At @Pteran's request, this is a list of all the spells and items that the Wand of Lightning trick works with. Especially strong options are in bold:
Cleric spells: Cloak of Fear Mass Cure False Dawn Wondrous Recall Sunray Holy Word
Mage spells: Blur (vanilla only, not EE) Sunfire Spell Immunity (vanilla only; allows you to select immunity to all spell schools) Mislead Mordenkainen's Sword Limited Wish Wish Wail of the Banshee
Druid spells (irrelevant since normally druids can't use Wands of Lightning anyway): Fire Seeds Nature's Beauty
Innate abilities: Called Shot Boon of Lathander Divine Favor (Cleric of Tyr kit from EE) Poison Weapon (vanilla only) Shadow Twin? (Shadowdancer kit from EE Shadow Maze (Shadowdancer) Scribe Scrolls? Alchemy?
Items: Black Spider Figurine (Kitty/Kitthix) Golem Manual Horn of Valhalla Cloak of the Shield Efreeti Bottle Ring of Spell Turning? (apparently there are two, one on Saerk from Anomen's quest and one on Matron Mother Ardulace) Book of Daily Spell Daystar (Sunray ability) Helm of Brilliance (Sunray only) Cloak of Stars Potion of Healing Potion of Extra Healing Potion of Stone Form (this will drain your DEX by 18, which can instantly kill you) Potion of Magic Protection Potion of Magic Shielding Potion of Regeneration? Wand of Fire (Fireball only; the wand switches to this ability by default) Wand of Frost Wand of Cloudkill Wand of Magic Missiles Wand of Monster Summoning Wand of Paralyzation (use on multiple targets; I think this won't force extra saves if done on one target) Wand of Spell Striking (Breach only; the wand switches to this ability by default) Rod of Resurrection (use on multiple targets; no additional benefit from using it on one target) Rod of Reversal Protection from Magic scroll (use on multiple targets) Protection from Undead scroll (use on multiple targets) Protection from Acid/Cold/Electricity/Fire/Poison scroll
Also, the following mage scrolls are useful with the Wand of Lightning trick: Magic Missile Charm person Blindness Chromatic Orb Spook Horror Agannazar's Scorcher Ray of Enfeeblement Glitterdust Web Stinking Cloud Melf's Acid Arrow Fireball Flame Arrow Skull Trap Lightning Bolt (mostly in vanilla when it was easy to bounce) Hold Person Invisibility 10' Radius Slow Dire Charm Hold Undead Contagion Emotion Polymorph Other Secret Word Teleport Field Cone of Cold Hold Monster Chaos Feeblemind Breach Lower Resistance Minor Spell Turning Flesh to Stone Disintegrate Death Fog Chain Lightning Spell Turning Ruby Ray of Reversal Finger of Death Prismatic Spray Incendiary Cloud Horrid Wilting Symbol, Stun Bigby's Clenched Fist Time Stop Imprisonment
Who knows, maybe the wand of lightning could increase the power of 'Energy Drain'? It should extend the range and drain 6 levels instead of 1, though I haven't tried it. Could be pretty lethal.
The Wand of Lightning also works with 'Knock' scrolls, allowing you to unlock up to 6 chests with one scroll, in up to 6 different rooms, regardless of distance, so long as you have explored the areas where the chests are and can target them in the dithered portions of the map. Only 1 chest needs to be in visual range.
I've also noticed that the use of the wand with scrolls is dodgy. Skull Trap will fire rapidly and instantly, while other spells will force the character to cast each spell in turn, with no benefits from robes or amulets on casting speed (though I don't think you ever got a speed benefit with scrolls). You will still get six castings out of the scroll, but your character is sometimes stuck performing 6 castings in a row.
As for a 'Did You Know', something I just discovered and thought was odd...
In the Wild Refuge, a hideout for Wild Mages, there are no Wild Mages other than Daxus. The rest, aside from Neera, are a collection of Conjurers, Invokers and Enchanters (including Mereth), and Kirik who has no class.
The classes of the Wild Refuge:
Hayes - Conjurer Barad Ding - Conjurer Zaviak - Conjurer Telana - Enchanter Amanis Khal - Enchanter Mironda - Enchanter Mereth - Enchanter King Gramm - Enchanter Reginald - Enchanter Blonde in White - Invoker Knocktor - Invoker Kirik - None Daxus - Wild Mage
@sluckers: Casting speed bonuses in EE (but not vanilla) apply to all scrolls; not just some. The reason you saw Skull Trap cast instantly was because you were wearing the Robe of Vecna; the reason you saw another scroll cast one time after another was because you were either using a longer-casting spell or were not wearing the Robe of Vecna. It will cast instantly only if your adjusted casting time is zero.
The WoL can be used with any scroll, but some are more useful than others. I merely listed the ones I thought would be most useful. I forgot about Energy Drain.
I just tested it and Knock is not the only thing that can work across the map. The WoL apparently can target any container or even an item you leave on the ground anywhere on the map as long as one of the charges is on a target within visual range. You could send an invisible character over a to a group of enemies, drop an arrow on the ground, and use that as a target to throw five Cloudkill spells at them, even if they're on the other side of the map or behind a wall or door.
Davaeorn is the only NPC with a "critically wounded" line like player voices have.
Taslois appear to use the same model art as dopplegangers, except only smaller and colored green. I don't have any proof on this, but once you pause and take a really good look, it's strikingly similar.
Davaeorn is the only NPC with a "critically wounded" line like player voices have.
Taslois appear to use the same model art as dopplegangers, except only smaller and colored green. I don't have any proof on this, but once you pause and take a really good look, it's strikingly similar.
This might be pure coincidence, but it's most likely not.
Did you know, that Lolth (or Lloth) the infamous goddess of the Drow and Queen of Spiders, used to be called Araushnee? Corellon Larethian transformed her into a spider after she betrayed him.
Araushnee sounds and is spelled very similarly to Arachne, the mortal woman in Greek mythology, which challenged Athena, the goddess of wisdom and... was transformed into a spider.
Arachnids and arachnophobia come from this mythological person's name but it's also the Greek word for spider.
I knew that already, I just would have loved to have that person speak some lines, to see what sort of person they were before what happens to them in SoA. A missed chance, I feel!
@Vallmyr, you have blown my mind. I always thought it was just a silly impractical fantasy design. I mean, it probably still is for melee combat, but to find out it so closely mirrors a real weapon... that's incredible.
Did you know, just like in BG1, there are several ways for the PC to die via dialogue in BG2. These are the ones I could find from skimming dialogs:
- initiation into the cult of the Unseeing Eye (you fail) - confronting Irenicus in Spellhold without its inmates - asking for wealth or power (or nothing!) from the demon lord - entering Deirex's tower then dropping the rope before he talks to you - accepting 'freedom' from the Cold Mistress - failing the imp's riddle in Watcher's Keep
Did you know, just like in BG1, there are several ways for the PC to die via dialogue in BG2. These are the ones I could find from skimming dialogs:
- initiation into the cult of the Unseeing Eye (you fail) - confronting Irenicus in Spellhold without its inmates - asking for wealth or power (or nothing!) from the demon lord - entering Deirex's tower then dropping the rope before he talks to you - accepting 'freedom' from the Cold Mistress - failing the imp's riddle in Watcher's Keep
Is the temple quest still bugged? I mean the one were you can swear to be a Talos servant. In theory you should be struck down by a lightning.
It was our first crack at an expansion, and we wanted something that could plug in and be engaged at almost any point. And since it's Dungeons and Dragons, we wanted to try our hand at a traditional crawl. A real adventure just for the sake of it. And like so many other things, we went back to the tabletop source.
I really liked the extended lore of things like the Dragon Mountain module, and we all have nightmares from the Temple of Elemental Evil. So we went for something established in Forgotten Realms, but not so detailed that fans would nitpick what we did as "not accurate". I don't remember who suggested it, but Durlag's Tower is mentioned in Volo's Guide to the Sword Coast by Ed Greenwood. So it was "legendary" but not a focal point, and that gave us room for interpretation. More or less the same tactic we would later employ with KotOR, by setting that game thousands of years before the movies. Still recognizable to fans, but lots of room to do your own thing.
I wrote a lot of the expansion and the tower. And while it's hard to remember specifics, I do recall being a jerk about the riddles. Because some players would reload after a wrong answer, so I built in redundant riddles, and made the game pull them randomly on load. So if you got the wrong answer and reloaded, there was a good chance to got a different riddle. That wasn't a fix, by any means. We always knew that multiple choice was a weak way to present a riddle. We briefly toyed with a text entry system in BG1, but realized that it was out of scope. Not just due to coding for the interface and GUI art, but also maintaining it across the different language translations of the game. But riddles are very AD&D, so we still wanted them. I tried to integrate them as much as possible, and sometimes had fun with them. Like having Minsc jump in to give wrong answers to some quizzing Guardian in BG2.
Personally, riddles were always (and still are) a pain in the butt, because there's a very small window for them to be satisfying. If you don't know it, it's impossible. If you do know it, it's obvious. Riddles that allow the player to consider and solve are rare, and made all the more challenging by multi-language releases. That's why you keep seeing physical puzzles repeat in many games. Those at least can be manipulated and give you time to "get it." Translation isn't a factor, and even if you know how to do it, there's still a process to solving it, instead of just "answer, move on." Like the Towers of Hanoi, or the "Towers of Annoy" as they came to be known.
Honestly I can't remember who all was involved in the dungeon design. All of us, to some extent, and I'd only leave someone out if I started trying to go through them all. You'll have to run through the credits. The Level Art team drove a lot of it, because we wanted the environment to be interesting. Plus their time was at a premium. Text was cheap back then, so it was easier to react to what Art could deliver. And we stretched ourselves pretty thin in places. Not so much in the tower itself, I'm thinking more of that mage-trap island cave that we crammed in. I believe we ended up using the same layout as the Ankheg caves, just mirrored, altered slightly, and recoloured.
Hi there Bengoshi, and thanks for the plug! Yes, I had to hold back the gushing in my correspondence with Luke K. I mean, I was so young when I first played BG1 way back in 1998, and it was so, SO wondrous and mind-blowing to play such a complex and nuanced cRPG coupled with the aesthetics of the best point n click adventure games that were common in the era. As for the writing, well, it's amazing in its Realmslore flavor and swagger. And L.K is the ONLY credited lead writer, which means he didn't just write a few characters or a few quests (as is common these days), but rather, HE WROTE THE CAMPAIGN. I'm not saying he's responsible for the entirety of the writing and ideas, but LEAD WRITER speaks volumes. So yeah, I'm a BIGTIME fan of this guy.
Yeah, a role-playing expert on my blog (Rogueknight 333, author of Swordflight) also would not commit to Durlag's Tower being THE greatest crawl ever, and that's fine. :P
I've added a few explanatory notes to the blogpost, btw. And pics.
If you speak to Cespenar with the Thieves' Hood in your inventory, he asks if you're off to visit Grandma (Little Red Riding Hood reference). I think the developers must have had a good time making this game!
I hope you don't mind me spruiking my in-depth retrospective on the original incarnation, Baldur's Gate Blathering, for which eight parts of a projected fifteen are complete. I would like to think it contains at least a few insights into the magnificent original campaign. This is being written based on my playthrough of the 6 CD version I bought in 1999.
This is a veteran's read, but we're all veterans right? It should be nostalgic and a decent read, especially with a cup of coffee, or two.
I welcome any comments and criticisms, either here or on the blog (you can comment anonymously on the blog - no need for an acc.)
Part I: Introduction, Setting & Scope, Ruleset & Chargen, Basic Combat System, Perspective & UI, Experience & Treasure, Prologue, Initial Exploration & Encounters, Pathfinding, Ambushes & Waylays. Part II: Stealth & Theft, Archery, Resting & Healing, Arcane Spells, Summoning Spells: Arcane & Divine, Wands. Part III: Tanking & Melee Combat, Party Composition & Companions, Sidequests. Part IV: Divine aka Priest Spells: Cleric & Druid, "Level Scaling", Boss Encounters. Part V: Durlag's Tower: The Venerable Deathtrap, Overview, Upper Storeys, Cellar. Part VI: The Labyrinth of the Warders & The Labyrinth of Doors. Part VII: The Labyrinth of Elements & The Chessboard. Part VIII: The Labyrinth of Durlag's Ghost & The Demon Knight, Ulgoth's Beard: The Return & The Beast Unleashed. Baldur's Gate Item List.
EDIT- Oh, and I've treated the BG and BG2 user interfaces in detail, too, as part of my User Interface Evolution series of posts.
Part I: The Infinity Engine UI - BioWare: Baldur's Gate & Baldur's Gate II.
Tethtoril in candlekeep, at the start of BG1, can be pickpocketed for a potion of cloud giant strength, a potion of extra healing and a potion of magic protection.
In EE, the highest possible backstab damage without party assistance comes from a Cleric of Tyr->Thief. By combining Iron Golem form, Righteous Magic, Aid, the Gauntlets of Extraordinary Specialization, and two castings of Divine Favor boosted by a Wand of Lightning, the backstab will deal (40+36+36+1+2)*5+14=589 damage, or 1178 on a critical hit.
Still won't be enough to kill Imoen in Chateau Irenicus.
Comments
Did you know that in SoD, for the first and only time in any infinity engine game, infravision actually has a mechanical use?
Cleric spells:
Cloak of Fear
Mass Cure
False Dawn
Wondrous Recall
Sunray
Holy Word
Mage spells:
Blur (vanilla only, not EE)
Sunfire
Spell Immunity (vanilla only; allows you to select immunity to all spell schools)
Mislead
Mordenkainen's Sword
Limited Wish
Wish
Wail of the Banshee
Druid spells (irrelevant since normally druids can't use Wands of Lightning anyway):
Fire Seeds
Nature's Beauty
Innate abilities:
Called Shot
Boon of Lathander
Divine Favor (Cleric of Tyr kit from EE)
Poison Weapon (vanilla only)
Shadow Twin? (Shadowdancer kit from EE
Shadow Maze (Shadowdancer)
Scribe Scrolls?
Alchemy?
Items:
Black Spider Figurine (Kitty/Kitthix)
Golem Manual
Horn of Valhalla
Cloak of the Shield
Efreeti Bottle
Ring of Spell Turning? (apparently there are two, one on Saerk from Anomen's quest and one on Matron Mother Ardulace)
Book of Daily Spell
Daystar (Sunray ability)
Helm of Brilliance (Sunray only)
Cloak of Stars
Potion of Healing
Potion of Extra Healing
Potion of Stone Form (this will drain your DEX by 18, which can instantly kill you)
Potion of Magic Protection
Potion of Magic Shielding
Potion of Regeneration?
Wand of Fire (Fireball only; the wand switches to this ability by default)
Wand of Frost
Wand of Cloudkill
Wand of Magic Missiles
Wand of Monster Summoning
Wand of Paralyzation (use on multiple targets; I think this won't force extra saves if done on one target)
Wand of Spell Striking (Breach only; the wand switches to this ability by default)
Rod of Resurrection (use on multiple targets; no additional benefit from using it on one target)
Rod of Reversal
Protection from Magic scroll (use on multiple targets)
Protection from Undead scroll (use on multiple targets)
Protection from Acid/Cold/Electricity/Fire/Poison scroll
Also, the following mage scrolls are useful with the Wand of Lightning trick:
Magic Missile
Charm person
Blindness
Chromatic Orb
Spook
Horror
Agannazar's Scorcher
Ray of Enfeeblement
Glitterdust
Web
Stinking Cloud
Melf's Acid Arrow
Fireball
Flame Arrow
Skull Trap
Lightning Bolt (mostly in vanilla when it was easy to bounce)
Hold Person
Invisibility 10' Radius
Slow
Dire Charm
Hold Undead
Contagion
Emotion
Polymorph Other
Secret Word
Teleport Field
Cone of Cold
Hold Monster
Chaos
Feeblemind
Breach
Lower Resistance
Minor Spell Turning
Flesh to Stone
Disintegrate
Death Fog
Chain Lightning
Spell Turning
Ruby Ray of Reversal
Finger of Death
Prismatic Spray
Incendiary Cloud
Horrid Wilting
Symbol, Stun
Bigby's Clenched Fist
Time Stop
Imprisonment
The Wand of Lightning also works with 'Knock' scrolls, allowing you to unlock up to 6 chests with one scroll, in up to 6 different rooms, regardless of distance, so long as you have explored the areas where the chests are and can target them in the dithered portions of the map. Only 1 chest needs to be in visual range.
I've also noticed that the use of the wand with scrolls is dodgy. Skull Trap will fire rapidly and instantly, while other spells will force the character to cast each spell in turn, with no benefits from robes or amulets on casting speed (though I don't think you ever got a speed benefit with scrolls). You will still get six castings out of the scroll, but your character is sometimes stuck performing 6 castings in a row.
As for a 'Did You Know', something I just discovered and thought was odd...
In the Wild Refuge, a hideout for Wild Mages, there are no Wild Mages other than Daxus. The rest, aside from Neera, are a collection of Conjurers, Invokers and Enchanters (including Mereth), and Kirik who has no class.
The classes of the Wild Refuge:
Hayes - Conjurer
Barad Ding - Conjurer
Zaviak - Conjurer
Telana - Enchanter
Amanis Khal - Enchanter
Mironda - Enchanter
Mereth - Enchanter
King Gramm - Enchanter
Reginald - Enchanter
Blonde in White - Invoker
Knocktor - Invoker
Kirik - None
Daxus - Wild Mage
The WoL can be used with any scroll, but some are more useful than others. I merely listed the ones I thought would be most useful. I forgot about Energy Drain.
I just tested it and Knock is not the only thing that can work across the map. The WoL apparently can target any container or even an item you leave on the ground anywhere on the map as long as one of the charges is on a target within visual range. You could send an invisible character over a to a group of enemies, drop an arrow on the ground, and use that as a target to throw five Cloudkill spells at them, even if they're on the other side of the map or behind a wall or door.
Taslois appear to use the same model art as dopplegangers, except only smaller and colored green. I don't have any proof on this, but once you pause and take a really good look, it's strikingly similar.
Did you know, that Lolth (or Lloth) the infamous goddess of the Drow and Queen of Spiders, used to be called Araushnee?
Corellon Larethian transformed her into a spider after she betrayed him.
Araushnee sounds and is spelled very similarly to Arachne, the mortal woman in Greek mythology, which challenged Athena, the goddess of wisdom and... was transformed into a spider.
Arachnids and arachnophobia come from this mythological person's name but it's also the Greek word for spider.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arachne
The Pixie Prick dagger in BG2 seems to be based on an African throwing knife called the Hunga Munga or Mameble.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mambele_(knives)
- initiation into the cult of the Unseeing Eye (you fail)
- confronting Irenicus in Spellhold without its inmates
- asking for wealth or power (or nothing!) from the demon lord
- entering Deirex's tower then dropping the rope before he talks to you
- accepting 'freedom' from the Cold Mistress
- failing the imp's riddle in Watcher's Keep
I mean the one were you can swear to be a Talos servant.
In theory you should be struck down by a lightning.
It was our first crack at an expansion, and we wanted something that could plug in and be engaged at almost any point. And since it's Dungeons and Dragons, we wanted to try our hand at a traditional crawl. A real adventure just for the sake of it. And like so many other things, we went back to the tabletop source.
I really liked the extended lore of things like the Dragon Mountain module, and we all have nightmares from the Temple of Elemental Evil. So we went for something established in Forgotten Realms, but not so detailed that fans would nitpick what we did as "not accurate". I don't remember who suggested it, but Durlag's Tower is mentioned in Volo's Guide to the Sword Coast by Ed Greenwood. So it was "legendary" but not a focal point, and that gave us room for interpretation. More or less the same tactic we would later employ with KotOR, by setting that game thousands of years before the movies. Still recognizable to fans, but lots of room to do your own thing.
I wrote a lot of the expansion and the tower. And while it's hard to remember specifics, I do recall being a jerk about the riddles. Because some players would reload after a wrong answer, so I built in redundant riddles, and made the game pull them randomly on load. So if you got the wrong answer and reloaded, there was a good chance to got a different riddle. That wasn't a fix, by any means. We always knew that multiple choice was a weak way to present a riddle. We briefly toyed with a text entry system in BG1, but realized that it was out of scope. Not just due to coding for the interface and GUI art, but also maintaining it across the different language translations of the game. But riddles are very AD&D, so we still wanted them. I tried to integrate them as much as possible, and sometimes had fun with them. Like having Minsc jump in to give wrong answers to some quizzing Guardian in BG2.
Personally, riddles were always (and still are) a pain in the butt, because there's a very small window for them to be satisfying. If you don't know it, it's impossible. If you do know it, it's obvious. Riddles that allow the player to consider and solve are rare, and made all the more challenging by multi-language releases. That's why you keep seeing physical puzzles repeat in many games. Those at least can be manipulated and give you time to "get it." Translation isn't a factor, and even if you know how to do it, there's still a process to solving it, instead of just "answer, move on." Like the Towers of Hanoi, or the "Towers of Annoy" as they came to be known.
Honestly I can't remember who all was involved in the dungeon design. All of us, to some extent, and I'd only leave someone out if I started trying to go through them all. You'll have to run through the credits. The Level Art team drove a lot of it, because we wanted the environment to be interesting. Plus their time was at a premium. Text was cheap back then, so it was easier to react to what Art could deliver. And we stretched ourselves pretty thin in places. Not so much in the tower itself, I'm thinking more of that mage-trap island cave that we crammed in. I believe we ended up using the same layout as the Ankheg caves, just mirrored, altered slightly, and recoloured.
http://lilura1.blogspot.bg/2016/04/Lead-Writer-of-Baldurs-Gate-Lukas-Kristjanson.html
BTW, if you really want to get a good info about SoD and its items, companions etc, visit that blog, you won't be disappointed.
I like the Durlag's too and consider it one of the best dungeons in RPGs I've played.
I've added a few explanatory notes to the blogpost, btw. And pics.
Cheers!
This is a veteran's read, but we're all veterans right? It should be nostalgic and a decent read, especially with a cup of coffee, or two.
I welcome any comments and criticisms, either here or on the blog (you can comment anonymously on the blog - no need for an acc.)
Part I: Introduction, Setting & Scope, Ruleset & Chargen, Basic Combat System, Perspective & UI, Experience & Treasure, Prologue, Initial Exploration & Encounters, Pathfinding, Ambushes & Waylays.
Part II: Stealth & Theft, Archery, Resting & Healing, Arcane Spells, Summoning Spells: Arcane & Divine, Wands.
Part III: Tanking & Melee Combat, Party Composition & Companions, Sidequests.
Part IV: Divine aka Priest Spells: Cleric & Druid, "Level Scaling", Boss Encounters.
Part V: Durlag's Tower: The Venerable Deathtrap, Overview, Upper Storeys, Cellar.
Part VI: The Labyrinth of the Warders & The Labyrinth of Doors.
Part VII: The Labyrinth of Elements & The Chessboard.
Part VIII: The Labyrinth of Durlag's Ghost & The Demon Knight, Ulgoth's Beard: The Return & The Beast Unleashed.
Baldur's Gate Item List.
EDIT- Oh, and I've treated the BG and BG2 user interfaces in detail, too, as part of my User Interface Evolution series of posts.
Part I: The Infinity Engine UI - BioWare: Baldur's Gate & Baldur's Gate II.
Enjoy!
It's definitely and SCS edition. I think potions of extra healing didn't even exist in vanilla BG1, did they?
Still won't be enough to kill Imoen in Chateau Irenicus.