Armor of faith + bless at same time?

topslop1

Can I stack buffs of armor of faith and bless at the same time for my party? Or can I only have one buff at a time?

The_New_Romance

Armor of Faith only affects the caster. You can't cast it on other characters. It should stack with Bless, as it offers damage resistance, while bless affects your attack, damage and saving throws. Note, however, that AoF appears not to stack with items that offer damage resistance, as it sets rather than increases that value.

Additionally, you can buff as heavily as you wish. If you want your guys to be blessed, chanted, hasted, protected from evil and individually buffed (Mirror Image, Armor of Faith, Magic Resistance, whatever), feel free to do so. As most spells affect different defenses, most of them go well together.

CaptRory

Just keep the Duration of buffs in mind. There's no point in stacking up a bunch of buffs that wear off before you're all done buffing. You can hedge things a bit by casting the longer duration buffs first. Some can last hours.

TJ_Hooker

Also, remember that all these effects can be removed if you're fighting an enemy mage who casts dispel magic. Nothing worse then using all your buff spells before combat only to have them all stripped away in the first round or two, leaving you high and dry for the rest of the fight.

ZanathKariashi

AoF DOES stack with other DR sources, it adds, rather then sets. It's why R or F/C's can get 85% resistance (or more) using OH DoEH and hardiness + AoF, add regeneration = Effectively immune to physical damage.

But yes, both spells would work, because they do completely different things anyway.

Edwin

I will ask it a different way: In this version, which buffs DON'T stack?

karnor00

Spells that have different effects almost always stack, so no problems with bless and AoF as they do different things.

Spells that do the same thing generally don't stack, for example spells that improve armor or strength don't generally stack (although there are some exceptions). However spells may stack with items (most resist enhancing spells will stack with resist items) but sometimes will not (e.g. armor enhancing spells don't generally stack with actual armor).

Some spells are mutually exclusive, e.g. free action and haste don't work together (free action will override haste).

ZanathKariashi

Mage armor spells, shield spell, and barkskin don't stack. They set your base AC (normally 10) to whatever, rather then adding a bonus, so only the best value is used. Worn armor replaces your base AC, so it doesn't stack with the above spells either.

Some str effects do. A lot of spells that alter strength set it to something, even if it's normally higher...but other spells like DUHM add str, so they can actually raise your strength and will stack with spells that set str, if they're cast afterward since they're further modifying the value, once it's been changed. DUHM however, does not stack with itself...multiple casts just replace the previous cast.

Edwin

eg : bless and chant - yes they stack even though they do have redundant features.

I was looking for a concise list of the exceptions apart from the armor type examples that don't stack although they too are redundant.

TJ_Hooker

Edwin said:

I will ask it a different way: In this version, which buffs DON'T stack?

In general, I'd say:
Anything that sets a parameter (eg armour, magic resistance, etc.) to a certain value will not will not stack with anything any other thing that also sets the same parameter. Typically, anything that simply adds to a parameter will stack with anything else. Occasionally something that adds will not stack with something that sets though, I think.

Tresset

I once decided to buff Aerie like crazy in ToB. Once I was done IIRC she had -17 thac0 and -21 AC was improved hasted, and did max damage (about 25-30) with every hit. Of course I forgot most of what spells I cast on her; though I think it had to be at least 15 different ones. I think that was without potions too.

Edit: Ok I was a little bit off in my memory.
She has -27 thac0, -20 AC, does 43 damage each hit with 2 attacks per round, has a 10% chance of draining 4 levels and healing 20 hp each hit, and makes the target save at +4 or be disintegrated with each hit.
I probably could have squeezed even more power out of her had I planned everything right. I kinda did this really quick to give you an Idea of just how much you can stack buffs in BG. Again this is just with spells, no potions.

Kushu

What about Luck, Bless and Bard Song? Skald Song?
Are these all similar bonus types?

TJ_Hooker

Kushu said:

What about Luck, Bless and Bard Song? Skald Song?
Are these all similar bonus types?

These should all stack.

moopy

@Tresset
What was Aerie wielding?

I think in a nutshell everything stacks. It is just that some buffs ADD and some buffs SET.
A buff that does +strength is going to stack with anything. A buff that SETS strength to XX is going to set it to that regardless of how high or low or how many pluses you already had. So you would want to cast the set ones first, and the plus ones later. And AC spells obviously don't stack because they all set.

So while a buff that sets something stacks with other buffs, it may either be redundant, or make other buffs pointless as it resets the stat if you do the order wrong.

Tresset

@moopy black blade of disaster

Darkcloud

karnor00 said:

Spells that have different effects almost always stack, so no problems with bless and AoF as they do different things.

Spells that do the same thing generally don't stack, for example spells that improve armor or strength don't generally stack (although there are some exceptions). However spells may stack with items (most resist enhancing spells will stack with resist items) but sometimes will not (e.g. armor enhancing spells don't generally stack with actual armor).

Some spells are mutually exclusive, e.g. free action and haste don't work together (free action will override haste).

You have to read the description of the armor spells. There are the ones that just give a plain bonus like coordinated defense. This stacks and then there are the ones that create a magical armor, which means it actually creates a temporary armor so of course it doesn't stack with normal armor. Note however, that shield creates a magical shield so it stacks with armor (not sure if it stacks with a normal shield but this would be a bug).

TJ_Hooker

Darkcloud said:

karnor00 said:

Spells that have different effects almost always stack, so no problems with bless and AoF as they do different things.

Spells that do the same thing generally don't stack, for example spells that improve armor or strength don't generally stack (although there are some exceptions). However spells may stack with items (most resist enhancing spells will stack with resist items) but sometimes will not (e.g. armor enhancing spells don't generally stack with actual armor).

Some spells are mutually exclusive, e.g. free action and haste don't work together (free action will override haste).

You have to read the description of the armor spells. There are the ones that just give a plain bonus like coordinated defense. This stacks and then there are the ones that create a magical armor, which means it actually creates a temporary armor so of course it doesn't stack with normal armor. Note however, that shield creates a magical shield so it stacks with armor (not sure if it stacks with a normal shield but this would be a bug).

The Shield spell does not stack with either physical armor (i.e. what you have equiped) or armor created by spells (e.g. Armor, Spirit Armor, etc.). It does stack with shields.

Edit: It's not whether or not the spell description/name contains the word "armor" that's important. It's whether or not the description states it sets armor that is important. 2 things that both set something (i.e. that set your AC) will not stack. Things that provide a bonus to something (i.e. AC) will stack with eachother, and will usually stack with something that sets, as long as thing providing the bonus is applied second.

Corvino

Protection from Evil and it's 10-foot radius version are easily overlooked but very good buff spells. As the game doesn't check the alignment of things trying to hit your party it's a straight 2AC bonus as long as the spell lasts.

Protection from Evil makes paladins great tanks early on, and when your cleric gets the upgraded version it lasts 1 minute per level so you should have it on at all times. It stacks with just about everything too.

Jatrrr

Is there any item casting Aof faith pls?
I ma really curious... can be very handy.