Freezing Point

It's been a while since I played through with Durance, but I thought what the Godhammer did to his soul also affected how mortals see him, which is why nobody seems to talk about how one of the Dozen is still alive. You'd otherwise expect the Dozens, at least, to worship the ground he walks on, even with the personality attached. Of course, from what I understand, there's some cut content between him and the Grieving Mother that might be the real explanation for what's going on there. I do think it probably refers to one or the other, though. Iovara lived thousands of years ago and her story was suppressed by the Leaden Key, which isn't really comparable to erasing a famous and important person who's still alive, like Fyonlecg.

Well, what about Durance? The sole survivor of the fabled Dozen who faced down a living god, and yet even his own goddess doesn't seem to remember he exists, and I don't recall anybody outside the party recognizing his place in history.

Well, no reason a Sage couldn't also throw out a Miasma as well before wading in to lock everyone down with Visage. I guess my only gripe is that level 2 wizard spells are so competitive, between Miasma, Combusting Wounds, Infuse, Arcane Veil, Merciless Gaze, Blackened Sight...think it might be the spell level I value the most overall, personally. Of course, I should add that I'm a relative pleb who sticks to Veteran because while I'm pretty sure I could handle POTD, I just don't want to expend the necessary attention and effort to play on that level, so my advice might not be the best available.

I'll admit, one of my greatest passions in Deadfire is using melee wizards, so I have to advocate for Sage as a solid option not only for the usual Vital Essence/Llengrath's Safeguard/Mirror Image stuff, but especially for the ability to abuse Ryngrim's Repulsive Visage. By putting that on a melee character, you can run around the battlefield to shut down any threat you want with the same debilitating conditions as Enervating Terror.