weeeell, that's a very personal choice. the biggest, worst drawback i can see is that levelling up from Character Level 18 to Character Level 19 is horribly long. you might be crippling your character in all areas doing it this way.
also, a level 18 mage is extremely powerful, so why even bother with the headache for a few melee abilities? [img]graemlins/1ponder.gif[/img] doesn't make sense to me.
the thing to do, if you just can't stand the way a mage is designed, is to start a pure melee class for a few levels, then switch over to a mage. but remember, this is ME giving this advice, so i could be all wet.
V***V
PS: Vap has a very good point! ::bows very deeply in Vap's direction:: i think it takes a mage to Level 24 before she can get all the spells from the Lvl 18 spell book.
[ 01-12-2002: Message edited by: vesselle ]