Call Lightning for a level 3 druid spell was completely awesome! I humped that spell to death with Jaheira, only crappy thing was that it took a while to cast which made her easy to interrupt. But once it's cast...pretty much instant death to its target. Also fun to see the barbecued body with little shocks running through it in the aftermath ^^
Yea thought of Dual Classing, but not sure I want non-mages in my group, think the most I could stomach is maybe 2-3 levels tops, any more then that really takes away from the concept...unless I edited in the Fighter Dual Class to Mage, and started as a lvl 1 mage, I might actually do that. Take me till about cloakwood to unlock the Fighter Portion, only real unbalance would be the shit ton of extra HP, but I also run Tactics so might balance out to (Bandit Camp always takes me 2-3 reloads to get right, so many arrows)
Also sounds good for the bard race wise, not sure Kit wise, have a few options outside of the core kits due to TDD, some kits are good, some overpowered, and others just useless...but the good ones so make it worth it...
@Isair I'm running a BGT with a few mods for tactics/kits right now.....got lists of custom groups I want to play.....saving the NPC groups for EE so I don't burn myself out on the chating...
Really want to try a Custom Group that is Arcane Focused, no single class characters that are not arcane casters, so only fighters would be Bard, F/M, F/M/T same goes for Clerics, etc
Thinking something like
Elf Sorcerer (Evocation/Necromancy Focused) Enchanter Gnome Illusionist/Thief Elf Fighter/Mage Gnome Cleric/Illusionist Human Bard (Undecided on Kit)
That should have all my bases covered, 1st few levels might be a tad rough, but once I hit lvl 2 spells, things should go a lot smoother from there....and once late SoA and Early ToB kicks in...much fun is to be had.
That group should be death on wheels early in the game. Multiple sleeps or color sprays = defenseless enemies early in BGT. The fact that you will have 5 people who can cast that should make your group very effective from the start.
@AHF Yea, only issue I'l probably have will be archers, as if they get shots off before I can get off sleeps, things can get real nasty real quick, seeing how most of my guys will have very low HP..
Where are you going to get enough spell scrolls to stock all these guys with higher level magic? Might need to take three sorcerors just to have enough scrolls for the other guys. Haha~
@AHF Yea, only issue I'l probably have will be archers, as if they get shots off before I can get off sleeps, things can get real nasty real quick, seeing how most of my guys will have very low HP..
Put your thief's points into stealth early then you can scout out the Black Talon Elite, etc. and cast the sleep spells a little bit short of them so they don't see you but the area of effect still catches them. Down go the opposition.
Worry not, goofy underused spells! I shall come to your defense!
Know Alignment I've actually used this one to great effect long ago when I first encountered BG. I cast it from scrolls on random unusual looking people to help determine if talking to them would initiate a combat so that I could prepare (or avoid, if too beat up). Of course, now that I've played the game so many times, it may not be as effective. Still, I'll likely save a stack for the new content they're adding.
Friends GREAT spell! Cast it just before shopping to increase your CHA and get major store discounts!
Deafness Low level miscast magic that can't be stopped by vocalize. You might think that you wouldn't want to use a 2nd level spell slot for it but, remember, a miscast chance works on any spell level. This is a 2nd level spell that can counter timestop, fireball, finger of death, etc.
Ray of Enfeeblement You can easily shave 8 points of damage off of each hit from that big demon / dragon / beastie. That's a 2nd level spell that spares you a cure light wounds every time the monster hits. It also reduces the chance of hitting. If you use it on heavily armored people, will they become encumbered and slowed down?
Clairvoyance Helped find some caves I would have missed when I first played BG. Wouldn't prepare this, just collect scrolls.
Non-Detection Saves invisibility from true seeing! True stuff!
Sequencers Two 12th level chromatic orbs together make for a half decent instant "you die now" combo. Multiple magic missiles disrupt time stops and other spells on casters whose magic resistance you haven't lowered yet. Three flame arrows will kill a whole lot of monsters in one go until the highest game levels.
@MikeMasters Grease is amazing! it has saved my life during some encounters, made me cry with laughter and is good for crowd control. Me and my friend used to say "Grease Walker!" when we cast it, as in metal gear solid peace walker. We would then sing the metal gear solid 3 theme with grease walker instead of snake eater. yeah sad, I know.
I use know alignment a lot more in IWD and IWD2 when its less likely that 90% of the enemies you will encounter will be evil. Its easier to use that spell than it is to use Holy Smite and realized you just wasted a cast.
Also grease is amazing if you have a primarily ranged party. You can actually combo it with web (unfortunately no longer works in PnP but most good web combos don't work in PnP anymore) to increase the amount of time they're having to walk through web. Normally, (anecdotal evidence), it seems they have to pass 1 more save if you have grease down there first.
Now let us all mourn the PnP losses of Web+Grease and Web+Fireball, and extra mourning for Grease+Fireball no longer making a flaming circle of deathly awesome =(
I absolutely LOVE all the instant kill spells. It's so much more satisfying when you kill someone with one spell, because that spell kills them, rather than through damage. I load up on disintegrate, finger of death, flesh to stone (rarely admittedly, as you still should smack them after you hit it and that's not as fun), power word: kill. Love them all. So satisfying disintegrating something that's strong enough to be annoying to a character, but doesn't have any useful loot. Save finger of death for things with loot I want.
@ryu1 hmm, would you expect to see new spells in BG1? although it would be cool, id rather see a bunch of new BG1 weapons as the selection was quite limited.
@Isair I'm running a BGT with a few mods for tactics/kits right now.....got lists of custom groups I want to play.....saving the NPC groups for EE so I don't burn myself out on the chating...
Really want to try a Custom Group that is Arcane Focused, no single class characters that are not arcane casters, so only fighters would be Bard, F/M, F/M/T same goes for Clerics, etc
Thinking something like
Elf Sorcerer (Evocation/Necromancy Focused) Enchanter Gnome Illusionist/Thief Elf Fighter/Mage Gnome Cleric/Illusionist Human Bard (Undecided on Kit)
That should have all my bases covered, 1st few levels might be a tad rough, but once I hit lvl 2 spells, things should go a lot smoother from there....and once late SoA and Early ToB kicks in...much fun is to be had.
That group should be death on wheels early in the game. Multiple sleeps or color sprays = defenseless enemies early in BGT. The fact that you will have 5 people who can cast that should make your group very effective from the start.
I'd make sure everyone keeps one Vocalize spell memorized, otherwise one good Silence spell from an enemy caster (and unlucky saves from your party) could make for a disaster.
so i googled "my name in elvish" and came across a Elf Name Generator. My Elf name is Aerandir, but im going for a human Kensai so im not sure thats going to work!
The Imp familiar was the most useful, in my opinion, in low levels when playing a mage in BGT. With its polymorph self ability it can easily tank opponents while you shoot your magic.
I didn't see this, it would be awesome to turn into a Sword Spider in BG1, you would rip apart alot of people in melee
In my solo mage run through BG1 and 2, for the bulk of the game I was cleaving through everything is sword spider form. You also get free healing by polymorphing between a form and back to normal from the con loss / gain. Easiest way to kill casters? Sword spider > attack > poison. No caster will cast a spell at you again. It even tears through stoneskins in no time at all, pretty much speedier than a speed run.
Cure * wounds, except for cure light wounds. It is useful to have a few cure light wounds spells at low levels, and even at higher levels to save time when resting at an inn, but there are almost always more useful ways to use your cleric to prevent you from taking damage in the first place (usually by disabling or killing your enemy) than using them to heal damage you either shouldn't have taken in the first place, or else should have been able to cure with a swig from one of the enormous number of healing potions you should have stumbled across pretty much everywhere you go.
At higher levels, it's useful to have one heal memorized, mostly for its ability to cure status effects, but relying on cure wounds spells is a sign of bad tactical choices.
I also refuse to use cloud kill in BG2 because it is too effective if used cheesily and not effective at all if used without cheese.
Comments
Yea thought of Dual Classing, but not sure I want non-mages in my group, think the most I could stomach is maybe 2-3 levels tops, any more then that really takes away from the concept...unless I edited in the Fighter Dual Class to Mage, and started as a lvl 1 mage, I might actually do that. Take me till about cloakwood to unlock the Fighter Portion, only real unbalance would be the shit ton of extra HP, but I also run Tactics so might balance out to (Bandit Camp always takes me 2-3 reloads to get right, so many arrows)
Also sounds good for the bard race wise, not sure Kit wise, have a few options outside of the core kits due to TDD, some kits are good, some overpowered, and others just useless...but the good ones so make it worth it...
BGT Games don't have that problem...least not in BG 1, haven't messed with BG 2 much yet.
High Hedge and Sorcerous Sundries both have a TON of spell scrolls!
Also mages tend to drop or have more scrolls laying around...
I always liked my sorceror's inventory to be amassed with scrolls
Know Alignment
I've actually used this one to great effect long ago when I first encountered BG. I cast it from scrolls on random unusual looking people to help determine if talking to them would initiate a combat so that I could prepare (or avoid, if too beat up). Of course, now that I've played the game so many times, it may not be as effective. Still, I'll likely save a stack for the new content they're adding.
Friends
GREAT spell! Cast it just before shopping to increase your CHA and get major store discounts!
Deafness
Low level miscast magic that can't be stopped by vocalize. You might think that you wouldn't want to use a 2nd level spell slot for it but, remember, a miscast chance works on any spell level. This is a 2nd level spell that can counter timestop, fireball, finger of death, etc.
Ray of Enfeeblement
You can easily shave 8 points of damage off of each hit from that big demon / dragon / beastie. That's a 2nd level spell that spares you a cure light wounds every time the monster hits. It also reduces the chance of hitting. If you use it on heavily armored people, will they become encumbered and slowed down?
Clairvoyance
Helped find some caves I would have missed when I first played BG. Wouldn't prepare this, just collect scrolls.
Non-Detection
Saves invisibility from true seeing! True stuff!
Sequencers
Two 12th level chromatic orbs together make for a half decent instant "you die now" combo.
Multiple magic missiles disrupt time stops and other spells on casters whose magic resistance you haven't lowered yet.
Three flame arrows will kill a whole lot of monsters in one go until the highest game levels.
Enough for now.
Grease is amazing! it has saved my life during some encounters, made me cry with laughter and is good for crowd control.
Me and my friend used to say "Grease Walker!" when we cast it, as in metal gear solid peace walker. We would then sing the metal gear solid 3 theme with grease walker instead of snake eater. yeah sad, I know.
I use know alignment a lot more in IWD and IWD2 when its less likely that 90% of the enemies you will encounter will be evil. Its easier to use that spell than it is to use Holy Smite and realized you just wasted a cast.
Also grease is amazing if you have a primarily ranged party. You can actually combo it with web (unfortunately no longer works in PnP but most good web combos don't work in PnP anymore) to increase the amount of time they're having to walk through web. Normally, (anecdotal evidence), it seems they have to pass 1 more save if you have grease down there first.
Now let us all mourn the PnP losses of Web+Grease and Web+Fireball, and extra mourning for Grease+Fireball no longer making a flaming circle of deathly awesome =(
At higher levels, it's useful to have one heal memorized, mostly for its ability to cure status effects, but relying on cure wounds spells is a sign of bad tactical choices.
I also refuse to use cloud kill in BG2 because it is too effective if used cheesily and not effective at all if used without cheese.