[Edi]

Originally posted by Sunray_be:

quote:

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>You can't change names in DomII...

3) to protect a physically weak pretender against Seeking Arrows or Mind Hunts (who will waste a spell to kill Gothmog the Great Sage if the Astral Window shows only a certain "Rodoald the Scout" ?), knowing that even kings could disguise themselve to deceive assassins. Of course he is unmasked in battle (the picture and use of magic unveil his true personnality then) if a battle occurs.

Cheers

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I agree with points 1 & 2, but not with #3. Your example would be a textbook one of the abuse of renaming pretenders to mask them, which was cited as a major reason for withdrawing renaming capability. Sure, a great sage or master druid could don a disguise, but what about the the wyrm and the dragon? Sorry, but no. There are other ways to ward against farslaying spells than just renaming with the intent to deceive. The choice to build a physically weak pretender is up to the player and this sort of things should be taken into account. Rainbow Mages tend to be physically weak, but magically powerful and flexible, whereas a physically powerful pretender usually ends up not as powerful magically, at least not across the board.

Personally, someone who would use such a cheap cheating tactic as renaming pretenders in a game against me would have to find himself somebody else to play Dominions with. Besides, isn't the whole point of the pretender's presence expanding/strengthening his dominion just undone conceptually if nobody knows they're dealing with a god? Flies against certain basic premises the game rests on.

Edi

[ October 06, 2003, 10:13: Message edited by: Edi ]