Spellcaster Zen master

alceryes

I'd like to get an idea for how people use their spellcasters. Namely, clerics, druids, mages, shamans, sorcerers, and bards, and to a lesser extent rangers, paladins, and any other kits that give spell abilities.
As I'm getting spellcasters up into SoD I'm finding it difficult to get the right balance between being over-prepared and wasting buffs/high-level spells, and being dead...or in full retreat while the clerics and mages try to frantically buff and nuke like they should have done beforehand.
There's no right or wrong answer. I'm really just looking for ideas to help me find a happy medium between being dead and having a permanent room at the holiday inn.
I listed several general ideas but, of course, not every option can be listed. After voting, please post about your specific spellcaster Zen.

JumboWheat01

I'm a bit of a spell scrooge when it comes to "trash mobs," having them sit back and sling or if they're a bit sturdier, smack things around, but when it comes to "elite mobs" or "bosses," that's when the spells come out, often in full force. An example, whenever I make a Cleric character, I always make sure to have one Command prepared, and what do I finally use a Command on? That mage on the way into the Friendly Arm Inn. Never use it before hand, even on those dangerous wolves.

Of course, there is an exception with healing spells, which I use to patch up the party between trash mobs if needed.

ThacoBell

Can I cloudkill it? No. Does it require a breach? No. Okay, smashing time!

*EDIT* I forgot to add sleep. More than 4 enemies? SLEEP IN HEAVENLY PEACE!

Tresset

My use of casters usually falls somewhere between Scrooge and Sword and Board, I think. One of my problems is that I often forget I have casters and I send my warriors in to do all the work. Another problem I have is that I tend to save all my powerful tricks because I keep thinking to myself "A bigger battle is right around the corner." even though I know the game like the back of my hand and I should know that there is never a bigger battle anywhere nearby. If my Charname is a caster, however, I usually try to change this and cast more often because I like having my Charname with the most kills to their name. I also like to use mass disabling spells a lot more often than other spell types (excluding healing), especially when I run into a large group of things (I usually put a pack of wolves or kobolds to sleep). I do pre-buff for major fights like dragons (or BG1 equivalent), but not as often for fights less than that. I also tend to use tricks that work specifically well for certain enemies (like throwing skeletons at sirines). I almost always forget that I have magical items and practically never use any of them.

And yes, I do reload a LOT.

alceryes

ThacoBell said:

Can I cloudkill it? No. Does it require a breach? No. Okay, smashing time!

I play A LOT like this. Although, I'll usually burn through the low level mage spells to finish off 'near death' enemies.
However, I'm finding some of the beginning area's of SoD to be a little difficult. It's probably because I'm using insane difficulty. I really like having the greater enemy variety that the higher difficulties provide.
I think I just need to remind myself that I'm playing on a higher difficulty and let Edwin and Baeloth go to town more often!

sazzie

for me it depends on the battle and party makeup.

im playing my first ever sorcerer and im quite enjoying it (i normally play a generalised mage). it mostly depends on the battle but sometimes my mage does everything and sometimes she doesnt. i love that i can use all my known spells based on the situation. for example: identify. i can currently use 5 level one spells and could use them all to identify or all to magic missle. anytime i play a mage from now on it will be a sorcerer, the only downside is that i can only learn new spells as i level which means i need to be quite selective - do i want pierce magic or dont i haha

id recommend getting melfs minute meteors if you can as it adds a good ranged weapon and can save spells. some battles i use a cloudkill to weaken the enemy and pop them off with my ranged units other times we've all used melee and almost finished but due to impatience or a stubborn enemy they get a magic missiles to the face.

i try to use my wands and potions more and like that the AI (when it works) will use them up for me as otherwise they never get used or sold.

im starting to use divine spells for more than just healing or removing statuses ailments but often forget spells like true sight which would save me alot of time and effort as well as numerous mage spells.

it will ultimately come down to party make up and play style. personally, im trying to rest less even when i run out of spells to lessen my dependency on them in some instances to improve my tactics. my tactics are poor and often why i reload alot and sometimes its not even due to spells, its due to my sheer lack of noticing that aerie is about to get 1hKO'd.

its taken me many many years to get to this point and will probably take many many more to get better but if you're having fun even through the frustration of reloading and your game is generally progressing along nicely then i think your style is working and with minor tweaking it could get to where you want it but again its all down to your personal style.

hope my input makes sense

Flashburn

I have this really bad habit of not using spells, scrolls, wands, non-healing potions, and other sorts of consumables. I always think to myself, "But what if I need this more, later?" or "There's a better place to use this."

I never use the short-duration clerical party-wide buff spells like Chant or Bless even though I want to sometimes, because the fights are always winding down once said cleric FINALLY gets the spell off. It always feels like such a waste too, since trash mobs go down easily enough without it while tough enemies require more important spells to be cast instead (such as Heal).

semiticgoddess

Playing no-reload runs tends to reward extensive buffing. I actually use custom buffing spells and Improved Alacrity items to speed up the buffing process for most fights, because it can take up to 60 seconds and lots of micromanagement to fully buff the party. The only time I buff manually is before boss fights, when the extra duration could actually have an impact.

I don't rest much. I find it faster to use a custom rest spell than to actually let the party sleep.

Tresset

semiticgod said:

Playing no-reload runs tends to reward extensive buffing. I actually use custom buffing spells and Improved Alacrity items to speed up the buffing process for most fights, because it can take up to 60 seconds and lots of micromanagement to fully buff the party. The only time I buff manually is before boss fights, when the extra duration could actually have an impact.

I don't rest much. I find it faster to use a custom rest spell than to actually let the party sleep.

@semiticgod Er, don't take this the wrong way, but it sounds like you have a bit of a patience problem if you are making custom spells just to speed things along... Although, I must admit that the micromanagement factor can be a bit of a pain...

Pteran

With SCS, IR, and SR I find myself changing styles. It was so easy before to skip buffs and just nuke everything. Now I'm actually learning to use my casters. Anomen is the primary healer with Vicky bringing the pain, and backup healing. Thanks to SCS I rely quite heavily on healing potions. Provides relief for the clerics as it either saves spell slots, or keeps characters alive until they can fire off a big heal.

I don't know if it's new from Spell Revisions or something added from the Shaman spell list, but there's a level 4 spell called Magic Fire (or something like that, I'm away from my computer right now). It's fantastic! Very solid AoE spell. Also the Inflict/Cure Wounds family of spells are quite potent thanks to IR. Vicky punched Captain Dennis (from Delosar's Inn) for 40 points of magic damage with either the 2nd or 3rd level version.

I actually worry that Druids might be getting the shaft healing wise with SR. Instead of instant heals they get regeneration spells.

I find myself tending to favor Clerics over all other spellcasters with SR. Great buffs, healing is actually super useful now, and they deal solid single target and AoE damage. A Cleric is the full package. Mages are still powerful but I think Clerics might eclipse them now.

semiticgoddess

@Tresset: Patience or no, it saves a lot of time. Using custom buffing spells doesn't do me any harm; why not use them?

Tresset

@semiticgod *shrug* I dunno. I just found it a bit funny is all. I suppose I have done some silly things myself, and for much sillier reasons...

Humor attempt fails...

ThacoBell

Oh, I interpreted this poll as arcane magic, I tend use druid spells a lot more. Great summons and the insect plague type spells are probably my favorite.

Zilber

In IWD I just finished a run where everyone was a caster, almost all multi or dual class. Most fights just had a few buffs on them, and a few debuffs of the enemy, this made me able to encounter quite a few things each day. War chant of Sith was the best spell saver.

Abi_Dalzim

Most of the time I'm stingy, even on boss fights, but whenever I cut loose and use all the spells at my disposal, I'm always amazed at the feats I can pull off, like tanking Firkraag with a Skald and laughing off his entire arsenal while my Blackguard got behind him and beat him to death. The more you understand the spells in the game, the better - everyone knows there's more to offense than Fireball, but there's also more to defense than Stoneskin and Mirror Image, and some of those situational protections can be very powerful under the right circumstances.

recklessheart

If I can win a fight by using Chain Lightning, Death Spell, or all that other fun stuff and I have them prepared or on a scroll, I'd rather do that then send my warriors in to chop up the problem. There is GP, XP, and style points, and the latter are of the utmost importance. Generally, SoA ends at around day 40-50 for me, so I imagine I am a bit of a spellscrooge, but when I look at my character battle histories, my mages tend to come out at the end of the game with close to as many kills as my warriors. They rarely beat them, unless they are my protagonist. Fascinatingly, in my current game Nalia is threatening to overtake my Barbarian PC before we reach the end of ToB, although the value of his XP kills is higher. She's probably racked up a fair few kills off of the Chain Lightning/Death Spell/Fireball thing. Stupid Goblins.

Kamigoroshi

Body strenghting magic, hasting towards close quarters combat, fists of enchanted steel and the occassional kick throwing mirror image is all a wizard needs.

Shining Wizard FTW!