Is Neera viable?
saltted
Member Posts: 3
Hi. This is my first time playing the game, I know I'm late, but whatever.
Since it's my first playthrough, I thought that maybe a good alligned party would be better, because I've read some comments about the game being "harder" on evil parties, what with the money donation and such, to recover your reputation.
Anyways, I'm in the very beginning in Beregost, and found Neera the Wild Mage. She looks cool, her story seems intriguing, and since all my other people are either good or neutral, I thought she would be a viable option for a mage. (Xzar is nuts but he's evil so too bad).
My question is: is she viable? Because of the Wild Surge thing. I cast Magic Missiles once on the spiders in one of the houses in Beregost, and it was excellent, and then I cast it again and she died 'cause she got hit too, which was funny but a little concerning. After some research I found out that there are like a hundred possibilities of outcomes for this, and that's why I've come here for help. I tried using google and the search button but didn't find anything really specific.
And if she isn't, is there any other "good" mage (as in good allignment) to use in her place? I've read that Edwin kicks major ass, but besides being evil, he doesn't have identify, which sucks more than Ebola. (maybe not, but oh well).
Speaking of Identify, is there a way to get people to learn it as a spell? That's another reason why I wanted Neera, she already has it! So is it possible to make other mages learn it, or am I doomed to pay 100 gold in shops or buying 1 use scrolls?
Thank you very much for any help! And please don't be offended by the Ebola thing. Of course Ebola is worse. I tend to make jokes about serious things when I feel lost, which might give you another hint as to why I liked Neera (the randomness/crazyness suits me).
Thanks!
Since it's my first playthrough, I thought that maybe a good alligned party would be better, because I've read some comments about the game being "harder" on evil parties, what with the money donation and such, to recover your reputation.
Anyways, I'm in the very beginning in Beregost, and found Neera the Wild Mage. She looks cool, her story seems intriguing, and since all my other people are either good or neutral, I thought she would be a viable option for a mage. (Xzar is nuts but he's evil so too bad).
My question is: is she viable? Because of the Wild Surge thing. I cast Magic Missiles once on the spiders in one of the houses in Beregost, and it was excellent, and then I cast it again and she died 'cause she got hit too, which was funny but a little concerning. After some research I found out that there are like a hundred possibilities of outcomes for this, and that's why I've come here for help. I tried using google and the search button but didn't find anything really specific.
And if she isn't, is there any other "good" mage (as in good allignment) to use in her place? I've read that Edwin kicks major ass, but besides being evil, he doesn't have identify, which sucks more than Ebola. (maybe not, but oh well).
Speaking of Identify, is there a way to get people to learn it as a spell? That's another reason why I wanted Neera, she already has it! So is it possible to make other mages learn it, or am I doomed to pay 100 gold in shops or buying 1 use scrolls?
Thank you very much for any help! And please don't be offended by the Ebola thing. Of course Ebola is worse. I tend to make jokes about serious things when I feel lost, which might give you another hint as to why I liked Neera (the randomness/crazyness suits me).
Thanks!
1
Comments
- Dynaheir is the only good-aligned Mage, and you can get her pretty soon. You can also dual-class Imoen to Mage. There are two other neutral-aligned mages.
- Mages (and Bards) can learn spells using scrolls. Edwin is a specialist Conjurer, though, which means he can't learn any spells in the Divination school, including Identify. Characters with high lore (Bards, mostly) can identify many items without using a spell.
And yes, if you find a scroll of identify (which you will) you can have your mage copy it to his/her spellbook, unless it happens to be a conjurer like Edwin; they can't use divination spells.
Neera is weaker on hardcore (no-reloads) or minimal-reloads playthroughs, as a simple reload can't fix her more devastating wild surges. Some people still use her on such playthroughs, but she has to be managed very carefully.
Yup. Death.
-Dynaheir, Xzar, and Edwin are the only other mages in the game. Dynaheir in my belief is the worst mage in the game. Since she is an INvoker she is unable to learn Enchantment spells which means she is unable to learn Sleep a crucial spell in early survival in the game. I find her character to be boring. Even with the npc expansion mod.
-Identify can be scribe by a scroll. It can be found in the various magic shops in the game and if you're lucky some vile monster you kill will drop it.
What about Xan and Quayle? Not to mention Baeloth in BGEE. And of course, there's always Imoen to dual-class.
This way you'll get a lot less dangerous/unfavourable results during your subsequent casting because the Chaos Shield improves your wild surge rolls.
It takes some time to get used to it but as soon as you do, you're fine. I usually take several Chaos Shields just in case - this way if you need to cast anything anytime you have your protection spell ready.
By the way, to learn a scroll your mage doesn't know, right click on it while it is in the character's inventory, then select "scribe scroll".
My party saw Nimbul. She cast magic missile. It turned into a cow which exploded and killed half the town. Instant reputation 1
Anyway: Neera? Great.
"I command pure chaos! ... Kinda."
Personally I can't stand wild mages, but that's just me.
Have to say Edwin and Baeloth are both far superior to Neera in every way possible, but then again they don't really fit into a good party.
Have you considered a mixed party?
I always find those more fun.
Just make sure your other characters keep an safe distance.
But yup, other than these, she is solid! And fun!
I'm fine with a reload game. It's my first time so I'm bound to screw up and reloading is cool.
I considered going with a mixed party but I've read that your npcs can abandon you if you get too good or too bad, so I dunno.
Anyways I'm already going to Neera because like ya'll said, she is viable indeed and the wild surge thing is pretty rare. I dont know that his Chaos Shield is, is it a lvl 2 spell or something? Cause she only has lvl 1 spells so far (really in the beginning).
Well thank you all for the help!
Please have a cookie:
[edit] cant seem to find how to add image! Well this is disappointing. Feel free to have the cookie anyways!
@bengoshi you've opened up a new world to me!
Wild surges also drop in frequency as the mage's level rises. Now, you can't import any NPC from BG1 to BG 2, so it doesn't matter how you level or train them. If her wild surges are a problem for your low level BG1 party, just don't use her; it will have no bearing on her usefulness in BG2.
A lvl 31 wild mage still has %5 chance of a wild surge each time he casts a spell normally. When the wild surge occurs, it is an unmodified roll on the wild surge table, so bad results can still happen. You can not control pure chaos.
A lvl 31 wild mage however, adds his own level to the wild surge table when he casts a spell via reckless dweomer. Reckless dweomer is a councious act of the wild mage releasing pure energy and trying to control it into desired effect. Thus, a lvl 31 wild mage has +31 to the roll on wild surge table, thus avoiding the worst cases and getting a high chance to have a favourable result.
Chaos shield spells add to the wild surge rolls with the regular surges AND the reckless dweomer. Lvl7 chaos shield adds +25 to the roll. Thus, a lvl 31 wild mage with improved chaos shield active gains +56 to the roll on the table when using Nahal's Reckless Dweomer, and will more than likely get the spellcast as normal result, as any roll of 100 or higher is this. With a normal surge, only chaos shield's bonus help.
However, high lvl parties and wild mages can deal with wild surges a lot better. A fireball is not disastrous for an epic lvl party, and a gated in demon can be slain in two rounds tops.