Without the stun first round rules I always defeat my mage friend since I'm faster. But with stun first round rules if I miss and they hit they win since we have roughly the same HP (I have about 40 more HP). And Water Thunder Beating hits pretty hard. A WIS boost should take some of the sting out of Magic based attacks and I recommend pushing past your bare minimum for skills. Since you get 7 MDF for 3 WIS points you don't need as much WIS as you would CON.