What is the max spell level for bards in ee?

nubard

Is the max spell level for bards in BG2 6 still, or has that changed? I'm trying to decide if I should run my bard with 16 int like I usually do or not. Plan on taking this bard through both games.

Kilivitz

Still 6.

If you're into using mods, Tweaks Anthology can change that to level 8.

nubard

Thanks for the heads up although I guess int doesn't affect max spell levels at all, oops. It's been so long since I played.

Kilivitz

If I'm not mistaken, EE has reimplemented spell level restriction based on INT score. But I'm not 100% sure. I think one way to test it is to create a ToB Mage with 9 INT or use the console to bump a Mage up to those levels.

Gallowglass

Kilivitz said:

If I'm not mistaken, EE has reimplemented spell level restriction based on INT score.

Yes.

However, the restriction applies only to learning spells - it's not a casting restriction. Thus, once you've managed to learn a higher-level spell (by quaffing a Potion of Genius), you don't then need the higher INT to cast the spell.

Lorandar

As posted above, a high INT score allows you to more easily learn new spells. The maximum spell level Bards can learn spells from is 6. They can use spells of higher levels if they read them from scrolls (but that's a one shot per scroll).
The good news is that their caster level is equal to their level, so even though being limited to level 6 spells, any parameters based on level gain full advantage (eg. Rounds/level, damage/level,...)

Gallowglass

Lorandar said:

As posted above, a high INT score allows you to more easily learn new spells. The maximum spell level Bards can learn spells from is 6. They can use spells of higher levels if they read them from scrolls (but that's a one shot per scroll).

Yes. To cast from scrolls you need at least INT 9, and to learn level 6 spells you need at least INT 12 ... but all Bards have minimum INT 13 anyway, so this is never a problem. However, higher INT lets you learn more spells of each level (up to unlimited spells-per-level at INT 19), and (on Core rules or higher) reduces your % learning-failure risk.

Lorandar said:

The good news is that their caster level is equal to their level, so even though being limited to level 6 spells, any parameters based on level gain full advantage (eg. Rounds/level, damage/level,...)

Yes, except that most level-scaled spells are capped at level 20, so this is a power advantage for Bards (because they level faster than Mages) through BG1+SoD and much of BG2:SoA, but this advantage tails off for end-SoA and vanishes in ToB (because then Mages should also reach level 20). It's worth noting, however, that Dispel Magic (and Remove Magic) are uncapped (i.e. continue getting better even at epic levels), so Bards are terrific Dispellers.

Danacm

Gallowglass said:

Lorandar said:

As posted above, a high INT score allows you to more easily learn new spells. The maximum spell level Bards can learn spells from is 6. They can use spells of higher levels if they read them from scrolls (but that's a one shot per scroll).

Yes. To cast from scrolls you need at least INT 9, and to learn level 6 spells you need at least INT 12 ... but all Bards have minimum INT 13 anyway, so this is never a problem. However, higher INT lets you learn more spells of each level (up to unlimited spells-per-level at INT 19), and (on Core rules or higher) reduces your % learning-failure risk.

Lorandar said:

The good news is that their caster level is equal to their level, so even though being limited to level 6 spells, any parameters based on level gain full advantage (eg. Rounds/level, damage/level,...)

Yes, except that most level-scaled spells are capped at level 20, so this is a power advantage for Bards (because they level faster than Mages) through BG1+SoD and much of BG2:SoA, but this advantage tails off for end-SoA and vanishes in ToB (because then Mages should also reach level 20). It's worth noting, however, that Dispel Magic (and Remove Magic) are uncapped (i.e. continue getting better even at epic levels), so Bards are terrific Dispellers.

If enemy not use si:abjuration

off: i hate this spell, absolut negate inquisitor main feature if the mage prepared well.