[MaxWilson]

D9 isn't an optimal bless, but Death magic is a lot of fun for me personally and I like having a pretender who can toss D9 Clouds of Death (HUGE area of effect), D9 Leprosy, Eagle Eyes + D9 Banefire, Stygian Paths, etc. I also like having the option of my mages doing tricky stuff with their D9 bless (like Earthquake, which afflicts everybody in the army). Therefore, D9 is pretty optimal for me since I'm not giving up either F9 or W9 for it. S9 would have been an option, but I just don't like Astral magic as much as Death.

Note also that D9 isn't half-bad either. I ran my Epony Chieftain test with a D9 bless and IIRC they were doing 20-odd points of damage per round to the poor archer. 2 AN damage is like an attack of strength "whatever your Prot is, plus two" (although you have to take the MR check into account too), which means it's often about as good as adding a hoof attack to cavalry.

-Max