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Save vs. Wand a.k.a. Save vs. Nothing?

thar_thaazdhenthar_thaazdhen Member Posts: 16
in General Discussion (Spoiler Warning!)
Hi,

I just bought the Cloack of Displacement. It improves the wearer's Save vs. Wand by 2 (among other things) and that made me think - are there actually any enemies in the whole Baldur's Gate saga that use wands against your party (Sword Coast Stratagems and other mainstream mods included)? Or is Save vs. Wands useless since no allied character will ever need to roll it?

I know that an enemy mage from the Chosen of Cyric encounter at the City Gates (Rogue Rebalancing) uses scrolls to cast spells at your party but a) those are scrolls not wands; b) save type is determined by the spell on the scroll; and c) it's a mod.

I checked wand resources and their save types and not even every wand makes you save vs. wand.
  • Wand of Cloudkill (WAND13.ITM): (no save for damage) / (Save vs. Death against Slay for monsters at level 5 or 6)
  • Wand of Cursing (WAND19.ITM): Save vs. Spell
  • Wand of Fear (WAND02.ITM): Save vs. Spell
  • Wand of Fire (WAND05.ITM): Save vs. Wand
  • Wand of Frost (WAND06.ITM): Save vs. Wand
  • Wand of the Heavens (WAND11.ITM): Save vs. Wand
  • Wand of Lightning (WAND07.ITM): Save vs. Wand
  • Wand of Magic Missiles (WAND03.ITM): (no save)
  • Wand of Paralyzation (WAND04.ITM): Save vs. Wand
  • Wand of Polymorphing (WAND09.ITM): Save vs. Wand
  • Wand of Sleep (WAND08.ITM): Save vs. Wand
That being said, remember those wand traps on the second level of Irenicus' Dungeon (AR0603.ARE)? Well, their trap effects make you save vs. wand.. so I guess the save is a little bit useful after all.

What is your experience?

Thank you

Comments

  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    To my knowledge, the only save vs. wand in the unmodded game that the player must make is a save vs. wand against a Wand of Paralyzation in Siege of Dragonspear, and I believe also Wands of Frost, Fire, and the Heavens, also in SoD. In SCS, I believe a few very rare enemies will sometimes use wands against the party, but the only example I know of is the Wand of Spell Striking in the mind flayer city, which involves no saving throw. The player has practically no use whatsoever for a bonus to their save vs. wands.

    Although, if my memory is correct, somebody in the "Did you know" thread said that Flinds in BG1 inflicted a -4 THAC0 penalty on hit, which required a save vs. wand.
  • TheElfTheElf Member Posts: 798
    Pretty sure even in vanilla there are a couple encounters with enemies who use wand of the heavens in BG2. But yeah, more or less useless.
  • Joan_DaroJoan_Daro Member Posts: 112
    edited August 2017
    JumboWheat01 said:

    Well, it is handy if you like the Wand of Lightning and are bad at bouncing the bolts right...

    I don't even believe it's my fault when the bolts bounce wrong. The law of reflection doesn't work at all.
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    @Joan_Daro: I think EE has changed the lightning bolt projectile, but before EE at least, you could reliably bounce lightning bolts in BG2 by aiming them directly north or south.
  • Montresor_SPMontresor_SP Member Posts: 2,208
    TheElf said:

    Pretty sure even in vanilla there are a couple encounters with enemies who use wand of the heavens in BG2. But yeah, more or less useless.

    Saerk Fahrrad uses a wand of the heavens against you if you should "happen" to encounter him and his family and guards during Anomen's quest (if you advice Anomen to seek revenge for his sister).
  • kjeronkjeron Member Posts: 2,368
    They botched the attempt to externalize the projectile in the v1.3 update, then gave it a pitiful replacement.
    You can create a bouncing projectile, but sadly it loses this property the first time it bounces.
  • sarevok57sarevok57 Member Posts: 6,002
    i believe there is actually a couple of spells that have you make a save vs wand to avoid the effect, prismatic spray is the only one i can think off the top of my head, but one of the effects forces the victim to make a save vs wand, and enemies do indeed use prismatic spray the odd time

    also in ToB in your first challenge, there is a certain baddie that you can fight
    mr irenicus
    that has spell effects that say *uses wand* so im going to assume that makes you save vs wand as well, other than that, i have no idea
  • Joan_DaroJoan_Daro Member Posts: 112
    kjeron said:

    They botched the attempt to externalize the projectile in the v1.3 update, then gave it a pitiful replacement.
    You can create a bouncing projectile, but sadly it loses this property the first time it bounces.

    Does that mean the bolts can only bounce once since then? THAT explains a lot.
  • JumboWheat01JumboWheat01 Member Posts: 1,028
    So THAT'S why Gorion performs and epic dodge maneuver after firing a Lightning Bolt at the ogre's groin...
  • lunarlunar Member Posts: 3,460
    Save vs wands is a save vs spell at +1 anyway :blush:
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