The spell Body ethereal

[Bonobo]

Hello

I ve just started a game with Pythium and I have question about the Spell Body Ethereal: it seems to be quite different from the description in the Spell Book: "the caster's body becomes hazy and transparent...". But I think that casting this spell has an effect on the troops around the wizard.
Could you confirm that ?
In that case, how many casters do I need for an army of 50 guys?

Thank you!

[Vynd]

You are correct. The spell will affect units near the caster, it has an area effect of 1. As to how many casters you need to get 50 of your men ethereal, I couldn't tell you. Someone did an analysis of this many months back. But I wasn't able to find the thread in the few minutes I can spare here at the office.

[Pickles]

I tried this copying some oter guys strat but could not get it to work. EIther the casters were at the back of the infantry so the ones at the front - who need it most - were not covered. Alternatively if teh wizards were a tthe front they got gunned down by arrows or cavalry.

You do not need many casters to get it to "work" though - 1/6-8 men maybe
Try in in a sandbox as it is opening game stuff it will be really fast.

Pickles

[Arryn]

An AOE (area of effect) of 1 means it will (likely) encompass the square directly in front of the caster. A square can contain 6 divided by size-class units, so if the units are human troops (of size 2), a square can hold 3 troops. You would have to have at least 10 human-sized mages, with the troops perfectly apportioned between the 10, and carefully positioned, to cover 50 troops. Not easy.

EDIT: typo

[ July 30, 2004, 16:17: Message edited by: Arryn ]

[Bonobo]

Thank you all for your replies!

[PvK]

You can have the troops hold & attack, while the casters cast Body Ethereal multiple times each, and perhaps start out slightly ahead of them. You can screen them with some arrow fodder out of range of the casters, to protect the operation from arrow fire until it is ready.

PvK