tbh I don't get why people use Dragon's Breath with Comet right there... Comparing the two, yes Dragon's Breath has a higher damage potential but considering it doesn't have a save penalty and how late you get it, most people will save against it. Comet will always do the 10d10 damage and should they fail a save then they are stunned for 1d4 rounds. Granted unless there is some difference in the bonuses on save vs. breath and save vs. paralyzation then they will fail just as rarely on Comet as on Dragon's Breath. That means 10d10 vs. 1d4 rounds of stun. It might just be that I'm silly but I really like the stun :P
I use dragon's breath because the knock away or buffet isn't subject to a save and, more importantly, Dragon's Breath ignores magic resistance while Comet can be resisted. The magic resistance part of it makes all the difference.
tbh I don't get why people use Dragon's Breath with Comet right there... Comparing the two, yes Dragon's Breath has a higher damage potential but considering it doesn't have a save penalty and how late you get it, most people will save against it. Comet will always do the 10d10 damage and should they fail a save then they are stunned for 1d4 rounds. Granted unless there is some difference in the bonuses on save vs. breath and save vs. paralyzation then they will fail just as rarely on Comet as on Dragon's Breath. That means 10d10 vs. 1d4 rounds of stun. It might just be that I'm silly but I really like the stun :P
I use dragon's breath because the knock away or buffet isn't subject to a save and, more importantly, Dragon's Breath ignores magic resistance while Comet can be resisted. The magic resistance part of it makes all the difference.
Both spells knocks back and prones people. I did not consider the magic resistance part. That does validate Dragon's Breath alot. I used Comet back then because I remember I hated how slow Dragon's Breath was. I guess next time I will be choosing Dragon's Breath for it's no spell resistance.
Identify, Magic Missiles, Chromatic Orb, Melf's Acid Arrow, Dispel Magic, Fireball, Flame Arrow and Cloud Kill apart from these I don't use mage's that much. In BG1 I don't use cleric's at all.
Clerics in BG1 are generally not as strong as Jaheira or Faldorn because of the EXP cap. Faldorn can reach level 10 while clerics can only reach level 8. Plus Jaheira can carry her own weight as a capable fighter too, but she doesn't get along with Faldorn too well. I don't think I've ever used a second divine caster other than Jaheira / Aerie in both games, their multiclass selections are superb, but just take longer to level up. And for rogue skills in BG2, Jan Jansen is too much better than anyone else.
Even better is a human 9 Berserker / Druid. Anomen comes close but they only gave him 7 fighter levels instead of 9 which is stupid, as is Nalia's pathetic thieving skills (just 5 levels of rogue with all her points in disable traps and open locks would have made her fine).
Mages can also infinitely heal themselves with polymorph, if they have more base constitution than the form they are morphing to. Morphing back and forth restores lost HP equal to the loss and gain of the con stat.
... and Finger of Death is another one that has them rolling in the aisles :-)
I forgot about that one. My first BG2 playthrough Viconia killed Firkraag with a Finger of Death spell. We were fighting Firkraag and he had killed half my party, and then I had her cast this spell I'd never used before and the dragon died instantly even though he was barely injured.
Finger of Death became a personal favorite for a while, but I eventually stopped using it because it was too unreliable. Sometimes it would be powerful enough to kill a dragon, sometimes it would only do some damage, and other times it did nothing at all.
You know, I don't think I ever used Mirror Image that much in BG1. My mages were never really in much danger since I kept them in the back row. I can see why it would be awesome for a fighter/mage, though.
My personal favorite: Locust Swarm. It's so good I almost feel dirty using it. Jaheira would basically set loose the swarm, then bludgeon all the enemy mages to death.
Magic missile. Magic missile all day erryday. What do you mean it's ToB and we're all epic level? Still spammin' magic missile. All the magic missile. All of it. Except Xan because he doesn't have it. For him it's Burning Hands and Sleep. I also admit to having him cast Emotion:Hopelessness all the time just because I think it's fitting. But honestly I think he could just impose the same effect on people without the spell.
I'm playing a druid at the moment, so here are just a few I like
Chromatic Orb (for Avengers) Web (for Avengers) Lightning Bolt (for Avengers) Improved Invisibility (for Avengers) Slow Poison Call Lightning (for BG1 almost exclusively) Summon Insects Poison Conjure Animals (man those bears have saved me a lot of times) Dispel Magic (or remove magic if I'm playing as a mage) Insect Plague Iron Skins Heal (or any healing spell for that matter) Dolorous Decay True Seeing Creeping Doom Shield of the Archon Firestorm (I wish it lasted longer) Regeneration Any form of elemental summoning (I play druid so no worries on it going rogue on me) Mass Raise Dead (the druids only means of resurrecting)
Magic Missile. Preferably when casting at the darkness.
Oh, and mirror image, stoneskin, finger of death, feeblemind. Mostly single target things where you dont have to worry about your enemies moving out of the area of effect after you start casting.
I dont like stuff like Chaos or Horror where you have a bunch of enemies running all willy nilly and you have to chase em down.
I like chaos and horror on top of my web, stinking cloud and greater malison, plus a mass hold to boot. And then nothing touches me and it all dies in my cloudkill.
I like chaos and horror on top of my web, stinking cloud and greater malison, plus a mass hold to boot. And then nothing touches me and it all dies in my cloudkill.
Or maybe sanctuary as a personal defensive spell for a cleric
I use Bless quite alot, though Chant is better (but level 2). Sanctuary I don't use much, unless playing a Cleric/Thief, when its great for trap hunting/treasure stealing - what other uses are there for it, apart from being safe when casting defensive spells? You can't do much else, or am I missing something?
As a Cleric, I also use Command quite a lot at low levels, and Doom is great.
Clerics in BG1 are generally not as strong as Jaheira or Faldorn because of the EXP cap. Faldorn can reach level 10 while clerics can only reach level 8. Plus Jaheira can carry her own weight as a capable fighter too, but she doesn't get along with Faldorn too well. I don't think I've ever used a second divine caster other than Jaheira / Aerie in both games, their multiclass selections are superb, but just take longer to level up. And for rogue skills in BG2, Jan Jansen is too much better than anyone else.
In BG1 Viconia with the Ring of Holiness gets bucketloads of spells, though, which helps...
There are 2 points in the game I always use sanctuary: 1. Looting the treasure room in d'arnise keep without disturbing the golems (because Im usually too low level for the iron golem) 2. Looting the the troll mound (because killing more trolls than I absolutely have to is a time consuming chore)
There are 2 points in the game I always use sanctuary: 1. Looting the treasure room in d'arnise keep without disturbing the golems (because Im usually too low level for the iron golem) 2. Looting the the troll mound (because killing more trolls than I absolutely have to is a time consuming chore)
I normally don't mind not using it so long as I have haste on a character. It provides the opportunity to drag a few of the clay golems out into the bedroom or hallway that I can kill with my party members.
I used to use sanctuary all the time too. I would have Viconia cast it on herself and then scout the map with it on. I stopped using it once I got that cloak in the Sahuagin city which permanently casts that globe around the character. Now I just use that.
I'm suprised that no one has mentioned Sleep, Entangle, Web or other mass-CC spells in BG1. These are lifesavers early in the game (when they still work most of the time), and are awesome with a party comprised mostly of ranged combatants (which is under-ratedly powerful in BG1.)
I use Melf's Acid Arrow whenever I'm fighting trolls, it's my primary way of killing them once they've fallen down. Aside from that, I almost never use it since it takes longer to cast than other spells and doesn't do very much damage.
I like chaos and horror on top of my web, stinking cloud and greater malison, plus a mass hold to boot. And then nothing touches me and it all dies in my cloudkill.
Comments
So thank you AHF for that
Even better is a human 9 Berserker / Druid. Anomen comes close but they only gave him 7 fighter levels instead of 9 which is stupid, as is Nalia's pathetic thieving skills (just 5 levels of rogue with all her points in disable traps and open locks would have made her fine).
Finger of Death became a personal favorite for a while, but I eventually stopped using it because it was too unreliable. Sometimes it would be powerful enough to kill a dragon, sometimes it would only do some damage, and other times it did nothing at all.
My personal favorite: Locust Swarm. It's so good I almost feel dirty using it. Jaheira would basically set loose the swarm, then bludgeon all the enemy mages to death.
Except Xan because he doesn't have it. For him it's Burning Hands and Sleep. I also admit to having him cast Emotion:Hopelessness all the time just because I think it's fitting. But honestly I think he could just impose the same effect on people without the spell.
Chromatic Orb (for Avengers)
Web (for Avengers)
Lightning Bolt (for Avengers)
Improved Invisibility (for Avengers)
Slow Poison
Call Lightning (for BG1 almost exclusively)
Summon Insects
Poison
Conjure Animals (man those bears have saved me a lot of times)
Dispel Magic (or remove magic if I'm playing as a mage)
Insect Plague
Iron Skins
Heal (or any healing spell for that matter)
Dolorous Decay
True Seeing
Creeping Doom
Shield of the Archon
Firestorm (I wish it lasted longer)
Regeneration
Any form of elemental summoning (I play druid so no worries on it going rogue on me)
Mass Raise Dead (the druids only means of resurrecting)
Oh, and mirror image, stoneskin, finger of death, feeblemind. Mostly single target things where you dont have to worry about your enemies moving out of the area of effect after you start casting.
I dont like stuff like Chaos or Horror where you have a bunch of enemies running all willy nilly and you have to chase em down.
Or maybe sanctuary as a personal defensive spell for a cleric
As a Cleric, I also use Command quite a lot at low levels, and Doom is great.
1. Looting the treasure room in d'arnise keep without disturbing the golems (because Im usually too low level for the iron golem)
2. Looting the the troll mound (because killing more trolls than I absolutely have to is a time consuming chore)
and (in no particular order) ..
Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting, Breach, Chain Contingency, Contingency, Haste, Improved Invisibility, Magic Missile, Melf's Minute Meteors, Mirror Image, Mislead, Project Image, Protection from Magical Weapons, Spell Immunity, Spell Sequencer, Spell Trap, Spell Trigger, Stoneskin, Time Stop, True Sight, Wish..
melf's acid arrow
fireball
stoneskin
breach
pierce magic
delayed blast fireball
abi dalzim's
dragon breath