Flesh to Stone vs. Disintegrate
Tresset
Member, Moderator Posts: 8,268
Here's hoping I didn't just duplicate a thread made long ago yet again...
Is one of these spells better than the other? They both function similarly as insta-kill spells that destroy loot and they both compete for slots of the same spell level. I am beginning to think that Disintegrate is much more useful because it seems to affect way more things than FtS (or even the more conventional death magics like Wail of the Banshee, Finger of Death, Death Spell, etc.) and the method with which it kills things seems to also bypass certain low health behaviors that StF triggers (troll falling prone, efreet turning to gas form etc.).
So, uh, having pretty much just asked a question and answered it myself, I now predict that I will get a few people to confirm my answer and this thread will die a quick death.
Is one of these spells better than the other? They both function similarly as insta-kill spells that destroy loot and they both compete for slots of the same spell level. I am beginning to think that Disintegrate is much more useful because it seems to affect way more things than FtS (or even the more conventional death magics like Wail of the Banshee, Finger of Death, Death Spell, etc.) and the method with which it kills things seems to also bypass certain low health behaviors that StF triggers (troll falling prone, efreet turning to gas form etc.).
So, uh, having pretty much just asked a question and answered it myself, I now predict that I will get a few people to confirm my answer and this thread will die a quick death.
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Comments
In fact, that scene pretty much sums up which of the two spells is more dangerous...
You can stone to flesh the petrified enemy, and then kill again with a magic missile (since he will have 1 hp) you gain the xp amount again, and don't lose the loot.
Disintegrate is way cooler though, it is like, bang! You are dead and gone forever.
On the subject of which is better, the only real argument for that is whether you want them to die right now or whether you want to tap them lightly and smash them up later.
That's assuming the 5% chance of the spells actually working occurs, otherwise it's a waste or insta-quickload.
Regarding the debate between Disintegrate versus Flesh to stone, I have to go FtS for my part. I don't like wasting loot and FtS is a decent way of isolating one enemy to be dealt with later. The fact that there are fewer defenses against it only improves that. But still, given the choice, I'd go Death spell over either or both (at least until really high levels).
Hmmm, turn one unfortunate jerk into a pile of ash, or turn my friend Korgan into a whirlwind of bloody mist? Decisions, decisions.
And always talking about solo, a Sorcerer won't even chose IH at all.
I tend to pick Improved Haste, Pierce Magic, Prot. Magical Weapons, Power Word: Silence, and Disintegrate, in that order.
I just don't like the lack of gear from kills. Flesh to stone and Disintegrate are more useful in PnP, where taking a target "alive" or preventing them from being resurrected is more useful then loot whoring (A Disintegrated body requires Resurrection to bring back (or Reincarnate, if you don't mind becoming a completely random creature on revival) (which is no where near as easy to get as BG would lead you to believe...even Raise dead is rare to get due to a 5000 gold minimum cost even if you can cast the spell yourself...about 6000+ to get a temple to do it..and actually finding a 9+ cleric to cast it is also a challenge), Raise dead requires a mostly whole body.
Well, that is if they have no loot of value to you.
On the Plus side....because the petrified character is technically non-living, you can use reduce item on them on shrink them to pocket size for easy transport...or cram them into a bag of holding.
I would say that the Planetar is the only summon really worth to waste time casting an IH.
You used to be able to petrify the demons you summoned for xp, like 7k+ odd a pop, that includes each subsequent petrification so I'd repeatedly turn them into statues and back. I usually don't outright cheat like that but I appreciated the fiction of summoning demons solely to torture them, my conjurer wasn't planning on living another hundred years anyway.
Anyway, I think both are amazing spells against annoying monsters with unimportant loot , such as umber hulks and undead.
That was a fun night. Seems fitting for an ancient red to end up as ash.
Going back to my original comment.....Flesh to stone and Disintegrate just aren't worth casting, due to the lack of their PnP utility (In addition to killing targets, disintegrate can also be used to cut through doors and walls and most spell spell created stuff except Resilient spheres and anti-magic shells/fields). Even for a solo character they aren't efficient use of slots. Death spell is only marginally better ( I prefer Acid cloud myself for summon slaying...and Cloudkill already kills ALMOST everything Death spell does 1 level sooner and is a nice spell anyway due to by-passing all spell protections except poison immunity (but only kills up to 6 HD instead of 8. Though the majority of enemies with 8 HD are immune or have high MR).