Most Usefull Research Path...

[AreaOfEffect]

I put down Thaumaturgy as it is one of my favorites and scales nicely as you progress through the game. Here is the break down of the paths viability:

Communions, fear effects, sight searching, super combatant counters, elephant counters, and teleportation are all within the first few levels. Let's not also forget horrormark and curse. You even have access to the most effective assassination spell in the game, so worry not about the SC.

Further down and you get spells like melancholia, leprosy, and beckoning to deal with large armies. Once cut down to manageable numbers your communion can take care of the hardier units.

Continue and you get more teleportation, more undead counters, and much more enslavement. Black Death allows you to hit the enemy where it hurts, in their income. Let's also not neglect Gale Gate for an improved gem income.

Ultimately I would say that it is a viable tree, as most paths are in reality. You could easily make an argument for alteration using the buffs as a substitute for magic items and Wish as your catch-all. I think the spirit of the question is to determine which path a player actually favors. I believe that the poll incorrectly depicts how people tend to research.

P.S.: It would be possible to set up a game where each player only got spells from one path by using a mod. The mod would essentially make all spells in a tree the national spells of the nation that choose that tree. The real "problem" is that you can't make forging into a national spell. I suppose this would be good in that no player has to make a choice between construction and some other magic path.

[Epaminondas]

Area,

Could you tell me what SC-assassination spell you are referring to?

[sector24]

Mind Hunt I think.

[AreaOfEffect]

Originally Posted by Epaminondas

Area,

Could you tell me what SC-assassination spell you are referring to?

Vengeance of the Dead.

Originally Posted by sector24

Mind Hunt I think.

Mind Hunt is evocation. Vengeance is just as good if not better as Mind Hunt backlashes when the enemy has an astral mage present. Besides, Mind Hunt would be useless if you couldn't research Mind Burn or Soul Slay.

[Epaminondas]

Originally Posted by AreaOfEffect

Vengeance of the Dead.

Mind Hunt is evocation. Vengeance is just as good if not better as Mind Hunt backlashes when the enemy has an astral mage present. Besides, Mind Hunt would be useless if you couldn't research Mind Burn or Soul Slay.

Hmmm. I thought Vengeance of the Dead won't kill a really high-powered SC, as long as his Endurance holds out...

[AreaOfEffect]

Originally Posted by Epaminondas

Hmmm. I thought Vengeance of the Dead won't kill a really high-powered SC, as long as his Endurance holds out...

I've seen a lot of complaints about this spell as it can force a SC to retreat by reaching the 50 turn limit. Retreat from an assassination attempt is always death. Therefore you could somehow kill the SC without putting a scratch on him.

I'm unsure, but I believe that the units killed in the attempt adds to the units encountered in a follow-up casting. The only real defense is high MR, but damn that spell is so cheap to research.