Classes

Four different classes are available in Tower of the Archmage: Pugilist, Conjurer, Draconian, Alchemist. Ultimately, any character may be played in any way, especially at later levels. However, the class chosen will impact which runes one is more likely to find, as well as their starting stats.

Levelling up
As the character levels up, different things occur. Health (hp) and flux points (fp) always increase. In addition to that, upon reaching an even level (as 2, 4, 6, etc.), one will be able to increase by one the value of an attribute of choice; upon reaching an odd level (as 3, 5, 7, etc.), instead, one will be able to choose a rune out of a list of three.

Choice of runes at levels 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23
What runes will be available for choosing depends upon one's class, upon one's previous rune choices and, apparently, upon chance. While much remains unknown, some notions can be taken as facts:

- Upon reaching level 3, the three runes available for choosing will depend exclusively on the character's class. Even through different games, the runes offered at this point will always be the same, as long as one uses the same class. The Alchemist's first choice, for instance, shall always be between ligu, uhara and kan; that of a Pugilist, between iyra, oon, abap.

- Upon reaching level 5, and for every other odd level after that, the three runes available for choosing will be the two that were not preferred the previous time plus a new one. For instance, if an Alchemist who had selected ligu upon reaching level 3, then upon reaching level 5 they will have to chose between uhara, kan and a third new rune.

- The new rune available for choosing at levels 5, 9, 13, 17, 21 appears to be randomly selected from a list that is specific to both class and level. The new rune available to an Alchemist reaching level 5, for example, might be ahlok, hot, avh, or ''foz. ''The mechanisms determining which new rune is made available are still unknwn; the process may very well be entirely randomic. The tables below report which runes have been found so far while playing characters of the different classes through the various levels; however, these tables are far from being complete, so one might always find an unexpected rune.

- The new rune available for choosing at levels 7, 11, 15, 19, 23 is always the same and depends on the class exclusively. So, for instance, an Alchemist may not know for sure what they will get at levels 5, 9, 13, 17 and 21 but they know from the start that they will be able to pick ukl at level 7, qup at level 11, cul at level 15, uvyk at level 19, and moo at level 23.

Pugilist
"Magic to you is just a way to make your own body stronger, you prefer hand-to-hand combat and you have learned to use your spells to make yourself stronger and to keep you alive in combat"

The Pugilist tends to find more runes that upgrade it's own stats for close combat. Runes like Close Counter, Far Counter and Poison Coat are much easier to find. Rune area attack types however are much harder to find. You will be relying much more on bumping into things to cause damage. You will need to rely quite heavily on runes with the properties Courage and Power to upgrade your melee damage. It is quite easy to overflux as a Pugilist as many of the close combat spells it uses have a drain on flux as long as they are used. For example casting his starting spell Bear's Strength will immediately put your flux at 12/12 but it will not go down via resting. These protective status spells stay in effect until you remove them by pressing C.

Conjurer
"Through careful study and observation, you have acquired the most clever kind of magic: that which will keep you far away from danger while you blow up everything to pieces."''

The Conjurer tends to find a lot of offensive spells which do direct damage as well as ranged runes. The Conjurer however doesn't tend to find as many area effect spells or status spells. The idea is to do lots of damage from a distance. Because the game auto targets any spell on yourself when no enemies are present it can be fairly easy to one shot your self if your spells get too strong and you start charging through the levels like a lunatic. Try to check there are actually enemies on screen before you cast a ranged attack spell.

Draconian
"You have a natural talent for magic and prefer to maximise your potential by carefully planning your position in the field of battle. Your spells are powerful and can damage several creatures if used properly." ''

The Draconian receives a lot of Ranged Spells with fixed area attacks.

Alchemist
"There's more to magic than explosions and beams, you are quite fond of the finer, if somewhat slower, art of alchemy. You have found the best way to deal with your foes is to create clouds of pure magic so they boil to death over time."

The Alchemist finds more cloud and block runes than other classes. The Alchemist is also the only character to start out with a Perception of 9 which means you can make spells consisting of 4 runes from the start. Cloud runes as well as hurting the enemy are quite capable of killing you as well so be careful where you cast them.