Disclaimer: This is my personal advice to mages, no guarantee that you actually get the results you want.
If you have trouble with gold, your partner spends it all, or you seem to have too little to buy the amounts of draughts and pastes you want, the following advice may help.
Saving gold early on
In the early years of life, mages havenít got a real way of making gold, except hunting. Unlocking chests might give you an occasional 100 gold, and healing might get you a donation once in a while, but the key for starting your life with enough gold to learn all spells and skills you wish to learn, assuming you have the knowledge, is patience. If you rush to high ranks in the beginning of your life, you might find yourself having a gold problem because the tutors seem tae ask so much of ye. If ye go through yer ranks a bit slower, and rest when ye need yer spell points back instead of buying expensive potions or pastes, yer bank account will noticeably rise. If ye see gold or a magic restore potion lying around, and ye know totally sure it nae belongs tae anybody else, it might prove useful tae get those aswell.
Another way of saving gold early on is participating in the current Elder Mentor program of our Mages' Guild. ëTis nae wise tae let that be yer reason fer joining the program, but it is an extra advantage. If ye join the Elder Mentor program, ye get the chance tae earn armour by completing the Test of Arcana. This will save ye approximately 15,000 gold pieces, depending on the armor ye can wear, which is very much early in yer life.
Earning yer first few gold pieces...
At guildrank 10, mages get the chance tae learn the arcana skill if they wish. This skill enables you tae make arcane objects. At guildrank 10, those are runes. Finding out the recipes might cost ye a bit of gold, but ye can use the runes fer the Test of Arcana in the Elder Mentor program if yer part of that, and ye can (try) tae sell them. Although runes are powerful, nobody will need more than two of the same kind, which makes selling runes nae the best, steady income there is. But in yer early years, selling a few runes sometimes will come in handy.
Useful skills and tricks to save gold
One of the best ways to save gold is by learning the barter skill. This skill will let you sell items for more gold, and you can persuade all those greedy shopkeepers that the item you want to buy has less value than theyíre asking for it; thus they will drop their prices for you.
If the barter skill is unavailable fer ye, or if ye have too little knowledge tae learn it well and ye need something like an expensive draught, ye could ask a friendly mage or other adventurer who is skilled in bartering tae buy the item fer ye. This works rather well if ye need posh clothes from the wedding shop as well. Note, however, that not all items are droppable.
This trick might seem to not be such a major advantage, but in yer younger years, it counts up rather well. When you use yer guildring tae get back to the guild, and have nae gold on you, you can just go up a bit tae the north causeway, or to town to the fort, tae get that 200 gold needed fer a new guildring. This maybe only saves a little per time, but after a while it saves you thousands. Of course, this doesnít work too well if yer in a hurry.
The last trick I have fer ye is one Iíve been using fer a long time, and I only break it in exceptional cases. Whenever you want to buy something, donít spend more then you have with you. Itís a very simple thing to do. This way you donít make huge expenditures which you canít really afford, and you wonít lose a lot of gold to taxes by depositing, withdrawing and redepositing.
Every mage class has specific advantages and disadvantages. This is also true when trying to earn gold. The key to richdom is exploiting the advantages of your class.
Shaman class
The shaman class has as its greatest advantage, of course, the naturalism spells which can be sold fer quite a nice amount of gold.
The colouring spells, usually called red, green and shards, are one of the best examples of this. Since these spells enhance the strength, accuracy and defence of the person under influence of the spells, they are very popular with fighters and monks. Personally I would start around guildrank 20 asking fer 500 fer each spell, and ask fer 250 gold more per portal ye gain. This is an amount which is reasonable fer the buyers, high enough tae value yer own spells, and will give ye a decent amount of gold.
Another way shaman can gather some gold is by the Raise Dead and Resurrect spells. Both will make a dead person live again, although Resurrect is more powerful then the Raise Dead spell. (See the help raise dead spell and help resurrect spell scrolls for more information.) Ye could make some gold with both of them. Even though a lot of shaman donít charge anything fer raising a dead person, they often get donations for it. The resurrect spell is very powerful, thus you can ask quite an amount fer that spell. A lot of shaman nae charge more than the life rune it requires when resurrecting a person, but if ye charge 10-20% more than the life rune, ye still ask a very decent price fer such a powerful spell and make some extra money at the same time.
You should never charge less than the cost of the Life Rune and should also consider your additional costs such as rings, compasses and haste before deciding the price. As your skill in Resurrecting improves, you should also consider raising your price accordingly. A resurrection that saves 60% instead of 50% should, quite naturally, be worth more. As a rule of thumb you should increase your price by 20% for each increase in the level of your resurrection.
Wizard class
Naturally, the wizard class depends heavily on its magical spells tae earn some gold.
The most known and requested spell that wizards can get, is of course the haste spell, available to scribe at guildrank 26. This spell makes the target very fast, and thus can be sold fer quite an amount. The most used pricing fer this spell is 3000 gold pieces at the first guildportal when ye can learn it, then 1000 gold pieces extra fer every portal ye make after that. This is a reasonable pricing, although when there are a lot of wizards around that all have the same prices, the business will be very thinly spread. If ye want tae attract more customers then the others, ye should offer something extra. Fer example, offer a free magic armour spell, and make sure this can be seen in yer ad clearly. Another way may be tae ask just a tiny bit less than the other wizards with the same quality haste spell as ye, maybe 250 gold pieces less per cast. HOWEVER, make sure ye always ask at least 3000 gold pieces, and that you value your spells well. Casting guildrank 90 haste fer only 3000 gold pieces could be considered undervaluing yer own spell, if ye ask some people.
At guildrank 42, wizards get access tae the enchant item spell. This spell will let ye put spells ye know in a ring, rod or other enchantable object. The most common use fer this are haste rings, which are usually sold fer 3000 gold pieces per charge of haste that the item holds. Tae sell more rings than other present wizards, see the above passage about the haste spell. These techniques can be used with a haste ring as well.
Although wizards concentrate on their Magical Spell Use spells, higher ranked wizards tend tae learn the colouring spells as well. I suggest the pricing fer wizard colours as 500 gold per colour at guildrank 42, then 200 gold more per colour fer every guildportal after that.
Another item that wizards can offer fer sale are rune rings. These are rings that wizards can create with arcana, and they give excellent defence resistance. As with most things, I advise a price of around 120% of what the basic cost would be tae make the rune rings. As with everything, ye might get more customers when they know ye give a little extra when they buy a rune ring from ye.
Another small advantage wizards have is that they donít need tae scribe offensive or heal spells more then three times as soon as they reach the guildrank 15 portal because of their access to the haste spell. This means wizards will need a lot fewer spellpoints tae cast spells, nae needing tae use the third-level attack spells, and thus can cast more spells without having tae rest or drink a draught.
Sorcerer class
The sorcerer class has most likely the least services to offer. Despite that, sorcerers have a large advantage over wizards and shaman.
The main way sorcerers will have tae make their gold is by hunting. Their advantage is their immense hitting power. If a shaman or wizard would hit for 100, a sorcerer at the same level would hit for 150. As a sorcerer, you will have to make almost all your gold from hunting, though. Make sure you pick up everything that could be sold for a decent price, and try to find a good balance between gold hunting grounds and experience hunting grounds. At higher ranks sorcerers can sell their colours as well. My advice is the same as you can read in the passage about wizards.
It is very important tae always keep a few things in mind so ye will nae disgrace yer guild, clan or yerself.
Stealing and begging:
A mage should never steal or beg fer gold. If ye need money very badly, ye should work fer it. Some people might give ye a loan, but never keep asking if they say no.
Undervalue your spells:
While selling yer services fer slightly less gold than others might be a nice trick tae get more customers, ye should never sell yer services fer too cheap. For example, selling very powerful colours for 500-1000 gold pieces, or haste fer 1000 gold pieces would undervalue those spells.
Go below set prices that the mages guild agreed on:
Tae stop people undervaluing their spells, the Mages' Guild has several minimum prices fer several spells. Example is at least 3000 gold pieces per haste charge in a ring.
Alley back to the library foyer.
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