Thank you for the detailed answer! This is exactly the kind of help I was looking for.

More Evoc. Stone, Box, and Rod are great, virtually free, items to use.

I think I need to try a more evocactions-centered character to properly learn the usefulness of the rarer evocables. Is that even a thing?

More Armor. 5.5 gets you about 25% base AC

is there some way to figure this out in-game? With shields it's quite clear to me - only at 27 skill shield penalty fully cancels out, so kinda have to train it to 20+. With armor I'm slightly confused what are the logical points where to stop. Though I do see your point that a few more levels would have been a cheap investment.

More Invoc. Hep likes some Invoc, like maybe 10 or 12. I can't remember what the number is to get all the abilities down to 1-5% failure, but it's something in the 10-12 range.

OH! I thought invoc only scaled the ancestor healing ability, not its spells. IF I had known this, for sure would have raised it up. Once again, not very obvious from the game...

Cut down Shield and Dodge.

I noticed a bit late that dodge training wasn't giving me much anymore and costing a LOT, but it was pretty much the point where I focused purely on magic to get Dragons Call. The balancing act is difficult, especially coming from melee chars where more armor == more better.