Elemental King/Queen summoning limits?

[Peter Ebbesen]

Huzurdaddi said:
Golems are clods. But it is all astral has. Not even as useful as a bane, which cost far less and requires less research. Bleech.

Golems with Stymphalian Armour and Winged Shoes/Boots of Quickness make excellent tramplers. Add anti-magic and a charcoal shield for more fun, or give your Golem the full "anti-the-person-who-hits-me" outfit. Bane Lords look funnier when they are flat.

[Cohen]

Simply Magic Levels and Paths are counted much more than pure fighting skill.

So a Banelord, even if thougher than an Harbringer, or more skilled than a Golem, lacks of any magic skill.

Harbringer can trapeze, mistform and mirror image, and with a +1A item can wrath too.
A Golem with a Starshine Cap can teleport, and he's plenty of buffs like body ethereal, personal luck, astral weapon/shield, resist magic. And it's lifeless, this make enemy SC unable to lifedrain him, even if he doesn't regenerate unless in a lab, in the lab IIRC he heals afflictions too.

However it's true they cost a lot of pearls meanwhile you can easily build a Banelord or better a Tartarian factory.

IMO Astral really needs for some uniques.

[Huzurdaddi]

I really would like a summon that is cost effective before a unique. Either troops or commanders. Heck both would be nice

[PvK]

Why genericize things? If you give summons that are like summons from other magic schools, are you later going to want to give something like Communion, Teleport, Dispel, and Luck powers to all of the other flavors of magic?

Communion makes Astral scary, as well as the various astral items and spells that add magic levels, and not just astral levels either. As the magic that deals with magic, it has a lot of potential for players who use it from a more sophisticated perspective than just "it isn't in the top 2 cuz it doesn't have the best summons or battle spells".

PvK