Newbie ?? re: Spell Damage

[archaeolept]

ooh, also check astral fires...

and living fire, the mass elemental spell, would give you 11 elementals...

[Zooko]

Those are way too advanced for my simple-minded nation of campaigning religious fanatics.

Also Astral Fires doesn't have "+" damage, and magic resistance negates. Bleah. Oooh, but I see that the area of effect has a "+" on it. Cool. If my mages ever get tired of throwing themselves into battle and decided to do some research, we'll look into that.

[Kristoffer O]

Fire Darts is very fun at the early stages if your pretender has 8-10 in fire. Dmg is only 10, but 10-12 darts is still very useful unless the opponents have heavy armors. Besides the dmg is armor piercing.

[deccan]

Zooko said:
Yeah, I just decided that my 9-Fire, 9-Astral Flaming Head Baphomet really ought to cast Power of the Spheres, Phoenix Power, Summon Fire Elemental, Luck, Holy Pyre.

Oooh! So that's what you have. Lucky I didn't start next to you. You must have really kick *** flagellents!

[Peter Ebbesen]

While we are at it, FarAway Pretender, spells with + to area of effect are often worth much more than they immediately would appear when cast by a high-level pretender, and potentially more dangerous than those with + to number of targets. Standard examples include Shadow BLast and Falling Frost, both of which are extremely vicious at high levels.

[Nagot Gick Fel]

Zooko said:
Also Astral Fires doesn't have "+" damage, and magic resistance negates.

True, but higher skill helps you bypass the target's MR more easily (+1 bonus for each 2 levels above the spell requirements - ie, +3 with your Baphomet).

[Zooko]

Oh, yeah, I love my double-bless flagellants! They get two attacks (with flails), each one getting +4 to attack, and the 8 extra a.p. damage. Also, their attacks are considered magic so they ignore etherealness. And my Pretender's Astral-9 gives flagellants Twist Fate so that it is hard to kill them before they get off their attacks. :-)

Unfortunately, having taken drain-3 dominion in order to pay for this, I find myself governing a nation of ignoramouses, whose greatest achievement in the magic arts is Conjuration level 5.

[Zooko]

Astral Fires has area of effect 4+. It requires Fire-3 and Astral-1. Now suppose I cast it with a Pretender who has Fire-9 and Astral-9. Would it effect 18 squares??

If my Pretender first casts Power of the Spheres and Phoenix Power and then casts Astral Fires, would it effect 20 squares?

[Arralen]

It's only the first of the listed paths that counts. So you're casting at +6 only

[Endoperez]

Peter Ebbesen said:
While we are at it, FarAway Pretender, spells with + to area of effect are often worth much more than they immediately would appear when cast by a high-level pretender, and potentially more dangerous than those with + to number of targets. Standard examples include Shadow BLast and Falling Frost, both of which are extremely vicious at high levels.

Breath of Winter also seems to cover LOTS of ground when cast by Water 9 pretender... I discovered this when I was trying to get pretender/nation combo which had Golem Cult and W9E9. The idea was to research Enchantment to Claymen and after that to Enliven statues... I wasn't able to pull it off, however. I had to leave one of the magics at 4 or 6, IIRC. It could still be pretty nice with C'tis who can use Enchantment pretty well and has sacred, communiable Shamans to benefit from the reincigoration of the Earth blessing. Maybe I will mod something to be able to try E9 (or 8) Shamans with W9 Serpent Dancers!