Armor of Faith 5/5 Yes it's true that the spell doesn't do much until the Cleric reached perhaps level 10, even though 10% from level 5 may be helpful in the tougher BG1 fights. However during those first levels you don't really need it becasue good AC will suffice. In SOA you'll reach a point where enemies start doing damage even if you've got good AC. That's where AoF comes in. Sanctuary 5/5 It's quickly cast and lets you do pretty much everything (except attacking) without being bothered by enemies. Especially great for Cleric/Thieves because they can simply walk into a room filled with enemies and detect and disarm traps without anyone touching you. Remove Fear 5/5 A lifesaver from Tarnesh's Horror spell till the great dragons in SOA and TOB. Quickly cast, and works both preventively as curatively. AoE spell, which has a drawback: hasted characters under the effects of fear are almost impossible to reach with the spell. Doom 3.5-4.5/5 Rating depends on the casting time your game imposes. When combined with a mage's Greater Malison, this spell makes a lot of otherwise unreliable spells worthwhile. A good combo for a Cleric/Mage's spell trigger.
As to the mid and lower tiers I'm going along with @Corvino.
I think Magical Stone could have been better, for example it bypassed magic resistance (as someone already mentioned), and if its casting time were shorter. Would make for a decent spell disrupter, like Larloch's Minor Drain for a mage. It would have made sense as well IMO, if Bless scaled with the caster's level. A high priest(ess) should be in better standing with his Deity, and be better capable of channelling his Deity's good will into a blessing upon his/her comrades. As it is, the spell stops making any notable difference at higher levels.
Level 1 Top Tiers: -Remove Fear (C): 5/5 (long duration, buff spell when going against mages, demons and dragons) -Armor of Faith: 4.5/5 (memorize after level 5) -Protection from Evil (C): 4.5/5 -Cure Light Wounds: 4/5 (consistent spell in BG1 with a party) -Sanctuary (C): 4/5 (cast self-targeting spells to maintain invisibility)
Mid Tiers: -Entangle (D): 3.5/5 (area melee disabling spell but save +3 bonus) -Bless: 3/5 (good effect but long casting time and short duration) -Doom: 3/5 (1 round casting time)
Ok the discussion about the level 1 spells seems te have come to a halt. I summarize and generalize our views on the Level 1 spells as follows.
TOP TIER:
* Remove Fear 5/5 its preventive and curative usability, AoE character and its usefulness from Candlekeep till the end of TOB make it a terrific spell. * Sanctuary 5/5 opening locks, healing and buffing yourself and party members, finding and disarming traps (for cleric/thieves), all without enemies being able to deter you, make this spell a lifesaver, like Remove Fear, throughout the entire trilogy. * Armor of Faith 4.5/5 fantastic spell but takes some levelling up before it really shines, which keeps it from a 5/5 rating. * Doom 4.5/5 imposing on your enemies a -2 penalty to both thac0 and saves, makes a big difference in BG1 (and if combined with other spells in BG2 as well). Note: this rating applies only if it has a casting time of 1 in your game setup.
MID TIER:
* Prot. from Evil 3.5/5 a very useful spell, both as a general buff and for the specific purpose of gating in demons, it's not top tier though, because mages can cast it and paladins get it for free. Besides most priests will stop using it once they get access to the longer lasting level 4 AoE variant. * Command 3.5/5 very effective in BG1, against lower level enemies that get no saving throw, but once you're dealing with higher level opponents, who do get a saving throw, its usefulness decreases (unless combined with other spells: Doom, Greater Malison) * Bless 3/5 the benefits it confers are too small for top tier status, but at lower levels or in combination with other buffs, it does make a difference. * Cure Light Wounds 3/5 during the first levels in BG1 this spell helps a lot, even in battle, but at higher levels, but later on with characters having more hitpoints, its main use of memorizing becomes reducing rest times. * Entangle 3/5 helps control mobs and tolerable casting time, though its save bonus reduces the spell's effectiveness. Mages get much better crowd control spells at low levels (even their level 1 spell Grease). * Doom 2.5/5 very useful effects, but not worth it casting if its casting time is a whole round in your game setup (in which case its best use would be to have it in a spell trigger as a cleric/mage).
BOTTOM TIER:
* Shillelagh 1.5/5 it does more damage than most mundane priest weapons but not considerably so. Besides, this slight advantage tends to become obsolete quite early in the game. * Detect EVil 1.5/5 the spell is good at what it's supposed to do (low casting time, AoE, no saving throw), but unfortunately the game there are no situations where you have use for it. * Magical Stone 1/5 Pathetic damage that doesn't scale with levels. Its could have been useful to interrupt spellcasting since there's no saving throw, if it didn't have a casting time of 4, which is too long for that purpose. Besides, the spell doesn't bypass magic resistance.
I'm looking forward to your views regarding the second level spells: Aid, Barkskin, Chant, Charm Person/Mammal, Draw Upon Holy Might, Find Traps, Flame Blade, Goodberries, Resist Fire/Cold, Silence 15' Radius, Slow Poison, and Spiritual Hammer
I feel command should be ranked higher simply due to just HOW useful it is in BG1. The fact that it is nearly instant cast and works against a majority of the low level enemies you'll want it again, plus allowing you to ignore thac0. If anything I think the biggest knock about it being a 4 instead of a 5 is due to the sleep spell for mages also being level 1.
The problem with Command is that sleep is so much more powerful. The one great feature of Command is that you'll be able to interrupt spells with it, other than that it really isn't that good. One cleric can pretty much shut down an enemy spell caster in BG1 by using Command at the right moment.
@Dragonspear, I'll give it a 3.5 rating, but for a spell to be top tier, its usefulness ought to extend beyond the lower level enemies you encounter in BG1 IMO. @SionIV, I completely agree with your reasoning, but I think at the same time that the mere fact that there's a more effective mage spell out there (which unlike Command is useless against higher level opponents btw) in itself doesn't justify a lowering of its rating.
@Dragonspear, I'll give it a 3.5 rating, but for a spell to be top tier, its usefulness ought to extend beyond the lower level enemies you encounter in BG1 IMO. @SionIV, I completely agree with your reasoning, but I think at the same time that the mere fact that there's a more effective mage spell out there (which unlike Command is useless against higher level opponents btw) in itself doesn't justify a lowering of its rating.
As you see most of the highly rated cleric spells are unique in some way or another. I wouldn't rate Command up there as it's actually not that good of a spell except for interrupting, and there are other spells that just does it better.
Sanctuary is unique. Armor of faith is unique. Protection from evil is unique. Remove fear is amazing for a level 1 spell.
Command isn't that good and sleep is so much better.
Chant (3.5/5) - Its not extraordinary but compared to the rest of them its pretty good. At least in BGEE anyways.
Hold Person (3.5/5) - Its good for its level but not astounding.
Find Traps (3/5) - I really can't fault it but I can't praise it much either. It is very good at what it does but there are so many thieves in BGEE that what it does isn't all that needed. As for BG2EE its probably handy to have in some circumstances (like you are lacking a thief) but considering Imoen and Yoshimo both talk to you (without you generally having much choice in the matter) any lack of ability to find traps on your part is going to be self made. That is unless Yoshimo dies or gets imprisoned before you get Imoen and you are doing some sort of no-reload challenge (which I suppose would be a self made issue anyways).
Silence (3/5) - Its more useful in BGEE than BG2EE because of the number of spellcasting enemies in the latter that have access to Vocalize.
Resist Fire/Cold (3/5) - I can't really fault it. A duration of 1 round/level isn't outstanding but it does provide pretty good protection against Fire/Cold (for its level anyways) and takes up a spell level slot in a pretty lackluster spell level.
Slow Poison (2.5/5) - Its good to have in BGEE but you'll rarely get poisoned in BG2EE.
Low Tier
Barkskin (2/5) - Its alright if you've got a Kensai or something that can't wear armor. But a Shield Amulet is just going to be easier to use in my opinion.
Spiritual Hammer (2/5) - I gave it a higher rating earlier but on reflection I have to give it a lower rating. I'm only giving it a rating above 1 because of its usability as part of triggers when involving Polymorphed forms (like the spider). It also can get an enchantment level of 3 which is nice, though its damage isn't as good as the Flame Blades.
Flame Blade (2/5) Same reason as Spiritual Hammer for the rating above 1. You can use it for a polymorphed creature but it hits as a normal weapon and doesn't confer any Thac0 bonus. Its damage is fine for a second level spell but it doesn't have much use beyond troll killing. Still, it does more damage Spiritual Hammer so I'll at least give it that.
Charm Person or Mammal (2/5) - The problem with it is that it has that saving throw and on top of that a lot of the more difficult "animal" enemies you come across in BGEE (Vampire wolves and dread wolves for instance) aren't considered animals. So its usability is limited in that regard. Still, its one of the longer lasting charm spells so I think a 2 is fair.
Aid (1/5) its healing sucks and I can get Bless if I want it from the Bless spell
Goodberries 1/5 - Probably useful with some kind of scripting but otherwise they aren't worth it.
Edit: I forgot...
Know Alignment (0.5/5) - I actually have a feature request to get rid of its saving throw requirement
The spell was already very much a spell just to be used for roleplaying. But the fact that it requires a saving throw (the only divination spell that does that I can think of) makes whatever purpose it did have pretty much moot.
* Draw Upon Holy Might 5/5 Turns your cleric into a fighter (except for their APR), scales well with levels. At lower levels +1 to all physical stats is significant (if your character has decent base stats to begin with), making this a very nice spell from when you first get it till the end of the trilogy. * Slow Poison 4/5 Poison attacks are relatively common throughout the game, and potentially lethal (especially in BG1, less so in BG2). This insta-cast spell is a lifesaver, and it's a good idea to always have one (or two) memorized. It would get a higher rating if it weren't a Bhaalspawan power for charnames with a neutral/good reputation.
MID TIER:
* Silence 15' Radius 3.5/5 A successul casting effectively neutralizes enemy spellcasters. In BG1 it will succeed most of the times you use it, so in BG1 it would get a 5/5. However we need to take into account BG2/TOB as well. The severe saving thow penalty would make it about as devastating in those games, if it weren't for the fact that many mages memorize Vocalize, which can be cast silently (so a silenced mage can dispel their own silence). It remains useful for dealing with priests though. * Hold Person 3.5/5 The reasoning here is similar to that re: Silence. Hold Person is devastating in BG1 and early SOA, but loses its effectiveness later on, when enemies will almost always save against the spell. * Resist Fire/Cold 3/5 Fire damage is fairly common in the game (from hordes of kobolds shooting fire arrows to dragons and fire giants). The duration of the spell scales with priest levels. When combined with potions, characters can become 100% fireproof. There are many other ways to protect oneself against fire (potions, gear, and better spells), which keeps it from getting a better rating. * Chant 2.5/5 A +1 bonus to attack rolls, damage rolls and saving throws for your party and a -1 penalty for your enemies does make a difference at lower levels, but only at lower levels (unless if combined with other buffs). A one round casting time requires it to be cast before battle. * Find Traps 2.5/5 This spell is useless in a party with a competent thief. The dungeon crawling solo Cleric/Mage might have a use for this, so a to know when to protect himself against traps, with Mirror Images etc. * Aid 2.5/5 Aid = Bless + 1d8 hitpoints. The advantage over bless is that the spell's duration increases with the priest's level, a severe drawback is the fact that it only affects a single target (unlike Bless which is an AoE spell). As with Bless its effects are insiginificant at higher levels, unless the spell is used in combination with other buffs.
BOTTOM TIER
* 2/5 Barkskin Both the AC received and the spell's duration scale with levels, but once this could be making a difference compared to regular armor, other, much better spells become available to the Druid (Ironskins) * Flameblade 2/5 Only useful for killing trolls. In a party you won't need it even for that purpose if one of your companions has fire arrows or fire magic. A solo cleric might have some use for it. * Spiritual Hammer 2/5 Not bad in itself, but once it doesn't scale quick enough to offer any advantages over the cater's main physical weapon. E.g. a level 7 cleric gets a +2 enchantment on his Spiritual Hammer, but he might as well stick to his Ashideena. * Charm Person/Mammal 1.5/5 Its long casting time and the save bonus make this spell pretty much useless. * Know Alignment 1/5 You'll never need this spell and if you ever wanted to try it out, be prepared for targets to save against the spell. * Goodberries 1/5 Five goodberries per spell, that heal one hitpoint ach and have to be consumed individually, makes this spell unworthy of memorization ever.
I seem to remember it lasting FOREVER, but even better, I seem to remember it has a much larger trap detection range than a thief does. If you're playing a no or minimal reload game, this might save some party members if you don't have every trap memorized.
Level 2: Top Tiers: -Draw Upon Holy Might (C): 5/5 -Chant (C): 4/5 (nice bonus for party but 1 round casting time) -Hold Person (C): 4/5 (decent disabling spell) -Silent 15 Radius (C): 4/5 (area silence and save -5 penalty)
Mid Tiers: -Flame Blade: 3.5/5 (troll killing and additional fire damage; +1 weapon and +4 Hit bonus) -Aid (C): 3/5 (cumulative with other bonuses; useful in BG1) -Barkskin: 3/5 (useful for anyone who cannot wear decent armor, max out at AC 1 at level 20) -Charm Person or Mammal (D): 3/5 (one of the few offensive spells a Druid can get, save +3 bonus) -Slow Poison: 3/5
Low Tiers: -Resist Fire/Cold: 2/5 (50% fire and cold resistances but short duration) -Spiritual Hammer (C): 2/5 (+1 hit every 6 levels, but damage is the same as the normal War Hammer) -Find Traps: 1.5/5 (3 turns duration but still cannot disarm trap) -Goodberry (D): 1/5 -Know Alignment: 1/5
Edit: Bump Flame Blade by 0.5 because the +4 Hit bonus.
@Blackraven Lol, you must have been the one that granted it as a Bhaal ability? I thought that was brilliant. I have subsequently found the joys of eekeeper, the ultimate know alignment spell
Yes, that's it! And true, EEKeeper is awesome, no saving throw there....
And let's make a promotion of @elminster's thread!! :P to make Know Alignment overpowered and more gamebreaking that how it already is! And I have to admit that I added 150 Know Alignment to a PC of mine (a Sorcerer that studied psychology) once a while ago just to have fun!
Goodberries. Most OP spell. Needs to be nerfed. So much hacks.
Jokes aside, I actually like this spell a lot. I think it's likely to be nigh on useless in BG2, but in BG1 it was the only spell I ever had Jaheira keep on standby. Unlimited healing items? Awesome! Most of the time I only took 1-5 hit points worth of damage in standard fights, and if I knew something nasty was coming, I didn't want to waste my healing potions\spells on 5 lost hit points. Here comes Goodberries, saving the day. I always kept a few in every character's quick bar. After a fight we could top up and be completely ready for the next challenge, with no wasted spells or potions. And c'mon, what else is a druid going to take? Charm Person or Mammal? Please. I'd rather have Goodberries.
@Elrandir, but instead of memorizing Goodberries why not memorize another Cure Light Wounds? You can heal more hitpoints at a time, and Cure Light Wounds makes you heal quicker while resting. Well maybe in case of very long intervals between resting, stored Goodberries might come in handy.
Because there are more useful 1st level spells. I used to think "Clerics heal. Mages deal damage." but I've mostly moved past that. (I still like fireballs...) Even for druids, there's more useful things to take. That said, a druid definitely has more uses for more CLWs than a cleric, I'll give you that. I just think that Goodberries are more useful than most of what a druid has for 2nd level. I like them a lot. But then, the only time I play with a CHARNAME who uses druid spells it's a cleric\ranger, and then he's got way better options. But for Jaheira, Goodberries is my gold standard. Basically, I'd make Goodberries 2\5. But that's just my personal opinion.
Meh I'm far too lazy to take that long eating berries. I'd rather just heal through resting. I'll take slow poison, maybe a charm spell or two, and maybe a few resist fires (at higher levels) over them.
@Blackraven, Goodberries is a second level spell - it's not in competition with Cure Light Wounds, it's in competition with other second level druid spells - and there aren't any overwhelmingly good ones on that level.
@Elrandir, I'm *so* glad someone decided to speak up in favor of the Goodberries spell. I use it all the time, for just the purpose you described - it saves you from resting or wasting Cure spells in between minor battles.
Jaheira always has an assortment of Goodberries, Slow Poison, and FInd Traps spells in her second level spell slots in my games.
Find Traps is a much more useful spell than a lot of people think. As @Dragonspear said, it has a much larger range than thief skill. Plus, the cleric or druid can do other things while still revealing traps. It also gives you a useful "beginning of round" notification in your actions window, since Find Traps and bardsong are the first thing that happen in any given round. And it saves you from having to creep quite as slowly around dungeons waiting for your thief. It's much more reliable than thief detection- I can't count the times my thief has stumbled into a trap before detecting it, no matter how careful I was being. The thief skill range is just *too* short.
@BelgarathMTH, in my view a spell not only competes with other spells of the same level but also with spells of other levels before I form an opinion on its usefulness, so I disagree with your general line of reasoning.
However in reference to this specific case, if you feel that an extra Cure Light Wounds would occupy a level 1 spell slot you'd rather reserve for Doom or Bless or perhaps Entangle, and therefore prefer to spend a level 2 spell slot on Goodberries rather than Slow Poison, Find Traps, Charm Person/Mammal or Resist Fire/Cold, then no one will be astonished by that I guess. An argument can be made for both views. Edit: I guess that my opinion might depend on the point of the game I'm at. If my druid has only one or two level 2 spell slots, I might pass up on Goodberries, and pick Slow Poison instead (what with all the spiders and arrows of biting). Later on, with more level 2 slots available, I might see some use for Goodberries. And even later, when characters have much higher hitpoints and suffer graver injuries 5 goodberry hitpoints won't make a difference anymore, so I'd phase out their use.
@BelgarathMTH And thank you for speaking up about Find Traps! I don't use it much in games with a party, but it definitely has a lot of uses! For one thing, it's the only way I've found to locate the traps in a black pits game. There's a stage in the first one, and even a thief with 100 find traps skill can't seem to find them. That spell can, though.
@bbear True, but it's very nice to have in situations where there are a lot of traps and you don't have a thief. There's a specific room in Durlag's Tower that I always think of. It has tons of traps, but if you guide your character the right way, you can walk past them. Much more easily done when you can see them.
Yea I still wouldn't bother with goodberries. As long as you've got decent/good reputation potions aren't too expensive and they are plentiful. It takes you a full minute to gain 10 hit points for 1 character with goodberries. That is assuming you are using it like clockwork and its not counting the casting time of getting those berries. Since its a level 2 spell with Jaheira you won't even get it until you have a total of 8000 xp on her and even then you'll only get a single casting of it. Its just too time consuming and too much of a hassle for me given its benefits.
Taking into account everyone's input, a "compromise" for a ranking of level 2 divine spells, could look like this:
TOP TIER:
* Draw Upon Holy Might 5/5 Turns your cleric into a fighter (except for their APR), scales well with levels. At lower levels +1 to all physical stats is significant (if your character has decent base stats to begin with), making this a very nice spell from when you first get it till the end of the trilogy.
MID TIER:
* Chant 3.5/5 A decent prebuff at the lower levels, later on only if combined with other buffs.
* Hold Person 3.5/5 Great in BG1, but less and less effective throughout SOA, as most enemies will save against the spell.
* Silence 15' Radius 3.5/5 As Hold Person great in BG1, but much less so in SOA not because enemies will save against but rather because enemy mages in SOA tend to have a Vocalize or two memorized.
* Slow Poison 3.5/5 Again a spell that is very useful in BG1, but less so in BG2/TOB, since poison damage is less common in those games. Nevertheless worth memorizing, just in case.
* Find Traps 3/5 Although it doesn't enable the cleric to disarm traps, this spell may help you party to at least avoid them. The spell has a long duration, and detects at a larger range than a thief's detect trap ability does.
* Resist Fire/Cold 3/5 Decent protection (especially in combination with gear, potions or other spells), especially against fire, which is fairly common in the games.
BOTTOM TIER:
* Aid 2/5 Offers little more than the level 1 spell Bless (only 1d8 hitpoints, and with time longer duration). Unlike Bless it's a single target spell.
* Barkskin 2/5 Only useful for druids who can't wear any studded leather armor, let alone Ankheg armor. Examples would be the Shapeshifter or a Kensai/Druid. Its protection starts out mediocre, and once it scales up with levels gained, better protections become available.
* Charm Person/Mammal 2/5 This would have been a very nice druid spell if it had a shorter casting time, no save bonus, and if it also affected animals that are classified by the game as 'undead', such as dread wolves and vampiric wolves, or non-mammals such as spiders.
* Goodberries 2/5 A healing capacity of up to 5 hitpoints isn't impressive, but for druids who prefer to use their level 1 spell slots for other spells than Cure Light Wounds, memorizing Goodberries can be an alternative.
* Flameblade 2/5 Hits as a normal weapon and doesn't confer any thac0 bonus, so normally inferior to the weapon your character already wields. Useful for a polymorphed creature if you have the spell in a trigger (thanks @elminster), and for troll killing. EDIT: in the original game Flameblade hits as a +1 weapon and gives a +4 to bonus to thac0, which justifies a higher rating for the Flameblade spell. However in BGEE the spell has been fixed conform its description.
* Spititual Hammer 1.5/5 Same as Flameblade, except that he Spiritual Hammer won't kill trolls.
* Know Alignment 1/5 You never really need to know an NPC's alignment, and if you want to know anyway, chances the target saves vs the spell.
Note: spells that have the same rating are categorizd alphabetically rather than hierarchically.
-----------------------------------------------
Next topic in this discussion is Level 3:
Animate Dead, Holy Smite, Dispel Magic, Call Lightning, Summon Insects, Strength of One, Cure Medium Wounds, Invisibility Purge, Miscast Magic, Cure Disease, Glyph of Warding, Hold Animal, Protection from Fire, Remove Curse, Remove Paralysis, Rigid Thinking, Unholy Blight, Zone of Sweet Air.
* Animate Dead 5/5 The skeletons you get until level 15 are powerful allies in BG1. They improve with levels, and at higher levels two or three can take on an ankheg. They're also very useful against spellcasters thanks to their magic resistance. In the first portion of SOA they'll lose their usefulness until the cleric reaches level 15. The skeletal warrior he then gets, remains a powerful ally until the end of the game.
* Holy Smite 5/5 AoE spell that deals 1d4 damage (save for half) to all evil creatures within the AoE. Three of these can be sufficient for a higher level cleric to take down a dragon.
* Dispel Magic 4/5 Only useful for single class clerics (since caster level determines the likelihood of success). Bards and Inquisitors do it better, but still a potentially very powerful spell both for offensive and defensive purposes.
MID TIER:
* Call Lightning 3.5/5 AoE 2d8 electrical damage + 1d8 per level of the caster (sav for half) is very substantial. This spell would have made it into the top tier if it were castable indoors as well as outdoors.
* Remove Paralysis 3.5/5 You won't need this spell often, but when you do it'll be a life saver. It removes Stun (against which Free Action doesn't protect). Recommendable to always have one memorized (an unlucky Chromatic Orb, a Power Word: Stun, an encounter with a demon that stuns its targets; it can happen anytime).
* Miscast Magic 3.5/5 Imposing an 80% chance of miscasts upon an enemy spellcaster can be very debilitating. With a save vs spell penalty of -2, and possibly worse (with Doom / Greater Malison), this is a pretty good spell.
* Protection from Fire 3/5 Complete immunity from normal fire plus 80% protection from magical fire is a strong protection, making >100% protection very feasible (with potions or other items).
* Summon Insects 3/5 A good spell for disrupting enemy spellcasters and stripping their protections, but the level 5 spell Insect Plague does the same, and more efectively so. Thus as the game progresses Summon Insects will likely make place for the top tier level 3 spells.
* Cure Medium Wounds 3/5 There's not much wrong with this spell, but its effect (healing 14 hitpoints of damage) is insufficient to have it prevail over other more powerful level 3 spells.
* Glyph of Warding 2.5/5 Potentially very damaging. I've seen this spell called the Cleric's "Skull Trap". It has one major disadvantage compared to the mage spell though: a save negates all damage. Still, multiple Glyphs can really hurt a doomed / greater malisoned enemy.
* Invisibility Purge 2.5/5 Does what it says, with no saving throw. (It even dispels Sanctuary.) Once the Cleric has a good number of level 3 spell slots it won't harm to have one memorized (for when your part has run out of True Sights).
BOTTOM TIER:
* Rigid Thinking 2/5 A single target spell with an effect similar to that of Confusion. There is no save penalty, which means one can't reliably cast it.
* Zone of Sweet Air 2/5 As such not a bad spell at all. However the game will rarely confront you with Stinking Clouds, Cloudkills etc cast your way.
* Cure Disease 2/5 Theoretically useful in the exceptional situation that a disease is threatening a party member's life, but in that case healing will do fine (because any damage inflicted by a disease is very gradual/slow).
* Hold Animal 1.5/5 Once you get this, animals won't be a threat to your party anymore.
* Strength of One 1.5/5 The ones who need STR (your warriors) should already have it, the others shouldn't really need it.
* Remove Curse 1/5 Only worth memorizing if one of your party already has a curse, which ought to be never...
* Unholy Blight 1/5 Unless you're intent on taking on The Order of the Radiant Heart with an evil party, you won't have use for this spell.
Comments
Armor of Faith 5/5 Yes it's true that the spell doesn't do much until the Cleric reached perhaps level 10, even
though 10% from level 5 may be helpful in the tougher BG1 fights. However during those
first levels you don't really need it becasue good AC will suffice. In SOA you'll reach a
point where enemies start doing damage even if you've got good AC. That's where AoF
comes in.
Sanctuary 5/5 It's quickly cast and lets you do pretty much everything (except attacking) without being
bothered by enemies. Especially great for Cleric/Thieves because they can simply walk into
a room filled with enemies and detect and disarm traps without anyone touching you.
Remove Fear 5/5 A lifesaver from Tarnesh's Horror spell till the great dragons in SOA and TOB. Quickly cast,
and works both preventively as curatively. AoE spell, which has a drawback: hasted
characters under the effects of fear are almost impossible to reach with the spell.
Doom 3.5-4.5/5 Rating depends on the casting time your game imposes. When combined with a mage's
Greater Malison, this spell makes a lot of otherwise unreliable spells worthwhile. A good
combo for a Cleric/Mage's spell trigger.
As to the mid and lower tiers I'm going along with @Corvino.
I think Magical Stone could have been better, for example it bypassed magic resistance (as someone already mentioned), and if its casting time were shorter. Would make for a decent spell disrupter, like Larloch's Minor Drain for a mage.
It would have made sense as well IMO, if Bless scaled with the caster's level. A high priest(ess) should be in better standing with his Deity, and be better capable of channelling his Deity's good will into a blessing upon his/her comrades. As it is, the spell stops making any notable difference at higher levels.
Level 1
Top Tiers:
-Remove Fear (C): 5/5 (long duration, buff spell when going against mages, demons and dragons)
-Armor of Faith: 4.5/5 (memorize after level 5)
-Protection from Evil (C): 4.5/5
-Cure Light Wounds: 4/5 (consistent spell in BG1 with a party)
-Sanctuary (C): 4/5 (cast self-targeting spells to maintain invisibility)
Mid Tiers:
-Entangle (D): 3.5/5 (area melee disabling spell but save +3 bonus)
-Bless: 3/5 (good effect but long casting time and short duration)
-Doom: 3/5 (1 round casting time)
Low Tiers:
-Command (C): 2/5
-Detect Evil: 1/5
-Magic Stone: 1/5
-Shillelagh: 1/5
TOP TIER:
* Remove Fear 5/5
its preventive and curative usability, AoE character and its usefulness from Candlekeep till the end of TOB make it a terrific spell.
* Sanctuary 5/5
opening locks, healing and buffing yourself and party members, finding and disarming traps (for cleric/thieves), all without enemies being able to deter you, make this spell a lifesaver, like Remove Fear, throughout the entire trilogy.
* Armor of Faith 4.5/5
fantastic spell but takes some levelling up before it really shines, which keeps it from a 5/5 rating.
* Doom 4.5/5
imposing on your enemies a -2 penalty to both thac0 and saves, makes a big difference in BG1 (and if combined with other spells in BG2 as well). Note: this rating applies only if it has a casting time of 1 in your game setup.
MID TIER:
* Prot. from Evil 3.5/5
a very useful spell, both as a general buff and for the specific purpose of gating in demons, it's not top tier though, because mages can cast it and paladins get it for free. Besides most priests will stop using it once they get access to the longer lasting level 4 AoE variant.
* Command 3.5/5
very effective in BG1, against lower level enemies that get no saving throw, but once you're dealing with higher level opponents, who do get a saving throw, its usefulness decreases (unless combined with other spells: Doom, Greater Malison)
* Bless 3/5
the benefits it confers are too small for top tier status, but at lower levels or in combination with other buffs, it does make a difference.
* Cure Light Wounds 3/5
during the first levels in BG1 this spell helps a lot, even in battle, but at higher levels, but later on with characters having more hitpoints, its main use of memorizing becomes reducing rest times.
* Entangle 3/5
helps control mobs and tolerable casting time, though its save bonus reduces the spell's effectiveness. Mages get much better crowd control spells at low levels (even their level 1 spell Grease).
* Doom 2.5/5
very useful effects, but not worth it casting if its casting time is a whole round in your game setup (in which case its best use would be to have it in a spell trigger as a cleric/mage).
BOTTOM TIER:
* Shillelagh 1.5/5
it does more damage than most mundane priest weapons but not considerably so. Besides, this slight advantage tends to become obsolete quite early in the game.
* Detect EVil 1.5/5
the spell is good at what it's supposed to do (low casting time, AoE, no saving throw), but unfortunately the game there are no situations where you have use for it.
* Magical Stone 1/5
Pathetic damage that doesn't scale with levels. Its could have been useful to interrupt spellcasting since there's no saving throw, if it didn't have a casting time of 4, which is too long for that purpose. Besides, the spell doesn't bypass magic resistance.
I'm looking forward to your views regarding the second level spells: Aid, Barkskin, Chant, Charm Person/Mammal, Draw Upon Holy Might, Find Traps, Flame Blade, Goodberries, Resist Fire/Cold, Silence 15' Radius, Slow Poison, and Spiritual Hammer
@SionIV, I completely agree with your reasoning, but I think at the same time that the mere fact that there's a more effective mage spell out there (which unlike Command is useless against higher level opponents btw) in itself doesn't justify a lowering of its rating.
Sanctuary is unique.
Armor of faith is unique.
Protection from evil is unique.
Remove fear is amazing for a level 1 spell.
Command isn't that good and sleep is so much better.
Highest Tier
Draw Upon Holy Might (5/5)
Mid Tier
Chant (3.5/5) - Its not extraordinary but compared to the rest of them its pretty good. At least in BGEE anyways.
Hold Person (3.5/5) - Its good for its level but not astounding.
Find Traps (3/5) - I really can't fault it but I can't praise it much either. It is very good at what it does but there are so many thieves in BGEE that what it does isn't all that needed. As for BG2EE its probably handy to have in some circumstances (like you are lacking a thief) but considering Imoen and Yoshimo both talk to you (without you generally having much choice in the matter) any lack of ability to find traps on your part is going to be self made. That is unless Yoshimo dies or gets imprisoned before you get Imoen and you are doing some sort of no-reload challenge (which I suppose would be a self made issue anyways).
Silence (3/5) - Its more useful in BGEE than BG2EE because of the number of spellcasting enemies in the latter that have access to Vocalize.
Resist Fire/Cold (3/5) - I can't really fault it. A duration of 1 round/level isn't outstanding but it does provide pretty good protection against Fire/Cold (for its level anyways) and takes up a spell level slot in a pretty lackluster spell level.
Slow Poison (2.5/5) - Its good to have in BGEE but you'll rarely get poisoned in BG2EE.
Low Tier
Barkskin (2/5) - Its alright if you've got a Kensai or something that can't wear armor. But a Shield Amulet is just going to be easier to use in my opinion.
Spiritual Hammer (2/5) - I gave it a higher rating earlier but on reflection I have to give it a lower rating. I'm only giving it a rating above 1 because of its usability as part of triggers when involving Polymorphed forms (like the spider). It also can get an enchantment level of 3 which is nice, though its damage isn't as good as the Flame Blades.
Flame Blade (2/5) Same reason as Spiritual Hammer for the rating above 1. You can use it for a polymorphed creature but it hits as a normal weapon and doesn't confer any Thac0 bonus. Its damage is fine for a second level spell but it doesn't have much use beyond troll killing. Still, it does more damage Spiritual Hammer so I'll at least give it that.
Charm Person or Mammal (2/5) - The problem with it is that it has that saving throw and on top of that a lot of the more difficult "animal" enemies you come across in BGEE (Vampire wolves and dread wolves for instance) aren't considered animals. So its usability is limited in that regard. Still, its one of the longer lasting charm spells so I think a 2 is fair.
Aid (1/5) its healing sucks and I can get Bless if I want it from the Bless spell
Goodberries 1/5 - Probably useful with some kind of scripting but otherwise they aren't worth it.
Edit: I forgot...
Know Alignment (0.5/5) - I actually have a feature request to get rid of its saving throw requirement
http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/30820/remove-the-save-vs-spell-required-for-know-alignment
(Internally its #7605 )
The spell was already very much a spell just to be used for roleplaying. But the fact that it requires a saving throw (the only divination spell that does that I can think of) makes whatever purpose it did have pretty much moot.
TOP TIER:
* Draw Upon Holy Might 5/5
Turns your cleric into a fighter (except for their APR), scales well with levels. At lower levels +1 to all physical stats is significant (if your character has decent base stats to begin with), making this a very nice spell from when you first get it till the end of the trilogy.
* Slow Poison 4/5
Poison attacks are relatively common throughout the game, and potentially lethal (especially in BG1, less so in BG2). This insta-cast spell is a lifesaver, and it's a good idea to always have one (or two) memorized. It would get a higher rating if it weren't a Bhaalspawan power for charnames with a neutral/good reputation.
MID TIER:
* Silence 15' Radius 3.5/5
A successul casting effectively neutralizes enemy spellcasters. In BG1 it will succeed most of the times you use it, so in BG1 it would get a 5/5. However we need to take into account BG2/TOB as well. The severe saving thow penalty would make it about as devastating in those games, if it weren't for the fact that many mages memorize Vocalize, which can be cast silently (so a silenced mage can dispel their own silence). It remains useful for dealing with priests though.
* Hold Person 3.5/5
The reasoning here is similar to that re: Silence. Hold Person is devastating in BG1 and early SOA, but loses its effectiveness later on, when enemies will almost always save against the spell.
* Resist Fire/Cold 3/5
Fire damage is fairly common in the game (from hordes of kobolds shooting fire arrows to dragons and fire giants). The duration of the spell scales with priest levels. When combined with potions, characters can become 100% fireproof. There are many other ways to protect oneself against fire (potions, gear, and better spells), which keeps it from getting a better rating.
* Chant 2.5/5
A +1 bonus to attack rolls, damage rolls and saving throws for your party and a -1 penalty for your enemies does make a difference at lower levels, but only at lower levels (unless if combined with other buffs). A one round casting time requires it to be cast before battle.
* Find Traps 2.5/5
This spell is useless in a party with a competent thief. The dungeon crawling solo Cleric/Mage might have a use for this, so a to know when to protect himself against traps, with Mirror Images etc.
* Aid 2.5/5
Aid = Bless + 1d8 hitpoints. The advantage over bless is that the spell's duration increases with the priest's level, a severe drawback is the fact that it only affects a single target (unlike Bless which is an AoE spell). As with Bless its effects are insiginificant at higher levels, unless the spell is used in combination with other buffs.
BOTTOM TIER
* 2/5 Barkskin
Both the AC received and the spell's duration scale with levels, but once this could be making a difference compared to regular armor, other, much better spells become available to the Druid (Ironskins)
* Flameblade 2/5
Only useful for killing trolls. In a party you won't need it even for that purpose if one of your companions has fire arrows or fire magic. A solo cleric might have some use for it.
* Spiritual Hammer 2/5
Not bad in itself, but once it doesn't scale quick enough to offer any advantages over the cater's main physical weapon. E.g. a level 7 cleric gets a +2 enchantment on his Spiritual Hammer, but he might as well stick to his Ashideena.
* Charm Person/Mammal 1.5/5
Its long casting time and the save bonus make this spell pretty much useless.
* Know Alignment 1/5
You'll never need this spell and if you ever wanted to try it out, be prepared for targets to save against the spell.
* Goodberries 1/5
Five goodberries per spell, that heal one hitpoint ach and have to be consumed individually, makes this spell unworthy of memorization ever.
Edited typos.... my writing is sloppy
I seem to remember it lasting FOREVER, but even better, I seem to remember it has a much larger trap detection range than a thief does. If you're playing a no or minimal reload game, this might save some party members if you don't have every trap memorized.
Top Tiers:
-Draw Upon Holy Might (C): 5/5
-Chant (C): 4/5 (nice bonus for party but 1 round casting time)
-Hold Person (C): 4/5 (decent disabling spell)
-Silent 15 Radius (C): 4/5 (area silence and save -5 penalty)
Mid Tiers:
-Flame Blade: 3.5/5 (troll killing and additional fire damage; +1 weapon and +4 Hit bonus)
-Aid (C): 3/5 (cumulative with other bonuses; useful in BG1)
-Barkskin: 3/5 (useful for anyone who cannot wear decent armor, max out at AC 1 at level 20)
-Charm Person or Mammal (D): 3/5 (one of the few offensive spells a Druid can get, save +3 bonus)
-Slow Poison: 3/5
Low Tiers:
-Resist Fire/Cold: 2/5 (50% fire and cold resistances but short duration)
-Spiritual Hammer (C): 2/5 (+1 hit every 6 levels, but damage is the same as the normal War Hammer)
-Find Traps: 1.5/5 (3 turns duration but still cannot disarm trap)
-Goodberry (D): 1/5
-Know Alignment: 1/5
Edit: Bump Flame Blade by 0.5 because the +4 Hit bonus.
I used to cast Know Alignment all the time, but that is a story for the "Irrational Love" thread and certainly not for this one
And I have to admit that I added 150 Know Alignment to a PC of mine (a Sorcerer that studied psychology) once a while ago just to have fun!
Jokes aside, I actually like this spell a lot. I think it's likely to be nigh on useless in BG2, but in BG1 it was the only spell I ever had Jaheira keep on standby. Unlimited healing items? Awesome! Most of the time I only took 1-5 hit points worth of damage in standard fights, and if I knew something nasty was coming, I didn't want to waste my healing potions\spells on 5 lost hit points. Here comes Goodberries, saving the day. I always kept a few in every character's quick bar. After a fight we could top up and be completely ready for the next challenge, with no wasted spells or potions. And c'mon, what else is a druid going to take? Charm Person or Mammal? Please. I'd rather have Goodberries.
We can probably move on to level 3 spells.
@Elrandir, I'm *so* glad someone decided to speak up in favor of the Goodberries spell. I use it all the time, for just the purpose you described - it saves you from resting or wasting Cure spells in between minor battles.
Jaheira always has an assortment of Goodberries, Slow Poison, and FInd Traps spells in her second level spell slots in my games.
Find Traps is a much more useful spell than a lot of people think. As @Dragonspear said, it has a much larger range than thief skill. Plus, the cleric or druid can do other things while still revealing traps. It also gives you a useful "beginning of round" notification in your actions window, since Find Traps and bardsong are the first thing that happen in any given round. And it saves you from having to creep quite as slowly around dungeons waiting for your thief. It's much more reliable than thief detection- I can't count the times my thief has stumbled into a trap before detecting it, no matter how careful I was being. The thief skill range is just *too* short.
However in reference to this specific case, if you feel that an extra Cure Light Wounds would occupy a level 1 spell slot you'd rather reserve for Doom or Bless or perhaps Entangle, and therefore prefer to spend a level 2 spell slot on Goodberries rather than Slow Poison, Find Traps, Charm Person/Mammal or Resist Fire/Cold, then no one will be astonished by that I guess. An argument can be made for both views.
Edit: I guess that my opinion might depend on the point of the game I'm at. If my druid has only one or two level 2 spell slots, I might pass up on Goodberries, and pick Slow Poison instead (what with all the spiders and arrows of biting). Later on, with more level 2 slots available, I might see some use for Goodberries. And even later, when characters have much higher hitpoints and suffer graver injuries 5 goodberry hitpoints won't make a difference anymore, so I'd phase out their use.
TOP TIER:
* Draw Upon Holy Might 5/5
Turns your cleric into a fighter (except for their APR), scales well with levels. At lower levels +1 to all physical stats is significant (if your character has decent base stats to begin with), making this a very nice spell from when you first get it till the end of the trilogy.
MID TIER:
* Chant 3.5/5
A decent prebuff at the lower levels, later on only if combined with other buffs.
* Hold Person 3.5/5
Great in BG1, but less and less effective throughout SOA, as most enemies will save against the spell.
* Silence 15' Radius 3.5/5
As Hold Person great in BG1, but much less so in SOA not because enemies will save against but rather because enemy mages in SOA tend to have a Vocalize or two memorized.
* Slow Poison 3.5/5
Again a spell that is very useful in BG1, but less so in BG2/TOB, since poison damage is less common in those games. Nevertheless worth memorizing, just in case.
* Find Traps 3/5
Although it doesn't enable the cleric to disarm traps, this spell may help you party to at least avoid them. The spell has a long duration, and detects at a larger range than a thief's detect trap ability does.
* Resist Fire/Cold 3/5
Decent protection (especially in combination with gear, potions or other spells), especially against fire, which is fairly common in the games.
BOTTOM TIER:
* Aid 2/5
Offers little more than the level 1 spell Bless (only 1d8 hitpoints, and with time longer duration). Unlike Bless it's a single target spell.
* Barkskin 2/5
Only useful for druids who can't wear any studded leather armor, let alone Ankheg armor. Examples would be the Shapeshifter or a Kensai/Druid. Its protection starts out mediocre, and once it scales up with levels gained, better protections become available.
* Charm Person/Mammal 2/5
This would have been a very nice druid spell if it had a shorter casting time, no save bonus, and if it also affected animals that are classified by the game as 'undead', such as dread wolves and vampiric wolves, or non-mammals such as spiders.
* Goodberries 2/5
A healing capacity of up to 5 hitpoints isn't impressive, but for druids who prefer to use their level 1 spell slots for other spells than Cure Light Wounds, memorizing Goodberries can be an alternative.
* Flameblade 2/5
Hits as a normal weapon and doesn't confer any thac0 bonus, so normally inferior to the weapon your character already wields. Useful for a polymorphed creature if you have the spell in a trigger (thanks @elminster), and for troll killing.
EDIT: in the original game Flameblade hits as a +1 weapon and gives a +4 to bonus to thac0, which justifies a higher rating for the Flameblade spell. However in BGEE the spell has been fixed conform its description.
* Spititual Hammer 1.5/5
Same as Flameblade, except that he Spiritual Hammer won't kill trolls.
* Know Alignment 1/5
You never really need to know an NPC's alignment, and if you want to know anyway, chances the target saves vs the spell.
Note: spells that have the same rating are categorizd alphabetically rather than hierarchically.
-----------------------------------------------
Next topic in this discussion is Level 3:
Animate Dead, Holy Smite, Dispel Magic, Call Lightning, Summon Insects, Strength of One, Cure Medium Wounds, Invisibility Purge, Miscast Magic, Cure Disease, Glyph of Warding, Hold Animal, Protection from Fire, Remove Curse, Remove Paralysis, Rigid Thinking, Unholy Blight, Zone of Sweet Air.
Looking forward to your views!
EDIT: corrected commentary below Charm Person/Mammal
Edit: next time I'll try if I can turn them with my cleric
TOP TIER:
* Animate Dead 5/5
The skeletons you get until level 15 are powerful allies in BG1. They improve with levels, and at higher levels two or three can take on an ankheg. They're also very useful against spellcasters thanks to their magic resistance. In the first portion of SOA they'll lose their usefulness until the cleric reaches level 15. The skeletal warrior he then gets, remains a powerful ally until the end of the game.
* Holy Smite 5/5
AoE spell that deals 1d4 damage (save for half) to all evil creatures within the AoE. Three of these can be sufficient for a higher level cleric to take down a dragon.
* Dispel Magic 4/5
Only useful for single class clerics (since caster level determines the likelihood of success). Bards and Inquisitors do it better, but still a potentially very powerful spell both for offensive and defensive purposes.
MID TIER:
* Call Lightning 3.5/5
AoE 2d8 electrical damage + 1d8 per level of the caster (sav for half) is very substantial. This spell would have made it into the top tier if it were castable indoors as well as outdoors.
* Remove Paralysis 3.5/5
You won't need this spell often, but when you do it'll be a life saver. It removes Stun (against which Free Action doesn't protect). Recommendable to always have one memorized (an unlucky Chromatic Orb, a Power Word: Stun, an encounter with a demon that stuns its targets; it can happen anytime).
* Miscast Magic 3.5/5
Imposing an 80% chance of miscasts upon an enemy spellcaster can be very debilitating. With a save vs spell penalty of -2, and possibly worse (with Doom / Greater Malison), this is a pretty good spell.
* Protection from Fire 3/5
Complete immunity from normal fire plus 80% protection from magical fire is a strong protection, making >100% protection very feasible (with potions or other items).
* Summon Insects 3/5
A good spell for disrupting enemy spellcasters and stripping their protections, but the level 5 spell Insect Plague does the same, and more efectively so. Thus as the game progresses Summon Insects will likely make place for the top tier level 3 spells.
* Cure Medium Wounds 3/5
There's not much wrong with this spell, but its effect (healing 14 hitpoints of damage) is insufficient to have it prevail over other more powerful level 3 spells.
* Glyph of Warding 2.5/5
Potentially very damaging. I've seen this spell called the Cleric's "Skull Trap". It has one major disadvantage compared to the mage spell though: a save negates all damage. Still, multiple Glyphs can really hurt a doomed / greater malisoned enemy.
* Invisibility Purge 2.5/5
Does what it says, with no saving throw. (It even dispels Sanctuary.) Once the Cleric has a good number of level 3 spell slots it won't harm to have one memorized (for when your part has run out of True Sights).
BOTTOM TIER:
* Rigid Thinking 2/5
A single target spell with an effect similar to that of Confusion. There is no save penalty, which means one can't reliably cast it.
* Zone of Sweet Air 2/5
As such not a bad spell at all. However the game will rarely confront you with Stinking Clouds, Cloudkills etc cast your way.
* Cure Disease 2/5
Theoretically useful in the exceptional situation that a disease is threatening a party member's life, but in that case healing will do fine (because any damage inflicted by a disease is very gradual/slow).
* Hold Animal 1.5/5
Once you get this, animals won't be a threat to your party anymore.
* Strength of One 1.5/5
The ones who need STR (your warriors) should already have it, the others shouldn't really need it.
* Remove Curse 1/5
Only worth memorizing if one of your party already has a curse, which ought to be never...
* Unholy Blight 1/5
Unless you're intent on taking on The Order of the Radiant Heart with an evil party, you won't have use for this spell.
EDIT: correction of typos