Flavor over Function?

[Archwizard07]

Now I like to win, I always try to win. That being said, I do like to create theme based spellbooks and will occasionally favor making something fun thematically over a high win percentage.

Anyone else like this? Got any examples of fun themed books?

Force Master's that don't solo rush but sit back and play the manipulation game?
Warlocks that roll heavy with curses have a favored Blood Reaper?
Etc.

[jacksmack]

Force Master's that don't solo rush but sit back and play the manipulation game?

For the love of god don't do this.

[silverclawgrizzly]

Yeah I do this sometimes. I tried making a Druid "Spider Queen" book once for giggles. I also made a Johtari Beast Master without a bow that actually did pretty well.

[Death-from-above]

One of the books I tend to run occasionally is an Angel themed book for the Priestess. All the creatures are a type of Angel i.e. Grey Angel, Guardian Angel, etc.
It requires a bit of heavy mana generation to get most of them out because they arn't cheap but they certainly deliver. I haven't lost with this book yet but then again I dont play with this book often.

[Archwizard07]

I'm glad to see that some of you get what I'm talking about!!

Beastmaster all canine book - I called it pound puppies....get it? (Terrible I know, but it was fun to play)

Forcemaster mind control/charm focus....again tons of fun, to play.

[sIKE]

I have a Priest build with a pair of buffed Temple High Guards with one made as a HA that I call Holy Roller.....

[MrSaucy]

It is best to have both. Have 60-80% focus on flavor and themes (what your mage does best) and use the remaining spellpoints to cover your weaknesses and have the so-called "mandatory" spells (seeking dispel, dispel, dissolve, force push, etc.)

[Myrddin]

One of the things I like about MageWars is that there are two stages at which you're being competitive: the build of the book and the play of the game.

This means that you can be flavourful with the book, but still 'play to win' in the game itself. I prefer games when both people are playing to win, as that's how the games are built to work, but it works fine for me if the books are built on a different basis, as they're a set quantity once the game starts.

As well as allowing flavour, this means if I'm playing an opponent I usually beat I can get a really close game without pulling punches at all by, for instance, playing an army-building warlord or a ranged-attack Johtari beastmaster

[Sailor Vulcan]

I personally like to have function play the main role when building and playing. Then I come up with story explanation afterwards.

IMHO, regular competitive spellbooks are equally thematic if not more so. A strong mage warrior is one who can learn from their enemies and is pragmatic in their spell choices. So that means that all spellbooks have full thematic justification.

Not that there's anything wrong with spellbooks specifically designed to be thematic, I just think that they're generally just as likely to win fights in story as they are in real life games


Still, spellbooks designed for theme can sometimes be really cool. Has anyone made a deathly hallows book yet? (Wand, cloak, stone)