Casters so useless? Level up so slow? Do I play correctly :)

Cybs

Hey People!

Just to get this out of the way first, I really love this game. I've played part 2 when I was 12 to 14 and also started D&D at the same time. I loved it but found it a very tough game. Never finished it

Now I got this game for my iPad and I love getting in to it. Theres just some things that I'm wondering about.

I find casters to be very bad most of the fights. With only one or two spells they can cast before resting again, I result to them slinging away in most fights and only use the spells when I think an enemy is tough. I know they can also use scrolls, but those are expensive and one use items as well. Its not like Magic Missile do so much damage. So why can I use it so little? I thought the memorisation of spells was so you could cast them instantly. But you could also cast from your spell book. At least thats what I seem to remember from D&D. But I was younger then so I might be wrong

By now I'm in chapter 3 (just cleared the mines and I'm in the bandit camp) but my characters are mostly level 1. The protagonist is level 3 and 2 or 3 other characters are level 2, and all are far away from another level up. Is that correct? I think I did all the side quests in the village near the mines as well.

Lastly, my protagonist is a thief. Her hide shadows is 60, yet in a fight she never succeeded to hide in the shadows. I'd really love to use her backstab on enemies but I never succeed. She has studded leather but with regular leather armour she fails as well.

Just some questions I'm seeking answers for.

ryuken87

At low levels you should be aiming to disable enemies rather than damage them with casters. Sleep is one of the best spells in the game and will take out multiple enemies as opposed to Magic Missile which only deals 2-5 damage, don't bother with it until you get 3-4 missiles. Web at level 2 is my favourite disabling spell. Once you get level 3 spells or some wands you have good damage options.

Level 3 for a thief protagonist is about right for chapter 3 if you've done nothing but the plot.

Stealth is gimped in EE compared to vanilla BG1 as in the BG2 engine one skill was split into two. Chance of success is based on the average of both your Hide and Move Silently skills so it's no surprise you're failing with a skill of 60. Hiding in direct sunlight incurs penalties, try and find a shadow. There are no penalties for leather or studded leather. Your thac0 is also likely awful so you won't hit much.

Darksheer

You might want to do more of the little quests here and there (beregost has plenty) to gain experience before advancing the main plot. I myself just fought the bandit camp and I've got a full caster party with all of them at level 4.

The spellcasting is as it should be; low level mages can be quite difficult to play but as they gain levels they become quite formidable. There is always lots of resting to do with mages. :P Wands are quire useful at low levels too, maybe your thief could go rob some houses and see if they've got any to spare?

Hide in shadows works only when there are no enemies within line of sight, so your thief must retreat to a safe distance to try hiding again after initial backstab. Invisibility or potion works well too.

JonelethIrenicus

Make a sorcerer and then get the ring of wizardy. At low levels you will use Sleep mostly do disable the enemys and let the others kill them. Read on which spells to learn in level ups.

Later, when you get fireball, skulltrap, lightning bolt, flame arrow etc etc you'll be able to kill everyone by yourself

colonel_burger

I suggest you head to High Hedge (left of beregost) and pick up scrolls of sleep and horror. With those, your level 3 mage will be indomitable.

Other great cookie cutter spells are mirror image to turn your mage into a tank, friends to get store discounts, and the darkness-destroying magic missile.

Later, mages will become your party's primary killers (unless you've got a ranger archer in your party).

Cybs

Aaaah some very good tips. Makes sense Thanks everyone. I'll see if I can get back from the bandit camp to the town.

ZanathKariashi

Just stick everything in MS...hide is basically a waste of points anyway, unless you have nothing else to put them in (and you'll get plenty from Boots of stealth/shadow armor for your hiding purposes). It makes skilling thieves up a little more tolerable at low levels.

And yes, sleep is god for most fights, especially against large groups of fodder..it's got a hard to make save, and will affect up to ogres most of the time. Less useful against named characters since they tend to have more then 5 HD, but will demolish their helpers most of the time.

Blind is also pretty useful, especially devastating against mages as it completely shuts down their ability to cast spells unless they're basically hugging you, though with a handful of exceptions, archers die too fast for it to be worth it on them (and sleep works fine on most of them). It's pretty nice against melee as well, but no where nearly as devastating as it is vs mages.

Web is pretty good as well. It has a penalty so it works pretty often, and it completely shuts an enemy down when they fail their save, and allows you to auto-hit them. It's not party friendly though, so you need to use ranged weapons or have your melee guys immune to web to really abuse it.

Slow is also pretty brutal, and is an aoe. Massively slows movement, penalizes to-hit and AC by 4, and drops their weapon speed to 10 (minor but still VERY nice if the enemy can hit hard).

Fireballs are ok...Skull trap is strictly better, though neither is really necessary. You can easily have wands to handle your fireball needs by the time you can cast the spell, and the slots would be better spent on slows or hastes or dispels. And by that level, the enemies you'd want to cast it on are so easy you could just straight up kill them anyway and save a spell slot (or chuck some webs at them for basically the same effect, but using a slot with fewer good options...lvl 3 has a lot of nice spells...lvl 2...not so much).