Wow... Harley kinda took pot shots at all my helpful suggestions on how to survive spell casters... And "none of this addresses the heart of the matter"? Sure it does. The "heart" of the matter, as you put it, is that THIS IS THE WAY IT IS. Period. Deal with it or move on. I was simply trying to give a few helpful tools one might use to make dealing with casters a bit easier. I think everyone else realized that none of my suggestions were sure-fire, 100% guranteed ways to deal with every situation, but rather a conglomerate or hints of which all or some might help a particular character deal with a situation.
If you can't survive the initial round of flamestrikes? Uh... see, casters have to CAST those spells, so when you see Kal Vas Flam appear over their heads, walk around a corner, cast that wall of stone, whatever... just don't let yourself get HIT by a volley of flamestrikes. I'm sure you're saying, "Yeah, right... sounds good, but when it comes to doing it..." I do it all the time. 60 resist. Usually reflect is already down. I don't die. Maybe invest in some str. jewelry and visit the Covetous fountain. That'd give you and extra 25 hp to deal with, and you could stop whining about the "initial round" of flamestrikes. Of course, everyone is going to have a bad day, where nothing they do is going to mean diddly-squat at helping them survive. This is the life of an adventurer. Deal with it or take up carpentry.
Hiding- my statement was intended to inform that unless you DO have at least a secondary slot to invest it in, that it wouldn't help much.
Leadership- yes, taunting them is what was meant. And my henchies, which I hired with only 60 Leadership have been just fine... I don't LET them get killed. If you want something you can send into the fray to do your killing for you, I suggest taking up taming and get yourself a great.
Alchemy- yes, greater explosions. And who cares if you have to take them out one at a time? They're still dead in the end, right? Step out, toss a potion, step back around the wall and heal any damage from your dreaded flamestrikes which you apparently so often encounter... I myself have never had every mage I encounter select that particular spell first...
And the wall of stone comment was intended to "MAKE" youself that wall to walk behind to eliminate the casters LOS, not to block them off permanantly. They begin casting, you step behind the wall, they fizzle, you step out and whack em.
Basically, bottom line is, I was offering helpful tips. If these tips don't help your particular character, they may help someone else who actually knows how to play the game. If you are truly that concerned about being flamestruck to death, stay out of dungeons and areas with casters and you should be just fine.
Cel