- This page is about the four types of NPC's and their attacks and immunities. For the sect see here.
Hand Mages are the four types of mages {Water, Earth, Air and Fire} that belong to the Hand Brotherhood and can mostly be found in their towering complex but are also known to go on expeditions.
Appearance[]
Hand mages are all hooded males with usually a slightly dark skin color, possibly because most of them originate from the east,[1] and often have beards. They speak in mysterious echoing voices.
They wear the same type of robes albeit with different colors appropriate to their element: the water mage wears blue robes, the earth mage wears dark brown robes, the air mage wears white grey robes and the fire mage wears dark grey robes. all mages are hooded which are, for the water and air mage, the same color as their robes, but grey for the earth and fire mage. They also all wear black boots (the fire mage ones have a red tint at the foot) with a yellowish or copper pattered motive that runs from their crotch to their neck and is wider at the chest (except for the water mage's ones are blue) and have dark stripes running besides the chest and pelvis (except for the fire mage which ones are colored red). Each mage has the symbol of their element right below their chest.
Appearances[]
Thief Gold[]
- The Mage Towers
- The Lost City (they replace a group of Crayman in Thief: The Dark Project)
General Strategy[]
Every mage (except maybe Air Mages) attacks with a ranged form of magic and have the same hit and flee points (16 and 4) which makes them comparably weaker than a Hammerite Priest as the mage has less health and a higher fleeing point. Fire bolts and water bolts of Fire and Water Mages also cause five points of damage, one point less damage then the priest's flaming hammer spell.
It is advises not to engage in direct combat with a mage but instead take advantage of his relative low health and Blackjack him from behind (if possible) or go for a kill from the shadows before he can retaliate. As mages only have a ranged form of attack the best strategy to defeat them is to circling around them while continuously attacking in case of a one-on-one fight. If other mages or sword or bow guards come to aid the mage, the situation might become grim, so it is best to avoid alerting the mages.
Be aware that each type of mage is completely immune to specific forms of attack and it is best to know what they are immune to before engaging in combat with them. The next section will explain each mage's specific form of attack and what they are resistant to.
The Four Types of Mages[]
Each type of mage specializes in one the four elements {Water, Earth, Air and Fire} and is both able to cast spells representing that form of element while also being immune to attacks from the same type of elements. For example, Fire Mages can cast fireballs and are immune to fire bases attacks and Air Mages can summon Air Elementals and are immune to gas based attacks.
Water Mage[]
A water bolt.
The Water Mage specializes in water magic and uses an arcing bolt of magically charged water (which look like a swirling icicle with purple spots) to repel enemies. This attack does five points of damage which makes him not a formidable foe but his strength comes from when he attacks in combination with a guard or an other mage, especially an Earth Mage. In both cases it will be hard for the player to reach the mage and will be an easier target for his water bolt.
Following the general rule that each mage is immune to their own element, Water Mages are immune to Water Bolts. But strangely they still drown in water like other humans, even though some of their books, such as The Book of Coral and Scale, describe them "living" and breathing underwater.[2] This could be a developer oversight or merely only available to immensely powerful archmages and advanced practitioners.
Earth Mage[]
The Earth Mage specializes in earth magic and appears to be more of a support mage. They can cast vine like webbing on their target which entangle them with five layers of crushing vines. Once someone is entangled their movement speed is reduced and they are unable to attack until they have removed all layers of vines around them. This must be done quickly because as long as they are entangled by the crushing vines they while receive a small periodic amount of damage until they have freed themselves. It is important to note that vines can accumulate on top of each other and if an entangled target is shot with another vine spell, the new layers will stack on top of the previous ones. For example, if Garrett has two layers of vines and is hit by a new shot, adding five to the total amount, he will have seven in total. This attack works in a similar way as the Chaos Spiders' entangling web attack but with added damage.
Even though their attack is quite nasty, it is slow and has a short range, so it's easy to avoid it. Even when someone gets caught in the crushing vines, they can get untangled fast, but the school of Earth magic can be devastating in combination with Fire or Water.
Air Mage[]
An Air Elemental.
The Air Mage specialize in Air magic and is maybe the most unique type of Hand Mages in that he does not possess a direct way of attack but instead summons Air Elementals which will do the combat for him. As these Elementals are fast, lash out in swift and straight waves until they hit their target and explode themselves upon contact, the Air Mage is arguably the most dangerous of the four types of Hand Mages.
When an Air Mage is alarmed, he summons an Air Elemental near him, which will relentlessly seek out their target and leas out at them in a swift wave. If it reaches their target it will self-destruct, inflicting four to six points of damage. If it misses its target it will try to leash out again. Air Elementals can navigate around corners, fly over barriers and move very fast. The Elemental, however, seems to have difficulty navigating through darkness, just like regular humans, and will not explode if it cannot find its target. A plus side is that the elemental stays into existence for around twelve seconds after which it will disappear. This means that if their target hides in shadows, they have a good chance of avoiding it as long as it does not accidentally bump into them. It should be noted, however, that the Air Mage can summon another elemental, even if the first one still exists, and it is difficult to dodge two or more Elementals at the same time, especially if there are no shadows nearby.
Air Mages are immune to gas based attacks and cannot be knocked out this way. An Air Elemental will not explode upon another mage, but presumably the Air Mage is immune to their damage as well.
Fire Mage[]
A fireball.
The Fire Mage specializes in fire magic and is capable of shooting fire bolts from their hands, identical to the Fire Elemental's attack. The Fire Mage is quite similar to the Water Mage, except that his attack follows a straight line and he is immune to fire based attacks which makes him a far more dangerous foe. He is completely unharmed by Fire Arrows, mines, hot-plates and flames, making him not only more difficult to kill, but more importantly, his ability to walk in lava, gives him the power to keep his distance from eventual attackers. In other words the Fire Mage can not only try to kill their enemies, but will also survive the hazards that would normally kill their enemies as well. As the Fire Tower is filled with lave and firing hot-plates, they have quite the advantage. The lava and fire plates also makes this tower uninhabitable for other types of Hand Mages or regular humans.[3]
Behind the Scenes[]
The ability of the Fire Mage to wade through lava might be spectacular if nobody else could do it, but this ability is possessed by everyone except Garrett. All NPCs will survive as long as the lava does not reach their chest (which counts as drowning). In the same way, the Fire Mage is vulnerable to lava when unconscious. It is therefore possible to have a clueless Guard standing in a river of lava surrounded by "charred" Fire Mages. It is likely this is a developer oversight, rather than anything canon, as other NPCs will almost always die by fire.