Does anyone have any tips for starting as a mage with the hgg mod?
Blind is OP. Sand witches can drop white books, which may grant that (random chance of any white spell you do not have, so you always get it in at most 3 books)
If you buy or obtain fox gems (drops from fighting kitsunes or less commonly from kitsune gifts if you talk to a kitsune and then choose to leave instead of fighting or accepting the offer). Take fox gems to Lumi (explore encounter, adds her to places when you find her) and you can turn them into mystic gems. When you get 9 tails from mystic gems, you get the twisted version of enlightenment, granting you [Terror], among other things, so you can 5-turn stun enemies with low intelligence. Very easy to maintain a stunlock on wild animals and other sub-human creatures.
But I admit it's tough to get that early. Very doable though. The deep woods have, what? Akbal lets you walk away when you meet him, fae do no harm, the hunter guy leaves you alone if you just stand your ground, and if you're really struggling you don't even have to fight the kitsunes to get the gems, the gifts you get from walking away after talking can give you them. It's actually pretty safe to gun for that really early.
Also check Tel'adre often for materials you can give to Rathazul for robes. Tough silk, dragon scales, ebonbloom. No need to fight high level enemies, potentially.
Really though, blind is all you need. I think more fun is hacking or ascending to give yourself the alternate spell set at the start. Inflame and plate are rough to have to cast for a while to gain mastery, which is how you unlock more of those spells, but it's jsut more fun doing spell-combos to get big attacks. It's way more satisfying than Black & White. But normally it is super end-game.