Better Know a (Bad) Pretender: the Terrible Three

[OmikronWarrior]

Better Know a Pretender: the Stillborns

I debated whether or not to do the Wyrm next. For the most part, any regular viewer on this forum knows that the Wyrm is an excellent early expansion pretender, but since he's such a classic he needs to be included. Yet, thinking about the Wyrm got me thinking about why he's so great, but thats a two way street. Thinking about what makes some Pretenders great led me to think about what makes other pretenders “bad.” In the spirit of “off the beaten path,” I decided to devote this posting of Better Know a Pretender to some of the biggest waste of points to ever entice players.

The Manticore

This Pretender has to be a case study in “almost, but not quite.” Just looking at his stats he seems to have a lot of what players look for an awake, Turn-2 expander. He has more HP than Dragons and almost as many as the Wyrm. He comes with Fear standard for routing independents and synergizing with Awe (obtained through Dominion-9 or 10). He also has two attacks per round shortening the combat so as to not let fatigue accumulate. More over, he can fly giving players a lot more options in which independent province he attacks next so as to not slow down expansion. Best of all, he costs ZERO pretender points. Only the Crone and a few immobile pretenders share that distinction, certainly no other flying expanders.

So, why is he on the failure list? Primarily, because he can't stay alive. His immediate competitors for fast expansion have the right properties to survive a horde of independents whacking him or it. For example, the Wyrm comes with 11 protection and 10% regeneration (which is a lot with his high HP). The Manticore has a meager 6 protection and no HP saving regeneration. Dragons have 18 protection and a lot more Fear to make Awe more effective. The Ghost King has 18 defense and is ethereal. The Manticore makes do with a paltry 12 defense. Making the picture worse, our beleaguered friend Manty has four encumbrance, which may not seem like a lot, but it adds quickly enough to mean more hits to lost defense and criticals slipping past his already meager protection. Then, his second attack has only 12 Attack Skill, meaning it misses a good portion of the time. Finally, he only has a base Dominion-2. Which means his cheaper base cost is eaten up by having to pay more points to get him to Dominion-10 which provides Awe-2, the only way he stays alive to kill more than 3 chaff. Adding a path for 50 points is an option, but it all comes back to “opportunity costs.” The other traditional expanders do not need an extra path to expand, thats just gravy to help the nation out.

The obvious thing to do is put Manty asleep (as a setting, not a euphemism for death), add a path, and when he awakes your nation will have researched some spells and maybe have some handy forged items. Yet, this is where some of his other weaknesses come to light. When dealing with a low protection chassis, the obvious solution is to add armor. However, the Manticore does not have a chest slot. Or hands or feet for that matter. There are other Pretenders while not offering the same HP none the less can utilize more of what your nation has to offer a year in while giving more in return.

So, is there any purpose to picking up Manty? Well, his Stinger attack does look good on paper. It has 17 Attack Skill to hit opponents, is Armor Piercing, and delivers a dollop of Death Poison. That is ideal to potentially take out high value targets like enemy pretenders. To reduce risk, the Manticore could be scripted with (Attack Monster)x5, retreat, and have some cheap defensive gear like an Amulet of Luck. Death Poison seems to inflict about 30 points of poison damage. That will put down most Pretenders not immune to Poison or with regeneration. Unfortunately, the Wyrm, a major competitor in the early game, has both. The Prince of Death is also Poison Immune, though his smaller HP total makes him otherwise more vulnerable to a 27 damage AP attack. However, the Manticore will eat an unaugmented Cyclops for breakfast. Also, the Manty is a big fellow, size-6. If the player is up against Caelum, Arcoscephale, and Bandar Log, this is the cheapest possible counter to tramplers. Yet, the best Dominions 3 strategies typically get a lot more out of their pretender than either of these uses combined. This entire section might as well have been Wyrm>>>Manticore.

The Freak Lord

He's the kind of Pretender you don't take home to mother. Or use often. Or use ever, really. OK, he's a rainbow, which is admittedly a class of pretenders that see less playtime than the bless chassises or the Super Combatants. Yet, even when the situation calls for a rainbow, players have to search their souls for a reason to click on him.

This may seem surprising. Yes, he has some odd bonuses that don't make much sense on a low HP rainbow pretender. Namely, fear and trample. Some of the apprehension about choosing the Freak Lord may be due to not wanting to “pay” for these bonuses. This, however, is unfounded. The Freak Lord's price tag, 40 points, is right in line with other rainbow Pretenders. The Frost Father and Great Enchantress cost 55 points, but do come with two starting paths and some other benefits. The other common mounted rainbow pretender, the Archmage, costs only 30 points, but the Freak Lord has a third miscellaneous slot which more than makes up for the slight price difference.

Plus, he has a couple of handy things other pretenders don't. It is true that fear and trample don't come in handy very often. However, in the case of a rout, trample will let the Freak Lord escape by running over his fleeing men. Not much, but something. Being Mounted is more impressive. It means extra encumbrance from armor will not add to his meelee encumbrance. OK, he's unlikely to ever be risked in close combat, but its something. Mounted also adds +3 defense, and with a base defense of 14 and the +3 defense of a Quarterstaff, that comes to a total of 20 defense. Thats nice to have should something go terribly wrong. Finally, being mounted gives the Freak Lord three Map Move, which is probably its biggest advantage. Did I mention he has three miscellaneous slots? Because that's a big advantage as it lets him equip more boosters, lack of feet aside.

So, am I suggesting the Freak Lord has been misjudged and should get more playtime as a viable rainbow pretender? Unfortunately, no, and for one reason: Blood magic is the weakest magic to have on a pretender. You see, Blood Magic is different. It requires a steady supply of blood slaves to work. To get blood slaves, a player needs to blood hunt, which requires national blood mages to do efficiently. So, you are either a blood nation or you are not as blood mages are rarely found as independents or mercenaries. If you are playing a blood nation, then your nation will have enough blood slaves to just empower your pretender and spend the points elsewhere. It is possible for non-Blood nations to “boot strap” in by somehow getting 50 blood slaves either through trade or a host of commanders blood hunting inefficiently.

Or, you might put some Blood Magic on your pretender. For the most efficient use of points, the amount of blood magic needed on a pretender for boot strapping is exactly... One. Basically, there is a check based on level of Blood magic. A non-Blood mage has a 10% chance of finding any blood slaves while blood hunting. Blood-1, 50%, Blood-2, 90%, and Blood-3 and better 100%. Wait, you say, doesn't that mean we should buy Blood-2? No, because your pretender only needs to find 5 Blood Slaves, at which point it can forge a Sanguine Dousing Rod and will then effectively hunt as a Blood-2 mage. If your nation “needs” blood slaves faster than that, the Fountain of Blood is a better choice. For a rainbow, you want just enough blood to prime the national pump and then move your pretender onto more important duties.

Meanwhile, other paths have much more pressing needs to buy higher. Astral needs three levels to be optimally effective. Air magic should probably be as high as four levels. Then, one of the most important roles a rainbow pretender plays is site searching. To efficiently site search, the pretender should have 2 or 3 levels in a path. However, Blood sites are very rare and the points spent on blood magic are points underutilized while the rainbow goes site searching. And thats what the stigma of the Freak Lord adds up to, points. Its better to start with a chassis with paths you need to get to two, or three, or four or even higher and then just spend the 10 extra points to pick up a level of blood.

So, is there any reason to pick the Freak Lord? Well, the three miscellaneous slots (along side still having a head) bodes well for Astral magic. The Freak Lord can equip Four Astral boosters, without having to have access to uniques. That means he only needs Astral-5 to cast Wish. Or with enough Air magic, the Freak Lord can forge Robes of the Archmagi, a universal magic booster which the Freak Lord can equip for a total of 5 Astral Boosters without a unique. However, the most useful Blood item is the Blood Stone, an Earth booster and gem generator requiring Earth-2, Blood-3 to forge. Some players might want to start out with Blood-3 to start forging this ASAP. Yet, I wince at putting Earth magic on a pretender without feet who will be unable to equip Earth Boots. More importantly, when I use a rainbow I want four to five paths, sometimes more. Its almost always more efficient to pick another rainbow chassis.

The Vampire Queen

Apparently, in the long gone days of Dominion-2 before I joined the Illwinter faithful, this damned monarch was one of the most popular choices for a Super Combatant. Now, she lives in a Florida retirement community off of royalty checks that still trickle in from her glory days in the spotlight. VH1 had a special, maybe you saw it. Surprisingly, she really looked like she had a lot going on. Yet, much like the Manticore, it just does not come together. Her biggest advantage is immortality. Thats a huge benefit to any pretender. Attack without worrying about death. Cast a powerful global, don't worry about her dying on the battlefield and loosing it. She also has flight, regeneration, stealth, and all the benefits of the undead (cold immunity, poison immunity, and zero encumbrance). She also gets a slow trickle of vampire free spawn based on Dominion. Finally, her basic attack is Life Drain, which restores fatigue and HP.

So, whats so bad? This package costs a whopping 175 pretender points. The only other Pretender off the top of my mind even close is the All Father, and its much easier to make a case for his 150 point price tag. And for those 175 points, the VQ only has a base dominion of 1, which effectively raises the cost even higher no matter what the player needs. If the player wants to use her as an awake Super Combatant, the player will fail. Regen means nothing in the face of low HP, 23, and 0 protection. She dies even faster than the Manticore while killing far less. Sure, she'll be back ready to try again, but even with Awe-2 (purchased with an obscene amount of points), she will die without taking out any of the opposition. Even with protective equipment, she just doesn't have the margins needed to stay alive. And those Vampire free spawn she gets? They die just as easy unless massed in great numbers and buffed.

Sure, players can add paths. Nevermind that other pretenders that cost less can be effective without paying for additional paths, at 50 point apiece. So, what path makes her effective? You already know about Blood magic impotence from the Freak Lord. Is death handy? Buying up to Death-5 grants Fear-0, thats something. Yet, she still won't live long enough to rout the opposition. Earth magic will booster her protection, but not nearly enough. Water magic is good for defense and later lets her cast the very powerful Personal Quickness and the still useful Breath of Winter. Still won't survive against chaff.

So, awake is out. What about asleep or imprisoned? The flaw remains the same: it ties up a lot of points into something that won't be productive until later. This can be acceptable if the return on the wait is worth it. I don't think its possible to get 175+ points in value back. The VQ would need to leverage her immortality and be able to either wipe out armies with a degree of support, or consistently damage them without equipment and be back next turn to continue the attrition. I engaged in some thought exercise on this matter, considering various options from Soul Drain to spamming Death to Dust. The problem with either option is either of the games two lich pretenders would do them just as well while costing less. And that freespawn just doesn't come fast enough to tip the tide in her favor.

As with the others, I end by asking if there is any use for the Vampire Queen. Sure, first find a mod that cuts its cost down to be competive with liches. Then, play Late Age Ulm, a rare nation that can use death magic and blood magic from the get-go. Finally... profit?