Casting Time. It's partially a 2nd Ed flaw and it's importance was made profoundly pivotal by the game engine. The game engine does not seem to factor in the randomness of an initiative roll. Using fast spells and weapons means you will always be fast. Initiative modifiers for dexterity also do not seem to exist in the game. I don't know these things to be true, but I have never once gotten off a crossbow shot before a magic missile spell was cast.
When it comes to academic feats, people generally move slower when they are trying to learn something, try something new, or are trying to avoid mistakes while under stress. Scaling casting time by level would more realistically reflect a spell casters confidence with the task. A low level apprentice should need as much time as an archer would need to notch an arrow, to create a single magic missile and direct it unerringly. A lich could cast 5 faster than a blink of an eye, and at multiple targets if it so chooses. Both the same old level one spell, but two entirely different confidence levels. If the sleep or horror spells had the same casting time as hold person, we wouldn't boast about its effectiveness as much. Redoing the casting time could in fact change the game: dramatically.
I would try to stay as true to DnD 2nd Ed as possible, I would not reassign spells to more appropriate levels based on their effectiveness and/or power. I would however, slow down the casting time of many spells based on the impact they have on the world. Sleep can knock out a couple ogres or a kobold war party. More like: insta-kill. It should be SF8 and allow it to scale by -1 for every 2 caster levels. Now you can give it to villains because it can be disrupted. Magic missle should still be fairly fast at SF5 but now you got a chance AND it's much less of a sure thing when used to disrupt other casters. This too should scale.
Just a thought. I just wanted to think about how important SF actually is, and how it can reign in the overpowering effects of many spells. Assigning new SF to spells would hold many interesting debates. Since Commands duration is so fleeting it could remain SF1.
It's actually been in place since at least the original bg2. It just was never mentioned.
Strange, I remember I tried to test it in-game and I couldn't reproduce it (e.g. a target with save 19 could still dodge an Evoker's Fireball a couple of times). @elminster are you sure about it? If yes, does it work with any save type or only save vs spell?
You want to be testing it with a target that has 0 for saves (Shandalar works wells for this in BG1, I can't immediately think of one that works well for BG2 without modifying the game). You basically would be checking to see if they can get affected by it or not (blindness is a good choice for this).
Comments
When it comes to academic feats, people generally move slower when they are trying to learn something, try something new, or are trying to avoid mistakes while under stress. Scaling casting time by level would more realistically reflect a spell casters confidence with the task. A low level apprentice should need as much time as an archer would need to notch an arrow, to create a single magic missile and direct it unerringly. A lich could cast 5 faster than a blink of an eye, and at multiple targets if it so chooses. Both the same old level one spell, but two entirely different confidence levels. If the sleep or horror spells had the same casting time as hold person, we wouldn't boast about its effectiveness as much. Redoing the casting time could in fact change the game: dramatically.
I would try to stay as true to DnD 2nd Ed as possible, I would not reassign spells to more appropriate levels based on their effectiveness and/or power. I would however, slow down the casting time of many spells based on the impact they have on the world. Sleep can knock out a couple ogres or a kobold war party. More like: insta-kill. It should be SF8 and allow it to scale by -1 for every 2 caster levels. Now you can give it to villains because it can be disrupted. Magic missle should still be fairly fast at SF5 but now you got a chance AND it's much less of a sure thing when used to disrupt other casters. This too should scale.
Just a thought. I just wanted to think about how important SF actually is, and how it can reign in the overpowering effects of many spells. Assigning new SF to spells would hold many interesting debates. Since Commands duration is so fleeting it could remain SF1.
You want to be testing it with a target that has 0 for saves (Shandalar works wells for this in BG1, I can't immediately think of one that works well for BG2 without modifying the game). You basically would be checking to see if they can get affected by it or not (blindness is a good choice for this).
There's a 60% chance of encountering 2d4 PnP players while travelling through this area.