any "summon earthpower" type spell for death magic?

[numskully]

Is there any spells that boost a death mage's death level in combat?

thanks!

[archaeolept]

Power of the Spheres (astral), or, in theory, Hellpower (blood), will each raise all your magic levels, by 1 or 2 respectively.

for death by itself, no.

[OmikronWarrior]

However, Death does give a handful of item boosters: the skull staff (D2 to forge, +1) and the Skull Face (D4 to forge, +1). The king death booster, however, is the scepter for dark authority (artifact, +3 death). In addition, you can use both the Ring of Sorecery and the Ring of Wizardry to boost death in addition to the above death items.

[Edi]

Besides, death magic is ridiculously powerful enough already, so it definitely does not need any booster spells ala Summon Earthpower.

[MaxWilson]

Soul Vortex is a kinda-sorta Summon Earthpower-like booster, in that I frequently use Summon Earthpower not to boost level per se but just to reduce fatigue from multiple casts of Strength of Giants, Legions of Steel, etc. In that sense, Soul Vortex + cheap guards (or *regenerating* guards) is a good booster that will keep you casting Shadow Blast, etc. for a long time.

The only thing is that the really good, high-end Death spells are low-fatigue anyway (Disintegrate, Cloud of Death), so in practice this is only really useful for spells from other paths when you've got a cross-path caster (or a thug that wants to buff without gaining fatigue).

Militia = batteries. :) Use them in large groups or they'll rout.

-Max

[numskully]

Thanks all for the input! What other spheres don't have boosters?

[Endoperez]

Water only gets a boosting spell underwater, Air only during storms. Nature boosting spell takes N3E1 (Strength of Gaia). Astral takes gems, but both booster-spells are very good (Power of the Spheres boost all magic of the caster, Light of the Northern Star boosts all Astral mages).

[thejeff]

But both Air and Water only need 1 level, so when the conditions are right, they're very nice.

Strength of Gaia also gives a Strength boost, regen & barkskin so it's not bad for thugs, despite the high requirements.

And Blood has Hellpower, B3, 3 slaves, boosts (all paths?) by 2 and gets you eaten by horrors. Not used very often.


Death is the only path not to have a booster spell at all.

[vfb]

And Blood has Hellpower, B3, 3 slaves, boosts (all paths?) by 2 and gets you eaten by horrors. Not used very often.


Hellpower does boost all paths, including H.

So, besides communions, death actually does have two boosters which are spells: Hellpower (B3) and Power of the Spheres (S1).

[Illuminated One]

One question about hellpower - how bad is the horror mark?
Would hellpower +astral geysers on the enemy be a feasible strategy?

[Agema]

Horror marking is best done with massed targetting on important units, like thugs, mages and other commanders.

Hence astral geyser is not a great choice. It's got mediocre accuracy so you're not likely to hit the right target, and in my experience it targets groups of basic troops anyway. It's mostly useful for the 2AN,MR area damage: although it doesn't do much damage, the range is good and fatigue cost low. If you have blood as well, you could fire astral geysers and then summon horrors, which will preferentially attack the horror marked units.

[Ewierl]

Strength of Gaia also gives a Strength boost, regen & barkskin so it's not bad for thugs, despite the high requirements.

An oft-overlooked side benefit to Strength of Gaia: its base fatigue cost is lower than Personal Regeneration. Their fatigue costs will be identical for a 3N caster, and SoG takes less fatigue at higher caster levels levels.

Therefore, if you have the paths to cast SoG, you can think of it as "Improved Personal Regen": it is better in all ways, by being cheaper and adding extra bonuses. Only downside is from foes with Fire magic :)

[AreaOfEffect]

I believe that Phoenix Power was skipped. It boosts fire magic and grants 50% fire resist. As far as I know it isn't restricted by the environment. Though I must admit I've never tried to cast it under water.

[Edi]

Didn't phoenix power give 100% fire resist? Fire shield did, but I was under the impression you got full resistance from phoenix power as well.

[AreaOfEffect]

Just tested it again and it indeed is only 50%.