Spells to build a pretender around?

[Baalz]

Some spells that it might be worth taking into consideration for your pretender:

flaming arrows
darkness
army of lead
master enslave
fog warriors/mass flight/storm & wrathful skies (you get them all for the same price)

The key thing is these are all spells which under the right circumstances greatly amplify your power - particularly if they synergize with your other research goals and you can get them early. I wouldn't design my pretender solely to cast one spell, but I definitely take those into consideration when I'm deciding what paths my pretender needs and what spells would make a big difference for the nation I'm playing. For example, as I mention in my Marverni guide having flaming arrows is a great way to get that nation through the dangerous stage before their druids start laying the smack down, whereas army of lead is just *EVIL* for LA Ermor.

[thejeff]

A pretender with S3 on the battlefield is just asking for Magic Duel.

I like D2 if your national mages lack death, since you can summon Revenants to start site searching early. With only D1, you have to wait for rings to get any back up Death mages. And if you die first...