[Xietor]

That is true, but early in the game, you have 1 castle. And initially, i like to produce Pans, until I get one with death bonus. I have several other reasons why i like having the pans
that are not related to research.

But the thrust of the thread, and my point, is not to debate the relative merits of researching with a dryad v Pan, they both could use some help in the research area. Yes, the dryad is slightly better than Pan at research, but they both are below average.

Conceding your point, then bumping the Pan to 9 research will not affect game balance at all.