Ah, Level 6 spells is the stage that truly separates the Mages from the Magelings. This must be the reason why it takes 3 levels (from level 9 to level 12) to advance to the next spell level rather than the normally 2 levels.
Level 6 Top Tiers: -Improved Haste: 5/5 -Mislead: 5/5 (extremely cheesy, super effective for anyone who can backstab) -Protection from Magical Weapons: 4.5/5 -Contingency: 4/5 -Death Spell: 4/5 (instant kill level 7 or lower: trolls & umber hulks) -True Sight: 4/5 (solo mage only; priests memorize this spell)
Mid Tiers: -Death Fog: 3.5/5 (8 acid damages per round, kills summons but not party friendly, take this over Death Spell in solo) -Invisible Stalker: 3.5/5 (immune to normal weapons and super long duration) -Protection from Magical Energy: 3.5/5 (target spell and long duration, main defense for Horrid Wilting) -Pierce Magic: 3.5/5 (Secret Word plus a mini Lower Resistance in one spell) -Tenser’s Transformation**: 3.5/5 (Fighter Mage, Bard only) -Chain Lightning: 3/5 (area party friendly but max damage 10d6) -Globe of Invulnerability: 3/5 (not much improvement over the Minor Globe) -Spell Deflection: 3/5 -Summon Nishruu: 3/5 (immune to all magic except Death Fog and Death Spell, physically not durable as Skeletal Warrior)
Low Tiers: -Conjure Air Elemental: 2/5 (immune to +1 and below weapons) -Conjure Earth Elemental: 2/5 (immune to +1 and below weapons) -Conjure Fire Elemental: 2/5 (immune to +1 and below weapons) -Power Word Silence: 2/5 (most mages have vocalize, and few cast from a script instead of actual spells) -Disintegrate: 1.5/5 (no save penalty, no loot) -Flesh to Stone: 1.5/5 (no save penalty, no loot but it is no affected by Death Ward) -Carrion Summons: 1.5/5 (overgrown worm that holds) -Wyvern Call: 1.5/5 (overgrown wyrm that poisons) -Stone to Flesh: 1/5
Contingency combos: -Stoneskin (on Enemy Sighted/ on Hit) -Sunfire (on Hit) -Improved Haste (on Enemy Sighted) -Improved Invisibility/Mislead (on Enemy Sighted) -Heal (on 50% HP, Cleric Mage) -Remove Paralysis (Helpless, Cleric Mage) -Tenser's Transformation (on 50% HP, FM, Bard)
I'd move Wyvern call up to mid tier. Maybe like 2.5. For their level they aren't by any means amazing but they have a killer poison (5hp/second), a good main attack (2d8) and immunity to hold, web, slow, entangle, grease, and level drain. It offers a lot more than Carrion Summons in my book (and a possible alternative to Spiders since they are immune to Web).
PFMW is a 5/5. It's basically better than mantle, improved mantle, and absolute immunity, which are much higher level spells. By the time you need to use it, nothing is gonna be attacking with regular weapons anyway. It stops you getting interrupted by elemental damage and protects against stuff like intelligence drain and level drain. Godlike spell.
The elementals I would move to a 1, there's not really any point using them. You have to waste time trying to control them and the cleric/druid versions are just much better. Invisible stalker is ok, but aerial servants are again way better, so there's no real reason to use this spell in a party situation.
Contingency is pretty much only useful solo, there's not a lot of point in a party.
Tenser's Transformation is awesome for Bard and F/M, kinda sucks for pure Mages and it's a waste for Sorcerers, maybe if you have to kill Golems in a Mage Solo Run it's useful then (use the Rod of Golem Smiting, I never used it so I can't tell where it is), but if not, it isn't reaaaaally that good it could be if it does not remove spellcasting abilities.
Elementals are crappy, they aren't very good and as @vangoat said, Invisible Stalker is much better.
Pierce Magic isn't as good as it's higher level variant, plus the Wand of Spell Striking has the higher level version plus 0 casting time.
Chain Lightning is a total crap for a solo run (either Mage, Bard, F/M or Sorcerer), Skull Trap is way better, there are very few creatures immune to magical damage in an unmodded game, so... Why to pick Chan Lightning while Skull Trap is level 3?? Save your lvl6 spellslots for Improved Haste, Protection from Magical weapon and others instead of Haste and Ghost Armor from level 3, so you have more Skull Traps.
True Sight is pointless if you are playing with a Mage/Thief, if you have or not party does not matter here.
The saving grace for elemental is that they are immune to +1 or below weapons. They are somewhat capable fighters (at least the Earth Elemental). There are a few demons that hit either as +1 or normal weapon (Planar Prison Warden and one of the Planar Sphere Demons (non Tanarri).)
For Pierce Magic, the good thing is the Spell Trigger: 3x Pierce Magic. Some bosses like Demogorgon and Ravager are immune to level 5 target spells. 3x level 6 Pierce Magic can be put into a Spell Trigger.
The reason why I didnt give PFMW a 5 is the short duration. It's an excellent spell but it does have the drawback. In a party, your mage should be at the back row and not at the front line.
Top Tiers: -Improved Haste: 5/5 for FM or group play. 1/5 for the solo sorc -Mislead : 5/5 on a FMT. 4/5 on a M/T. Not so good for the others -PFMW : 5/5. Not needed in SOA. Late TOB however it is absurdly powerful : 4 rounds of complete immunity!. In 4 rounds a level 30 sorc can do a lot of things!
Mid tier : Death spell 3.5/5 : the spell is mostly nice for killing weak mobs quickly. But let's face it, it's not needed at all. contigency 3.5/5 : i use it mostly with health below 50% -> PFMW. Not needed anyway. Death fog 3.5/5 : similar to death spell IMO. True sight : 1/5 in group. 3.5/5 solo. I discovered in my last run that even i solo the spell is not that great : - mages are best dealt with AOE (skull trap, ADHW) - the planetar sees through invisibility.
Just a note, the best protection from ADHW is not protection from energy : wearing the cloak of mirroring makes you totally immune to it.
Picks for FM : improved haste x2-3 PFMW x1-2 Death spell x1 Mislead x1-2 for FMT.
Picks for a sorc : 1- Death spell or death fog (PFMW is not needed early in the game) 2- True sight 3- PFMW 4- contigency 5- i took mislead but never used it. I don't know what i should take. Wyvern call could be nice (but would have to be taken as first or second pick or it would come too late)
Chain Lightning is a total crap for a solo run (either Mage, Bard, F/M or Sorcerer), Skull Trap is way better, there are very few creatures immune to magical damage in an unmodded game, so... Why to pick Chan Lightning while Skull Trap is level 3?? Save your lvl6 spellslots for Improved Haste, Protection from Magical weapon and others instead of Haste and Ghost Armor from level 3, so you have more Skull Traps.
Actually yea I'd move Chain Lightning down. From an averages standpoint it just doesn't do all that much damage and it being party friendly is the only thing it has going for it.
Special note on tenser, which, i am sure, will create a lot of debate :
Tenser is really overrated and is actually a very poor choice if you look at it factually :
Tenser's give you the THACO of a fighter, doubles your HP and removes your spellcasting. That seems great but :
- doubling HP seems good but actually a simple stoneskin or a PFMW will do MUCH more than that -> using tenser prevents you from casting these spells and is therefore detrimental defensively. - The THACO bonus is irrelevant for a FM. Even for a blade it is not very significant. For a pure mage or sorc, you will remain a crappy fighter with 1 APR. Therefore a pure mage/FM loses offensively while using it. For a Blade it may be useful against very hard to hit ennemies.
^ Tenser should never be used on a pure mage. And Stoneskin can just be used before you cast Tenser, it has 8 hours duration after all. I don't remember if you can use scrolls and sequencers while it's in effect but you can do that too. I know contingencies still go off so if you really need PfMW you can do that.
I don't like it much on F/Ms either because the THAC0 boost isn't that great, but the spell's godly on Blades. With ImpHaste and Belm on the off-hand you get 6 attacks per round at a fighter's THAC0 and can do a lot of damage. Real shame Offensive Spin doesn't stack with Haste anymore or that would be 8 attacks per round.
We seem to agree on the fact that tenser is crap on FM and pure mages.
On bard, it is really not that good :
defensively : - you cast stone skin - you cast tenser -> you get around 100 extra HP - case 1 : your stoneskin does not wear off. You have wasted a tenser transformation - case 2 : your stonkeskin wears off : your 100 extra HP protect you for 6-7 hits. Alternatively, you could have recast a stoneskin for 10 hits protection (and level 4 VS level 6) or a PFMW for 4 rounds protection
---> defensively tenser makes you weaker
Offensively : The bard should use : belm/scarlet ninja-to (or kundane) and improved haste to get to 8 attack per round. The THACO of the bard would be around 5 (10 base - 3 from str - 2 from weapon), 3 with offensive spin, -5 with tenser
against trash mobs : 8 atk/round at a thaco of 5 slaughter them anyway (assuming 6 hits/round) against low AC monsters (-10) : only 2 attack per round would hit. 6/round with tenser -> tenser is useful against mages : no need for very low THACO. If you can connect, they die anyway. The key to make hit connect against a mage is being able to cast spells like breach -> tenser is detrimental
Overall : FM : tenser makes you weaker (offensively, defensively) sorc : tenser makes you weaker (offensively, defensively) bard : only partially useful (offense but not defense) against low AC monsters. Against everything else (mages, trash mobs), it makes you weaker (offensively and defensively)
Overall tenser is a spell to be avoided : - in all situation for a FM or pure arcane - in most situation for a blade. I think a bard would be wiser to memorize and extra PFMW or improved haste for his level 6 slot.
@mumomomo, maybe the possible defense risks for a Bard/Blade who uses Tenser's can be tackled by contigencies or spell triggers, which can be used while Tenser's is active IIRC (never use Tenser's myself to be honest, may have tested it once or twice is all). I agree with the offensive issues you may face when fighting a well-protected mage.
Summon Fire Elemental should be moved up a bit. Its fists strike as +4 weapons.
aTweaks' PnP elementals are way cooler though.
If it weren't for the holding effect I'd give them probably 3.5 or a 4/5. The two higher tier versions have pretty good saving throws and good/great health. The thing is though that technically even a lesser fire elemental summon hits as +4 weapon. So that by itself really doesn't make it all that distinct. The lesser elemental summons (all of them) are also all immune to normal and +1 weapons and their chance of going berserk isn't any different. Of course the level 6 spell will summon something that is much more powerful (either in terms of duration, Thac0, saving throws, ac and health depending on which version you get) than the level 5 spell, but I personally think the 2/5 rating is fair because of it holding the mage in place (the 15% failure rate I don't think is as big of an issue). It basically means if the summons get killed (by magic most likely) replenishing them is not much of an option.
Also Wyverns and Invisible Stalkers attacks hit as +2 and hitting as a +4 is only really useful in limited circumstances.
Tensers is best used when the mage/bard is about to run out of other spells to cast. That way it provides the full benefits with none of the downsides.
Of course, even then it's still debatable whether it's better than one more improved haste.
@elminster: Interesting, I didnt know the lesser elemental are also immune to magical +1 weapon. What I have seen is that lesser elementals summoned by the staffs are beaten up by enemies who used +1 weapons.
@elminster: Interesting, I didnt know the lesser elemental are also immune to magical +1 weapon. What I have seen is that lesser elementals summoned by the staffs are beaten up by enemies who used +1 weapons.
Could just be my looking through the game files and missing something/something not working. But they do have the ring that grants it.
Edit: Just tested it with an Air Elemental summoned by Lesser Air Elemental and mazzy's +1 arrows and my +1 short sword were ineffective against it.
Same result with the fire elemental and the earth elemental.
Liches are immune to lvl 5 and below, but Chain lightning is level 6 spell which makes the the first spell being able to damage them. You can also stack 3 of them into spell sequencer for fairly decent damage.
SCS also nerfs Skull trap to 12d6 (from 20d6) so its not that overpowered compared to Chain lightning for example.
Question: Tenser's Transformation makes you have the thac0 of a fighter of equal level right? So for multi-classes fighter/mage does it just make the thac0 equal to that of the *combined* level of the classes?
I feel like that can't be right... and if it is not, wouldn't that mean that it would give a thac0 equal to the mage level? Which would normally be *lower* than the fighter level?
Question: Tenser's Transformation makes you have the thac0 of a fighter of equal level right? So for multi-classes fighter/mage does it just make the thac0 equal to that of the *combined* level of the classes?
I feel like that can't be right... and if it is not, wouldn't that mean that it would give a thac0 equal to the mage level? Which would normally be *lower* than the fighter level?
I'm so lost!
A level 11 fighter/12 mage would have it boost their thac0 to a level 12 fighters. Technically between then and a level 14 fighter/mage you would gain like 1 Thac0 by using Tensors. After level 14 the fighter level is going to start becoming ahead of the mage level (because there are less mage levels and more fighter levels to spread out over the 8 million xp). But even during this period where it would be beneficial it is in no way is worth the cost.
In hindsight, I may have overvalued Tenser. The only time I used this was on Nalia when I wanted her to kill Kangaax. The inability to cast spells and innate abilities is its major downfall.
I would lower the score for Tenser from 4.5 to 3.5.
Level 7 Top Tiers: -Mordenkainen’s Sword: 5/5 -Project Image: 5/5 (cheesy; empty your spell book with one spell slot) -Spell Sequencer: 4.5/5 (level 4 and below spells) -Ruby Ray of Reversal: 4.5/5 -Improved Chaos Shield: 4/5 (overpriced for this level, Wild Mage only) -Limited Wish: 4/5 (free Time Stop, Chain Contingency and/or Shapechange at Chapter 2)
Mid Tiers: -Finger of Death: 3.5/5 (+40% success combo Greater Malison and Doom) -Power Word Stun: 3.5/5 (great spell, but many targets are immune to Stun) -Spell Turning: 3.5/5 (anyone can cast this from the Book of Infinite Spells) -Delayed Blasted Fireball: 3/5 -Mass Invisibility: 3/5 (enemies will have True Sight when you have access to this spell) -Summon Djnni: 2.5/5 (Djnni Ring but must side with Bodhi) -Summon Efreeti: 2.5/5 (Efreei Bottle) -Summon Hakeashar: 2.5/5 (not much improvement over Nishruu)
Low Tiers: -Cacofiend: 2/5 (good fighter, hit as +4 weapons) -Khelben’s Warding Whip: 2/5 (3 rounds of Secret Words and shorter casting range) -Prismatic Spray: 2/5 (too unpredictable) -Sphere of Chaos: 2/5 (pathetic effects and too unpredictable) -Mantle: 1.5/5 -Protection from the Elements: 1.5/5 -Control Undead: 1/5
Spell Sequencer Combos: -x3 Skull Traps (will fail otherwise if targeting is not closed enough) -Greater Malison, Web, Stinking Cloud
I'd move protection from the elements up to a 2.5. Not for veteran players (who are able to metagame what comes next and plan resistance spells appropriately) but its handy for new or less experienced players because its a good spell for just giving a broad degree of protection against elemental attacks.
In SCS the summon type spells, esp. summon Efreeti should be moved up since they count as gated and not summoned making them immune to death spell. Plus AI enhancement makes the efreeti surprisingly effective.
Mordy sword 5/5. Awesome summon. Immune to basically any non arcane caster. able to hit anything. With project image and a sorc, you can have 5 of them, hasted for the cost 1 level 7 spell. This will remain useful until the end of TOB. Project image 5/5. Completely broken. This is the spell that makes sorcerors so powerful (much more than mages). probably less useful on FM since they tend to focus more on buffs and physical damage. I use it 2 ways : 1- to summon a personnal army (mordy sword, skellies, planetar) 2-to obliterate anything (timestop+improved alacrity+whatever you prefer (skull traps, ADHW, shapeshifting mindlfayer...) at the cost of 1 level 7 slot
You can also abuse it since there is no summon limit with a project image. Therefore you could have 5 to10 planetars. no need for that anyway and this makes the game pointless.
Apart from these 2 there is a few OK spells. But really they cannot compete with these 2.
Ok spells : spell sequencer : nice in theory. Practically, once you get project image, it is not as useful
Ruby ray of reversal : mages are easier to kill using AOE spells since they are almost never protected against it. Don't waste your time casting it, cast an ADHW instead.
Special notes : delayed fireball : Nice, a level 7 spells which is a lot less efficient than the level 3 skull trap... finger of death : i think you have missed that one. It is really crappy anyway even with the small saving malus.
Spell picks for a solo sorc : 1- mordy sword (i take mordy sword first, because at level 14, you don't have that may great spells to be cast with project image) 2- project image. When you get this at level 15, you start to be really powerful. Your army of summons (level 15 skellies, mordy swords) is especially cheap and powerful 3- spell sequencer. Almost never used 4- ruby ray. Almost never used 5- limited wish. Never used
Tenser's works well with Polymorph Self if you have a way for it to trigger. @Alesia_BH proved it can be brutal with a solo melee sorc if done right. Most of her posts about it were on the bioware forums but she has posted here as well.
I personally find Prismatic Spray to be a decent cone attack... While unpredictable, there's a decent chance they'll take a good chunk of damage or be feebleminded... The only real risk there is a 1 out of 8 chance to disentigrate...
For Sequencer Combos...
There's the triple Chromatic Orb, which is a very good at killing since at this point it'll be save or die... You can always replace one with Greater Malison to improve chances...
Triple Acid Arrow will eat away at enemies that can take acid damage
In SCS the summon type spells, esp. summon Efreeti should be moved up since they count as gated and not summoned making them immune to death spell. Plus AI enhancement makes the efreeti surprisingly effective.
I always have bad experience with Efreeti and Djnni. In 9/10 occasions, they always turn hostile against me. The annoying thing about them is the mist transformation. Even though they were friendly a moment before, they would become hostile after recovering. In addition, they would recast all those annoying spells again.
Comments
Level 6
Top Tiers:
-Improved Haste: 5/5
-Mislead: 5/5 (extremely cheesy, super effective for anyone who can backstab)
-Protection from Magical Weapons: 4.5/5
-Contingency: 4/5
-Death Spell: 4/5 (instant kill level 7 or lower: trolls & umber hulks)
-True Sight: 4/5 (solo mage only; priests memorize this spell)
Mid Tiers:
-Death Fog: 3.5/5 (8 acid damages per round, kills summons but not party friendly, take this over Death Spell in solo)
-Invisible Stalker: 3.5/5 (immune to normal weapons and super long duration)
-Protection from Magical Energy: 3.5/5 (target spell and long duration, main defense for Horrid Wilting)
-Pierce Magic: 3.5/5 (Secret Word plus a mini Lower Resistance in one spell)
-Tenser’s Transformation**: 3.5/5 (Fighter Mage, Bard only)
-Chain Lightning: 3/5 (area party friendly but max damage 10d6)
-Globe of Invulnerability: 3/5 (not much improvement over the Minor Globe)
-Spell Deflection: 3/5
-Summon Nishruu: 3/5 (immune to all magic except Death Fog and Death Spell, physically not durable as Skeletal Warrior)
Low Tiers:
-Conjure Air Elemental: 2/5 (immune to +1 and below weapons)
-Conjure Earth Elemental: 2/5 (immune to +1 and below weapons)
-Conjure Fire Elemental: 2/5 (immune to +1 and below weapons)
-Power Word Silence: 2/5 (most mages have vocalize, and few cast from a script instead of actual spells)
-Disintegrate: 1.5/5 (no save penalty, no loot)
-Flesh to Stone: 1.5/5 (no save penalty, no loot but it is no affected by Death Ward)
-Carrion Summons: 1.5/5 (overgrown worm that holds)
-Wyvern Call: 1.5/5 (overgrown wyrm that poisons)
-Stone to Flesh: 1/5
Contingency combos:
-Stoneskin (on Enemy Sighted/ on Hit)
-Sunfire (on Hit)
-Improved Haste (on Enemy Sighted)
-Improved Invisibility/Mislead (on Enemy Sighted)
-Heal (on 50% HP, Cleric Mage)
-Remove Paralysis (Helpless, Cleric Mage)
-Tenser's Transformation (on 50% HP, FM, Bard)
**Score change for Tenser from 4.5 to 3.5
The elementals I would move to a 1, there's not really any point using them. You have to waste time trying to control them and the cleric/druid versions are just much better. Invisible stalker is ok, but aerial servants are again way better, so there's no real reason to use this spell in a party situation.
Contingency is pretty much only useful solo, there's not a lot of point in a party.
Elementals are crappy, they aren't very good and as @vangoat said, Invisible Stalker is much better.
Pierce Magic isn't as good as it's higher level variant, plus the Wand of Spell Striking has the higher level version plus 0 casting time.
Chain Lightning is a total crap for a solo run (either Mage, Bard, F/M or Sorcerer), Skull Trap is way better, there are very few creatures immune to magical damage in an unmodded game, so... Why to pick Chan Lightning while Skull Trap is level 3?? Save your lvl6 spellslots for Improved Haste, Protection from Magical weapon and others instead of Haste and Ghost Armor from level 3, so you have more Skull Traps.
True Sight is pointless if you are playing with a Mage/Thief, if you have or not party does not matter here.
For Pierce Magic, the good thing is the Spell Trigger: 3x Pierce Magic. Some bosses like Demogorgon and Ravager are immune to level 5 target spells. 3x level 6 Pierce Magic can be put into a Spell Trigger.
The reason why I didnt give PFMW a 5 is the short duration. It's an excellent spell but it does have the drawback. In a party, your mage should be at the back row and not at the front line.
-Improved Haste: 5/5 for FM or group play. 1/5 for the solo sorc
-Mislead : 5/5 on a FMT. 4/5 on a M/T. Not so good for the others
-PFMW : 5/5. Not needed in SOA. Late TOB however it is absurdly powerful : 4 rounds of complete immunity!. In 4 rounds a level 30 sorc can do a lot of things!
Mid tier :
Death spell 3.5/5 : the spell is mostly nice for killing weak mobs quickly. But let's face it, it's not needed at all.
contigency 3.5/5 : i use it mostly with health below 50% -> PFMW. Not needed anyway.
Death fog 3.5/5 : similar to death spell IMO.
True sight : 1/5 in group. 3.5/5 solo. I discovered in my last run that even i solo the spell is not that great :
- mages are best dealt with AOE (skull trap, ADHW)
- the planetar sees through invisibility.
Just a note, the best protection from ADHW is not protection from energy : wearing the cloak of mirroring makes you totally immune to it.
Picks for FM :
improved haste x2-3
PFMW x1-2
Death spell x1
Mislead x1-2 for FMT.
Picks for a sorc :
1- Death spell or death fog (PFMW is not needed early in the game)
2- True sight
3- PFMW
4- contigency
5- i took mislead but never used it. I don't know what i should take. Wyvern call could be nice (but would have to be taken as first or second pick or it would come too late)
Tenser is really overrated and is actually a very poor choice if you look at it factually :
Tenser's give you the THACO of a fighter, doubles your HP and removes your spellcasting. That seems great but :
- doubling HP seems good but actually a simple stoneskin or a PFMW will do MUCH more than that -> using tenser prevents you from casting these spells and is therefore detrimental defensively.
- The THACO bonus is irrelevant for a FM. Even for a blade it is not very significant. For a pure mage or sorc, you will remain a crappy fighter with 1 APR. Therefore a pure mage/FM loses offensively while using it. For a Blade it may be useful against very hard to hit ennemies.
Overall tenser's is a spell that makes you WEAKER
I don't like it much on F/Ms either because the THAC0 boost isn't that great, but the spell's godly on Blades. With ImpHaste and Belm on the off-hand you get 6 attacks per round at a fighter's THAC0 and can do a lot of damage. Real shame Offensive Spin doesn't stack with Haste anymore or that would be 8 attacks per round.
On bard, it is really not that good :
defensively :
- you cast stone skin
- you cast tenser -> you get around 100 extra HP
- case 1 : your stoneskin does not wear off. You have wasted a tenser transformation
- case 2 : your stonkeskin wears off : your 100 extra HP protect you for 6-7 hits. Alternatively, you could have recast a stoneskin for 10 hits protection (and level 4 VS level 6) or a PFMW for 4 rounds protection
---> defensively tenser makes you weaker
Offensively :
The bard should use : belm/scarlet ninja-to (or kundane) and improved haste to get to 8 attack per round.
The THACO of the bard would be around 5 (10 base - 3 from str - 2 from weapon), 3 with offensive spin, -5 with tenser
against trash mobs : 8 atk/round at a thaco of 5 slaughter them anyway (assuming 6 hits/round)
against low AC monsters (-10) : only 2 attack per round would hit. 6/round with tenser -> tenser is useful
against mages : no need for very low THACO. If you can connect, they die anyway. The key to make hit connect against a mage is being able to cast spells like breach -> tenser is detrimental
Overall :
FM : tenser makes you weaker (offensively, defensively)
sorc : tenser makes you weaker (offensively, defensively)
bard : only partially useful (offense but not defense) against low AC monsters. Against everything else (mages, trash mobs), it makes you weaker (offensively and defensively)
Overall tenser is a spell to be avoided :
- in all situation for a FM or pure arcane
- in most situation for a blade. I think a bard would be wiser to memorize and extra PFMW or improved haste for his level 6 slot.
aTweaks' PnP elementals are way cooler though.
I agree with the offensive issues you may face when fighting a well-protected mage.
Also Wyverns and Invisible Stalkers attacks hit as +2 and hitting as a +4 is only really useful in limited circumstances.
Of course, even then it's still debatable whether it's better than one more improved haste.
Edit: Just tested it with an Air Elemental summoned by Lesser Air Elemental and mazzy's +1 arrows and my +1 short sword were ineffective against it.
Same result with the fire elemental and the earth elemental.
SCS also nerfs Skull trap to 12d6 (from 20d6) so its not that overpowered compared to Chain lightning for example.
I feel like that can't be right... and if it is not, wouldn't that mean that it would give a thac0 equal to the mage level? Which would normally be *lower* than the fighter level?
I'm so lost!
I would lower the score for Tenser from 4.5 to 3.5.
Top Tiers:
-Mordenkainen’s Sword: 5/5
-Project Image: 5/5 (cheesy; empty your spell book with one spell slot)
-Spell Sequencer: 4.5/5 (level 4 and below spells)
-Ruby Ray of Reversal: 4.5/5
-Improved Chaos Shield: 4/5 (overpriced for this level, Wild Mage only)
-Limited Wish: 4/5 (free Time Stop, Chain Contingency and/or Shapechange at Chapter 2)
Mid Tiers:
-Finger of Death: 3.5/5 (+40% success combo Greater Malison and Doom)
-Power Word Stun: 3.5/5 (great spell, but many targets are immune to Stun)
-Spell Turning: 3.5/5 (anyone can cast this from the Book of Infinite Spells)
-Delayed Blasted Fireball: 3/5
-Mass Invisibility: 3/5 (enemies will have True Sight when you have access to this spell)
-Summon Djnni: 2.5/5 (Djnni Ring but must side with Bodhi)
-Summon Efreeti: 2.5/5 (Efreei Bottle)
-Summon Hakeashar: 2.5/5 (not much improvement over Nishruu)
Low Tiers:
-Cacofiend: 2/5 (good fighter, hit as +4 weapons)
-Khelben’s Warding Whip: 2/5 (3 rounds of Secret Words and shorter casting range)
-Prismatic Spray: 2/5 (too unpredictable)
-Sphere of Chaos: 2/5 (pathetic effects and too unpredictable)
-Mantle: 1.5/5
-Protection from the Elements: 1.5/5
-Control Undead: 1/5
Spell Sequencer Combos:
-x3 Skull Traps (will fail otherwise if targeting is not closed enough)
-Greater Malison, Web, Stinking Cloud
Edit: I missed Finger of Death
Mordy sword 5/5. Awesome summon. Immune to basically any non arcane caster. able to hit anything.
With project image and a sorc, you can have 5 of them, hasted for the cost 1 level 7 spell. This will remain useful until the end of TOB.
Project image 5/5. Completely broken. This is the spell that makes sorcerors so powerful (much more than mages). probably less useful on FM since they tend to focus more on buffs and physical damage.
I use it 2 ways :
1- to summon a personnal army (mordy sword, skellies, planetar)
2-to obliterate anything (timestop+improved alacrity+whatever you prefer (skull traps, ADHW, shapeshifting mindlfayer...) at the cost of 1 level 7 slot
You can also abuse it since there is no summon limit with a project image. Therefore you could have 5 to10 planetars. no need for that anyway and this makes the game pointless.
Apart from these 2 there is a few OK spells. But really they cannot compete with these 2.
Ok spells :
spell sequencer : nice in theory. Practically, once you get project image, it is not as useful
Ruby ray of reversal : mages are easier to kill using AOE spells since they are almost never protected against it. Don't waste your time casting it, cast an ADHW instead.
Special notes :
delayed fireball : Nice, a level 7 spells which is a lot less efficient than the level 3 skull trap...
finger of death : i think you have missed that one. It is really crappy anyway even with the small saving malus.
Spell picks for a solo sorc :
1- mordy sword (i take mordy sword first, because at level 14, you don't have that may great spells to be cast with project image)
2- project image. When you get this at level 15, you start to be really powerful. Your army of summons (level 15 skellies, mordy swords) is especially cheap and powerful
3- spell sequencer. Almost never used
4- ruby ray. Almost never used
5- limited wish. Never used
http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/comment/436859/#Comment_436859
tl;dr: It's not a top tier pick, but it's not completely useless either.
For Sequencer Combos...
There's the triple Chromatic Orb, which is a very good at killing since at this point it'll be save or die... You can always replace one with Greater Malison to improve chances...
Triple Acid Arrow will eat away at enemies that can take acid damage
PI + Time Stop + Improved Alacrity should be illegal. How can something so wrong feel so right