[Baalz]

Another option is empowering, it's really not that prohibitively expensive for what you get. Consider if you'd have to summon 2 specters because the first one didn't get a S random then that's 40D, wheras if you empower somebody to S1 it's just 50 pearls (which can more easily be alchemized if you need them). Plus, with a little work you can empower a stealthy flier to give you better mobility. Just one stealthy astral mage cleverly deployed is often all it takes to convince your opponent to stop mindhunting - he's got no idea how many or where your astral guys are...