Arcanum Best Spells & Colleges
Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura features a complex magic system comprised of 16 spell colleges and 80 spells in total. The best spells in Arcanum are Unlocking Cantrip, Teleportation, Stun, Disintegrate and Harm.
Willpower governs whether or not we can learn a spell. Spells cost fatigue points when cast, which pool-size is modified by Willpower and Constitution.
For Arcanum Best Build, I would avoid Air, Earth and Water colleges. Force and Fire are the best spell colleges in Arcanum for direct damage. I also recommend the Harm spell of Necromantic Black.
Unlike Arcanum technologists, mages have an easy time in Arcanum. It is much easier to play mages than technologists. My Arcanum walkthrough goes into detail on how to play mages.
As it pertains to "Thank god I have this!" the best spell is Teleportation.
As it pertains to "Thank god I have this!" the best spell is Teleportation.
The Best Arcanum Race for Mage builds is Elf, and the Best Arcanum background for Mage builds is Only Child.
Consult Arcanum Best Armor and Arcane Platemail for examples of how the stats of magickal items scale based on our magickal aptitude. The Dark Helm buffs MA by 20 points. But not just that, the effect stacks each time it is equipped.
Note that the repeated casting of spells (spamming in realtime) is limited only by the amount of fatigue restore potions we have stacked into our inventory, which are readily available in large quantities. We can also quaff the fatigue slower.
cf. Arcanum Followers glitch (Dominate Will + Reflection Shield).
College of Air Arcanum
The College of Air holds the spells that manipulate the first elemental material, that of air and wind.
Vitality of Air
Raises the Constitution of the target creature.
Poison Vapors
Creates a large cloud of caustic gas centered on the target tile.
Call Winds
Creates a gust of wind, centered on the caster and blowing away in all directions.
Body of Air
Transforms the target's body into air, making him translucent, immaterial and capable of floating.
Call Air Elemental
Summons an Air Elemental, who will appear in the target tile and immediately attack the caster's enemies.
College of Conveyance Arcanum
The college of Conveyance holds spells that deal with motion and transportation.
Disarm
The target's weapon is knocked out of its hand, if it fails to save.
Unlocking Cantrip
The target is unlocked (but not opened).
Great spell. Picking locks sucks.
Unseen Force
The target is pushed back several squares, directly away from the caster.
Spatial Distortion
The caster is magickally transported to any empty tile of his choosing. Can only "dimension door" to a tile that can be physically walked to. Cannot go through walls.
Teleportation
The spell allows the caster and his group to teleport to a known location.
Not castable in combat, but this is a powerful spell that can take us to any marked overworld location in Arcanum (Arcanum map), even if we haven't yet been there. Saves on backtracking, too. Massively.
College of Divination Arcanum
The college of Divination concerns itself with the gathering of knowledge through magickal means.
Sense Alignment
Reveals the alignment of all creatures in the vicinity of the caster.
See Contents
Reveals the contents of a container.
Read Aura
Reveals the underlying attributes of the target creature.
Sense Hidden
Reveals all invisible creatures and objects as well as traps and trapped objects in the vicinity.
Divine Magick
Determines all of the magickal properties of one item in the caster's inventory.
College of Earth Arcanum
The College of Earth holds the spells that manipulate the second elemental material, that of earth and stone.
Strength of Earth
Raises the Strength of the target creature.
Stone Throw
Creates a stone missile that unerringly travels from the caster to the target.
Wall of Stone
Creates a block of stone in the empty tile indicated by the caster.
Body of Stone
Transforms the target into stone. He gains damage resistance and extra damage but Speed is reduced.
Call Earth Elemental
Summons an Earth Elemental, who will appear in the target tile and immediately attack the caster's enemies.
College of Fire Arcanum
The College of Fire holds the spells that manipulate the third elemental material, that of fire and heat.
Agility of Fire
Raises the Dexterity of the target creature. Note that this spell stacks with itself.
Wall of Fire
Creates a wall of fire across the specified empty tile.
Fireflash
Creates a ball of superheated plasma, which streaks to the specified tile and explodes.
Body of Fire
Immolates the target creature, who gains fire resistance and extra fire damage with any unarmed attack.
Call Fire Elemental
Summons a Fire Elemental, who will appear in the target tile and immediately attack the caster's enemies.
College of Force Arcanum
The College of Force contains spells that manipulate and direct pure energy.
Shield of Protection
Creates a deflective energy screen about the target, increasing its armor class and resistances.
Jolt
Causes a surge of electricity to flow into all creatures within very close range.
Wall of Force
Creates a shimmering wall of force in the specified empty square.
Bolt of Lightning
Creates a bolt of lightning from the caster to the target creature.
Disintegrate
Eliminates the binding force between atoms, dispersing the target as constituent particles.
Insta-slays and target loses items, but most enemies don't have useful items, anyway.
Mental College Arcanum
The Mental College contains spells that influence and control the minds of their targets.
Charm
Causes the target to be friendly towards the caster, if a save is not made.
Stun
Will stun the target for a few seconds, if a save is not made.
Stun is an amazing spell. Can Stun epic-level undead such as Stringy Pete.
Drain Will
Causes the target creature's willpower to drop by half for - hours, if a saving throw is not made.
Nightmare
Causes all creatures within the vicinity of the caster to save or flee in terror.
Dominate Will
Places the mind of the target under the control of the caster, unless a saving throw is made.
Meta College Arcanum
The Meta College contains spells that affect other spells.
Resist Magick
The target gains magick resistance.
Disperse Magick
Cancels existing spell effects on the target.
Dweomer Shield
Prevents magick from operating on the target.
Bonds of Magick
Prevents the target creature from casting any spells.
Reflection Shield
The caster is surrounded by a barrier which causes any spell to be reflected back to its caster, at additional cost.
Morph College Arcanum
The Morph College contains spells that change the substance of the target.
Hardened Hands
Makes the hands of the target creature do more damage.
Weaken
Weakens the substance of the target, reducing its damage resistance for the duration of the spell.
Shrink
Reduces a creature to half its size.
Flesh to Stone
Converts flesh to stone temporarily.
Polymorph
Transforms the target creature into a sheep for as long as the spell is maintained.
College of Nature Arcanum
The College of Nature contains spells that control plants, animals, and natural forces.
Charm Beast
Causes every animal in the vicinity to gain a Good reaction to the player.
Entangle
Imbues a patch of vegetation with motion preventing the target creature from walking.
Control Beast
Places the mind of the animal under the control of the caster, unless a saving throw is made.
Succour Beast
Summons an animal, which will appear in the target tile and immediately attack the caster's enemies.
Regenerate
Greatly increase the heal rate of the caster and all followers.
Black Necromantic College Arcanum
The Black Necromantic College contains spells that negatively affect the life force of a creature.
Harm
Causes damage to the target creature.
Conjure Spirit
Allows the caster to speak with the spirit of the target corpse upon which it is cast.
Summon Undead
Summons an undead champion that will attack everything.
Create Undead
Animates the target corpse, which will follow the caster.
Quench Life
Kills the target creature, unless it successfully saves.
White Necromantic College Arcanum
The White Necromantic College contains spells that positively affect the life force of a creature. (Virgil studies this college.)
Minor Healing
Heals a small number of hit points of damage to the target.
Halt Poison
Reduces the Poison Factor of the target.
Major Healing
Heals a large number of hit points of damage to the target.
Sanctuary
Protects the caster from Undead.
Resurrect
Returns the target creature to life, with full hit points and a poison level of zero.
College of Phantasm Arcanum
The College of Phantasm contains spells that concern the control of light and illusion.
Illuminate
Raises the light level in an area surrounding the target creature.
Flash
Temporarily blinds the target.
Blur Sight
Makes the caster harder to see and to be hit.
Phantasmal Fiend
Creates the illusion of a Greater Demon.
Invisibility
The target becomes invisible except when attacking.
College of Summoning Arcanum
The College of Summoning contains spells that concern the summoning of creatures of progressive power.
Plague of Insects
Summons a swarm of insects, which surrounds and slows the target creature.
Orcish Champion
Summons an orcish grunt (not a champion) into the specified empty square.
Guardian Ogre
Summons an ogre destroyer into the specified empty square.
Hellgate
Summons a demon into the specified empty square.
Familiar
The Temporal College concerns spells that control the flow of time.
Magelock
Locks any portal. The door or window cannot be lockpicked.
Congeal Time
Halves the Speed of all creatures in the vicinity of the caster who fail their saving throw.
Hasten
Doubles the target creature's Speed.
Stasis
Paralyzes the target creature, unless it makes its saving throw.
Tempus Fugit
This powerful spell speeds the caster and his entire group, while slowing down every other creature in the world.
College of Water Arcanum
The College of Water holds the spells that manipulate the fourth elemental material, that of water and ice.
Purity of Water
Raises the Beauty of the target creature.
Call Fog
Creates a billowing mist, centered on the target tile.
Squall of Ice
Creates a storm of ice and sleet centered on the target tile.
Body of Water
Liquefies the target creature, making him translucent and capable of water movement.
Call Water Elemental
Summons a Water Elemental, who will appear in the target tile and immediately attack the caster's enemies.
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