spell mastery - please dont do this

[FlintlockJazz]

 

But melee weapons can be enchanted all the way from "barrel garbage" to Legendary, right? I assume this causes them to deliver more damage in addition to melee talents and buffs. Spells are the wizards weapons but never improve and, afaik, grimoires cannot be enchanted. Or can they?

Grimoires cannot be enchanted. As I mentioned though, the damage of spells can be boosted with buffs and talents, its just the approach for them is is different compared to a weapon. For example, a direct damage spell like Chill Fog becomes a lot stronger if the Wizard has the Secrets of Rime talent and can also be used as an interruption tool if you pick up Interrupting Blows.

 

As another example, Minoletta's Minor Missiles (Since you mentioned it) only deals around 12 - 22 damage per projectile. This damage however can be boosted with a high Might score, so if you have a Might score of 19 for example, this becomes 15 - 27 damage per projectile. Since the spell does Corrode damage as well, if you grab the Spirit of Decay talent, that's a 20% damage boost to the spell. Finally, since the spell is a projectile, it does work with Penetrating Shot, which allows the spell to bust through an enemy's DR. Toss in Combusting Wounds and you add an extra 5 burn damage that ignores DR to each projectile.

 

Ok maybe I over elaborated, but you can see the spell becomes very powerful under the right conditions, to the point it even matches higher level spells.

 

Weapons can also be boosted with the appropriate talents though, becoming stronger as well, and those higher level spells can also be made even more powerful with talents as well.  For instance, you mention Might boosting Minoletta's Minor Missiles, that Might score will ALSO boost up the damage from weapons, bows benefit from penetrating shot to burst through enemy DR as well, Spirit of Decay will boost the damage from weapons enchanted with Corrode lashes, etc.  Stormcaller with the Storm talent and the Ranger ability Stunning Shots is quite powerful for instance.  So being able to boost low level spells doesn't really make up for them not leveling up with the character, since you can do that with the higher level spells too and make them even better than what the low level ones can reach or use them with weapons.  

[Dr. Hieronymous Alloy]

Per rest abilities? Oh no, resource management in an RPG what has the world come to

 

The main downside to the per rest system is that unlike older RPGs, there's no real punishment in realizing you didn't bring enough items or you were a little too trigger happy with your spells. Enemies do not respawn when you leave an area, and don't spawn to block your only way out of a dungeon either. If you choose to camp instead, you're never at any risk of being attacked by a group of enemies.

Trivial nitpick, but there is at least one instance where enemies spawn behind you and block your exit from a dungeon

Bronze Beneath the Lake

. So there is actually one point in the entire game where per-rest matters.

Edited February 4, 2016 by Dr. Hieronymous Alloy

[Wolken3156]

Weapons can also be boosted with the appropriate talents though, becoming stronger as well, and those higher level spells can also be made even more powerful with talents as well.

The point I was trying to make though was that low level spells still remain powerful and useful even at later levels. While the higher level spells are certainly more powerful, the lower level ones still remain as useful as they were when you first got them.

[Elric Galad]

 

Per rest abilities? Oh no, resource management in an RPG what has the world come to

 

The main downside to the per rest system is that unlike older RPGs, there's no real punishment in realizing you didn't bring enough items or you were a little too trigger happy with your spells. Enemies do not respawn when you leave an area, and don't spawn to block your only way out of a dungeon either. If you choose to camp instead, you're never at any risk of being attacked by a group of enemies.

Trivial nitpick, but there is at least one instance where enemies spawn behind you and block your exit from a dungeon

Bronze Beneath the Lake

. So there is actually one point in the entire game where per-rest matters.

Mmm... and act IV

[why]

You can find I think at least three camping supplies in Act IV. Although I do recognize that there is at least some limit to complete rest spamming. And yet another although I don't think rest spamming, for all the yammering about it, is a real issue anyway.