Archmage, with a crossbow slung across his back

[Quasqueton]

Almost all mages I’ve seen equip a crossbow, staff, and dagger at 1st level. This item will sometimes, occasionally be used up to 3rd level. But once the mage gets 2nd and 3rd level spells, these weapons rarely, if ever, get used. Yet the weapons remain equipped. I have seen 8th, 9th, and 10th level mages with crossbows. The halfling sorcerer 10 in my game now has a crossbow and a staff strapped to his back (gotta leave hands free), and a dagger on his hip. Every time I see this note on the character sheet it kind of stumps me. It’s sort of like seeing a jet fighter pilot with a rifle strapped to his back – just doesn’t look right.

I had a wizard a few years ago that had only a dagger. And I didn’t even have it listed as a weapon – didn’t have attack bonus or damage written down for it. It was a joke among the group that if I ever had to pull out that dagger in a fight, we were in serious deep trouble. But my wizard did not have a crossbow or other weapon.

Do you see this phenomenon? Does your mage have and use weapons other than his/her spells? At what level can a mage dump the weapons? At what level "should" a mage dump the weapons to avoid looking like a novice cantrip-thrower?

Quasqueton

 

[Psychic Warrior]

I voted rarely use a weapon but every mage I have seen in play definately carries a back up weapon. Most often a dagger/staff but the occasional crossbow or sling. Doesn't really seem wierd to me.

 

[Sammael]

The 18th level enchanter/illusionist in my game took martial weapon proficiency (greatsword) and is currently wielding a +3 greatsword. He enjoys wading into melee against mooks, or employing one of high-level enchantments such as power word: stun and then hacking at the helpless oponents.

 

[Pbartender]

NOTE: Technically, you only need one hand free to cast a spell. It'd look a lot less silly, and be a lot more useful if he was carrying the staff in one hand... It is generally considered a free action to switch one-handed to two-handed, and then he'd be considered armed for the purposes of Attacks of Opportunity.

Anyway... I'm playing an 13th level Elf Mage of the Arcane Order. He's got a mithral buckler and a longsword that he carries around, just in case. I since I started playing him at 5th level, I've used the sword exactly once -- An AoO against an enemy who decided to flee the scene.

I've had other Sorcerers and Wizards who've used their melee weapons more.

Typically, I'll keep a decent melee weapon in my arcane spellcaster's hand solely for the occasional AoO. If it's an elf, I'll often give them a bow, for those times you don't want to waste a spell.

 

[Quasqueton]

NOTE: Technically, you only need one hand free to cast a spell. It'd look a lot less silly, and be a lot more useful if he was carrying the staff in one hand...

I know. I agree.

Quasqueton

 

[Jdvn1]

For a melee weapon, it's nice to be able to attempt AoOs.

For a ranged weapon, sometimes an encounter is against just a bunch of mooks and you don't really want to use up too many resources killing them. A crossbow bolt might make more sense.

Gandalf had a sword, though--who does that? He clearly wasn't optimized.

 

[Vorput]

My diviner 7 is currently carrying a flaming heavy Pick +1... no one else wanted it... and I'm not proficient with it... but it's a fun little weapon to have around- and looks cool- Cause you just never know...

 

[el-remmen]

The wizard in my "Out of the Frying Pan" game used his crossbow about once per combat (sometimes more, sometimes less). However, evocation was his banned school, so he did not have many "boom" spells, relying mostly on illusions, buffs and spells like slow.

If the party was holed up in a defensive position he often would load crossbows for others to use, placing them within easy reach.

But he was not much of a melee combat guy.

I think any wizard that doesn't carry around some kind of weapon "just in case" is very foolish. What if you end up in an anti-magic or wild magic zone? What if your spellbooks are stolen and you can't replenish them? What if you have a day of several long-running combats and are out of the most useful stuff? etc. . .

 

[Mercule]

Normally, you don't see it very often. Certain builds call for it, though.

I played an elven sorcerer who had no attack spells (and no buff spells, believe it or not). He did use his longbow quite often, though. He didn't hit much, but he tried.

 

[sniffles]

I voted 'Sometimes' because I've never seen this phenomenon of a spellcaster giving up weapons completely after 3rd level. I played a sorcerer up to 6th level and never gave up using his spear. I didn't want to use all his spell slots for offensive spells.

In one current group we've got a sorcerer/wizard/fighter/Eldritch Knight who's now 12th level. The player elected not to have his caster know many offensive spells, and the ones he does know are mostly at low levels, like a 1st-level magic missile. He's always used his sword or a bow whenever possible.

And even a caster who specializes in damage spells could run into an antimagic zone or a creature with high resistance to magic.