| Home | Main Map | Index | Strategy and Tips | Walkthrough | Item Stats | Character Stats | Credits and Reviews |
See the Avernum 1 strategy and tips page for suggestions and comments provided by Alexander Denev about party development - many of the same suggestions apply as well in Avernum 2.
Also, see the Avernum 1 character stats page for introductory information on how to read this chart and figure out costs of skills. I have highlighted the two new skills (and the change to the value of rune reading from the addition of the Vahantai Lore skill).
GENERAL PARTY PLAN:
I usually go for 2 fighters and 2 magic users. It works quite well.
If I want to pick up the NPC Becca, I leave the first slot open, and
start with 2 magic users and one fighter. There are 4 NPCs, only Becca
is available in the unregistered part of the game, the others can be
found in the 4th chapter. NPCs are all very powerful, and usually of
high level.
The one new feature of character creation in Avernum 2 is the choice of race - you can be human or Slith or Nephilim (10% xp penalty, more nimble, bonuses with missile weapons).
One of the effects of race is certain changes in dialog. Most NPC's do not care if you have a slith or a nephil, but a few say things like "I hate nephilim" or "Sliths are evil."
Choosing to be a Slith encumbers the character with a -20% xp penalty, but gives you a +15% bonus to pole weapons and resistance to fire damage. They make decent priests. Having a Slith in your party allows you to get spells in Gnass at a much cheaper rate than otherwise.
Choosing to be a Nephil encumbers the character with a -10% xp penalty, but you get a +15% bonus with bow weapons, more nimble which gives you extra action points in combat, and a bonus in parry skill. Having a Nephilim in your party allows you to buy archery skill in a Nephilim village near Mertis (after you have healed the town with graymold salve). They make excellent archers and thieves.
Additionally, from Alex on the spiderweb software message boards: Nephilim act much sooner in combat, especially at higher levels. Yes, Haste and Slow matter more, but some monsters are very fast. Measured in terms of DEX/GYM required to get the same result, Nephilim start with +1, and gain an additional +1 bonus every 8 levels or so. In comparison, Fast on Feet gives you +2, whereas Sluggish gives you -3 and 1 AP less EVERY round. How can you even consider Sluggish? I love speed!
Also from Alex: Regarding Races and Elite Warrior, to get an estimate of how useful the bonuses are, at level 1, non-humans get +15% attack rating with their traditional weapons, while Elite Warrior gives +5% (+20% more when going berserk). These bonuses seem to increase by +5% every 8 levels or so, and the damage bonus is probably proportional to the attack rating bonus (+5% attack rating => +1HP damage).
Even more from Alex: In both cases, the attack rating is indeed increased every 8th level. As for the damage, I haven't done any statistical analysis, however, it seems as if Elite Warrior does more for the damage, while the Slith and (especially) Nephil bonuses do more for the attack rating (it's a bit like Gauntlets of Might/Warrior's Ring).
Slith pole weapons bonus:
Level 1: +15%
Level 8: +20%
...
Level 32: +35% etc.
Elite Warrior:
Level 1: +5%
Level 8: +10%
...
Level 48: +35%
The berzerk bonus goes up from +20% to +40%.
More from Alex(!): Nephilim also gain a bonus to the Parry skill, if you like that sort of thing.
Always go custom, unless you really want to start playing right away. There are some skills you probably want to avoid at the start of the game which the predefined character classes have some points in.
| Soldier | Berserker | Cleric | Sorcerer | Rogue | Archer | Rebel | Hedge Wizard |
Shaman | Custom | |
| Base Stats | ||||||||||
| Strength | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 2 |
| Dexterity | 4 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 2 |
| Intelligence | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 1 |
| Endurance | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 3 |
| Weaponry Skills | ||||||||||
| Melee Weapons | 6 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 1 |
| Pole Weapons | 5 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Bows | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Thrown Weapons | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Hardiness | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Defense | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Assassination | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Magical Skills | ||||||||||
| Mage Spells | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Priest Spells | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| Arcane Lore | 0 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 0 |
| Potion Making | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 0 |
| Useful Skills | ||||||||||
| Tool Use | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Cave Lore | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| First Aid | 2 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Luck | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Cost | 60 | 60 | 62 | 60 | 58 | 60 | 60 | 61 | 60 | 0 |
It's true - these are the same classes as in Avernum 1 (including the same "bugs" in the cleric, rogue, and hedge wizard classes, see the Avernum 1 character stats page for details, but, anyway, never take the Rogue class).
| Stat | Base Value | Initial Cost | Use |
| Base Stats | |||
| Strength | 2 | 5 | Increases damage in melee combat, and weight allowance. Plunk points into this along with dexterity as you gain in levels. Strength is initially more important, as you want to raise you carrying capacity, but once you max it out at 350, slow down and put more points into dexterity. |
| Dexterity | 2 | 5 | Increases combat speed and odds of hitting with both melee and missile weapons. Make strength your priority initially, then start plunking points into this skill. This'll affect the speed at which you act in combat, as well as several secondary skills. |
| Intelligence | 1 | 5 | Increases spell points and lore. Necessary for mages and priest, not much so for warriors. Still, adding 1 point for warriors will give them some arcane lore and cave lore for free. |
| Endurance | 3 | 4 | Increases hit points and various resistances. Not too important initially, as you don't get many bonus hit points for increasing this skill, but later on, a single point will increase you HP by 10 or more. |
| Weapon Skills | |||
| Melee Weapons | (STR + DEX) / 3 | 2 | Increases hit odds with swords and such. Hit odds = 30% + (5% * melee). They also increase the damage your weapons do, by a similar amount as strength. |
| Pole Weapons | (STR + DEX) / 3 | 2 | Increases hit odds with spears, pikes, halberds. Hit odds = 30% + (5% * pole). They also increase the damage your weapons do, by a similar amount as strength. |
| Bows | DEX / 2 | 2 | Increases hit odds and damage with bows and crossbows. Hit odds = 40% + (5% * bows). Adding a point to archery gives you +.25 average damage. |
| Thrown Weapons | DEX / 2 | 1 | Increases hit odds and damage with javelins and rocks. Hit odds = 40% + (5% * thrown). Thrown weapons typically do not do as much damage as bow weapons. |
| Hardiness | STR / 4 | 3 | Each level has a chance of reducing incoming damage by 1. Increasing your hardiness will decrease the negative AP effect of armor. If you ever find that one of your characters has 3 AP now instead of 4, put a point or two in this skill, that'll remedy it. It also affects some of your resistances. |
| Defense | DEX / 4 | 2 | Reduces your odds of being hit by 4% per point. Allows you to wear bulkier armor with out penalty.Without it, mages cannot wear any defensive armor at all. With a few points in defense, they can wear armor with a -15% to hit penalty without losing the ability to cast mage spells. |
| Assassination | 0 | 3 | Increases damage when your level exceeds that of your target. Useful, but not all that much initially. Killing a goblin by doing 70 damage gets you the same result as doing 15 damage. Boost this up later for very nice results. |
| Magical Skills | |||
| Mage Spells | 0 | 5 | Increases spell points and effectiveness of mage spells. Start with at least one person with 6 in this. Another person could have 1 point, as it doesn't hurt. As you gain levels, make this skill a priority for your mage until you get 18 in it, then you can pretty much ignore it. |
| Priest Spells | 0 | 4 | Increases spell points and effectiveness of priest spells. Start with one person with 6 in this, and probably another with 1 point in it. As you gain levels, make this skill a priority for your priest until you get 18 in it, then you can pretty much ignore it. |
| Arcane Lore | INT / 2 | 1 | Necessary for reading tomes and identifying items. Stats affected by this are pooled over the party. Put points into this occasionally, it's a cheap skill. |
| Potion Making | INT / 4 | 1 | Increases odds of making potions successfully. Not necessary much at all. Still, plunk a point or two in it every now and then so that someone can make energy potions when you're in a bind, or graymold salves for the miscellaneous quests that require them. It's better than first aid at least. |
| Useful Skills | |||
| Tool Use | DEX / 2 | 1 | Increases odds of picking locks and disarming traps. A decent skill that's pretty cheap. Only buy it for one person, though. If you have this skill at a high enough level (~30), you can rip off Motrax without fear, though this is quite an investment. |
| Cave Lore | INT / 4 | 1 | Increases odds of avoiding wandering monsters and has a number of places where it can get you bonus stuff. |
| First Aid | INT / 4 | 1 | Allows you to heal characters somewhat. (N.B. I never, ever used this stat). |
| Luck | 0 | 4 | Raises resistances, among other unadvertised effects. I would recommend ignoring it if it weren't so damn pervasive! There are a lot of encounters in which this skill is checked, and having a lot always helps. Plus it helps your resistances. Plus, it can save your life if you're down to 0 HP and get hit. But it is quite expensive. |
| Special Skills | |||
| Barter | 0 | 1 | Pooled across your whole party, increases return when selling items. Get 5 points for everyone, pretty much as soon as you can. Don't bother training in this skill, though, just get Tor to max you out (150cp each point). |
| Blademaster | 0 | 4 | Increases both hit odds and damage with all melee and pole weapons. |
| Anatomy | 0 | 2 | Increases first aid, and damage against humans and humanoid monsters. Buy it when you can or remember. |
| Gymnastics | 0 | 2 | Allows you to act faster in combat, reduces your odds of being hit in combat. |
| Pathfinder | 0 | 1 | Increases odds of passing through swamps and lava terrtain safely. Buy everyone 5 points, except for one character. For this one character buy only 2 points. You'll find a learning crystal later on which'll give you three more points in this skill. Don't bother training in this skill, as there is no benefit to getting more than 20. |
| Find Herbs | 0 | n/a | (Untrainable) Gives a chance of finding herbs while walking outside (a potential money making skill). |
| Magery | 0 | n/a | (Untrainable) Makes spells you cast more effective. It's a great skill for mages and not too bad for priests. |
| Resistance | 0 | n/a | (Untrainable) Increases odds of resisting magical attacks. |
| Parry | 0 | n/a | (Untrainable) Helps you avoid blows in combat. Max it out, as it's cheap and useful for everyone. Later you'll be able to acquire another point in this skill for free, so that's why it's best to get everyone at 5. |
| Vahnatai Lore | 0 | n/a | (Untrainable) Helps with certain encounters involving Vahnatai stuff. Get around about 10 points total, that's all you really need. |
| Dread Curse | 0 | n/a | Makes you a little worse at everything you do - takes 500 coins in the Tower of Magi to get rid of it. |
| Derived Stats | |||
| Health | 7 + END * (level / 2 + 2) | The number of hit points you get from Endurance goes from 2 to 22 with character level. | |
| Spell Energy | 4 * (INT + MAG + PRI) | So combo priest/wizards get many MANY more spell points than their specialist cousins. | |
| Poison Resistance | END + LCK + HRD/2 + 2*RES | Each level gives 5% chance of avoiding poison damage. | |
| Magic Resistance | LCK + MAG/2 + RES + MGRY | Each level gives 5% chance of resisting magical effects. | |
| Willpower | INT + LCK + (MAG + PRI)/2 + MGRY | Each level gives 5% chance of resisting mind clouding effects like charm. | |
| Resist Elements | LCK + DEX/4 + HRD/2 + 2*RES | Each level gives 5% chance of resisting 'elemental' attacks like from fire and ice. | |
| Item Lore | ARC + (INT + MAG)/2 | Pooled across your whole party, increases odds of identifying items. | |
| Rune Reading | ARC + (MAG + PRI + VL)/2 + MGRY | Pooled across your whole party, increases odds of deciphering spells and strange writing. | |
Traits are the same in Avernum 2 as in Avernum 1, see the Avernum 1 character stats page for more details.
| Trait | XP Mod | Description |
| Good Traits | ||
| Great Renown | -10% | Bonus to initial reputation, "certain special encounters will be easier" - I assume that to mean it lowers the necessary reputation for many things. Skip it, reputation is easy to come by. |
| Nimble Fingers | -15% | Bonus when picking locks and disarming traps. Not bad and may help, though not necessary. |
| Beastmaster | -15% | gives you the Summon Beast ability. Useful at the beginning, but not at the end. The call beast spell is better, and doesn't have an XP penalty. |
| Strong Will | -15% | Increases willpower type resistance |
| Good Education | -15% | Gives a bonus to rune reading and item lore. Not bad, though you should quickly have enough rune reading for this half of the skill not to matter. |
| Toughness | -20% | Decreases incoming damage and increases resistance to poison and disease. It allows you to regenerate health points at twice the normal speed. Of course, it's still not worth the experience penalty. |
| Fast on Feet | -20% | Makes you move sooner in combat, sometimes gives additional action points. With this skill and boots of speed, you can attack as many as 4 times in a single round if you're lucky and have a lot of spells. 3 times is the maximum without this skill. |
| Natural Mage | -25% | All your spells work better, and you can cast spells even while wearing encumbering armor. |
| Elite Warrior | -30% | Bonuses in combat which increase with level, plus gives you the Go Berserk ability. |
| Divinely Touched | -40% | Gives you the abilities Lay on Hands, Natural Curing, and Call Spirit. |
| Bad Traits | ||
| Cursed At Birth | +20% | Somtimes gives a penalties to actions, and increases damage from magic. |
| Sickness Prone | +20% | Increases damage from poison, disease, and such. |
| Sluggish | +30% | Makes you slower in combat and gives you fewer actions. |
| Brittle Bones | +30% | Increases damage from all physical combat. |
| Completely Inept | +40% | A combination of all other bad effects. |
The special abilities are the same as in Avernum 1. See the Avernum 1 character stats page for my comments on them.
I found several NPCs that will join in Avernum 2 and will list their stats once I bump into again during the map annotation round.
| Becca | Wendy | Assotho | Stewart | |
| Base Stats | ||||
| Strength | 8 | 4 | 10 | 14 |
| Dexterity | 9 | 4 | 7 | 13 |
| Intelligence | 3 | 15 | 11 | 3 |
| Endurance | 7 | 12 | 15 | 15 |
| Weaponry Skills | ||||
| Melee Weapons | 11 | 5 | 7 | 25 |
| Pole Weapons | 13 | 2 | 13 | 15 |
| Bows | 6 | 2 | 3 | 14 |
| Thrown Weapons | 7 | 9 | 3 | 12 |
| Hardiness | 8 | 3 | 7 | 7 |
| Defense | 8 | 3 | 7 | 8 |
| Assassination | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| Magical Skills | ||||
| Mage Spells | 0 | 17 | 0 | 0 |
| Priest Spells | 0 | 0 | 20 | 0 |
| Arcane Lore | 4 | 19 | 16 | 1 |
| Potion Making | 0 | 13 | 8 | 0 |
| Useful Skills | ||||
| Tool Use | 4 | 2 | 3 | 6 |
| Cave Lore | 2 | 9 | 5 | 9 |
| First Aid | 2 | 9 | 13 | 17 |
| Luck | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| Other | ||||
| Cost of Skills | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Free Points | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Level | 7 | 19 | 20 | 36 |
| Special | Barter: 4 Gymnastics: 2 Pathfinder: 5 |
Find Herbs: 1 Magery: 4 Resistance: 4 |
Resistance: 5 | Barter: Blademaster: 4 Anatomy: 4 Gymnastics: 2 Parry: 3 |
Why, yes, they DO have many more skills than you could possibly have at their level - and that doesn't even count their special skills. By contrast, the maximum skill points a regular character will have is 221 (before knowledge brews). Their big disadvantages are that they will have to gain many, MANY experience points before they get more skill points - or you'll have to get a lot of knowledge brews (you can get an infinite number of these with time and money - just keep buying Silverlocke in Blosk area out of her entire stock and she'll fully replenish).
They have no "traits," but inherit the default traits for the slot they are adopted in - if brought into slot 1, they will have "Elite Warrior". If brought into slot 4, they will have "Natural Mage".
This is total experience, not difference from last level. There is a level cap of (something higher than 40, I'll find it "soon enough" since I'm using solo characters to map the game). Read level as your destination level, not your current level. You gain 4 skill points per level, and your level over 2 (rounded down) determines how much each point of endurance is worth to your total hit points. All classes gain levels and skill points the same way.
| Level | Experience | Level | Experience | Level | Experience | Level | Experience | |||
| 1 | -- | 11 | 1,500 | 21 | 5,000 | 31 | 10,500 | |||
| 2 | 100 | 12 | 1,800 | 22 | 5,500 | 32 | 11,200 | |||
| 3 | 200 | 13 | 2,100 | 23 | 6,000 | 33 | 11,900 | |||
| 4 | 300 | 14 | 2,400 | 24 | 6,500 | 34 | 12,600 | |||
| 5 | 400 | 15 | 2,700 | 25 | 7,000 | 35 | 13,300 | |||
| 6 | 500 | 16 | 3,000 | 26 | 7,500 | 36 | 14,000 | |||
| 7 | 700 | 17 | 3,400 | 27 | 8,100 | 37 | 14,800 | |||
| 8 | 900 | 18 | 3,800 | 28 | 8,700 | 38 | 15,600 | |||
| 9 | 1,100 | 19 | 4,200 | 29 | 9,300 | 39 | 16,400 | |||
| 10 | 1,300 | 20 | 4,600 | 30 | 9,900 | 40 | 17,200 |
| Home | Main Map | Index | Strategy and Tips | Walkthrough | Item Stats | Character Stats | Credits and Reviews |
MAGE SPELLS:
Bolt of fire: Always useful, except on fire resistant monsters.
Levels 2 and 3 can be gotten quickly, making this spell powerful from
the beginning.
Light: Nice and useful, improving levels helps some, but not a lot. Skip level 2 if you want.
Call beast: Not so very useful for the most part. If you're playing on higher difficulties this spell actually isn't half bad. Sometimes you can summon something very nice, but most of the time it's pretty lousy.
Bind Foe: Finally! A spell with controversy! Level 1 of this spell
is one of the best in the game! Why? Because it's irresistible. Cast
it on a demon, and the demon misses his next turn. Use it on a drake,
and you can pummel them to goo without worry of retaliation.
+Longshot on the Spiderweb message boards: If you plan on using this
spell a lot, though, go for level 2. It can be resisted by some high
level enemies, but it still is very useful stopping most enemies, and
it's cheap too! Level 3 is a good improvement on level 2, go for it as
it's very nice against giants and dervishes.
Haste: Very useful. The difference between level 1 & 2 is slight, but helpful. Level three is excellent. When fighting slow-spell-happy magic-using badguys, have your mage (W)ait then cast this at the end, and tada! No slow state!
Slow: The enemies love this spell, especially the damnable aranea and demons. I don't use it too much, but others do.
Ice Lances: This spell is very useful at the beginning, then becomes obsolete at the start of chapter four, which is a shame because you get level 3 in chapter 4. Oh well.
Unlock doors: A must. It's best to start off with this spell. Level 2 isn't all that big an improvement over level 1, but is nice to have. Level 3 is very sweet- all doors are opened by this spell.
Create illusions: Take it if you want it. Summon aid is better, as the monsters won't die instantly, but this spell can serve as a decent distraction against non-magic-using monsters (I used in once in Sulfras's cave to a good effect).
Farsight: Very desirable. Even with this faq, a lot of stuff is hard to get to, and when I give vague directions like "east of blah," it's nice to cast this spell and figure out what I'm talking about. Level 3 works outdoors.
Lightning spray: When you get this spell, it replaces ice lances as your dominant damage spell. It's pretty powerful, but eventually gets ignored when you get fireblast, except when fighting fire resistant beasties.
Capture soul: A neat spell. Use it on powerful enemies to plunk their life essence into your soul crystal. Then you can summon them up with simulacrum. The bad thing is this spell needs to be a high level to capture a powerful enemy.
Simulacrum: The best summons spell. Get a haakai or lich, a null bug, an ur-basilisk, and some strong physical enemy in it and you're set.
Dispel barrier: A necessary spell. Level 3 doesn't do too much, though.
Summon aid:Nice for distractions. Useful when fighting giant slugs, as they spit at the summoned creatures rather than at you. Also useful when you need to run (when ie quickfire's burning your butt, and enemies are behind you).
Beast Ceremony: Extremely nice. Cast it before all outdoors encounters to give a heap of whoopass to your foes. Level 1 isn't so hot, but level 2 is excellent. Level 3 adds a nice touch, but level 2 is all you really need.
Fireblast: Probably the best damaging spell out there. Get enough magery, intellect, and mage spells, and this spell will do well over 100 damage. Not too bad.
Arcane summon: Eh, get it, but you won't use it much. This spell pales in comparison to a decently stocked soul crystal and simulacrum, although the summons do stay around longer.
Arcane shield: Not bad, though I prefer divine warrior.
Arcane Blow: A nice damaging spell for those fire resistant bad guys, though fireblast is still probably better. It's quite costly in MP as well.
PRIEST SPELLS:
Healing: As useful and pervasive as bolt of fire. Level 2 is a nice
bonus, so go ahead and get it. Level 3 makes this spell very good.
Curing: Useful. Skip level 2, as level 1 also cures disease. Level 3 is nice in that it gets rid of acid.
Battle rage: Very nice. Level 2 increases the strength and makes it last longer. It hastens the target at level 3, making haste levels 1 & 2 pretty much obsolete, except against spell casters.
Shielding: Good, especially on harder difficulties. This'll block your enemy's blows and damage. Level 3 gives magic resistance, a very nice addition.
Repel spirit: A great spell. Get it to level 2 as soon as possible, you won't regret it. Level 3 is a must have spell as well.
Smite: Good at lower levels, not so good at upper levels. Get level 2 as soon as possible. Soon divine fire replaces this spell, except in the rare case of a non-demonic, fire-resistant monster.
Summon shade: Not bad, adds an ally for a while. Greater shades are decent, though vengeful shades are very nice.
Safe Travel: Bleh. Pathfinder quickly makes this spell completely useless. Don't go out of your way for this one.
Unshackle mind: Useful against mind-bending monsters like gremlins, ghasts and fungoids. Level 2 is very useful.
Move Mountains: Similar to dispel barrier, move mountains is necessary in this game. You get it early, and you can do a lot with it.
Mass healing: Depending on the circumstance, use either this or just regular healing.
Mass Cure: See above. Again, skip level 2.
Sanctuary: I rarely use this spell. It could be decent, especially at level 3. If an enemy ever casts this spell, keep using missile weapons or spells and that'll nullify its effects.
Divine Fire: The best priest offensive spell. Use it often.
Control Foes: An interesting spell. I don't use it much, although it is occasionally useful.
Cloud of Blades: A unique spell. It alone can hurt black shades and Guardians as far as magic goes, and it'll also hurt the rakhasha, which is a great use for it. Unfortunately, you only get three clouds at max.
Return life: I just reload. There's a rare but unfortunate bug in the game that may cause items to disappear if a character dies, so reloading is probably best.
Divine warrior: Probably the best spell. It doubles you AP, gives you a super strong blessing, and makes you harder to hurt than a lump of rock. Get it as soon as possible, and use it whenever you're faced with big bad guys.
Divine restoration: A nice spell, especially when at higher skill levels. Out of combat just use healing 3.
Divine host: Bleh. Get this one for the sake of completeness, but it's quite lousy. One fireblast from the enemy, and poof, no more shades. If third level summoned vengeful shades, that'd be another story, but as is, don't go out of your way to get 2nd level.