onomastikon wrote:Thanks much.
I'm really enjoying Ash too as a very different way of playing for me. Would I be correct in thinking that one of the only poor choices for Ash would be a barehanded Transmuter (who thus cannot bind the weapon hand)? What would be a good choice for someone like that who still wishes to cast good utility or escape spells (at least level 6, maybe even up to level 8 for special forms and / or controlled blink) but who lacks great inherent spellcasting (such as troll)?
For the first question, the most important skills for a Transmuter are still related to spells, even without a boost to UC you can still get a lot from the other bindings.
For the second, I've actually done a few challenge games with species that are not suited to casting. As a personal recommendation, you probably want an ogre to start things off - if you want a minotaur or troll, that's fine too. Aptitudes will really make for a hard early game, and don't be surprised by miscasts and low Int nerfing your play into the ground. This being said, Ashenzari is a very powerful choice for such casters because both your spell success rates and power are brought up. These two chardumps are from different versions of the game, but should give you an idea of how things work:
1)
This was my first idea that started off like "why not give beefy a turn as the BBQ chief?", and it was a lot of fun to play. Needless to say, don't get too greedy. If you're good for a 3 rune win, take it.
2)
Success with 4 runes. The game was not very generous with Air books, so I went for Earth. BVC has great synergy with lightning which has bad accuracy. In the end, with brilliance it was no problem to cast Shatter and not too risky to cast Tornado.
Other good choices would be Vehumet (naturally), and Dithmenos (strong). Both have a slow start, but if you are careful you can make very cool casters with them. Personally, I would lean towards Dithmenos for having both good defensive strength and the destructive shadow imitations.
There is always something new to learn.