Caster of Magic Release thread : latest version 6.06!

[Seravy]

Concept - turning a generic and easily accessible retort (specialist) into something that has more identity and helps disadvantaged player wizard builds (10 book single-color with 1-2 retorts)

I suggest a strict requirement that wizard has 10 books of one realm, making it a more situational retort limiting its use to wizards specializing in sheer number of spells of one realm (usually a disadvantage). To balance disadvantage, the research bonus of +15% is boosted to +20% or +25%, making it easier to get advanced spells.

I still consider 10 books in one realm a strong choice and not a disadvantage. (Sorcery is probably an exception)

[GermanJoey]

I don't think 10 books is necessarily a bad pick, but such a limit might be a good way to limit the Specialist a bit. Right now, it's kind of a no-brainer pickup for even as little as 6-8 books of a single color. It's mini-archmage, mini-sagemaster, mini-manafocusing, and mini-runemaster rolled into one retort.

Another idea would be to buff it a bit (say, 15% -> 20%) but then make it a 2-retort pick.

[Seravy]

If the retort is too strong, changing the effects is a better solution than restricting when it can be used. Limiting it to the scenario where it is the most effective makes no sense.
I wouldn't call it no-brainer however. Yes, 15% cost reduction and research boost is great...but the other options are not weaker. For 1 pick you can have common spells from another realm. Or uncommons and a starting spell if it's the second book in that realm not the first. Or rares if it's the third. Or you can have +1 defense on all your units. Or magical weapons from Alchemy.
Is the Specialist bonus more valuable than all of the above? I'm not sure. The % bonus is about as good as half of Sage Master, Archmage and Mana Focusing combined, but there is no +X for the early game so overall it's worth closer to 1 pick, not 3/2=1.5. The dispel resistance is useful and makes the retort worth more, but the effect being limited to that realm means it compares less favorably to the generic retorts if there is a secondary realm - even if you find the book and don't start with it - and playing a single realm, while a strong strategy, usually comes with some sort of a weak point which could be negated by spending that pick on something else. I think Life might be the only one where the weak point overlaps with Specialist, as Life is weak to dispelling. However Life benefits the least from cost reductions, as it tends to cast fewer spells, both overland and in combat, than other realms. Runemaster might be a stronger pick for a Life wizard, as it offers cost reductions on summoning heroes and making items - specialist doesn't help with those and a Life wizard will usually want to have heroes.
Finally, the bonuses are spread evenly, so you can't focus on one area. A Sage Master can push up the research bar and have 100% of their power base benefit from the 35% bonus. 15% on everything will always be exactly 15% on your entire power base, no matter how you allocate it, so in the best case scenario Sage Master is over twice as powerful (even without the +9 RP) than all the effects of Specialist combined.

[GermanJoey]

My experience with Life is that its perhaps the realm that wants the casting bonus the most, as it wants to *constantly* cast overland enchantments (unit, city, and global). I mean, that's why it has Divine Order, right? More discounts stacking on top only make it stronger.

And the one thing you're missing is that there's nothing saying you can't combine Specialist with Sage Master, or Archmage, or Mana Focusing, or Runemaster (invincible to dispelling), or Conjurer, etc. In fact, you usually *want* to combine it with a couple such things as that's when the retort really shines, by allowing you to use really powerful and expensive spells far earlier and more often than you otherwise would be able to. For example, consider Specialist with Archmage. Let's say you want to cast a 200 cost spell; how much mana invested do you need to cast it on one turn? Let's say you start with 14 skill from books baseline. (IIRC it's 2 per book?)

baseline: (200-14) = 34596 mana
specialist: (200 - 15% - 14)^2 = 24336 mana (which is worth 156+14=170 casting skill for a baseline wizard)
archmage: ((200 - 14 - 10)^2)/2 = 20651 mana (which is worth 144+14=168 casting skill for a baseline wizard)
specialist+archmage: ((200 - 15% - 14 - 10)^2)/1.5 = 14210 mana (which is worth 119+14=133 casting skill for a baseline wizard)

At this point in the game, Specialist gives almost as much bonus casting skill as Archmage does, and essentially lets you have "double Archmage." Of course, Archmage gives more of a bonus early because of that static bonus, and less of one later, so it's not an exact comparison. But, it's a similar deal for Sage Master, Conjurer, Mana Focusing, etc. The stacked bonuses is what let you get those powerful Rare and Very Rare spells into play far earlier than what you otherwise would be able to.

Of course, you're right in that you're forced to just a single realm to get this bonus, which has its own opportunity cost. Double-realm strats can be pretty powerful too... I've been playing those lately, so I know. But not having specialist is something I notice very prominently in those games. (and, this is a bit off topic, but I've found that picking just one book is another realm is a pretty crummy pickup... first of all you're gambling on getting the really key commons to show up, like Web in Green, Focus Magic in Blue, etc, and on top of that you'll be delaying when the high-end spells of your main realm showing up in your research book. IMHO you at least want two books in a realm at the start of the game or it's not worth it.)

[Seravy]

Specialist compares pretty well to Archmage due to how casting skill works, the 15% cost reduction is actually worth 38% SP income. It's nowhere near that good for research or mana. The research bonus is always exactly 15%, The mana bonus is worth 17-20% depending on how many books you already have for cost reductions. The skill however is worth 38-44%.
Maybe slightly lower numbers would be more balanced, like a 12% cost reduction and research bonus? I'm not sure...the opportunity cost of having one realm (or the limitation of the bonus not applying to my other realm(s)) is huge, especially if not playing 10 books.

[zitro1987]

Maybe 1 book should allow discovery and trade of 'uncommon' tier spells to make 1 book more worthwhile. The 1 -> 2 book would still be worthwhile, as it allows starting with 1 common of your choice and opens up a lot of more spells to choose from.

Specialist with a 12% cost reduction would be balanced, but I would keep the research bonus of 15% where it is. Maybe we need to think of a better way to reward a 10 book one-realm wizard vs a 9 or 8 book:

10 book vs 9 = couple more v rare spells, +2 skill, +1.5 power +1 starting common, 2% cost decrease, 3% research bonus I the alternative allows a powerful retort that can combine well with other 2 retorts.
10 book vs 8 = 5+ more spells, +4 skill, +3 power, +2 starting common, 4% cost decrease, 6% research bonus I the alternative allows 2 powerful retorts or a 2-book retort

10 books rarely seems worthwhile. The 3 remaining v rares can be obtained by trading, lair spell rewards, conquering wizard, gaining books .. you might anyways! A small boost may be needed:
*10 starting commons instead of 9 (+2 from 9 books) - a small early boost
*1 starting uncommon picked at random or a starting uncommon with low research cost.
*an additional +10% research bonus to that realm
*a slightly stronger 'specialist' that requires 10 books.

[Nelphine]

Just to throw this in there, I don't consider a 9 book starting (and rarely even an 8). I do consider 10. So for me its usually between 7 or 10. 8 only comes up if I'm going very particular retorts. I don't think 10 needs to be encouraged any more vs 9.

[GermanJoey]

Seravy - You're right, the skill bonus of Specialist is the most outstanding part, as compared to the mini-research or mini-mana bonus. (The mini-runemaster bonus is still pretty good though.) But, even if the research or mana bonuses aren't as much as the full trait, you generally end up being better than what you'd expect on paper because you have greater freedom in your sliders... i.e. you can afford to put more of your sliders on mana or research without falling behind too much on skill. Anyways, 12% sounds fine to me, as does 20% at 2-picks. But, it's not like a huge crisis just to leave it at 15% - it's just a really good retort.

zitro - 10 books can be pretty fun... IMHO, the extra VRs aren't the biggest benefit, but the the fact that you can get to researching uncommons right away. 10 nature and getting giant spiders right away, or 10 black with werewolves, is pretty powerful.

Nelphine - I just realized I'm the same as you, I don't think I've ever played a 9-book single realm wizard, or even thought about it. If I want a lot of a single realm, I'll usually go with 6/7 for Myrror, or 7/8/10 for Arcanus, depending on what retorts I want. For 2-realms, I like 4/4 on Arcanus or 3/3 for Myrror... I've done 4/2 and 5/2 a few times, to get Focus Magic or Web, but it's a little more awkward. I don't think I've ever played triple realms before... maybe the next thing for me to try? Hmmm...

[Seravy]

10 nature and getting giant spiders right away, or 10 black with werewolves, is pretty powerful.

I would like to add 10 Chaos with Gargoyles to that list.

[sayke]

Am I the only fan of 6/2/2 Nature/Life/Sorcery, with Specialist and Famous? =P