This is a collection of Mind Over Magic Beginner Guide and frequently asked questions from the Mind Over Magic discord server, with answers from the collective wisdom of the long-time players who hang out there. Hopefully it is useful to new and old players alike.
Mind Over Magic Beginner Guide 2025 – FAQ
How does apprenticing work?
When you apprentice a mage, you gain several benefits.
First, the mage will produce a new relic (see the Relics section for more on the mechanics of this).
Second, the mage gains max level, as determined by their wand tier.
Third, the mage – and all relics they have equipped – gain XP for every trial they complete.
Fourth, the mage will gain maximum skill points in their primary skill, and whichever secondary skill you choose; and lose a point of max skill off up to two of their other skills.. How much they gain is determined by how far apart the secondary skill is from the primary.
If you choose to apprentice in the same skill as your primary (making your apprentice a ‘manner’), you gain +3 to the primary, and -1 to the two skills opposite it.
If you choose to apprentice to a skill ‘next to’ your primary (making your apprentice a ‘conjurer’), you gain +2 to both primary and secondary; no losses to other skills.
If you choose to apprentice to a skill further away (making your apprentice an ‘arcanist’ or ‘sorcerer’), you gain +1 to the primary, +2 to the secondary, and lose 1 max from two other skills.
Fifth, and arguably most significantly, your apprentice gains access to the chosen secondary skill in combat.
This is a major boost to combat versatility, effectively doubling the pool of spells they have access to, and allowing them to target additional enemy weaknesses.
Sixth, each ‘type’ of apprentice gains a special bonus. ‘Mancers’ (same-element apprentices) gain an additional cast per day of their ultimate spell (which they gain access to easier since they have +3 to their primary skill). Note that this is an additional /charge/ of the ultimate; a ‘mancer still only gains one charge per day.
How do apprentices level skills?
Unlike Initiates, who can learn any skill from the learning stone, Apprentices can only learn skills from the apprentice teaching station of the appropriate element. The game will warn you if you attempt to create an apprentice and you don’t have the appropriate pair of teaching stations unlocked to level both their secondary and primary skill. However, if you gain max skill in another way (usually via equipping a relic, but there are a few other ways), you can wind up with an apprentice who is unable to be taught until additional research is complete.
How do Wand Tiers work?
Every blank-slate mage starts with 1 in every skill. To summon them, you must craft (and use at the summoner) a level 1 wand. A level one wand gives them +2 in their primary skill (3 total), and +1 in two other skills, chosen at random when the mage is summoned. It also sets the maximum level per tier at ‘3’ – so an initiate can level to 3; a direct hire (initiate->staff) can level to 6; and a full progress mage (initiate->apprentice->staff) can level to 9. They will also start with three trials – two ‘bronze’ difficulty (250 XP, base) and one silver difficulty (1500 XP, base).
Level 2 wands are unlocked in the research tree from tier 1 and tier 2 research. To equip them, you must find the Wand Transfigurator in the first Stone Ruins branch in the under school. Level two wands grant an additional +1 in their primary skill (4 total) and +1 in a randomly chosen skill. It sets the maximum level per tier at ‘5’, for a potential of level 15 on a fully trained staffer. It will also give an initiate or apprentice an additional gold difficulty trial (7500 XP, base).
Level 3 wands are unlocked in the research tree from tier 3 research and require late-game resources (including Ignium and Runewood). They grant an additional +1 in the primary skill (5 total) and +1 in two randomly chosen skills. They are equipped at the greater wand transfigurator found at the end of the second stone ruins branch in the under school. They set your maximum level per tier at 6, for a potential level of 18 on a fully trained staffer, and grant initiates or apprentices an additional platinum difficulty trial (17500 XP, base).
When should I upgrade my wand?
Whenever possible, as an initiate. It is quicker and easier to level skills (since you only need the learning stone); and you can gain the full benefit of any additional trials you unlock. Upgrading wands on a staffer is generally a bad idea, since the Platinum trial is completely ‘lost’, and leveling skills is very slow for staff. (There are, of course, cases where you have an otherwise perfect staffer with exactly the right combination of secondary skills and relic slots; is a guideline, not a rule.)
Level 3 wands are expensive, and higher tier initiates/apprentices are slower to fully level and graduate, so if you are churning through mages looking for a ‘perfect’ wand, you might save time and resources by not upgrading mages that don’t have the attributes you are looking for.
Resources
How do I get Gnosis shards?
There are four main ways to get gnosis shards.
The first and most important is leveling students. By default, for each skill point a student gains, they drop a single gnosis shard. They start with 1 max in each skill + 4 for a tier 1 wands, and 1 point already learned in their primary skill. This comes out to 10 gnosis shards per initiate without upgrading their wand or apprenticing. This can be dramatically increased by getting an Exuberance affinity relic on a plinth in an archive. For every 4 levels on the relic, it increases gnosis shard drops from leveling by 1. That means that with a level 21 relic on the plinth, you’ll be getting 7 shards per level; 70+ shards per initiate. At that point, the question becomes ‘how do I get rid of Gnosis shards’.
The second way is to explore the underschool; you’ll find ‘gnosis outcrops’ you can mine for one-time supplies of shards.
The third is by pulverizing relics. How much pulverizing relics is worth increases exponentially with relic level (relic level ^ 1.7, rounded down) This can be a decent source of gnosis income if you cycle many students and are diligent about ensuring they’re always equipped with relics when they graduate; but can be a lot of ‘work’ to stay on top of.
The fourth is by fighting Rancor Crystals from pushing back the fog. These are very challenging fights, with some very good rewards, including leveled relics, gnosis shards, and late-game crafting materials.
Relics
What relic types are available?
There are three ‘types’ of relics:
‘Faction’ relics (Wolfkin, Human, Vivified, Shattered, and Raven Cultist)
‘Elemental’ relics (Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Lightning, Dark, Nature)
‘Rare’ relics (Temperance, Exuberance, Tranquility, Diligence)
What determines what Relic slots a mage gets?
Initiates start with 1 faction slot matching their faction, 1 elemental slot matching their primary element, and 1 randomly determined slot. As far as I know, this has an equal chance of being any of the other 4 faction slots, 6 elemental slots, or 4 rare slots; meaning when ‘fishing’ for a specific third relic you have a 1/14 chance of getting what you’re looking for.
What relics can I get?
A full list of relics is beyond the scope of this guide; eventually this data will likely be uploaded to the wiki (once the game is out of the constant state of pre-release flux). It may also be posted in another WIP guide, which I will link to if it becomes publicly available. I will summarize the available plinth relics, however, as that’s a simpler list and very important.
Plinth relics?
The Archive is a mid-game room that can hold up to four plinths, enabling school-wide benefits from any relic placed upon those plinths. The plinth bonuses are standardized across all relics of a given type, and are non-stacking, so you can have at most 16 bonuses active (which would require 4 archives). Since you generally only need one faction bonus at a time, 3 archives is probably sufficient.