(February 12th, 2016, 12:14)ChongLi Wrote: Undead Unicorns sound pretty awesome but they're not a resource you can count upon every game. Your other suggestions (Resist Magic and Prayermaster) rely on non-Death spellbooks, meaning they aren't a solution for a Death player.
As for Undead and Summoned Units? Well, the enemy Death user has those as well. It's very hard to gain an advantage if both of you are fighting with the same units. The Myrran racial units he uses to support his armies will often turn the tide of battle.
While I agree that Death has a hard time dealing with other Death wizards (especially if they have better retorts, races or more books), I'm not sure if that's a bad thing, other realms have a weakness or two as well, even if it's not so obvious as this one.
Summon Champion is available to Death wizards, so they have the 2/9 chance of getting a preset Prayermaster (Paladin) or super Prayermaster (Priestess) hero, as book limitations on them are no longer present. It's not cheap unless you get lucky and get them on the first try, and Death isn't optimal for keeping them alive, but they certainly are available.
Paladins and the Bard hero can also grant +1 resistance through Holy Bonus.
I once had the idea of giving High Men priests the Resistance to All ability, if I did that, it would also help but I'm having doubts because low resistance is one of the main racial disadvantages of High Men now.
I'm still thinking about how to make Wraithform uncommon, these are the current uncommons :
Lychantropy, Shadow Demons, Berserk.
Due to the combo of regeneration and berserk these should stay the same rarity and considering the strength and role of the units, Uncommon is the only place for them.
Black Prayer
A staple, must have spell, if it was any more rare, it would significantly reduce the effectiveness of the realm as a whole, at the same time it is far too good to move it to Common as well.
Drain Power
Both of the primary uses of this spell, getting rid of enemy mana for early aggression, and quickly raising casting skill on higher difficulties through draining excessive enemy resources requires this to be available no later than Uncommon. Moving to common is an option but it would be pretty much useless that early.
Night Stalker
Due to Weapon Immunity and what the unit does, this is pretty much a unit for the first half of the game when enemy units still lack magic weapons or high resistance. Can't move it to rare.
Wall of Darkness
This is a great combo with other city spells from other realms, in particular Flying Fortress and Wall of Fire. In order for these to be accessible, the spell cannot be rare.
Possession
A slightly improved confusion. Considering the rarity of Confusion, this cannot really be any higher than Uncommon and is a quite essential spell.
Syphon Life, Reaper Slash
These were added to fix the lack of early/midgame direct damage which is needed for a realm that is supposed to be about killing stuff. Uncommon is where they belong.
So, as you see I have absolutely no idea how to make Wraithform into an uncommon because every spell there is pretty much needed to stay. The only solution I see is moving Terror to rare, and Drain Power to common, then buffing Terror a lot...but Drain Power is not useful at the beginning of the game.
Or I could make Wraith Form into a common and Terror a rare, but then Wraith Form would be far too powerful, or not? Early weapon immunity, waterwalking movement and on top of them magical weapons all in one.