Spells to build a pretender around?

[Hoplosternum]

MaxWilson said:
I would strongly consider S5, A4, F4 on my pretender because they can forge some hard-to-bootstrap boosters. However, that requires a nation which has easy access to gem searchers for S/A/F.

-Max

Yes but you can Cap & Coin an S3 to S5 to get the Ring of Sorcery then you have S6 for the Ring of Wizardry. So you really only need S3, A3, F3 to get those boosters (assuming you have Astral/Earth mages for the coin, otherwise you need S4). Of course you don't have the Bless then, but it is cheaper.

Personally I find the Air & Fire boosters so expensive that they rarely become standard gear on either SCs or mages. Of course there are always times when that extra path lets you cast that crucial spell or makes a powerful air or fire combat spell viable fatigue wise. But is that enough to spend the points on rather than something else?

Having said that after looking at my games the amount of times I've ended up with either F4 or A4 (or both) on a Pretender seems to be high