early fightin' pretender spells

[Cainehill]

rylen said:
Astral -- Ethrealness + Luck + Twist fate are really good. The pretender seems to get injured more often then Air, but still rarely. What else is good for single travel?

If you're using a sturdy chassis, you might skip Twist Fate if you're doing luck - 1/2 the time luck would allow you to miss the damage Twist Fate eliminates. Other spells to consider are Astral Shield / Astral Weapon - the shield is great to paralyze those enemies which swing at you.

Earth -- Ironskin + Earth Might also allow quick expansion at Alt3. Con2 helps w/ fatigue. My Pretender frequently gets injured and I pull back to troop support (a different subject.)

If you went single path in earth, Shards is worthwhile to use against lightly armored foes like LI, barbarians, etc. Also, Earth Meld can trap a bunch of them, meaning less get to you at once. And of course, Evocation 4 gives Blade Wind.

(Side note here : You can have a melee SC pretender and _still_ use a couple of spells like Shards, Earth Meld, Sulphur Haze, etc, to slow down or eliminate some of the enemy before you pound them into Lizard Marmalade with your fists.)

Water -- Quickness is splendid, and low path cost folks often get a little water just for that. Breath of winter is nice. But whenever I try to do just water on a Titan style figure, he gets mobbed and killed. What else to put on him?

Armor and shield? Titans aren't ideal for melee, not without several paths and preferably a few items.

Beefier chassis's might do quite well with just Quickness and BoW - a Wyrm, Dagon, Ancient Kraken or Blue Dragon. Other chassis's could do it as well, but aren't going to come in pure Water flavors - the carrion dragon, Cyclops, etc.

----These are mostly speculation.
Nature -- I've mostly been practicing with Pythium and Abyssia lately, so I don't want frenzied casters. But nature seems like a weaker (in combat) earth. Protection + Regeneration. Maybe poison resistance. What else?

Sleep Cloud? Poison Cloud (later on). Swarm. Not all paths are suited to solo SCing, especially with a single path.