[Cainehill]

Another thing : You take S3 on a pretender, and figure that before you run into serious human opposition, you forge an item for luck, possibly the cloak of shadows as well, especially if your pretender has a high native protection. Especially if you do this with a nation like ... Ulm, or Pangaea, you can cast the spells early, and forge them later, which your nation otherwise couldn't do at all. Similarly, you might take death - not so much for raise skeleton, etc, but in the long run for the wraith crown that gives etherealness & a bunch of undead chaff right off.