I decided to make a mage so I could explore Britannia for future purposes. As it stands now I feel like an ant in a field and last time I explored I got my ass handed to me by a bunch of orcs (not fun) and lost my green leather . So I figured that a mage would be best just to really find my bearings in UO mainly because they can crowd control really well.

I'm not after any PvP advice I just really want to be able to explore without going poopies every time I see a monster incoming. I decided to make a bog-standard EA recommended Mage which as I see it is.

Elf

GM Magery (Might go to 105 if the scrolls aren't silly money)
GM Resist Spells (I'm up to 97.4 )
GM Meditation (Not even worth thinking about in terms of training, it just happens)
GM Inscription (Extra spell damage?)
GM Wrestling (Worth it for just mob fighting?)
GM Eval Int

100 left over "/

So I was wondering if thats the best, easily gained template for a nosy Magi who wants nothing but too be able to explore. Wrestling, from the descriptions I've read, seems to lean more towards a PvP style pure mage so should a PvM mage omit it?

I know I'm going to need a little bit of Focus (50 I think should be fine) for running around. I'd like to have a little go at spellweaving as well somewhere along the line.

So basically, what is essential and if I can have a few skill point's left over what skills should I put them into? Like I've said about 20 times I'm only after a mage that can hold his own solo stylee.

Any replies will be mucho appreciated.

2 other things. How do people gain their money (6 mil sound's like a years work maybe more to me)? Also, apart from when it says 'you feel yourself resisting magical energy' how effective is Resist Spells? I have a ranger with 50 resist and reapers hit into the 40's on him but he wears studded armour RP ranger style (lol).

*Prepares to lick the face of the first person who can shine a light on these subjects*

I would go something like this:
GM Magery
GM Resist Spells
GM Meditation
GM Evalutate Intelligence (This increases the power of your spells)
GM Inscription ( i believe it does add to damage, and could also use it to make some money)
GM Spellweaving (A very nice addition to any mage, giving you more spells)

This leaves you at 600 skill points total, like you said I believe wrestling is more for pvp and I've never experimented it with pvm, but I'm sure it wouldn't hurt. Good luck!

Template is fine for the explorer...wrestling will help get out of those sticky situations when you need to cast and dont want to be interupted. You could even drop the spellweaving and add hide/sneak if you arent concerned about doing damage and purely exploring or keep sw and add focus for the added stamina regen....basic template is fine you just need to decide what else you want to do besides explore!

So wrestling would mean I'm interrupted less? I think for a caster (elf mind you) around 40 focus would be fine?