[Vicious Love]

Re: Versatility, methinks the key is snagging a chassis with full or near-full equipment slots, buying a few synergistic paths at low levels, and letting a variable booster loadout do the rest.

Since high-level empowerment is ridiculously pricey, you'll have to get starting astral up to 6 in most cases(2 misc boosters plus a skullcap to cast Wish), 5 if you're counting on securing a Robe of the Magi. I suppose you could <i>hypothetically</i> make do with S4 and make a rush for level 8 Construction and the Forbidden Light, but that seems to be the kind of stratagem one would only adopt on a bet. Also, if Mind Duel doesn't factor in magic items, I'd be wary of taking less than 6 astral on any pretender likely to see combat.

So, lessee... quick glance at the list of affordable pretenders with low path costs(or multiple startng pargs), plenty of item slots, and a level or two of initial astral... well, the female titan, great enchantress and Son of the Sun all seem semidecent, and two of them might even make for an adequate SC chassis.

So... yeah. Equipment slots, a base astral level of at least 1, and either multiple starting paths, or low initial path costs. That's all I've got at the moment. I really should get some sleep.