Strands of Astral Power. Worth it?

[Jazzepi]

I don't see the problem with the spell. What's the swing between in MR between drain 2 and magic 3? I think that's pretty significant since it moves you up on a bell curve. It sucks that penetration items apparently don't work with the global, but from Szumo's post it sounds like it works just fine if you're setup for it with a high magic domain.

Jazzepi

[Tuidjy]

Jazzepi, the enemy mages in my dominion range from MR 18 to 26, with the majority
at MR 20. The difference between Drain 2 and Magic 3 is 3MR. That would give
a bonus of chance of 8% (Wowsers!) for the wimpiest targets, and no appreciable
bonus for the tough ones.

Mine is a simple argument. If the spell depends on the modified magic resistance
of the target, it should depend on the modified penetration of the caster.

[Zeldor]

But that spells is supposed to find enemy MAGES, not commanders. And it is suposed to magic duel/mind burn them unless they have high MR. I don't know about any 8MR mages.

[Dedas]

There is none, but there are LOTS of 13-15 MR mages. With a magic scale of 2 the lowest become as low as 12 making it pretty good chance that they will be damaged.

[Sombre]

Why would you waste that many gems to feeblemind crappy mr 13 fire darters?

[Don_Seba]

I find it hard to disagree that if kiting out your mages to protect them works, and kiting out your mindhunter does not, something is not right.

I still find it hard to believe that out of 80 mages in your dominion, not one was detected. Come on, with odds of one single percent, it is still unlikely.

[Edited because of typos]

[Ironhawk]

Yeah something does seem amiss. Even a weak spell will get lucky and defeat high MR if cast enough times. If this spell really is being cast 80 times a turn with no results then something does appear to be wrong.

Perhaps there is a mechanic to it which we are not aware? Maybe the spell literally has no effect if you are in drain dominion? Needs testing!

[VedalkenBear]

Just FYI: With a 1% chance, the chances that 0 mages are found would be 0.4475. (0.99)^80

With a 5% chance, the chances that 0 mages are found drop to 0.0165.

I can't seem to find my rulebook ATM. I'd be more than happy to calculate values for the case at hand.

[Jazzepi]

Tuidjy said:
Jazzepi, the enemy mages in my dominion range from MR 18 to 26, with the majority
at MR 20. The difference between Drain 2 and Magic 3 is 3MR. That would give
a bonus of chance of 8% (Wowsers!) for the wimpiest targets, and no appreciable
bonus for the tough ones.

Mine is a simple argument. If the spell depends on the modified magic resistance
of the target, it should depend on the modified penetration of the caster.

Oh, I agree! I still think the spell is fine as is. shouldn't it just demolish armies that have non-astral, and thus lower MR, mages?

Jazzepi

[Jazzepi]

One more thing. If this spell did work with spell penetration, and you equiped all the penetration items you can think of. Let's say it gives you +6, plus a natural S9 pretender used for a bless, plus the -2 MR off of Magic 3, then wouldn't you just demolish any invading army?

Just from a viewpoint of balance it doesn't sound terribly workable.

Jazzepi