[Ygorl]

I'm still working on how the ice devils were managing to hit the Nataraja... Let's see... A defense of 43, taken down to 38 by fatigue (10:1 ratio... Right? It's 20:1 for protection?). Now, each ice devil has four attacks per round (two with the dagger, two with the tail). That means the last attack of the round will be an attack rating of 22 versus a defense of 31. How unlikely is that to hit? Consulting Zooko's experiment, that's about 5%... So, pretty unlikely that you got hit, even for no damage, in a given round. Two rounds in a row, even more unlikely (considerably less than one percent). Could it have happened, though? Sure. Try this: make a little test map. Give one side the two ice devils, equipped as they were, and the other side a nataraja appropriately equipped. Add the spells to the appropriate nations, so they can cast them in the battle. Re-run the fight a few times. See how it goes. I'm guessing most of them you would get hit much less often.

I do have a vague recollection that the healing/reinvigorating effects of a life drain weapon are independent of whether it actually does any damage. Not sure, though, and an uninspired search of the forum revealed nothing. If you do run the tests, let me know how it goes!