Lvl4_Miscaster said:
but it doesn't seem to be enough for me to feel confident in the amount of points I'm dropping on the toad if I ever want to cast any spells with a larger number of dice.
The best way to avoid miscasts is to use less power dice :-/
Don't get me wrong, I've cascaded down a hole on turn 1 from a 2-dice spell (twice! and once it was from casting Throne and I failed the 2+ save!!!) just like the next Slann. But if you're throwing fewer dice at Spells you shouldn't miscast too often (http://home.znet.com/ksterns2/MagicOdds/MagicOdds.html)
With 3 dice, you should be able to cast everything in high magic (except boosted Walk between Worlds) over 60% of the time, and you'll only miscast 7% of the time (once every 13ish spells).
You won't cast every spell you attempt, and your opponent will have a better chance at dispelling them. But you should be able to make 2 - 4 attempts each magic phase. Occasionally, you'll fail to cast a spell and end your magic phase, but that is far less violent than miscasting and blowing up all your Temple Guard (or falling down a hole).
And if you really need a spell to go off, go ahead and roll the dice. But be aware that you are (literally AND figuratively) rolling the dice, and there are miscasts-a-plenty in the world of 6-dice spells.
Another "use less power dice" tactic is to use Wandering Deliberations to get a lot of cheap-to-cast spells and combine that with the book of Ashur to make most of them castable with 2 dice (although, 3 dice is the safer route to take to avoid snake eyes)
Anecdote time!
When I was a math teacher, the students that were stuggling often wanted to lean "all the shortcuts" because they
knew the smarter kids were all using shortcuts and that is how they were able to do all their homework so quickly. But it turns out that the smart kids were just doing the work, rather than trying to figure out the shortcuts, and that is how they became "the smart kids".
I may be wrong about this, but I'm pretty sure the better players aren't throwing large numbers of dice at spells. Instead they throw small numbers of dice at lots of spells. When you start playing that way, the magic phase becomes more like a game of poker. Which spells do you need to cast, and which spells does your opponent *think* you need to cast? Which spells will he try to dispel and which spells will he let go through?
Instead of hoping for Irresistible Force (and a not-game-ending miscast) or hoping that your opponent doesn't roll high enough to dispel, you should be trying to fool your opponent into dispelling spells you don't care about, and letting the spell you actually want to cast go though. The magic phase is a time for mind games and long cons!
