2 things I don't get
 

1)Do the Fire Brands and Frost Brands hit with their area attack the wielder too? Do you need something to further boost F/C resistance on the wielder (as the brand itself already gives some resistance)?

2) Earthquake. This spell is still quite a mistery for me after many games.
How do you effectively defend from this? Fog Warriors. Etherealness. Ok, I know this. Let's imagine I can't get those, or even better, just forget the units. I want my mages/SC to be protected from this. How do I do? 2 Shields? 2 Main Gauches of Parrying? Armors?

Thanks for any wise answer. :)

Re: 2 things I don't get
 

Anything that raises defense.

Re: 2 things I don't get
 

1. No, brands in no way harm the wielder. I'm not sure about Shadow Brand, though, as the AoE is bigger and random squares are affected.

2. Increasing defence, protection, regeneration, morale. Twist fate from the Shroud (with S9 bless) is a good option for the first round of battle.

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Re: 2 things I don't get
 

Note that shields don't help against Earthquake, since "shield parry" is a special defense modifier that always works fine against attacks, but not against spells.

For mages, you might get some mileage from Main Gauche of Parrying, but Robe of Shadows may be a better bet (the MG isn't going to help against much else).

I wouldn't worry too much about SCs; any worthwhile SC should have well-above-human HP, plus some combination of defense/regen/luck/etherealness, all of which put together should make Earthquake irrelevant.

Re: 2 things I don't get
 

Shadow Brands do affect the wielder.