The Tavern

I've been wondering whether Gozag might be a good god for spellcasters. I've only played one game with Gozag that got anywhere, a SpEn way back when Gozag was brand new. Here are a few questions that come to mind; please feel free to mention other aspects of the topic I've not thought of.

• Does Potion Petition frequently give options that are good for spellcasting, or is it more melee-oriented?
• How do Gozag's books shops compare with Sif gifts when it comes to finding a particular spell that you want?
• Is spell hunger ever an issue? I figure with a little bit more investment in Spellcasting, food shops wouldn't need to be called often if at all.

If you're a Spriggan with decent Spellcasting (or a munmy, I guess) food should be a non-Issue.

Gozag shops offer a wide range each time, where Sif can take forever to give you what you're looking for. Best of all, Gozag can give you other stuff besides just books - even a pure caster can benefit from armor, jewelry and consumable shops. It's still down to luck but if you're looking for a particular spell, I think it's at least even money Gozag will give it to you first. Also. Gozag doesn't care how you allocate your skills in the meantime.

I *think* potion petition effects are random from all positive potions sans experience... So I guess a bit of hybridization would be optimal for getting the most out of the petitions. Still, you get sets to choose from, and it's unlikely you'll get 3 that do nothing at all for you. Remember, agility gives a very nice EV buff.

I found caster of Xom more enjoyable (don't confuse with power) than caster of Gozag. That's all you need to know about casters of Gozag.

My first win was with a SpEn of Gozag. Bribe branch is good for anyone, at least before extended.

I know Sp and Gozag go together, because Sp was designed before Gozag existed to not use corpses as a resource (save necromancy, which they have second worst apt in anyway), and then here comes a god that turns corpses into the only resource that god uses. I'm more interested in how Gozag works for non-Sp races, but I should have made that clear in the OP.

A little extra spellcasting and you should be fine. Amalloy has some videos of a TeSu of Gozag, in which he shows that even paying less attention than you really should to it is fine.

If you are trying to be a more pure spellcaster, then you will want a more focused god.