About the mages and their magic
LundmaN
Member Posts: 43
When the mages are not casting spells, what do you do with them since they have no kind of auto-attack? Except getting close to the enemy and hit them with their staff, but that doesn't seem appropriate for a mage to do...
Also, since they need to rest to "cooldown" their spells, how often do you rest? I feel like I have to rest after almost every fight to be prepared for the next one, and that doesn't feel right.
Thanks.
Also, since they need to rest to "cooldown" their spells, how often do you rest? I feel like I have to rest after almost every fight to be prepared for the next one, and that doesn't feel right.
Thanks.
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At very low levels, pure mages really don't have many spells at all, and are very vulnerable and almost useless. I remember leaving Dynaheir at the entrance of the dungeon in the Firewine Bridge, cos it was more tedious to protect her if she ventured into the dungeon too. This is perfectly normal for a very low level mage/sorcerer. They eventually become powerhouses and dominate BG 2, but in BG 1, they are weak and vulnerable for most of the early-mid game.
U can augment their usefulness with wands. In my Multiplayer game, where I am using a Sorcerer, the party gives me most of the wands and scrolls we pick up, so that I can do something useful when I am out of spells, besides wasting bullets with my sling, and occasionally scoring a hit.
How much u rest depends on how strict u wanna be with urself. Some quests are time-limited, but on the whole u can rest as much as u want to. I personally try to challenge myself to 'realistic rest' patterns, which does mean my mages need to conserve spells until the party really needs them.
Darts 1d3, 3 attacks per round
Slings 1d4+1+Strength, 1 attack per round
Mages have a godawful THAC0
Ergo
Darts > Slings
I don't really like how the magic system works so far...it's not really immersive and it feels awkward. I thought the combat in general was going to be a bit more simple. I feel a bit disappointed to be honest.
Hmm... I remember trying darts/throwing daggers, and not finding them a whole lot better. They were also a lot more expensive (and heavy) if I remember correctly. Regardless I still find the concept of a mage using those weapons kinda weird.
@LundmaN
Don't worry, mages/sorcerers will come into their own from lv6 onwards, and as I said, they dominate BG 2, where almost every tough battle is a mage battle.
I've been playing a multiplayer game with a few forumites as a sorcerer. We have a tradition of ending each session with a massive free-for-all. At the lower levels I died pretty quickly due to terrible hp and lack of powerful spells.
I hit lv6 in the last session and got Melf's Minute Meteors. With a bit of luck (dodged a fireball and several arrows, which hit my Mirror Images instead), I managed to slaughter my entire party with Magic Missiles and Minute Meteors.
I love the magic system in Baldur's Gate. It has so much depth, variety and flavour, you can come up with totally different, but still viable magic strategies.
Edit: Oh, and encase u didn't know, the best lv1 spell (that beginners don't always notice) is Sleep. Very useful for the early-mid game. A pack of kobold commandos about to turn ur party into pincushions? One Sleep spell and they are ripe for the slaughter.
Right. Throwing Daggers.
Throwing Daggers 1d4, 2 APR. 1 pound each.
Darts 1d3, 3 APR. No weight.
Bullets 1d4+1+Strength, 1 APR. No weight.
There are a fair number of magical darts strewn about, some + enchantments but mostly weird effects that seem to only work about 1/10 of the time. Magical Darts are not hard to find. I've personally never bought special ammo, except Arrows of Detonation and Arrows of Dispelling, so I'm not a very good source when it comes to "are they worth buying."
Lots of magical bullets as well, they are all just + enchantments except for the very rare Sunstone Bullets.
Throwing Daggers, there are Poisoned ones in BGII which are pretty good, but beyond that they get shafted pretty hard sadly ...
Mage combat is just not intuitive in this game, unfortunately. I like it because I'm used to it, but it's a pain to get over the learning hump. Once you get to more acceptable Mage levels (5-6 in my estimation) you start having enough spells at your disposal that you can play them much more naturally. Before that your Mage is pretty weak, though.
There is an item in the game that will double your maximum level 1 spells, and it is found very early (although it is hidden pretty well). It's invaluable in the early game, since it straight up doubles your effectiveness.
Tips: direct damage is not your Mage's primary strength at low levels. Magic Missile will do 5 damage max to a single target, while a spell like Sleep will guarantee the deaths of around 6 creatures at once as your fighting guys mop up. Status effects are brutal in this game.
Another thing I've noticed is that AoE spells feels quite useless so far...since they deal damage to your allies as well and the problem is that they cover such a huge area. Any tips on AoE spells and how to use them properly?
If u find a large group of dangerous-lookin' hostiles, use a thief to pin-point their exact location. Launch a Web at them from just outside their visual range. Then shoot at them until they die.
If they look particularly nasty, launch a Fireball or Cloudkill at them too. Cloudkill is especially good in combo with Web, cos the cloud keeps damaging the enemy trapped in the Web.
Party-friendly AoEs:
Level 1 "Sleep" is epic for some time, it obviously stops being terribly useful in BGII but it's well worth the investment early game.
I HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend Level 3 "Slow."
Level 3 "Hold Person" is also very useful, although the AoE is rather small.
As far as BGII goes, Level 6 "Death Spell" is party-friendly and fantastic in that it will instantly slay any summons in the area. It will also make the attempt to kill other things, but they get a saving throw. Summons don't though. Very useful.
Level 8 "Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting" is basically Fireballx3 or so and party-friendly. Kicks all kinds of ass.
Level 10 "Dragon's Breath" is basically the same thing on even more steroids.
After you've already engaged, non-party-friendly AoE becomes much less useful like you've said. I think that having a few memorized as an opening move can really take the edge off of tough fights though. Web especially is a great spell, since it forces the enemy to save each round that they're inside of the AoE. You can pick off held enemies using ranged weapons, and if one happens to break free you can focus-fire them without having to deal with the rest of their party.
EDIT: Also, Confusion Chaos (level 5 spell) is one of my favorites. It's AoE but party-friendly, imposes a beefy save penalty, and the effect neuters casters and distracts fighters. You'll only get it very late in the first game but it's definitely worth the slot.
And good advice about non-party-friendly AoE. You are right they are certainly helpful for taking the edge off of enemies, a lot of people sadly make the mistake of filling all their slots with Fireballs though.
And about BG1......
Lvl2: Fear/Glitterdust (maybe you like enemies to stand in a place instead of running around without attacking, if you get too near blinded enemies they will attack).
Lvl4: Greater Malison (this spell lowers your enemies' saves, making spells much more effective after it).
And a no-damage nice level 1, better for BG2 because of its progressive lower save spell is Spook, it has high efficiency and fast casting-speed, it basically disables an enemy for 3 rounds, helpful against all the type of enemies.
Lvl two: horror, glitterdust, mirror image
Lvl 3: skull trap slow,
Lvl 4:(you'll probably have the hang of the system by now, but I'll keep going.) stoneskin, stoneskin, stoneskin. The vary best Melee protection spell in the game. And spiderspawn. This is more useful on a sorcerer, but good. Lots of useful spells at lvl 4.
Lvl 5: sunfire is nice, lower resistance, cloudkill.
http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/18108/item-mod-more-style-for-mages-ranged-wizard-s-staffs-circlets-robe-visual-tweaks-for-bg-ee/p1
It adds "Wizards' Staffs" to the game, which have a magic ranged attack. Looks much cooler than a sling or darts (looks like a magic missle, but requires a "to hit" roll).
This might not be relevant to the topic, but how do I add spells to the quickslots on my quickbar?
@AstroBryGuy , thanks, though I'd rather play the game without any mods as the developers intended it to be my first time through. I'll make sure to check it out later
It took me over 200 hrs of gameplay before somebody pointed out u can add spells to quickslots.
U just right click on a free button, assuming the caster has one. Imoen's bar for example is kinda packed cos she's also a thief.
I have a mage set up in mind, but it's hard to justify not dual classing to either get pickpocket + other thief skills or fighter HP and thac0.
When the midden does hit the windmill though, Area of Effect debilitating spells rock. The examples listed above are great examples of how a well-used Mage can turn powerful enemies into gibbering wrecks for your fighters to mop up: Sleep, Glitterdust, Web, Chaos, Slow, Emotion are excellent.
Use wands at early levels to compensate for lack of spells (don't bother hoarding these - they're meant to be used).
Edit: And summons... Why risk your own neck when a disposable minion (or 5...) can get the job done? (Spiders aren't effected by webs, and skeletons have magic resistance.)