Do fire seeds work like an arrow of detonation? That is, can a high lvl warrior combine them with power attack/greater death blow to insta-kill or stun multiple enemies in one throw?
Yea they'll work for that. But each casting of the spell only gets you four of them. If you are using Cernd or a pure/dual class druid you'll have 6-7 level 6 spells by the time you'll be getting HLA's, but Jaheira for instance will have more of an issue there.
One thing you could do with them is give them to Dorn. Using Poison Weapon with them would make them a lot more interesting (and usable throughout the whole game and not just the end game). They hit as +6 weapons but they normally only get 1 attack per round. Warriors could get up to 2 attacks with them (2.5 with gauntlets of extraordinary specialization) which would mean 4-5 attacks per round with Improved Haste. Since Poison Weapon is currently lasting more than a round you could also use Greater Whirlwind with it to get 10APR once you get to the point where you are getting HLA's.
Must find room in Jaheira/Cernd's sections in my NPC guide for this...
My suggested ranking of the level 7 priest spells (I intentionally avoided reading @elminster's and others' posts, so as to avoid getting influenced.)
TOP TIER:
* Shield of the Archons 5/5 The priest's only spell protection. The shield consumes a number of spell levels equal to half of the priest's experience level. So on a level 15 priest the Shield would absorb three level 5 spells. However if the third spell cast at him would be a level 4 spell, then the priest would still have one spell level left, which would be enough to absorb one more spell of any level cast at the shielded priest before the Shield is cancelled. It has a long casting time (9) and last 3 rounds/level. The shield can be brached and doesn't protect against AoE spells. It's no Spell Trap, but still a very good protection.
* Nature's Beauty 4.5/5 Beautiful druid spell, that does its name justice. Enemies within a 5' radius must save vs. spell (at a +3 bonus) or die. This effect while welcome isn't too common, due to the bonus to the save vs. spell. What makes this spell so good is that affected creatures will be permanently blinded (until dispelled). There is no save here. Few enemies will be able to dispel blindness. It has a casting time of 6 and must be cast in close proximity to one's target, making the spell casting susceptible to interruption. Therefore I haven't rated it 5/5.
* Sunray 4.5/5 This spell, though it does some damage to 'normal' foes, is designed to destroy undead. These take 1-6 damage per level of the caster, and must save vs. spells or be destroyed. High level single class clerics have little use for this spell, since their innate Turn Undead ability will destroy undead anyway (no save). But for multis, two of those, maybe with another one from Daystar (a longsword which lets the wielder cast Sunray once a day), can clear out a room of vampires.
* Conjure Earth Elemental 4/5 This spell works very similar to the 6th level spell Conjure Fire Elemental. There is 60% chance of summoning a 12HD earth elemental, a 35% chance of getting a 16HD variant and a 5% chance of a 24HD earth elemental. Unlike the mage spell of the same name, this spell involves no risk of the summoned creature being hostile. The Earth Elememtal is more resilient than the Fire Elemental, but also occupies a higher level spell slot.
* Creeping Doom 4/5 This druid spell is very similar to the level 5 spell Insect Plague. The insects slow, damage, disrupt and panic affected targets. It has two advantages over the latter spell and one disadvantage. As to the advantages: first of all it does twice as much damage, up to 36 (which against the average mage is substantial), secondly the spell can be used against liches and other foes who are immune to spells up to level 5 such as Insect Plague. A disadvantage is that the spell lasts only half as long as Insect Plague (3 rounds vs 6 rounds), which means that its disabling effect on enemy mages isnt't as good as that of Insect Plague.
* Firestorm 4/5 Firestorm deals 2-16 fire damage +1/level of the caster for four rounds. Total damage can go up to about 100 per affected creature. The AoE nature (40 yards) can be a blessing since it may harm many enemies at the same time, and a curse if your party members are in the AoE. Only fire resistance (which unfortunately isn't that uncommon) may save its victims from the effects of this spell since there is no saving throw against it. This brings the spell into the top tier.
* Gate 4/5 This spell calls forth a powerful and highly aggressive demon. The fiend can only be hit by +3 weapons or higher, has a number of useful spells and many resistances. The creature is very difficult to control and will attack anyone (including innocent bystanders) who isn't protected from evil as per the spell. In my experience even casting PfE 10' radius on my party didn't keep me safe at all times. It's best to cast this spell in an area large enough for your party to retreat (with no commoners or other innocents), so that it will attack and quite possibly kill only your enemies. The Twisted Rune encounter comes to mind (never tried this though). The benefit of this spell as compared to the mage equivalent is a much shorter casting time.
* Greater Restoration 4/5 An excellent curative spell: it heals level and intelligence drain, heals all hitpoints, and cures afflictions of the mind as well as poisons and diseases. This is a Heal and Lesser Restoration in one. It can be cast in battle thanks to a short casting time, but a drawback is that the caster becomes fatigued after casting this spell.
MID TIER:
* Finger of Death 3.5/5 This spell kills a targeted creature if they fail to save vs. spell at a -2 penalty. If the target does save, the spell will still deal 2d8 damage +1 per level of caster (which is mediocre damage at best). I'm not too fond of 'all or (practically) nothing' spells, but targets weakened by Doom / Greater Malison must surely fear for their lives. This spell is a great improvement over Slay Living.
* Symbol: Stun 3.5/5 Functions as a trap: any creature (friend or foe) that comes comes close to the symbol will activate it and cause it to explode, after which everyone within a 30' range must save vs. spell at -4 to prevent themselves from being stunned for 1 round/level of caster. A stunned enemy is almost always a dead enemy, and the spell does impose a hefty save penalty. One has to be very careful though: unlike a thief's traps, this spell subjects not only enemies but also party members and summons to its effects.
* Earthquake 2.5/5 This spell creates 3 tremors of decreasing impact. The first one deals 6-36 damage (save vs. spell at -6 penalty for half). The second casues 6-18 damage (save vs. spell at -2 penalty for half) and the third 6-12 damage (save vs. spell for half). Affected creatures who fail their saves are knocked to the ground. It's one of not so many damaging and disabling AoE spells for the priest. The spell has two drawbacks: friendly fire (making this spell most suitable for solo players or dexterous micro-managers), and a slight chance (no idea what percentage) of causing a hostile Earth Elemental to appear. These aspects make this spell less reliable than e.g. Holy Smite for Clerics, or Insect Plague and Creeping Doom for Druids.
* Regeneration 2.5/5 Regeneration of 18 hitpoints per round for every two levels of the caster can especially at higher levels be of help in very physical fights in which taking damage is going to be unavoidable. The spell could be cast before that battle. On the other hand, one might as well quaff a healing potion every once in a while during the battle.
BOTTOM TIER:
* Holy Word 2/5 This spell works only against evil and undead creatures, including any evil party members, in a 30' radius. It causes death, stun, slow with 75% spell failure, or deafness with 50% spell failure, depending on HD. (12+ HD creatures suffer the latter effect.) The effects mentioned last for one turn (except death, which is obviously permament). There is no saving throw and the spell is insta-cast. Deafness and spellfailure are useless effects on warrior foes. The spellfailure penalties are kind of nice when dealing with spellcasters, but there are simply better ways for a priest to deal with evil and undead foes.
* Resurrection 1.5/5 Being able to resurrect a fallen comrade is nice. This spell does exactly that. However the casting time of one turn makes this spell unsuitable for casting it in battle. The Rod of Resurrection is much faster and thus better for that purpose. After a battle one might as well go to a temple, or cast a Raise Dead (preferably from a scroll so as not to take up level 5 spell slots) and heal the raised character.
Symbol: Fear 2/5 Functions as a trap: any creature (friend or foe) that comes comes close to the symbol will activate it and cause it to explode, after which everyone within a 30' range must save vs. spell at -4 to prevent fear for 2 rounds +2 rounds per 3 caster levels. Fear isn't the most convenient of status effects to inflict upon your enemies, at least much less so than Stun, and it's another 'all or nothing spell'. Still it's better than Symbol: Death (see below) thanks to the save penalty and the fact that high HP characters aren't sheltered from its effects.
* Symbol: Death 1.5/5 Functions as a trap: any creature (friend or foe) that comes comes close to the symbol will activate it and cause it to explode, after which everyone within a 30' range must save vs. death or die. Creatures with more than 60 current hit points are immune to this spell. The unpenalized save vs. death, the possibility of friendly fire and the uncertainty as to how many current hitpoints a foe might have, make this spell unworthy of memorization.
* Confusion 1/5 This is an exact copy of the level 4 arcane spell. It causes creatures in the AoE to become confused if they fail a save vs spell with no penalty. The unpenalized save is bad enough, but once attacked a victim will fight back anyway. It has a relatively long casting time of 7. The mage spell loses its usefulness soon after a mage can first cast it. When a priest finally gets this spell he'll have no use for it whatsoever.
* Unholy Word 1/5 This spell has the same effects as Holy Word (see above), except for the fact that it doesn't work against evil-aligned or undead enemies, but against good-aligned foes. Since you won't be fighting any good-aligned spellcasters (the only type of foe against whom you might have some use for this spell), there is no reason to ever memorize this spell.
So I confirmed that using Fire Seeds along with Poison Weapon will work. I'm playing with Dorn and Jaheira in my party. She makes the Fire Seeds and Dorn delivers the flammable, poisonous (poison stacks) death >:D
Would this use of Fire Seeds justify a higher rating of the same spell do you reckon? I'd say it would if this trick remains viable long enough in the game. As such I think mass poison is amazing!
Would this use of Fire Seeds justify a higher rating of the same spell do you reckon? I'd say it would if this trick remains viable long enough in the game. As such I think mass poison is amazing!
I think putting it higher than 2/5 would still be really stretching it because its usability has too many specific conditions/hurdles.
I think I'd have to try it out for myself once I have a game where I can. If you can prevent friendly fire, it can be quite devastating to a multiude of enemies.. Unless things have changed in BGEE, at 15th level poison does 42 damage over 14 seconds (Save for 12 damage over 4 seconds), and the enemy must Save vs. Death or be slowed for 30 secs.
I think I'd have to try it out for myself once I have a game where I can. If you can prevent friendly fire, it can be quite devastating to a multiude of enemies.. Unless things have changed in BGEE, at 15th level poison does 42 damage over 14 seconds (Save for 12 damage over 4 seconds), and the enemy must Save vs. Death or be slowed for 30 secs.
Its always done the same amount regardless of a characters level. The file that gets referenced (SPCL422.SPL) for poison weapon increasing was never actually used in the game (though it does still exist in the game files).
The file that determines poison damage for both assassins and blackguards Poison Weapon is SPCL422A.EFF. The poison itself is 2 damage/second for 1 round, but the Poison Weapon ability (your ability to poison) stays active for 5 rounds. There is also a secondary poisoning I believe (which is determined by SPCL422.EFF).
Ah that's slightly disappointing. At higher levels foes will obviously have much higher hitpoints. So the Assassin not only suffers from a decrease in effectiveness of his backstabs as more backstab-immune foes enter the stage later in the game, but also a relatively less effective poison weapon ability...
True but you can make up for that by being a bit creative.
Think of it like this. Poison Weapon means you do 12 poison damage/round every hit. So with the Tuigan Bow and Improved Haste you can get 6APR with an assassin. If you were to have every one of your attacks hit that would mean you would do 72 poison damage to that one target. Of course you aren't likely to hit every time but you could still do a fair bit of damage. Also it bypasses Mirror Images and Stoneskin.
But back on topic I realized after making my level 7 list that while Holy Word will slow and cause spell disruption on the underdark Elder Orb and Gauths, it won't work at all on Kuo-Toa or Beholders (they are both immune to slow). Since it was already not useful at all against undead I guess I'd have to reduce its rating to what you have it at.
Good point @elminster, with enough APR poison can still be killing. One thing: does one poisonous hit take away one layer of stoneskin/MI for every point of damage inflicted by the poison? Hm nevermind, I'll try this out myself. Am currently playing a charname whith poison ability after all.
As to Holy Word, and also your other comments, I shall make a consolidated list later, in about 3-4 hours I hope. Basically it'll be just merging your comments and mine, because this time less people have commented.
Ok the stoneskin/MI remains as it its, but the poison damage is dealt anyway. Thanks @SionIV
It's the reason the dagger of venom/poison is so good. You won't be removing their protections, but the poison damage will prevent them from casting, shutting down any offensive abilities they have while you take your time to remove the protections.
Below you can find a consolidated ranking of the divine level 7 spells (a combination of @elminster's and my ranking).
TOP TIER:
* Firestorm 4.5/5 Firestorm deals 2-16 fire damage +1/level of the caster for four rounds. Total damage can go up to about 100 per affected creature. The AoE nature (40 yards) can be a blessing since it may harm many enemies at the same time, and a curse if your party members are in the AoE. Only fire resistance (which unfortunately isn't that uncommon) may save its victims from the effects of this spell since there it bypasses magic resistance and there's no saving throw against it. This brings the spell into the top tier.
* Nature's Beauty 4.5/5 Beautiful druid spell, that does its name justice. Enemies within a 5' radius must save vs. spell (at a +3 bonus) or die. This effect while welcome isn't too common, due to the bonus to the save vs. spell. What makes this spell so good is that affected creatures will be permanently blinded (until dispelled), provided it gets through any magic resistance. There is no save. Few enemies are immune to / will be able to dispel blindness. It has a casting time of 6 and must be cast in close proximity to one's target, making its casting susceptible to interruption. The good thing however, is that casting the spell doesn't break invisibility. So you can use Pixie Dust (or some other means of invisibility), walk right up to an a bunch of enemies (assuming they can't see you/don't cast True Sight) and they will be blinded (or dead).
* Shield of the Archons 4.5/5 The priest's only spell protection. The shield consumes a number of spell levels equal to half of the priest's experience level. So on a level 15 priest the Shield would absorb three level 5 spells. However if the third spell cast at him would be a level 4 spell, then the priest would still have one spell level left, which would be enough to absorb one more spell of any level cast at the shielded priest before the Shield is cancelled. It has a long casting time (9) and last 3 rounds/level. Contrary to its description the Shield doesn't protect against Remove/Dispel Magic. That is to say: Remove/Dispel Magic won't dispel the Shield itself, but they will dispel any other magical protections the priest might have in place (Armour of Faith, Ironskins etc). The shield can be breached and doesn't protect against AoE spells. It's no Spell Trap, but still a very good protection.
* Sunray 4.5/5 This spell, though it does some damage to 'normal' foes, is designed to destroy undead. These take 1-6 damage per level of the caster, and must save vs. spells or be destroyed. High level single class clerics have little use for this spell, since their innate Turn Undead ability will destroy undead anyway (no save). But for multis, two of those, maybe with another one from Daystar (a longsword which lets the wielder cast a level 10 version of Sunray once a day), can clear out a room of vampires.
* Conjure Earth Elemental 4/5 This spell works very similar to the 6th level spell Conjure Fire Elemental. There is 60% chance of summoning a 12HD earth elemental, a 35% chance of getting a 16HD variant and a 5% chance of a 24HD earth elemental. Unlike the mage spell of the same name, this spell involves no risk of the summoned creature being hostile. The Earth Elememtal is more resilient than the Fire Elemental, but also occupies a higher level spell slot.
* Creeping Doom 4/5 This druid spell is very similar to the level 5 spell Insect Plague. The insects slow, damage, disrupt and panic affected targets. It has two advantages over the latter spell and one disadvantage. As to the advantages. First of all it does twice as much damage, up to 36 (which against the average mage is substantial) twice as fast. This allows for a quick stripping of any Stoneskins or Mirror Images on mages. Secondly the spell can be used against liches and other foes who are immune to spells up to level 5 such as Insect Plague. A disadvantage is that the spell lasts only half as long as Insect Plague (3 rounds vs 6 rounds), which means that its disabling effect on enemy mages isnt't as good as that of Insect Plague. Creeping Doom also suffers some heavy competition from other level 7 druid spells, so that it might be recommendable to use Insect Plague instead.
* Gate 4/5 This spell calls forth a powerful and highly aggressive demon. The Pit Fiend is immune to +2 and lower weapons, has 50% magic resistance, 100% fire resistance, is immune to poison, charm, feeblemind, confusion, polymorph and panic, regenerates at a rate of 2hp/round, hits as though it was a +4 weapon, has invisibility detection by script, and can cast a number of useful spells. The creature is very difficult to control and will attack anyone (including innocent bystanders) who isn't protected from evil as per the spell. Even casting PfE 10' radius on your party may not keep you safe at all times. It's best to cast this spell in an area with no commoners or other innocents, and large enough for your party to retreat, so that it will attack and quite possibly kill only your enemies. The Twisted Rune encounter comes to mind.
* Greater Restoration 4/5 An excellent curative spell: it heals level and intelligence drain, heals all hitpoints, and cures afflictions of the mind (feeblemind, panic, confusion) as well as poisons and diseases. The spell doesn't remove blindness, hold and stun though. This is a Heal and Lesser Restoration in one. It can be cast in battle thanks to a short casting time, but a drawback is that the caster becomes fatigued after casting this spell.
MID TIER:
* Earthquake 3.5/5 This spell creates 3 tremors of decreasing impact. The first one deals 6-36 damage (save vs. spell at -6 penalty for half). The second casues 6-18 damage (save vs. spell at -2 penalty for half) and the third 6-12 damage (save vs. spell for half). Affected creatures who fail their saves are knocked to the ground by the first quake, after which your party can close in on their foes to attack. It's one of not so many damaging and disabling AoE spells for the priest. The spell has a few drawbacks. First there's friendly fire, making this spell most suitable for solo players or dexterous micro-managers. However casting Chaotic Commands on your party members will prevent the possible knockout effect on them. A second drawback is that the spell doesn't bypass magic resistance. And thirdly there's a slight chance (2%) of causing a hostile Earth Elemental to appear. These aspects make this spell less reliable than e.g. Holy Smite for Clerics, or Insect Plague and Creeping Doom for Druids. Still, it's a fine spell.
* Finger of Death 3.5/5 This spell kills a targeted creature if they fail to save vs. spell at a -2 penalty. If the target does save, the spell will still deal 2d8 damage +1 per level of caster (which is mediocre damage at best). I'm not too fond of 'all or (practically) nothing' spells, but targets weakened by Doom / Greater Malison must surely fear for their lives. This spell is a great improvement over Slay Living.
* Regeneration 3.5/5 Regeneration of 18 hitpoints per round for every two levels of the caster can especially at higher levels be of help in very physical fights in which taking damage is going to be unavoidable. The spell could be cast before that battle. On the other hand, one might as well quaff a healing potion every once in a while during the battle. Nevertheless 18 health/round regeneration is by far the best regeneration obtainable in the game.
* Symbol: Stun 3.5/5 Functions as a trap: any creature (friend or foe) that comes comes close to the symbol will activate it and cause it to explode, after which everyone within a 30' range must save vs. spell at -4 to prevent themselves from being stunned for 1 round/level of caster. A stunned enemy is almost always a dead enemy, and the spell does impose a hefty save penalty so it can be pretty good for disabling a number of enemies in a group, especially if your priest is able to cast more than one of them. One has to be very careful though: unlike a thief's traps, this spell subjects not only enemies but also party members and summons to its effects. The fact that this spell doesn't bypass magic resistance is another drawback (especially in TOB).
* Symbol: Fear 2.5/5 Functions as a trap: any creature (friend or foe) that comes comes close to the symbol will activate it and cause it to explode, after which everyone within a 30' range must save vs. spell at -4 to prevent fear for 2 rounds +2 rounds per 3 caster levels. Unfortunately this is another 'all or nothing spell' (notwithstanding the save penalty). Fear isn't the most convenient of status effects to inflict upon your enemies, at least much less so than Stun, so unless the Fear effect would more likely to catch on than the Stun effect, Symbol: Stun would be the more useful of these two Symbol spells. Still it's better than Symbol: Death (see below) thanks to the save penalty and the fact that high HP characters aren't sheltered from its effects.
BOTTOM TIER:
* Holy Word 2/5 This spell works only against evil and undead creatures, including any evil party members, in a 30' radius. It causes (i) death, (ii) stun, (iii) slow with 75% spell failure, or (iv) deafness with 50% spell failure, depending on HD. (12+ HD creatures suffer the latter effect.) The effects mentioned last for one turn (except death, which is obviously permament). Deafness and spellfailure are useless effects on warrior foes, but the spellfailure penalties are kind of nice when dealing with spellcasters. Chances are this spell can be used to slow (and where applicable cause the 75% spell failure penalty) on Drow, Shadows, Fiends, Demons, Nabassus, Tan'ari, Gauths and the underdark Elder Orb. The slow effect won't work on Kuo-Toa or Beholders though, since they are immune to slow. The spell is insta-cast and there is no saving throw against it, it doesn't bypass magic resistance, making its usability on a practical level much less than it really ought to be.
* Resurrection 2/5 Being able to resurrect a fallen comrade is nice. This spell does exactly that. However the casting time of one turn makes this spell unsuitable for casting it in battle. The Rod of Resurrection is much faster and thus better for that purpose. After a battle one might as well go to a temple, or cast a Raise Dead (preferably from a scroll so as not to take up level 5 spell slots) and heal the raised character. For a quick heal Greater Restoration is beter due to its much shorter casting time.
* Symbol: Death 1.5/5 Functions as a trap: any creature (friend or foe) that comes comes close to the symbol will activate it and cause it to explode, after which everyone within a 30' range must save vs. death or die. Creatures with more than 60 current hit points are immune to this spell. The unpenalized save vs. death, the possibility of friendly fire and the uncertainty as to how many current hitpoints a foe might have, make this spell unworthy of memorization.
* Unholy Word 1.5/5 This spell has the same effects as Holy Word (see above), except for the fact that it doesn't work against evil-aligned or undead enemies, but against good-aligned foes. Since you won't be fighting any good-aligned spellcasters (the only type of foe against whom you might have some use for this spell), there is no reason to ever memorize this spell. And even if you should want to use an AoE spell against good-aligned foes, Unholy Blight would likely be more effective.
* Confusion 1/5 This is an exact copy of the level 4 arcane spell. It causes creatures in the AoE to become confused if they fail a save vs spell with no penalty. The unpenalized save is bad enough, but once attacked a victim will fight back anyway. It has a relatively long casting time of 7. The mage spell loses its usefulness soon after a mage can first cast it. When a priest finally gets this spell he'll have no use for it whatsoever.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Note: Note: spells that have the same rating are categorizd alphabetically rather than hierarchically. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This leaves only the Quest level priest spells open for discussion: Aura of Flaming Death, Elemental Summoning, Globe of Blades, Greater Elemental Summoning, Implosion, Mass Raise Dead, Storm of Vengeance, Summon Deva, Summon Fallen Deva.
I'm looking forward to your input, mine will follow tomorrow.
Storm of Vengeance looks less than stellar in paper, but is amazing for disrupting spell casters. It bypasses magic resistance, does damage from multiple sources, and spell protections won't protect against it. 4/5
Implosion is a nice damage dealer, bypasses magic resistance and holds the target for a round with no save. What's there not to like? 4/5
Energy blades give the cleric an excellent ranged attack. 4/5 It is strange that the electrical damage is subject to magic resistance, though. Melf's minute meteors fire damage bypass mr. Then again melf's meteors is a horribly broken spell that begs to be nerfed IMHO. 4/5
Summon Deva (5/5) - Is it as good as a planatar? Nope. But what it is is a fantastic summon. Its immune to poison, petrification, level drain, charm, confusion, slay, and feeblemind. As a gated creature it also can't be removed by the Death spell. It regenerates at 2hp/round, is immune to normal and +1 weapons, hits as though it had a +3 weapon, does 3d6+3 damage, has 19 strength, and its hits have both a stun effect (fail to save vs spell and be stunned for a round) as well as a check for undead to save vs death (at -4) or be destroyed. It attacks with 2 APR as well.
Finally its 100% resistant to fire, cold and electricity and 70% resistant to magic. It also has 10% for each of the physical damage resistances. Overall its just fantastic.
Summon Fallen Deva (5/5) - Unlike the planatars (which do differ) the Fallen Deva is literally the exact same thing from a stats standpoint as Deva except it's evil and an anti-solar (as a race) rather than a solar. In BG2EE the spells it has (and their quantities) are the exactly the same. All its stats, immunities, and resistances are the same. Its weapon is the same. Its attacks per round is the same. Etc. The only thing is that it can get hit by a Holy Smite...but otherwise its a fantastic spell.
Greater Elemental Summoning (5/5) - Honestly their duration could be a lot better and their immunities aren't always as good as the Deva's (in some cases they are comparable) but they give a good run at it and I can't fault them at all. Their main advantage over the deva's is that they are far more versatile but either way they simply blow the alternative summons you can get at level 7 (I mean other than the deva's) out of the water so they are always a good choice. Since you can have both an elemental prince and a Deva active at the same time (unlike a Fallen Deva and a Deva) you really don't lose out in taking both. Chan and Sunnis in particular are potentially better overall at fighting (higher health, lower thac0, generally better stats and better damage) compared to the Deva's but the Deva's can cast more spells and kill undead with no effort involved. The big thing I like about the elemental princes is that they all have dispel on hit.
What follows is a description of the different immunities/abilities/relevant stats of each elemental prince.
Zaaman Rul is immune to hold, stun, poison, and petrification. He has 60% magic resistance and 125% fire resistance. He is also immune to +2 or lower weapons. He has 19 strength, 2 APR, does 1d6 crushing (3d10 fire) damage, hits as a +3 weapon, and his attacks dispel magic on hit. He has 2 castings of flame strike available and has a permanent fireshield (red) active. Of the elemental princes he has the lowest health, the highest AC, and the least APR (2).
Chan is immune to poison. He has 85% resistance to magic, 70% resistance to cold, 40% resistance to acid, and 100% resistance to electricity. He is also immune to +2 or lower weapons. He has 19 strength, 3 APR, does 1d6 crushing (2d10 electricity) damage, hits as a +3 weapon, and his attacks dispel on hit. He has two castings of a spell called "Whirlwind" which isn't actually the warrior HLA but rather an ability that does 1d8 damage (no save), knocks out a target for 3 seconds (-10 penalty to save vs spell against it), and hits them with a wing buffet (no save). He also has a permanent Globe of Blades active, which due to his large size actually makes working with him to be kind of a pain. Still, of all the elemental summons he has the second lowest AC, the second highest health, and is tied with the highest APR. Also despite what it might say elsewhere he is not evil in BG2EE (so no need to watch the Holy Smites) but rather he is neutral good (all three of the princes are neutral good).
Sunnis is immune to hold, stun, petrification, and poison. He has 70% magic resistance, 75% fire resistance, 40% cold resistance and 40% acid resistance. He is also immune to +2 or lower weapons. He has 24 strength, 3 APR, does 3d12 crushing damage, hits as a +3 weapon, and his attacks dispel on hit. He gets 2 instant castings of an "Earthquake" spell that knocks out only enemies for 2 rounds (unless they make a -6 save vs spell). He also regularly will give himself a Stoneskin (this is scripted not a spell he has). Of all the elemental summons he has the lowest AC, the highest health (230), and is tied with the highest APR (3).
Storm of Vengeance (4.5/5) - the damage won't bypass magic resistance however it is still effective for disrupting spellcasting. What really makes it stand out (besides the multiple types of elemental damage it does) is its poison. If an enemy fails their save vs death (on the first round only) it does 4 damage/second for 18 seconds. Its the reason I would give it a rating higher than Creeping Doom.
Mass Raise Dead (4/5) - Normally you'd think a spell like Mass Raise Dead would be useful for raising the dead. Its really not. But with a casting time of 2 what it is fantastic for is mass healing. 3d10+1 (per caster level) is a great amount of healing. That means at caster level 20 you'd heal 23-50 health.
Implosion (4/5) - bypasses magic resistance and gives a nice stun effect. Also the damage potentially can be pretty amazing if the enemy fails their save (and even if they don't it still is very good damage).
Energy Blades (4/5) - Its a quick casting spell and you get lots of attacks with it. I really can't fault it for what it is.
Mid Tier
Globe of Blades (3.5/5) - Keep your party members and summons out of the range of its damage and watch it cut down enemies. An enemy that fails their saving throw against it is going to take a sizable health loss. It will work a lot better if you can get a Greater Malison to work against your enemies.
Elemental Summoning (3/5) - In my book you are better off learning Earth Elemental over this because while its less likely that you'll get an Earth Elemental summon with as much health the Thac0, strength, damage, attacks per round, and saving throws won't be any different. If you are looking for quantity and quality, at the expense of duration, feel free to take this. Otherwise stick with Earth Elemental (or fire elemental if you don't mind boosting their strength).
Technically these aren't spells (rather they are abilities) but you do select them at the same time you select these quest spells so I'll include them.
Earth Elemental transformation (3/5) - 2d10 crushing damage, 2 APR attacking as a +4 weapon, low Thac0 and 20 strength make it an adequate transformation, but nothing special. Still, if you are a shapeshifter in particular it probably won't hurt to take a look at this.
Fire Elemental Transformation (2.5/5) - The fire resistance it grants is nice. It only has 1 APR and 1d10 crushing (plus 1d10 fire) damage. On a plus side it gives 23 strength. Still I'd probably stick with the Earth Elemental form.
Low Tier
Aura of Flaming Death (2/5) - the fire damage is nice but its duration is unacceptable given what it actually does (1 round every 2 levels).
Protection from normal weapons isn't all that great and the fire resistance and AC can be replicated elsewhere. I'm being generous with a 2.
Edited: to expand on a few things like Sunnis giving himself stoneskin.
The game has ice and water elementals, but why arent they summonable?
I would rate Storm of Vengenance a 3/5. The damage seems pitiful at level 7 compare with Firestorm and I rarely use Firestorm. By the time you get it, most enemies would make their saves and avoid the poison.
The only water elementals you run into are static ones in the Underdark, IIRC @bbear. And I don't remember any ice elementals, just ice salamanders and the ice form of the Chromatic Demon in WK.
As for Storm of Vengeance - it's party friendly and has multiple damage types which will help avoid resistances and bypass stoneskin.
honestly id give protection from normal weapons a 1 seeing as its only really going to be a choice for npcs and even then its still a bad one. That is if I remember correctly that charname gets it in hell as natural power.
I think Elminsters right with 4.5 for the storm its a decent spell
also ive always wondered the same thing as bbear as to why cant you summon or transform into those elementals you also cant turn into air elementals which sucks
Here's my ranking. Again I deliberately avoided reading other's inpit, so as to give an unbiased view.
TOP TIER:
* Greater Elemental Summoning 5/5 This is the Druid's best summoning spell. Casting it, summons forth a Prince of Air, Fire or Earth. All of them are are beasts in battle. They are level 20, have 160 base hitpoints, 50% magic resistance, good saving throws, the innate ability to see through invisiility, +3 fist attacks that dispel upon hit, and a number of feats specific for each category (Air, Earth or Fire). Generally speaking, if I had to pick a fevourite it would be the Prince of Earth, due to his massive 23 STR, but the druid can't choose which of the three he summons forth. Unlike other summons the Princes can't be dispatched with a mage's Death Spell.
* Summon Deva 5/5 The best summons for Clerics. Devas have fantastic stats, regeneration, great health, AC, and magic/elemental resistances, and various more or less useful spells. Their weapon is the Mace of Disruption +2, which is great against undead (though there aren't many of those in the final part of SoA or in TOB). They can only be hit by weapons of +3 or higher enchantment and they can't be slain by Death Spell or other spells with instant death effect. Paladins get this one as a HLA.
* Implosion 4.5/5 This spell does 10D10 fire damage and 10D10 crushing damage (against which few enemies are resistant). It holds the spell's target during 1 round. Successful save vs. spell halves damage, but there is no save against the Hold effect. The spell bypasses magic resistance, so all in all a very reliable damage dealing spell.
* Storm of Vengeance 4.5/5 A party-friendly AoE damage spell. It lasts for 3 rounds, during each of which the victims suffer 1D6 electrical, 1D6 fire and 1D6 acid damage (save vs. spell for half). There is also a chance of poisoning them in the first round (4 damage/second), but a save vs. death negates that effect. Potentially very damaging to many different foes at the same time, up to 54 damage plus possible poison damage. But what's even better is that the different types of elemental damage are likely to neutralize multiple spellcasters at the same time (since it is improbable that they are fully resistant to all three elemental damage types). Warrior types can move in and finish the affected enemy spellcasters. Druids already have Insect Plague and Creeping Doom, so for them this spell is less appealing than for clerics.
* Summon Fallen Deva 4.5/5 The Fallen Deva is virtually the same as the Deva, except that it gets two extra Globe of Blades and Cure Serious Wounds, and that it's evil. The latter characteristic make it susceptible to Holy Smites, so that your cleric can't cast those spells with a Fallen Deva around. For this reason, the spell gets a 4.5/5 rather than a 5/5.
* Energy Blades 4/5 Per level of the caster this spell creates 1 'energy disc' which does 1D4+5 missile damage + 1D10 electrical damage. They are thrown at supernatural speed, 9 APR, and at +10 Thac0 bonus. An eligible target (i.e. a target that hasn't just protected itself against Magical Weapons, against the Elements etc as per the mage spell), is likely to suffer a lot of damage in a short time and won't be able to cast any spells except perhaps for triggers, due to the rate at which the discs come flying in.
MID TIER:
* Aura of Flaming Death 3/5 90% fire resistance, a +4 AC bonus, immunity to all non magical weapons and dealing 2D10+2 fire to any attacker within a 5' radius all sound like nice perks but you only get this spell around late SoA. Admittedly +4 AC is signficant but late game AC is becoming less important than damage mitigation, and most enemies will be hitting with enchanted weapons anyway. Besides in the rare occasion that one needs fire resistance, potions and gear would do the job. The fire sphere could be of use not so much in mage-fights unless you manage to close in on the mages, but rather in physical fights with non-resistant enemies such as undead (but not dragons, demons or other fire-resistant creatures). The duration of this spell (1 round per two levels) isn't great either. Due to the availability of more useful, less situational spells, Aura of Flaming Death is mid tier at best.
* Globe of Blades 3/5 This is an upgraded version of the level 6 spell Blade Barrier, dealing a massive 10D10 damage to any creature entering the touched by the globe. There are some drawbacks though. First, note that 'any creature' means that friendly fire (pissing off Devas, summons etc) is possible here. Second, affected creature have a save vs. spell at -2 to avoid all damage, so that this spell is best relied upon when combined with Doom / Greater Malison. Third, the spell only lasts one turn. Fourth, Devas and Planetars can cast this spell, so you might as well use them for it and save yourself a spell slot.
BOTTOM TIER:
* Elemental Summoning 2/5 A 90% chance of summoning 2 16HD elementals choosen randomly between Air, Earth and Fire and a 10% chances of summoning Elemental Princes (see above, at Greater Elemental Summoning). As such this isn't a bad spell, but there are clearly better Quest level summons: the (Fallen) Devas for cleric and the Greater Elementals for Druids. Druids need to pick this to gain access to Greater Elemental Summoning.
* Mass Rais Dead 2/5 This spell raises up to five dead party members and heals each of them with 3D10 +1 hit points per level of caster. This spell is only useful in horror scenarios you'll want to avoid. I'm too optmistic to memorize it preventively. Maybe after a hard-earned victory with multiple casualties in your party, your priest can memorize this, rest and cast it after having rested.
EDIT: Included Energy Blades, which I had initially forgotten about (even though it's not a bad spell at all).
The game has ice and water elementals, but why arent they summonable?
Yea it would be awesome if you could summon water elementals. I'm sure they would be similar to the other elementals stats wise but the option would be nice
The water elemental prince is at Abazigal's dungeon. The ice elemental prince is at the battle with Amelissyan. The game arts are there and they can expand them to include the normal and lesser elementals.
The water elemental prince is at Abazigal's dungeon. The ice elemental prince is at the battle with Amelissyan. The game arts are there and they can expand them to include the normal and lesser elementals.
Looks like the prince of ice is Cryonax and water's is Olhydra.
@bbear and @elminster - I honestly never took enough time to see who they were or what they were called before. Both share art assets - Olhydra with the Underdark water elementals and Cryonax with the Chromatic Demon's ice form.
Thank you for this great discussion. So many insights. Just to have it in the future I will summarize it all (Unfortunately I couldn't link each level to the original comment):
LEVEL 1:
TOP TIER:
** Remove Fear 5/5
** Sanctuary 5/5
* Armor of Faith 4.5/5
* Doom 4.5/5 (when casting is 1)
Comments
One thing you could do with them is give them to Dorn. Using Poison Weapon with them would make them a lot more interesting (and usable throughout the whole game and not just the end game). They hit as +6 weapons but they normally only get 1 attack per round. Warriors could get up to 2 attacks with them (2.5 with gauntlets of extraordinary specialization) which would mean 4-5 attacks per round with Improved Haste. Since Poison Weapon is currently lasting more than a round you could also use Greater Whirlwind with it to get 10APR once you get to the point where you are getting HLA's.
Must find room in Jaheira/Cernd's sections in my NPC guide for this...
TOP TIER:
* Shield of the Archons 5/5
The priest's only spell protection. The shield consumes a number of spell levels equal to half of the priest's experience level. So on a level 15 priest the Shield would absorb three level 5 spells. However if the third spell cast at him would be a level 4 spell, then the priest would still have one spell level left, which would be enough to absorb one more spell of any level cast at the shielded priest before the Shield is cancelled. It has a long casting time (9) and last 3 rounds/level. The shield can be brached and doesn't protect against AoE spells. It's no Spell Trap, but still a very good protection.
* Nature's Beauty 4.5/5
Beautiful druid spell, that does its name justice. Enemies within a 5' radius must save vs. spell (at a +3 bonus) or die. This effect while welcome isn't too common, due to the bonus to the save vs. spell. What makes this spell so good is that affected creatures will be permanently blinded (until dispelled). There is no save here. Few enemies will be able to dispel blindness. It has a casting time of 6 and must be cast in close proximity to one's target, making the spell casting susceptible to interruption. Therefore I haven't rated it 5/5.
* Sunray 4.5/5
This spell, though it does some damage to 'normal' foes, is designed to destroy undead. These take 1-6 damage per level of the caster, and must save vs. spells or be destroyed. High level single class clerics have little use for this spell, since their innate Turn Undead ability will destroy undead anyway (no save). But for multis, two of those, maybe with another one from Daystar (a longsword which lets the wielder cast Sunray once a day), can clear out a room of vampires.
* Conjure Earth Elemental 4/5
This spell works very similar to the 6th level spell Conjure Fire Elemental. There is 60% chance of summoning a 12HD earth elemental, a 35% chance of getting a 16HD variant and a 5% chance of a 24HD earth elemental. Unlike the mage spell of the same name, this spell involves no risk of the summoned creature being hostile. The Earth Elememtal is more resilient than the Fire Elemental, but also occupies a higher level spell slot.
* Creeping Doom 4/5
This druid spell is very similar to the level 5 spell Insect Plague. The insects slow, damage, disrupt and panic affected targets. It has two advantages over the latter spell and one disadvantage. As to the advantages: first of all it does twice as much damage, up to 36 (which against the average mage is substantial), secondly the spell can be used against liches and other foes who are immune to spells up to level 5 such as Insect Plague. A disadvantage is that the spell lasts only half as long as Insect Plague (3 rounds vs 6 rounds), which means that its disabling effect on enemy mages isnt't as good as that of Insect Plague.
* Firestorm 4/5
Firestorm deals 2-16 fire damage +1/level of the caster for four rounds. Total damage can go up to about 100 per affected creature. The AoE nature (40 yards) can be a blessing since it may harm many enemies at the same time, and a curse if your party members are in the AoE. Only fire resistance (which unfortunately isn't that uncommon) may save its victims from the effects of this spell since there is no saving throw against it. This brings the spell into the top tier.
* Gate 4/5
This spell calls forth a powerful and highly aggressive demon. The fiend can only be hit by +3 weapons or higher, has a number of useful spells and many resistances. The creature is very difficult to control and will attack anyone (including innocent bystanders) who isn't protected from evil as per the spell. In my experience even casting PfE 10' radius on my party didn't keep me safe at all times. It's best to cast this spell in an area large enough for your party to retreat (with no commoners or other innocents), so that it will attack and quite possibly kill only your enemies. The Twisted Rune encounter comes to mind (never tried this though).
The benefit of this spell as compared to the mage equivalent is a much shorter casting time.
* Greater Restoration 4/5
An excellent curative spell: it heals level and intelligence drain, heals all hitpoints, and cures afflictions of the mind as well as poisons and diseases. This is a Heal and Lesser Restoration in one. It can be cast in battle thanks to a short casting time, but a drawback is that the caster becomes fatigued after casting this spell.
MID TIER:
* Finger of Death 3.5/5
This spell kills a targeted creature if they fail to save vs. spell at a -2 penalty. If the target does save, the spell will still deal 2d8 damage +1 per level of caster (which is mediocre damage at best). I'm not too fond of 'all or (practically) nothing' spells, but targets weakened by Doom / Greater Malison must surely fear for their lives. This spell is a great improvement over Slay Living.
* Symbol: Stun 3.5/5
Functions as a trap: any creature (friend or foe) that comes comes close to the symbol will activate it and cause it to explode, after which everyone within a 30' range must save vs. spell at -4 to prevent themselves from being stunned for 1 round/level of caster. A stunned enemy is almost always a dead enemy, and the spell does impose a hefty save penalty. One has to be very careful though: unlike a thief's traps, this spell subjects not only enemies but also party members and summons to its effects.
* Earthquake 2.5/5
This spell creates 3 tremors of decreasing impact. The first one deals 6-36 damage (save vs. spell at -6 penalty for half). The second casues 6-18 damage (save vs. spell at -2 penalty for half) and the third 6-12 damage (save vs. spell for half). Affected creatures who fail their saves are knocked to the ground. It's one of not so many damaging and disabling AoE spells for the priest. The spell has two drawbacks: friendly fire (making this spell most suitable for solo players or dexterous micro-managers), and a slight chance (no idea what percentage) of causing a hostile Earth Elemental to appear. These aspects make this spell less reliable than e.g. Holy Smite for Clerics, or Insect Plague and Creeping Doom for Druids.
* Regeneration 2.5/5
Regeneration of 18 hitpoints per round for every two levels of the caster can especially at higher levels be of help in very physical fights in which taking damage is going to be unavoidable. The spell could be cast before that battle. On the other hand, one might as well quaff a healing potion every once in a while during the battle.
BOTTOM TIER:
* Holy Word 2/5
This spell works only against evil and undead creatures, including any evil party members, in a 30' radius. It causes death, stun, slow with 75% spell failure, or deafness with 50% spell failure, depending on HD. (12+ HD creatures suffer the latter effect.) The effects mentioned last for one turn (except death, which is obviously permament). There is no saving throw and the spell is insta-cast. Deafness and spellfailure are useless effects on warrior foes. The spellfailure penalties are kind of nice when dealing with spellcasters, but there are simply better ways for a priest to deal with evil and undead foes.
* Resurrection 1.5/5
Being able to resurrect a fallen comrade is nice. This spell does exactly that. However the casting time of one turn makes this spell unsuitable for casting it in battle. The Rod of Resurrection is much faster and thus better for that purpose. After a battle one might as well go to a temple, or cast a Raise Dead (preferably from a scroll so as not to take up level 5 spell slots) and heal the raised character.
Symbol: Fear 2/5
Functions as a trap: any creature (friend or foe) that comes comes close to the symbol will activate it and cause it to explode, after which everyone within a 30' range must save vs. spell at -4 to prevent fear for 2 rounds +2 rounds per 3 caster levels. Fear isn't the most convenient of status effects to inflict upon your enemies, at least much less so than Stun, and it's another 'all or nothing spell'. Still it's better than Symbol: Death (see below) thanks to the save penalty and the fact that high HP characters aren't sheltered from its effects.
* Symbol: Death 1.5/5
Functions as a trap: any creature (friend or foe) that comes comes close to the symbol will activate it and cause it to explode, after which everyone within a 30' range must save vs. death or die. Creatures with more than 60 current hit points are immune to this spell. The unpenalized save vs. death, the possibility of friendly fire and the uncertainty as to how many current hitpoints a foe might have, make this spell unworthy of memorization.
* Confusion 1/5
This is an exact copy of the level 4 arcane spell. It causes creatures in the AoE to become confused if they fail a save vs spell with no penalty. The unpenalized save is bad enough, but once attacked a victim will fight back anyway. It has a relatively long casting time of 7. The mage spell loses its usefulness soon after a mage can first cast it. When a priest finally gets this spell he'll have no use for it whatsoever.
* Unholy Word 1/5
This spell has the same effects as Holy Word (see above), except for the fact that it doesn't work against evil-aligned or undead enemies, but against good-aligned foes. Since you won't be fighting any good-aligned spellcasters (the only type of foe against whom you might have some use for this spell), there is no reason to ever memorize this spell.
The file that determines poison damage for both assassins and blackguards Poison Weapon is SPCL422A.EFF. The poison itself is 2 damage/second for 1 round, but the Poison Weapon ability (your ability to poison) stays active for 5 rounds. There is also a secondary poisoning I believe (which is determined by SPCL422.EFF).
Think of it like this. Poison Weapon means you do 12 poison damage/round every hit. So with the Tuigan Bow and Improved Haste you can get 6APR with an assassin. If you were to have every one of your attacks hit that would mean you would do 72 poison damage to that one target. Of course you aren't likely to hit every time but you could still do a fair bit of damage. Also it bypasses Mirror Images and Stoneskin.
But back on topic I realized after making my level 7 list that while Holy Word will slow and cause spell disruption on the underdark Elder Orb and Gauths, it won't work at all on Kuo-Toa or Beholders (they are both immune to slow). Since it was already not useful at all against undead I guess I'd have to reduce its rating to what you have it at.
One thing: does one poisonous hit take away one layer of stoneskin/MI for every point of damage inflicted by the poison? Hm nevermind, I'll try this out myself. Am currently playing a charname whith poison ability after all.
As to Holy Word, and also your other comments, I shall make a consolidated list later, in about 3-4 hours I hope. Basically it'll be just merging your comments and mine, because this time less people have commented.
TOP TIER:
* Firestorm 4.5/5
Firestorm deals 2-16 fire damage +1/level of the caster for four rounds. Total damage can go up to about 100 per affected creature. The AoE nature (40 yards) can be a blessing since it may harm many enemies at the same time, and a curse if your party members are in the AoE. Only fire resistance (which unfortunately isn't that uncommon) may save its victims from the effects of this spell since there it bypasses magic resistance and there's no saving throw against it. This brings the spell into the top tier.
* Nature's Beauty 4.5/5
Beautiful druid spell, that does its name justice. Enemies within a 5' radius must save vs. spell (at a +3 bonus) or die. This effect while welcome isn't too common, due to the bonus to the save vs. spell. What makes this spell so good is that affected creatures will be permanently blinded (until dispelled), provided it gets through any magic resistance. There is no save. Few enemies are immune to / will be able to dispel blindness. It has a casting time of 6 and must be cast in close proximity to one's target, making its casting susceptible to interruption. The good thing however, is that casting the spell doesn't break invisibility. So you can use Pixie Dust (or some other means of invisibility), walk right up to an a bunch of enemies (assuming they can't see you/don't cast True Sight) and they will be blinded (or dead).
* Shield of the Archons 4.5/5
The priest's only spell protection. The shield consumes a number of spell levels equal to half of the priest's experience level. So on a level 15 priest the Shield would absorb three level 5 spells. However if the third spell cast at him would be a level 4 spell, then the priest would still have one spell level left, which would be enough to absorb one more spell of any level cast at the shielded priest before the Shield is cancelled. It has a long casting time (9) and last 3 rounds/level. Contrary to its description the Shield doesn't protect against Remove/Dispel Magic. That is to say: Remove/Dispel Magic won't dispel the Shield itself, but they will dispel any other magical protections the priest might have in place (Armour of Faith, Ironskins etc). The shield can be breached and doesn't protect against AoE spells. It's no Spell Trap, but still a very good protection.
* Sunray 4.5/5
This spell, though it does some damage to 'normal' foes, is designed to destroy undead. These take 1-6 damage per level of the caster, and must save vs. spells or be destroyed. High level single class clerics have little use for this spell, since their innate Turn Undead ability will destroy undead anyway (no save). But for multis, two of those, maybe with another one from Daystar (a longsword which lets the wielder cast a level 10 version of Sunray once a day), can clear out a room of vampires.
* Conjure Earth Elemental 4/5
This spell works very similar to the 6th level spell Conjure Fire Elemental. There is 60% chance of summoning a 12HD earth elemental, a 35% chance of getting a 16HD variant and a 5% chance of a 24HD earth elemental. Unlike the mage spell of the same name, this spell involves no risk of the summoned creature being hostile. The Earth Elememtal is more resilient than the Fire Elemental, but also occupies a higher level spell slot.
* Creeping Doom 4/5
This druid spell is very similar to the level 5 spell Insect Plague. The insects slow, damage, disrupt and panic affected targets. It has two advantages over the latter spell and one disadvantage. As to the advantages. First of all it does twice as much damage, up to 36 (which against the average mage is substantial) twice as fast. This allows for a quick stripping of any Stoneskins or Mirror Images on mages. Secondly the spell can be used against liches and other foes who are immune to spells up to level 5 such as Insect Plague. A disadvantage is that the spell lasts only half as long as Insect Plague (3 rounds vs 6 rounds), which means that its disabling effect on enemy mages isnt't as good as that of Insect Plague. Creeping Doom also suffers some heavy competition from other level 7 druid spells, so that it might be recommendable to use Insect Plague instead.
* Gate 4/5
This spell calls forth a powerful and highly aggressive demon. The Pit Fiend is immune to +2 and lower weapons, has 50% magic resistance, 100% fire resistance, is immune to poison, charm, feeblemind, confusion, polymorph and panic, regenerates at a rate of 2hp/round, hits as though it was a +4 weapon, has invisibility detection by script, and can cast a number of useful spells. The creature is very difficult to control and will attack anyone (including innocent bystanders) who isn't protected from evil as per the spell. Even casting PfE 10' radius on your party may not keep you safe at all times. It's best to cast this spell in an area with no commoners or other innocents, and large enough for your party to retreat, so that it will attack and quite possibly kill only your enemies. The Twisted Rune encounter comes to mind.
* Greater Restoration 4/5
An excellent curative spell: it heals level and intelligence drain, heals all hitpoints, and cures afflictions of the mind (feeblemind, panic, confusion) as well as poisons and diseases. The spell doesn't remove blindness, hold and stun though. This is a Heal and Lesser Restoration in one. It can be cast in battle thanks to a short casting time, but a drawback is that the caster becomes fatigued after casting this spell.
MID TIER:
* Earthquake 3.5/5
This spell creates 3 tremors of decreasing impact. The first one deals 6-36 damage (save vs. spell at -6 penalty for half). The second casues 6-18 damage (save vs. spell at -2 penalty for half) and the third 6-12 damage (save vs. spell for half). Affected creatures who fail their saves are knocked to the ground by the first quake, after which your party can close in on their foes to attack. It's one of not so many damaging and disabling AoE spells for the priest. The spell has a few drawbacks. First there's friendly fire, making this spell most suitable for solo players or dexterous micro-managers. However casting Chaotic Commands on your party members will prevent the possible knockout effect on them. A second drawback is that the spell doesn't bypass magic resistance. And thirdly there's a slight chance (2%) of causing a hostile Earth Elemental to appear. These aspects make this spell less reliable than e.g. Holy Smite for Clerics, or Insect Plague and Creeping Doom for Druids. Still, it's a fine spell.
* Finger of Death 3.5/5
This spell kills a targeted creature if they fail to save vs. spell at a -2 penalty. If the target does save, the spell will still deal 2d8 damage +1 per level of caster (which is mediocre damage at best). I'm not too fond of 'all or (practically) nothing' spells, but targets weakened by Doom / Greater Malison must surely fear for their lives. This spell is a great improvement over Slay Living.
* Regeneration 3.5/5
Regeneration of 18 hitpoints per round for every two levels of the caster can especially at higher levels be of help in very physical fights in which taking damage is going to be unavoidable. The spell could be cast before that battle. On the other hand, one might as well quaff a healing potion every once in a while during the battle. Nevertheless 18 health/round regeneration is by far the best regeneration obtainable in the game.
* Symbol: Stun 3.5/5
Functions as a trap: any creature (friend or foe) that comes comes close to the symbol will activate it and cause it to explode, after which everyone within a 30' range must save vs. spell at -4 to prevent themselves from being stunned for 1 round/level of caster. A stunned enemy is almost always a dead enemy, and the spell does impose a hefty save penalty so it can be pretty good for disabling a number of enemies in a group, especially if your priest is able to cast more than one of them. One has to be very careful though: unlike a thief's traps, this spell subjects not only enemies but also party members and summons to its effects. The fact that this spell doesn't bypass magic resistance is another drawback (especially in TOB).
* Symbol: Fear 2.5/5
Functions as a trap: any creature (friend or foe) that comes comes close to the symbol will activate it and cause it to explode, after which everyone within a 30' range must save vs. spell at -4 to prevent fear for 2 rounds +2 rounds per 3 caster levels. Unfortunately this is another 'all or nothing spell' (notwithstanding the save penalty). Fear isn't the most convenient of status effects to inflict upon your enemies, at least much less so than Stun, so unless the Fear effect would more likely to catch on than the Stun effect, Symbol: Stun would be the more useful of these two Symbol spells. Still it's better than Symbol: Death (see below) thanks to the save penalty and the fact that high HP characters aren't sheltered from its effects.
BOTTOM TIER:
* Holy Word 2/5
This spell works only against evil and undead creatures, including any evil party members, in a 30' radius. It causes (i) death, (ii) stun, (iii) slow with 75% spell failure, or (iv) deafness with 50% spell failure, depending on HD. (12+ HD creatures suffer the latter effect.) The effects mentioned last for one turn (except death, which is obviously permament). Deafness and spellfailure are useless effects on warrior foes, but the spellfailure penalties are kind of nice when dealing with spellcasters. Chances are this spell can be used to slow (and where applicable cause the 75% spell failure penalty) on Drow, Shadows, Fiends, Demons, Nabassus, Tan'ari, Gauths and the underdark Elder Orb. The slow effect won't work on Kuo-Toa or Beholders though, since they are immune to slow. The spell is insta-cast and there is no saving throw against it, it doesn't bypass magic resistance, making its usability on a practical level much less than it really ought to be.
* Resurrection 2/5
Being able to resurrect a fallen comrade is nice. This spell does exactly that. However the casting time of one turn makes this spell unsuitable for casting it in battle. The Rod of Resurrection is much faster and thus better for that purpose. After a battle one might as well go to a temple, or cast a Raise Dead (preferably from a scroll so as not to take up level 5 spell slots) and heal the raised character. For a quick heal Greater Restoration is beter due to its much shorter casting time.
* Symbol: Death 1.5/5
Functions as a trap: any creature (friend or foe) that comes comes close to the symbol will activate it and cause it to explode, after which everyone within a 30' range must save vs. death or die. Creatures with more than 60 current hit points are immune to this spell. The unpenalized save vs. death, the possibility of friendly fire and the uncertainty as to how many current hitpoints a foe might have, make this spell unworthy of memorization.
* Unholy Word 1.5/5
This spell has the same effects as Holy Word (see above), except for the fact that it doesn't work against evil-aligned or undead enemies, but against good-aligned foes. Since you won't be fighting any good-aligned spellcasters (the only type of foe against whom you might have some use for this spell), there is no reason to ever memorize this spell. And even if you should want to use an AoE spell against good-aligned foes, Unholy Blight would likely be more effective.
* Confusion 1/5
This is an exact copy of the level 4 arcane spell. It causes creatures in the AoE to become confused if they fail a save vs spell with no penalty. The unpenalized save is bad enough, but once attacked a victim will fight back anyway. It has a relatively long casting time of 7. The mage spell loses its usefulness soon after a mage can first cast it. When a priest finally gets this spell he'll have no use for it whatsoever.
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Note: Note: spells that have the same rating are categorizd alphabetically rather than hierarchically.
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This leaves only the Quest level priest spells open for discussion: Aura of Flaming Death, Elemental Summoning, Globe of Blades, Greater Elemental Summoning, Implosion, Mass Raise Dead, Storm of Vengeance, Summon Deva, Summon Fallen Deva.
I'm looking forward to your input, mine will follow tomorrow.
Implosion is a nice damage dealer, bypasses magic resistance and holds the target for a round with no save. What's there not to like? 4/5
Energy blades give the cleric an excellent ranged attack. 4/5 It is strange that the electrical damage is subject to magic resistance, though. Melf's minute meteors fire damage bypass mr. Then again melf's meteors is a horribly broken spell that begs to be nerfed IMHO. 4/5
Summon Deva (5/5) - Is it as good as a planatar? Nope. But what it is is a fantastic summon. Its immune to poison, petrification, level drain, charm, confusion, slay, and feeblemind. As a gated creature it also can't be removed by the Death spell. It regenerates at 2hp/round, is immune to normal and +1 weapons, hits as though it had a +3 weapon, does 3d6+3 damage, has 19 strength, and its hits have both a stun effect (fail to save vs spell and be stunned for a round) as well as a check for undead to save vs death (at -4) or be destroyed. It attacks with 2 APR as well.
Finally its 100% resistant to fire, cold and electricity and 70% resistant to magic. It also has 10% for each of the physical damage resistances. Overall its just fantastic.
Summon Fallen Deva (5/5) - Unlike the planatars (which do differ) the Fallen Deva is literally the exact same thing from a stats standpoint as Deva except it's evil and an anti-solar (as a race) rather than a solar. In BG2EE the spells it has (and their quantities) are the exactly the same. All its stats, immunities, and resistances are the same. Its weapon is the same. Its attacks per round is the same. Etc. The only thing is that it can get hit by a Holy Smite...but otherwise its a fantastic spell.
Greater Elemental Summoning (5/5) - Honestly their duration could be a lot better and their immunities aren't always as good as the Deva's (in some cases they are comparable) but they give a good run at it and I can't fault them at all. Their main advantage over the deva's is that they are far more versatile but either way they simply blow the alternative summons you can get at level 7 (I mean other than the deva's) out of the water so they are always a good choice. Since you can have both an elemental prince and a Deva active at the same time (unlike a Fallen Deva and a Deva) you really don't lose out in taking both. Chan and Sunnis in particular are potentially better overall at fighting (higher health, lower thac0, generally better stats and better damage) compared to the Deva's but the Deva's can cast more spells and kill undead with no effort involved. The big thing I like about the elemental princes is that they all have dispel on hit.
What follows is a description of the different immunities/abilities/relevant stats of each elemental prince.
Zaaman Rul is immune to hold, stun, poison, and petrification. He has 60% magic resistance and 125% fire resistance. He is also immune to +2 or lower weapons. He has 19 strength, 2 APR, does 1d6 crushing (3d10 fire) damage, hits as a +3 weapon, and his attacks dispel magic on hit. He has 2 castings of flame strike available and has a permanent fireshield (red) active. Of the elemental princes he has the lowest health, the highest AC, and the least APR (2).
Chan is immune to poison. He has 85% resistance to magic, 70% resistance to cold, 40% resistance to acid, and 100% resistance to electricity. He is also immune to +2 or lower weapons. He has 19 strength, 3 APR, does 1d6 crushing (2d10 electricity) damage, hits as a +3 weapon, and his attacks dispel on hit. He has two castings of a spell called "Whirlwind" which isn't actually the warrior HLA but rather an ability that does 1d8 damage (no save), knocks out a target for 3 seconds (-10 penalty to save vs spell against it), and hits them with a wing buffet (no save). He also has a permanent Globe of Blades active, which due to his large size actually makes working with him to be kind of a pain. Still, of all the elemental summons he has the second lowest AC, the second highest health, and is tied with the highest APR. Also despite what it might say elsewhere he is not evil in BG2EE (so no need to watch the Holy Smites) but rather he is neutral good (all three of the princes are neutral good).
Sunnis is immune to hold, stun, petrification, and poison. He has 70% magic resistance, 75% fire resistance, 40% cold resistance and 40% acid resistance. He is also immune to +2 or lower weapons. He has 24 strength, 3 APR, does 3d12 crushing damage, hits as a +3 weapon, and his attacks dispel on hit. He gets 2 instant castings of an "Earthquake" spell that knocks out only enemies for 2 rounds (unless they make a -6 save vs spell). He also regularly will give himself a Stoneskin (this is scripted not a spell he has). Of all the elemental summons he has the lowest AC, the highest health (230), and is tied with the highest APR (3).
Storm of Vengeance (4.5/5) - the damage won't bypass magic resistance however it is still effective for disrupting spellcasting. What really makes it stand out (besides the multiple types of elemental damage it does) is its poison. If an enemy fails their save vs death (on the first round only) it does 4 damage/second for 18 seconds. Its the reason I would give it a rating higher than Creeping Doom.
Mass Raise Dead (4/5) - Normally you'd think a spell like Mass Raise Dead would be useful for raising the dead. Its really not. But with a casting time of 2 what it is fantastic for is mass healing. 3d10+1 (per caster level) is a great amount of healing. That means at caster level 20 you'd heal 23-50 health.
Implosion (4/5) - bypasses magic resistance and gives a nice stun effect. Also the damage potentially can be pretty amazing if the enemy fails their save (and even if they don't it still is very good damage).
Energy Blades (4/5) - Its a quick casting spell and you get lots of attacks with it. I really can't fault it for what it is.
Mid Tier
Globe of Blades (3.5/5) - Keep your party members and summons out of the range of its damage and watch it cut down enemies. An enemy that fails their saving throw against it is going to take a sizable health loss. It will work a lot better if you can get a Greater Malison to work against your enemies.
Elemental Summoning (3/5) - In my book you are better off learning Earth Elemental over this because while its less likely that you'll get an Earth Elemental summon with as much health the Thac0, strength, damage, attacks per round, and saving throws won't be any different. If you are looking for quantity and quality, at the expense of duration, feel free to take this. Otherwise stick with Earth Elemental (or fire elemental if you don't mind boosting their strength).
Technically these aren't spells (rather they are abilities) but you do select them at the same time you select these quest spells so I'll include them.
Earth Elemental transformation (3/5) - 2d10 crushing damage, 2 APR attacking as a +4 weapon, low Thac0 and 20 strength make it an adequate transformation, but nothing special. Still, if you are a shapeshifter in particular it probably won't hurt to take a look at this.
Fire Elemental Transformation (2.5/5) - The fire resistance it grants is nice. It only has 1 APR and 1d10 crushing (plus 1d10 fire) damage. On a plus side it gives 23 strength. Still I'd probably stick with the Earth Elemental form.
Low Tier
Aura of Flaming Death (2/5) - the fire damage is nice but its duration is unacceptable given what it actually does (1 round every 2 levels).
Protection from normal weapons isn't all that great and the fire resistance and AC can be replicated elsewhere. I'm being generous with a 2.
Edited: to expand on a few things like Sunnis giving himself stoneskin.
I would rate Storm of Vengenance a 3/5. The damage seems pitiful at level 7 compare with Firestorm and I rarely use Firestorm. By the time you get it, most enemies would make their saves and avoid the poison.
As for Storm of Vengeance - it's party friendly and has multiple damage types which will help avoid resistances and bypass stoneskin.
I think Elminsters right with 4.5 for the storm its a decent spell
also ive always wondered the same thing as bbear as to why cant you summon or transform into those elementals you also cant turn into air elementals which sucks
TOP TIER:
* Greater Elemental Summoning 5/5
This is the Druid's best summoning spell. Casting it, summons forth a Prince of Air, Fire or Earth. All of them are are beasts in battle. They are level 20, have 160 base hitpoints, 50% magic resistance, good saving throws, the innate ability to see through invisiility, +3 fist attacks that dispel upon hit, and a number of feats specific for each category (Air, Earth or Fire). Generally speaking, if I had to pick a fevourite it would be the Prince of Earth, due to his massive 23 STR, but the druid can't choose which of the three he summons forth. Unlike other summons the Princes can't be dispatched with a mage's Death Spell.
* Summon Deva 5/5
The best summons for Clerics. Devas have fantastic stats, regeneration, great health, AC, and magic/elemental resistances, and various more or less useful spells. Their weapon is the Mace of Disruption +2, which is great against undead (though there aren't many of those in the final part of SoA or in TOB). They can only be hit by weapons of +3 or higher enchantment and they can't be slain by Death Spell or other spells with instant death effect. Paladins get this one as a HLA.
* Implosion 4.5/5
This spell does 10D10 fire damage and 10D10 crushing damage (against which few enemies are resistant). It holds the spell's target during 1 round. Successful save vs. spell halves damage, but there is no save against the Hold effect. The spell bypasses magic resistance, so all in all a very reliable damage dealing spell.
* Storm of Vengeance 4.5/5
A party-friendly AoE damage spell. It lasts for 3 rounds, during each of which the victims suffer 1D6 electrical, 1D6 fire and 1D6 acid damage (save vs. spell for half). There is also a chance of poisoning them in the first round (4 damage/second), but a save vs. death negates that effect. Potentially very damaging to many different foes at the same time, up to 54 damage plus possible poison damage. But what's even better is that the different types of elemental damage are likely to neutralize multiple spellcasters at the same time (since it is improbable that they are fully resistant to all three elemental damage types). Warrior types can move in and finish the affected enemy spellcasters. Druids already have Insect Plague and Creeping Doom, so for them this spell is less appealing than for clerics.
* Summon Fallen Deva 4.5/5
The Fallen Deva is virtually the same as the Deva, except that it gets two extra Globe of Blades and Cure Serious Wounds, and that it's evil. The latter characteristic make it susceptible to Holy Smites, so that your cleric can't cast those spells with a Fallen Deva around. For this reason, the spell gets a 4.5/5 rather than a 5/5.
* Energy Blades 4/5
Per level of the caster this spell creates 1 'energy disc' which does 1D4+5 missile damage + 1D10 electrical damage. They are thrown at supernatural speed, 9 APR, and at +10 Thac0 bonus. An eligible target (i.e. a target that hasn't just protected itself against Magical Weapons, against the Elements etc as per the mage spell), is likely to suffer a lot of damage in a short time and won't be able to cast any spells except perhaps for triggers, due to the rate at which the discs come flying in.
MID TIER:
* Aura of Flaming Death 3/5
90% fire resistance, a +4 AC bonus, immunity to all non magical weapons and dealing 2D10+2 fire to any attacker within a 5' radius all sound like nice perks but you only get this spell around late SoA. Admittedly +4 AC is signficant but late game AC is becoming less important than damage mitigation, and most enemies will be hitting with enchanted weapons anyway. Besides in the rare occasion that one needs fire resistance, potions and gear would do the job. The fire sphere could be of use not so much in mage-fights unless you manage to close in on the mages, but rather in physical fights with non-resistant enemies such as undead (but not dragons, demons or other fire-resistant creatures). The duration of this spell (1 round per two levels) isn't great either. Due to the availability of more useful, less situational spells, Aura of Flaming Death is mid tier at best.
* Globe of Blades 3/5
This is an upgraded version of the level 6 spell Blade Barrier, dealing a massive 10D10 damage to any creature entering the touched by the globe. There are some drawbacks though. First, note that 'any creature' means that friendly fire (pissing off Devas, summons etc) is possible here. Second, affected creature have a save vs. spell at -2 to avoid all damage, so that this spell is best relied upon when combined with Doom / Greater Malison. Third, the spell only lasts one turn. Fourth, Devas and Planetars can cast this spell, so you might as well use them for it and save yourself a spell slot.
BOTTOM TIER:
* Elemental Summoning 2/5
A 90% chance of summoning 2 16HD elementals choosen randomly between Air, Earth and Fire and a 10% chances of summoning Elemental Princes (see above, at Greater Elemental Summoning). As such this isn't a bad spell, but there are clearly better Quest level summons: the (Fallen) Devas for cleric and the Greater Elementals for Druids. Druids need to pick this to gain access to Greater Elemental Summoning.
* Mass Rais Dead 2/5
This spell raises up to five dead party members and heals each of them with 3D10 +1 hit points per level of caster. This spell is only useful in horror scenarios you'll want to avoid. I'm too optmistic to memorize it preventively. Maybe after a hard-earned victory with multiple casualties in your party, your priest can memorize this, rest and cast it after having rested.
EDIT: Included Energy Blades, which I had initially forgotten about (even though it's not a bad spell at all).
You forgot Energy Blades.
EDIT: done!
LEVEL 1:
TOP TIER:
** Remove Fear 5/5
** Sanctuary 5/5
* Armor of Faith 4.5/5
* Doom 4.5/5 (when casting is 1)
MID TIER:
** Prot. from Evil 3.5/5
** Command 3.5/5
* Bless 3/5
* Cure Light Wounds 3/5
** Entangle 3/5
* Doom 2.5/5 (when casting is 9)
BOTTOM TIER:
* Shillelagh 1.5/5
* Detect EVil 1.5/5
** Magical Stone 1/5
LEVEL 2:
TOP TIER:
** Draw Upon Holy Might 5/5
MID TIER:
** Chant 3.5/5
** Hold Person 3.5/5
** Silence 15' Radius 3.5/5
* Slow Poison 3.5/5
* Find Traps 3/5
* Resist Fire/Cold 3/5
BOTTOM TIER:
** Aid 2/5
* Barkskin 2/5
** Charm Person/Mammal 2/5
** Goodberries 2/5
* Flameblade 2/5
** Spititual Hammer 1.5/5
* Know Alignment 1/5
LEVEL 3:
TOP TIER:
** Animate Dead 5/5
** Holy Smite 4.5/5
* Dispel Magic 4.5/5
** Summon Insects 4/5
MID TIER:
** Call Lightning 3.5/5
* Strength of One 3.5/5
* Cure Medium Wounds 3/5
* Miscast Magic 3/5
* Protection from Fire 3/5
** Remove Paralysis 3/5
* Cure Disease 2.5/5
* Invisibility Purge 2.5/5
* Zone of Sweet Air 2.5/5
BOTTOM TIER:
** Glyph of Warding 2/5
* Rigid Thinking 2/5
** Unholy Blight 1.5/5
** Hold Animal 1/5
** Remove Curse 1/5
LEVEL 4:
TOP TIER:
** Holy Power 4.5/5
** Protection from Evil 10' Radius 4.5/5
** Call Woodland Beings 4/5
* Death Ward 4/5
MID TIER:
** Free Action 3.5/5
* Defensive Harmony 3.5/5
** Lesser Restoration 3/5
** Mental Domination 3/5
* Neutralize Poison 3/5
* Farsight 2.5/5
* Negative Plane Protection 2.5/5
BOTTOM TIER:
* Cause Serious Wounds 2/5
* Cloak of Fear 2/5
* Cure Serious Wounds 2/5
* Poison 2/5
* Animal Summoning I 1.5/5
* Protection from Lightning 1/5
LEVEL 5:
TOP TIER:
* Chaotic Commands 5/5
** Insect Plague 5/5
** Righteous Magic 5/5
** Iron Skins 4.5/5
* Magic Resistance 4/5
* True Seeing 4/5
MID TIER:
** Flame Strike 3.5/5
** Greater Command 3/5
* Mass Cure 3/5
** Pixie Dust 3/5
** Raise Dead 3/5
* Cure Critical Wounds 2.5/5
BOTTOM TIER:
* Animal Summoning II 2/5
* Cause Critical Wounds 2/5
** Champion's Strength 2/5
** Repulse Undead 2/5
** Slay Living 1/5
LEVEL 6:
TOP TIER:
** Aerial Servant 5/5
** Conjure Fire Elemental 4.5/5
* Wondrous Recall 4.5/5
* Harm 4/5
* Heal 4/5
MID TIER:
* Conjure Animals 3.5/5
** Blade Barrier 3/5
** Bolt of Glory 3/5
** False Dawn 2.5/5
** Sol's Searing Orb 2.5/5
BOTTOM TIER:
* Animal Summoning III 2/5
** Fire Seeds 2/5
* Physical Mirror 2/5
** Dolorous Decay 1.5/5
LEVEL 7:
TOP TIER:
* Firestorm 4.5/5
** Nature's Beauty 4.5/5
* Shield of the Archons 4.5/5
** Sunray 4.5/5
** Conjure Earth Elemental 4/5
** Creeping Doom 4/5
** Gate 4/5
** Greater Restoration 4/5
MID TIER:
* Earthquake 3.5/5
** Finger of Death 3.5/5
* Regeneration 3.5/5
** Symbol: Stun 3.5/5
** Symbol: Fear 2.5/5
BOTTOM TIER:
** Holy Word 2/5
** Resurrection 2/5
** Symbol: Death 1.5/5
** Unholy Word 1.5/5
* Confusion 1/5
HLA (combination of everyone's opinion):
TOP TIER:
** Greater Elemental Summoning 5/5
* Summon Deva 5/5
* Implosion 4.5/5
* Storm of Vengeance 4.5/5
* Summon Fallen Deva 4.5/5
* Energy Blades 4/5
MID TIER:
* Mass Rais Dead 3.5/5
* Globe of Blades 3/5
* Aura of Flaming Death 2.5/5
BOTTOM TIER:
* Elemental Summoning 2/5
** Elemental Transformation (Fire) 1.5/5
** Elemental Transformation (Earth) 1.5/5
** only for cleric or druid
Italics = only druid spells
Bold = only cleric spells