With Signum revealed yesterday and interviews popping up all over the place it seems that BioWare has really started to promote Awakening in a big way.

Just an hour ago BioWare released something Mage characters will find really cool: four new spells and a new specialization.

The Battlemage

Some mages specialize in spells that permit them to engage in combat from afar. Battlemages, by contrast, prefer to wade into the fray alongside their blade-wielding companions, close enough to read the fear in their opponents’ eyes.

Their spells primarily concern personal preservation as well as control of the elements in their immediate surroundings.

Specialization bonus: +2 magic, minor combat health regeneration

In the world of fantasy rpgs, a magic user who combines both Mage and Warrior classes is nothing new, in fact we already have that in the shape of an Arcane Warrior. What BioWare have done is made a Mage which focuses on personal radius spells, spells (like Mind Blast) that affect the area around the caster.

Now, done well, this specialization could work very nicely when combined with the Arcane Warrior, however this Warden does have a worry.

If this specialization focuses on personal radius spells (see New Spells) then we risk having a Lone Wolf in the party. What I mean by this is a character who has to be sent at the enemy separate from the main assault force, to avoid Friendly Fire incidents.

In solo campaigns this is normally not a problem, but in a party-focused rpg, Friendly Fire is something players always want to avoid. Dragons are meant to cause Party Wipes, not the Party fireball-slinger–although a ‘friendly’ fireball toasting companions should be nothing new to tabletop gamers. Enough of this Warden’s worry-mongering however, lets take a look at some of the new spells our Battlemage could be casting…

Arcane Field

What we have here is a nice Damage Over Time (DoT) aura, basically cast it and charge your foes. I can see this being especially useful to Arcane Warriors who want to increase their Damage Per Second (DPS). The upkeep could be a bit of an issue though, especially as “every few seconds” you are going to be hit with an unspecified amount of mana drain. It could prove to be a nice spell, but it is hard to say till we have some solid data to work off.

Description: While this spell is active, the mage radiates arcane energy every few seconds, emitting waves of projectiles that deal spirit damage to enemies within the field. Each projectile consumes a small amount of mana. Click here for detailed information, screenshots and videos.

Elemental Chaos

With an upkeep of 140 this spell better deal some serious damage to make its cost worthwhile. What we can see from the provided video is that this spell inflicts damage across all five elemental spectrums–Fire, Ice, Nature, Spirit and Lightning respectively. This is a very cool idea and is perfect if you are unsure what resistances a foe might possess, but if that is the only reason you are using this expensive spell you might be better off using a variety of cheaper spells.

Description: The battlemage creates a field of chaotic, swirling energy that continuously harms nearby enemies with damage from each of the elements in turn for as long as this spell is active. The spell consumes mana rapidly. Click here for detailed information, screenshots and videos.

Hand of Winter

Now this is a spell I suspect a lot of people will be taking, I know I will be. In Origins Icy Grasp was an amazing spell, now BioWare have given us something even better: a ‘Mass Icy Grasp’. Now while the description below mentions that “nearby enemies” will suffer when this spell is cast I would be inclined to test it outside of combat before I trust it not to freeze my companions as well.

Description: The battlemage releases a burst of intense cold, damaging nearby enemies as well as freezing them unless they pass a physical resistance check, and inflicting a penalty to movement speed otherwise. Click here for detailed information, screenshots and videos.

Repulsion Field

This spell I would love to rename “Mage’s Best Friend” because it really is. While it is going to munch a chunk out of your mana pool, when you cannot guarentee your Mage is not going to be directly attacked by melee-infantry then a spell that sends them flying is perfect!

Description: For as long as this spell is active, waves of repulsive energy emanate from the mage. With every wave, nearby enemies are knocked back unless they pass a physical resistance check. Mana is consumed each time a creature is knocked back.

All information about the new spells are also to be found in the separate Awakening Spells section. Be sure to check it out.

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