Random questions

[MrBiscuits]

Just won a game on the expert setting, it's the perfect difficulty level for me.

Anyway I cleared almost all the nodes/lairs/towers/dungeons in the game,  I only gained 1 book and 1 retort (charismatic). Have the chances of finding more books/retorts been reduced? I remember I used to get 4-5 books and a couple of retorts for doing this in the past. It's one of my favourite parts of the game finding treasure. I found loads of items and a few prisoners.

I also didn't get offered any heroes for the whole game. My first hero was Torin! Bad luck I guess.

Is it possible to change the spell you are researching? In the past I've found books after starting researching the Spell of Mastery and I can't change to research the new spells that appear.

Also is drain/syphon life underpowered? They hardly seem to do much damage at all even after casting Black Prayer.
Also I often kill things using these but don't always get an undead from it. Do you need to leave space in your party to gain undead?

[Seravy]

Treasure : yes, books/retorts are less frequent, it used to be excessive - now you actually have to rely on the realms you picked at the start of the game instead of "hey I found 5 sorcery books so let's win with time stop even though I'm mono chaos" which used to happen. (it's also not funny when an AI has very rares in 4 different realms.)
Hero : did you have enough gold to get offers? If you spend your gold every turn, you won't be able to hire anything.
Research : You can change it if and only if you are already researching the Spell of Mastery and found a new book.
Drain Life : Damage is much more random than other direct damage spells because it's based on a resistance roll. Also, make sure you target units with low resistance. For example a 5 resistance unit can take anywhere from 5 to 15 damage from a Syphon Life, which is an average of 10 - as good as Lightning Bolt or Doom Bolt. No, you don't need space for undead, but you must do more than 50% of the total damage to the unit using undead creating damage from these spells, ghouls or zombies. Damage dealt in excess also counts so smashing the unit with a sky drake will most likely mean you don't get an undead, likewise even if the unit is down to 1 health, if you roll high enough damage you might get an undead.
They are definitely not underpowered - while the damage might not be as good as other spells (it is as good on low resistance targets though), you get additional SP and undead for using it. (or if it was cast by a unit, the unit gains health equal to the damage)

[MrBiscuits]

Treasure : yes, books/retorts are less frequent, it used to be excessive - now you actually have to rely on the realms you picked at the start of the game instead of "hey I found 5 sorcery books so let's win with time stop even though I'm mono chaos" which used to happen. (it's also not funny when an AI has very rares in 4 different realms.)
Hero : did you have enough gold to get offers? If you spend your gold every turn, you won't be able to hire anything.
Research : You can change it if and only if you are already researching the Spell of Mastery and found a new book.
Drain Life : Damage is much more random than other direct damage spells because it's based on a resistance roll. Also, make sure you target units with low resistance. For example a 5 resistance unit can take anywhere from 5 to 15 damage from a Syphon Life, which is an average of 10 - as good as Lightning Bolt or Doom Bolt. No, you don't need space for undead, but you must do more than 50% of the total damage to the unit using undead creating damage from these spells, ghouls or zombies. Damage dealt in excess also counts so smashing the unit with a sky drake will most likely mean you don't get an undead, likewise even if the unit is down to 1 health, if you roll high enough damage you might get an undead.
They are definitely not underpowered - while the damage might not be as good as other spells (it is as good on low resistance targets though), you get additional SP and undead for using it. (or if it was cast by a unit, the unit gains health equal to the damage)

I understand why you shouldn't get books every other node, but it would be nice to get more than 1 for clearing everything in the game. Maybe up the chances a little bit?

Yes I had a few thousand gold for most of the game. In the end I found another 5 heros to go alongside Torin.

Ah I didn't realise that excess damage counted when killing a unit. I used to get the damage down below half with syphon life and then finish them off with Torin. 
I also had no idea that you get SP or health for using it, that completely passed me by. 

Does the Demon Lord ranged attack create undead too?

[Nelphine]

In my current game, I've found 10 spellbooks and I'm not yet finished clearing nodes and lairs and towers. Unfortunately, it really is luck based. I seem to average 4-5 books/retorts per game.

Demon lord do use life steal on the ranged attack, but the ranged attack damage is usually far higher than the life steal damage, so its hard for them to actually create undead with their ranged attack.

The first game I played with the reduced hero offer rates I didn't get a hero offer until 1415. The rate heroes offer to be hired is definitely reduced, but it still happens.

[MrBiscuits]

Oh right. I had power set to Max, but I also noticed there seemed to be a lack of top tier units in the nodes/towers/lairs. There was one demon lord and one great wyrm, but no sky drakes or great drakes at all. 
Maybe because the units were less powerful you're less likely to get books/retorts. I was playing on expert.

Ah that explains it with Demon Lords.

[Nelphine]

I don't THINK units in lairs are affected by difficulty anymore. Which means, you just got unlucky. Treasure definitely does reflect what are defending the lair; I know i tend to get a book/retort OR a very rare spell, so if you found a lot of spells, that would also be why you didn't get many picks.

[MrBiscuits]

Does magic immunity protect against stoning touch, life drain (and other death attacks) and cracks call?

I'm trying to work out whether I need bless, resist elements and wraith form on my units too.

Edit: also does it protect against fire breath too?

[Seravy]

Yes, Yes and No

[MrBiscuits]

Nice one thanks.

Does magic immunity protect against all Chaos Spawn attacks and fiery breath?

[Seravy]

Not from Doom Gaze, Poison and Fire Breath, yes from other CS attacks.