[Nagot Gick Fel]

Originally posted by Jasper:
What do you like about Death on a Combat Pretender? The fear effect, or some spell combination? I've always thought of death mainly as support magic, with only Soul Vortex ever standing out for close combat use.

Good guess. I take Death for Soul Vortex, the fear aura is mainly a bonus. One of the biggest threats (if not the biggest) that even the toughest supercombattants have to deal with is fatigue, and Quickness only makes this concern worse. But with Soul Vortex on, this is no more an issue (well, as long as you face "leechable" enemies). This makes Water+Death (or more accurately, Quickness+Death) a fearsome combo IMO.

And, BTW, a bit of death magic makes your pretender more resistant to Decay. Although pretenders easily resist it, this spell is so cheap and easy to cast it shouldn't be underestimated if you send your god in hand-to-hand combat every other month. Same concern later in the game with Disintegrate. Last night I tested a Wyrm with Water 2 (Quickness, BoW), Earth 3 (prot 30, Iron Will) and Death 4 (Soul Vortex, resist death spells +2) and I can only say: it rocks. I'll have to try something similar on a Manticore soon.