Humanoid Pretenders are too expensive

Originally posted by Cohen:
However the point all there we agree is that human pretenders are too weak compared to others.
And lowering their cost isn't sufficient to have a real gain.

Lowering the cost isn't sufficient to have a real gain? Why not? Having more points isn't a gain?

I believe the point is not that they are too weak compared to others, but that there is actually a very limited set of Pretenders that most competitive players choose from instead of being able to use the variety of Pretenders that exist. So it has nothing to do with 'weak' and everything to do with 'usability'.

[Cohen]

Well

Adding a Dominion Point:
7*X
X = current dominion reached - starting chassis dominion.

Adding a Level in Magic Path, except the new one.
8*X
X= current Magic Level reached - starting chassis Magic Level.

So on having an higher dominion, or some magic levels should make them a little more powerful.

[PrinzMegaherz]

Why not increase the magic paths of human pretenders? I could imagine that archmage learn the one trick or the other while being immortal. Lets say each experience point increases one of his magic paths.

[PDF]

Hey wait, I had a new idea : give those crappy human mages a SPELL CASTING bonus (as some sites do) !
Let's say :
Enchantress : 20% bonus for Enchantment
Druid : 20% for Conjuration
Sage : 20% for Construction (or Forge bonus ?)
Frost Father : 20% for Alteration
(etc, fill the rest )

Or stg along those lines...This will make them really "unique", and what they should be : magic specialists .
It will also give players a "strategic" reason to buy them when they want to try The_UberSpellCombo_of_Doom
And I think this should be *in addition* to the +1 dominion.
What do you think ?

[Cohen]

Well, I don't believe that having a reduced cost in casting rituals is so effective to get them unless it's very high.

An probably the best would be the one with Conjuration Bonus ... to have lot of troops, or if he returns, the Abysyan Great Warlock, with blood bonus.

[Vynd]

Well like everyone I agree that it is hard to find a reason to take one of the human Pretenders. (Although it took me awhile to figure that out.) Personally, I like the idea of making them better while also making them more unique. I mean right now they're basically all the same Pretender except for one piddling "special" ability that in many cases you'll hardly use. So I like the idea of giving them more/different paths to start with, or giving them more in the way of special abilities (like PDF has suggested except moreso).

[Cainehill]

Originally posted by Vynd:
Well like everyone I agree that it is hard to find a reason to take one of the human Pretenders. (Although it took me awhile to figure that out.) Personally, I like the idea of making them better while also making them more unique. I mean right now they're basically all the same Pretender except for one piddling "special" ability that in many cases you'll hardly use. So I like the idea of giving them more/different paths to start with, or giving them more in the way of special abilities (like PDF has suggested except moreso).

By "Special" abilities that you'll hardly ever use, I guess the great druid's bonus to casting vinemen / ogres? Nice bonus in a sense, but using a pretender to summon vinemen is such an incredible waste that it's rarely going to be done.

Might be different if the druid started with Vine Men / Ogres as an intrinsic spell. Or if the bonus was in the form of a unique misc item, that could be handed off to another nature mage.