Alexander's ever-expanding Tome of Knowledge

[Jack Simth]

Vicious Love said:
** This strategy has never been tested, and may well be bollocks.

The strat can work (haven't tested the blood reinvig addition at all), but it can have some issues:
1) a great many of the critters most easily used for communion slaves are NOT immune to soul vortex, and so tend to die of fratricide from each other's vortices.
2) Many of the critters most commonly used for communion slaves are cheap (and therefore have little health) and so die of fratricide when their copy of Pheonix Pyre goes off - killing attackers, sure, but also killing any other communion slaves that are nearby. With the ordering of the Pheonix Pyre's Explosion/Random Repop, it's actually possible to lose half your communion slaves from chain fratricide in a single combat round if you are unlucky.
3) The effects of 1 and 2 can stack. If too many of your communion slaves gather too closely together, they ALL DIE.

Mind you, it can be EXTREMELY amusing to watch....

[Taqwus]

Regarding reinvig, Summon Earthpower, IIRC, is the only spell which provides constant reinvigoration. There are one-shot spells which reduce fatigue, such as Relief (which affects all friendlies, including communicants, to some degree) and Leeching Touch / Leech / Drain Life. It wouldn't surprise me too much if the draining spells went through a separate code path and didn't affect the communicants, but if it did...


Oh, and yes those chain-exploding Phoenix Pyre'd communicants can be quite a sight to behold. Especially if it was the spell-casting AI that chose Phoenix Pyre instead of it being listed in a script.


On weirdness involving communion, it might be noteworthy that at least one stock nation gets not-terribly-expensive -stealthy- astral mages -- the Star Children of R'lyeh, available at any underwater or coastal fort. They don't get other magic, however, which limits what they can do (although a stealthy Communion + Doom + Vortex of Returning might be irritating).