Am I correct in assuming that I shouldn't bother giving enchanted weapons to low MA characters, like Magnus? I settled on making a gish type character because I am coming across a bunch of enchanted gear. I did waste a point on guns and lockpicking early on because new mechanics are new and I found a flintlock pistol in a cave only to discover that it's shit, but that's ok, mistakes happen.
In terms of spells I took Disarm for my first pick because I thought it would be useful. And it kind of is? Against ranged enemies that is. Against melee enemies it's actually a liability because most enemies seem to deal more damage with fists than knives for some silly reason. Then I took shield of protection and jolt. The former is pretty cool, the latter is kind of meh.
Despite some quibbles about mechanics and balancing, I am enjoying Arcanum. I really want to try some of the other backgrounds. It's not every game that allows you to play as a literal retard, autist or madman.
Give him Tech or Normal weapons.
There is a chance he will critically fail with Magick weapons and he will not get their full benefits by wielding them.
He can craft Balanced Swords (very good weapons actually) and even Feather-weight axes (which you can then use to craft the godly Pyrotechnic Axe, if you find the schematic sold by a smithy).
Yeah I used him to craft a balanced sword and gave him that instead of the enchanted axe he's been using. He still has a suit of small enchanted chainmail I found in Bessie Toone though. I don't know if low MA punishes you for having enchanted armour.
Can you get him to use schematics you find? I find the crafting screen to be temperamental. I bought a schematic for goggled helmets just to experiment (I knew I wouldn't be able to craft it) and it took like 3 minutes for me to find it because the use learned / found schematics buttons weren't behaving.
Magnus has a point in guns, which I thought was interesting, but I'm not sure if it's possible to build him as a gunslinger. He has more points in melee anyway.
Anyway, gave my character that stone buff. The damage increase he gets seems to be pretty significant. I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to use the higher tier spells though, because you only get 1 point per level and I have to use it to level up dex, melee, dodge, wisdom, spell points and maybe charm and persuasion.
Which is a pity, because I was really, really tempted to make a melee temporal guy. That last ability is just hilarious. A built in Haste AND a Slow for enemies? Yes, give me that.