Advice on using Xan (and enchanters in general)

SharGuidesMyHand

I've always liked Xan's personality and the look of his moonblade, but I typically don't keep him in a party for very long, mainly because I could never get over the fact that he misses out on so many great offensive spells (i.e: magic missile, fireball, cloudkill, etc.).

A short while back, I happened to mention in another thread that I considered Xan to be the worst mage in BG1. However, several posters responded by urging me to give him an earnest try, suggesting that, although he may require a bit more strategy or investment than other mages, the payoff would be worth it in the end.

In my current playthrough, I've just picked up Xan, and I've decided to give him the earnest try that others have been urging. So I'm looking for tips on how to use him, what spells to make the most of, when and how to use them, etc.

Thanks in advance.

elminster

Well for one thing you can make up for the lack of fireball either by using Skull Trap (which you can get from High Hedge) or by using a Wand of Fire.

Dragonspear

#1 piece of advice:

I try to keep fire, lightning and cold wands in his inventory as often as possible.

#2 memorize bookoo early sleep spells. Also I would regularly keep a strength spell memorized on him so that he could occasionally head into melee. I used him as a control/debuff bot trying to avoid almost all damage spells on him. Let him sew chaos and confusion, since when it comes to damage he has to use wands to keep up

Disclaimer: the run I used him, I did dual-class imoen, so I still had a more damage based mage late game too. He was great for setting up malisons and stuff for her

DreadKhan

Learn to love Sleep, Slow, Skulltrap, Spook, Web, Emotion, Glitterdust, Horror and Confusion, and Xan's your man!

I think the value of Xan is to encourage players to broaden their use of magic, and make them play smarter. He's less direct than Dynaheir, but not any worse really. Magic missile is a bad spell at low levels, yet people use it. Xan helps teach you that putting 10 bandits to sleep is better than maybe killing one via Magic Missile.

Feel free to use wands too, Frost works wonders imo.

meagloth

Learn that slow is an AoE spell *before* you've been playing for 10 years.

Dazzu

Honestly, the biggest loss of evocation isn't any form of damage: it's Web (and maybe Shield) and there are workaround forms of Crowd Control.

Lemernis

I actually don't use Evocation spells much. I rely instead on spells that render targets helpless or ineffective and let the meleers and ranged weapons users go to town:

Blindness
Charm Person*
Color Spray
Sleep
Spook
Glitterdust
Horror
Ray of Enfleeblement
Dire Charm*
Hold Person
Slow
Confusion
Contagion
Emotion: Hopelessness
Polymorph Other
Teleport Field
Chaos
Domination*
Feeblemind


* If fighter, charm to tie up comrade using fists. Use spells vs. comrades if it's a spellcaster.

Mathsorcerer

Xan + his moonblade + robe of fire resistance + ring of fire resistance + wand of fire + ghost armor and blur *or* stoneskin = letting him run at enemies and fireballing them at point blank range. You can also have other party members throw potions of explosion or oil of fiery burning at Xan.

I also let him drink potions of absorption then set him loose with wands of lightning bolts indoors, especially in narrow hallways like you find in Ulcaster or Firewine.

Quartz

Replace "SHOTS" with "SLOW" and that's basically how I play Enchanters. Slow is my favorite spell

Quartz

Also, one of the reasons Enchanters are exciting is because of how well they scale. Every level is pretty exciting. Unlike, say, Invokers, their opposite, which get axed on their 5th level and especially 4th level spells.
1st level spells:
They get Sleep, enough said. Blindness is a solid spell when it comes to nastier baddies.
2nd level spells:
Likely the most boring level for them. Glitterdust is neat though, as is Horror. If you really need them to do damage, you can always use Acid Arrow, which of course makes casters real sad.
3rd level spells:
Slow. Slow Slow Slow Slow Slow! Also Hold Person if your Clerics aren't doing that already. If you really need them to do damage, you can always use Skull Trap and Flame Arrow.
4th level spells:
Confusion, Emotion: Hopelessness, and GREATER MALISON BABY, which should act as a precursor to all your crowd control endeavors!
5th level spells:
I like to stock up on Chaos. Some people are rather fond of Domination, as well.

Lemernis

Many years I once ago tried having Xan use his Moonblade with every buff and equipment boost I could muster, and he still sucked as a meleer. I would consider every once in a while modifying him with EE Keeper to make him a little more like a Fighter/Mage. Someone recently posted such a comment and I forget the modification to class that was recommended for him but it looked like fun.

Rather than changing his class I think I might just just give him an extra prof in short sword and lower his thac0 a bit with EE Keeper. Otherwise the moonblade is completely worthless. And that fact that Xan has the moonblade amounts to his 'special ability' which so many of the NPCs get. (Although Minsc's is basically useless as well.)

DreadKhan

The Moonblade is a mighty weapon against evil!

Especially cutting the throats of Sleeped enemies. Its better than nothing!

FrozenDervish

Well if you have stats similar to xan i believe you can use his moonblade yourself similar to how you can use valygar/keldorn's equipment.

elminster

FrozenDervish said:

Well if you have stats similar to xan i believe you can use his moonblade yourself similar to how you can use valygar/keldorn's equipment.

If it were originally possible then this would have definitely have been something they removed in the EE's.

DreadKhan

In tutu, the number of variables checked meant you had to be a pure enchanter iirc. I gave up trying to work around this when I made Xan a F/M, and just gave him the Zerth blade. Maybe better, but similar enough I found. He switch used a bow as well, so didnt always get much utility out of the free spells, but he was pretty versatile and fun, enough that a F/M in BG1 would have been fun, or an archery based low level dual. Maybe lvl 3 fighter for Mastery.

Quartz

The Moonblade is primarily for protection and for attacking disabled enemies. How many times does this have to be said? 1d8+3 damage is pretty sexy. Big surprise, if a pure mage has to roll to hit, they're probably going to miss. Like every other mage.

Lemernis

Actually, the description for moonblades in Elves of Evermeet is kind of neat. They were created in ancient times by the smiths in Myth Drannor. They were designed to help determine who was worthy among royal elven lineages. They vary from +1 to +4 to hit and begin with one special ability at creation. The blades are passed through generations, but the blade itself may reject a potential recipient. The owner must be elven and of Good alignment, and be of heroic and noble character. When touched by a non-elf the blade inflicts 5d8 damage. Evil alignments that touch a moonblade must save vs. death magic or die. Those that survive such an encounter experience unbearable pain should they ever touch the moonblade again. With each new owner a new special ability is added by the DM from the DMG's Weapon Extraordinary Powers list, or by rolling a 1d20 in reference to a table of powers that includes such things as prophetic dreaming, fire resistance, ESP, glows when danger is imminent, spell effects similar to Horror, Luck, Larloch's, Spell Turning, and so forth.

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Kaltzor

Well, for starters, Enchanters in general need to be approached with a very different mentality than any other mage class because they are missing out on these spells that are considered the staple of a wizard such as Magic Missile, Chromatic Orb, Fireball...

Their main offensive abilities do not lie in damage, but rather debuffs. Sleep and Emotion:Hopelessness are your two best friends. Don't try to kill things with them, instead use them to prevent enemies from doing anything.

Also... Buff spells, familiarize yourself with all the buffs mages can provide, when you're not preventing enemies from fighting, you will be helping the rest of the party fight better with things like protection spells and haste.

Sed

I'm using Xan in my current run, but I actually upped his constitution to reasonable levels with EE Keeper, as even a gibberling can oneshot him (7 con on a mage.. come on)

Dragonspear

I'll reinterate, but my only problem with Xan (and this isn't really a problem as both BGs kinda need this to a degree anyway) is that for most of the other "mage go boom make enemy dead" you really have to bring a secondary mage.

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DreadKhan

@Sed‌ curious, but why are Gibberlings getting to Xan?? You cant really get him till mines, and the mines usually mean lvl 2 at least by conclusion... mages never should melee without serious buffs. He can throw daggers right away, right? Use these when you dont want to cast. I dont think Xan has an hp penalty from his cons anyways.

Flashburn

Memorize disabling spells and use wands for damage dealing. The game practically THROWS wands at you.

DreadKhan

Once you reach a decent store, they are very available. I won a solo by almost exlusively on wands, especially summon.

I had 99 problems... then I summoned gnolls.

Lemernis

Flashburn said:

Memorize disabling spells and use wands for damage dealing. The game practically THROWS wands at you.

And there are wands that disable as well (Sleep, Horror, Paralyzation).

I think it would be kind of fun to have an Enchanter actually focus on using damage dealing spells other than Evocation: Burning Hands, Melf's Acid Arrow, Flame Arrow, Lightning Bolt, Skull Trap, and Vampiric Touch are all pretty good spells.

I mean, yes, regularly have him cast his specialization school spells, i.e., Sleep, Charm Person, Ray of Enfeeblement, Dire Charm, Hold Person, Confusion, Emotion: Hopelessness, Greater Malison, Chaos, Domination, Feeblemind, and Hold Monster--and by the way, those are great disabling spells. But maybe do that half the time. And the other half of the time use the above damage dealing spells.