[Aerich]

Dang, I knew I was going to get called on these [img]smile.gif[/img]
I must admit that I wrote that last post when I was P.O.'d that Laerloch's doesn't kill trolls (that would have been so cool...).

1) Laerloch's - true, it's good for spell disruption when the enemy caster has Shield activated. But which enemy mages actually use Shield? I can't recall any off the top of my head (maybe Kontik?). And it's pretty hard to kill (even) a mage using Laerloch's. I'd prefer using Acid Arrow. The really powerful mages all seem to have Globe of Invulnerability anyway, which blocks both Laerloch's and MM and Acid Arrow. I did forget about the possibility of non-evocation-using specialists; I've stuck mostly with the tried and true illusionist-necromancer (or bard) combo.

2) Shocking Grasp - ok, I stand corrected on Fighter/Mage applications, especially if the enemy has Stoneskin going. I suppose you could also wreak havoc with a Mage/Thief or Mage using Improved Invisibility and multiple touch spells. Roboghost, are you sure there's no saving throw? I seem to remember a save for half-damage, but maybe that's my faulty memory. If there's no save, the (slightly) increased damage over MM is somewhat of an advantage. However, I still favour MM over SG, as my mages tend to be mere mortals that top out before lvl 20. I guess I'm locked into mages (other than F/Ms) as being distance-support characters. If you have to use part of a round to walk up close to cast SG, that seems like a waste of time to me. I also like to skimp a little on mages' protection spells in certain areas (Not the Severed Hand!), to get more damage spells.

Shocking Grasp ring for a fighter - agreed. I was talking more about the spell's utility for a mage.

3) Vampiric Touch - much as I tend to avoid combat touch spells in general, this is the one I use most (by a wide margin). This spell was MADE for Fighter/Mages. Or for hard-core gamers playing without a healer. The problem I have with low-level touch spells (as vs. MM) is magic resistance. I seem to have had bad luck with touch spells and resistance/saves (I figure the reward with Vampiric Touch is worth the risk).

4) Lightning Bolt - maybe I'm just too incapable of using this well. Pritchke, HOW do you use this without frying yourself? I've cast it about a dozen times, and ended up hitting a "friendly" about 2/3 of the time. The length of the bolt really causes me some problems. I also don't seem to be able to hit more than one or two enemies at a time with it (as even the "static" enemies often move a little), which is not a really good trade off considering my innate lightning rod qualities.

5) Friends - my only use for this is to buy a kickin' magical weapon or item earlier in the game ::cough,cough, Horn of Valhalla:: [img]smile.gif[/img]

6) Detect Traps, Knock, Detect Evil, Infravision, Identify - agree. Useless if you have characters with duplicate abilities, helpful (some more than others) when the party lacks in those areas.