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Chromatic Orb in BG:EE

Hi, I know that the Magic Missile vs. Chromatic Orb discussion has been done to death, re-rezzed, and done to death again, times infinity.

But, I have some empirical data to report, as to how Chromatic Orb seems to work in BG:EE, and I am interested in the findings of other "researchers".

I have been casting Chromatic Orb a *lot* in my current run, both with my Avenger, and with Baeloth.

There has *never* been a successful secondary effect.

Out of at least three or four dozen casts, I would say that at least thirty to as high as fifty percent of the saves come up higher than 20, even when a Doom is applied first.

I have seen a handful of saves as low as 12. I have *never* seen a save lower than 10.

I know that a roll of "1" would read as a save of "7", absent Doom or Greater Malision, or Bless.

I've never seen it happen.

Meanwhile, at level 7, Magic Missile can do 8-20 damage, while Chromatic Orb is only reliably doing 1-8.

I have *never* seen Chromatic Orb cause its advertised secondary effect.

Could some other people please share their data about this? I suspect that Chromatic Orb is only working on a roll of "1", and that the RNG tables are skewed to make this much more unlikely to happen than 1 in 20 casts, or, that there could even be hidden bonuses working other than the standard plus six. Who has actually had successful use of Chromatic Orb in BG:EE? And, I do mean BG:EE, NOT past versions of the game.

Comments

  • TyranusTyranus Member Posts: 268

    absent Doom or Greater Malision

    Without these debuffs up, yeah, the saving throw bonus hurts. Then again, it`s only a level 1 spell at the end of the day; you shouldn`t get the secondary effect more than once in a while.
  • Awong124Awong124 Member Posts: 2,643
    I've had the secondary effect work a couple of times, but only on very weak enemies like bandits.
  • dstoltzfusdstoltzfus Member Posts: 280
    I have definitely seen a level 3 chromatic orb spell secondary effect (extra fire damage) and level 4 effect (blindness...though I might have had doom or something on that one) with no doom or malision. I usually don't even bother casting it until later in the game, but the effects occur. Maybe you're just unlucky or simply haven't noticed the effects?
  • KidCarnivalKidCarnival Member Posts: 3,747
    I cast it after I run out of higher level spells, because minor damage is still better than not hitting at all (Edwin is casting). I got the effects a couple of times. I think Stun or Blindness to one of the cultists, after Greater Malison and Chant. That was the - presumably - toughest target; I never really paid attention tho.
  • bbearbbear Member Posts: 1,180
    I cast chromatic orb in vanilla bg2 and it works the last 2 times I fought the vampire at Irenicus' dungeon. And I didnt cast Doom or Greater Malision beforehand.
  • dstoltzfusdstoltzfus Member Posts: 280
    *sigh* @bbear,"And, I do mean BG:EE..." Regardless. It works @belgarathmth.
  • SCARY_WIZARDSCARY_WIZARD Member Posts: 1,438
    It's worked a fair amount of times with me in EE... A couple in The Black Pits, a couple in other places...a really neat occurrence was when Neera Wild Surged one, when I meant to cast magic missile and it instead ended up petrifying somebody. :D
  • SCARY_WIZARDSCARY_WIZARD Member Posts: 1,438
    edited April 2013
    lunar said:

    It works well in my game, particularly when enemies stun my npcs with it. Once, my npc was slain outright with insta-death effect too. (Caster lvl was 12+)

    You won't be able to see a 'save vs spell:7' message, because number 7 is not a succesful save for most of the enemies in BG:EE. As you know, if a saving throw fails, there is no 'save vs spell' message. The secondary effect message should be there instead, like 'blindness' 'stun' etc. Some effects of the chromatic orb has no text descriptions. 'Burn' just does extra fire damage you can notice in the text from its dark red color and the creature is lit up by flame animation. 'Pain' effect just gives penalties to the victim's rolls. So you might not notice them even if the victim fails his save vs spells.

    This is extremely true. I want a wand of chromatic orbs. :D

    EDIT: Er, wait, what level do most wands cast at, again...?
  • GemHoundGemHound Member Posts: 801
    @SCARY_WIZARD The level the spell becomes available I think.
  • lunarlunar Member Posts: 3,460
    Fire and lightning wands do cast at 6th lvl, according to their descriptions. (6d6 damage) Then again maybe a sorcerer created them, since sorcs do get fireball/lightning spells at lvl 6. Wand of frost used to fire cone of cold in BG2, harder to aim without hurting your party. This single line of frost is very cool. (pun intended)
  • BelgarathMTHBelgarathMTH Member Posts: 5,653
    Oh well, maybe I'm just getting really bad dice rolls. I'll keep trying. It's helpful info that I didn't know about that you don't see unsuccessful saves in the text window. It's possible I got some of the lesser effects without realizing it. I'm still dreaming of petrifying Sarevok in the final battle. It's probably a pipe dream, but it's cool to fantasize about it.
  • CaptRoryCaptRory Member Posts: 1,660
    I remember in IWD2 I petrified a Beholder with it when I noticed its Reflex Save was rather weak. I've always been rather amused by that memory.

    Doesn't Petrification require a really beefy caster level? You might be able to get it with a Wild Mage on a lucky caster level roll.
  • BelgarathMTHBelgarathMTH Member Posts: 5,653
    Petrification is Chromatic Orb level ten. Only bards and avengers can reach that level in unmodded BG:EE.
  • SCARY_WIZARDSCARY_WIZARD Member Posts: 1,438
    GemHound said:

    @SCARY_WIZARD The level the spell becomes available I think.

    Eww, nevermind. :|
    CaptRory said:

    Doesn't Petrification require a really beefy caster level? You might be able to get it with a Wild Mage on a lucky caster level roll.

    Yep, hence my Macho Man call in real life when it happened.
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