Shaman Karrakh quest chain..?! (Spoilers)

[Helios]

Thanks to Vulture for all the information here. I kept wondering why people recommended the poison dagger and Isshara's whip for use with LF and Sprites, because I didn't realize their magic damage or archers (!) were affected in such ways. Knowing this will help a great deal as I go for some runs with just one race (elves, humans, etc.) in the future.

And big wow that you are able to get the Reaper on level 7-10! That must have taken some serious kiting! I thought I was doing great to get him at level 13 this time around.

Vulture, what do you think of taking leadership at every level-up for every class? I am nearly done breezing through Impossible with the Paladin doing so, so obviously the Warrior could do the same, but do you think it would give the Mage enough leadership to breeze through the game, or would the missed stat points weaken his already weak Atk and Def? I haven't tried it with him yet on this difficulty.

Edit: I still don't feel like I have a very good strategy for the Mage. I tried him as a pure damage dealer at the cost of leadership and army stats just to go for a different playing experience than with the other classes, but that strategy seemed quite slow and inferior to concentrating use of Distortion spells with the other classes. Would it ever be practical to play as a sort of Mage/Warrior, using his Higher Magic for multiple spell book usage, but equipping him to enhance his army rather than Int? My previous attempts at maxing his Int at all costs ended with pathetic single digit Atk and Def on level 30.