On magic users and side weaponry

[Corrobin]

It seems like, because of limited uses of magic, IS is pushing the mages into carrying an off-hand weapon to use if they want to conserve magic. For Mercedes and Hubert, it's bows. For Anette, it's axes. For Dorothea, it's swords.

Do you like this idea? What do you think the other magic users (Linhardt, Marianne, and Lysithea) use?

[Rakath]

It depends on what sort of mixed classes there are in the endgame. If there's a Dark Knight or Valkyrie I'm entire in on limited magic+off weapon. I'm less into it if the endgame mages are just Saint/Summoner/Sorcerer like classes.

[Azz]

Linhardt I believe has no weapon strength outside of reason and faith however I'm gonna make him a lance user since his crest is Cethlenn and the state of Cethlenn boosts lance stuff.

For Lysithea, based on her and Catherine having the same crests (well I believe), swords I guess.

For Marianne, I have no idea, but bows I guess since the Golden Deer love bows.

[Ranulfo]

24 minutes ago, Azz said:

For Marianne, I have no idea, but bows I guess since the Golden Deer love bows.

She might actually have a talent for axes given her crest is the same as in Edelgard's bone weapon. Although it's hard to imagine meek Marianne with a big ass axe 😛

[timon]

To me it looks like the ones you listed have a side weapon because they specialize in one of the magic skills (Dorothea, Hubert and Annette seem to lean into Reason, while Mercedes is clearly more of a healer), on the other hand Linhardt, Marianne and Lysithea look like they're full invested in both Reaon and Faith, thus not having a "clear" (for how much it can be in this game) second weapon.

[X-Naut]

They're probably going to have really niche use due to magic classes having lower Strength stats and the focus on class skills, and who knows, there could be an arbitrary cap on weapon rank for non-native weapons. At most I can see an occasional dip into sidearms to use an effective weapon. There might be a hybrid class or so in the highest class tier but that doesn't appear to be a focus in this game.

[Armchair General]

I think it's to help offset the limited uses offensive magic have early on in the game. Of course, there's at least 2 gold-tier classes that double the uses of Reason and Faith; but that'll probably be available after the timeskip.

[Lynsanity]

I think they'll be useful for grinding away at hidden talents. For example, you could potentially have Hubert reach three stars in lances without ever having to class him out of a magic-using class.

Or going the other way, I've been trying to think of how a Reason focused Felix would look. Luckily you could still equip him with swords/gauntlets while grinding him in a mage class, to compensate if his magic growth isn't so hot. It's just a shame that mages seem to have lower movement.

[PrincessAlyson]

I'll make sure all my mages have sidearms so they don't get caught unawares if their magic is running out. I've always liked classes that let mages also have a physical weapon.

[Shadow Mir]

Can't be worse than in Path of Radiance, in my opinion. At least they get to use actual weapons in this game unlike in that game where they were stuck with lolknives that you would never use because staves were just more useful.

[Rakath]

48 minutes ago, Shadow Mir said:

Can't be worse than in Path of Radiance, in my opinion. At least they get to use actual weapons in this game unlike in that game where they were stuck with lolknives that you would never use because staves were just more useful.

It'll make any Sonic Swords/Flame Lances/Bolt Axes in Three Houses amazing if you can make a mage with high skill in a weapon.

(Another botch in 9+10 as the only one of those worth anything was the Sonic Sword to give to Mist or maybe Elincia.)

[Fabulously Olivier]

The franchise has attempted this multiple times, but I don't think it's ever been useful due to the low strength of most magic users. They'll often do comparable or greater damage to high resistance enemies with their tomes, and do so from 1-2 range.

[colossus86]

This raises a question... Have we seen anyone counter attack with magic. If all magic works on an ammo system burning through potentiality valuable spell charges when all you really want to do is bait could be undesirable.

There's also the question of if enemies outside designated classes will actually have functional amounts of Res.

[SpiceMan]

27 minutes ago, colossus86 said:

This raises a question... Have we seen anyone counter attack with magic. If all magic works on an ammo system burning through potentiality valuable spell charges when all you really want to do is bait could be undesirable.

Annette did it in one of the King of Beasts gameplay videos. I have a feeling it might have been Kotaku