BG2 Solo SCS Spell Guide

Jaheiras_Witness

Download link (Word): http://www.filedropper.com/bg2soloscsspellguide

BG2 Solo SCS Spell Guide

Introduction

Spell guides: there are dozens already out there and while everybody's opinions differ, we all know that Magic Missile, Mirror Image, Skull Trap, Stoneskin, Breach, Protection From Magical Weapons, Project Image, Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting and Time Stop are all you need, right?

Trouble is that nearly all the spell guides already written are for the vanilla game, where indeed a handful of powerful spells are all you need to conquer everything. See a mage? Breach him. Melee opponents getting to you? Stoneskin. Want to kill a bunch of enemies? Horrid Wilting. And so on.

When I first started playing with SCS I was amazed at the additional complexity of the AI. In particular the improved mages were remarkable. In the vanilla game I had never blinked at seeing a Yuan-ti mage. Now with SCS they were an utter nightmare, they hung around for ages, dispelled all my protections, and peppered me with Magic Missiles. The game had changed and the old tricks no longer worked.

At first I had no idea how to get through layers of magical defences. Then I read through the spell descriptions and gradually began to work it out. So I need a Secret Word to get rid of that. But first a Spell Thrust to remove this. And only then can I Breach. Do I have a Secret Word and Spell Thrust? Of course not. Who in the vanilla game even looked at those spells, let alone memorise them?

For the last few years I have exclusively played solo no reload. Party games no longer appeal to me, I know the companions, I love the roleplaying, the story is great. But I've already been there and now the challenge I'm interested in is the strategic combat aspect: to fight the full array of BG2 opponents at their utmost power, with their AI enhanced by SCS. And to do it without any kind of cheesy tactics or crutches, and most importantly, with just the one life. To survive everything they can throw at me and to find a way around it and ultimately to have the Bhaalspawn prevail.

I have lost count of the number of no-reload SCS games I have played. Most fail quickly (damn you Dire Charm!); some last longer (how the %*$! am I supposed to deal with the Shade Lord's aura?!). Some get very far and then succumb to restart-itis (Okay I'm in Suldanessellar but how cool would a Berserker-Assassin with Swashbuckler AC bonus but no armour and no traps be?).

One thing I've realised from my experience is that while all kinds of classes and combinations can do well if utilised intelligently, mage types have a far better chance of survival than any other class. Moreover, the sheer complexity of arcane magic adds a huge amount to the strategic element of the game. If you're ever going to beat a no-reload SCS, you need to understand the magic system.

I decided to write this spell guide from a specific perspective. This is not a vanilla BG2 spell guide, nor is it a guide for party play. This guide is for a solo character with SCS. My explanations and ratings for each arcane spell below are based on my experience playing the game under no-reload conditions. Naturally if you play with reloads, you might not weight so heavily towards some defensive spells that I rate highly. I should also add that I play with Item Randomiser, which I think is a wonderful mod which makes every game different. As such, I have not assumed that you will have specific equipment that would otherwise be easily or quickly obtainable and which would make certain spells obsolete.

Finally I should point out that this guide is written for BG2, ie SoA and ToB. If you're playing from BG1 then bear in mind that while the majority of the guidance and explanation is still relevant, some of the nuances are different. For example spells like Sleep are very useful in BG1 and totally useless in BG2, so the rating below would not be applicable for the BG1 portion of the game.

Two Types of Casters

In the descriptions below I make reference to two types of casters: pure spellcasters and fighter-types.

Pure spellcasters are those classes that rely almost exclusively on magic. These include single class mages, sorcerers, cleric/mages and most types of thief/mages. Pure spellcasters have to use spells to cover all functions: summoning, damage, defence, debuffing, crowd control etc. They therefore require a wide ranging spellbook and do not get too much mileage from spells that enhance combat prowess.

Fighter-types are those classes for whom magic complements their weapon skills. These include the various types of fighter/mages and swashbuckler/mages. Fighter-types have slightly different requirements from their spellbook: they do not need magic for their damage output, they can use their weapons and thereby get by with fewer damaging and summoning spells. Fighter types can instead concentrate on defensive spells as well as debuffing and crowd control. They are especially interested in spells that enhance combat capability.

While the value and utility of most spells are similar for spellcasters and fighter-types, certain spells have nuances that favour one type more than the other. I have noted these where applicable. Likewise some spells get a higher rating for one type over the other.

Explanation of Ratings

I have rated each spell out of 5, with 1 the lowest rating and 5 the highest. Below is an explanation of what each rating means.

1: These spells are either useless or of such limited utility that you will hardly ever need them. You will pretty much never need to memorise these spells.

2: These spells are of limited utility. They have some value and may be helpful in certain situations or for a specialised strategy. But on the whole they are not spells you will use regularly. You will rarely need to memorise these spells.

3: These are solid spells that will serve you well. You will likely use these spells regularly and they will be an important part of your spellbook. You will memorise these spells frequently.

4: These are strong spells and will form a key part of your regular strategy. You will be using these spells in any tough encounter and will memorise them on an everyday basis.

5: These spells are essential for your character to thrive and survive. These are the spells around which you will form entire strategies. You will need to prioritise these spells and ensure you never leave base without them.

Jaheiras_Witness

The Spell Guide

Level 1

Armour: 1

Gives you base AC6 for 9 hours. Although long lasting, the benefit is minor. AC6 is barely relevant for a spellcaster, and fighter types will quickly have far superior ways to improve AC, whether potions, other spells or equipment.

Blindness: 2

Save vs spell or be blinded. Blindness is a strong effect, it prevents the opponent from doing anything other than meleeing if you come close, and the duration of 10 turns is long enough for any battle. However, only affects one opponent and a successful save renders the spell ineffectual.

Burning Hands: 2

Does fire damage in a small arc. Requires the caster to be at melee range. Damage can be decent at high levels (up to 1d3 + 20) and you can hit more than one opponent, but grants a save for half damage.

Charm Person: 2

Single target save vs spell at +3 or be charmed. Only affects humanoids. Charm is a nice effect but the save is too easy for any opponent worth charming, so very rarely works.

Chill Touch: 1

Utterly useless. Requires a melee hit and a failed saving throw to do 1d8 damage + 2 point THAC0 penalty. Spellcasters have no business meleeing and fighter types will be far more effective with their weapons.

Chromatic Orb: 3

Does a small amount of damage which cannot be saved against and a save vs spell at +6 to apply an effect, which at high levels (12+) will be death. The save is far too easy for the effect to work on its own, but when combined with a Greater Malison it may on occasion work. Not bad for a first level spell if you use Greater Malison strategies.

Colour Spray: 1

Useless. Only works on enemies 4th level or below and grants a saving throw. In the rare event that you meet a 4th level or below enemy, you should be killing them without even noticing they were there.

Find Familiar: 1

Rated a 1 because you only ever need to cast this spell once (and you definitely should). ToB familiars give you +24HP rather than +12. So if you cast in SoA, I'm not sure if your familiar gets upgraded in ToB and if you get the extra HPs.

Friends: 2

+6 CHA before you go shopping to get some extra discount. For expensive purchases it probably pays to buy a scroll, cast it, and then shop.

Grease: 1

Stationary area of effect, save vs spell or have your movement slowed (though no other ill effects). Close to useless, might have some worth for spellcaster strategies where you want to prevent enemies from closing with you, and you can stack this with Web and Stinking Cloud (if you have the time). Useless for melee types where you want to close to melee range.

Identify: 2

Identifies a single item. Your lore should help you identify basic items, and you can easily boost it with long lasting potions such as Mind Focusing or Insight. Not much point memorising this spell, you can use any scrolls you find if your lore isn't sufficient.

Infravision: 1

Totally useless. Infravision has zero benefit.

Larloch's Minor Drain: 1

Tiny damage to one opponent which heals you. You might even have this as a Bhaalspawn power. Close to useless, but can disrupt priest spellcasting if you time it right (probably not mages though since nearly all SCS mages will have defences in place such as Minor Globe Of Invulnerability).

Magic Missile: 3

Not so hot with SCS since any mage worth his salt will have Shield or spell defences in place. Decent damage for a level 1 spell makes it a good spell for spellcasters, fighter types can do more damage with their weapons. If you can breach an enemy mage's spell defences, then it's useful for fast damage and spell disruption since it bypasses Stoneskin.

Protection From Evil: 3

+2 to AC and saving throws against evil opponents is not bad at all. Does not protect against demons summoned by enemy spellcasters. Duration of 2 rounds/level is fine at higher levels, it should get you through most encounters. No use with a party because of the cleric 10' radius version but a useful buff for solo characters.

Protection From Petrification: 1

Petrifying attacks are very rare, you might occasionally get a mage tossing Flesh To Stone around. No point memorising but worth keeping a scroll or two handy if you see someone cast Flesh To Stone, or for the Ascension version of the Gromnir fight.

Reflected Image: 1

Gets you 1 image, which is not even worth the effort.

Shield: 3

Pretty good in SCS. If you don't have this active or some other spell defences in place, then enemy mages will happily pepper you with Magic Missiles. The AC benefit is not bad too. Useful in the early stages, but the Shield Amulet which you can find in the de'Arnise Keep (and which is not randomised) has loads of charges, so that will cover you handily enough.

Shocking Grasp: 1

Terrible. Requires a melee hit in combat to do moderate electrical damage. Spellcasters have no business meleeing and fighter types will do more damage with their weapons.

Sleep: 1

Only affects 4th level or below enemies. That's virtually no-one that you can't squish anyway.

Spook: 3

Has a huge save penalty of -6 at 12th level or above. Duration is only 3 rounds though and only affects one opponent. Could be useful for spellcasters or archery types to buy time against a single tough opponent that is not protected from or immune to fear. Melee types won't want to be chasing around a panicked opponent unless hasted.

Level 2

Agannazar's Scorcher: 2

Fairly useful spell. The beam does 3d6 fire damage for 2 rounds, but after casting you can run around the target to catch multiple opponents with the beam. Therefore you can potentially do 6d6 damage to a number of opponents with a single casting. Does even more damage when cast from a Wand of Fire or as a Potion of Firebreath.

Blur: 3

+3 AC and +1 to saving throws for a decent duration. Nice buff, especially for melee types.

Deafness: 1

Save vs spell or suffer 50% spell failure chance. Not too hot, most mages will have defences against low level spells (eg Minor Globe Of Invulnerability) and still get a saving throw, and still only have 50% spell failure even then. No use at all against melee opponents.

Detect Evil: 1

A rival to Infravision.

Detect Invisibility: 2

Dispels simple invisibility without save if not protected by Non-Detection or SI: Divination. Occasionally useful to avoid backstabs from hidden thieves or mages that try to hide after running out of spells.

Ghoul Touch: 2

Lasts 5 rounds, requires a melee hit and opponent must then save vs death or be paralysed. Would be a 1 except it has a couple of uses: mages and thieves have a weak save vs death, so you could use this to try to paralyse mages that otherwise have weapon defences in place, or against thieves to prevent them drinking Invisibility potions and going for backstabs. Still not a great spell though.

Glitterdust: 3

Reasonable spell. Enemies in the area of effect must save vs spell or be blinded for 4 rounds and have invisibility removed. The save means removing invisibility is not guaranteed, and the duration of the blindness is not very long. Not bad against groups of enemies since some might be disabled for a short duration.

Horror: 2

Area of effect save vs spell at +2 or be panicked. The save is fairly easy and melee types won't enjoy chasing around panicked opponents unless hasted. Can be useful to disable weak opponents in a large group or to otherwise buy time. No use if there is a priest around as pretty much every SCS priest will insta-cast Remove Fear at the start of a battle.

Invisibility: 2

Invisibility is crucial to get out of a tough situation or to buy time to heal and prepare defences. However, Potions of Invisibility are plentiful with SCS and you should be using those instead of a spell, since potions are quicker to drink and cannot be disrupted. SCS mages and priests have a chance to forcecast detection spells if you stay around them while invisible, so you may want to move away to prepare after disappearing.

Knock: 1 or 2

1 if you have thieving skills and can open locks anyway, or if you're playing with No Traps or Locks from the Tweakpack. 2 if Locks are enabled and you cannot bash them.

Know Alignment: 1

A rival to Infravision and Detect Evil.

Luck: 1

+1 or +5% to all rolls for 3 rounds. Very minor benefit and duration combination. Would be useful if it had a decent duration but not like this.

Melf's Acid Arrow: 3

2d4 acid damage, +2d4 acid damage for 1 additional round per 3 levels. Single target but the scaleable duration is good, at level 18 you would be doing 14d4 damage over 7 rounds. Useful against mages since the phased damage could disrupt spellcasting, but most will have defences in place to avoid low level spells.

Mirror Image: 4

THE level 2 spell. Creates 2-8 images depending on level (half your level rounded down, max 8) and duration of 3 rounds + 1 round/level is plenty for most encounters. ToBEX and SCS nerf the images so that they (rightly) do not protect from AoE damage. Still, avoids up to 8 hits to preserve your Stoneskins and HPs, so you can stock up your level 2 slots with this spell as there's little else on this level that you really need.

Power Word Sleep: 1

No saving throw, sleep for 5 rounds. But only if the single target has below 20HPs. Well you cannot see how many HPs your enemies have left, and even if you could, that opponent is as good as dead anyway, another blow or two or a Magic Missile would take care of them. Would be useful if the HP threshold was higher but not as is.

Ray Of Enfeeblement: 2

Save vs spell or reduce STR to 5. A STR 5 opponent probably cannot move and does less damage in melee. SCS mages will use this against you on occasion. Not bad if it works but the save is not difficult for any enemy powerful enough to warrant casting this on.

Resist Fear: 2

Protects against all fear effects for a long duration. Useful against enemies that use fear, such as demons and dragons, if you can protect your defences. There are plenty of other ways to protect against fear though, and you usually get a saving throw, so this is not an essential spell.

Stinking Cloud: 3

Stationary area of effect that lasts for 10 rounds. Save vs death each round or fall unconscious for 1-2 rounds. Useful against groups of enemies, especially for spellcasters that do not want to be closed down. Also useful against mages that do not have a Minor Globe Of Invulnerability active, since their save vs death is often weak and other spell protections do not defend against stationary area of effects.

Strength: 2

Minimal utility. Sets STR to 18/50, or 18/00 if it's already higher than 18/50. Long duration. Not much use if your STR is 19 or higher as this spell will reduce it. You could still cast it on a summon though to make it more effective. Not sure if the cheesy use of casting on powerful opponents has been closed by SCS, but you shouldn't do that anyway.

Vocalize: 1

Removes the effect of silence, can be cast even if already silenced. The Amulet of Power gives you permanent Vocalize if you equip it, which will be fairly early on in a non-randomised game. In a game with Item Randomiser you probably won't want to memorise this but worth keeping a scroll handy until you find the Amulet.

Web: 3

Stationary area of effect that lasts for 10 rounds. Save vs spell at -2 each round or be stuck, unable to act that round. The save penalty makes this a useful spell, particularly to stack with Stinking Cloud, as opponents then have to make 2 saving throws to be able to act. Particularly good for spellcasters that do not want to be closed down.

Level 3

Clairvoyance: 1

Reveals the map of the area you're in. Only works outdoors (except scrolls, which mistakenly do work indoors). If you're playing with SCS then you probably already know exactly what's in each map and where. And if you're a stickler for seeing the whole map and hate the black fog of war (ie like me) then just use ExploreArea() to satisfy your OCD.

Detect Illusion: 2

Slight upgrade on Detect Invisibility, dispels all enemy illusions of level 3 or below.

Dire Charm: 2

Upgrade to Charm Person. Still only works on humanoids, but save vs spell without bonus or be charmed for 10 rounds. Useful but most powerful opponents worth charming will make their save or have immunities. Horrible when cast at you, if you fail the save and don't have an immunity in place, it's game over.

Dispel Magic: 2

Chance of dispelling all temporary magic (other than spell protections) in the area of effect, including your own. Chance is 50%, +5% per level difference between the caster and the target if caster is a higher level than the target, -10% per level difference if the caster is a lower level than the target. Min 1% chance either way. One check made per person in the area of effect, either all temporary effects are dispelled or none. Remove Magic is superior since it does not dispel your own protections.

Fireball: 3

Does 1d6 fire damage per level, capped at 10d6. Save for half damage. Nice area of effect. Very useful for getting rid of groups of weak enemies, won't do much against tougher opponents. Wands of Fire are plentiful and save you from memorising this spell too often.

Flame Arrow: 3

Not much cop at lower levels but very powerful at high levels due to scaling. Creates 1 arrow per 5 levels of the caster. The arrows immediately and automatically hit a single target in one go. Each does 1d6 piercing and 4d6 fire damage, save vs spell for half fire damage. Perfect spell for a sequencer - 3 Flame Arrows from a Level 20 caster would do between 36d6 and 60d6 damage, which is pretty lethal.

Ghost Armour: 2

Sets base AC to 3 for 5 turns, as if you were wearing platemail. Decent spell, particularly for melee types, and could get you through multiple encounters on the same map. Certain equipment, such as Elven Chain or the more powerful Bracers of Defence, will achieve the same or better outcome also without affecting spellcasting ability.

Haste: 3

Small area of effect buff, doubles movement rate and rounds up attacks per round to the next nearest integer (ie +1 APR if a whole number or +0.5 APR if a fraction; so 2 APR is increased to 3 APR, but 2.5 APR is also increased to 3 APR). Does not affect spellcasting time. Duration is 3 rounds + 1 round/level. Causes about 12 hours worth of fatigue. Counterintuitively, this spell could be better for spellcasters than fighter types, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, spellcasters usually have to rely more on strategic movement in combat than fighter types (aka "kiting"). Secondly, spellcasters will probably want to cast on summons to improve their effectiveness. Fighter types, unless using summons, are better off with Oils of Speed (longer duration and no fatigue) or casting the incredibly powerful Improved Haste instead.

Hold Person: 2

Small area of effect, target + adjacent opponents must save vs spell at -1 or be held for 10 rounds. Only works on humanoids. The save penalty makes this spell fairly useful early in the game as a held opponent is helpless. Immunities to hold (eg Potions of Freedom or Free Action) are fairly common however.

Hold Undead: 2

As Hold Person but affects undead creatures instead and save is at -2. Doesn't work on liches (who are immune to level 5 and below spells), but could be used against vampires and others. Reasonable spell but still grants a saving throw and other crowd control spells with a wider areas of effect may be more useful.

Invisibility 10' Radius: 2

As Invisibility but affects allies close to the caster too. As a solo character, that would only be summons. The Invisibility ends as soon as they attack, so there isn't a lot of value to making summons invisible.

Lightning Bolt: 3

Fires a bolt of lightning that does up to 10d6 electrical damage to anything that crosses its path. Can bounce off walls and in the right setting can hit multiple opponents and even a single opponent multiple times. Can also backfire and hit the caster so caution (or electrical resistance) is required. Decent spell as immunity to lightning is rare, but plentiful Wands of Lightning mean this spell is not one you need to memorise too often.

Melf's Minute Meteors: 3 for spellcasters, 2 for melee types

Nerfed by SCS so that the meteors strike as +2 weapons instead of +5. Require a ranged THAC0 roll to hit but APR is 5, so damage can quickly stack up if you pound a single opponent with them or use in between casting. Fighter types will probably be more effective with their weapons, so this spell is mainly the demesne of spellcasters and forms one of their more effective low-level damaging spells.

Minor Spell Deflection: 3

Absorbs up to 4 levels of spells cast directly at the caster, up to a maximum of 7th level spells. This means it can absorb a single spell that takes it over the 4 level threshold as long as it is still active. Useful as a low level alternative to Spell Shield to absorb debuffing spells. Generally SCS mages will try to remove the deflection with a Spell Thrust or Secret Word rather than waste high level spells trying to burn through it. Useful spell, especially as a deterrent for Breach, though the 4 level capacity means it won't help much in a prolonged mage battle.

Monster Summoning I: 2

Summons 3HD worth of critters, usually Kobold Commandos, Ogrillons or Wolves. Such lowly summons are not much use in battle except to buy a bit of time or absorb a spell or two if you're lucky. Stick to the higher level summoning spells for something useful.

Non-Detection: 1

Supposedly this spell is meant to prevent Invisibility from being dispelled by low level Divination spells. Never tried it myself but the evidence suggests it is broken and doesn't work. Anyway, SI: Divination is what you need, not this.

Protection From Cold: 1

Provides 100% resistance to cold and 50% resistance to magical cold for a long duration of 1 turn/level. There are very few cold attacks in the game; realistically the only time you'll need this protection is against Bodhi, and even then you're better off using the green Protection From Cold scrolls that you'll inevitably find instead of memorising this.

Protection From Fire: 2

As Protection From Cold but for fire damage instead. Fire damage is very common, so being protected against it is generally a very good idea. You could use this spell or you could use any of the myriad other options floating around, whether green scrolls, potions, or equipment. If you do not have other fire resistance options then by all means use this spell, especially if you're going anywhere near high level demons (as well as the other obvious fire using creatures or mages).

Protection From Normal Missiles: 2

Improved by SCS so that it protects against all missiles without a magical plus. So as well as normal and masterwork missiles, that's Arrows of Fire, Ice, Biting, Acid, Bolts of Lightning etc. Potentially useful for spellcasters to protect against elemental damage which bypasses stoneskin, fighter types are better off closing down archers or relying on their AC to avoid too many hits.

Remove Magic: 4

Mechanically this works in the same way as Dispel Magic but it doesn't affect your own defences, which makes it infinitely more useful for a solo character. Excellent spell for general debuffing, affects multiple opponents and only blocked by SI: Abjuration. You are relying on your level though for its effectiveness, so against higher level opponents where you really need it, this spell might not be effective. By the same token, single or dual class characters, who progress their mage level quickly, will get more mileage from this spell than multiclass characters, whose mage level is lagging.

Skull Trap: 3

Nerfed by SCS so that damage is capped at 12d6. Now only slightly more damaging than Fireball, but immunity to magic damage is rarer than fire resistance. The big issue with this spell is the range, it is very easy to be caught in the blast of your own Skull Traps. Can be used at spawn points to trigger when enemies appear, which is either deviously clever or horribly cheesy depending on your perspective (I'm towards the latter).

Slow: 3

Area of effect save vs spell at -4 or be slowed, which halves movement rate / combat actions and applies a 4 point penalty to THAC0 and AC. Excellent crowd control spell, the save penalty makes this spell hard to resist and the duration of 1 turn is enough for most battles. Slowed characters are massively impaired, they can only cast spells or use potions once every 2 rounds, they are easy to outmanouver, and they are easier to hit with the AC penalty. Watch out for fighter types drinking Potions of Freedom or priests dishing out Free Action, since those negate the effect of this spell.

Spell Thrust: 3

Removes spell protections of 5th level or lower, ie Minor Globe Of Invulnerability, Minor Spell Deflection, Minor Spell Turning and Spell Immunity. Does not breach Spell Shield, but does consume the Spell Shield. Therefore this is the cheapest way of getting rid of a Spell Shield, and if you have another Spell Thrust memorised, you can then use that to get rid of the spell protections. Very useful spell for mage battles where you have to methodically strip away protections to be able to damage the opponent.

Vampiric Touch: 2

Does 1d6 damage per 2 levels to a single target, capped at 6d6 at level 12. The damage inflicted heals the caster, even temporarily increasing maximum HPs (for 5 turns). Multiple castings do not stack. Requires the caster to be at melee range, but does not require a hit roll. Nice spell for a bit of quick damage + healing, but the melee range can put the caster in danger of being hit and disrupting the spell.

Jaheiras_Witness

Level 4

Confusion: 3

Area of effect save vs spell at -2 or be confused for 5 rounds + 1 round/6 levels. The save penalty makes this a reasonable spell but strong opponents will generally still make the save. Confusion is a good effect as it prevents opponents from intelligence-based actions such as casting spells. Decent crowd control spell, Level 3 Slow and Level 5 Chaos have more difficult saving throws and are thus more effective.

Contagion: 1

Single target spell which slows the victim and applies a 2 point penalty to STR, DEX and CHA. Save vs spell to avoid all effects. Only the STR penalty is of any significance against very powerful opponents. Otherwise, the only relevant effect here is the slow - the permanent duration is not important except in very long battles. So why use a Level 4 spell, which is single target and gives a saving throw without penalty, when you can use the level 3 Slow to affect multiple opponents with a 4 point penalty to their saving throws? Answer: use Slow, not this.

Emotion: 3

Area of effect save vs spell or collapse in despair (sic sleep). Secondary effect of instilling Resist Fear on the caster. The hopelessness affects a surprising array of creatures, including some demons, but doesn't affect undead. There is no save penalty though, so not too effective against powerful opponents.

Enchanted Weapon: 1 for spellcasters, 2 for melee types

Creates a +3 Axe, Mace, Short Sword or Longsword which lasts for 24 hours. Useful in the early stages of the game for fighter types if you use any of those weapons, or in Spellhold if you're playing with the option that removes your items. Not much use if you don't use any of those weapons. In any case it won't take long before you're swimming in powerful weapons and this spell is redundant.

Farsight: 2

Allows you to view a portion of the map without physically being there. Not that useful for scouting since the area visible is fixed once you cast the spell and Wizard Eye would be more suitable since it can move around. Only real use is to mob any opponents in the area with summons while you remain safely far away.

Fireshield Blue: 2

Grants 50% cold resistance and does minor cold damage to any melee opponent that hits you (this damage bypasses MR). The cold resistance isn't too important since cold attacks are rare, and there are plentiful potions or green protection scrolls you could use when needed. The damage to enemies is minor and relies on them hitting you in melee, which is hardly the most logical of combat strategies unless you want to go for Protection From Magical Weapons and stack the Fireshields.

Fireshield Red: 2

As Fireshield Blue but grants fire resistance and does minor fire damage. Fire resistance is more useful but there are even more items that provide fire resistance than cold resistance.

Greater Malison: 3

Does no harm in itself but a major enabler of several spell strategies. Gives all enemies in area of effect -4 to saving throws for 2 rounds/level, which is a long duration at high levels. The only ways to avoid this spell are SI: Enchantment or Globe Of Invulnerability; nothing else blocks it, including Magic Resistance. Makes all save-or-else spells much more effective.

Ice Storm: 2

Stationary area of effect which does 2d8 cold damage to all within the radius for 4 rounds. No saving throw. Unless disabled, SCS enemies will move out of the area of effect as quickly as they can, so the only real use of this spell is when combined with things like Web and Stinking Cloud.

Improved Invisibility: 4

Excellent spell. Improved invisibility lasts for 3 rounds + 1 round/level, which is long enough for most combats at higher levels. Gives +4 AC bonus and +4 to saving throws. With SCS, improved invisible characters cannot be directly targeted with spells other than debuffing spells. This means you are only vulnerable to area of effect damage - you cannot be hit with things like Magic Missile, Flame Arrow, PW Stun etc.

Minor Globe Of Invulnerability: 3

Makes you immune to level 1-3 spells for 1 round/level. This includes area of effect spells but not debuffing spells like Remove Magic and Spell Thrust. Very useful spell, if you suppose that an average mage has 15 level 1-3 spells memorised, of which the majority would be cast at you (Magic Missiles, Chromatic Orbs, Acid Arrows, Flame Arrows, Fireballs, Lightning etc) this one spell protects you from the effects of many.

Minor Sequencer: 2

Allows you to store 2 spells of levels 1-2 in a sequencer, ready to use as one action when you want. Both spells must have the same target or the sequencer will fail (eg you cannot stack Mirror Image and Magic Missile in a sequencer because the Mirror Image is cast on self and the Magic Missile is targeted at an opponent). Reasonable spell, you could unleash a quick Mirror Image / Invisibility if in trouble or a Blur / Protection From Evil for an AC and saving throw boost, or perhaps 2 x Magic Missile for fast damage, but is that time saving worth a Level 4 spell slot? Higher level sequencers have much more flexibility and impact.

Monster Summoning II: 2

Minor upgrade to Monster Summoning I, summons 1 or 2 4HD monsters instead. Still not worth much.

Otiluke's Resilient Sphere: 1

As a solo character you'll only ever be using this on enemies, so the defensive resource of protecting a vulnerable party member is irrelevant. Save vs spell or be trapped in the sphere for 10 rounds, unable to damage or be damaged. Therefore the only real use of this spell is to try to take one powerful enemy out of the fight while you deal with the rest...but powerful enemies will usually make the save. Other crowd control spells like Emotion or Confusion would be more useful since they can disable multiple opponents.

Polymorph Other: 3

Single target save vs petrify / polymorph or be transformed into a squirrel. The squirrel cannot attack, use spells or other abilities, so it is practically waiting to be killed (has same HPs as original creature for what it's worth, which is not much). If effective this spell is essentially a death sentence. The trick is getting it to work, since the save is without penalty and powerful creatures that you really want to cast this on (eg dragons) have MR too.

Polymorph Self: 3

There's only one really useful form: mustard jelly, which has 100% MR and 100% immunity to missile and piercing damage. Unlike vanilla BG2, SCS mages will not empty their spellbooks with futile spells against the jelly. Instead you'll be facing summons or other physical attacks. High level mages may even unleash a trigger of 3 x Lower Resistance, which could be catastrophic. Use with caution and don't imagine that an enemy mage is helpless against the jelly. Other forms like sword spider may occasionally be useful too.

Remove Curse: 1

Assuming you are experienced enough not to equip cursed items, there's only two ways you can get cursed: Clay Golem wounds, and the Deck of Many Things. Use this spell if you must, or just keep scrolls handy / run to a temple instead.

Secret Word: 3

Removes one spell protection of 8th level or lower. In reality the only spells you should target with this are Globe Of Invulnerability, Spell Deflection and Spell Turning. Use Spell Thrust instead against Spell Shield and 5th level or lower protections. Another important spell in mage chess.

Spider Spawn: 2

Summons 1 (or 20% chance of 2) spider(s), which will be giant (7-8), phase (9-11) or sword (12+) spiders depending on level. Duration is 5 rounds + 1 round/level, which is enough for most combats. Could be used in conjunction with a Web spell, since the spiders are not affected by webs. Decent mid-level summoning spell, but there are far better options at higher levels.

Spirit Armour: 3

Gives you base AC1, equivalent of full plate, and +3 bonus to saves vs spell for a long duration. Requires a save vs spell to avoid 2d4 damage on spell expiry (in reality the save is made immediately when cast, before the +3 save bonus is factored in). Very decent spell, there are few better ways to get a better base AC while still retaining spellcasting ability, and the +3 to saves vs spell is a nice bonus. Effectiveness fades at higher levels, when AC becomes less relevant as most enemies can hit you anyway and spells that absorb or prevent hits (Stoneskin, Mirror Image, Protection From Magical Weapons etc) become more important.

Stoneskin: 4

Little needs to be said. 1 skin per 2 levels, each skin absorbs one hit. Lasts for 12 hours. One of the best defensive spells around.

Teleport Field: 3

Area of effect spell which has no save. Once per round for 10 rounds, enemies are teleported to a random location within the area of effect. Has little effect on enemy spellcasters and archers but messes up melee opponents a bit, since they have to move back to melee range to strike. Very good spell against melee opponents if you're casting spells or using missiles. Not too hot if you're meleeing, since your targets are going to be moving around too (but you can still use this spell to avoid being swarmed by large groups).

Wizard Eye: 2

Summons an improved invisible eye for 1 round/level which can be used for scouting. The eye cannot fight and can be killed with one blow if it is detected and hit, so main use of this spell is either to scout ahead and prepare accordingly, or to lead summons against enemies while the caster remains safely behind.

Level 5

Animate Dead: 3

Until level 14, this spell summons 1 skeleton + 5% chance/level of 2 skeletons. From level 15 onwards this spell will summon a single Skeleton Warrior. The skeletons are average summons, not particularly strong but immune to many effects since they are undead. The Skeleton Warrior on the other hand is awesome: same immunities, 90% MR, very powerful attacks. Duration of this spell is very long, 8 hours, so the skeletons can be used for multiple encounters on the same map until slain. Excellent summoning spell at level 15+.

Breach: 3

No longer the be-all and end-all of debuffing spells with SCS. Breach no longer bypasses spell protections, so you now have to get rid of Spell Shield and Spell Deflection / Spell Turning before it works. This buys mages a few crucial rounds to unleash their arsenals. Once you get rid of spell defences, Breach is still powerful in getting rid of combat protections and making mages vulnerable to weapons. However you can't just open with Breach anymore and then hack away.

Chaos: 3

Upgrade to Confusion, save vs spell at -4 or be confused. The save penalty makes this spell tough to resist; combine with Greater Malison and you have ultimate crowd control. Duration is not long (5 rounds + 1 round/6 levels) but enough to seize control of the fight. Unfortunate that this is a level 5 spell and therefore clashes with so many other great spells at this level.

Cloudkill: 3

Stationary area of effect damaging spell, good fodder-killer. Kills enemies of 4th level or below outright. Level 4-6 enemies must save vs death at -4 or be slain. Level 7+ enemies take 1d10 poison damage each round they remain within the area of effect. Lasts for 10 rounds. SCS enemies will move out of the cloud as soon as they can if not disabled, so stacking this with Web and Stinking Cloud can work well. Good damaging spell, but given wand availability and other great spells at this level, this is not one you will be memorising too often.

Cone Of Cold: 2

Cone does 1d4+1 damage/level, which can be decent at higher levels. Can shatter opponents that are killed by the damage (destroys loot except gold and quest items). Difficult to hit too many opponents with the cone since they effectively need to be in a line in front of you. Not a great spell given the level, use Wands of Frost instead.

Conjure Lesser Air Elemental: 1

Under current SCS (v28) all the conjure elemental spells are broken; after the mental combat, the elementals never come under your control and instead stay blue-circled and do nothing. Even if not broken, these spells are not great anyway since they have to be cast before battle (unless you want to spend several rounds helpless in the midst of combat), and there is a risk that the elemental becomes hostile. Other summoning spells (eg Animate Dead) are much more reliable and useful.

Conjure Lesser Earth Elemental: 1

See Conjure Lesser Air Elemental.

Conjure Lesser Fire Elemental: 1

See Conjure Lesser Air Elemental.

Domination: 2

Souped up charm which affects all intelligent creatures (not just humanoids) and applies a -2 penalty to the save. Single target. Decent but not great value at this level.

Feeblemind: 3

Single target save vs spell at -2 or lose your intelligence and be unable to act. The duration is permanent, so this spell is effectively a death sentence if it works (unless another enemy heals or dispels the target). Like Polymorph Other, the effect of this spell is great but the trick is to make it work, as most opponents powerful enough to warrant casting this on will have good saves or MR. Fatal for a solo character but enemy mages will rarely cast this at you.

Hold Monster: 2

As Hold Person but affects non-humanoids too, which makes it more versatile but not great value at this level.

Lower Resistance: 3

Reduces enemy MR by 10% + 1%/level for 1 round/level. No saving throw. Like Greater Malison this spell does no harm in itself but it is a major enabler for making magic resistant enemies (eg dragons, demons, drow, mind flayers) vulnerable to spells. Area of effect is only one creature though, so in practice you would only use this against single powerful foes (eg dragons) rather than those that come in mobs (eg mind flayers). Probably more useful to cast this spell in a trigger (eg 3 x Lower Resistance or 1 x Pierce Magic + 2 x Lower Resistance) to eliminate enemy MR entirely than to cast piecemeal. Not a spell you will need to cast too often but crucial when you do.

Minor Spell Turning: 3

This spell functions exactly like Minor Spell Deflection with one difference: the spell cast is reflected back at the caster rather than just deflected. That difference gives this spell an offensive edge on top of its defensive properties. As a human player you can sometimes capitalise on enemy mages casting this spell by firing beneficial spells at them (eg Protection From x spells), and having them reflected back on you while wearing down or consuming the Minor Spell Turning. Or you could just use Spell Thrust to get rid of it. Like Minor Spell Deflection, this spell only defends against 4 levels of spells so it is not a long lasting protection.

Monster Summoning III: 2

As previous iterations of Monster Summoning but summons 1-2 5HD monsters instead (eg Ogre Berserkers, Ettercaps). These summons are on the verge of being useful but are nowhere near as powerful as the Skeleton Warrior from Animate Dead. Below level 15 you might use this spell on occasion; at level 15 and above you should nearly always use Animate Dead instead.

Oracle: 2

Dispels all enemy illusions of 5th level or below. That includes things like Invisibility, Improved Invisibility and Shadow Door but not high level illusions like Mislead and Project Image. Useful but True Sight is massively more powerful and only one level higher.

Phantom Blade: 1

Pathetic for a level 5 spell. Creates a +3 sword which the caster is automatically proficient in for 3 rounds + 1 round/level. The sword does 10 extra damage to undead. After casting, you then have to melee to get any value from the sword; since when was meleeing ever a good option for spellcasters? And fighter types will likely have better weapons already, or could use Level 4 Enchanted Weapon for a weapon that lasts for 24 hours and cannot be dispelled.

Protection From Acid: 1

Provides 100% immunity to acid for a long duration of 1 turn/level. Not very useful since acid attacks are rare: you might get a few Acid Arrows flying your way, there's Ankhegs, for all the danger they pose (ie none), and there's the black dragon (against which you definitely need acid protection). Acid resistance items are rare, you might find some green protection scrolls or you can buy them from any merchant or temple that sells scrolls. Use this spell against the black dragon if you have no other means of acid protection; that's pretty much the only time you'll ever need it.

Protection From Lightning: 1

As Protection From Acid but protects against electrical damage instead. Electrical damage is far more common; however items that protect against electrical damage are also very common. It's unlikely that you'll ever need to cast this spell, but by all means do so when facing blue dragons and the like if you have no other way of protecting yourself.

Protection From Normal Weapons: 3

Protects against non-magical weapons for a decent duration of 1 round/level. Slightly improved by SCS since +1 weapons are changed to masterwork and are also considered non-magical. Powerful opponents will generally still have magical weapons (or natural attacks which strike as magical weapons). Still, any melee opponent without a magical weapon will be rendered toothless by this spell.

Shadow Door: 3

Virtually identical to Improved Invisibility except it has a shorter duration but a marginally faster casting time. No way that justifies a whole spell level increase. Still a very good spell, but you should use Improved Invisibility instead.

Spell Immunity: 5

Incredibly important spell. Upon casting you choose a school of magic to be protected from and are then immune to spells of that school for 1 round/level (exception: spells that specifically debuff spell protections still work against you, even if they are of the school you choose to protect against. For example, SI: Abjuration does not protect against Breach, Secret Word and the like). Notable choices here would include SI: Divination (protect your illusion spells from True Sight), SI: Enchantment (make yourself immune to most crowd control effects like charm, confusion and hold), SI: Abjuration (immunity to Remove Magic to protect your buffs, immunity to Imprisonment), SI: Necromancy (Skull Trap, Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting and the Shade Lord's ridiculous aura) etc. You absolutely need this spell in the tougher mage encounters; at the very least, if you do not have SI: Abjuration active, expect every high level mage or lich you meet to blow away all your carefully constructed defences with a single Remove Magic. Do not overlook SI: Enchantment and SI: Conjuration either - unless your saving throws are very safe, these protect you from most disabling effects.

Spell Shield: 5

Absorbs the next debuffing spell cast at you and is consumed in the process. That might not sound impressive but this spell is absolutely vital against SCS mages. Spell Shield protects your protections: you can throw up all the spell and combat protections you want, but all it might take is a Spell Thrust and Breach to leave you as helpless as a kitten. This spell keeps your defences intact and that is vital against SCS mages whose code will exploit whatever you are not protected against. In longer mage battles you will probably need multiple Spell Shields, replacing one as soon as it is consumed to ensure your actual protections are kept safe.

Sunfire: 4 for classic BG2, 3 for EE.

Very powerful Fireball. Mechanically, this spell makes the caster immune to fire for 3 seconds and then launches a fireball, centred on the caster. The temporary immunity protects the caster but all else in the area of effect take 1d6 damage/level, capped at 15d6 (save for half damage). Moreover, in classic BG2 this spell ignores MR; while some MR creatures are also immune or resistant to fire (eg dragons, demons), many are not (eg Drow), which makes this one of the few spells that is effective against those opponents without using Lower Resistance. MR is not bypassed in EE, which somewhat nerfs this spell. Very good damaging spell, especially against MR opponents with the classic edition.

Jaheiras_Witness

Level 6

Carrion Summons: 2

Weak summoning spell. Summons 1 (35% chance of 2) mutated carrion crawlers. The carrion crawlers are not particularly dangerous; they have a lot of attacks and can paralyse but do little damage and are easy to kill. Animate Dead is superior and a level lower.

Chain Lightning: 3

A safe but weak Lightning Bolt. Launches an arc of eletricity at the target which does 1d6 damage per 2 levels of the caster, with a save for half damage. Upon hitting the target, the lightning then arcs to any other nearby enemies and does the same damage to them, and so on until it has hit all nearby enemies in the area of effect. Could be useful to dispatch or injure a number of weaker opponents without risking damage to the caster or his summons, but the damage inflicted means this is not great value at level 6.

Conjure Air Elemental : 1

See Conjure Lesser Air Elemental.

Conjure Earth Elemental : 1

See Conjure Lesser Air Elemental.

Conjure Fire Elemental : 1

See Conjure Lesser Air Elemental.

Contingency: 3

Interesting spell. Allows you to select one spell which is auto-cast when conditions you specify are met. The spell to be cast can be of 1 spell level per 3 caster levels (up to a maximum of a level 6 spell at caster level 18). You could use this spell defensively (eg Stoneskin if HP<50% or Improved Invisibility if helpless) or offensively (eg Sunfire on hit) or however else you want. The contingency is permanent until triggered. Note that this spell can be a bit buggy: the contingent spell can take some time to trigger even when the condition is met, so don't rely on something you need instantly or leave the margins too fine. Also, this spell ignores aura and can be cast even when paused (which is a bug and something you shouldn't exploit). Good spell, particularly for emergency defences; the true realms of contingent power are with Level 9 Chain Contingency.

Death Fog: 3

Upgrade to Cloudkill. Stationary area of effect spell that lasts 10 rounds and does 8 acid damage per round to all within the cloud. Kills all summons in the area of effect outright (skeleton warriors, mordy's swords, invisible stalkers etc - but demons, genies and celestials are gated rather than summoned). As with Cloudkill, SCS opponents will move out of the area of effect unless disabled. Does plenty of damage (80 points over 10 rounds) if you can keep opponents within the cloud.

Death Spell: 3

Kills all enemies of up to 8HD in the area of effect outright, with no save. Also kills all enemy summons in the area of effect outright. Excellent fodder and summons killer. Unlike Death Fog it does no damage to enemies with more than 8HD but it also does not persist and hamper the caster or your own summons. Useful "cleaner" alternative to Death Fog.

Disintegrate: 2

Single target save vs spell or be disintegrated into dust. Strong effect but destroys loot (except gold and quest items) so not a spell you want to use against opponents that might be carrying something of value. Feel free to use against monsters that typically do not have much treasure. Most powerful opponents will not struggle with the save so limited utility for a level 6 spell.

Flesh To Stone: 2

Single target save vs spell or be petrified. A petrified opponent has only 1HP and can be destroyed with a single strike. This spell suffers from the same drawback as Disintegrate in that loot is also destroyed when a petrified opponent is killed. If you have this spell and the reverse Stone To Flesh available, there is a convoluted way to kill a powerful opponent without destroying their loot if you can get Flesh To Stone to work. Cast Flesh To Stone; if the opponent is petrified, cast Stone To Flesh to free them; the opponent still only has 1HP left so kill them with a single attack and collect the treasure.

Globe Of Invulnerability: 3

Upgrade to Minor Globe Of Invulnerability, protects against 4th level spells as well as 1-3. Realistically the only 4th spells likely to be cast at you which this defends against are Confusion, Emotion and Greater Malison. Unless you require protection against these spells, you might as well stick to a Minor Globe at 2 spell levels lower. Decent spell, but the Minor Globe is better value and there are stronger spells at this level.

Improved Haste: 3 for spellcasters, 5 for fighter types

Unbelievably powerful spell for fighter types. Doubles movement speed and APR for 3 rounds + 1 round/level. Unlike Haste, this is a single target spell and there is no fatigue. You can easily get to between 7-10 APR while Improved Hasted, which is plain sick: that's almost the equivalent of a Greater Whirlwind which lasts for 3 rounds + 1 round/level rather than just 1 round. Has no impact on spellcasting time so mileage for spellcasters is more limited, though you could combine with Tenser's Transformation for some melee power, or unleash a hideous number of Melf's Minute Meteors, or cast on your Skeleton Warriors or Mordenkainen's Swords. Truly wonderful spell.

Invisible Stalker: 2

Summons an invisible stalker for 9 hours or until slain. The stalker is a decent summon, it starts off invisible and does decent melee damage. It has a moderate number of HPs so can absorb a few hits or spells before it dies. Not bad but Level 5 Animate Dead and Level 7 Mordenkainen's Sword provide much more powerful summons.

Mislead: 5

Another incredibly powerful spell when used to its full potential. Summons a clone of the caster for 1 round/level and makes the caster invisible and improved invisible. The clone can only move around, it cannot attack or cast spells, but while it remains in existence the caster can do anything without becoming visible. That means you can unleash spell after spell, charge into melee, or repeatedly backstab if you have thief levels without opponents being able to target you. The key to this spell is keeping the clone alive; the clone cannot defend itself and will therefore be killed quickly if you let opponents target it. However, if you cast this spell in a safe part of the map well away from enemies, and if you then cast Invisibility on the clone and SI: Divination + SI: Abjuration on yourself, then you can wade into combat without enemies being able to see the clone and with no risk of having your "perfect" invisibility dispelled. Lethal spell but be aware that enemies who can naturally see through invisibility (eg dragons, liches, some demons) won't be fooled by this spell.

Pierce Magic: 3

A Secret Word and weak Lower Resistance rolled into one. Dispels one spell protection of 8th level or lower (ie what Secret Word does) and reduce MR by 1%/level (Lower Resistance does 10% + 1%/level). Therefore you would only ever cast this spell at MR enemies (or at liches, since they are unaffected by Secret Word) to save a bit of time instead of casting Secret Word and Lower Resistance separately. Not a spell you will cast too often but does save some time / capacity against MR enemies.

Power Word Silence: 2

Silences a single opponent for 7 rounds without saving throw. No use at all except against mages / priests to prevent them casting spells. Unfortunately every enemy mage in the game can forecast Vocalize without having it memorised, so this does little except force the opponent to waste a round. Still good against priests though.

Protection From Magic Energy: 2

Decent spell, provides 100% resistance to pure magic damage for a long duration of 1 turn/level. Spells that do magic damage are things like Magic Missile, Skull Trap and Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting. You could however defend against those types of spells more economically by utilising lower level spells; for example, Shield vs Magic Missile, Minor Globe Of Invulnerability vs Magic Missile and Skull Trap, SI: Necromancy vs Skull Trap and Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting. Use this spell only if you want a long-lasting, catch-all defence against magic damage; otherwise utilise lower level protections against specific spells that you want to defend against.

Protection From Magical Weapons: 5

Makes magical weapons and the natural attacks of powerful creatures ineffective against you. Immensely powerful spell, you could stand in a circle of dragons, mindflayers, vampires and demons and none of them could harm you with their melee attacks. Vital spell for "tanking" the more powerful opponents you come across. Only lasts 4 rounds though, so you often need multiple instances memorised to get you through the tougher encounters. Other than Level 9 Absolute Immunity, this is the most powerful combat protection around.

Spell Deflection: 3

Upgrade to Minor Spell Deflection. Mechanics are the same, but now deflects up to 10 levels of any level spell. Like the minor version it will consume a spell that takes it over the 10 level threshold as long as it is still active (ie even if it only has 1 spell level remaining, it can still deflect a level 9 spell). Same utility as the minor version, just protects against more spells and therefore more suitable for longer mage battles.

Stone To Flesh: 1

As a solo character there's nobody for you to free from petrification (and alas you can't use this as a Contingency on yourself). The only quest that involves freeing petrified creatures is deep into ToB and you will have green scrolls to do it. Therefore this isn't a spell you ever need to memorise.

Summon Nishruu: 2

Interesting summoning spell. The Nishruu is a creature of magic that cannot do physical damage. Instead it drains magic from opponents: every time it hits an opponent, the opponent loses one memorised spell (of the highest level memorised) and one charge from a magical item. Therefore its only utility is against mages and priests. It is immune to all magic except Dispel / Remove Magic and Death Spell / Fog, which destroy it. Any other spell cast at the Nishruu heals it instead. The Nishruu is vulnerable to all weapons and doesn't have many HPs, so physical attacks will destroy it quickly. Potentially a useful summon against mages if there are no fighter types around to attack it. The big drawback is that the Nishruu can destroy magical items if it drains them of charges. SCS mages and priests will recognise that the Nishruu cannot be harmed by spells and react appropriately.

Tenser's Transformation: 3

Effectively turns a mage into a fighter for 1 round/level. Doubles HPs, with all damage coming first from the extra HPs; improves AC by 4; THAC0 improved to that of a fighter of the same level as the mage; additional +2 to hit and +2 damage. Disables spellcasting. This allows spellcasters to melee if needed. Does not increase APR, so although you can hit quite easily, you'll only be striking once per round which is not all that impressive (unless you use Haste or Improved Haste first). Moreover you cannot cast any further spells, so you need to ensure you have whatever protections you need before you cast this spell (you could still use scrolls though). Useful spell for mages when facing enemies that are unaffected by magic (eg golems, rakshasas). Fighter types need to be more careful when using this spell; although you still get the majority of the benefits (extra HPs, AC and damage bonus), your THAC0 might reduce if your mage level is significantly below your fighter level.

True Sight: 4

The ultimate anti-illusion spell. Lasts 10 rounds: once each round all enemy illusions are dispelled unless protected by SI: Divination. Does not affect your own illusions. Excellent spell to get rid of enemy illusions and to keep dispelling any new illusions they put up. Also cures blindness under SCS. Crucial spell in any mage's armoury.

Wyvern Call: 2

Decent summon, the wyvern is reasonable in melee and can poison opponents on hit. It is not particularly durable and won't last long against sustained enemy attacks. Lasts 1 round/level if not otherwise killed. As with Invisible Stalker, this summon does not compare too well with Animate Dead and Mordenkainen's Sword, so use those instead if possible.

Level 7

Cacofiend: 2

Gates in a Nabassu demon for 15 rounds. All demons are improved by SCS and the Nabassu has some immunities, resistances and special powers which make it a formidable opponent. You need to cast Protection From Evil on yourself before casting this spell or the Nabassu will attack you as a priority. Otherwise, it will attack anything it can see without discrimination. Demons are gated rather than summoned and therefore cannot be killed by a Death Spell / Fog. You do not gain XP for anything killed by the Nabassu and you need to ensure there are no important neutrals around lest they be killed by the demon. A powerful summon but has its drawbacks, given that you cannot control it once you gate it in, other summoning spells such as Animate Dead or Mordenkainen's Sword might be superior.

Control Undead: 2

Charms 1d4 undead in the area of effect for 6 rounds + 1 round/level. Minor undead (3HD or less) get no saving throw, those of 4HD+ can save vs spell to resist. In theory you could even charm a lich if you got through its spell defences and it failed its save vs this spell (in practice you've got no chance). This is effectively a Dire Charm (level 3 spell) that affects 1-4 undead rather than 1 humanoid, which is fairly weak for a level 7 spell. Most powerful undead will save without difficulty. Considering the power of other level 7 spells, this is not a spell you will want to memorise too often.

Delayed Blast Fireball: 3

Effectively a Fireball trap. Places an unexploded fireball at the range specified. As soon as anybody comes close to it (roughly melee range) the fireball explodes with the normal area of effect. Does 15d6 damage, which is 50% more than a normal Fireball, with a save for half damage. Therefore this spell can be used as a normal Fireball if fired at enemies or as a trap to lure enemies into or at spawn points for immediate damage when triggered. Decent spell with decent damage and has some strategic potential (or cheese potential if you dump numerous Delayed Blast Fireballs and Skull Traps at spawn points).

Finger Of Death: 3

Single target save vs spell at -2 or die. Even if the saving throw is made, target suffers 2d8+1 damage. The saving throw penalty makes this spell reasonably useful to attempt immediate kills of powerful foes (particularly if preceded with Greater Malison) and you might be able to win some tough fights quite easily if you get the roll of the dice. Some powerful opponents are immune to death effects (eg liches, SCS dragons) and Death Ward also protects against this spell, so watch out for priests dishing that out. Much better spell than lower level insta-deaths like Distintegrate due to the saving throw penalty and the fact that loot is not destroyed.

Khelben's Warding Whip: 3

Lasts for 3 rounds and each round it dispels one spell protection of 8th level or lower (as Secret Word). The highest level protections are dispelled first. Does not dispel Spell Shield but does consume a Spell Shield (in which case this spell is also consumed and does not dispel other protections). Useful spell in mage chess, it is effectively 3 Secret Words wrapped into one casting.

Limited Wish: 5

Wonderful spell. Summons a genie who will fulfil one wish of your choice in a limited way. Unlike the level 9 Wish, the choices available are not random and depend entirely on your WIS (if your WIS is low, drink a Potion of Insight first). The wishes available are divided into repeatable (you can always select these every time you cast this spell) and one-time (you can only choose that wish once, it won't be available the next time you cast this spell). The repeatable wishes are decent rather than spectacular. The best one is probably restoring spells (which restores one spell you've already cast from each of levels 1-4, so you're effecively swapping one level 7 spell for 4 lower level spells, which is not a bad tradeoff. You can also choose to restore spells you didn't actually cast but now want, by deselecting all spells you've already cast from levels 1-4 and selecting the spell from your spell book you now want to memorise for each level). The true power of this spell is in the one-time wishes, which include one-off castings of several level 9 spells (Time Stop, Chain Contingency, Shapechange, Wail Of The Banshee). You can also obtain Glasses Of Identification and Full Plate +2 as one-off wishes if you want those items; melee types might want to buy the scroll of Limited Wish from Lady Yuth in the Adventurer's Mart to get the Full Plate +2 very early in the game, as you won't find better armour until the Underdark.

Mantle: 3

Improved by SCS, now makes you immune to +3 and lower weapons for 4 rounds. Very few enemies will strike with/as +4 weapons, so this can be just as good as Protection From Magical Weapons (though Protection From Magical Weapons is better value as a level 6 spell rather than level 7). Strong spell with the same utility as Protection From Magical Weapons.

Mass Invisibility: 3

Actually a mass improved invisibility spell, makes caster and nearby allies improved invisible for 1 round/level. Your only allies as a solo character are your summons, and unlike Invisibility 10' Radius, making your summons improved invisible rather than just invisible is useful since it gives them AC and saving throw bonuses and prevents them being targeted by spells other than debuffing spells. Use level 4 Improved Invisiblity if you only have one summon, use this spell if you have multiple summons.

Mordenkainen's Sword: 4

The best mage summon available until HLAs. Summons a magical sword for 1 round/level. The sword is totally immune to all physical and elemental damage; it can only be damaged by pure magic (Magic Missile, Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting etc) or destroyed by a Death Spell / Fog. The sword is an excellent melee summon, it strikes as a +4 weapon, has 2 APR and low THAC0 and does 5d4 damage per hit.

Power Word Stun: 3

Arguably the strongest in the Power Word line of spells. Stuns a single opponent without save if the opponent has fewer than 90HPs when the spell is cast. The duration of the stun is dependent upon HPs at the time of casting and ranges from 1d4 rounds to 4d4 rounds. A stunned opponent is helpless and can usually be killed quite easily. Excellent spell to disable and dispatch powerful opponents once you've weakened them; this spell does not bypass MR though so you will need to use Lower Resistance if you want to try this on dragons and the like. Beware of this spell being cast at you, it is a notorious solo killer. Keep your HPs above 90 if you can, or drink a Potion Of Freedom or have Spell Deflection in place.

Prismatic Spray: 3

Produces a cone of rays which have a variety of damaging effects and which are party friendly (will not harm summons). Any opponent with fewer than 8HD is blinded for 5 rounds without save on top of any other damage. Each opponent in the area of effect takes damage from a maximum of 2 rays. The rays are:

Red: 20 magic damage, save for half
Orange: 40 magic damage, save for half
Yellow: 80 magic damage, save for half
Green: save vs death or die, 20 poison damage if save successful
Blue: save vs petrify/polymorph or be petrified
Indigo: save vs wand or be Feebleminded
Violet: save vs spell or be Disintegrated

This spell is unquestionably damaging but unpredictable, you don't want to be petrifying or disintegrating opponents that carry good loot. The saves are without penalty so most powerful opponents will usually make them. And it can be difficult to hit multiple opponents since the cone effectively requires them to be in a line to be hit. Use it if you like this spell, but there are plenty of other good options at this level.

Project Image: 5

Immensely powerful spell. Creates a clone of the caster while freezing the caster in place and making him invisible. The clone cannot attack but can cast the full repertoire of spells that the caster had memorised at the time of casting (the caster's own spells are unaffected). Under SCS the clone cannot use Quick Items either, so you cannot duplicate one-shot scrolls and the like with this spell. Lasts for 1 round/level but is terminated early if the clone is killed or if the caster takes any damage. The clone can be dispelled or terminated through True Sight, so it is often a good idea for the clone to cast SI: Divination and SI: Abjuration as soon as possible. Strategically you want to cast this away from enemies so that the caster cannot be harmed by an area of effect spell, but the clone has no line of sight of its own and you can only see in the vicinity of the caster. You could get around this though by summoning a Wizard Eye before casting this spell. When utilised properly this spell effectively gives you a full copy of your memorised spells to cast as you wish while still retaining them, which is ludicrously powerful. The caster is unfrozen and becomes visible when the spell ends.

Protection From The Elements: 2

Provides 75% resistance against all elemental damage for 1 round/level. Decent catch-all spell, the immunity conferred stacks with other resistances you might have through equipment, so you can get to 100% resistance against specific elements if necessary. You will rarely need resistances against multiple elements unless facing high level mages with a variety of spells, so for most encounters the lower level spells that protect against individual elements might be better value (and they have the added bonus of providing 100% protection against the element rather than 75%). The main utility of this spell is therefore when you're unsure what types of attacks you will be facing. Note that this spell does not provide any protection against magical damage (you need level 6 Protection From Magic Energy for that).

Ruby Ray Of Reversal: 3

Dispels one spell protection of any level (targets the highest level protection). Key spell, this is the first (and lowest level) debuffing spell that can dispel level 9 Spell Trap. In practice Spell Trap is the only spell you should target with Ruby Ray, all other protections can be dispelled with lower level debuffing spells like Secret Word and Pierce Magic. Another key component of mage chess.

Spell Sequencer: 3

Upgrade to level 4 Minor Sequencer and a considerable upgrade at that. Mechanically it works in the same way as Minor Sequencer but you can now store 3 spells of 4th level or below. This gives you a huge amount of flexibility. Use whatever permutations you like; some strong examples for you to consider are:

Greater Malison + Stinking Cloud + Web:
disable your foes for some AoE carnage.

Greater Malison + Slow + Confusion: crowd control, pick off slowed and/or confused opponents.

3 x Flame Arrow: single target damage.

3 x Skull Trap: AoE damage.

2 x Spell Thrust + Secret Word: destroy spell defences.

Mirror Image + Stoneskin + Improved Invisibility: fast combat protections.

Minor Spell Deflection + Minor Globe Of Invulnerability + Improved Invisibility: fast spell defence.

Spell Turning: 3

Upgrade to level 5 Minor Spell Turning. Works in the same way but provides protection for up to 12 spell levels of any level spell. This makes it a much longer lasting spell and better suited to longer encounters. Good spell.

Sphere Of Chaos: 2

Stationary area of effect which lasts for 10 rounds and will not harm the caster or allies. All enemies in the area of effect must save vs spell each round or suffer a random effect. The possible effects are: polymorph (squirrel), confusion, burst into flames, paralysis, disintegration, unconsciousness, randomly teleport, haste or heal 20 HPs. While the majority of the effects are clearly negative, some of the effects like haste or disintegrate are not desirable. Most powerful opponents will not struggle with the save either. Potentially useful spell against groups of enemies but too random to be a reliable option.

Summon Djinni: 3

Summons a Djinni from the elemental plane of air for 1 round/level. The Djinni is a decent fighter and spellcaster, it has a variety of resistances and spells and can take gaseous form. It can also turn hostile against the caster if it takes too much damage. The Djinni is gated rather than summoned and therefore cannot be killed by Death Spell / Fog. Useful summoning spell if you want some spellcasting firepower, but not as reliable as Animate Dead or Mordenkainen's Sword.

Summon Efreeti: 3

As Summon Djinni but summons an Efreeti from the elemental plane of fire instead, which has slightly different spells and resistances. Otherwise the same as Summon Djinni.

Summon Hakeashar: 2

Upgrade to Summon Nishruu. The Hakeashar is a more powerful version of the Nishruu, it has more HPs and a better THAC0 and is immune to non-magical weapons. Otherwise the same utility as Summon Nishruu.

Jaheiras_Witness

Level 8

Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting: 4

One of the best AoE damaging spells in the game. Does 1d8 damage/level (capped at 20d8), save vs spell for half damage. Does not harm the caster or allies. The damage inflicted is pure magic damage rather than elemental, so resistances are rare. Excellent spell, load up.

Bigby's Clenched Fist: 2

Summons a giant hand which squeezes a single target for up to 4 rounds as follows.

Round 1: target held (no save) + 3d6 damage.
Round 2: save vs death at -2; if successful, spell ends and no further damage. If failed, target held again and takes 4d6 damage.
Round 3: save vs death; if successful, spell ends and no further damage. If failed, target held for this and the next round and takes 6d6 damage.
Round 4: target held. No further damage.

Not a particularly great spell, the single target takes a maximum of 13d6 damage if it fails two saving throws and can be held for a maximum of 4 rounds. Might be useful to buy time in combat but not great value as a level 8 spell.

Improved Mantle: 3

As Mantle but protects against +4 and lower weapons for 4 rounds. Very few opponents strike with/as +5 weapons so a very strong combat protection, albeit Level 6 Protection From Magical Weapons can achieve almost the same effect.

Incendiary Cloud: 3

Stationary area of effect damaging spell which lasts for 10 rounds. Each round all within the area of effect take fire damage of 1d4 per level of the caster (capped at 20d4), save vs spell for half damage. This spell could potentially do horrific damage over 10 rounds but as with previous iterations of cloud damage, SCS opponents will move out of the area of effect unless disabled. Therefore you should combine with disabling spells for best effect.

Maze: 3

Sends a single target into an extradimensional maze for a duration dependent on the target's INT. No saving throw. The main use of this spell is to take a single powerful opponent out of the fight while you deal with weaker opponents or prepare a homecoming surprise. The lack of saving throw makes this spell particularly useful against melee type opponents, spellcasters have more ways to avoid it (eg Spell Deflection, Improved Invisibility, SI: Conjuration etc). Unlike level 9 Imprisonment this spell does not bypass MR. This spell is (rather unfairly) fatal for solo characters that are affected by it, even if they only have to spend a few rounds in the maze.

Pierce Shield: 3

Similar to level 6 Pierce Magic, this spell is two spells rolled into one, in this case Ruby Ray Of Reversal and Lower Resistance. Pierce Shield will dispel one spell protection of any level (ie what Ruby Ray does) and lower MR by 10% + 1%/level (ie what Lower Resistance does). Logically therefore you should only cast this spell at MR opponents that cast Spell Trap (use Ruby Ray against opponents that do not have MR and use Pierce Magic against protections other than Spell Trap). A powerful debuffing spell but not one you will need everyday.

Power Word Blind: 3

Single target spell under SCS, blinds one opponent for 6 rounds (no save). Blinded opponents suffer a -4 THAC0 penalty and -4 AC penalty; they can only "see" within melee range and therefore cannot attack or cast spells at anybody outside melee range. Very useful effect, melee opponents become sitting ducks for 6 rounds and spellcasters cannot launch offensive spells at you (but they can still buff themselves or try to Dispel Magic).

Protection From Energy: 2

Upgrade to level 7 Protection From The Elements. As well as providing 75% resistance to elemental damage, this spell also confers 75% resistance to magical damage (Magic Missile, Skull Trap, Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting etc) for 1 round/level. It is therefore like a Protection From Magic Energy and Protection From The Elements rolled into one (although Protection From Magic Energy provides 100% resistance to magic damage for a much longer duration). Use this if you want a catch-all defence against magical and elemental damage, or use individual lower level protections for more specific defence.

Simulacrum: 5

Creates a clone which can function alongside the caster for 1 round/level. The clone can attack, cast spells and use special abilities; it cannot however use Quick Items under SCS, so you cannot duplicate powerful one-shot items like scrolls with this spell. The clone is a level-drained version of the caster and appears at 60% of the caster's level. This means it will not have as many spells as the caster and its combat abilities (eg THAC0) will not be as good as the caster's (it still gets all the caster's special abilities though, which might include HLAs). If you had the inclination you could use a scroll of Restoration on the clone to restore its level, which would increase its combat abilities to the caster's level but not restore the missing spells (this would only make sense for fighter types and probably only if you disable the fatigue caused by Restoration with the Tweakpack). Very powerful spell, the main advantage of this spell compared to Project Image is that the clone can function alongside the caster and can attack with weapons; but unlike Project Image, the clone does not have all the caster's spells (and will mainly be missing the higher level spells). This is effectively a very powerful summoning spell, you get a disposable copy of your PC to do with as you wish. Note that the clone cannot be dispelled but can be terminated by True Sight, so it should cast SI: Divination as a priority. You can only have one Simulacrum at a time, so summoning an army of clones is sadly not possible.

Spell Trigger: 4

Upgrade to Spell Sequencer, you can store 3 spells of up to level 6 in the Spell Trigger. This creates even more powerful options, use your imagination and experiment with whatever permutations you want. Hugely powerful spell.

Summon Fiend: 2

Similar to level 7 Cacofiend, this spell gates in a more powerful fiend, a Glabrezu, instead. The mechanics and drawbacks of this spell are the same as for Cacofiend, you need Protection From Evil, you cannot control the fiend, you do not get XP for its kills etc. Another powerful but dangerous spell, use with caution or not at all.

Symbol Death: 2

Launches a symbol at the range prescribed by the caster. The symbol remains in place until triggered by any creature coming within melee range. Therefore the symbol can be used to trigger immediately, by firing at an opponent, or as a trap, to be triggered by an opponent coming too close. Once the symbol is triggered all within the area of effect (which is roughly the same as that of a Skull Trap) must save vs death or be killed. Any creature with more than 60HPs is immune to the effect. This is not a particularly great spell as the HP threshold and saving throw mean that powerful opponents will rarely be affected. Moreover the effect is not party friendly, so the caster or allies could also be affected by the symbol if they are in the blast radius when the symbol triggers. Not a strong enough spell for this level.

Symbol Fear: 2

Mechanically this works the same as Symbol Death except for the effect. Once triggered, all within the area of effect must save vs spell at -4 or be panicked for 2 rounds + 1 round per level of the caster. There is no HP threshold that provides immunity to the effect and the saving throw is more difficult than for Symbol Death; however immunity to fear is common (all SCS priests will cast Remove Fear for starters). Another weak spell for this level.

Symbol Stun: 3

Identical to Symbol Fear except that those failing the saving throw are stunned rather than panicked. The saving throw penalty and duration of the effect are the same as for Symbol Fear. Much better spell since stun is a better effect than fear, a stunned opponent is helpless and immunity to stun is rarer than immunity to fear. Decent spell.

Level 9

Absolute Immunity: 3

Upgrade to Improved Mantle, provides protection against all weapons for 4 rounds. The ultimate combat protection spell. Given that most opponents in the later stages of the game will strike with/as magical weapons, level 6 Protection From Magical Weapons may achieve the same effect at 3 spell levels lower. Use that where possible and use your level 9 slots for the truly amazing spells at this level.

Bigby's Crushing Hand: 2

Upgrade to Bigby's Clenched Fist, potentially doing more damage over a shorter duration but without the guaranteed hold in the first round.

Round 1: 2d10 damage. Save vs death at -4; if successful, spell ends and no further damage. If failed, target held.
Round 2: 3d10 damage. Save vs death at -2; if successful, spell ends and no further damage. If failed, target held.
Round 3: 4d10 damage. Spell ends.

This spell therefore does between 2d10 and 9d10 damage to a single opponent, depending on saving throws, and holds the opponent for a maximum of 2 rounds. That's very weak for a level 9 spell.

Black Blade Of Disaster: 3

Creates a deadly sword for melee use that lasts for 18 rounds. The caster is automatically considered a grandmaster with the weapon for the purposes of attacks, THAC0, damage etc. The sword is a +5 weapon and does 2d12 base damage; any opponent hit by the sword must save vs death at +4 or be disintegrated. There is also a 10% chance on hit to drain 4 levels from the target (without save) and heal the caster by 20HPs. There are not many weapons in the game as lethal as the Black Blade Of Disaster, so this is a strong spell even for melee types. The Disintegrate effect will rarely work against powerful opponents due to the saving throw bonus (and you probably do not want it to work anyway due to the destruction of loot). However the damage inflicted by the sword surpasses that of any other weapon, and the 10% chance to drain levels is a powerful effect. For spellcasters this spell is best combined with Improved Haste and Tenser's Transformation to transform the caster into a melee juggernaut. Very good spell.

Chain Contingency: 5

Upgrade to level 6 Contingency and what an upgrade; this is one of the most powerful spells in the game. Like Contingency, this spell allows you to choose a trigger which unleashes the spells prepared in the Chain Contingency. However, whereas Contingency allows you to choose one contingent spell of up to level 6, Chain Contingency allows you to choose 3 spells of up to level 8. This creates hideously powerful permutations, such as the classic 3 x Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting on enemy sighted cast at the nearest enemy. This spell is best cast in battle rather than prepared beforehand, as that will enable you to select sensible options depending on the enemies you face and the defences they put up. You can use this spell offensively or defensively for almost any purpose, whether that be debuffing, putting your own defences up, crowd control, damage etc. Experiment as you wish but bear in mind that the chosen spells have to have the same target for the Chain Contingency to work (eg you cannot chain Flame Arrow with Protection From Magical Weapons and Simulacrum, because the Flame Arrow is cast at a target while the Protection From Magical Weapons and Simulacrum are applied on the caster). Note that like Contingency this spell is buggy; you can cast it while paused and it ignores aura, which you should not abuse.

Energy Drain: 1

Terrible spell for level 9. Single target touch spell (requires the caster to be at melee range but no hit roll required) which drains 2 levels. That's it. When you consider that in the late game you might be facing multiple level 20+ enemies, draining 2 levels from one opponent is utterly pathetic, it will barely have a noticeable effect. Avoid like the plague.

Freedom: 1

Releases anybody trapped by an Imprisonment or Maze spell. Affects the whole map. As a solo character you have nobody to release from those spells (and it's game over if you are affected by either of those spells). There is one quest in the whole game that requires releasing somebody from Imprisonment, and you can conveniently buy scrolls from nearby merchants to do that. If you had the inclination and level 9 spells to burn, you could repeatedly cast Imprisonment and Freedom on the same opponent to get XP each time you imprison them, but that's descending into realms of cheese. Alternatively, you could imprison a powerful opponent, prepare a homecoming party (summons, buffs etc), cast Freedom and then slaughter them normally for their loot. But then you could achieve the same effect just by casting Maze on them and letting the duration expire rather than wasting 2 level 9 spells. Not a spell you ever need to memorise.

Gate: 3

The ultimate demon summoning spell. Gates in a Pit Fiend for 33 rounds, a very powerful fiend that has many immunities and powers (eg Improved Invisibility, Remove Magic, Symbol Fear, Fireball). Drawbacks are the same as previous iterations of fiend summoning spells, you need Protection From Evil to avoid drawing the fiend's ire, you don't get XP for the fiend's kills, you have no control over it etc. Very powerful summon if you don't mind the destruction it will cause, but use with caution.

Imprisonment: 4

The ultimate "kill" spell. Single target touch spell, requires the caster to be at melee range but does not require a hit roll. The target is permanently entombed deep under the earth and will remain there for eternity unless released by a Freedom spell. There is no saving throw and this spell completely bypasses MR. An imprisoned enemy is effectively dead, you get the XP and can move on. The only drawback is you do not get any of the loot the opponent had. This is still an immensely powerful spell, there are few ways to defend against it and against powerful opponents that do not carry any loot that you want, you can use freely. For high level spellcasters this spell is often the method of choice to get rid of demons and celestials that are otherwise very difficult to kill.

Meteor Swarm: 2

Supposed to be an upgrade to Incendiary Cloud but doesn't necessarily achieve that. It has a much shorter duration than Incendiary Cloud and does not allow a saving throw against the damage, but Incendiary Cloud's potential damage is far greater. Meteor Swarm does 4d10 damage to all within the area of effect and lasts for 4 rounds. If you can disable your enemies that's potentially 16d10 damage to all within the area of effect. Incendiary Cloud on the other hand can do 20d4 damage per round for 10 rounds, with a save each round for half damage. If you can disable your foes for the full 10 rounds, that's 100d4 damage even if all saving throws are made, which is far greater than 16d10. For short term damage, Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting can be just as destructive as Meteor Swarm, doing up to 20d8 damage in one round (save for half) vs 16d10 damage over 4 rounds. This is not necessarily a bad spell, it still does plenty of AoE damage, but you can achieve similar or better results with level 8 spells.

Power Word Kill: 3

Very good finishing spell. Automatically kills a single opponent that has 60HPs or less with no saving throw. Does not bypass MR. Of course the trick is to get powerful opponents to 60HPs or below. If you can do that (such as when opponents are "Badly Wounded" or "Near Death") then this spell can finish them off quickly before they can heal themselves, put up more defences or run away. Note that you need to get rid of MR and spell defences (eg Spell Deflection) for this spell to work, and Death Ward also blocks this spell. This is not a spell you definitely need, there are plenty of other ways to kill opponents that are down to 60HPs or less, but it is a very quick and efficient way of dispatching injured, powerful opponents. Whether that warrants a level 9 slot is up to you.

Shapechange: 4

Upgrade to level 4 Polymorph Self. Lasts 5 turns and you can polymorph between any of the forms once per round. You cannot cast spells while polymorphed but you can use scrolls. Although there are several forms only 3 are useful, of which 1 is the main use of this spell:

Greater Wolfwere: very fast regeneration, use if you need fast healing or for melee combat where you will be taking damage.

Iron Golem: huge strength and 100% MR, use against mages if you wish to make the majority of their spells ineffective.

Mind Flayer: the key form, lots of attacks and each hits drains 5 INT. That means you can kill anything in a maximum of 5 hits (most opponents will only require 3-4 hits), irrespective of their HPs or immunities or whatever. You still need to hit so might not be that effective for pure spellcasters with a poor THAC0. However any held or stunned opponent can be auto-hit. Combine with Time Stop for utter destruction, 3 rounds of auto-hits will enable you to kill 2-3 powerful opponents. Very powerful, can make some otherwise tough opponents very easy to kill.

Spellstrike: 3

Dispels all the opponent's spells protections regardless of level. Does not dispel Spell Shield but does consume a Spell Shield (in which case the Spellstrike is also consumed and does not dispel any other protections). The ultimate debuffing spell once you've got rid of a Spell Shield, this will remove all the opponent's magical defences and leave him ripe for a Breach. Only use this spell if an opponent has multiple spell defences (eg Spell Trap + Globe Of Invulnerability + Spell Immunities), use cheaper debuffing spells if you're trying to get rid of individual protections.

Spell Trap: 5

The ultimate spell defence, this works in two parts: firstly any spell of any level cast directly at you is absorbed by the Spell Trap; secondly, the Spell Trap restores to you spells already cast up to the equivalent level of the spell absorbed. In practice that means you get back a spell of whatever level the spell cast at you was. This is an amazing spell, not only does it deflect spells cast at you but it also restores your own spells. Unfortunately SCS opponents will recognise a Spell Trap and will not merrily continue to fire spells directly at you, weakening their own repertoire while restoring yours. The Spell Trap can absorb a maximum of 30 spell levels, which is plenty for any fight; otherwise it lasts for 18 rounds.

Time Stop: 5

Freezes time for 3 rounds for all except the caster. Effectively gives you 3 rounds to do whatever you want. Incredibly powerful spell, combine with Improved Alacrity to empty your entire spellbook at helpless opponents or fighter types can use the 3 rounds to carve opponents into pieces. Note that a handful of enemies in the later stages of ToB are immune to this spell and will be able to act in your Time Stops.

Wail Of The Banshee: 3

Area of effect save vs death or die. Does not affect the caster or allies. Reasonable spell but most powerful opponents will not struggle with the save. Might be more lethal if preceded by Greater Malison. Nice spell but nothing special for this level.

Wish: 5

Highly powerful but unpredictable spell. Summons a genie who gives you a list of options you can wish for. The list is random but influenced by the caster's WIS; the higher your WIS, the more chance of better options, the lower your WIS the more chance of negative outcomes. The list of potential wishes is very long; the best options are a double length Time Stop + Improved Alacrity and restoring all your spells as if you had just rested. Rated a 5 because some of the better wishes are immensely powerful, but beware that you are never guaranteed the best options.

Level 10

Comet: 3

Meteor strike which does 10d10 damage to all enemies in the area of effect. All but the largest enemies are knocked down and must save vs death or be stunned for 1d4 rounds. Does not harm the caster or allies. Undoubtedly a strong spell, the damage is decent and there is a chance to stun, though tougher opponents will usually make the save. But not as powerful as other spells at this level, particularly its closest competitor Dragon's Breath.

Dragon's Breath: 5

The ultimate Fireball. Does 20d10 damage and knocks down all but the largest enemies, save vs breath for half damage and to avoid being knocked down. Like Sunfire this spell ignores MR. Does not harm the caster or allies. Phenomenal AoE damaging spell, the bypassing of MR is a huge bonus.

Energy Blades: 3

A major upgrade to Melf's Minute Meteors. Creates 1 blade per level of the caster and sets APR to 9. The blades can be thrown at opponents and the caster gets a +10 bonus to THAC0. Each blade does 1d4+5 missile damage + 1d10 electrical damage. The average damage per round is 117 if all blades hit, and a high level caster could have enough blades for 3 or more rounds. Good spell but probably still the weakest of the level 10 spells.

Improved Alacrity: 5

Lasts for 2 rounds and cleanses aura for the duration. That means you can begin to cast another spell as soon as you have completed the previous one, you are no longer limited to 1 spell/round. When combined with the Robe of Vecna (and optionally the Amulet of Power) which reduce(s) spell casting time you can literally begin to chain together instantaneous spells. Unleash your spellbook in a matter of seconds or combine with Time Stop to wreak devastation while enemies are helpless. Top spell, first or second pick from this level.

Summon (Dark) Planetar: 5

The ultimate summoning spell. Gates in a Planetar or Dark Planetar depending on your alignment, which fights on your behalf for 4 rounds + 1 round/level. The Planetar is incredibly powerful: it is a strong melee fighter and has a vorpal blade which can insta-kill; it also regenerates and has very high MR; it can see through invisibility and has a strong spellbook of its own, which includes priest and mage spells. In short it is the ultimate companion. This spell should be your first or second pick from this level.

JuliusBorisov

*bengoshi bookmarks this thread for thorough reading

Jaheiras_Witness

Tables

I will put tables here of spell ratings by level and spells sorted by rating but I can't get the formatting right at the moment. Will add in later or post as images.


Sorcerer Spell Picks

These are my recommendations for Sorcerer spell picks by level. I have categorised these into definite picks (you should take these in order of listing) and options (take whichever of these spells you like and which will complement your strategy, in any order).

Level 1

Definite: Magic Missile, Shield
Options: Chromatic Orb, Identify, Protection From Evil, Spook

Level 2

Definite: Mirror Image, Melf's Acid Arrow
Options: Glitterdust, Knock, Resist Fear, Stinking Cloud, Web

Level 3

Definite: Remove Magic, Spell Thrust
Options: Fireball, Flame Arrow, Haste, Melf's Minute Meteors, Protection From Fire, Protection From Normal Missiles, Skull Trap, Slow

Level 4

Definite: Stoneskin, Improved Invisibility, Secret Word
Options: Confusion, Emotion, Greater Malison, Minor Globe Of Invulnerability, Teleport Field, Wizard Eye

Level 5

Definite: Spell Immunity, Spell Shield, Breach
Options: Animate Dead, Chaos, Cloudkill, Lower Resistance, Sunfire

Level 6

Definite: Protection From Magical Weapons, True Sight
Options: Death Fog, Death Spell, Improved Haste, Mislead, Pierce Magic, Spell Deflection, Tenser's Transformation

Level 7

Definite: Project Image, Ruby Ray Of Reversal, Mordenkainen's Sword
Options: Finger Of Death, Limited Wish, Power Word Stun, Spell Sequencer, Spell Turning

Level 8

Definite: Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting, Spell Trigger
Options: Incendiary Cloud, Maze, Pierce Shield, Power Word Blind, Simulacrum

Level 9

Definite: Time Stop, Chain Contingency, Imprisonment
Options: Shapechange, Spellstrike, Spell Trap, Wish

Level 10

You get them all so take in this order: Improved Alacrity, Summon (Dark) Planetar, Dragon's Breath, Comet, Energy Blades

lunar

Very solid work. I love scs and tend to play minimal or in some cases where I am not that happy with my pc, no-reload games as well. A few nitpicks:

I did not know horror had +2 saving bonus, that makes the spell weak sauce. Still I have found uses for it occasionaly. BUT, and this is a big but, any enemy party with an enemy cleric (and there are lots in bg2, even fodder like hobgoblins have their shamans) in it will be immune to this spell as the cleric will come pre-buffed with remove fear. And can remove fear if you dispel the protections.

I thought mage hold person had -1 save penalty, instead of -2. I remember seeing it like this while toying with spell files via DLTCEP. Hold monster has the -2 penalty to save, though.

Enchanted weapon spell is wonderful to have in Spellhold challenge from scs:when all your items are taken from you by Irenicus, +3 weapons created by this spell help tremendously until you escape the Asylum.

Fireshield red and blue are actually quite powerful, scs mages love casting the two of them via sequencer when they are facing heavy melee, and it is a pain. A real pain. My poor fighters suffer a slew of cold and fire damage when they hit the mage. Even if you hit the mage with a spell like secret word or such, if you are close enough the fireshields will hurt you. And the damage quickly stacks up to worrisome levels, especially when the enemy mage has both of them. (purple shield effect) One tactic may be casting protection from magical weapons and wade into a group of enemies with two shields active. The damage from fireshields ignore magic resistance as well so you can punish some pesky drow.

I did not know Greater Malison bypassed MR. Good to know.

Jaheiras_Witness

Thank you . Yes, Horror has a save bonus and I noted the point about enemy priests casting Remove Fear. You may be correct about Hold Person, I will check and amend.

Good point also about Enchanted Weapon. As for Fireshields, you can dispel with Breach or just use missile weapons, the Fireshields do nothing if you keep your distance and use missiles. An arrow of dispelling will get rid of them too.

Bercon

Sunfire doesn't bypass magic resistance in enhanced edition, making it pretty weak, especially if you have party/summons along.

I also wouldn't personally rate Spell Thrust as high since it only dispels only minor protections, spell immunity and spell shield. Spell level 4 has less useful spells that you spam (no fireballs/skullstraps etc.) so Secret Word is usually the better choice imo. It also dispels everything except Spell Trap.

For SCS spell caster combat this might be useful cheat sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AoLScCUe7V__dE1RaEhCbm5na0VlakQwYVMxOFJVc1E&usp=sharing

elminster

Excellent Guide

lunar

Sunfire spell does not bypass MR in enhanced edition, if I am not mistaken. It was never supposed to do so, it was just a bug in the game engine that any spell that you target directly on yourself bypassed MR (so you can get affected by your own spells if you wanted to) and sunfire is a caster-targeted spell so...it is fixed in EE. Otherwise it is hugely more powerful than its icy counterpart Cone of Cold as CoC can not bypass MR. CoC does much more damage at lvl 20, though.

Pierce Shield is essential in some key fights, where enemy is immune to Lower Resistance and Pierce Magic but not to Pierce Shield. Demogorgon, Ravager in ToB, and maybe the big boss at the end of ToB? You need Pierce Shield to lower their magic resistance so your spells can touch them. So an essential solo sorc pick, IMHO.

Energy blades is a very useful spell in some situations, but its electrical damage does not bypass mr. I find it odd as even lowly melf's minute meteors fire damage bypasses mr and a HLA can not.

Jaheiras_Witness

Thank you for the comments. I have updated Hold Person, Enchanted Weapon, Fireshield and Sunfire to take into account some of the comments and corrections.

Regarding Spell Thrust v Secret Word:

Spell Thrust dispels ALL spell protections of level 5 or lower. Secret Word dispels ONE protection of up to level 8. Both are absorbed by Spell Shield and negate it.

This means that Spell Thrust should be your go-to spell to debuff lower level protections, as you get rid of all in one go. Secret Word should only be used against the following 3 spells: Globe Of Invulnerability, Spell Deflection and Spell Turning. Everything else is already covered by Spell Thrust.

Bercon

Jaheiras_Witness said:

Spell Thrust dispels ALL spell protections of level 5 or lower. Secret Word dispels ONE protection of up to level 8. Both are absorbed by Spell Shield and negate it.

This means that Spell Thrust should be your go-to spell to debuff lower level protections, as you get rid of all in one go. Secret Word should only be used against the following 3 spells: Globe Of Invulnerability, Spell Deflection and Spell Turning. Everything else is already covered by Spell Thrust.

Good points. Excellent guide and reference

chickenhed

What an AMAZING guide! Thank you! I will be referencing this CONSTANTLY.

Quick question. You said:

Jaheiras_Witness said:

Secret Word should only be used against the following 3 spells: Globe Of Invulnerability, Spell Deflection and Spell Turning. Everything else is already covered by Spell Thrust.

I thought Globe of Invulnerability protected you against lvl 1, 2, 3, and 4 spells. Wouldn't that mean that Secret Word would not work against it?

Thanks again for this! Spectacular stuff!

Jaheiras_Witness

Thanks! GoI is like all spell protections...it protects against spells other than those spells specifically designed to remove it. So while GoI protects against most level 1-4 spells, Secret Word will remove it.

abacus

Bookmarking the Hell out of this thread!

GrandGourou

Bercon said:

For SCS spell caster combat this might be useful cheat sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AoLScCUe7V__dE1RaEhCbm5na0VlakQwYVMxOFJVc1E&usp=sharing

Great support, thank you !

What is the difference between "dispelled" and "cancels" ? In both case protection is removed isn't it ?

PS : sorry for my poor english, i'm french ...

Bercon

Dispelled means that your spell does what the description says, for example in case of Spellstrike it removes all spell protections from target. Spell Shield is a special case that protects you from protection removal spells such as Spellstrike, so instead of Spellstrike dispelling all your protections it only dispels Spell Shield and leaves everything else intact i.e. they cancel each other out.

If you have Spell Immunity, Spell Turning and Spell Trap cast on yourself and somebody casts Spellstrike on you, you are left with nothing. If you additionally have Spell Shield on yourself, Spellstrike will dispel/cancel only Spell Shield and rest of the protections are left intact.

GrandGourou

Ok ! Thank you, now it's clear ! Your spreadsheet is so useful for me ! Thanks again

Bercon

For people who are interested in how Wish works, taken from: http://gemrb.org/iesdp/scripting/actions/bg2actions.htm

Sorted by Wisdom level (E=enemies, P=party, C=caster A=All)):
Low (9-) Medium (10-14) High (15-17) Ultra (18+) Heal E Heal E Heal E TS & IA (X2) P Improved Haste E Improved Haste E Improved Haste E Improved Haste E Dark Planetar E Silenced A Dark Planetar E Lose 10,000 gp P Level Drain P Level Drain P WIS (3) P Level Drain P Hit Points -50% C Hit Points -50% C TS & IA (X2) P Hit Points -50% C Hit Points -15% P Haste A Hit Points -15% P Mass Raise Dead P Lose Spells C Lose Spells C Lose Spells C WIS (3) P STR (3) P STR (3) P STR (3) P Haste A CON (3) P CON (3) P Stats (25) P Stats (25) P DEX (3) P DEX (3) P DEX (3) P Rest & Remem. P INT (3) P INT (3) P Silenced A Bad Luck A Slowed P Slowed P Rest & Remem. P Meteor Swarm C Restoration P Restoration P Improved Haste P Restoration P Gr. Deathblow P Gr. Deathblow P Gr. Deathblow P Gr. Deathblow P Hardiness P Hardiness P Breach E Hardiness P Create Wand C Create Wand C Create Wand C Create Wand C Create Potion C Create Potion C Create Potion C Create Potion C Breach A Breach A Breach A Improved Haste P Wing Buffet A Wing Buffet A Wing Buffet A Breach E Heal A Heal A Heal A Heal A STR (18) A STR (18) A STR (18) A STR (18) A Miscast Magic A Miscast Magic A Miscast Magic A Miscast Magic A Magic Resist A Magic Resist A Magic Resist A Magic Resist A Abi-Dalzim's A Abi-Dalzim's A Abi-Dalzim's A Abi-Dalzim's A Intoxicated A Intoxicated A Intoxicated A Intoxicated A Bad Luck A Bad Luck A Bad Luck A / Breach E Stats (25) P \ OR < > OR \ Rest & Remem. P Mass Raise Dead P /

BelgarathMTH

@Jaheiras_Witness‌ ,wow, what a fantastic spell guide. Thanks for your hard work. I just spent my whole Sunday afternoon reading this instead of the Sunday paper. I'm glad @Bercon bumped it by posting the Wish table, because I missed this thread when you first posted it back in November. Btw, thank you too for the Wish table, @Bercon

athanas

Thank for the table! Just wondering the meaning:-)
Options from Wish spell are randomly taken from the column corresponding the WIS, right? But what does mean the last three lines?

Bercon said:

/ Breach E Stats (25) P \
OR < > OR
\ Rest & Remem. P Mass Raise Dead P /

(sorry for broken formating)

Bercon

I think it refers to the last two rows of WISH.2DA that both use line number 27 which is probably a bug. I'm not sure which one the infinity engine picks. I don't think its random, so it should be one of those rows every time.

Meyahi

Great guide, incredible work. You should post it as an arcane spell guide in gamefaqs for BG2:EE since most people will look for faqs there.

Scourge

Great guide. Now please, make the same guide for those who use Spell revisions ahahah

Jaheiras_Witness

You're welcome all, I enjoyed writing it, and yes, I need to put it into a document and make it available for download at some stage.

Can't do one for Spell Revisions because I don't use that mod! Might do one for Divine spells at some stage though.

Scourge

my suggestion is that you should start using it. You will enjoy it.

Oh, and by the way, you should publish this guide on gamefaq.

Jaheiras_Witness

I've had a look at Spell Revisions before but it's not for me. I can see what it tries to do, make more spells useful, but the means is simply to make everything hideously powerful, and that's unbalanced even taking SCS into account. If you look at the spells they get higher and higher saving throw penalties, such that a Finger of Death has a -6 save penalty (!). The saving throw categories also become very random, you have saves vs death, breath and spell almost randomly, instead of a consistent save vs spells.

As a human player it becomes even more tiresome as you now have to aim to get even more saving throws to around -8 to be safe. And AI opponents (even with SCS) do not have the means to defend against such powerful spells. It makes magic even more powerful, when in reality magic is already unbalanced.

If you like it, fair enough, go ahead and enjoy; it's just not for me.

Meyahi

I'm bumping this since it has been quite helpful for me even though I've been playing the for a very long time.

Demivrgvs

@Jaheiras_Witness Spell Revisions goal surely isn't "to make everything hideously powerful", quite the opposite, but I admit the 3E-like save penalties was a big mistake (and thanks to players feedback now SR has a much better save system).

Just so you know, for the new version of SR (which is also BGEE compatible) we reverted that and thanks to a huge amount of beta testing we have finely tuned the save penalty or bonus (re-introduced for few cases) of each spell.

Jaheiras_Witness said:

The saving throw categories also become very random, you have saves vs death, breath and spell almost randomly, instead of a consistent save vs spells.

It's not random at all man:
- diseases, poisons, death effects, etc. require a save vs. death/poison
- reflex-based effects require a save vs. breath
- mind-affecting effects require a save vs. spell
- alterations effects require a save vs. polymorph/petrification
Does it look "random"?

Btw, I'm obviously biased, but I'm 100% sure that if you give a chance to V4 there's no way you'll regret it.