Does Luck Stack?

jtth

Say I have three items. One gives Luck, the spell. Two give Luck +1 bonus. Does this mean that all my rolls get +3?

Pteran

As I understand it, yes, Luck can be stacked.

semiticgoddess

The Luck spell uses a separate opcode, opcode 133, that does not stack with itself. The same opcode is used in the Lucky Scimitar in IWD. Thus, the Lucky Scimitar and the Luck spell do not stack. But all other sources of luck in the IE games use opcode 22, and therefore stack with each other. Mod items will stack if they use opcode 22 and not 133.

Bear in mind that luck doesn't impact all rolls. It increases your attack rolls and damage rolls, and decreases spell damage against you, and in IWD2 it also improves critical hit rolls, but it does not improve your saving throws or skill checks. However, the Luck spell and Tymora's Melody, both in IWD and IWD2, also have effects that improve saving throws and thief skills. So a bard with Tymora's Melody in IWD:EE will improve your saving throws as well as your luck, but an unkitted bard or Blade singing a song in BG:EE will only improve your luck.

Tarlugn

How powerful is the luck effect? Was it a staple character feature in AD&D 2nd Edition, or was it something that was invented by Bioware? Moreso, is there any explanatiion as to why it is so rare effect on items in BG´s?

jtth

Tarlugn said:

How powerful is the luck effect? Was it a staple character feature in AD&D 2nd Edition, or was it something that was invented by Bioware? Moreso, is there any explanatiion as to why it is so rare effect on items in BG´s?

It seems powerful. It's hard to feel, really, as it's just more RNG in your favor. But I play with Item Revisions, so I ended up with these items at the near end of SoD.

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

semiticgoddess

Chant has an effect similar to luck, in that it increases the party's melee damage and decreases incoming spell damage. Also, fatigue penalties are negative luck penalties, which means a fatigued character could easily get wiped out by a Fireball. Watch out!

People often underestimate the little numbers, focusing only on the biggest ones. If +3 luck is insanely powerful, then +1 luck must be one-third of insanely powerful, which sounds pretty good.

Getting +6 to luck for one character would be amazing. Chant gives +1 luck for six characters, which is very similar, but it's not nearly as eye-catching and is much easier to overlook.

Pteran

I'm always having my clerics prep the party with Bless/Chant (or with IWDification Prayer/Recitation/Righteous Wrath of the Faithful). The little boosts quickly add up and I tear through things with ease. My big complaint with the Luck spell was the short duration (but I believe Spell Revisions improves that).

semiticgoddess

Spell Revisions improves basically everything. There is no spell in SR that's not useful.

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

jtth

semiticgod said:

Spell Revisions improves basically everything. There is no spell in SR that's not useful.

This is proving a challenge as my first playthrough with it in BG2 is with a sorcerer.