Re: Mind Hunting and Astral levels
 

I think S+5 is supposed to mean 5 levels in astral above the magic dueler. I could be wrong.

Re: Mind Hunting and Astral levels
 

Mind Duel was from AD&D, was it not? Easy enough for most of us to confuse it then.

Re: Mind Hunting and Astral levels
 

do elixirs of life and the like restore you after a lost magic duel?

whether or not decoys work for mind duels, if you are going to be the defender, bring the s1 decoys with you and script mind duel yourself, hopefully taking out threats to your pretender

while taking S on a SC pretender is risky, there are of course benefits as it is such a powerful buffing school and critical to get rings of wizardy/sorcery and some of the great high end spells. Think the risk/reward through carefully

Re: Mind Hunting and Astral levels
 

Yes, Elixirs and such do work. Phoenix pyre is the best option, though Life After Death is great for getting the most out of any weaker mages you have lying around, although their MR becomes completely worthless once they're soulless. On the bright side undead mastery strips them of commander status, so even if you lose them to that your opponent won't get much of worth out of the transition.

The problem with Elixirs is that they take up an equipment slot on your SC/pretender/whatever is worth using an elixir on, and they're too expensive to be worth using to protect some random national mage in most cases.

Re: Mind Hunting and Astral levels
 

Exactly right. I should have made that clear, sorry.