Damage and Dexterity effects on mages

[CraftingFailed]

A couple of questions about mages or wizards (whatever they're called!):

1 - I have a Bronze bracelet which carries DMG 3 and an Etheric Wind Hat which carries DMG 15 which means my Wizard has 18 damage. Does that actually do anything? If not, why does the Etheric Wind Hat have a damage attribute if it's a wizard-only piece of kit?

2 - My Wizard is WAY behind the other group members on Dexterity so I'm concentrating on building dexterity. I think this is useful for avoiding being hit by non-magic foes (his armour is very low) but.... a) does dexterity provide any defence against spells? and b) does dexterity influence hit probabilities when casting spells?

I'm pretty sure the answers are a) No and b) No ..... in which case, I assume Wizard dexterity is just a defence against non-casting foes.

[blitzcraig]

1> in mmo, the mage also has a regular fireball attack which uses no mana, but acts like a regular attack utilizing str and dex... the hat and bracelet would help with that

2> you are basically correct, no and no (although technically it's defense from being hit by all enemies... your spell automatically hits, but monsters "roll" a regular attack whether magic or not)

hope this helps, see you in the mmo