Protection from Magic Energy is 50% resistance for a single turn. It's also a 6th level spell.
Spell Immunity lasts 3 rounds +1 round a level, but only affects the wizard casting it therefore you can't throw it on your tanks. Any spell that eats up spells cast on target are also caster-affected only, and would eat the AOE of the spell anyway.
Otiluke's Resilient Sphere makes your guy not take any damage, but he also can't do anything while in the bubble so you also need to prepare a dispel magic if you want to utilize it in a cheesy way.
Protection from Fire is a both a 3rd level arcane and divine spell, meaning you have access to it as soon as you can lob any fireballs, and lasts 3 rounds +1 round/lvl, meaning you could fire off a salvo (as in, more than one) and have it totally absorbed.
Not seeing anything that grants COMPLETE AND TOTAL IMMUNITY to magic damage right now.
If I missed any spells, it's because I'm currently at my internship and am relying on www.planetbaldursgate.com/bg2 and Game Banshee for my spells list right now. I'm aware these sites are horribly outdated but it's the best I could think of off the top of my head.
Once you have 6th level spells, are you telling me you're still relying on fireball and skull trap for damage? Really? REALLY? REALLY?
I pointed out a viable strategy. Poo-poo on it if you want. Note I have never said skull trap is bad. It is a great spell. So is fireball, for different reasons. You can more easily protect your party from fire damage and at a much earlier level, meaning fireball salvos where your tanks are protected from the damage can be done as soon as you get access to the spell. Also, your priests and druids can help out.
If you seriously want to be a dick about everything I post, keep at it. I'm making notes of attacks you've had against me and will notify moderators if you really want to start beef. I don't tolerate personal attacks. Disagree with me all you want. That's fine. But you don't have to be an asshole about it. I'm not afraid to admit when I'm wrong. I've had a lot of people point out oversights of mine. But you know what? They don't troll me to get that point across, and I'm a gracious enough person to thank them when I get a chance.
Why no one mentioned Blindness spell? It is wery effective spell vs. single target, and even vs. pack of enemies. It lasts 10 turns, disarm one enemy on whole battle
@sandmanCCL Your posts are too long and since they are mostly junk, i honestly dont have the time to reply or argue with gamebanshee article reposts. Protection from Magical damage is 100%, the manual is wrong, and lasts 1turn/level. Thats like an half an hour of real time.
Both of you are good posters with valuable insights. I can only speak for myself, but seeing you guys throw insults at one another for a couple of pages now feels off. One of the things I really like about the BG:EE boards is that posters here, unlike every other game dev site on the Internet, don't generally resort to the kind of nonsense you guys are engaged in right now.
This is only my two cents, and I not a mod, so take that however you wish. But my suggestion is that you both step away for a minute and let it go.
PS: That said, Roller, if you're pushing sandmanCCL to the point where he's swearing at you, you're probably doing something wrong with your approach. He's one of the most level headed and even tempered gamers I've come across, well, just about anywhere.
@Brude You're a good guy. If you're ever in southern Utah,
Look, I realize I am pretty thin skinned these days. There's a lot of pretty significant personal crap going on in my life and if you really want to know about it, I'll PM anyone who wants to know. It's pretty easy to set me off and I'm not proud of that.
It's just really tiresome to have you or Metal_Hurlant pop out and tell me I'm stupid. I've readily admitted, even in the last couple of posts, I do not know everything there is to know. I still feel like I have insights, and part of the reason I engage in debates and posts here is to learn more. Didn't know the manual was wrong about Protection from Magic Energy, for example. I'm also planning to run through BG2 again with a hacked dude with unlimited casts of Time Stop just to test out which guys are immune to it, because I distinctly remember Time Stop traps in Throne of Bhaal at least getting me killed more often than helping. (I just don't have time. School and all and when I have free time, I'm playing Borderlands 2 with my brothers.)
@sandmanCCL >BECAUSE it does fire damage. Of all the revelations you are usually posting this is probably the worst one. Or maybe it was that dragons are immune to timestop.
...is provocative and not constructive? It's just an attack. I just pointed out a use for fireball. Was I wrong in pointing out it's easy to protect your front line from fire damage? (BTW, try dropping protection from fire on your front line than dropping incendiary clouds. Fun tactic.)
So, truce? No beef? I'd rather there wasn't any because there doesn't need to be.
The protection from magical energy 6th level spell is definitely 100% resistance and has good duration so that works just fine but isn't available in BG1.
Another thing to note about fire is that you can use it to heal you when your resistance is > 100%. That is much more easily done with fire resistance than magic energy resistance.
All that said, I still advocate skull trap over fire ball because of the long-term leveling. Fireball is probably slightly better for BG1 but is dramaticaly worse for BG2. For party friendly fire, web + melf's meteors also works wonders in BG1 and melf's is fantastic against magic resistant foes throughout the game (Saravok, Kangaxx, liches, etc.).
Time Stop immunity is very rare. The only three I can confirm from Googling it are Demogorgon, the Ravager, and Melissan. I remembered about Melissan from my last run. Some mods also make Balthazar immune. I thought I remembered trying it on Abazigal and having it not work, but I can't confirm it anywhere, so I'm guessing Abazigal isn't immune, after all. He would be the only immune dragon, if he were.
I wish people wouldn't fight. I've occasionally had an individual try to troll me about something when he or she didn't agree with my advice or my opinion about something. I've learned that the best defense is to not respond. Simply ignore the insult. Do not engage. If you engage in any way, and they see they're getting a rise out of you, then you are playing right into their hands. That's what they get off on. If you try to defend yourself, they will merely escalate their insults, until they have you throwing around words of mass destruction. Meanwhile, they are laughing at you because you let them make you so angry. It's an unfortunate ugly side of some people who post in internet forums.
Yep why would anyone ever forsake Time Stop just because a few bosses are immune to it? Funnest spell ever! That's really all that matters.
With a sorcerer, you might only be getting 1-3 of the base 9th level spells depending on how you run through the game so with that limited a range you might pass on it for that reason even though it is a worthy choice.
As a mage, there is no way people should write it off.
I found that in ToB, TIme Stop was a critical spell for a significant phase of the game. It saved my butt in many, many battles, especially against the dragons. It would usually go something like Time Stop>Spell Sequencer:Lower Resistance x3>Spell Sequencer:Lower Resistance x3>Abu-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting x*, Magic Missiles x*, damage spell, damage spell, dragon dead.
It also helped against that lich in the cave near Balthazar's stronghold, against the fire giant boss (forgot his name), and against that elven boss who teleports all over the place (forgot her name, too).
I was, on my first play, very surprised and dismayed when my "foolproof" Time Stop strategy stopped working against the last few ToB bosses. But that is just good game design. Godlike entities should have mastery over Time itself, and so they do, in ToB.
In SoA, Time Stop can make several end battles easy, if and only if you can actually get access to it in time. That will depend on how you have built your arcane casters, how many npc's you have in your party over the whole game, whether you have the Robe of Vecna, and whether you have the knowledge to pick exactly the right spells at the right moment.
While, in my opinion, Time Stop is the ultimate arcane power in the game, or in any game ever created, (Wish may be a contender in pnp, but as implemented in BG, it is actually a "Summon Genie" spell, where the "Genie" in question hates you and is out to destroy you, and, even with high wisdom, what you wind up with is at the mercy of dice rolls), the Time Stop spell would be Superman-with-no-Kryptonite story-ender if there were no rival godlike-beings or "Kryptonite" to counter godlike you.
So, it makes a lot of sense that you can only get it very, very late in the story, it only wins the day if you are very knowledgeable about what spells to cast after it takes effect, and the last few bosses in the game are even more powerful than you are, and can move about and take action during "stopped" Time. I suppose one could compare it to the PC becoming a Black Hole, the ultimate power in the known universe, confronting other Black Holes.
In BG, you get to become a sentient Black Hole, with all power over time and space, but, unfortunately for superpowerful you, there are several other Black Holes in the same universe who want to and can consume you into their own power.
LOL, very powerful stuff. This is why I really prefer lower level play. God-play is a total bitch, because when you become a god in power, you always get all the other "gods" out to get you. Ick. Just give me enough power to defend me and mine, please, from all the mundane bullies in the world, and kindly leave me out of all the god-schemes.
Fire-Giant is Yaga-Shura and the drow cleric is Sendai.
The Yaga-Shura encounter is kind of a war of attrition because so much stuff is going on. I found Yaga himself was pretty easy to kite around and murder with ranged attacks, but all the archers that continue to spawn are pretty deadly to your backline if you don't engage them quickly.
Sendai was a lot harder. IIRC she summoned a bunch of statues in between flinging spells at you and the statues were super magic resistant. It's been awhile.
You know what's a fun HLA is Improved Alacrity. Cast it, Time Stop, then unload literally your entire arsenal of Magic Missiles. I've managed to crash my game because of how many magic missiles were on the screen but that was a long time ago with a computer that could barely run BG2 as is.
It's kind of funny looking back on system requirements from yesteryear.
That's another one of those where if you haven't done it at least once as a wizard (especially with amulet of power and robe of vecna) then you haven't truly been a wizard yet. I remember on my last playthrough heading towards Yaga-Shura I decided to let Imoen loose with that combo. I don't think I had any level 1-3 level spells left afterwards but watching my screen blow up with stuff was awesome.
Comments
Spell Immunity lasts 3 rounds +1 round a level, but only affects the wizard casting it therefore you can't throw it on your tanks. Any spell that eats up spells cast on target are also caster-affected only, and would eat the AOE of the spell anyway.
Otiluke's Resilient Sphere makes your guy not take any damage, but he also can't do anything while in the bubble so you also need to prepare a dispel magic if you want to utilize it in a cheesy way.
Protection from Fire is a both a 3rd level arcane and divine spell, meaning you have access to it as soon as you can lob any fireballs, and lasts 3 rounds +1 round/lvl, meaning you could fire off a salvo (as in, more than one) and have it totally absorbed.
Not seeing anything that grants COMPLETE AND TOTAL IMMUNITY to magic damage right now.
If I missed any spells, it's because I'm currently at my internship and am relying on www.planetbaldursgate.com/bg2 and Game Banshee for my spells list right now. I'm aware these sites are horribly outdated but it's the best I could think of off the top of my head.
Once you have 6th level spells, are you telling me you're still relying on fireball and skull trap for damage? Really? REALLY? REALLY?
I pointed out a viable strategy. Poo-poo on it if you want. Note I have never said skull trap is bad. It is a great spell. So is fireball, for different reasons. You can more easily protect your party from fire damage and at a much earlier level, meaning fireball salvos where your tanks are protected from the damage can be done as soon as you get access to the spell. Also, your priests and druids can help out.
If you seriously want to be a dick about everything I post, keep at it. I'm making notes of attacks you've had against me and will notify moderators if you really want to start beef. I don't tolerate personal attacks. Disagree with me all you want. That's fine. But you don't have to be an asshole about it. I'm not afraid to admit when I'm wrong. I've had a lot of people point out oversights of mine. But you know what? They don't troll me to get that point across, and I'm a gracious enough person to thank them when I get a chance.
Your posts are too long and since they are mostly junk, i honestly dont have the time to reply or argue with gamebanshee article reposts. Protection from Magical damage is 100%, the manual is wrong, and lasts 1turn/level. Thats like an half an hour of real time.
Play the game.
Both of you are good posters with valuable insights. I can only speak for myself, but seeing you guys throw insults at one another for a couple of pages now feels off. One of the things I really like about the BG:EE boards is that posters here, unlike every other game dev site on the Internet, don't generally resort to the kind of nonsense you guys are engaged in right now.
This is only my two cents, and I not a mod, so take that however you wish. But my suggestion is that you both step away for a minute and let it go.
PS: That said, Roller, if you're pushing sandmanCCL to the point where he's swearing at you, you're probably doing something wrong with your approach. He's one of the most level headed and even tempered gamers I've come across, well, just about anywhere.
Its my fault, i absolutely dont want to push @sandmanCCL too far. He makes well structured posts, just a bit too much sand in it, heh.
Look, I realize I am pretty thin skinned these days. There's a lot of pretty significant personal crap going on in my life and if you really want to know about it, I'll PM anyone who wants to know. It's pretty easy to set me off and I'm not proud of that.
It's just really tiresome to have you or Metal_Hurlant pop out and tell me I'm stupid. I've readily admitted, even in the last couple of posts, I do not know everything there is to know. I still feel like I have insights, and part of the reason I engage in debates and posts here is to learn more. Didn't know the manual was wrong about Protection from Magic Energy, for example. I'm also planning to run through BG2 again with a hacked dude with unlimited casts of Time Stop just to test out which guys are immune to it, because I distinctly remember Time Stop traps in Throne of Bhaal at least getting me killed more often than helping. (I just don't have time. School and all and when I have free time, I'm playing Borderlands 2 with my brothers.)
Do you understand how this- ...is provocative and not constructive? It's just an attack. I just pointed out a use for fireball. Was I wrong in pointing out it's easy to protect your front line from fire damage? (BTW, try dropping protection from fire on your front line than dropping incendiary clouds. Fun tactic.)
So, truce? No beef? I'd rather there wasn't any because there doesn't need to be.
The protection from magical energy 6th level spell is definitely 100% resistance and has good duration so that works just fine but isn't available in BG1.
Another thing to note about fire is that you can use it to heal you when your resistance is > 100%. That is much more easily done with fire resistance than magic energy resistance.
All that said, I still advocate skull trap over fire ball because of the long-term leveling. Fireball is probably slightly better for BG1 but is dramaticaly worse for BG2. For party friendly fire, web + melf's meteors also works wonders in BG1 and melf's is fantastic against magic resistant foes throughout the game (Saravok, Kangaxx, liches, etc.).
I wish people wouldn't fight. I've occasionally had an individual try to troll me about something when he or she didn't agree with my advice or my opinion about something. I've learned that the best defense is to not respond. Simply ignore the insult. Do not engage. If you engage in any way, and they see they're getting a rise out of you, then you are playing right into their hands. That's what they get off on. If you try to defend yourself, they will merely escalate their insults, until they have you throwing around words of mass destruction. Meanwhile, they are laughing at you because you let them make you so angry. It's an unfortunate ugly side of some people who post in internet forums.
Yep why would anyone ever forsake Time Stop just because a few bosses are immune to it? Funnest spell ever! That's really all that matters.
As a mage, there is no way people should write it off.
It also helped against that lich in the cave near Balthazar's stronghold, against the fire giant boss (forgot his name), and against that elven boss who teleports all over the place (forgot her name, too).
I was, on my first play, very surprised and dismayed when my "foolproof" Time Stop strategy stopped working against the last few ToB bosses. But that is just good game design. Godlike entities should have mastery over Time itself, and so they do, in ToB.
In SoA, Time Stop can make several end battles easy, if and only if you can actually get access to it in time. That will depend on how you have built your arcane casters, how many npc's you have in your party over the whole game, whether you have the Robe of Vecna, and whether you have the knowledge to pick exactly the right spells at the right moment.
While, in my opinion, Time Stop is the ultimate arcane power in the game, or in any game ever created, (Wish may be a contender in pnp, but as implemented in BG, it is actually a "Summon Genie" spell, where the "Genie" in question hates you and is out to destroy you, and, even with high wisdom, what you wind up with is at the mercy of dice rolls), the Time Stop spell would be Superman-with-no-Kryptonite story-ender if there were no rival godlike-beings or "Kryptonite" to counter godlike you.
So, it makes a lot of sense that you can only get it very, very late in the story, it only wins the day if you are very knowledgeable about what spells to cast after it takes effect, and the last few bosses in the game are even more powerful than you are, and can move about and take action during "stopped" Time. I suppose one could compare it to the PC becoming a Black Hole, the ultimate power in the known universe, confronting other Black Holes.
In BG, you get to become a sentient Black Hole, with all power over time and space, but, unfortunately for superpowerful you, there are several other Black Holes in the same universe who want to and can consume you into their own power.
LOL, very powerful stuff. This is why I really prefer lower level play. God-play is a total bitch, because when you become a god in power, you always get all the other "gods" out to get you. Ick. Just give me enough power to defend me and mine, please, from all the mundane bullies in the world, and kindly leave me out of all the god-schemes.
The Yaga-Shura encounter is kind of a war of attrition because so much stuff is going on. I found Yaga himself was pretty easy to kite around and murder with ranged attacks, but all the archers that continue to spawn are pretty deadly to your backline if you don't engage them quickly.
Sendai was a lot harder. IIRC she summoned a bunch of statues in between flinging spells at you and the statues were super magic resistant. It's been awhile.
You know what's a fun HLA is Improved Alacrity. Cast it, Time Stop, then unload literally your entire arsenal of Magic Missiles. I've managed to crash my game because of how many magic missiles were on the screen but that was a long time ago with a computer that could barely run BG2 as is.
It's kind of funny looking back on system requirements from yesteryear.
That's another one of those where if you haven't done it at least once as a wizard (especially with amulet of power and robe of vecna) then you haven't truly been a wizard yet. I remember on my last playthrough heading towards Yaga-Shura I decided to let Imoen loose with that combo. I don't think I had any level 1-3 level spells left afterwards but watching my screen blow up with stuff was awesome.