Is it really worth it to buy a magic license when you earn enough money? Think about it... once you come out of Irenicus' dungeon, you're still pretty weak. By the time you wait for the stronger spells, it will be closer to the end of the game. You cant cast spells in the street when you're attacked, so you are hopeless unless you buy the license... or until you are strong enough to kill the Cowled Wizards. Any thoughts and insights?

There are several solutions for you.
1) Don't fight in the streets, so the Cowled Wizards won't have any problems with you. The rogues you fight in the alleys do not count as streetfighting.
2) Buy a license. 5000 (IIRC) is not that much.

I really think it's worth it to buy this, you have no idea how frustrating it is when you're attacked and not even able to cast spells when soloing. 5000 gp isn't that much in the long term anyway...

Buy a license for sure? why? Well, you might find yourself in some sticky situation with bandits, thugs, or other foes attacking you by surprise. In the process of being surprise, you might forget that you don't have a license to cast magic in Amn, and unknowling you do so. What happens? Well, the cowled wizards will warn you once, and if you do it again after your warning they'll attack you. Very annoying indeed. So in conclusion, "YES" buy it. Its worth having, and like everyone has said already, 5k GP is not that much.

[This message has been edited by strange_machine (edited February 06, 2002).]

Just go and buy it. You can get the money back very fast. Just today I got almost 15,000 from selling things I didn't need that I found in De'Arnise Hold + the 10,000 you get from beating it = 25,000 in 30 minutes to an 1 hour and 30 minutes, depending on if you rushed through it or not.

It can also be fun not to pay the cowled wizards :D IIRC you only have to kill about 5 parties of them - and only the last one is really dangerous (3 high level mages -pretty tough fight, close to Kangaxx when you're surprised :D ). You'll find some good loot then too, some neat high level spells and some gems, not to mention the XP you earn. However, it's a challenge.

Yeah, there are *supposed* to be a whole bunch of different groups, but when I tryed it, I killed the first gang, and no more came! Does this happen over a large space of time? Like you fight one group in one area, go to another, cast another spell, then the second group shows up?

Oh, another intresting thing, when I was fighting them, there were some Amnish Soldiers near me, and guess what? They actually ATTACKED the cowled wizards! And you say America has a messed up government! :grin::grin::grin:

If you're a newbie or soloing I suggest buying it, if not I simply say NO even though the license pay is trivial 500GP.;)

IMHO thugs and bandits just lay no problem, with no magic casting you can easily dispose of them. The only challenge could be the vampires spawned after dusk, however you can stand neutral by delaying the payment to Gaylen to bypass the fight. Then next step is to do quests, earn XP and arm your party, as soon as you deem yourself stronge enough you should go break the rules kill the damned cowled wizards for absolute fun...:D:evil:

PS: Don't forget you can always freely cast clerical spells anytime.:)

The point is that you have to wait for 8 to 24 hours (I forgot for how long exactly) till they appear again - you cannot kill the first group, go to another map in Atkathla to repeat the trick right after.

I actually fought them for the first time when I had Keldorn in my party. Due to a bug his 2hd-sword causes magical damage, calling in the cowled wizards when I fought the fallen paladins - so I had to fight both the pallys and the wizards ... :rolleyes: ... in the same game almost the same thing happened again when I fought the Gityanki in waukeens promenade - this time with the final group of the cowled wizards ... good fight ... :D :lol: Fortunately both, the Githyianki and the paladins both didn't had good missilers ... :D

[This message has been edited by Ragusa (edited February 06, 2002).]

I too paid the toll - 5,000gp - first time through, but the same game found out how good insect plague is. :cool: Jaheira gets this fairly early on. I found it's the key spell - for me anyway - to pound those wizards, get their stuff, scrolls and XP. I would stage all my fights just outside CC, buffing up with protective spells inside, then throwing down the gauntlet with a stoneskin or prot.from evil outside, and getting Jaheira ready to blast them with IP once their 'yur breakin' the law' speech is done. Worked every time. :grin:

It's not that I don't want to buy the licence for a cheap 5,000, I just hear great things about what you can get looting the carcasses of the Wizards. So, I was just listening for suggestions.

I still say it's worth getting a license... it dosn't cost much and the cowles don't have THAT great items..the odd low level scroll and maybe a quarter staff and a few gems.

Some scrolls aren't so low-level, Z-L.

The past two times I haven't bought it, and one of those was on insane rules the other was hard with only 4 characters. Common thugs aren't worthy of magic, vampires can be dealt with in other ways, and don't be scared of Githyanki, they end doing more harm to passing villagers then they do your own party (couldn't aim a lightning bolt to save their lives).

My argument is there aren't enough times you fight in magic resistant zones. And if you do need spell backup, clerics make a great alternative. The only time I'm ever going to buy a magic license again is if I solo a spellcaster. Otherwise, there's no real need to. It's a gimmick I say :p.

[This message has been edited by Big B (edited February 24, 2002).]

I thought it was quite funny last time through, when I needed to buff up a little and couldn't afford the licence.

I was in the Gov't district, and needed to find a suitable indoor place to do it. I used the Gov't building, in full view of the bloke who sells the licence. Nobody in there battted an eyelid. :lol:

I did buy the licence afterwards. Not from guilty conscience, purely convenience for a solo mage.

Edit: My bloody fingers are dyslexic!

[This message has been edited by Viking (edited February 24, 2002).]

The thing no-ones brought up here is that you need to play your alignment. A Lawful or Good character would buy one because it is the local law.

Yeah I agree with Big B. I'd cast buff spells indoors, and/or bring a Druid along. Chain Lightning would work wonders if you wanted to wreak some havoc.

As far as I remember you don't buy it legally. Instead you BRIBE one of the officials. That's not exactly lawful is it? Really lawful would be not to cast spells (in buildings or in the streets!). But I never played a lawful character so shouldn't really say too much about this. :D:D

Heh, I was returning from Trademeet, and had forgotten that I hadn't paid for the license - and I have a pretty magic intensive party. So I arrive in Athkatla, and I get a messenger telling me that I am wanted at my playhouse in the docks. By now it is night time, and my party are fairly beat up, but I figure that I can go and rest in the inn after I see my playhouse. So I'm walking down the street - very atmospheric, it is dark and raining ;).So I'm walking down, and suddenly these 4 or so muggers appear and attack. Should be pretty easy to handle I say to myself, promptly casting 2 magic missiles each into two of the brigands. They get down the badly wounded I think, and suddenly these 4 or 5 mages dimension door in and attack. Getting a pretty bad beating, one of the mages casts Horror or something similar upon Jan and run southwards. So I'm more concentrating on the damage these wizards and muggers are dealing to me, and I ignore Jan. So in mid fight, I get this dialogue spring up. And then a vampire joins in the fight. Suffice to say, I got pretty badly mangaled because I was pretty low level. Now do you see why I dislike travelling at nights in games? :D

@Capt. Tripps- My CG fighter-thief is out to kill all Cowled Wizards for being bass turds and kidnapping Imoen. Death to the Wizards!!
P.S. some laws were meant to be broken.

If you don't have a license and get attacked you could run into a building. In here you can cast your spells at the enemies that followed you in.