Underpowered mage schools
Loldrup
Member Posts: 291
I want to play a mage that isn't too overpowered mid/late game in bg2.
What school should I choose to nerf myself the most?
What school should I choose to nerf myself the most?
2
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However, there are so many good spells that it's probably difficult to NOT be powerful as any sort of mage in BG2
With going Enchanter, you would lose Evocation. Fireball, Chain Lightning or Magic Missile are in this school.
The biggest losses for each school:
Divination:
Glitterdust, Melf's Acid Arrow, Flame Arrow, Invisible Stalker, Power Word: Stun, Power Word: Blind, Maze, Symbol: Stun
-The best single-target damage spells and some of the disablers
Conjuration:
Identify, Farsight, True Seeing
-No ability to remove invisibility
Illusion:
Vampiric Touch, Skull Trap, Spirit Armor, Animate Dead, Death Spell, Finger of Death, Horrid Wilting
-The best area-effect damage spells, and one of the best summons
Necromancy:
Blindness, Invisibility, Blur, Mirror Image, Improved Invisibility, Mislead, Project Image, Simulacrum
-The best escape spells, and all clones
Enchantment:
Magic Missile, Chromatic Orb, Shield, Web, Stinking Cloud, Fireball, Lightning Bolt, Ice Storm, Cloudkill, Sunfire, Cone of Cold, Death Fog, Chain Lightning, Mordenkainen's Sword, Incendiary Cloud, and sequencers, contingencies, and Spell Trigger
-Most damage spells, and one of the best summons
Evocation:
Charm Person, Hold Person, Greater Malison, Emotion, Chaos, Feeblemind
-The best disablers
Transmutation:
Protection from Petrification, Minor Spell Deflection, Spell Thrust, Secret Word, Minor Globe of Invulnerability, Breach, Spell Immunity, Spell Shield, Spell Deflection, Protection from Magical Weapons, Protection from Magical Energy, Pierce Magic, Spell Turning, Pierce Shield, Spellstrike
-The best defensive spells, and almost all debuffers
Abjuration:
Haste, Slow, Stoneskin, Teleport Field, Polymorph Self, Disintegrate, Improved Haste, Ruby Ray of Reversal, Time Stop, Shapechange
-The best party buffs, some of the best defensive spells, and Time Stop
If you want a mage that's not overpowered in the late game, then that's probably an Abjurer or Transmuter, or maybe Necromancer if you often summon clones.
If so, they might be the worst, followed by Transmuter and Abjurer.
But it really depends on your party setup and your play style. Me, I don't really use damage spells at all, for example. Fireballs? Pff who needs that when you can Haste all your fighters and slashhack everything to death. But that's just me, if you like slinging spells left and right things will be different for you.
A wild mage is an interesting choice. It's quite powerfull but anything can go wrong. Adding randomness is one way to make you more cautious. That would probably be the most unlikely class to succeed in a no-reload challenge: you can turn yourself to stone by accident or gate a demon in your face (this last one happened to me in BG1 during the wyvern ambush it was not exactly helpfull. Wild surges even affects your bhaalspawn abilities so you might cast fireball on a friend when trying to heal them.
Diviners loses single-target disablers and damage spells, but retains access to area-effect disablers and damage spells. Replace Flame Arrow with Skull Trap, and Power Word: Blind with Symbol Stun.
Conjurers can cast Identify via the Glasses of Identification, and Farsight or True Seeing via the Book of Daily Spell. Likewise, a cleric or druid can cast Farsight or True Seeing instead, and a thief can do Farsight-equivalent scouting and use Detect Illusions in lieu of True Seeing.
Illusionists can cast Fireball instead of Skull Trap, which has a larger area of effect than Skull Trap, and Incendiary Cloud instead of Horrid Wilting, which does more damage than Horrid Wilting. Likewise, Illusionists can use Mordenkainen's Sword instead of Animate Dead, and party clerics can still cast Animate Dead.
Necromancers can still escape combat with Potions of Invisibility, and Stoneskin and PFMW can still keep weapons off of their backs.
Enchanters still have tons of damage spells, including Skull Trap, Flame Arrow, Incendiary Cloud, and Horrid Wilting, and can use Skeleton Warriors instead of Mordenkainen's Sword. They also can use offensive damage wands.
Invokers can still disable enemies with Spook, Web, Stinking Cloud, Power Word: Stun, Power Word Blind, and Symbol Stun. Party clerics still have Greater Command, and party druids still have Insect Plague, both of which are excellent at disabling enemies.
Transmuters still can protect themselves with Stoneskin and Teleport Field, and Polymorph Self can grant immunity to magic. Also, the Wand of Spell Striking can debuff enemy spellcasters.
Abjurers still have weapon immunity spells and spell protections to defend themselves, and Mirror Image to block attacks, and Improved Alacrity is a viable replacement for Time Stop.
It's easy to see a class' weaknesses, and overlook the ways the player could overcome them.
Every spell becomes something you worry a little bit about. It is overpowered and dangerous to use, which is great fun.
(I did a no reload run with neera in my group. An exploding cow exploded my reputation. It was awesome, but it hurt.)
Then I should try a transmuter -> thief dual one day. Guaranteed to not be overpowered!
For the list of spells that specialist mages miss, check http://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/27687/specialists-list-of-forbidden-spells
As fo using a specialist mage, I think @Genryu has found one of the funniest ways - you use spells of only your school. This way playing a necromancer, for example, becomes amazingly fun. Check http://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/40810/completed-pure-necromancer-solo-challenge-restricted-to-using-only-necromancy-spells#latest
Although I woudn't dare try a Diviner run this way:)
CHARNAME: Melissan...I know that you are evil. Surrender, lest I be forced to pummel you with castings of True Sight.
MELISSAN: No! My plan is ruined. I had thought that since the 5 other successful Bhaalspawn never thought of casting a basic level 2 spell on me that I was in the clear!
Anyways, as far as a challenge goes I would go either the Transmuter or the Wild Mage.
I enjoyed it so much that I'm currently running the same challenge through Icewind Dale.
During my restricted playthrough, I had access to no debuff spells, but these two items served me well once I had obtained them.
Overall, the most shitty specialized mage is the transmuter. I really don't get how one would do without remove magic, dispel magic, breach, all these offensive defense-breaking spells, without all those defensive spells (except stoneskin).
And just behind transmuter is the abjurer.
Both of them really lack key spells.
The best would be Conjurer IMHO, for the only worth noticing spell he loses is true sight, and since Book of infinite spells and the Gem from Rasaad Quest allow him to have it this con is no longer one.
◾Burning Hands
◾Farsight
◾Fireball
◾Invisibility
◾Lightning Bolt
◾Protection from Evil
◾Spell Turning
◾Stinking Cloud
◾True Seeing
◾Wyvern Call
If you save your game as a precaution, before you begin to flick through the pages, then it shouldn't take long to unlock the spell you want.
On solo runs I always settle for True Sight, Spell Turning is great and all, but by the time you get the book you are extremely close to obtaining a certain cloak in the Sahaguin city.
Spell turning from Book of Infinite spell is most useful when you are playing as a warrior or something like that. For example, on a Barbarian, it can tank two imprisonment, which is the only spell you really fear as a Barbarian.
The way I see it is, illusion magics such as invisibility, and mirror image are very, very common in the game, so its just very convenient having a way of mass dispelling them all.
Imprisonment on the other hand is somewhat rare, I've played enough times now to typically know when and where I will likely encounter the spell, and so can prepare for it in advance by bringing along suitable protection in the form of green scrolls.
If I were playing a no reload, or a cheese free game (no using protection from magic or undead scrolls, cloak of mirroring, shield of Balduran etc), then I would probably go for spell turning.