First level mage spells?
georgelappies
Member Posts: 179
Are there actually *any* other first level mage spells that scales per level and stay as effective as Magic Missile and Mage Armour?
All the others have weak damage and or saves that newts their usefulness. Please tell me I am wrong and have been missing out on a gem of spell
All the others have weak damage and or saves that newts their usefulness. Please tell me I am wrong and have been missing out on a gem of spell
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Identify doesn't exactly scale with level, but it is useful throughout the whole Saga. And never forget the terrifying Chromatic Orb, which is extremely deadly in the hands of a fast-levelling bard (but still useful for anyone).
Dudleyville has listed several other spells as useful (http://www.forgottenwars.com/oogi/mage_1.htm), but I'm not too sure about the likes of Spook and Grease. They're not totally bad, but I'd rather have a generous helping of MM and CO.
Chromatic orb
Indentify
Protection from evil
Charm person
Level 1 is better than most levels in regards to the number of spells that remain useful
If spook makes in in bg:ee it will be the best spell in the game, period, this spell has a save penalty of -6. You can assume it to be a no-save disabler in bg1. Sleep is AWESOME, party friendly mass disabler. Blindness is a mage killer, enemies do not share vision, so anyone blinded will stop doing anything unless approached. A lot of utility spells, like identify and friends, other spells have rather situational use, but can be of use, like charm person or shield(immunity to magic missiles!)
Magic Missile and Mage armor are actually worthless.
ye, but the max number of images is 8 so mm will not get rid of it anyway. Concentrating any archer fire(since mages do have low ac) and then fire an area spell would accomplish much more in the same round. Not that it isnt possible, but you can probably count the applications of mm in such a way on one hand, since mm only gets 5 missiles at level9, and annihilated in utility by Melfs Meteors in bg2.
I disagree with your assessment that magic missiles is worthless. There are better spells to be used at lower levels as a mage sure, but once you are casting three missiles it is worth it to use. Which frankly includes the later portion of BGEE and all of BG2+Tob. Sleep loses its effectiveness eventually, but magic missiles is an easy cast disrupter which causes damage.
In this case load up on sleep, later blindness. with a touch of situational spells, that includes MM or any other spell. I personally like grease.
When I first played BG II, what grabbed my attention were the Power Words.
Here are some points about them.
(1) Power Word: Silence works against any amount of HP.
(2) Power Word: Stun will work up to 89 HP.
(3) Power Word: Blind is any amount of HP, and with a 10' radius.
(4) Power Word: Kill works up to and including 60 HP.
(5) There are no saves for any of these.
(6) They all have the same cast time as Magic Missile, but instantaneously affect the target, whereas Magic Missiles, and many other disablers like Sleep and Hold Person, have to travel to the target.
There's also the fact that the Robe of Vecna makes a lot of spells instant cast, which trivializes Magic Missile to some extent (mind you, I don't use any of the items from that NPC because they are gimmicky--the Helm of Vhailor being another cheap item I avoid).
That said, Chromatic Orb is also very useful. Sleep, I find, is useful only until you start facing enemies that are too high level to be affected by it. At low levels, sure, it's going to end any fight fairly quickly. But at later levels, it becomes a useless spell slot. For it to be useful in BG2, it really needs to be rebalanced (for instance, allow it to affect higher-HD creatures, but with a bonus to their saving throw).
Larloch's Minor Drain is also useful in the early game if you can fire off more than one per fight; the extra 8 HP is very useful. In the later stages of the game, however, four damage really doesn't do a whole lot.
I'd argue that Casting Time 1 is pretty much instantanteous. I don't know whether there are Casting Time 0 spells, I'd guess so, but the difference is almost negligible.
A lot of level 1 doesn't really scale, though. Chromatic Orb is probably the best one that does. Identify can remain useful. If you haven't got a Cleric to cast PfE 10' (as I don't believe Druids get that spell), PfE can be a great buff even later on. And I know some players swear by Spook. I've never found it all that interesting myself, though.
Depending on how high a level we're talking here, Blindness can still be effective by the end of BG1 and beginning of BG2.
Unfortunately, a lot of the really powerful level 1 spells lose their effectiveness quickly. Stuff like Sleep, Colour Spray, Grease, etc. All wonderful spells at level 1, and make the mage into a real terror early on because of his ability to incapacitate large groups. But later on, the enemy starts saving way too often to make it viable.
I would usually cite the Bandit Camp as being the rough point where Sleep stops being useful.
I dont know what your beef is with Magic Missle but let me enlighten you...
The uses of magic missle:
Can clear many projections of mirror images at once (other mages, greater dopple gangers)
Can kill off weak monsters if party is overun
Can finish off strong creatures if you really need it out the way (poisonous creatures)
Can distrupt a cleric or mages spell if not protected (I have stopped a mage casting mirror image with magic missle before)
Can line up some damage to beefier creatures like bears, ogres and such
Can save spells like melfs acid arrow or lightening bolt for better encounters
Can be spammed in spell book as it is level 1
Can be cast quickly due to its short spell casting time
It cannot miss only resisted
It is ranged which is always useful
The damage it causes and the amount you can cast it at later levels is like the mages standard attack (like a fighter will use a weapon, you will not usually send a mage with his dagger into combat, his magic missle is his standard attack)
It scales well compared to many of the level one spells
its chance to do damage is reliable, though charm is my favourite spell sometimes it is wasted, whilst magic missle can always be counted on for damage deliverance
For baldurs gate 1 it is a must have spell and you dont have to select it on character creation as the mage at the friendly arm inn always drops it as a scroll.
I didnt use the spell much during baldurs gate 2, but it had its uses. but for Baldurs gate 1, highly recommended
I cast that spell before every battle in BG2. And I mean every battle.
The 10' radius version is a must-have for all my clerics.