Temple Disple Magic doesn't dispel Polymorph

rashkae

Neera polymorphed herself into a squirrel while I was too low level to have any dispel magics at my disposal. Unlike the wolf polymorphs, this one couldn't be slept off either. So I went to the nearest temple and was delighted to see that when Neera was the chosen healing recipient, there was a "Dispel Effects" option enabled. Unfortunately, it did not restore her, and after a few tries, I had to resort to the Thalantyr method (resurection.)

tbone1

This just happened to me. I was fighting the red wizard in Beregost to recruit her. She wild surged impressively: a fireball killed the Red Wizards (and Jaheira) AND Neera polymorphed into a squirrel. I agreed to let her join me, and temples cannot change her back with a Dispel Magic. It is totally ridiculous but so far not too annoying.

The funny thing is I *think* that the surge happened when she hit an enemy with her staff and added fire damage.

royalprotector

Yup... Still happening. No other choice but to CTRL+R her.

kjeron

The character that receives the healing is treated as the caster, so Neera is not high enough level to dispel the polymorph (since temples use the priest version of dispel magic, not the wizard version).

It's the same reason a character receiving "Lesser Restoration" becomes fatigued.

royalprotector

Interesting. Doesn't that make dispel magic essentially useless (except at level 1-3, I guess?) unless you're a priest?

jmerry

Indeed, temple dispels are pretty useless in the BG series at the moment. The fix I'd go for is to create a new spell to replace it in the shops with an "always dispel" effect.

There are other ways to dispel that effect; dispelling arrows are the most reliable, although there's a chance of killing the target especially if the archer has a damage bonus. Not really an option with a level 1 party, though.

Another dispel that's basically useless? Planetars. They get priest dispel magic (and many other priest spells), but their class is pure mage.

And while we're at it, the Dispel Magic on Bala's Axe uses the wielder's priest caster level. Great for a shaman, usable for a high level paladin or ranger, terrible for anyone else.

royalprotector

Too bad. Bala's axe seemed like a good fit for Wizard Slayers.

As for the Planetars, I suppose you could make them cleric/mages of level 25/25 and be done with it. I think I might do that in NearInfinity or EEKeeper once I'm done with BGEE. Gotta check if SCS fixes that though, since I always use it.

jmerry

The on-hit effects of Bala's Axe are fine; it's just the 1/day activated ability that's mostly useless. As for planetars - SCS doesn't change their class. They're still pure mages, even with the "improved celestials" component. On the flip side, devas are pure clerics, but they only have one wizard spell (Chaos).

Also, I just remembered - there's an even better way to reliably dispel effects from a party member in BGEE, if they're not completely helpless. Just have them drink a potion of magic blocking. It dispels everything, then gives you five rounds of immunity to nearly all magic you're likely to see. A Protection from Magic scroll will do it as well, though those are rarer.