Ch.1: "Path of the Believer" quest reward; Parlan (after becoming a Mage). Ch.2: Gorax x2, Cronos x2, Lutero (Snapper Leader claws), Fernando (his quest), Jharkendar canyon treasure, Pirate Camp beach near Samuel's cave, Fisk (package quest), Kerves (kill all Lurkers by Xardas' Old Tower), Milten (ask about equipment, needs Hagen chat first), Xardas' Old Tower (2 skeletons guard it). Ch.3: Gorax, Cronos. Ch.4: Xardas' Old Tower again (now Seekers guard it), Talbin ("I gotta get out of here"). Ch.5: Gorax, Lutero, Cronos. Ch.6: Milten (only if brought on the ship). Recurring check: visit Gorax and Cronos every chapter. Heal Light Wounds and Heal Medium Wounds don't cost a stone — both exist as free, already-made runes (Ch.2 pass to the Valley; Ch.3 Jharkendar canyon minecrawler cave).
~10 LP/level, guild-independent, confirmed by community data. Full spell kit above (skills 15 + six circle unlocks @5 each = 30 + recommended spells) leaves realistic Mana around 66-69 by level 30. Reaching 94 would mean a much thinner spell kit — not recommended. Once Ch.6 spells are bought, everything else defaults to Mana anyway, so leveling past 30 (likely, given full completionist play) pushes it higher for free. Ancient Language Level 1 only (5 LP) — REQUIRED, not optional: needed to understand the spirit Quarhodron in Jharkendar to unlock the Temple of Adanos quest. Learn it from Myxir. Skip Levels 2 and 3 (25 more LP) — no confirmed quest requirement, and turning stone tablets in to Vatras unread already converts them straight to Mana (up to +28, 10+ tablets at once) for zero LP, better than reading them yourself. Note: there appear to be two tablet categories — a few are quest-tied (e.g. Erol's three stolen tablets, handled through his own quest) while the rest are generic and go to Vatras' bulk pile; watch for distinct dialogue prompts as you collect them. Tablet turn-in to Vatras reportedly closes as early as Ch.2-3, likely tied to completing the Jharkendar prisoner rescue — don't hoard past that.
Threshold-crossing trick: the game checks your CURRENT total mana (LP-trained + any bonuses already applied) before a lesson, not after — so if you stop training at 29/59/89/119 exactly, the next +5 lesson gets charged entirely at the cheaper rate. Critical: this only works if free bonuses (shrine, Daron, mushrooms, quest rewards) haven't already pushed your total past the boundary. Apply banked bonuses AFTER completing the cheap crossing, never before — a bonus applied early can silently push your next lesson into the pricier tier. Do your Mana LP-push early in Ch.1, before questing accumulates uncontrolled bonuses.
Dark Mushrooms (50 → +5 Mana) don't expire. Hold them until the relevant LP tier hits 3+/point, then cash in. Same logic applies to shrine Mana prayer and Daron — a free point is worth 1 LP if applied at low Mana, but 3-5 LP if applied once you're past 60+ Mana. Since Mana is trained all game (unlike the one-and-done STR target), timing this one matters most of all. Shrine prayer has no known deadline; Daron closes at full Fire Mage initiation, so don't delay him indefinitely.
Guildless/Paladin/Mercenary can pray for STR & DEX (10 each). Mages can only pray for Mana. Bank the STR/DEX prayers before joining the Monastery or they're gone for good.
Marketplace NPC, not a shrine. Donate in 50g steps only — no benefit to donating more at once. 1000g total cap (20 donations). Must be completed in Chapter 1 — Chapter 2 only begins once full Fire Mage initiation is complete, so there's no meaningful Novice grace period to rely on. As a Mage, only nets ~+2 Mana total before converting to ~+85 max HP for the rest — good free HP, but NOT your Mana pipeline. The shrine is: 20 prayers × +1 Mana = +20 Mana total, ten times Daron's output. Apply AFTER your LP threshold-crossing push, not before (see LP Cost Tiers card).
Water-taught Heal Light/Heavy Wounds is your main combat heal — cheap mana for large HP. Alchemy covers permanent stat potions, mana reserve, and gold, not primary healing.
Learn: Lockpicking (10 LP), Skinning. Skip: Pickpocketing (scales with DEX, not your stat). Skip Sneak too — jumping bypasses noise detection for free.
Checked against real Orc AV values (Orc Warrior: AV 150): every melee hit floors to minimum 5 damage, crit or not, even with 40+ STR and a 70-dmg staff. True non-floored hits against Orc Warrior need ~131 STR — that's a Paladin's investment, not a mage's. Meanwhile these same high-AV enemies have little to no Magic resistance. Conclusion: skip STR, DEX, and Two-Handed entirely. Buy the Magic Wand (55 dmg, requires 20 Mana not STR, gives +20 Mana passively, 850g from Gorax, Ch.1) purely as a mana battery / absolute last resort — not a combat pillar. Summons tank, spells deal the real damage.