Some questions regarding communions

thejeff · #1 November 28th, 2007, 11:32 AM

If the communion master casts first, slaves will not cast anything.
Specifically, if a slave has been drawn on in a turn for a master to cast a spell, he will not act. If he reaches his turn to act without being used, he will act.

A master's Summon earthpower reinvigorates the slaves. They also get the path boost, if they have any earth magic to start with.

Shovah32 · #2 November 28th, 2007, 11:44 AM

MA Ermor is my favourite for communion. Suddenly all your little thaumaturgs are casting darkness, spamming skeletons and causing havoc with terror, drain life, shadow blast and boosted nether darts all by themselves.

Your 3 questions have been covered. As for number 4? My advice would be: think big. For example, if you are playing MA Ermor try to get 8-16 slaves for a 3-4 level increase in death magic(up to 4-5), astral magic(same) and holy level(up to 5-6). With darkness and power of the unholy sepulchre your reanimated undead are not only meatshields - they are faster and more skilled than the enemy! Once that is up, a bunch of level 4-5 masters spamming nether darts and terror(or drain life on high MR unroutables/wither bones on enemy undead) can demolish anything your now 'elite' undead can't handle.

shard · #3 November 28th, 2007, 12:10 PM

Thanks to the answers, i've thought of even more questions!

a) Can non-astral nations get access to communions by trading for crystal/slave matices?

b) Also, a slave which has been drawn on will not act - What if you set him to attack closest or script him for actions that won't cause fatigue? Some fuzzy ideas of making SCs and thugs communion slaves are floating around in my head - is this a feasible idea?

DrPraetorious · #4 November 28th, 2007, 12:50 PM

a) Yes.

b) If he's drawn on, he won't act.
You can be terribly clever, send eight thugs into battle with slave matrices, have them (hold)(hold)(hold)(hold)Attack Closest and have another mage (cast)(cast)(cast)(cast)(retreat).

The master will buff them four times and then they'll be free to act. This is almost-always more trouble than it is worth, but you can use it to get a whole army of thugs with crazy stuff like Soul Vortex.

thejeff · #5 November 28th, 2007, 12:51 PM

1) Yes, though it's probably not cost efficient.
Don't forget Blood sabbath works the same way as communion and is compatible with it.

2) If the slave goes first he will act every turn, if he goes after any master he will not. What he's scripted for doesn't affect this. If the master does not cast, the slaves can act.
Using thugs as communion slaves does work. If the master is also a thug, having him buff the slaves then attack will allow them to attack also. Simply making sure the slaves go first will also work. If the master is more fragile, you can have him cast the self buffs and then retreat.
Bear in mind the slaves, especially if they don't have the right paths, are likely to start fighting with a lot of fatigue.

I used this with Vampire Counts. Using one of them as a master for Soul Vortex and a fortune teller for luck and other astral buffs.

carlosib · #6 November 29th, 2007, 02:47 PM

Other uses for communions, as MA Ermor:

Think of 3 thaumathurgs...10 slaves, 1 master. Master casts power of the spheres on turn 2. By turn 3 you cast 10 shadow blasts costing only 10D and 1S gems. That's quite some damage for the cost.
I found that having 1 master casting power of the spears on turn 2 is a must...great permanent boost for all the slaves that they keep even if you break the communion.

Another use... master one grand thaumaturgh with an air random. Have him cast power of the spheres + 8 slaves. He gets to A5 = Fog warriors, Storm, etc... basically with ermor is really easy to even get to Air and Water level 5 battlefield spells...

thejeff · #7 November 29th, 2007, 02:54 PM

Similarly with Arco's Mystics. All those 1 path elemental randoms become impressive once you've communioned, cast PofS and Summon Earthpower (and Phoenix Power). All the slave can now shower Falling Fires, Magma Eruption, while the master can do battlefield buffs.

Baalz · #8 November 29th, 2007, 03:19 PM

Extra bonus, if you can manage to turn up a single b1 mage, sabbath master, hold, hold, hold, reinvigorate will wipe out all the fatigue from those slaves around round 6 (you'll marginally pass out from the sabbath master). This can be a very good way to finish off buffing the slaves for melee after you just made them cast a bunch of spells they don't have the paths for.