[Dracain]

I am making an elf combat mage, and thought I would see what the people here thought of it. 

Elf-30BP

Attributes
40BP BOD-5
10BP AGI-3
20BP REA-3
0BP STR-1
40BP CHA-7
20BP INT-3
20BP LOG-3
40BP WIL-5
65BP MAG-6
0BP ESS-1
BP total=255

Positive qualities
Magician(Black Magic)-15BP
Sun mentor-5BP
Restricted gear (power focus)-5BP
BP total=25

Negative qualities
Bad Luck-20BP
Compulsion (pyromania)-15BP
BP total=35

Skills
26BP Spellcasting(combat)-6 ( 8 )
6BP Summoning (fire)-1(3)
12BP Counterspelling-3
4BP Assensing-1
4BP Dodge-1
4BP perception-1
BP total=56

Gear+Lifestyle
All I got so far that there will be a power focus 4 and a sustaining focus 3, as well as some nice armor. 
BP total=31

4BP for binding the power focus
3BP for binding sustaining focus (increased reflexes)

Contacts
dunno, probably a talismonger C4/L3
BP total=7

Spells
Flamethrower+Fireball
Powerbolt+Powerball
Stunbolt+Stunball
Increase Reflexes+(undeterminded spell)
BP total=24

Now I realize that this setup is lacking in melee, but it has some hard hitting spells.  Any advice is appreciated. 

[All4BigGuns]

I'd say reduce the Magic by one and put Strength to 3. Strength 1 can draw a lot of GM aggro your direction.

[ArkangelWinter]

You could also drop Conjuring Group 2 for Summoning 3 Binding 2. You have to get really lucky for Banishing to be useful.

[Dracain]

Thanks for the quick replies.  I was unsure on the magic points, because I am trying to max out as much magic skill as possible.  But that would probably be best now that you mention it.  I mean, how often do you need magic 6 right off the bat. 

[All4BigGuns]

You could also drop Conjuring Group 2 for Summoning 3 Binding 2. You have to get really lucky for Banishing to be useful.

Yeah, Banishing, from how I've seen it discussed does seem like a bit of a joke, so doing this may not be a bad idea.  Though if you take my suggestion, you'd have 5 points left which you could then reduce Spellcasting by 1 and drop Aptitude and drop Dodge down to 1 (you're not a melee combatant after all). This all total will give you 27 points, 12 of which could then go into having Summoning and Binding both at 4. You could then use the remaining 15 to get Influence skill group at 1 and put the last 5 into Contacts or Resources.  You might want to vary up the spells a bit since you seem to have a lot of combat spells and not many that are utilitarian.

[UmaroVI]

You can't have more than 35 points of qualities.

I suggest looking at the Archetypes magicians in my signature for guidelines on how to build effective magicians.

[Dracain]

Missed the 35 point limit on positive qualities, thought it was only for negative qualities, thanks for pointing that out.  And I did check out the archetypes you made, that's where I heard of the sun mentor.  If I get some more utility spells, what would you all suggest?  I wanna keep a focus on the combat spells, though it would most certainly make sense to add in some utility spells.  Any suggestions?  Just edited the original post to show the changes, leaving it with 31 free BP.   I am thinking putting 20 into str and 10 into bod so I have a bit more physical health and can wear some heavier armor. 

[UmaroVI]

The big thing you aren't doing but would benefit from: Using Foci. They are good. Specifically, Sustaining foci (for Increase Reflexes in particular) and Power Focus.

Strength is not useful for this type of character (in fact it's only useful for very specific niches). If you have 2 it should be for RP/not drawing GM aggro, not for usefulness.

Pistols 3 is not worth it. You have plenty sources of boom.

Focused Concentration is too expensive for what it does. A mentor spirit is much better. I would also get Restricted Gear for a force 4 power focus like all the other cool kids.

You have too many spells with too much redundancy. Cut down to:
Stunbolt, Stunball (use these on living targets you can see)
Flamethrower,Fireball (really, I would recommend a different element, like Light or Ice, because fire resistance is fairly common, but nobody resists oddball elements like Blast) (use these on nonliving or stun-immune targets, and Fireball to hit people you can't see.
You can also use Powerbolt instead of Flamethrower.

Increase Reflexes is a good spell.

Armor is not, because it makes you glow. It's also not worth sustaining without a focus.

I'm going to recommend my sig again for other good utility spells, since I have the descriptions listed there.

[All4BigGuns]

Missed the 35 point limit on positive qualities, thought it was only for negative qualities, thanks for pointing that out.  And I did check out the archetypes you made, that's where I heard of the sun mentor.  If I get some more utility spells, what would you all suggest?  I wanna keep a focus on the combat spells, though it would most certainly make sense to add in some utility spells.  Any suggestions?  Just edited the original post to show the changes, leaving it with 31 free BP.   I am thinking putting 20 into str and 10 into bod so I have a bit more physical health and can wear some heavier armor.

Even numbers on Body and Willpower bring tears. Go with either 3 or 5.  Four might give a bit more armor and another soak die, but that's it, no extra damage track beyond what you get from 3. I'd say at least a Strength 2 if you want to be weaker than an average person in that area, though I'd try to get 3 if possible. With the hits needed to really do much summoning and binding, you should try to have 4 in those skills.

[Dracain]

I see, I just thought I should do that so I could have 8 in armor instead of 6 (and stick some stuff in the helmet that I could than wear).  The str bit makes sense as well.  Is summoning and binding really that useful?  I have seen been going through some combat mage builds and they didn't really use summoning, so I didn't think it was that necessary.  In the archetypes on this page I saw one guy without any summoning, and one dude with only 1 point, so I didn't think it was one of those things that is that important.  Or is it one of those "all or nothing" type skills, where there is no point in getting it unless you get it to a nice level? 

[inca1980]

Maybe i'm missing it...but you might want an Edge attribute.  Edge is really really crucial....especially for mages.  I don't feel the 6 magic is worthit.  Go for 5 magic and even lower on your Cha to give yourself more Edge. 

[Dracain]

I have the bad luck quality, so I don't want to use edge to much.  And I can't lower my CHA because I am an elf.  That is my minimum CHA.  But I was considering edge, it just seems that it would be better to use the points on skills, because every time I use edge, I give myself a one in six chance to completely screw the pooch and make it a million times worse. 

[inca1980]

Forgot about the whole being an elf thing.  Didn't notice that in your qualities.  If you like that quality then you're right, but just remember that for mages, hits on Edge dice aren't capped by force.  Edge is mighty mighty powerful.  An unlucky mage is a pretty dangerous thing!

[Dracain]

Thanks for the tips, it was originally uncouth or incompetent in a couple social skills, but I kept hearing about that made your character easy to beat socially, instead of just hates social interaction.  I liked the idea of someone who hates most social interaction, and distrusts people as his first response.  But those two qualities seem to make it so I believe everything someone says to me, and will fall for any trick (also the incompetent in 4 social skills plan means I end up with 4 notoriety).  So this basically brings it down to either bad luck, which works just fine for me.  Or uncouth, which means my character is a gullible idiot, which wouldn't work very well. 

[inca1980]

Just a metagaming tip though....GM's very rarely use social skills against players.  For example, if someone is trying to Con you, GM's will usually handle this true roleplaying and try to actually fool you the player rather than have your character resist a Con roll and then tell you "you're character believes this and let's the intruder in".  By and large almost all Con rolls are players trying to Con NPC's and you should have a player who has face skills handle this.  If you want to be both a face and a mage then you should really opt for a shamanic tradition which uses Cha as a drain stat. 

So I would say that if you as the player aren't a gullible person, then I wouldn't worry about your character being gullible. 

Then again, some GM's actually script they're players reactions to social interations by forcing them to obey the results of social rolls.