Spells to build a pretender around?

[moderation]

What are the best spells or items which are difficult to access? And would you take paths on your pretender just to get them?

I rather like Rain of Stones right now, which might be worth it taking the paths to cast since they are also useful for buffing. Gifts from Heaven is another interesting one, doubt it's worth it for a pretender. Maybe Wish or Utterdark?

[Micah]

I usually try to make sure I have access to earth and astral for my nation as far as diversity paths on my pretender, while earth and air are great buffing paths.

I wouldn't ever design a pretender for a late-game spell like Wish or Utterdark.

The booster rings and dwarven hammers are the main reasons I'd want my pretender to open up E/S...E is less important if trading is open, since hammers are usually easy to get in trade, the rings much less so.

[NTJedi]

Globals, Blesses, and a few summoning spells are reasons to take specific paths on a pretender.

[MaxWilson]

In some cases, I would take Blood on a pretender to have access to Bloodstones. For LA Agartha, for example.

I would strongly consider S5, A4, F4 on my pretender because they can forge some hard-to-bootstrap boosters. However, that requires a nation which has easy access to gem searchers for S/A/F.

-Max

[thejeff]

Master Enslave?

[Hoplosternum]

MaxWilson said:
I would strongly consider S5, A4, F4 on my pretender because they can forge some hard-to-bootstrap boosters. However, that requires a nation which has easy access to gem searchers for S/A/F.

-Max

Yes but you can Cap & Coin an S3 to S5 to get the Ring of Sorcery then you have S6 for the Ring of Wizardry. So you really only need S3, A3, F3 to get those boosters (assuming you have Astral/Earth mages for the coin, otherwise you need S4). Of course you don't have the Bless then, but it is cheaper.

Personally I find the Air & Fire boosters so expensive that they rarely become standard gear on either SCs or mages. Of course there are always times when that extra path lets you cast that crucial spell or makes a powerful air or fire combat spell viable fatigue wise. But is that enough to spend the points on rather than something else?

Having said that after looking at my games the amount of times I've ended up with either F4 or A4 (or both) on a Pretender seems to be high

[MaxWilson]

The main reason I can think of that you'd want to boost Fire is for Flames From the Sky. For Air, Fog Warriors.

Agreed about the S boosters (i.e. taking Earth/Astral is another option).

-Max

[thejeff]

The Air/Fire boosters are expensive, but if you don't have easy access to communions and they let you cast Fog Warriors or other BF spells it's worth it.

If you've got low level Fire or Air mages, it's really nice to be able to forge the boosters. Even one of each can give you access to higher level rituals, summons and globals. (Air Queens?)

Don't overlook Fire/Death for the cheap fire booster, either.

[Twan]

Taking E3, S3, A3, D1 seem the best.

If you have E+S3 you'll have rings of sorcery/wizardry.

If you have D1 and rings you can forge the 2 death boosters, summon liches, go for tartarians etc...

If you have ring of wizardrys + E3A3 you can have staff of elemental power and the air boosters.

Bonus, your pretender can cast rain of stones, gifts from heaven, earthquake, join communion and is able to forge crystal/slave matrixes, so any path you find can be boosted by a communion if a big battle spell is needed.

[Baalz]

Some spells that it might be worth taking into consideration for your pretender:

flaming arrows
darkness
army of lead
master enslave
fog warriors/mass flight/storm & wrathful skies (you get them all for the same price)

The key thing is these are all spells which under the right circumstances greatly amplify your power - particularly if they synergize with your other research goals and you can get them early. I wouldn't design my pretender solely to cast one spell, but I definitely take those into consideration when I'm deciding what paths my pretender needs and what spells would make a big difference for the nation I'm playing. For example, as I mention in my Marverni guide having flaming arrows is a great way to get that nation through the dangerous stage before their druids start laying the smack down, whereas army of lead is just *EVIL* for LA Ermor.