Hidden in Snow

[Meglobob]

Zath said:
Given the path requirements of this spell, the mage is only worthwhile if it gets picks in earth magic. Without picks in earth magic, you might as well just cast Streams from Hades for guaranteed water and death magic.

The expected number of mages per cast is 1 (random between 0 and 2), and the chance for each mage to get at least 2 picks in earth is 1/2 (from 3x 50% picks), so on average we can expect to spend 110 water gems for 2+ levels of earth magic.

Empowering two levels of earth from scratch costs only 80 earth gems, is guaranteed with no chance of failure, and can be used on any mage of your choice with the desired combination of magic paths.

Excellent post by Zath.

Hidden in Snow as it stands is currently a, 'no brainer' not to cast.

I am playing MA Caelum in MP at the moment and for the record I cast stream of hades to get D3 and found a amazon mage to get 1E and traded for earth boots. Far better than casting a 55W gem spell and 100% certain.

Don't get me wrong the spell is a good idea, description great, thematically good, its the mechanics of the spell.

It needs tinkering with, give it a power boost, reduce gem cost or give more goodies for the gem cost.