Re: Units with stupid weapon choices
 

Glaives and spears are reasonable to be found in the tunnel. Pale ones are not supposed to be highly intelligent, and could fight like human militias, which rely on number rather than skill. And spear is always popular among militias due to its cheap price.
When you are fighting Agartha in darkness like storming their forts, the glaives will appear to be effective. Suffering from the darkness penalty, the agartha can make full use of their strength by wielding glaives. One hit one kill.

Lacking shields is also thematically resonable. In the tunnel it's quite rare to face missiles and need a big shield. Some descriptions in the game have also hinted the Agartha have lost their war against human because they have no experience of those weapons, and only after MA they start to use kite shields.

Re: Units with stupid weapon choices
 

Actually, glaive is almost perfect here, as you can both thrust as with spear, parry with blade and cut/slash with short moves if he gets beside your point. Spear doesn't allow this and can be easily beat aside with a likely result of being held fast against the wall... :)
Shortsword is possibly even better, as it doesn't make problems with moving it in winding tunnels - but then, they are not always SO winding and narrow...

They just don't have rights to carry the staff yet! It's a rank symbol, you know... :)

Re: Units with stupid weapon choices
 

Daggers actually make a lot of sense for mages. They're versatile, compact, and easy to use, if harder to use very effectively. In addition to performing rituals and sacrifices, they'd also be perfect for dispatching wounded soldiers on the battlefield--a task that certain cultures might be expected to leave to (atleast the supervision of) their mages. After all, you don't want the enemy coming back after death--which is a distinct possibility, in the world of Dominions.

For that matter, spells--even non Blood spells--might very well require some of the mage's blood, in exchange for power. Harder to do that with a staff. Not impossible, but certainly painful to watch your venerable high archimage repeatedly bashing himself in the nose with a cord of firewood, every time you need it to rain.

Re: Units with stupid weapon choices
 

I like your idea of using personal lifeforce to 'start' an effect, but I don't think it would be appropriate to wound yourself, in a medieval context it most often than not implies your death after all, but rather a drain effect that is spread to all your body at once, which can kill you if your clumsy or if you want too much at once. (Shadowrun RPG, and others, use this idea quite well)
This effect should alter your potential lifetime, and your physical might permanently. (not really in any RPG I played so far... Or I can't remember...)

Re: Units with stupid weapon choices
 

That's probably why they have oracles that have E3D1 out of the factory, discounting random points.

Re: Units with stupid weapon choices
 

That's probably why they have oracles that have E3D1 out of the factory, discounting random points.

Re: Units with stupid weapon choices
 

Well, you could argue it is easier to seem intelligent when you are hundreds of years old, and know many things.

Re: Units with stupid weapon choices
 

Yes, they spend hundreds of years to master those magics, and how about the standard among human mages?

I will be surprised to hear in some game it's Agartha who makes a lead in research, which is the best prove to the intelligence of a race IMO.

Re: Units with stupid weapon choices
 

My quill can write by itself. I am now smarter.

Re: Units with stupid weapon choices
 

I'd like to see Agartha get an upgrade (Oceania's already being discussed, maybe we could get a thread about Agartha?).
I get that they're supposed to be a "fading people", and that's cool to the point of being truly awesome, but I'd rather see more "glorious tragedy", and less "stoogelike tactics", so yeah, among other things, it would be nice if their equipment got reviewed.

Maybe give them some sort of military fork, to replace their spears? That seems like it might better gel with their low perception, while keeping true to the reality of the cave environment. It would make altering their sprites easier, too.

Another weapon that comes to mind would be a sort of "war spade" (No, I'm not married to the name). Imagine a broad metal spade that's been reinforced and sharpened all around the edge, with a metal t-section crossbar, a long metal-shod shaft, and the classic pitchfork handle. Kind of a cross between a spear and an axe--but not in quite the same way as a glaive.

Might look something like this: D=====ID

Something like that, in the hands of an Ancient Lord, might be a good deal more hand effective and "wieldy" (not to mention thematic) than the axes they currently use.