1 Pretender and 1 Prophet?

[customer717]

I just finished my first successful (ie I was winning) "walthrough" demo game. I am waiting for my full Version now. I have many lingering questions, but some stand out.

1) I had a Pretender and a Prophet. When I killed the enemy Pretender he was still in the game vowing to kill me to the Last man. So I guess they are just a "bonus" for domain spread, but can still die without the game being over. I assume the are dead forever and you can not get a new pretender?

2) Similar deal, my Prophet died and I could not get a priest to become a new one. I am almost certain the AI was making new prophets when one died. How do I get mine back?

3) I had lots of water summons, but could not use them. Do I have to be IN WATER to use these? If so, how do I get my mage to go in water as most of my troops won't go there (undead were the only ones that would)?

[Argitoth]

1. Once your pretender is dead you gain access to a "Call God" command from your holy and unholy priests. The more holy or unholy power a priest has, the shorter the time takes to bring back your pretender from the dead. In addition, the more priests calling your pretender, the shorter it will take for him to reappear. Pretenders may come back with battle wounds though.

2. After about 4 turns you will recieve a message something like, "The power of your prophet has returned..." or something. You may then appoint a new prophet.

3. Your troops don't need to be with your mage for the mage to summon units. There will be a note in the spell's description "Can only be cast underwater" or "Cannot be cast underwater". If it has niether, you may cast it on land or in water. There are multiple magic items to give your troops the ability to breathe underwater. Make sure when you try to summon something underwater you build a lab to do so.

[Arryn]

To add to Argitoth's reply, pretenders who are not immortal or immortals who die outside of friendly dominion need to be Called. If immortal and within friendly dom, the pretender will reappear the next turn in your capital.

The opportunity to create a new prophet after an old one has died takes 6 months of waiting, IIRC.

[Argitoth]

yes yes, and 6 months is 6 turns.

[von_Schmidt]

Originally posted by customer717:

3) I had lots of water summons, but could not use them. Do I have to be IN WATER to use these? If so, how do I get my mage to go in water as most of my troops won't go there (undead were the only ones that would)?

Other possiblities:
Did you have enough water gems?
Was your mage at a lab?
Was your casting mage at the prerequisite Water skill level?

[General Tacticus]

3. A small addition : mages with a skill in water can breathe underwater, and for every skill point above 1 can take an additional troop with them. Some water summons (like sea trolls) can be summoned on land as well as underwater. But getting a foothold under water for a land race can be delicate. There are some amphibious summons (including most undead and sea trolls), some amphibious mercenaries, and you can recruit amphibious troops in some of your land provinces. And assorted magic items that allow troops to breathe underwater.

[Gandalf Parker]

Interesting side-note. There are spells which will let you steal prophets (well actualy any unit) from other nations. I had up to 3 at a time with Dom1 so unless they changed things this becomes another option later in the game.

[CharonJr]

Originally posted by Gandalf Parker:
Interesting side-note. There are spells which will let you steal prophets (well actualy any unit) from other nations. I had up to 3 at a time with Dom1 so unless they changed things this becomes another option later in the game.

Even the simple Enslave Mind is able to still do this, just caught myself a juicy Pythium prophet

CharonJr

[Grandpa Kim]

And assorted magic items that allow troops to breathe underwater.

I still only have the demo, but I have seen nothing, other than a mage's skill level, that will allow ordinary troops to breathe underwater. Commanders, yes, lots of goodies there, but nothing for the grunts.

Is there something for these poor schleps but I've just missed it?

The Sea King (From the spell Sea King's Court) can carry 10 troops + his Water skill into the water with him.

Otherwise you are regulated to normal magic items. Common ones are:

Sea King's Goblet
Pills of Water Breathing
Manual of Water Breathing
Barrel of Air
Orb of Atlantis