[Scott Hebert]

Something that has been hinted at earlier but doesn't _really_ exist in Dominions as of yet is reflecting things. Specifically, spells. There's blood vengeance, but that's any/all damage. You could give Water both Combat and non-Combat spells to reflect magic.

It shouldn't be simple absorption, as there is any number of spells to nullify magic (most of them Astral). And it wouldn't necessarily have to be perfect reflection; especially in Battle, just ensuring that your mage isn't the target of [insert nasty spell here] would be useful.

In a programming sense, I guess you could have it check to see if the spell is up, and then, if [check] is failed (what it needs to check, if any, is a balance factor), re-choose the target (but the target area may change).

Basically, if you refer to Fire as Aggression, than Water should be its opposite. Redirection and using its opponent's strengths should be a hallmark of Water.

What about a high-path spell that replaced the Mage's Paths with that of an enemy mage?

Just a few thoughts.

Bayushi Tasogare