Protecting Human Pretenders

[sushiboat]

I have tried several kinds of pretenders, including the SC's. At the moment I find myself returning to rainbow and semi-rainbow humans. Apart from their physical weakness, they do so many pretender tasks well -- research, site searching, forging, summoning.

The big issue is how to keep the human pretender alive in the mid to late game. In my current game, my Great Sage is equipped with Starshine Skullcap, Robe of Missile Protection, Winged Shoes (mostly for strategic movement), Pendant of Luck, and Amulet of Antimagic. He also has the Twiceborn enchantment. He has bodyguards -- 4 vampires and a frost fiend. He has pretty much stayed in the capital castle, except for a couple of site searching trips.

Any suggestions for better equipment, additional spells, tactics, etc., to protect humans? How about elemental protection? Which domes are worth putting up -- i.e., are likely to stay up for a long time? Would a decent MP opponent make mincemeat of a human pretender no matter what precautions are taken?

[quantum_mechani]

sushiboat said:
I have tried several kinds of pretenders, including the SC's. At the moment I find myself returning to rainbow and semi-rainbow humans. Apart from their physical weakness, they do so many pretender tasks well -- research, site searching, forging, summoning.

The big issue is how to keep the human pretender alive in the mid to late game. In my current game, my Great Sage is equipped with Starshine Skullcap, Robe of Missile Protection, Winged Shoes (mostly for strategic movement), Pendant of Luck, and Amulet of Antimagic. He also has the Twiceborn enchantment. He has bodyguards -- 4 vampires and a frost fiend. He has pretty much stayed in the capital castle, except for a couple of site searching trips.

Any suggestions for better equipment, additional spells, tactics, etc., to protect humans? How about elemental protection? Which domes are worth putting up -- i.e., are likely to stay up for a long time? Would a decent MP opponent make mincemeat of a human pretender no matter what precautions are taken?

Stealth is very good for keeping rainbows safe, which makes druids a good choice for this purpose. Other than that, I would swap out the anti magic amulet if you plan to keep him out of combat. Replacing it with an air shield amulet and then changing the robe for a robe of the shadows will give you better protection from arrows. Also look into getting cold/fire resistance depending who you are facing (flames from the sky, ect.)

And I would say it is possible to keep your rainbow safe in MP, it just depends the amount of work you (and your enemi es) want to put into the issue.

[Taqwus]

On domes: There are three that protect, and three that retalliate.

Protection --
Dome of Solid Air (A5, 20 gems): 80% chance of stopping any (?) spell coming from outside the province, including yours. Goes down if penetrated or if caster dies; permanent otherwise.

Forest dome (N5, 10 gems?): IIRC, 30% chance of stopping. Goes down when burned by fire spells, or caster dies; permanent otherwise.

Dome of Arcane Power (Astral, don't recall): 50% chance of stopping each incoming spell. Goes down if caster dies, or when spent gems run out (something like 1 turn per addn'l gem).

(?) Seem to recall possibility of certain exceptions -- astral window?


Retalliation:
Domes of Fiery Death, Dome of Frost: Don't block spells, last only until spent gems run out, attack with appropriate element.

Dome of Corruption: Tries to Feeblemind those who cast into the province. Also occasionally sends horrors against mages under the dome.

[NTJedi]

Taqwus said:
Retalliation:
Domes of Fiery Death, Dome of Frost: Don't block spells, last only until spent gems run out, attack with appropriate element.

That's incorrect.

The Frost Dome has a 30% chance to block spells.

[quantum_mechani]

Taqwus said:

Dome of Solid Air (A5, 20 gems): 80% chance of stopping any (?) spell coming from outside the province, including yours. Goes down if penetrated or if caster dies; permanent otherwise.

Actually, I think it stays up if a spell gets past, but goes down if it stops a spell.

[Ygorl]

Taqwus has it right, according to the manual.

[NTJedi]

I've never seen the air dome go down when stopping a spell. The frost dome does have a 30% chance of stopping spells according to the definition within the game.

[Oversway]

Replacing it with an air shield amulet and then changing the robe for a robe of the shadows will give you better protection from arrows. Also look into getting cold/fire resistance depending who you are facing (flames from the sky, ect.)

To this end, you could swap out the luck pendant for faithful and equip ring of fire/frost. Also, isn't there a shield that gives you missile prot? You could replace the air shield amulet with another elemental prot as well. Or are there are better weapons/shields for protection?

[Tuidjy]

The robe of shadows is a must unless you have enough earth paths to make wind
rides impossible. But generally, a non-stealthy human pretender is a weakness
that is very hard to overcome.

[Taqwus]

Frost dome does stop spells? Hm, I'd thought it was merely the counterpart of the Fiery Death dome. *shrug* Improves it a fair bit, then.

Shield of Valour gives the air shield, as do the robe and (token? amulet?).

Other note: facing astral nations, try to keep at least one or two astral mages co-located (for stopping Mind Hunt... which may still be tried by Arco c/o the priestesses unless you have a dome which kills them). Against all sorts of commander-hunting spells keep numerous scouts.