Dead pretender poll

[Kristoffer O]

Originally posted by Jasper:
I typically like to have Pretenders who can fight well in battle, and losing them due to random chance just happens. It's frustrating when it's due to random chance (e.g. a 30 gold mortal commander attacking my Medusa, not being stoned, actually hitting, and then doing 50+ damage in one swing, but it's not that bad because you had to account for the chance when creating your Pretender anyway.

Note that this poll is a bit self fulfilling: I've never _lost_ a Pretender to Mind Duel, as I rarely play with Astral on a Pretender, and when I do I try to have lots. I have killed Pretenders this way...

After trying Astral Pretenders, I've softened my anti Mind Duel stance, but the expense of at least Astral 5-6 and risk of Astral Pretenders repeatedly dying to Mind Duel still makes me avoid playing them.

Mind Duel is enough to make _many_ players use house rules to ban it's use, and IMHO pretty much hoses Marignon, and greatly adds to Pythium's power (errr, assuming Communion adds to Mind Duel, which I can't be sure about).

Hmm, yes, it was a bit self fullfilling. I happened to have a third question in my poll setup and wasn't sure how to formulate my question. Take it for what it is (almost pointless).

My main interest was how often people lose their pretenders and how they take it. It is less fun to play when your enemy has almost given up, just because he gambled with his god and lost.

Regarding communion: I'm not sure, but I believe it has an effect. I also believe that all communicants will suffer from the same fate if one of them is slayed in a magic duel (this might be Dom II, or might not be implemented at all, I'll have to ask JK).

Regarding the initiator winning ties. Do you believe the opposite would lessen the impact of magic duels in pretender design and in marignon-arco/pythium balance?

I am feeling a hostile usenet dominion with a strong order scale altering my perceptions.