Why are there so many death type spells in FFI?

[Del Murder]

Did they just run out of ideas or are these actually useful?

[DJZen]

It's probably 'cause they got most of the spells from D&D which would have different effects in a game where things are determined by the DM's imagination. It's true though, BANE, QAKE, BRAK, ZAP!, XXXX etc. all have the same effect; instant death (if they hit).

[Marak]

The weird thing is that the higher level Instant Kill spells don't seem to have a greater chance of being, uh, sucessful. You'd think that XXXX would be more likely to snuff something than BANE would, but what can you do?

[TasteyPies]

I think the purpose is...(correct if wrong) each monster type that has a death spell has 1 assigned death spell. So one monster doesnt have the same spell as another.

[Dragonfire]

I usually always shy away from the instant death spells, with the exception of bane. you gotta love killing the last fiend with one hit, and from a mage no less. (with the exception of the bane sword of course). heh, the only challenge in the mirage tower/floating castle is warmech. but there's a only a 1/64 chance of getting him in battle on that corridor. though i always hated that the PCs rarely ever hit with a death spell, but the enemies hit almost every time (sorcerers and such).

[Chris]

Lots of 'em are totally useless...unless you have the patience for 'em to work...

[Sword Chucks]

Well some affect certain enemies more and some don't effect others... some hit all enemies, others hit just one.

[Erdrick Holmes]

What ever all of the death spells, anyway?

[Sword Chucks]

What ARE all the death spells? Hm, let me get the player's Guide...

L5: Bane(all); L6: Rub(Single), Quake(all); L7: Brake(single); L8: Zap!(All), XXXX(Single).

Now, let me also mention that Zap!, Brake, and Rub are considered "best buys" in the original players guide... of course they also think that many of the heal and harm moves are not best buys, when I would certainly buy all of them, and let my Knight pick up any other spells.

[Del Murder]

I never liked the Heal spells.