I mean in comparison to the other lores and for dueling. Vortexes and line spells are great, but suffer from the problems of not being suited to a duel. Debuffs are good for setting up the killing blow, but do nothing to counter the enemy attacking you, as the Jade with Throne of Vines demonstrated. Ulgu is great for supporting armies, but not so much for dealing direct damage.
A line or vortex can be drawn through a single target. It's
overkill for a single opponent, but that doesn't mean it's worthless.
Most battlemagic targets multiple enemies. That's why it's battlemagic. Single-target battlemagic is
very rare.
Also, Throne of Vines is not a debuff.
...there are Runes that make blades and stuff seek out the enemy right? Could Kragg make a discus or shield that seeks out spells to seize and burn out of the caster's mind?
Is it
possible? Probably. Could Kragg do it? Likely not. He is the greatest of Runelords but much has been lost, leaving only a patchwork behind. There are many restrictions on what runes can go on what kind of item, and a belt is very different from a discus.
Hmm... what would the reaction be to just shooting Dragomas the second the duel starts?
Angry Dragon.
I seriously doubt no one has considered 'what if I just used a mundane weapon?'
In the table top, Dwellers below is a Strength Save or Die spell. No Saves allowed. So yeah it's an instadeath spell, which is balanced out by it being the spell with possibly the highest casting value in the game, hardest spell you could cast.
Sure, but... 'On a failed Strength Roll the model is removed as a casualty' isn't quite the same as 'definitively dead', in the way that throwing Death Magic is, or passing through a Wormhole Blender.
Also, Strength Roll, probably not the best in this specific case.
The chamber is made of obsidian (a magical insulator), and the staff creates an equal amount of both winds.
Yeah, but I think it was 'if fighting begins' more in Night of a Thousand Arcane Duels 2 Electric Boogaloo sense.
[Rune of Superior Skill: any foe struck by this sword has all magical weapons, armour, items, and positive magical effects cease working for several minutes. Though an original rune, the effect is very similar to Thorek Ironbrow's prototype rune. Knowing Kragg, this is almost certainly deliberate.]
Huh. That could maybe dispel the transformation. Maybe.
Keep in mind our sword may be two centuries older than the Staff of Volans, but the one who made it was already a living legend when Volans was a sparkle in his father's eye. I think the sword has it. That said if you are in sword range of a wizard holding a staff, it is probably better to aim the edged gormil at the wizard not the staff.
Volans was not the only key person involved in the making of the Staff of Volans.
Consider that it is capable of channeling and harnessing all eight winds of magic, simultaneously.
Dragomas' glare is more "Ok, the gloves are off for you," than "Shame on you"
It's also possible the Gold Wizard wasn't trying to cast Final Transmutation but something else, possibly something very ill-advised, e.g. 'I can use the concentrated winds here to cast a Storm Spell!' Or just flubbing whatever they were attempting.
Whatever the case, it was something that was generally disapproved of.
Leaving Dragomas unopposed for any amount of time seems ill advised. Spells that can counter a dragon aren't easy enough to cast before he gets to you (on top of being highly lethal), so the best course of action is to occupy his attention so he can't transform.
Sure, but you have a better chance of pulling off a spell that can counter a dragon if you have the staff, and if you use something like Smoke and Mirrors, Speed of Light, etc, you could get to the staff
very quickly.
