Guide: Magic Path Booster Guide

[Taqwus]

re:tartarians

Micah said:
This is just based on a random sampling from a test game I have, but it should be pretty accurate. The picks can double up, and I'm not sure what the distribution restrictions are.

Full list of distribution restrictions = { not holy }

Ex. the 3/2/2 male titan is indeed
100% 3x FAWESDNB
100% 2x FAWESDNB
100% 2x FAWESDNB

and can lead to 3/2/2, 5/2, 4/3... or even 7 in any path but holy. Same goes for the other variable Tartarians (that is, not the guaranteed earth/air or earth/death ones).

But yes, unless research is incredibly easy, it's a long road to diversify one's magic, and it requires both death and nature (for GoR, and probably Gift of Health. Granted, summon enough and you'll eventually get a strong non-feebleminded nature caster as a commander, but it might take a while).

The air-clops is the best chassis by far, while the manticore is nearly useless as a commander, being AFAIK the only unit to not get misc. item slots.

Manticore gets 1 helmet, 1 misc slot, IIRC. No weapon slots, so you can send them into the arena and they won't get the trident.

A Vastness on the other hand... no equipment slots.

[vfb]

DigitalSin said:
One of the Archdevils has astral, and one of the Ice Devils does as well. I think they're both at level 1.

There are 6 Ice Devils, one of which has S2. Which one you get is random.

There are 5 Arch Devils, one of which has S3. Again, random.

4 Heliophagus are: B4, or F4B3, or D4B3, or D3B3.

[K]

sector24 said:
I updated the guide. Thanks for everyone's comments so far! By all means keep them coming.

EDIT 1-17-2008

Added Micah's paragraph about the Ring of Wizardry and made several changes to emphasize its importance
Removed Jade Mask from the Death section (not a general strategy)
Removed "Army of Lead" from the Earth section. Technically everyone is correct, the base path is 5 but it can be cast with E3 mages. It was a poor example.
Fixed Forbidden Light requirements and bonus
Removed "Awaken Treelord" from Relevant Summons due to his lack of item slots to hold boosters
Fixed Robe of the Sea requirement
Added section about Rainbow Pretender
Added Ether Gate where appropriate
General revisions based on feedback

In response to some of the posts:

Bind Ice Devil is B3W3 to get to W3, so Sea King's Court is much more likely.

I've never had a Heliophagus with a Death pick. Does anyone know the chances of this happening and what level of Death Magic?

I've never had an Archdevil or Ice Devil with an Astral pick. Does anyone know the chances of this happening and what level of Astral Magic?

I do not know what the randoms can be on Ether Gate, Summon Spectre, Hidden in Snow and Contact Lamia Queen. I can be more specific if I know what the possibilities are. The manual just has something like ?2 which is very vague.

Ok, here is info:

-Bind Ice Devil gets you a W3 and doesn't cost Water gems. Thats a big deal if you are setting up a Water economy.

-There are four Heliophagus. There is a B4, a B3D3, B3D4, and F4B3 (note that he can summon the Archdevils).

-One of the six Ice Devils is a S2, and one of the Arch Devils is a S3.

-Jade Mask is actually great for a Lamia Queen. With a lucky D4 pick on the Queeen you can go up to D6. Toss in a Skull Staff, a Ring of Wizardry, and a Ring of Sorcery and thats a D9 (D12 with the Dark Scepter instead of the Skull Staff, and D13 with the Robe of the Archmagi).

-Treelords can cast Transformation and turn into creatures with slots. Its pretty random what you turn into, but it can happen.

[sector24]

Ok, I understand your point about the Ice Devil now. Although I find it unlikely that a player has 88 blood slaves but doesn't have 35 water gems, I will definitely add it for completeness.

The other stuff is very useful, especially the Jade Mask trick. I never would have thought of that one on my own.

[Shovah32]

A player might have that many slaves and that many gems. But they might need the water gems for something else - or want a new water mage who can also fight without spending 55 gems on a Sea King.

[cleveland]

sector24 said:

I do not know what the randoms can be on Ether Gate, Summon Spectre, Hidden in Snow and Contact Lamia Queen.

Great guide. Here are some stats pulled from the Dom3 DB:

Ether Gate yields an Ether Lord: base S3D2, and has one 100% chance of +1 A, S, D, or B

Summon Spectre yields a Spectral Mage: base D1, and has two 100% chances at +1 W, E, S, or D

Hidden in Snow COULD (NOT guaranteed) yield an Unfrozen Mage: base D1, and has two 50% chances at +1 D, three 50% chances at +1 W, and three 50% chances at +1 E

Contact Lamia Queen yields a Lamia Queen: base D2N1, and has two 100% chances at +1 W, D, N, or B

[Zeldor]

All items should have construction level too.

[mathusalem]

I dont see the staff of elemental mastery (+1 to FWEA)
and the sword of many color (unique) +1 to all

[Endoperez]

Sword of Many Colors is elements +1, not all magic.

[DigitalSin]

Ah, my bad. I should have checked first..