Skip to content

I'm not quite sure I understand... (BG1)

magnus75damkiermagnus75damkier Member Posts: 7
in General Discussion (Spoiler Warning!)
Firstly, this version I play is the originial version from 1998, which might differ from the enhanced edition this forum was made for.

It's just, I have a lvl. 5 elf mage, but what I don't understand is, how come that despite being lvl. 5, my mage isn't even capable of memorizing lvl. 4 spells... I'm sure there is a fair and square explaination for this, I just don't see. If any of you could help me with my ignorance, I would be thankful.

Comments

  • GreenWarlockGreenWarlock Member Posts: 1,354
    The original AD&D notoriously abused the word 'level' to mean many different things - character level, spell level, monster level, and dungeon level among others.

    http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0012.html

    Spell levels and character levels are very different things, and as you advance as a mage, you will gain the ability to cast more spells of different levels each day, but it will take a long time before you master the most powerful level 9 spells - near the end of the second game, Shadows of Amn, and only if you have the Throne of Bhaal expansion installed to raise the level cap. In Baldur's gate, the highest level spells your Mage will learn are 4th level, or 5th level if you have the Tales of the Sword Coast expansion.

    The spell progression chart can be found at several places online, the one I refer to most often can be found at:
    http://playithardcore.com/pihwiki/index.php/Baldur's_Gate:_Progression_Charts#Mage
  • JarrakulJarrakul Member Posts: 2,029
    Yeah, basically, a mage's character level is different from their maximum spell level. Which does seem kind of unnecessarily confusion, but that's D&D rules for you. In general, you gain access to a new spell level about every 2 character levels.
  • magnus75damkiermagnus75damkier Member Posts: 7
    Thank you all very much for the replies. I knew D&D rules where complicated, but I didn't have the slightest idea that this type of "spell leveling" was present in their games... I really appreciate you helping me.

    BTW, funny little comic.
  • DJKajuruDJKajuru Member Posts: 3,300
    Also, be glad that you can't cast higher level spells that soon - certain spells are quite destructive . 6_6
Sign In or Register to comment.

2025 Overhaul Games, a division of Beamdog. © 2025 Hasbro, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Baldur's Gate, Dungeons & Dragons, D&D, Forgotten Realms, Baldur's Gate, Wizards of the Coast and their logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast LLC in the U.S.A. and other countries, and are used with permission. Hasbro and its logo are trademarks of Hasbro, Inc. and are used with permission. © 1998 BioWare Corp. All Rights Reserved. BioWare, the BioWare Infinity Engine and the BioWare logo are trademarks of Bioware Corp. Black Isle Studios and the Black Isle Studios logo are trademarks of Interplay Entertainment Corp. Atari and the Atari logo are trademarks owned by Atari Interactive, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.