One under-rated spell that does not seem to be getting much mention here is Grease. Nowadays I always pick it as the 1 spell memorized at Prologue if my Charname is packing.
That particular Grease Spell is used to reliably dispatch Unshey's Ogre before heading to Beregost for some cherry-picking before recruiting Jaheira and Khalid. Assuming of course that Charname has pips in Bows. Just enough to pick up a level before the Red Sheaf Inn encounters with Silke and Karlat.
The great thing about Grease is that it is a level 1 Spell, a rather important point methinks, which ALWAYS works as advertised. Entangle and Sleep are both great Level 1 assets but they are definitely not 100% guaranteed. Another nice feature is that it can be cast even before "Enemy Sighted" freeing your mage both to control the battlefield AND pop off a Magic Missile, Sleep or Blindness from the get-go.
Cautionary Note--Grease has no effect on Vampire Wolves! {Sorry, sorry, gee whiz!~!}
Looking through the high level spells I see one thing no one's mentioned.
Mass Raise Dead This spell brings back up to 5 party members to life and heals 3D10 +1 hit points per level of caster.
If that description is accurate that's utterly ludicrous. I don't care how good people think it is it's better.
I suspect that description is incorrect somehow because, since you can't learn it until level 14 it'd raise everyone with between 56 and 434 HP. And it presumably doesn't have a material component like the PnP version...
Looking through the high level spells I see one thing no one's mentioned.
Mass Raise Dead This spell brings back up to 5 party members to life and heals 3D10 +1 hit points per level of caster.
If that description is accurate that's utterly ludicrous. I don't care how good people think it is it's better.
I suspect that description is incorrect somehow because, since you can't learn it until level 14 it'd raise everyone with between 56 and 434 HP. And it presumably doesn't have a material component like the PnP version...
If you're talking about the healing, then pretty sure that means 3D10 + (1*caster level) in that order, so the 3D10 isn't multiplied.
At any rate, I'm such a conservative tactician that I'd reload if a fight left me with half my party dead anyways, so I see little use for a spell like that.
Comments
That particular Grease Spell is used to reliably dispatch Unshey's Ogre before heading to Beregost for some cherry-picking before recruiting Jaheira and Khalid. Assuming of course that Charname has pips in Bows. Just enough to pick up a level before the Red Sheaf Inn encounters with Silke and Karlat.
The great thing about Grease is that it is a level 1 Spell, a rather important point methinks, which ALWAYS works as advertised. Entangle and Sleep are both great Level 1 assets but they are definitely not 100% guaranteed. Another nice feature is that it can be cast even before "Enemy Sighted" freeing your mage both to control the battlefield AND pop off a Magic Missile, Sleep or Blindness from the get-go.
Cautionary Note--Grease has no effect on Vampire Wolves! {Sorry, sorry, gee whiz!~!}
Not a game-changer, of course, just under-rated.
Mass Raise Dead
This spell brings back up to 5 party members to life and heals 3D10 +1 hit points per level of caster.
If that description is accurate that's utterly ludicrous. I don't care how good people think it is it's better.
I suspect that description is incorrect somehow because, since you can't learn it until level 14 it'd raise everyone with between 56 and 434 HP. And it presumably doesn't have a material component like the PnP version...
At any rate, I'm such a conservative tactician that I'd reload if a fight left me with half my party dead anyways, so I see little use for a spell like that.