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Specialist review

With the bonuses specialists now get in 2.0, is conjurer still the go to choice? Plus how would you rate enchanters? I noticed a lack of enchantmental spells after 5th circle. Is that a major hinderence?
[Deleted User]

Comments

  • KamigoroshiKamigoroshi Member Posts: 5,870
    2.0 did not change any of the mage specialists bonuses/penalties. All beamdog did was writing down the undocumented kit features, which they received since vanilla BG2. If you enjoyed Conjurers pre-2.0, stick to them.
    JuliusBorisov[Deleted User]
  • If you're taking a fresh look at specialists because you weren't aware of the saving throw bonuses before (I wasn't aware of them until about a month ago myself), I think Enchanters and Necromancers are both worth a look, as they both get some good spells with saving throws. For the Enchanter, I wouldn't worry about the lack of spells after 5th circle, as by that point the Mage has come into power and can rock with anything. The save penalty is nice for ensuring that those early disabling spells hit and keep you alive. Necromancer might be a bit dicey at the low levels, though, as it misses out on some of those early defensive spells.
    JuliusBorisov[Deleted User]
  • DeeDee Member Posts: 10,447
    Enchanter and Invoker are both good options for the save bonus that you gain; being 10% more likely to not be charmed or to take half damage from fireballs is nothing to sneeze at.
    semiticgoddess[Deleted User][Deleted User]
  • Diomedes33Diomedes33 Member Posts: 144
    Conjurer is no joke. You cant use Divination spells like Identify and True Sight which is kinda crappy but they make up for it with the massive amount of conjuring spells they can cast. Edwin at level 9 has 5 or 6 flame darts memorized, those things hurt.
    [Deleted User]semiticgoddessGozeta
  • lunarlunar Member Posts: 3,460
    edited April 2016

    Conjurer is no joke. You cant use Divination spells like Identify and True Sight which is kinda crappy but they make up for it with the massive amount of conjuring spells they can cast. Edwin at level 9 has 5 or 6 flame darts memorized, those things hurt.

    Edwin though has so many spells because of his special amulet, not just because he is a conjurer.

    Conjurer is the best specialist if you don't want to lose access to powerful combat spells. And if you are in a party. If you solo, lack of diviniation spells will be very annoying.

    Necromancer is terrifiying at high lvls with finger of death. They lose invisibility, mirror image and mislead shenenigans though.

    Evokers can do full damage with their spells more reliably but they lack crowd control spells such as chaos. Even at high lvls a failed save vs chaos may spell doom, while a failed save vs a sunfire is just a bit more dmg.

    Enchanters are the exact opposite, an enchanter's chaos spell is terrifying at save vs spell at -6 penalty! They can use fire and ice wands and skull traps for blastng purposes, too! Imba IMHO.I would have made wands of missile, fire, ice, lightning and cloudkill unusable by them.

    Transmuters can be cool with very tough to resist disintegrate and flesh to stone spells. But losing abjuration is extremely crippling. Still may be great for roleplaying if you want to rp Fullmetal alchemist.

    I can not say which specialist is the best but I can say abjurers are the worst. THE WORST. There are no abjurations that they can use their specialist saving throw thingie and, more cripllingly, Losing stoneskin=dead mage. It is funny that a mage who specialises in protective magics has the worst personal defence. Need to spam pfmw every four rounds and a stray arrow or backstab when pfmw is down will splat the character.
    JuliusBorisov[Deleted User]semiticgoddess
  • Diomedes33Diomedes33 Member Posts: 144
    edited April 2016
    True about Edwin but summoning spells are also conjuring spells and if your playstyle is create adds to take shots from beholders and tank things while my two hander and dual wielders DPS everything down, then the conjurer is definitely for you.
  • NuinNuin Member Posts: 451
    edited April 2016
    Conjurer is great because priest spells make up for most of its shortcomings. Same for Diviners, ironically.

    The thing about Necromancers is that they lose spells like Mislead, Simulacrum and Project Image. Illusionists will always have the gnome race, so meh.

    Evokers don't really lose out on much. You can still fall back to using spells like Slow, Web, Stinking Cloud, etc.
    I've always liked Enchanters. but the worst thing about them is that they miss out on the Spell Trigger/Contingency line of spells. No Magic Missile and Web hurts, but mostly for a PC. Still, they're can use wands and they can cast powerful offensive spells like Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting.
    Xan is ultimate Enchanter though, thanks to his Moonblade.

    Transmuters and Abjurers are the black sheep of the specialist mage family. Loss of spells like Stoneskin, Haste and Time Stop or the spell protections/spell protections removal line is crippling.
    If I could change one thing about how BG2 opposition schools system worked, it would be that every specialist mage cannot lose access to Transmutation/Abjuration.
    Post edited by Nuin on
    lunar
  • cloudkillbeatsallcloudkillbeatsall Member Posts: 98
    Liches are immune to the Level 5 spell True Seeing so priests don't quite make up for Conjurers' shortcomings in that regard.
    lunar
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