be chosen twice so its a little bit tricky.

Enchanting arrows is a complex spell for some reason tho, it requires 4 buttons and only obvious is the element one, and the combination for enchanting is the same

YEP! Its so cool that it has some logic under it. I was able to guess a lot of stuff based on other stuff I found. This game is pretty sick honestly, even though it uses basic User Dungeon mechanics, it feels very innovative compared to other things. I guess dungeon crawling never lost its charm

I'm not gonna mention specifics, as I tend to favor certain types over others, but I tend to go for the improved version, then I just go into spellcraft for additional, maybe go enough into another elemental for the basic burst spell so I have a second option for immune enemies.

Usually the basics of the element I choose, 5 into spellcraft.