Just some random questions I had; I'm sure I'll think of more... ;)

Ice Dagger - worth taking? I took it. Cold damage, no saving throw, slight AoE (chance to disrupt, maybe). Not stopped by Shield. It doesn't work against Hardened Fire Trolls, which I found out to my disgust. Does it really have that much application compared to MM? How many enemy spellcasters use Shield?

Beast Claw/Snakebite - if you have ambidexterity/two-weapon fighting, do you get an extra Att/round with this? Do you get a better chance to hit with Weapon Finesse? I'm doing a little experimenting to see how much mileage I can get out of these spells.

Shout - is this spell worth taking at all, even with a wizard? It looks kinda useless. 2d6 damage and be deafened, save for 1/2 damage and no deafness. The info in the manual says a deaf spellcaster has 50% spell failure chance. Is this correct? This might be useful in HoF, but otherwise?

Slow - does this spell force enemies to save at -4? I know it does in 2nd Ed games, and the manual says it does, but AFAIK the in-game spell description doesn't say anything about it.

Champion's Strength - does it fatigue the caster or the subject, like it does in 2nd Ed? Does it stack with Bull's Strength, Animal Rage, Blood Rage, barbarian Rage, Draw Upon Holy Might, Tempus' Strength, Aura of Vitality or any other Str-increasing effects?

TIA.

Shout - yes... a deafened createure does get 50% chance spell failure. But nevertheless I found the spell useless


Champion's Strength - AFAIK no fatigue...

And as for stacking... ability score bonuses <font color=red>never</font> stack. Not for any spell and not for any item.
So if you have a ring which increases wisdom by 3 and a helmet which increases wisdom by 1 you only get a 3 bonus. And if you cast Bull's strength while wearing a necklace of strength +7 you will only get a +7 bonus...
(note the items mentioned above are not real)

Beast Claw and Snakebite are fists, and Weapon Finesse, Ambidexterity and Two Weapon Fighting doesn't affect fists. WeDu's mod added the Weapon Finesse part, treating them as short blades. I'm not sure about slow, but it's not such a handy spell either, level too low. And the thing about the Ice Dagger is that it penetrates any magic defense, not just the shield, and it will be somewhat handy later, but it's limited damage will not make it as cool as the MMM. Shout is not good, the only thing good about it is that it takes 0 time to cast it. Wait untill Great Shout, that one really IS handy.

Ice dagger is okay.

I don't think that beast claw is a fist. I thought I may have found a nice combo when I gave my monk the collar and casted beast claw on him, but it just set his attacks to 2 per round at a weaker to hit.

Champions strength is INSANE! seriously, this is bull's strength on steroids. It is part of a mix to get to 40 STR and have the hardest hitting in the game.

Great Shout is awesome, but shout kinda sucks.

Slow is okay.

How do you get 40 Str if ability score bonuses don't stack?

I noticed that Great Shout was good, because the victims are stunned for a round EVEN IF they save. Pretty cool.

Ah, but Tenser's Transformation increases base strength. A high casting of that with Champion's strength + 20 base strength + +7 from leveling = 40. Actually, it can get to 45 but 40 is max.