[Chris Byler]

Originally posted by Jasper:
I agree, the Shedu's Astral makes him in practice too expensive, especially considering he can't use most items and so is only effective early on. Unfortunately his relatively low 9 protection also hambers him early, until you've researched at least Iron Skin. IMHO the Shedu is impotent and expensive.

Luck and Body Ethereal are nice, but those can be cast on you by another mage, or easily attained through items. Astral Shield is quite nice however (especially since Paralyzation is broken!), although I'm not sure whether Astral Weapon works with Trampling.

If the Shedu cost 100 and had Air instead of Astral, it might be ok. It would be much cheaper without the need to invest in high Astral, and stronger by adding access to Mist Form, Mirror Image, and Resist Lightning.

I'm curious - what item gives Ethereal to someone with no body slot?

Luck I agree on, but it isn't as important as etherealness, especially early game.

I don't think you need to invest in high Astral - most god SCs are primarily useful for early expansion, and don't want to take the field against players packing Paralyze, Curse, Horror Mark, Black Bow of Botulf, etc. Magic duel would be one more way of bringing down a Shedu with a "mere" 4 Astral (which is pretty cheap) - but you'd likely lose several mages doing it, unless you're Pythium.

Furthermore any astral god that does take the field will probably be leading a communion (especially for astral nations like Arco - it is definitely worth it to send a few mystics on communion slave to back up your God), which IIRC still counts in magic duels.

I think the Shedu could stand to cost a bit less or have higher base protection, but as he is he can take quite a few provinces by himself with no research, and then with a bit of Alteration he can take just about any independent.

Has anyone ever used Gifts from Heaven (Earth 3/Astral 1/Evo 5)? From the description it sounds like it could be quite nasty against heavy troops (150 damage?!, AOE 1, #effects 3) for a fatigue cost of 50-. A Shedu is probably paying no more than 25 - without communion - for a spell that can kill six Black Knights (let alone what that will do to supercombatants - few beings can survive 150 damage).