Units with stupid weapon choices

[Agema]

Boulder throwers aren't battlefield troops. They're siege machines, and should be used accordingly. Glaives are okay for Agartha. A nation with size 4 ancient giants would presumably make tunnels large enough for their size 2 youngers to swing glaives. As glaives were designed as a combination axe and spear, in a constrained space they'd be preferentially used like spears and presumably be adequate anyway.

The game mechanics make certain items seem nonsensical from a min-max player point of view. But the point is that to a large extent they exist for flavour. When a pretender God foists himself upon a nation, he is forced to work with their culture, not redesign them from scrath.

[BesucherXia]

Glaives and spears are reasonable to be found in the tunnel. Pale ones are not supposed to be highly intelligent, and could fight like human militias, which rely on number rather than skill. And spear is always popular among militias due to its cheap price.
When you are fighting Agartha in darkness like storming their forts, the glaives will appear to be effective. Suffering from the darkness penalty, the agartha can make full use of their strength by wielding glaives. One hit one kill.

Lacking shields is also thematically resonable. In the tunnel it's quite rare to face missiles and need a big shield. Some descriptions in the game have also hinted the Agartha have lost their war against human because they have no experience of those weapons, and only after MA they start to use kite shields.

[HoneyBadger]

Daggers actually make a lot of sense for mages. They're versatile, compact, and easy to use, if harder to use very effectively. In addition to performing rituals and sacrifices, they'd also be perfect for dispatching wounded soldiers on the battlefield--a task that certain cultures might be expected to leave to (atleast the supervision of) their mages. After all, you don't want the enemy coming back after death--which is a distinct possibility, in the world of Dominions.

For that matter, spells--even non Blood spells--might very well require some of the mage's blood, in exchange for power. Harder to do that with a staff. Not impossible, but certainly painful to watch your venerable high archimage repeatedly bashing himself in the nose with a cord of firewood, every time you need it to rain.

[Humakty]

I like your idea of using personal lifeforce to 'start' an effect, but I don't think it would be appropriate to wound yourself, in a medieval context it most often than not implies your death after all, but rather a drain effect that is spread to all your body at once, which can kill you if your clumsy or if you want too much at once. (Shadowrun RPG, and others, use this idea quite well)
This effect should alter your potential lifetime, and your physical might permanently. (not really in any RPG I played so far... Or I can't remember...)

[Wrana]

Originally Posted by Humakty

This effect should alter your potential lifetime, and your physical might permanently. (not really in any RPG I played so far... Or I can't remember...)

Works something like this in Earthdown, Houses of the Blooded, and some editions of Ars Magica iirc. Not sure about Shadowrun, but quite possible - at least for more massive undertakings.

[Poopsi]

Pale ones are not supposed to be highly intelligent

That's probably why they have oracles that have E3D1 out of the factory, discounting random points.

[Poopsi]

Pale ones are not supposed to be highly intelligent

That's probably why they have oracles that have E3D1 out of the factory, discounting random points.

[Humakty]

Well, you could argue it is easier to seem intelligent when you are hundreds of years old, and know many things.

[BesucherXia]

Originally Posted by Poopsi

That's probably why they have oracles that have E3D1 out of the factory, discounting random points.

Yes, they spend hundreds of years to master those magics, and how about the standard among human mages?

I will be surprised to hear in some game it's Agartha who makes a lead in research, which is the best prove to the intelligence of a race IMO.

[Rookierookie]

My quill can write by itself. I am now smarter.