A weird spell: Cleric lvl.1 ** Magical Stone **

Ignatius

I have never seen any report of someone using it. It seems to be universally considered as useless. And probably is.

Nevertheless, it is weird. It works almost like a single magic missile dealing 1d4 dmg to a single target but according to the description, it is not a spell magic damage but a weapon damage (considered a magical +1 weapon). A weapon damage requiring no hit (and therefore, no THACO nor damage bonus applies), allowing no save. It says it is a "stone" but am not sure of the weapon type.

Casting time 4. Am trying to think of a way to use this unavoidable channel of direct damage (which is unusual for clerics), and multiply/increase the damage. Backstab probably not an option here (for a cleric/thief).

I just cast one on a gibberling. It did 3 damage. Great.

Would be classic to finish off Sarevok with a magical stone though. Or several. Load-up all lvl.1 spell slots, run around the big boss and kite him with 8 unavoidable magical stones, dealing 8d4 damage.

Jean_Luc

Empower spell? Oh wait...

leeho730

Sarevok has 60% resistance to physical damage...

Ignatius

leeho730 said:

Sarevok has 60% resistance to physical damage...

Ah yes, of course. 40% of 1d4 damage is not much...

leeho730

But nevertheless it's fairly interesting spell...

AHF

The 4 cast time might be the worst part of the spell. 1d4 damage that doesn't get better with levelling, and it is still slower than casting Holy Smight, Sunfire, Fireball, Lightning Bolt, etc.?

valky

BG2-spell-revision:
Magical Stone - creates 10 magical stones that can be thrown at opponents

Makes really sense, if compared to ie magic-missile....

Ignatius

AHF said:

The 4 cast time might be the worst part of the spell. 1d4 damage that doesn't get better with levelling, and it is still slower than casting Holy Smight, Sunfire, Fireball, Lightning Bolt, etc.?

I agree, cast time is crap. A cast time of 1 could make it usable (a bit like Larloch's to the mage), for instance to interrupt spellcasters. Actually... that's right, it could be useful to interrupt spellcasting even with a cast time of 4 (a bit like a charge of Wand of Missiles, but will hit even magic protected creatures).

Now if the damage increased with the level, then it would already been known as one of the best low-level cleric spells. Too bad you cannot increase the damage with say, STR bonus (just like a stone thrown from a sling).

There must an ennemy or battle where this auto-hit by a magical weapon will come in handy.

Ignatius

valky said:

BG2-spell-revision:
Magical Stone - creates 10 magical stones that can be thrown at opponents

But the stone does not even materialize in the inventory (unlike druidic berries for instance), it acts like a spell targetting one ennemy except the damage is weapon-type instead of spell-type, and an auto-hit. Very weird.

valky

Hmm, now that I give it a 2nd thought, it would make up a great challenge, but with some changed rules
You get each spell level a new magical stone variant, and each does 2d4, 3d4 and so on damage - that is btw your only spell you can learn of course! (maybe with a casting time of 1)
Go to hell F/M/T! Magical stone-throwers win the race

The werewolfs could get pretty nasty though...

Ignatius

valky said:

Hmm, now that I give it a 2nd thought, it would make up a great challenge, but with some changed rules
You get each spell level a new magical stone variant, and each does 2d4, 3d4 and so on damage - that is btw your only spell you can learn of course! (maybe with a casting time of 1)
Go to hell F/M/T! Magical stone-throwers win the race

Great idea! or Shadowkeep a special ability for a special character - say a halfling cleric with a long family history of slinging mastery. He would get a special ability creating such magical stone, increasing both in number of spells/day and in damage delt, at each level. Hold on, this would be broken, imagine at lvl.20 having a special slot with 20 charges of a stone dealing an automatic-hit 20d4 dmg... ludicrous.

Although in BG2 there are quite a few ennemies immune to +1 weaponry (and above).

valky

Cause it's your only spell, it might get the enchantment level of the spell level, or all stones get modified every 4ish or whatever cleric-level.

In comparison the unmodded melfs meteors are so damn friggin' OP that it hurts....= machine gun fire with +5 projectiles is pretty damn lame (or lol).

TJ_Hooker

I've always thought of Magical Stone to be the cleric equivalent of Gooberries. A spell that just makes you scratch your head over it's uselessness.

Ignatius

TJ_Hooker said:

I've always thought of Magical Stone to be the cleric equivalent of Gooberries. A spell that just makes you scratch your head over it's uselessness.

I had never cast it before and that is also what I thought. In fact it works differently, it does not create any weapon in your inventory, no THACO, nothing. It works just like a single magic missile except that it is treated as a +1 weapon damage-type.

I have given it more thought and one could try Harm->Magical Stone. If Harm hits, the stone will finish the job where maybe, a regular attack or a damaging spell might fail.

the_spyder

TJ_Hooker said:

I've always thought of Magical Stone to be the cleric equivalent of Gooberries. A spell that just makes you scratch your head over it's uselessness.

I kind of think it is an artifact of the time when casters didn't get access to every single spell, but had to make due with what the DM/God/Master... chose to give them. That would make a good deal of sense. if you literally couldn't choose Cure light wounds, but had that instead. Make due with what you have. My old DM was a terror that way.

Of course that is entirely speculation.

AHF

Ignatius said:

I have given it more thought and one could try Harm->Magical Stone. If Harm hits, the stone will finish the job where maybe, a regular attack or a damaging spell might fail.

Does the spell work if the creature is immune to +1 weapons?

Ignatius

AHF said:

Does the spell work if the creature is immune to +1 weapons?

According to the description, no it would not work. I have not tried it (who in BG1 is immune to +1 weapons, apart from Karoug?).

Following Harm, the stone would work where neither a damage spell nor a regular attack would, IF the target both had high magic resistance and very low AC (in which case having a successfull Harm won't be easy to begin with...), but still be struck by +1 weapon. A long shot indeed...

DJKajuru

As far as I recall, the magic damage of the stone will hurt enemies that are immune to normal weapons. So thank the Gods for that!

KingGhidorah

My cleric/illusionist did a single casting of magical stone so far... on Shank, in Candlekeep.
He was instantly killed.

Never bothered to use it again though.

Pantalion

All I can think of is making sure Clerics aren't twiddling their thumbs against Shandalar.

wild

It is a lot more useful in IWD if i remember right was 2-12 with double vs undead

Rhyme

I'm now incredibly tempted to import a team of six high level Cleric/Mages, and see what sort of monsters could be killed with the combination of Robe of Vecna/Time Stop (with Spell Immunity so the whole party can act)/Improved Alacrity/Magical Stone spam.

"Let he who is without sin... Pelt the entire sword coast into a bloody stupor with rocks."

aldain

wild said:

It is a lot more useful in IWD if i remember right was 2-12 with double vs undead

Exactly. I've used it to good effect against mummies, imbued wights and other undead early on in IWD that are immune to normal weapons (since you don't really have a lot of magical weapons available at that time).
Since it always hits and deals damage it's also useful against tougher enemies when you're only L1-2 and can't hit the broad side of a barn with a sling.

Ignatius

If I was involved in a high-level one-on-one fight in BG vs a human player (caster), I'd probably keep a few magical stones memorized. Because it could come out as a totally unexpected hit for my opponent, right when he thought he was safe and was about cast his money time spell.

AHF

Ignatius said:

AHF said:

Does the spell work if the creature is immune to +1 weapons?

According to the description, no it would not work. I have not tried it (who in BG1 is immune to +1 weapons, apart from Karoug?).

Following Harm, the stone would work where neither a damage spell nor a regular attack would, IF the target both had high magic resistance and very low AC (in which case having a successfull Harm won't be easy to begin with...), but still be struck by +1 weapon. A long shot indeed...

I just tested it in TOB and a Planetar was immune to +1 bolts but hurt by the magic stone spell so I would guess that it does not function as a +1 weapon as the description implies.

Oh yeah, it did 3 awesome points of damage too. How do you like them apples, Planetar?

Ignatius

AHF said:

I just tested it in TOB and a Planetar was immune to +1 bolts but hurt by the magic stone spell so I would guess that it does not function as a +1 weapon as the description implies.

Ah. Thanks a lot for testing, it is then yet another bug/discrepancy between what a spell ought to do, and actually does. As it is implemented, Magical Stone is nothing more than a single magic missile with a cast time of 4, making it one of the lousiest spell in the game.

AHF

Sadly, it doesn't even measure up to a single magic missile both because of the longer cast time and because it always does 1 less point of damage.

Additional testing showed it to be pretty much exactly a magic missile. Stoneskin did not stop it but protection from magical energy rendered Edwin immune.

Edwin

That's it! Magic Stone will be the only level 1 spell memorized for me.