I believe that there are additional penalties to your magic but I am unsure of what that is... I hope someone with a low mage character or is more knowledgeable about the inner workings of ArenaScape can answer this question for you :(. I would also like to know. My Level 190 Warlock with *6 Magic also has a low spec - Ranged. From playing over the years, I can't help but notice that his Ranged skill suffers from a hefty, hidden penalty. I've tested this by using my Warlock in the Level 77 Vulcan Groto - which is the lowest area that he can fight without one-hit killing everyone with his magic - and this resulted in him missing with his bow every single time. You would think that having a level 90 Ranged skill with a level 80 missile weapon would allow him to hit enemies in a Level 77 area, but that just isn't the case. Even in the rare case that his arrow does manage to scratch the enemy, he still deals 0 upfront Ranged damage and causes a very minor ~3 damage bleed. As such, I expect all low specs suffer similar penalties.