wraith sword vs. standard of the damned

[Omnirizon]

wraith sword- lifedrain
standard otD- spell: drain life

I'm not so sure what lifedrain on a weapon does. is basically the drain life spell on the target hit?

I'm also not sure how spell casting items work. do they cast every turn?

on an SC, which of these two is better? I'm thinking the sword, but I don't know.

[K]

Lifedrain comes in two flavors: major and minor(its minor unless it says major, in general).

So, minor lifedrain lets you recover up to 10 points of tatigue and up to 2 HPs per hit (5 damage max lifedrain, which is doubled for fatigue and halves for HPs).

Major Lifedatin is on a few artifacts and is doubled for fatigue and halves for HPs(no cap).

Wraith Sword uses minor lifedrain.

Standard of the Damned casts the spell Drain Life. It wokrs like major lifedrain, but with its own spell damage. You don't put it on an SC, but on a commander who spams it (since people in melee rarely cast spells, its not as good).

[cleveland]

Omnirizon said:
wraith sword- lifedrain
standard otD- spell: drain life

I'm not so sure what lifedrain on a weapon does. is basically the drain life spell on the target hit?
See page 79 of the manual

I'm also not sure how spell casting items work. do they cast every turn?
Not automatically. When you equip the item it becomes an available spell for that commander. If you put it on a non-mage & script "cast spells," he'll automatically cast it for the entire battle.
HINT: Put it on a commander with Heroic Quickness, or one that can self cast Quicken, etc.

on an SC, which of these two is better? I'm thinking the sword, but I don't know.
[b]Neither. An SC needs an AOE weapon. An anti-SC-SC, however, could do nicely with the Sword, backed up by an indy commander holding the SotD.

[Omnirizon]

what if you've already got aoe damaging armor and an aoe damaging intrinsic ability

i thought maybe having some life replenishing direct damage might be a better option then. No?

edit: also, would the quickness effect the casting of the spell since it is from an item?

[Taqwus]

Quickness affects the Standard of the Damned, yes.

Not the wraithsword -- that's a secondary effect, IIRC, not an action-consuming spell cast.

[K]

Omnirizon said:
what if you've already got aoe damaging armor and an aoe damaging intrinsic ability

i thought maybe having some life replenishing direct damage might be a better option then. No?

Most auras tend to not be that good against powerful troops, so a good damaging weapon is ideal.

Omnirizon said:
edit: also, would the quickness effect the casting of the spell since it is from an item?

There is a bug where Quickness from items lets you cast spells from items twice each turn.

[MaxWilson]

K said:
Major Lifedatin is on a few artifacts and is doubled for fatigue and halves for HPs(no cap).

Which artifacts? Does Sun Slayer have major lifedrain?

-Max

[K]

As far as I know, the Scepter of Dark Regency is the only major lifedrain item, and it's so useful that it's not appropriate for SCs.

Sun Slayer, on the other hand, has a power called "Area Death" which I haven't experimented with.

[Carkaton]

K said:
it's so useful that it's not appropriate for SCs.

I don't get that statement. It's so useful that you wouldn't want to waste it on an SC, or it's so useful that it makes SCs that much more ridiculous?

[K]

It's Death +3, so it's more useful for casting rituals and the like.

Putting it on an SC seems like a waste considering how easy they are to kill.