Thoughts on Pretenders

[Aetius]

I have started many games of late, have even started several where I played hot seat with more than one nation just to get a feel for the different pretenders. After doing this, it seems to me that the human like pretenders (Arch-mage, Great Enchantress, Crone, Arch-Druid etc.) are not very useful in comparison to Titans, Nagas, Demons, and Dragons etc. The most interesting aspect that I have noticed is that the human like pretenders end up being less magically powerful than Titans even with the new path cost of only 10 pts. Am I doing something wrong with my builds or does anyone have suggestions? In particular I am interested in pretender concepts for Marignon, Ulm, Man, Caleum, and Pythium.

[Truper]

Well, the point to using an arch-mage type pretender is to get many magic paths at once - commonly referred to as a "rainbow mage". Something with say 2 or 3 in a lot of or even all the paths. Makes a great site finder and item forger. If you are going to stick with one or two magic paths, you usually will be better off with a Titanic pretender, as these usually start with higher dominion, and are more useful in combat.