RBPBEM FfH #1 [SPOILERS] Sareln of the Svartalfar

[sunrise089]

If you have time, can you cover the rest of the spells?

As a new FFH player, this post is super-useful. My armies have all been melee units with an occasions hero spellcaster, but reading this it may be worthwhile making lots of adepts instead.

Also, can you clarify my understanding - spellcasters and priests (with magic abilities) are separate tech paths, right? With separate trait buffs too?

[Ilios]

thanks for the explanations!

[Sareln]

If you have time, can you cover the rest of the spells?

As a new FFH player, this post is super-useful. My armies have all been melee units with an occasions hero spellcaster, but reading this it may be worthwhile making lots of adepts instead.

Also, can you clarify my understanding - spellcasters and priests (with magic abilities) are separate tech paths, right? With separate trait buffs too?

It will havde to wait for a bit (tonight) for more spell schools. Spellcasters are in a different upgrade line from priests. Arcane for wizards gives potency. There is a trait wshich gives mobility (+1 move) to all your disciple units.

[Sareln]

Also, I'm horrible at spelling on a phone. I'm playing the turns, but won't have time to writeup for a bit.

[Sareln]

Lost the scout avoiding lizardmen and running into more lizardmen in the jungles. at least 3 lizardmen and one goblin inbound. Building warriors. Also, size 3 capital and growing again in 3 turns.

[Sareln]

Turn 31 - 34:

Time to catch up on the turns. I've been taking pictures and uploading them from my laptop, but haven't had the time this weekend to do the task of actually writing the posts.

Turn 31 had more scouting:


And the worker being moved to the sheep as animal husbandry came in. I mistimed the worker, and so lost a turn anyways.



I found a number of dyes in the south jungle with my scout, and also a number of lizardmen. The scout would be cornered by lizardmen and killed. I will have at least 3 warriors when they arrive, if they're targeting my capital.



Sadly, another lizardman appeared out of the fog at the end of turn 33. My worker will not finish the pasture in time (there's that lost turn!) and so I will need to bring them back into the capital next turn. Here's the situation at the end of turn 34.

[Sareln]

Turn 35:

Moved the worker into shelter at the capital. Lizardman stays put at the EoT. Building more warriors naturally. Yay barbarian Onslaught.

In other news, if PB actually built an herbalist instead of units, that's going to be painful if Orthus spawns on top of him.

[Sareln]

If you have time, can you cover the rest of the spells?

As a new FFH player, this post is super-useful. My armies have all been melee units with an occasions hero spellcaster, but reading this it may be worthwhile making lots of adepts instead.

Also, can you clarify my understanding - spellcasters and priests (with magic abilities) are separate tech paths, right? With separate trait buffs too?

There are 18 schools of magic, alphabetically with already covered schools bolded:

1. Air
   
2. Body
   
3. Chaos
   
4. Death
   
5. Earth
   
6. Enchantment
   
7. Entropy
   
8. Fire
   
9. Ice
   
10. Law
    
11. Life
    
12. Metamagic
    
13. Mind
    
14. Nature
    
15. Shadow
    
16. Spirit
    
17. Sun
    
18. Water
    

This leaves 12 schools to cover. I'll be doing the post in pieces, 4 schools at a time for 3 total posts. For starters: air, body, chaos, and death .

Air

• Fair Winds: Gives all Naval Units in the Stack the fair winds promotion - +1 Move, +25% Withdraw, and +5% of the spell wearing off each turn.
  
• Maelstrom: Damages Units about +15% to a limit of +30% damage with a range of 2.
  
• Summon Air Elemental: Flying, Immune to Lightning, Sentry II, str 7 (2 lightning and 5 base) 2 move elemental. Has affinity 1 for air mana, and creates lightning elementals if successful in combat. Lightning Elementals are 3 str. 2 move units with blitz.
  

Air is an attack school, with its first level spell giving a boost to sea movements. It attacks directly, rather than through combat (like the fireball) and does not kill enemy units, leaving them ripe for XP farming. However, Maelstrom is more difficult to use correctly, since it will also damage friendly units not in the caster's tile.

Body

• Haste: All non-mechanical units in the stack get +1 Move until end of turn.
  
• Regeneration: All units in the stack gain regeneration until fully healed (can heal while moving, heals extra 10% Damage/Turn, removed if unit is fully healed).
  
• Graft Flesh: Summons a flesh golem. The golem starts at strength 6, but you can glom/sacrifice more units into it to build up its strength (gain is based on the strength of the unit sacrificed).
  

Body has 1st class spells. Haste is an amazing spell, though it's primary limitation is that siege weapons cannot be hasted. It is even possible to double-move through forests with haste by moving the stack into a forest (expending all MP) and then hasting (given +1 MP) and moving again.

Regeneration is great for keeping the momentum of an attack going, especially if you are agnostic (and cannot build beyond disciples and therefore lack medic 2). Also, regeneration wizards are guaranteed to know haste, so you want to include them in your stack anyways.

Chaos:

• Dance of Blades: gives all the units in the stack an extra +1 first strike
  
• Mutation: Randomly Mutates all living units in the square. Units can only be mutated once.
  
• Wonder: Creates 3 - 5 random effects
  

It's Chaos. Dance of blades is nice, but there are better spells. Mutation and Wonder on the balance the caster tends to come out ahead, but they are inconsistent enough for me to not like them. Your mileage will vary. Literally.

Death:

• Summon Skeleton: 3 str. 1 mv. melee summon which is undead (and therefore immune to fear). Skeletons are permanent, but each empire has a cap on the number of skeletons it can summon at one time (function of number of death wizards and wonders a civ has.)
  
• Summon Specter: 3 str. 2 mv. with affinity 1 for death mana. It also causes fear, helping to break apart stacks it attacks.
  
• Summon Wraith: 9 str (6 + 3 Death), 2 mv. with fear and vile touch. Vile touch passes the withered promotion to units which survive a Wraith attack. Also affinity 1 for death mana.
  
• Lichdom: Transforms the caster into a Lich, making them undead and freeing their archmage slot for another high-level wizard.
  

Death is a summoning school. The creatures it summons are really quite nice, but vulnerable against an opponent who has gone for divine warriors of any stripe. The pinnacle of death magic is lichdom, which will allow you double the number of archmagi against your opponents.

[Sareln]

This post will handle Earth, Enchantment, Entropy, and Ice.

Already covered schools bolded:

1. Air
   
2. Body
   
3. Chaos
   
4. Death
   
5. Earth
   
6. Enchantment
   
7. Entropy
   
8. Fire
   
9. Ice
   
10. Law
    
11. Life
    
12. Metamagic
    
13. Mind
    
14. Nature
    
15. Shadow
    
16. Spirit
    
17. Sun
    
18. Water
    

Earth

• Wall of Stone: Puts a wall in the city in which it is cast until the caster leaves.
  
• Stoneskin: Massive Defensive Buff of +2 Defense Strength, +3 First Strikes, and 50% resistance to most typed damage sources. Good for one combat, only castable on the caster himself.
  
• Summon Earth Elemental: Str. 11 Mv. 1, affinity 1 for earth mana.
  

Earth is alright, and if you start with the mana it makes sense to put a couple of adepts towards leveling earth for the end-game summon and stoneskin. Hero casters with earth are more fun due to stoneskin.

Earth improves the chance you'll pop a resource from your mines. Cumulative.

Enchantment

• Enchanted Blade: Gives +20% to all melee units in the stack and removes the rusted promotion.
  
• Repair: Dwarves who learn enchantment (either adepts or heros) can repair mechanical units. This includes at least catapults and cannons, and if you're the Luchuirp, it also includes all of your golems.
  
• Flaming Arrows: Gives all archery units in the stack +1 Fire Combat
  
• Enchant Spellstaff: Give the caster a spellstaff, which can be broken (removed) to cast twice that turn.
  

Enchantment is full of useful spells, and the level 3 spellstaff makes archmages even more powerful. If you're playing a caster light game, making use of more conventional forces, than enchantment and body schools will do the most in enhancing your troops.

If you're the Luchuirp (Golem Crafting Dwarves) then you start with enchantment and have no good reason not to have enchantment adepts running with all your armies and healing.

Enchantment mana also acts as a happy resource, benefits are cumulative the game claims.

Entropy

• Rust: Removes metal promotions from adjacent enemy units and rusts them (-10%) until they visit a city with a forge or gain enchanted blades. Is easier to resist.
  
• Summon Pit Beast: Str. 5 Mv. 1 summon which lasts an extra turn for each battle it wins.
  
• Wither: Damages units 10% up to a max of 40% and adds the withered promotion. Only effects living, enemy units.
  

Entropy is attack magic, the adept spell is really useful if your opponent is going melee, and the lv. 2 summon is good enough. The level 3 spell is very strong, especially if you have undead or other non-living units to follow up against the now withered enemy stack.

Entropy also has a passive effect, where enemy units in your lands get -5% heal rate.

Ice

• Slow: Removes haste, adds slow (-1 move, 30% chance of wearing off each turn).
  
• Summon Ice Elemental: Str. 4 Mv. 1, cannot enter deserts or burning sands. +10% on Tundra, +20% on Ice. Vulnerable to Fire. +1 Affinity for Ice
  
• Snowfall: Damages units +40% with a max of 80%. Turns surrounding tiles to ice. Range 1 (Adjacency)
  

Ice is a nasty set of spells. Fortunately there are only two sources of Ice mana - the Illian's Palace, and Letum Frigus. I'm not sure whether or not the Illians will be able to build ice nodes, I think this calls for a test game.

In theory, you could chain slows and completely immobilize a one-move stack that didn't have a haste-capable wizard.

[Sareln]

Turn 36:

Lizardman is still causing trouble around the capital. I snuck my worker out to get another turn on the floodplain, but that pulled the lizzie around as well. Building more warriors.

Picture is from the EoT post Barbarian moves.