Pretender astral

[Shardphoenix]

If you put astral on your pretender, they are vulnerable to Magic Duel.

If you put really high astral on your pretender (like 7+) - enemy will have to throw at you his best astral mages at large quantities. I doubt if it`s really possible for s1 mage to harm your s9 pretender.
Anyway, it`s much easier to spam Soul slay until it works.
Also, with d3 you can just summon a spectre (stealthy mage with some astral) and make him sneak with your pretender to avoid mindhunts.

(and those penetration items will cost your enemies a fortune so it is highly unlikely for them to be even cost effective to kill your pretender)

You can always find uses for penetration-boosted s4 mage.

[JonBrave]

I'm sorry if I've posted similar elsewhere and can't get the answer through my head, but.....

You've got:

• Magic Duel
• Mind Hunt
• Mind Burn (from MH)
• Soul Slay (from MH)
• Others...

Of these, is it only Magic Duel which ignores all boosters, spells etc. and compares native Astral levels alone (for the fight part)? (I believe the Mind-Hunt-cord-detection roll might also ignore boosters?) I seem to get stuck on this...

Also, do things like Luck or Anti-Magic help? Is it that they have no effect in Magic Duel, but do affect the other stuff?



It would be nice to have a really concise, definite answer!

[Kobal2]

Originally Posted by Shardphoenix

I doubt if it`s really possible for s1 mage to harm your s9 pretender.

It's not. Magic duel is 1d6+base astral, and the roll isn't open ended. With 6 a tie is still possible, 7+ and you're 100% safe from s1 mages. But beware those s2s still, and even with 9 an s3 could do you in.
That said, I kinda doubt anyone's going to send a precious s3 mage (or rather, a dozen of them) to attempt a do-or-die trick that only works 1/36 times... unless they have nothing else to lose of course.

[JonBrave]

Originally Posted by Kobal2

It's not. Magic duel is 1d6+base astral, and the roll isn't open ended. With 6 a tie is still possible, 7+ and you're 100% safe from s1 mages. But beware those s2s still, and even with 9 an s3 could do you in.

Err, no, if you are S9 you are safe from any S3, following your own correct reasoning? S7 safe from S1, S8 safe from S2, S9 safe even from S3.

[Kobal2]

Originally Posted by JonBrave

Err, no, if you are S9 you are safe from any S3, following your own correct reasoning? S7 safe from S1, S8 safe from S2, S9 safe even from S3.

Errr, yes, quite so ! Not safe from S4 then. Making it even more of a longshot anyone's ever trying it on you