Okay. After a long break and some eye drops its time to dive back into the mid 2000s archived fan webforums and dig up the data for Metamagic and Chronomancy. Thanks to an abuse of Primordialist Abilities and Intellect/Knowledge archetype abilities I managed to finagle my way to being able to afford to Phase boost my 2 favorite talents. Also the best ones. If you thought the Phase boosts for a Tier 3 and shoulda been Tier 2 Tier 3 generic magic skills were good, let is check out the oomph of two incredibly rare Tier 1 Highmagic talents.

Alright, 24-7 = 17/24 skill points remaining. Here's Phase 1 Chronomancy after the Phase boost:

Chronomancy Phase 1 Spell List:

Timestop LVL 2-0-0-0: Stasis 6s | single target | ranged 40ft | Cast 1s | 60 mana

Stagnation LVL 2-1-0-0: Slow 13s | single target | ranged 40ft |Cast 2s | 60 mana

Quicken LVL 2-2-0-0: Haste 14s | self | Cast 1s | 60 mana

Accelerate LVL 2-0-0-0: Haste 12s | single target | ranged 40ft | Cast 2s |60 mana

Lag LVL 2-0-0-0: Slow 12s | sphere 16ft | ranged 40ft | Cast 2s | 100 mana

There is going to be a fuckton of Chronomancy training once training starts happening. This is a key reason Chronomancy is a weaker part of my build outside haste. The major reason this hasn't been a big issue is in a standard battle Chronomancy spells are not cast often. Things like mana cost and short ranges are not super relevant. Also Chronomancy is a good option to pair with physical combat for obvious reasons. For mages the main benefit is casting time from Haste and then dropping Slow on enemies.

Chronomancy Phase 2 Spell List:

Advance: Age 4s - Apply all effects as if time had passed | self/single target | ranged 40ft | Cast 3s | 70 mana

Prolong: Reset 8s - Recharge duration of friendly spells | self/single target | ranged 40ft | Cast 3s | 70 mana

Wane: Dissipate 8s - Shorten duration of hostile spells | self/single target | Cast 2s | 50 mana

Reverse: Undo 8s - Ignore the next instance of burst damage | single target | self/single target | Cast 2s |50 mana

Instantaneous: Instant Casting | 1 spell | Cast 2s | 80 mana

Mass Stagnation: Slow 12s | sphere 10ft | ranged 40ft | Cast 4s |100 mana

Timestop Field: Statis 6s | sphere 10ft | ranged 40ft | Cast 4s | 120 mana

Chronomancy was a Tier 1 Talent for a reason. Phase 2 spells opened up tons of options especially in combination with other control spells. They were more complex though and Haste couldn't set most of their cast times to the floor at least without paying a lot of extra mana for Instantaneous. Which by the way I obviously take. My choices here are pretty simple. Given my skill points I make 5 picks so I can repeat this action for Metamagic.

Instantaneous

Mass Stagnation

Advance

Prolong

Wane

Okay. 12 skill points down and 12 to go. We'll finally be ready to finish training and head out to play with our new powers. By the time I complete training I will become the most powerful mage in the world outside Guild Archmages and practioners of similar stature. Certainly more capable than any player characters. Of course I can still be taken by surprise but who can't. Let's see how strong our Phase 1 Metamagic is at Phase 2.

Metamagic Phase 1 Spell List:

Reach LVL 1-0-0-0: Extend | 3 spells | 10ft | Cast 2s | 1.25 spell cost

Twin LVL 1-1-0-0: Copy | 2 spells | Cast 1s | 2.4x spell cost

Focus LVL 1-0-0-0: Casting | 2 spells | -1s | Cast 2s | 1.25x spell cost

Boost LVL 1-2-0-0: Increase | 2 spells | 70% | Cast 2s | 1.95 spell cost

I really only cast Boost a lot and Twin a bit. I can't Reach once or twice but never Focus.

Metamagic Phase 1 Spell List:

Reach LVL 2-0-0-0: Extend | 5 spells | 10ft | Cast 2s | 1.25 spell cost

Twin LVL 2-1-0-0: Copy | 3 spells | Cast 1s | 2.4x spell cost

Focus LVL 2-0-0-0: Casting | 3 spells | -1s | Cast 2s | 1.25x spell cost

Boost LVL 2-2-0-0: Increase | 3 spells | 70% | Cast 2s | 1.95 spell cost

Metamagic is interesting with Phase boosts. They gain 50% more spells impacted but nothing else. You can only train one aspect of the spell in a lot of cases. You can't ever impact the the primary component of Twin, sadly. Focus is a bit mediocre only because I have access to Haste and later Instant Casting from Chronomancy. Otherwise its actually quit good as a pre battle spell or when dealing with kiting. Training does actually do more with focus than you'd think though it takes a while. 10% of a second off casting per level.

Phase boosting does increase the casting time efficiency of Metamagic but not the cost efficiency. Training Reach inreases the range boost. Reach is a bit limited, especially with as you increase range through Phase boosting, because at some point increased range is not that useful. How often do you have the option to cast spells at 200ft? Which is theoretically possible at Phase 4, the final Phase, of Metamagic with the max training cap?

In any case I've burnt 7 of 12 points for that Phase boost so now we get to the truly exciting aspect of this. Phase 2 always has 7 spells. 7 new Metamagic spells? Holy shit.

Metamagic Phase 2 Spell List:

Efficiency LVL 2-0-0-0: -3% Cost/level*(Multiplicative) | 3 spells | Cast 2s | 0.90 spell cost

Spontaneous LVL 2-0-0-0: Charge - After 25 spells Instant Cast next spell Free | Cast 1s

Memetic LVL 2-0-0-0: Recursion - Add + 2 spells to Metamagic Spell | 3 spells | Cast 2s | 1.1x base spell cost

Magebane LVL 2-0-0-0: Negative energy - enemy cost | 4 spells | single target ranged 40ft | Cast 2s | 1.50 spell cost

Polarity LVL 2-0-0-0: The next 3 enemy spells reverse their effect | 3 spells | Cast 1s | 1.5x spell cost

Enhance LVL 2-0-0-0: Increase | 3 spells | 50% base effect | Cast 2s | 1.5x spell cost

Meditate LVL 2-0-0-0: Casting | 4 spells | -1s stacking | Cast 2s | 1.25x spell cost

So there is a shit ton going on here. Honestly not even sure where they'll come up with 5 new Metamagic spells. Oh, right, so Phase 3 gets 3 spells and Phase 4 gets 2 spells. These spells are the pinnacle of their Aspect though so they are incredibly strong. Plus I guess the game wants me to spend skill points on level ups at some point. Hah. Can't just keep piling on new spells and skills. Again my choices are pretty obvious. Although they make my head hurt. Metamagic is just as cancer as anything else involving the word meta.

Efficiency

Spontaneous

Memetic

Enhance

Meditate

I ignore the spells involving enemy spells. God what a nightmare. Who wants to think through the implications of that. Jesus. So there you have it. 38 skill spoints, 24 spells and skills. So much power. Now I get to make very difficult choices on how much time and cash I want to spend training skills. I have 40 gold and a nice Ability with a Training Perk. I do want to save some cash for items but still. Wow.

Chronomancy training time:

Timestop LVL 2-0-0-0: Stasis 6s | single target | ranged 40ft | Cast 1s | 60 mana

Stagnation LVL 2-1-0-0: Slow 13s | single target | ranged 40ft |Cast 2s | 60 mana

Quicken LVL 2-2-0-0: Haste 14s | self | Cast 1s | 60 mana

I don't actually use Timestop but I included it here since I did select it. Accelerate and Lag are not skills I actually have so I didn't display them. I absolutely want to max out my 10 trainings from being at Phase 2. There's an obvious option here. I just boosted the mana costs heavily. Now I don't cast these spells that much in battle and I have tons of mana reduction options to counteract increases but let's go hard anyways.

Stagnation LVL 2-1-10-0: Slow 15s | single target | ranged 40ft |Cast 2s | 20 mana

Quicken LVL 2-2-10-0: Haste 16s | self | Cast 1s | 20 mana

I burned 8 levels on mana and 2 on primary effect each. I'd say the devs might want to lower the duration increase but most characters don't have Boost and Highmage and Spellsage massively increasing duration so who knows. The total cost is 3 + 2 + 3 except - 1 _ - 1 so 3+1 + 3+1+2 etc. 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 * 2 so 24*5 to take a mathematical short cut. Any time you have an series with a steady growth rate you can multiple the total of the two outer terms times half the total. If there is an odd number of terms just do the same but - 1 and average the outer terms. In any case 240 Silver or 2.4 Gold. If I want to save half my 40 Gold for items that means I can train 6 more skills to the max level and end up with 20.8 gold. Off we go.

Metamagic Phase 1 Spell List:

Reach LVL 2-0-0-0: Extend | 5 spells | 10ft | Cast 2s | 1.25 spell cost

Twin LVL 2-1-0-0: Copy | 3 spells | Cast 1s | 2.4x spell cost

Focus LVL 2-0-0-0: Casting | 3 spells | -1s | Cast 2s | 1.25x spell cost

Boost LVL 2-2-0-0: Increase | 3 spells | 70% | Cast 2s | 1.95 spell cost

Again I don't use all these skills. I am not currently planning to train Reach. But focus would actually be useful now that I have more mana and skills with casting times higher than 1 or 2. Haste can't solve all my casting time problems anymore. I already know the maximum cost so no need to do the math yet again.

Twin LVL 2-1-10-0: Copy | 3 spells | Cast 1s | 1.9x spell cost

Focus LVL 2-0-10-0: Casting | 3 spells | -1.5s | Cast 2s | 1.25x spell cost

Boost LVL 2-2-10-0: Increase | 3 spells | 120% | Cast 2s | 1.95 spell cost

Metamagic spells are a little different impact wise. Boost has 2 options. You can boost damage but increase mana cost by 10% or you can reduce mana cost by 10%. I split my points evenly. I don't wanna spend too much mana but I would mostly rather increase damage. Highmage has a strong impact as well. On some spells in any case. It doesn't help Twin but does help Reach, Boost, and Focus. With Haste from Quicken and Focus on I am casting so many spells for the minimum casting time. Its really unfair honestly. God forbid I break out Meditate. Wtf. It is definitely a good thing the release game did not group Highmage, Chronomancy, and Metamagic in the same Template. Wow.

I've got 3 more spells to train. Such a difficult choice. Do I train some new Phase 2 spells? Do I goof of with Pyromancy? What about Miasma? Spontaneous is an awesome Metamagic spell although more for the Instant cast. Wtf. The mana cost being waved is nice but wow. Also, Memetic? Metamagic that hits Metamagic? The Recursion effect mostly saves me time and not mana but time is precious. Time Magic is the best magic. Meta Metamagic is basically just time magic. Okay, the call is made. Let's boost some Metamagic and Chronomancy.

Enhance LVL 2-0-0-0: Increase | 3 spells | 50% base effect | Cast 2s | 1.5x spell cost

Enhance LVL 2-0-10-0: Increase | 3 spells | 100% base effect | Cast 2s | 1.5x spell cost

First order of business is to buff out stacking spell for Increase. I can cast Boost and Enhance to make my spells ridiculously awesome. Highmage has a great synergy as well. I'm mana efficient and also time efficient. Now I've got 2 more spells and its going to be Chronomancy.

Advance: Age 5s - Apply all effects as if time had passed | self/single target | ranged 40ft | Cast 3s | 30 mana

Prolong: Reset 10s - Recharge duration of friendly spells | self/single target | ranged 40ft | Cast 3s | 50 mana

For my Reset spell I knock it up duration wise to the base durations of most of my dots. It will not exceed the base dot value so its a bit overkill on some things but its still awesome. I spend the rest on mana reduction. I did pick up some mana related options but using them really complicates my spell chain. For my Age spell I did 8 levels of mana reduction and 2 of duration increase. Phase 2 spells require more investment to boost duration. It is for the best. Imagine if I was proccing Age and Reset over and over for full dot durations. Obscene.

I'm left with 20.8 gold now which I suppose I could blow on training some more. Do I really need more items? At this point my mana items are not super productive because I'm abusing so much mana efficiency. Still, I can save on casting time and spell chain flowcharts if I just have more mana. I end up dropping 10.8 gold on gear that adds 200 mana and 14 recovery to my totals. Then I spend 10 to add add 212 health. Don't have the money for recovery. Perhaps I should have spent it all on health and recovery? In any case with 400 health and my mitigation capabilities I can actually afford to take some hits.

We'll see how things go and whether I can't avoid that with my insane new spell chain options. In the mean time I prep to hit Phase 2 of Gravity magic. I have so many fucking awesome Tier 1 and even Tier 2 Talents. Even with my new boost to skill use training and paid training and skill points I always have trouble deciding what to prioritize. I need 7 points to Phase up.

I now gain 3 stat points and 4 spell/skill points per level and I also gain 3 ability points per 5 levels. Not bad. I do get some bonus skill points before my 3rd template but not super soon.

Character sheet time:

Narrator Template(Magic): High Human Level 11(10000/204800)Level 12

Health 400(212)(Recovery 3/s) Mana 968(Recovery 36(8*+28)/s)

STR 11 DEX 11 CON 15

CHA 35(18*+3+4+10) WIS 40(22*+4+4+10) INT 70(35*+7+4+14+10) MEM 57(43+14)

Talents:

Chronomancy(2) Bosonist Pyromancy(2) Tarnishing Regresser Sustainer Warping

Miasma(2) Illusion Metamagic(2)

Arcanist Adept Archivist

Performance Magnate Alchemist

Abilities:

Highmage Manawell Tricaster Charismatic Thoughtcaster

Spellsage Cantrips Concentration Arcana

Persuasive Perception Skilled Linguist Histornia Geographer

Esoteric Paragon Insight Acumen Prodigy

Talent

Skills:

Timestop Stagnation Quicken Instantaneous Masst Stagnation Advance Prolong Wane

Firebolt Fireball Blazing Mind Clingfire Pyromania

Reach Twin Focus Boost Efficiency Spontaneous Memetic Enhance Meditate

Weaken Clumsy

Worldstep

Lockdown

Smoke Splash Envenom Fester Infect Blight Boil & Burst Plague Corruption Taint

Distract Mesmerize Copy Self Charm

Steel Mind Research

Usurption Endowment Stupefaction

Manaflow Empower

Expurgate

Attenuate Lifesurge

Fascinating Street Performer Ebulliant Flamboyant

I considered providing skill/spell training levels but what a pain. Maybe later. Should probably get a skill/spell chart/reference type thing at some point. Maybe after my next Template or extensive use of Phase boosts.

So in general I planned at this point to extensively abuse Metamagic and Chronomancy. I was feeling good about Miasma with my new spell improving spells and time magic. Pyromancy was okay. Mostly I was thinking about if I should be leveling Fireblant to replace Firebolt. There was just a lot of cast time savings involved since the spells were basically identical. I also finally had an option to actually use Fireball. It was weak before because Haste from Quicken only cleared off a single second of cooldown. Now I could easily knock off the other two with a relatively simple chain of Metamagic.

I was really looking forward to some more AoE damage options. I was relatively strong against single targets and a smaller number of relatively close targets. Although a lot of that relied on DoTs with various debuffs. Meanwhile I was also thinking about abusing my new social powers vs questing to level to 15 to visit my Vampire girl, though not girlfriend. I know now that I was going to pick up an Extraordinary Template from her but at the time I didn't know that and I got involved in some other activities prior to leveling that were not super useful. I did get some skillpoints I guess.

In fact after getting to Phase 2 of Tarnisher and Bosonist and Regresser I was ready to engage in my first true curve break. The equivalent of abusing Golden Saints to go after the boss in Morrowind at a low level. That precipitated my acquisition of my first true Unique Template, since Secret Backgrounds are similar but not identical. The downside is the combat log being totally insane.