First off - MAN a lot of mail, just caught up.

Reading waay back, I was surprised to see that most people don't like
O'Kiels radiation. This goes to the mana/damage ratio. That is a
topic that I'm real surprised to see some peoples answers to. Just
saying "WAIT - you get a spell that does 200, or 300, or whatever damage
at level X" isn't a ratio. Just doing quick figuring, your first real
spell shock of fire will do about 1.07 dam per mana. Shock of ice is a
staple at 1.27, and shock of lightning does get better at 1.3 dam/mana.
But keep in mind fizzling, and resitances, and try to use the minimum
spell to do the job. Also, the next spell at 20th I estimate will be
about the same ratio - so even tho you are doing about 100 dam instead
of 80 with lightning, you aren't doing any better damage.

Why use it then? You ARE doing it faster tho, and that is the gain you
get really there. (When you absolutely, positively need it dead!
hehe). You get gang banged. Everyone targets the same thing, you
unload and kill it REAL quick, then you can all fall back into a good
rhythm on what is left usually. Your tanks don't notice, but yet again,
you took what would have been a loosing battle for them, and made it a
great victory.

When I am managing my mana in a group, you need to watch your tanks
(this assumes no cleric healing fast). You should always end a battle
about 2-3 bars of mana down, and they should be no more than 1 to MAYBE
2 bars of life down. Your mana will always regen faster than their HP's
will. This ensures that your group will be ready to fight sooner after
a fight, and can even survive that extra ambush that might hit you. If
you are holding mana for trouble, then you are all doing ok - but you
have a LOT longer downtime between battles while healing / meditating
for more healing mana. (with a full blown cleric, and not just paladins
and rangers, you can drop that by about a bar of life)

That said, be ready to unload to keep your tanks over half life. If you
are out of mana, but your tanks are alive, then the whole party will a
LOT more likely survive than if its the reverse. If your tank gets low,
they may get edgy and run, and then you are all dead basically.

So, back to O'Kiels. Best instance is when you have a lead tank. Odds
are he will take most of the hits, and prolly from two monsters. He
will get hit about 10 times from one monster before its dead, and
another 20 or so from the second (each doing a measly 2 damage you
say!!). That is about 30*2=60 points of damage, all for 15 mana -
that's a HUGE mana/damage ratio there (4.0). Even with just one
monster, 10 hits is 20 dam - that's 1.33 ratio - better than any other
spell you have up to at least 20th if not higher. Oh- it's also great
practice for your abjuration - a skill that is otherwise lagging
horribly cause you don't need to refresh your shielding that frequently.

Lastly - I tend to agree with the person who said this list has a lot of
spam, but the problem is it is all basically topic appropriate. I
personally would like to see a more focused list, maybe two lists here,
but that isn't gonna happen. I already switched to digest when I got
hit with the initial 200+ mail, but still! Any idea from anyone how we
can make this more manageable?

Micon / Karana