So Rhone had three key turning points in his career:

First, when I selected Warlocks of the Golden Grimoire. I grepped through tons of invoker expert advice about which edges are “must haves,” but let me tell you right now: If you are a good aligned invoker this is a MUST HAVE. It is indescribably fantastic to not have to worry about your spells hitting good aligns. I took this one at like level 46ish, when I was getting pretty bummed out on the character and losing fights to Jerrorkrar of all people and this one edge seriously turned the character around.

Second, when Adekar chose me as Marshall. His first words were, “So I made you Marshall. Is that OK?” :P From that point I had to be careful of my words to others, and it really invested me in the cabal.

And finally, when I killed Tiamat. I was gunning for Darascus’s PK record, thinking I might die of old age before I hit it, but then I passed it before I even hit 480 hours, and at that point I was thinking, “Um, so what now?” I had led a few cabals before but never really “tried” to do something special with it. And then I saw a thread on the Gameplay forum where Gaplemo, who was leading around a group of about 11 (!) imperial explorers at that time, said Tiamat was next on his list. And he had what I had hypothesized would be the right core group of classes to do it. And all I could think was, “HELL NO!” So I made up a dream, posted a note to the Fortress, and tried out my first attempt at a cabal quest. It didn’t go so well at first :) Only two people responded. Yes, I was the leader of the damned cabal and only TWO people said they wanted in – the future Cardinal and Prophet. And there were one or two classes in particular we absolutely needed for my plan that the Fortress didn’t have. But a week passed, I drummed up interest, we made some adjustments, and we did it! Thank you, Guys.

It was an unbelievable feeling when Tiamat fell. As great as my first PK 15+ years ago, when my little Knight Thief double backstabbed a drow assassin with a mithril dagger. Some of you know that feeling, when the adrenaline is coursing and you just have to log out because you can’t focus. I was on a high for two days. Seriously. And it would have been perfect if Rhone had age died there (at like 520 hours) but no. Instead, I basically went on a victory lap over and over for another hundred hours on the char.

Anyway, if anyone’s still reading:

On Invokers. OK, anyone who tells you that Invokers “need” ABandS sleeks to compete ARE LYING TO YOU. This was my first mage in the 21st century, and let me tell you: I cannot believe how freaking powerful an ABandS sleek invoker is – having your sleeks means you never, ever have to fight without ABandS except for extremely rare circumstances. And that is so, so powerful. The last time I played a character this powerful was when paladin virtues first came in – that char had three virtues and it was still not as deadly or as versatile as ABS invoker. I also played a RBW and it was nothing compared to mage-with-ABS. And it’s not exactly like ABS wands are as hard to find as people make them out to be once you realize you don’t need to kill SUPERPOWERFUL mobs to get them. I don’t have an easy fix offhand, but really – IMHO ABS sleeks are just too powerful. Maybe a cool down timer, maybe only two of each sleek at a time, or something, I dunno.

It’s true that ABandS is needed most times to take a RBW in the vicinity of the Village, but that’s not because of deathblow, that’s because of bloodthirst and area spellbane. And that’s only if you can’t take advantage of battle fatigue by chasing the bloodthirster back into the Village and finish him off (Rhone couldn’t). Now that I’ve played a RBW and a mage, I can say the whole ABS/deathblow rants that have been continuously running for 10+ years is just crazy. I feel like we’re all sitting in London in front of Big Ben and these ragerhaters are wandering around asking what time it is, and I’m like “Does anyone see that big ####ing clock?”

If anyone has any questions re: invokers, let me know and I’d be happy to share whatever wisdom I’ve gleaned. The short version is:
Targeted spells do more damage than area (so engulf >> geyser).
Engulf does a lot of damage with little variation (so engulf unprotected PKs likely to flee right away)
Iceshards potentially does more damage than engulf but with lots of variation (so shards protected PKs likely to stay a while)
Nova does a #### ton of damage but is 2 rounds (do this when you’re indoors and the person(s) isn’t/aren’t going to flee right away)
I didn’t like iceneedles as much as other invoker players seem to - though it has its uses, it wasn’t about damage for me.

So, goodbyes (I’m leaving out people who’ve already posted that I’m responding to). This took too long to write what’s here, so if I missed you and you have any questions or want to tell me how great I am or how much I sucked, please feel free and I’ll respond :)

IMMS:
Thank you for being patient with me playing this character for so long. I only started it to explore areas for the first time since I was trying to write one.

FORTRESS IMMS:
I can’t believe you yahoos didn’t give me a cabal edge! I feel like that nightmare shifter! *fistshake* Shok, whenever you read this, thanks for the tat! It meant a lot to me. I made a point of trying to re-infuse your religion into the cabal, but I don’t know if it had an impact.

FORTRESS:
THANK YOU. There are a lot of different personality types that make up the Fortress. I tried to be the gruff bitter guy and the nice floofy guy, but overall I think the best trait a Fort leader can have is patience and understanding. I tried to involve people in whatever was going on, tried to get each Fort person’s back, and I hope I made the game more fun for you guys because I really tried my damnedest to.


Aliathius – Dragonslayer. You are doing an excellent job roleplaying a warm-hearted, valiant knight. I do not think there was any challenge that Aliathius would say, “Hey, you know what, Guys? I’m out.” And more was probably asked of you than any other monk spec. I hope you continue to enjoy playing the character.

Nevaelle – Dragonslayer. We were running together almost from the beginning, but somehow Rhone age dies while you’re in your prime. What’s up with that? I was totally confounded by Nevaelle’s seeming mix of vet and wide-eyed innocence. I appreciated how you were always willing and capable to mix things up, and we could not have slayed Tiamat, for example, without you. You, Aliathius, Gurz, and Athioles were four people that really left an impression. Thank you.

Dakeah – Dragonslayer. – I guess you know how excited I was to discover your virtue. You should know I tossed your name around a few times for Maran and possible leadership which says something about how highly I viewed Dakeah. Keep it up if you can! I know how hard it is to stick with the same char unless you’re me :P

Shinju – I like the whole Grapetender thing. Anyway to make that role/RP angle more visible?

Ceqiiul – thanks for the amulet idea. I always wanted to have a condeath and this is as close as I’ve ever come.

Zakuun – Up and comer. Hopefully there will be some challenges ahead to keep you interested because I have a feeling if this character is invested he’ll make an impact.

Algr/Taffer – Didn’t get to travel with you guys much, but you’re obviously solid, more lone wolf types.

Others:
Allysia – Dragonslayer! Thank you for sacrificing what you did. When Twist came down into the Blue Lair, I asked Dakaeh to immediately sanctify the room and Gurz was prep’d to bash you. No offense, but I expected you to immediately follow-self and fiend us. But to my complete surprise, you went with your loyalty to the group and because of it, we were successful, and for that, I thank you and wish I could have traveled more with you afterward.

Tavlin – I enjoyed interacting with you and wish you the best. It’s too bad I couldn’t just wave my hands and conjure up a scion because it looks like an interesting place right now. Thanks for sending me off by raiding the Fort and spiking the codex, darn you! Let’s see if you can follow-up on your dark promises of death and destruction..

Volker – Another fantastic scion. Really, between you and Tavlin the cabal is pretty solid, cool/powerful character wise. Both you and Tavlin gave off the impressions of witty and yet deranged scholarly sorts. That murdered a whole bunch.

Syther – I was impressed with your dedication to mano a mano combat. You and Flaaayin were the most dedicated ragers I encountered in that respect. But hey, I’m not one of those people that think Ragers need to fight everyone 1v1 so I wouldn’t have minded if you guys fought 2v1 or something.

Ghurn/Gry – man are scouts annoying for invokers. It was like, quicksand, vitriolic until it hits through spellbane, sit there and see who gets down to 0 first. You two were always up for trouble. Ghurn, by stripping all my coveted Dragon shinies, you absolved me from having to make difficult RP choices about whether it was OK to continue using them. Gry, Gry, Gry .. you were as tough a bard as I ever fought.

RBWs – I think I said this above, but the brutal part to berserkers is the area spellbane, not deathblow. I think an ABS invoker can take on a non-berserking RBW with pillar. Most of you guys recognized this and wouldn’t commit to fights off Eastern.

Cotzibue – I can’t believe how angry you’d get when I destroyed your zombies. It wasn’t like I was summoning them to a place in complete safety!

Astrex – I’m listing you here because that was a pretty funny loss. I’m returning from the palace with the codex, 500 hps left, scan south, and see you standing with two centurions next to thrym. I think, “hey, I’m an ABS invoker, this should be about a 50/50 fight,” and wade in. It didn’t cross my mind that you were dual wielding f’ing screaming demon maces. I mean, I might have taken a return staff out of my backback or something if I’d known :P

Rasst – You and Nemrar had an awesome team strategy that only failed when you were separated. And then you became Nightreaver and could do it yourself :P I played a few rangers in my day and know what it’s like looking for fights in the wilds so I was happy to accommodate. If only you could figure out a way to suck up more damage… probably no one would wander into the wilds.

Chulun - A force to be reckoned with, I enjoyed our on again off again, war to peace to war camaraderie.

Overall, I think the best leader I interacted with was Athioles.
The most dangerous enemy I had was Flaaaaaaaayin.
And the most memorable PK I had might have been retrieving the Orb against Pandol and the Imperial Bard-Warmaster (can't remember the name right now) while I was deafened with only a staff of storms to my name :)