Now, this book doesn't have a lot of kill potential, but the Mage Wand/Ignite with Adramelech's Touch + Combustion should take care of that.

I haven't found the Burn game very appealing (though I've only used the new Warlock once so far). The trouble that you may have using Ignite / Adramelech's Touch / Combustion is that 1) when someone sees you spamming Ignite, the Wand (and its replacement, if you add one) will get dissolved, and/or 2) as soon as you put burns on a few creatures, either a Wand of Healing or Renewing Spring will be brought out to remove Burns and the damage done by them.

Although I don't see it very often, I wonder how early wall play could affect you. Either you use the Force Hammers on the walls, or save them for what lays behind them.

You've got all of four Ranged attacks... the Hawkeye seems to be of very limited use with the Forcemaster (and really contrary to what the FM wants... to close fast and melee. If you did this build with a Wizard instead, the Hawkeye would be useful with the Arcane Zap, at least.

Earlier this week I put a Meditation Amulet in my Beastmaster (Straywood) book, with a similar thought. I had been planning:

Lair + Harmonize (T1)
Falcon or Bobcat (deployed, choice depends on what opponent did on T1) + Amulet and Meditate (T2)

I think you get more mana out of the Harmonize on T1 than in casting the Amulet then... but you aren't Harmonizing the Lair, so I guess your opening works just as well casting the Amulet on T1.

The basics that I was given when I started to play, and which I use today, include:

Try to stay within your trained schools as much as possible. That being said, there are some spells that most Mages will find handy (I usually pack at least one of many of the ones mentioned by Maverick). You may have to go out of school for some of those. For example, a Wizard generally chooses between two torso armor types... Dragonscale Hauberk and Storm Drake Hide. My Wizard will either choose one of these, or pack one each. The Wizard isn't trained in either school related to these spells, however.

Similarly, take a spell in an opposed school only with very good reason... but don't reject a spell just because of this. Once in a while, for example, I find that I put a Battle Forge in a Beastmaster book even though it costs five spellbook points to do so.

Try to limit your Creatures to 1/4 of your book in terms of spellbook points and cards. So... starting with 120 spellbook points, my personal maximum is 30. This is enough to give you the ability to have a variety of Creatures (again, most in trained schools), and helps to ensure that you will get to play many of the ones that you include during the game.

If you need to cut back on spellbook points, look at spells that you have duplicated. Do you really need a fifth or sixth Thunderift Falcon? You'll figure out where you have too many of a particular spell as you get to play. If there are cards that you never seem to cast, then you pretty much know which ones may be more expendable than others.

In terms of equipment, remember that you can not have two spells taking up the same equipment slot at the same time. Sometimes this is ok, but care should be taken that you are not wasting spellbook points this way. The example provided earlier is of having two pieces of torso armor. There are other reasonable valid duplications (three staves / wands, for example, figuring that what you need may depend on the matchup; or two identical items that is a key for the construction of the book (Johktari Beastmaster Hunting Bow, Warlock Lash of Hellfire, etc.)

In general, having a balance in spell types and spells, as well as being able to play the book using a second strategy is preferable to having the "perfect" book that works only against some Mages some of the time.

I hope this helps!

So... on this hypothetical Creature with Sweeping 3... could he make the attack at all if there were only two targets in the zone (an enemy and himself)? He could never complete the action....

In a normal game on a standard board the legal limit for channeling is +14 to whatever your original channeling is, is it not? One for each zone since flowers and crystals are both zone exclusive, the Moonglow Amulet, and a Harmonize?

I mentioned a legal (explicitly mentioned by the rules) limit, not a practical (what may be possible in play) one.

hey i have a question about maximum hit points. Can i have more then 41 hit points or mana?

There is no legal limit on mana, life, or channeling.

Quote from: sIKE on September 19, 2014, 06:26:29 PM

Quote from: Shad0w on September 19, 2014, 06:25:52 PM

With sweeping you must make the second attack if you have another legal target. This second attack is not optional.

Is this the intent?

It is how the rules work.

I understand that this is how the rules (currently) work. Will something be changed, perhaps?

@Zuberi: Good point... this is a different animal.

@sIKE: I'm with Jack.. I got the complete opposite idea from reading your other post. It didn't help that you didn't explain what you meant by quoting it also.

Can't someone just say: "I choose no target" when it is his attack or some such?

What happens if someone spends mana on a Flameblast spell, but the only other valid targets (other than the Mage casting it) are 2+ zones away? Must he attack himself? Surely that makes no sense... any Mage would just direct the attack into the next zone over, losing the mana and harming nothing. It's not like he lost control  of the spell... he just couldn't reach his intended target... no?

Similarly, it "makes sense" (even if the rules state otherwise) that the Mage using the Sledge doesn't lose control of it when attacking with it.

Should this be an errata in the Codex or somewhere else?