Originally Posted by
Maerit
Umm, this is not actually true. Firstly, the activation conditions on 712 are incredibly hard to achieve. You'll need to be stunned, disarmed or feinted to a higher stance, and knocked over for your DS to fall low enough as a sorcerer to take damage from a physical attack. Secondly, 712 isn't a guaranteed activation, it only has a % chance to activate. Thirdly, if you are using 712 to escape (which means you're using 130 as your retribution spell), you have a pretty good chance that you'll get murdered by the demon for using a non-aggressive spell. You can only use single-target spells for retribution, so it's not going to help you in a swarm (which is really the only time a sorcerer needs help).
716 also does not stop the majority of offenders from killing you since it only has a % chance to activate, and can only slow something down if they are actually vulnerable to stun.
Being able to stance and move while stunned is, in my opinion, much more useful than the 712 slot machine. Especially now that "the difficulty modifier associated with each maneuver has been significantly reduced", and the open roll is much less likely to cause a fumble.
Stunman is by no means the best ability out there, but sorcerers have started relying on things like Voln armor or the Berserk feature of nervestaves to survive being disabled. It's not the weapon swinging that's going to kill a sorcerer, it's the maneuvers.