kill yourself with mass banishment?

[MattB]

Stunning surprisingly does. Mage has couple of spells that both stun and damage.

But what does the stun status actually do for monsters? Does it actually reduce their damage output? If so, I've never noticed.

[Derakon]

But what does the stun status actually do for monsters? Does it actually reduce their damage output? If so, I've never noticed.

It paralyzes them. Stunning monsters is very useful.

[Bogatyr]

It paralyzes them. Stunning monsters is very useful.

I'd say stunning is a nice by-product of those spells, but doesn't rise to the level of a full-blown tactic that you can bet @'s life on. The stunning effect and its duration is not reliable, so you'd rather simply avoid a swarm of beasts with an undesirable attack than face them with a spell that stuns, which may or may not kick in.

Of the spells which I remember having a stun affect, one is very low damage (considering the point in the game on usually acquires the book with said spells), and the other doesn't affect a large percentage of mid-late game monsters.

Sleep/slow when they work (very early in the game) completely transform a fight, by comparison.

[Timo Pietilä]

Of the spells which I remember having a stun affect, one is very low damage (considering the point in the game on usually acquires the book with said spells), and the other doesn't affect a large percentage of mid-late game monsters.

Ice Storm stuns and delivers quite high damage. I sometimes choose that over some even higher damage spells because it often allows me to get some free turns while opponent is stunned.

[Bogatyr]

Ice Storm stuns and delivers quite high damage. I sometimes choose that over some even higher damage spells because it often allows me to get some free turns while opponent is stunned.

I use ice storm a fair bit, but later in the game you get lot more major undead and cold doesn't work against them. I don't recall high level monsters remaining stunned much at all. Lower level stuff, sure, but they're usually harmless by the time you can cast ice storm anyway.

[MattB]

It paralyzes them. Stunning monsters is very useful.

Thanks - good to know.