Well, a couple really.

Long story short is that with my dragon finally to the point where progress is no longer an OCD-like compulsion to make the number go UP, I'm finding myself more and more interested in working on a two-legger on the side. (Multiclassing is either going to be the best thing to happen to me, or the absolute worst.) However, while I'm decently competent at the fine art of Not Dying Before They Do as a Primalist, I have only the vaguest idea how everything mashes together for things that can't fly. So... hi biped forum! /wave

The foundation and assumptions behind my questions:
  • I'm really, really not worried about the four or five or dozen tertiary schools I could derive some benefit from. Yes, I'm sure there's a ton of schools that could add something nice, and please feel free to mention them and why, but don't assume I'll bother leveling them before I sprout an understanding of what I need.
  • I might have the patience to get one craft school to 100 before I go out and start hitting things. Maybe. If I do, it's probably going to be Blacksmith, and likely only far enough to be able to wear T5 jewelry. Any urges to craft are going to be satisfied by chipping away at Thickle's lair for a long time.
  • I know a lot of general combat tricks-- critical techs, where to hunt, the fine art of advancing backwards-- but anything biped-only? I haven't a clue. I can't even remember what all the classes do.
  • My ineptitude is a perfect inverse of how much I've been exposed to something. (Namely: some things I will just never, ever quite grok until I actually try it myself.)
  • I can get my hands on pretty much any spell I could want. Armor and weapons, not so much. Not impossible, but trickier.

Still reading? Dang, I'm impressed. On to the questions!

Basically, I would really really like to be a Bloodmage. Or at this point I think I'd really really like to be one. However, this is based more on "well I'd play a druid except everyone and their mother already does" and "ooOOoo, light healing and sucking my enemies dry" than actual experience. I would have been contemplating Shaman (and just read another thread and spared everyone this post) but it seems that all nature-themed roads lead to Druid, and I cannot bear to do the same thing as 60% of the bipeds I run in to. Also, Blood Bolt!

However, what little reading I've done worries me that Bloodmage is a very... selfish class, for lack of a better term: it makes a good main school, but you can't retain all the good tricks if you swap to another. Which would make leveling things after Bloodmage obnoxiously difficult. I also, in a fit of insanity, have my heart fixed on eventually being able to cast all the t5 Gift spells, if only because ALACRITY OM NOM NOM. (Yes yes, I could just ask my local Cleric to buff me with it, but I don't want to keep reporting back to her every two hours.) So, very broadly:

  • Is Bloodmage even a viable main school? It doesn't have to be hyper-efficient. I just did a Primalist dragon from 1-100 for pete's sake; the concept of efficiency scares and confuses me. However, it DOES need to be less of a joke than a Mage clubbing its way to 100.
  • Assuming it is, is it the sort of school you can level first (once you meet the reqs to join), or do you need to go get something else to 100 so that leveling other schools later isn't a matter of "my rating says I'm 87 but I can barely fend off level 5 mobs" a la thread by Casyle?
  • Is there any sane way to get a Bloodmage with at least T4 Gift spells without leveling more than 3-4 schools? Not that I'm convinced there is, but I have to ask.
  • Do Bloodmages even care about the weapon they wield, or is it just an equippable pile of additional statistics and bonuses?