Playing and losing to Aesgarath when wagering XP will cause any character, not just MC, to lose 50k XP. You can do this twice, so now you can have up to two non-MC party members at lvl 41 before the end of SOA. I suppose you could even rush this and do it at the beginning of SOA.
Another nice find! Makes it accessible a lot earlier in the playthrough, and can then take the evil route in Selfishness. lv1 and lv2 are pretty easy at any difficulty and I think Aesgareth does gamble before you've defeated Tahazzar or Karashur.
Expanding on Wild Surge 65, Oops Wrong Spell, the Tanar'ris Death Gaze (SPIN996) can summon Kangaxx (SPIN806) or give you Slayer form (SPIN810) early. Others, like the Cerebus' Moon Dog Howl (SPIN891) can give you the Deck of Many Things Jester effect (50k xp) or give permanent elemental resistances that belong to the Chromatic Demon when they switch forms.
The downside to these is that chances of them happening are extremely low. The upside is that some are game breaking.
There's probably more effects to be discovered. I guess you could craft a truly custom character with enough time.
A side effect of monsters causing the wrong spell from wild surge 65 is that your main char can be removed from the party without the game ending. The Tanari'ri wild surges for 65, mentioned above, can turn them into a bat or kangaxx (for an extra ring) without the end game cutscene occurring.
You can then fill the main char spot by saving and loading the game or by having someone join the party. They become the main char so you can play as another party member. Jan can finally fulfill his destiny as the turnip Bhaalspawn.
Credit goes to nooneyouknow13 on the Baldur's Gate subreddit for taking the Book of Infinite Spells glitch for scribing scrolls to specialized mages and discovering that Sorcerers can scribe scrolls this way and learn additional spells. Also, they pointed out that Wand of Fire can be used instead of the Book of Infinite Spells since it has 2 modes.
I discovered this one a while back, and ... you know, it should be here.
Swindling Djinni
You need an arcane spellcaster with three things for this one.
- Project Image. The more copies memorized, the better.
- Wish. The more copies memorized, the better.
- At least 18 Wisdom. If you don't have that between base stats and equip effects, put a potion of insight in a quickslot.
So, you Project Image. The clone drinks a potion if necessary, and then casts Wish. Many powerful effects ensue, with five options chosen randomly from a list of twenty-five. But there's one wish option that you probably didn't think to try ...
- "Party loses 10000 gold"
That's bad, right? Not when a clone casts the wish. In that case, the party loses nothing and 10000 gold is created on the clone. When it's done casting its spells (all memorized instances of Wish, plus any other buff spells you feel like), attack and kill the clone. Any wish-created items and gold drop, and you can pick them up. If you rolled that "lose gold" option on one of the wishes, you are now 10000 gold richer.
I first stumbled onto this one at the very end of a run - in the Throne of Bhaal itself, where there was no longer any way to spend gold. Oops.
Credit goes to nooneyouknow13 on the Baldur's Gate subreddit for taking the Book of Infinite Spells glitch for scribing scrolls to specialized mages and discovering that Sorcerers can scribe scrolls this way and learn additional spells. Also, they pointed out that Wand of Fire can be used instead of the Book of Infinite Spells since it has 2 modes.
In testing unmodified bg2ee 2.6.6 a Sorcerer can scribe scrolls to their spellbook this way, but the spells do not appear in the menu bar for casting. Another patched exploit bites the dust.
Credit goes to nooneyouknow13 on the Baldur's Gate subreddit for taking the Book of Infinite Spells glitch for scribing scrolls to specialized mages and discovering that Sorcerers can scribe scrolls this way and learn additional spells. Also, they pointed out that Wand of Fire can be used instead of the Book of Infinite Spells since it has 2 modes.
In testing unmodified bg2ee 2.6.6 a Sorcerer can scribe scrolls to their spellbook this way, but the spells do not appear in the menu bar for casting. Another patched exploit bites the dust.
You can still fail to scribe the scroll due to intelligence score in the same way as regular scribing a scroll. And, yes, jmerry is right that you also need to rest after.
I discovered this one a while back, and ... you know, it should be here.
Swindling Djinni
You need an arcane spellcaster with three things for this one.
- Project Image. The more copies memorized, the better.
- Wish. The more copies memorized, the better.
- At least 18 Wisdom. If you don't have that between base stats and equip effects, put a potion of insight in a quickslot.
So, you Project Image. The clone drinks a potion if necessary, and then casts Wish. Many powerful effects ensue, with five options chosen randomly from a list of twenty-five. But there's one wish option that you probably didn't think to try ...
- "Party loses 10000 gold"
That's bad, right? Not when a clone casts the wish. In that case, the party loses nothing and 10000 gold is created on the clone. When it's done casting its spells (all memorized instances of Wish, plus any other buff spells you feel like), attack and kill the clone. Any wish-created items and gold drop, and you can pick them up. If you rolled that "lose gold" option on one of the wishes, you are now 10000 gold richer.
I first stumbled onto this one at the very end of a run - in the Throne of Bhaal itself, where there was no longer any way to spend gold. Oops.
Funny find! Too bad Terminsel in BG2 doesn't have the Wish spell or else you could pull this off at the start of SoA.
Funny find! Too bad Terminsel in BG2 doesn't have the Wish spell or else you could pull this off at the start of SoA.
You can get 2 wish scrolls in WK so if your party is able to go there and survive (the second one is after a tough battle) and you have a mage that can cast PI you can perform the trick in SoA. Put the potion on a quick slot and the 2 scrolls on an other and you should be able to do it maybe 3 times every PI slot as you have also the chance of a free rest from the Wish.
By the way I highly appreciate the trick as I like the ways to play the game in not intended ways and abuse its mechanics as much as I love to play it in the "regular" way, but I think that the trick is not particularly useful as when the party is able to get those Wish scrolls and has a Mage able to cast lev.7 spells usually they have all the money they need, unless you are playing with the Item Upgrade mod obviously.
I prefer other exploits that allow you to get money very early in the game when it is really needed. As an example once i intentionally gave the wrong answer at the bridge in the temple sewers to get every time a +1 Sword as loot then I sold full stacks of those swords to a regular merchants, then stole them, stealing each stack before selling the next one to maximize the earning, to repeat with a fence getting the money to buy the Robe of Vecna that was then sold and stolen first to a regular merchant and then to a fence to repeat the process with the Defender of Easteaven. At the end I had the 2 costly and valuable items almost for free and even some money left in my pocket and if this was not already posted is a new exploit in the tread.
Disclaimer: I never sell/steal multiple times the same item to a fence as doing that allows you to use a single wand from the starting dungeon and few Master Thievery potions to get almost infinite money right at the beginning of chap.2.
New ones from the Wiki that let you role play in unconventional ways:
Shadow Twin Army - "A Shadow Twin is able to create another single Shadow Twin provided it still has at least one use of the ability. Normally, a Shadow Twin incurs a 60% level penalty, but when a Simulacrum or Project Image uses Shadow Twin the resulting clone does not incur this penalty. To further, all generations of Shadow Twins created by Shadow Twins also do not incur this penalty! "
Then there is a whole section on multiplayer bugs. You can just run the exe twice on the same computer and join the same lobby to make these easy to perform.
Infinite Duration Summons - "you can make summoned creatures last indefinitely. First, give control of a summoner to Player 2. Have them cast their summons, then click Character Arbitration and give control of the summoner back to Player 1. The summoned creatures should now last indefinitely. (Summoning limits still apply.) "
Infinite Duration Clones - "With this bug, you can make an indefinite number of clones that last indefinitely. First, give control of a character to Player 2. Have them cast Mislead, Project Image, Simulacrum or Shadow Twin, then click Character Arbitration and give control of the character back to Player 1. The clones should now last indefinitely. Repeat this to create an infinite number of clones.
Interestingly, these clones retain items from the caster (although they still have the undroppable flag), a full spell book (including those that are normally taken away by Mislead or Simulacrum's level drain) and abilities (including those granted by items)"
Infinite Duration Buffs - "it is possible to de-synchronize the effects on magical weapons from spells or form changes to retain their effects indefinitely. Unfortunately, the magical weapon itself is not extended indefinitely. It is even possible to stack the effects from different magical weapons to gain obscene bonuses such as 10 APR, both Haste and Improved Haste, 16hp/sec regeneration and 24 strength.
To perform this de-synchronization, give control of a character to Player 2 and have them apply one or more of the above effects, then remove the magical weapon by resting, waiting its duration, dispeling or overriding the magical weapon by a form change. Reform the party and remove that character from the party. When they initiate a dialogue, have them rejoin the party. Certain effects on that character should now last indefinitely. "
With the Infinite Duration Buff trick, you take on the form too so you can be a Mindflayer, Troll, Golem or whatever you want.
Shadow Twin Army? While a chain of clones might not run into compounding level drain, there's another problem that will almost certainly make them useless.
Specifically, another quirk of game mechanics: a clone of a clone has no equipment whatsoever. And you're cloning a shadowdancer, who doesn't exactly have many options that aren't based on equipment. Backstabs for 1d2x4 nonlethal damage. No traps. Extremely vulnerable to melee attacks.
(A clone of a creature gets undroppable copies of the original's droppable equipment, and doesn't get copies of any undroppable equipment. So that second-order clone is a clone of a creature with only undroppable equipment, and it gets nothing)
Also, it's finite in another way - from my testing, it appears to be subject to the usual summon limit. Attempt to summon one when you already have five out, and it fails. Given the weakness of naked thieves, I'd rather have conventional summons filling out the limit.
While it's true that they can't fight, won't have items on second generations, can't backstab worth beans and so on, they do have spells. So the options are limited but you can dual to Cleric or Mage, playing as a "clone caster". I play on the base game or SCS and there doesn't seem to be a limit on how many Shadow Twins I can create. I'm able to get well beyond the summon limits, it seems.
Mage is a compelling dual class for the L9 spells but that leaves you in funny spot because your Shadowdancer won't ever be active again. The access to high level spells, however, is monumental... say 29 SD/20 Mage nets up to 6 Shadow Twin HLAs, three Mage HLAs and two L9 spell slots. The PI can create 6 Twins, all with access to L9+ spells. The Sim is level-drained but still can create 6 Twins. Then, your Shadowdancer can create 6 more Twins for a total of 14 casters with L9 spells and 7 casters with L6 spells.
Cleric is the other option but I don't find the raw firepower as compelling as Mage but I could be convinced otherwise...
Checking the level drain ... a thief -> mage dual gets level drained based on their mage level in a simulacrum-type clone, and a thief -> cleric dual gets level drained based on their cleric level. And those level drains are applied to the active classes mage and cleric respectively. You'd have to be at least a level 29 mage to have any level 9 spell slots after a Shadow Twin, and that's impossible under the level cap; thief 24 -> mage 29 costs a total of 10.2 million XP. Shadow Twin clones will not have level 9 spells available, no matter whether they're cloning the original or a clone. And once you're cloning a clone, Shadow Twin is the only option. The lone original Project Image is the only clone with full casting capability.
No. A shadowdancer -> mage dual trying to abuse Shadow Twin and assorted mage clone spells is not better than Imoen or Nalia just using the spells. Worse, really, because the early dual from a thief means both that you actually have some conventional thieving abilities available and that your mage level is higher.
There is definitely a limit on the clones. Or rather multiple limits.
- First, you can't have two Shadow Twin clones of the same caster at the same time. One of the effects of the spell blocks itself on the caster for the spell's duration, just like mage Simulacrum.
- There is an effect applied to all simulacrum-type clones that blocks them from using clone spells. Shadow Twin is not on this list. It should be. Reporting to the EE Fixpack.
- As for the summon limit ... further testing is strange (BG2EE, unmodified except for whatever files I'm tinkering with). OK, give a shadowdancer 5 million XP and nine copies of the ability. Chain clones. After the fifth, no new clone. Edit SUMMLIMT.2DA to make the summoning limit 7, try again. Once again, the fifth clone can't clone himself. Edit again to make the summoning limit 3. Five clones appear just fine, sixth briefly appears and then vanishes. So there's something limiting the chain, but it appears to be entirely independent of the summoning limit. I don't have an explanation for this one.
Comments
A side effect of monsters causing the wrong spell from wild surge 65 is that your main char can be removed from the party without the game ending. The Tanari'ri wild surges for 65, mentioned above, can turn them into a bat or kangaxx (for an extra ring) without the end game cutscene occurring.
You can then fill the main char spot by saving and loading the game or by having someone join the party. They become the main char so you can play as another party member. Jan can finally fulfill his destiny as the turnip Bhaalspawn.
You need an arcane spellcaster with three things for this one.
- Project Image. The more copies memorized, the better.
- Wish. The more copies memorized, the better.
- At least 18 Wisdom. If you don't have that between base stats and equip effects, put a potion of insight in a quickslot.
So, you Project Image. The clone drinks a potion if necessary, and then casts Wish. Many powerful effects ensue, with five options chosen randomly from a list of twenty-five. But there's one wish option that you probably didn't think to try ...
- "Party loses 10000 gold"
That's bad, right? Not when a clone casts the wish. In that case, the party loses nothing and 10000 gold is created on the clone. When it's done casting its spells (all memorized instances of Wish, plus any other buff spells you feel like), attack and kill the clone. Any wish-created items and gold drop, and you can pick them up. If you rolled that "lose gold" option on one of the wishes, you are now 10000 gold richer.
I first stumbled onto this one at the very end of a run - in the Throne of Bhaal itself, where there was no longer any way to spend gold. Oops.
In testing unmodified bg2ee 2.6.6 a Sorcerer can scribe scrolls to their spellbook this way, but the spells do not appear in the menu bar for casting. Another patched exploit bites the dust.
You can still fail to scribe the scroll due to intelligence score in the same way as regular scribing a scroll. And, yes, jmerry is right that you also need to rest after.
Funny find! Too bad Terminsel in BG2 doesn't have the Wish spell or else you could pull this off at the start of SoA.
By the way I highly appreciate the trick as I like the ways to play the game in not intended ways and abuse its mechanics as much as I love to play it in the "regular" way, but I think that the trick is not particularly useful as when the party is able to get those Wish scrolls and has a Mage able to cast lev.7 spells usually they have all the money they need, unless you are playing with the Item Upgrade mod obviously.
I prefer other exploits that allow you to get money very early in the game when it is really needed. As an example once i intentionally gave the wrong answer at the bridge in the temple sewers to get every time a +1 Sword as loot then I sold full stacks of those swords to a regular merchants, then stole them, stealing each stack before selling the next one to maximize the earning, to repeat with a fence getting the money to buy the Robe of Vecna that was then sold and stolen first to a regular merchant and then to a fence to repeat the process with the Defender of Easteaven. At the end I had the 2 costly and valuable items almost for free and even some money left in my pocket and if this was not already posted is a new exploit in the tread.
Disclaimer: I never sell/steal multiple times the same item to a fence as doing that allows you to use a single wand from the starting dungeon and few Master Thievery potions to get almost infinite money right at the beginning of chap.2.
Shadow Twin Army - "A Shadow Twin is able to create another single Shadow Twin provided it still has at least one use of the ability. Normally, a Shadow Twin incurs a 60% level penalty, but when a Simulacrum or Project Image uses Shadow Twin the resulting clone does not incur this penalty. To further, all generations of Shadow Twins created by Shadow Twins also do not incur this penalty! "
Then there is a whole section on multiplayer bugs. You can just run the exe twice on the same computer and join the same lobby to make these easy to perform.
Infinite Duration Summons - "you can make summoned creatures last indefinitely. First, give control of a summoner to Player 2. Have them cast their summons, then click Character Arbitration and give control of the summoner back to Player 1. The summoned creatures should now last indefinitely. (Summoning limits still apply.) "
Infinite Duration Clones - "With this bug, you can make an indefinite number of clones that last indefinitely. First, give control of a character to Player 2. Have them cast Mislead, Project Image, Simulacrum or Shadow Twin, then click Character Arbitration and give control of the character back to Player 1. The clones should now last indefinitely. Repeat this to create an infinite number of clones.
Interestingly, these clones retain items from the caster (although they still have the undroppable flag), a full spell book (including those that are normally taken away by Mislead or Simulacrum's level drain) and abilities (including those granted by items)"
Infinite Duration Buffs - "it is possible to de-synchronize the effects on magical weapons from spells or form changes to retain their effects indefinitely. Unfortunately, the magical weapon itself is not extended indefinitely. It is even possible to stack the effects from different magical weapons to gain obscene bonuses such as 10 APR, both Haste and Improved Haste, 16hp/sec regeneration and 24 strength.
To perform this de-synchronization, give control of a character to Player 2 and have them apply one or more of the above effects, then remove the magical weapon by resting, waiting its duration, dispeling or overriding the magical weapon by a form change. Reform the party and remove that character from the party. When they initiate a dialogue, have them rejoin the party. Certain effects on that character should now last indefinitely. "
With the Infinite Duration Buff trick, you take on the form too so you can be a Mindflayer, Troll, Golem or whatever you want.
Specifically, another quirk of game mechanics: a clone of a clone has no equipment whatsoever. And you're cloning a shadowdancer, who doesn't exactly have many options that aren't based on equipment. Backstabs for 1d2x4 nonlethal damage. No traps. Extremely vulnerable to melee attacks.
(A clone of a creature gets undroppable copies of the original's droppable equipment, and doesn't get copies of any undroppable equipment. So that second-order clone is a clone of a creature with only undroppable equipment, and it gets nothing)
Also, it's finite in another way - from my testing, it appears to be subject to the usual summon limit. Attempt to summon one when you already have five out, and it fails. Given the weakness of naked thieves, I'd rather have conventional summons filling out the limit.
Mage is a compelling dual class for the L9 spells but that leaves you in funny spot because your Shadowdancer won't ever be active again. The access to high level spells, however, is monumental... say 29 SD/20 Mage nets up to 6 Shadow Twin HLAs, three Mage HLAs and two L9 spell slots. The PI can create 6 Twins, all with access to L9+ spells. The Sim is level-drained but still can create 6 Twins. Then, your Shadowdancer can create 6 more Twins for a total of 14 casters with L9 spells and 7 casters with L6 spells.
Cleric is the other option but I don't find the raw firepower as compelling as Mage but I could be convinced otherwise...
No. A shadowdancer -> mage dual trying to abuse Shadow Twin and assorted mage clone spells is not better than Imoen or Nalia just using the spells. Worse, really, because the early dual from a thief means both that you actually have some conventional thieving abilities available and that your mage level is higher.
There is definitely a limit on the clones. Or rather multiple limits.
- First, you can't have two Shadow Twin clones of the same caster at the same time. One of the effects of the spell blocks itself on the caster for the spell's duration, just like mage Simulacrum.
- There is an effect applied to all simulacrum-type clones that blocks them from using clone spells. Shadow Twin is not on this list. It should be. Reporting to the EE Fixpack.
- As for the summon limit ... further testing is strange (BG2EE, unmodified except for whatever files I'm tinkering with). OK, give a shadowdancer 5 million XP and nine copies of the ability. Chain clones. After the fifth, no new clone. Edit SUMMLIMT.2DA to make the summoning limit 7, try again. Once again, the fifth clone can't clone himself. Edit again to make the summoning limit 3. Five clones appear just fine, sixth briefly appears and then vanishes. So there's something limiting the chain, but it appears to be entirely independent of the summoning limit. I don't have an explanation for this one.