Your points are interesting but not valid as far as the other spell cassting
hybrids go. Both druids and clerics can also use the shiny brass shield so
we gain nothing over them there.

Also the dirk and whip are by no means as good as a glowing crook staff.
the dirk is 6/23 which works out to a ratio of .565 using max damage of 13,
the 'Glower' as I hear called frequently is 11/35 which means a hefty ratio
of .657, very painful. The BLW is even worse than a dirk at 7/28 which
works out to a ratio of only .536 using max damage. A full point of better
ratio is pretty devastating in a one-on-one fight.

You kited beetles 6 levels higher than you using bellow? I hate to be rude
but I do not believe you. Not only would it take forever at the 7 pts a
bellow you would have been doing, but the resists would have been frequent.
Past that they should have been not 'too frequent' but nearly 100%! Not to
mention that running into anything else would have made 1 or 2 stuns fatal.

Kitasi the disbelieving