How to fight mages as a TL 7 character?

[Kfireblade]

I have TL 7 character going into a high magic TL 5 world where battle mages are not uncommon. the power level of the campaign is 450pts. I was making him a snatcher who had a weight limit that would allow him to grab vehicles, but I then realized that magic lightning is going to completely wreck my vehicles. Throw in all the defensive spells available and I'm really not sure how to handle the situation.

[thulben]

Shoot them in the head from a really long distance with a Dragunov.

[thrash]

Originally Posted by thulben

Shoot them in the head from a really long distance with a Dragunov.

This is vulnerable to a Missile Shield or (particularly) Reverse Missiles spell -- which would be fairly common in a fight, especially at TL5.

In general, though, you should exploit your superior range and suppress the mage with area effects that stun or otherwise incapacitate: explosives, flash-bangs, CS gas, WP, or just regular smoke. There are magical defenses against all of these effects, but a mage who is adjusting his spells isn't fighting back.

Indirect fire with grenade launchers or small (e.g., 60mm) mortars should be effective if you use "shoot and scoot" tactics and/or air-burst munitions. Land mines (including claymores) are another good way to achieve sufficient standoff distance. Fuel-Air Explosive mines are a nasty surprise for fire mages.

[Nereidalbel]

Let the natives deal with the mages, while you stomp the mundane troops.

[Kfireblade]

I thought about long distance rifles but reverse missiles worriers me. One of my goals in this world is to assassinate it's arch-mage.

[Nereidalbel]

Originally Posted by Kfireblade

I thought about long distance rifles but reverse missiles worriers me. One of my goals in this world is to assassinate it's arch-mage.

Shoot him in his sleep. You have to be conscious to maintain spells, after all. Or, just fire an RPG at his house. Chlorine Triflouride is within TL7 tech, and delivering that at long range is incredibly lethal. In case you don't know what that is, it's a more powerful oxidizer than oxygen, and can even set asbestos on fire.

[Michael Cule]

The best way to kill a mage is from a long, long way away it's true. If you can't manage ranged fire (preferably with a bullet made out of something magic penetrating) try explosive booby traps and poisons unknown to TL 5 science. (Perhaps binary poisons?) Radiation might work. If you're not in a hurry there are diseases that the mages might not know how to cure.

But really this is a question that cannot be answered except by knowing enough about the world and the options the GM is allowing the wizards to have.

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by Kfireblade

I thought about long distance rifles but reverse missiles worriers me. One of my goals in this world is to assassinate it's arch-mage.

You really need to get a GM ruling on what counts as a missile. There are quite a few interpretations out there which exclude stuff like unintentional fragments, falling objects, liquid jets, and/or active guidance (and there are TL7 semi-portable wire guided missiles).

Really though, his magic probably isn't your biggest hurdle. If this guy is actually the *world's* arch-mage, and not just some unimportant random magician, he's presumably guarded at least as well as other world leaders, and there's a reason assassinating world leaders is something that doesn't happen much.

[Mark Skarr]

It was a TL6 answer. Should work fine vs a TL5 mage.

[Kfireblade]

Originally Posted by Mark Skarr

It was a TL6 answer. Should work fine vs a TL5 mage.

The Capital city that the guy basically never leaves has some sort of magical (plot) defense that will prevent a nuclear detonation. Otherwise I would just sneak in leave a nuke,and basically all of my goals for this adventure would be complete just like that. One thought was to leave a whole F-ton of nukes and see if the defense was completely fool proof, but im worried my GM would be very not amused.