[tinkthank]

Wearing items as a Communication master will transfer the special power of these items to their slaves. Thus a communication master with the Armor of Virtue on will give Ritual of Returning to all his/her slaves, or a Master with the Scultata V. shield automatically gives his/her slaves Charge Body.

(At least this is the case if the battle opens with the master wearing the armor and a crystal matrix -- have not yet tested for cases where the Master must first actually cast Master.)

EDIT: The really weird thing is, that even the ritual effects will remain after the battle is done. Thus a Slave who received the Ritual of Returning spell maintains the Ritual benefit (little blue returning star icon) after the battle is done, forever: e.g. s/he has returning on him/herself in the strategic map view on all consequtive turns.
(This can be exploited by slapping powerful artifacts on a Master and some Matrixes on just about anyone and have them take turns participating in battles -- soon all your commanders can be ritualized this way.)

I haven't seen this mentioned before. This seems a wee bit overpowerful to me, and illogical, and thus probably an accidental oversight. I havent tested this with all of the big scary Unique items yet, I just discovered this by accident (wondering why all my communicants had Rit of Returning on them). That is why I am guessing it is a bug, but perhaps someone can tell me otherwise.

[ July 23, 2004, 14:14: Message edited by: tinkthank ]