Sorcerer Spellpick IWD vs BG
Cactus
Member Posts: 152
So, I got a sorcerer in the party. So far, I realized there is some difference between BGEE and IWD. Sleep is rather useful for a long time in BG1:EE, but I found it VERY useless in IWD:EE. It can knock out a few goblins, but then hordes of undead and after that, the creatures are too strong to be affected... So, anything else I should pay attention to, in terms of different spellchoices in IWD:EE vs BG:EE?
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Comments
Skull trap is very best spell damage wise, as it has no cap. It just increases, again and again and again.
If you plan on using a character in HoF, remember that summons are your best friends. Earth Elementals especially are nice to have.
The other difference from BG2 to IWD core rules or HOF is you almost go up against no other mages the entire game. So you really don't need any spells that protect your caster from opposing enemy spells or any spells that bring down enemy caster's defensive spell barriers.
I think this thread: http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/36357/sorcerer-spells-in-iwd/p1 can be useful for you.
My personal choices will be:
Shield
Shocking Grasp
Chromatic orb
Spook
Charm
My observation is that you'll want buff spells (Improved Haste especially), defensive spells, and anything that scales strongly. Magic Missile, Chromatic Orb, Spook, Skull Trap, Melf's Minute Meteors (because screw you, trolls), etc. Crowd control is quite nice, but don't overload on it, because eventually things are gonna make their saves more often than not.
If you're going for Heart of Fury mode, then drop the damage spells and replace them with summons and more buffs.
Pick spells that continue to grow up in power, and spells you need to cast multiple times in succesion. Haste is a bad choice for a sorc, you need to cast it only once in a day, or you will be fatigued severely. A bard or another support caster can cast it. Same for emotion:hope and courage. While they are excellent buffs, you don't need to cast them multiple times, thus ruining the sorc's strength. He can cast the same spell over and over again! Improved haste, on the other hand, is an excellent pick for a sorc, especially if you have a fighter and/or dual wielder heavy party. You can buff each and every fighter with improved haste, and repeat as needed! This is the way to play into sorc's strength.
Spells that grow in power are better, for example Mordenkainen's force missiles is a great spell at highest levels, or skulltrap is downright abusive in its raw damage potential. Melf's minute meteors is excellent for giving sorc a solid weapon to use in between spells and a cheap way to kill hundreds of trolls. Slow is a very good debuff, with its inherent -4 to save and good area of effect.
One instance is, spells that outright obliterate/disable enemies are great too. Even better than damaging spells in HoF. Chaos is awesome, but is useless against undead, which there are many in iwd, so it is a questionable choice for a sorc.
However, disintegrate is a very good pick in iwd. It obliterates anything, including undead, and a sorc can cast it again and again until it sticks. It does not destroy loot like it does in bg, too. My sorc had an awesome time disintegrating those scary frost giants with big hitpoints. They slowly try to attack him and are reduced to dust before they even come close. Awesome power! Otiluke's freezing sphere, on the other hand, is a terrible choice when compared to mighty disintegrate. It is the same in principle, a succesful save avoids the spell completely, on a failed save the sphere inflicts very good cold damage. (up to 100+ damage in high lvls) Trouble is, many enemies (frost giants, winter wolves, any cold/ice creature) and undead are downright immune to ice damage. Also in HoF monsters have hundreds of hitpoints and even 100 points of cold damage only tickles them. While disintegrate simply obliterates the creature, no matter its resistances or hundreds of hit points.
You just need to cast it to your summons instead of to your party members.