Druid, I don't know how they work, shapeshifting's a joke (IMHO) and "what do you mean 'I can't cast Raise Dead/Ressurect'? What's divine back-up for anyway!?"
In the case of the Druid, I would suggest it's for calling down the thunder, reaping the whirlwind, and covering everyone and everything you see in a thick layer of biting, burrowing insects before finally biting off their heads with your massive spidery mandibles.
Whilst I shall ignore the idea of mages being supposed to downgrade themselves into using Evocation spells, Conjurers, do not lose Evocation as a barred school, they lose, if I recall correctly, Divination.
Druid, I don't know how they work, shapeshifting's a joke (IMHO) and "what do you mean 'I can't cast Raise Dead/Ressurect'? What's divine back-up for anyway!?".
Bard: if you wan't to pickpocket, cast spells and slap some enemy in melee, be a decent Fighter/Mage/Thief!
Conjurer: What do you mean 'I can't cast Evocation-spells'? What else do wizards do? (OK, that one may be IWD only, but still..., all mages excluding Evocation are 'light' versions of the cannon they are supposed to be).
1. In Baldur's Gate, Enchanters are the ones who can't cast Evocation. Edwin (a conjurer) excels in Evocation while Xan (an Enchanter) can not use it. 2. Enchanters, even though they can't use evocation, are still very useful. With the amount of findable wands in the game, I never have a problem with running out of blast-y spells with Xan, and that way he can focus on disable and/or buff spells.
You know, the more I think about it, the more looking at the Priest of Helm and Priest of Lathander solidifies my lack of inclination to play single-classed Clerics. I was excited about Boon of Lathander for all of about five minutes before realizing that the only thing it gives you that 7 levels of Fighter won't is protection from level drain, and 7 levels of Fighter ends up giving you a heck of a lot more. If you could dual-class into a kit (or have a kit in a multiclass), I would consider forgoing Berserker for PoL, but that's about it. The Cleric kits don't have the same pizzazz that kits like, say, Bounty Hunter or Avenger have that make me think "maybe it would be worth going single-classed for this."
Part of the problem is probably that there's not a big incentive to go balls-to-the-wall into Cleric spellcasting. Mages have a big incentive to be single-classed: They can pick up extra spell slots, and they can get access to those really high level spells noticeably faster. Maybe I'm missing something about 6th and 7th level Cleric spells, but for me, the big Cleric spells are at level 5 or earlier, and it doesn't take much longer for a dual or multi-class to get there compared to a single-class character.
For whatever reason I just don't like having Charname be a pure spellcaster of any type. I like to lead the party from at least a forward support position, if not from the front.
For whatever reason I just don't like having Charname be a pure spellcaster of any type. I like to lead the party from at least a forward support position, if not from the front.
I have this same problem, though on occasion I can suppress it for the purposes of playing a single-classed Mage/Sorcerer.
I'm toying with the idea of having them not even use enchanted armor and weapons. Just +1. (Is there a +2 anything that isn't enchanted in BG:EE?) If the armor or weapon seems divinely enchanted, then it's okay though. I'm thinking that most enchantments to items are probably arcane, however. I'll actually have to pay attention to the gears' descriptions.
In PnP, Conjurers lose Evocation and any divination above 4th level, so losing only divination was a MASSIVE buff to conjurers (well..ok..a slight buff...the Shadow magic spell line in PnP from the illusion school can replicate most evocation spells, but with lesser effect). Though if proper 2nd DnD rules were implemented for spell casting, Conjurers wouldn't be able to memorize or use any spell scrolls, since several important spells for mages to even be able to function are divination spells.
Though if proper 2nd DnD rules were implemented for spell casting, Conjurers wouldn't be able to memorize or use any spell scrolls, since several important spells for mages to even be able to function are divination spells.
I believe that's why we have "lesser" divination, which every wizard can use. It counts under it things such as Detect/Read Magic, without which wizards can't really function at all.
@ Lemernis - RE: the possible class choices list - have they lifted the BG2 dual class restrictions for BG:EE? - for instance ranger cleric dual class was only available for straight ranger or beastmaster (not archer or stalker)?
@Wanderon, I *think* that you can now dual from a kitted Ranger. I seem to remember reading about it on here. I would test it out, but only have the game on iPad presently so no CLUA console.
@wanderon@eudaemonium You can dual from a kitted ranger (including archer and stalker) to a cleric now. The benefits are rather marginal, in my opinion, for the cost of losing heavy armor, but it is possible.
I never played a monk or illusionist and dont think i ever will. And more then 2 classes is preposterous for me... how can i explain this crazy changes of a lifestyle to myself???
I think I have played everything but monk and barbarian, neither of them really appealed to me at all. What class I play normal comes from what alignment I want to play thro. Evil I always go for thief or some kind of multi-class thief. Good i always go for cleric/paladin or wild mage (which I just love the randomness of!). At the moment I am playing bard for the first time as a chaotic neutral character - making him a bit of a mad man!
I don't really like casting classes, aside from Clerics, so I tend not to play them. I also never dual/multi class. I'm also not a big fan of rogues, at least not the dps focused, backstabby stabby type. I do however enjoy playing utilitarian rogues, who focus on lockpicking, detecting traps, etc.
@Chow in 2nd edition, lesser divination is all divination spells of 4th level or lower, and conjurers are only barred to greater (aka, they only lose 5 spells (there's only 1 divination spell per level in 5-9), only 1 of which is a genuine loss (true seeing)).
3rd edition simply removed divination from a choice of opposed school entirely (Except in NWN, which was garbage anyway as far as rule implementations went), and just made everyone lose 2 schools, except diviners, since their specialization is pretty gimped compared to the others.
I meant that if Conjurers were banned from all divination as they are in BG, but with proper PnP rules involving spellcasting otherwise being implemented, they'd be a useless character as they could never learn any more spells other then the ones they started with at creation.
Yeah, except then, they'd have restricted them to losing Evocation instead of divination, since the greater divination restriction wouldn't have effected the conjurer at all in non-TotSC BG1.
Comments
Whilst I shall ignore the idea of mages being supposed to downgrade themselves into using Evocation spells, Conjurers, do not lose Evocation as a barred school, they lose, if I recall correctly, Divination.
In fact I've just started a solo hardcore run as a female Gnome illusionist/thief, see:
http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/comment/245583
This despite my fondness for necromancy spells...
A fairy dragon familiar (invisibility 10' radius from day one) should help...
2. Enchanters, even though they can't use evocation, are still very useful. With the amount of findable wands in the game, I never have a problem with running out of blast-y spells with Xan, and that way he can focus on disable and/or buff spells.
Part of the problem is probably that there's not a big incentive to go balls-to-the-wall into Cleric spellcasting. Mages have a big incentive to be single-classed: They can pick up extra spell slots, and they can get access to those really high level spells noticeably faster. Maybe I'm missing something about 6th and 7th level Cleric spells, but for me, the big Cleric spells are at level 5 or earlier, and it doesn't take much longer for a dual or multi-class to get there compared to a single-class character.
This would be a custom party (SP game in MP mode). A BG:EE game. (Hopefully by the time I get to it SCS:EE will be released):
Wizard Slayer - leader
Inquisitor
Berserker
Barbarian
Assassin
Cleric of Talos
They can use divine magic and muscle. That's it.
I'm toying with the idea of having them not even use enchanted armor and weapons. Just +1. (Is there a +2 anything that isn't enchanted in BG:EE?) If the armor or weapon seems divinely enchanted, then it's okay though. I'm thinking that most enchantments to items are probably arcane, however. I'll actually have to pay attention to the gears' descriptions.
Wizard Slayer (black pits)
Beserker (black pits)
Stalker
Undead Hunter
Shapeshifter
Bounty Hunter
Assassin (black pits)
Blade
Monk
Quite a lot of the specialized Mages.
3rd edition simply removed divination from a choice of opposed school entirely (Except in NWN, which was garbage anyway as far as rule implementations went), and just made everyone lose 2 schools, except diviners, since their specialization is pretty gimped compared to the others.
I meant that if Conjurers were banned from all divination as they are in BG, but with proper PnP rules involving spellcasting otherwise being implemented, they'd be a useless character as they could never learn any more spells other then the ones they started with at creation.