There's a spell that raises Charisma called Friends if you need to, so high Charisma isn't necessary. And if you need more strength you can cast a spell called Strength. Sometimes necessary to haul all the loot home after a dungeon romp.
LOL, BG is a very flexible game, there really isn't a need to max out your stats right at the beginning, there are many items and treasure that can raise your stats that you'll find as you go along.
Wisdom gives you a bonus to resist mental domination type spells (ones that allow saves anyway), not what I'd call a dump stat personally.
Are you sure this was actually ever implemented in Baldur's Gate? I'm pretty sure it wasn't, nor in BGEE either. AFAIK the only things Wisdom affects are:
1) The number of bonus spells a Cleric or Druid (but not a ranger) gets
Yeah, wisdom is crap unless you plan to use wish or are a cleric/druid. The lore bonus is VERY minor unless you've got 18+
That said, because of the 3 wis manuals, anything above 15 is wasteful (you could technically go as low as 14, since you'd have access to Lum's Machine in the sequel long before you got Wish)
And..well..charisma is totally useless...either 18 or dump it..there is no in between cause the game doesn't care (18+ is required for all the charisma effected quest rewards..and 14 would allow 1 friends to give the maximum beneficial charisma for shopping, or 12 if you were wearing the Cloak of Algernon/nymph cloak..or 11 if you had all that + the charisma manual or 10 if you had all that + Lum's Machine in the sequel (I never drop a stat below 10)
Cast the spell which forces a spell surge as often as possible, play with friends. Wild mages are about shenanigans and hilarity more than being very powerful.
Actually now that I've had a chance to go over all of this, I have a question. How do you guys manage all of your spells with the limited interface? Or is there something I'm missing? I thought NWN1 was a pain in this regard, BG1 seems even worse.
I would prefer to avoid constant pausing because the whole point of me wanting a Wild Mage is to inflict it on my husband/RL friends for the high shenanigans potential. I feel like it'll hurt everyone else's experience if I'm pausing every other round, and from when I tried BG1 before the EE was announced, it liked to corner you in the locker room and make you assume the position right out of the gate.
BG2 is... SO far away... people are going to have played so many characters by then, just plan for BGEE, not 2EE imo.
I haven't tried playing a mage without pausing. It's doable, you probably aren't going to get your normal 1 spell/round off if you're having to move around etc. It's just going to make your wild playthrough... more wild.
Heh, it's not that I don't EVER intend to pause, but it would be awesome if I didn't have to do it multiple times every fight. =/ Lack of slots makes me wonder if I should just play something else for multiplayer, but I don't have a lot of interest in a solo Wild Mage playthrough.
Well~ you really do need to pause the game to manage spells. If they've played before they'll understand. Most of the time you'll only have to pause at the start of a battle and issue commands and then the combat guys can clean up. Like, dropping a sleep spell and letting everyone else smash the encounter.
Sleep Magic Missile Find Familiar Charm Person Shield Armor
I generally go in that order as well.
Level two I normally off the top of my head pick up (not in order)
Mirror Image Melf's Invis Knock
For level 3 these are some good ones.
Haste Fireball Hold Person Dispel Magic Melf's Meteors (OP)
*EDIT* These spells are just some great starter spells, there are some spells I didn't put down that would outshine others at higher levels, (BG2 generally) Flame Arrow for example, I dont use till i'm around level 15ish. I think is a level 3 spell.
Well~ you really do need to pause the game to manage spells. If they've played before they'll understand. Most of the time you'll only have to pause at the start of a battle and issue commands and then the combat guys can clean up. Like, dropping a sleep spell and letting everyone else smash the encounter.
Well that's kind of a bummer. I guess mages don't function all that well as primarily party buffers, eh? I assume that's more of a cleric thing. Was just thinking I could buff up my teammates ahead of time and then use fewer spells in combat so that I wouldn't have to be pausing as much. I guess "trap" type spells could work too.
They are great self buffers. Haste is always GREAT for a party. Can outshine a few cleric buffs together, imo.
Generally my mage self buffs and throws haste on the party. Anything else is overkill.
Plus during the fight you're going to be "buffing" your team by disabling the enemies. A well placed sleep spell makes your team auto hit everything that fell asleep, not to mention nothing is attacking your team.
*edit* forgot to mention you're going to have all the counter attacks to other mages buffs. You can dispel all their buffs which can make or break a fight against another mage.
They are great self buffers. Haste is always GREAT for a party. Can outshine a few cleric buffs together, imo.
Generally my mage self buffs and throws haste on the party. Anything else is overkill.
Plus during the fight you're going to be "buffing" your team by disabling the enemies. A well placed sleep spell makes your team auto hit everything that fell asleep, not to mention nothing is attacking your team.
What do you keep on your quickbar then, if you don't mind me asking?
They are great self buffers. Haste is always GREAT for a party. Can outshine a few cleric buffs together, imo.
Generally my mage self buffs and throws haste on the party. Anything else is overkill.
Plus during the fight you're going to be "buffing" your team by disabling the enemies. A well placed sleep spell makes your team auto hit everything that fell asleep, not to mention nothing is attacking your team.
What do you keep on your quickbar then, if you don't mind me asking?
By quickbar if you mean the 3 quickslots we get for items, I generally use one slot for a healing potion, or whatever is needed at the time, and the other two for wands or scrolls that i dont need/can't use.
If you mean spells, it depends on what's memorized at the time. I have a feeling you think the magic system is the same as in NWN, where it's a little different.. to cast a spell, you click an icon the open up a bar on the bottom of your screen, it then shows the pictures of all the spells you have memorized, from left to right (lvl1-2-3-4, etc) you then click on one of the images, and select a target if it's a target spell.
Remember, this is a turn based game that's been smooshed into a real time format. Sometimes you need to pause it and and set things up or take a moment to think.
If you mean spells, it depends on what's memorized at the time. I have a feeling you think the magic system is the same as in NWN, where it's a little different.. to cast a spell, you click an icon the open up a bar on the bottom of your screen, it then shows the pictures of all the spells you have memorized, from left to right (lvl1-2-3-4, etc) you then click on one of the images, and select a target if it's a target spell.
Hmm...OK, maybe I don't remember how it works. Is there a hotkey to open up the bar you cast from? Can you leave it open? I realize I can find this out myself after Christmas but figured I might as well ask.
Remember, this is a turn based game that's been smooshed into a real time format. Sometimes you need to pause it and and set things up or take a moment to think.
Yah, I'm not completely against pausing, I just don't want to do it to such an extent that my friends spend more time staring at a pause screen than playing the game. I don't care to make AI party members wait, but I'm pretty sure that'd get old for the live players pretty quickly. That's all.
Urg. Yeah, that's kinda unwieldy, especially the more spells you have. Maybe I'll just use something that requires fewer skills, despite the fact I think a Wild Mage would be hilarious fun otherwise.
This guy looks to be a high level. You won't even have that bar full till half way through the game. I think it's very doable seeing how you're going to have live players with you, if you had to control two mages at once, that would be something you'd really need to pause for.
Let's say you're about to get into a fight off-screen. You buff yourself, and buff your party. Easy enough. You and party enter the fighting area, the melee charge in , ranged... well they range. You are going to click your magic symbol and click sleep, and click it right in the middle of the enemies. You're then going to either click Magic Missile and target people, or go into auto attack mode with your sling. I think it's very do-able.
You can only cast one spell every 6 seconds as it is. Unless you're in some deep trouble (which you shouldn't) I think it would be more than managable to pull off without sweating it. I guess it depends on if you're controlling more than one character, but you can always set them to an ingame script and just have them follow you.
Anyways, if you're just controlling you, I think it would be possible to do it without pausing at all.
A Naehl's reckless Dweomer ignores the 1 spell per round limit...as many as you have memorized you could spray out in a round if the spell you're attempt is a low cast time.
This guy looks to be a high level. You won't even have that bar full till half way through the game. I think it's very doable seeing how you're going to have live players with you, if you had to control two mages at once, that would be something you'd really need to pause for.
Let's say you're about to get into a fight off-screen. You buff yourself, and buff your party. Easy enough. You and party enter the fighting area, the melee charge in , ranged... well they range. You are going to click your magic symbol and click sleep, and click it right in the middle of the enemies. You're then going to either click Magic Missile and target people, or go into auto attack mode with your sling. I think it's very do-able.
You can only cast one spell every 6 seconds as it is. Unless you're in some deep trouble (which you shouldn't) I think it would be more than managable to pull off without sweating it. I guess it depends on if you're controlling more than one character, but you can always set them to an ingame script and just have them follow you.
Anyways, if you're just controlling you, I think it would be possible to do it without pausing at all.
OK, well, I'll at least give it a go for a bit then and see how easy it is for me to do. MMOs I always use hotkeys instead of clicking so I'm not a very practiced clicker. :P
If memory serves there should actually be a file that lets you set hotkeys for each individual spell, and if you have a casting available it'll bring up the cast cursor (or just start casting for self-cast stuff). Just hot key the spells you find yourself using all the time and go to town.
I've never bothered with it, since I prefer to pause and take my time, but that might make a difference for you.
I know for sure it exists in BG1 and BG2, it's part of the config program, though not sure about EE...I'll dig around.
OOOOH. Memorizing hotkeys is not a problem. I expect to pause some, but that should make a big difference when we're just fighting a wolf or something, lol. I'll definitely give that a look, thanks!
Resurrecting this VERY old post because we've been waiting all this time on multiplayer fixes.
Is there a place I can see how many spells of each level I can ultimately learn? I'm trying to plan ahead using the very excellent spell reference resource someone linked in this thread but I don't know how many I'll get to pick total.
Comments
8 (Minimum)
18/19 (If you're an elf, 19)
16
18
18
18
There's a spell that raises Charisma called Friends if you need to, so high Charisma isn't necessary. And if you need more strength you can cast a spell called Strength. Sometimes necessary to haul all the loot home after a dungeon romp.
8
19
16
18
18
15
It was crazy, and took awhile.
1) The number of bonus spells a Cleric or Druid (but not a ranger) gets
2) The Lore value
3) The effects of the arcane Wish spells
I think that's it, unless I'm missing something?
See: http://www.playithardcore.com/pihwiki/index.php?title=Baldur's_Gate:_Races_and_Stats#Wisdom
That said, because of the 3 wis manuals, anything above 15 is wasteful (you could technically go as low as 14, since you'd have access to Lum's Machine in the sequel long before you got Wish)
And..well..charisma is totally useless...either 18 or dump it..there is no in between cause the game doesn't care (18+ is required for all the charisma effected quest rewards..and 14 would allow 1 friends to give the maximum beneficial charisma for shopping, or 12 if you were wearing the Cloak of Algernon/nymph cloak..or 11 if you had all that + the charisma manual or 10 if you had all that + Lum's Machine in the sequel (I never drop a stat below 10)
I would prefer to avoid constant pausing because the whole point of me wanting a Wild Mage is to inflict it on my husband/RL friends for the high shenanigans potential. I feel like it'll hurt everyone else's experience if I'm pausing every other round, and from when I tried BG1 before the EE was announced, it liked to corner you in the locker room and make you assume the position right out of the gate.
EDIT: Reading up on spells more here: http://www.sorcerers.net/Games/BG2/SpellsReference/Main.htm and I already know I HAVE to get at least a demon summon.
"You do not lose Reputation if your demons kill innocents. Some snotty nobles annoying you? Introduce them to Mr. Pit Fiend."
I haven't tried playing a mage without pausing. It's doable, you probably aren't going to get your normal 1 spell/round off if you're having to move around etc. It's just going to make your wild playthrough... more wild.
Sleep
Magic Missile
Find Familiar
Charm Person
Shield
Armor
I generally go in that order as well.
Level two I normally off the top of my head pick up (not in order)
Mirror Image
Melf's
Invis
Knock
For level 3 these are some good ones.
Haste
Fireball
Hold Person
Dispel Magic
Melf's Meteors (OP)
*EDIT*
These spells are just some great starter spells, there are some spells I didn't put down that would outshine others at higher levels, (BG2 generally) Flame Arrow for example, I dont use till i'm around level 15ish. I think is a level 3 spell.
Generally my mage self buffs and throws haste on the party. Anything else is overkill.
Plus during the fight you're going to be "buffing" your team by disabling the enemies. A well placed sleep spell makes your team auto hit everything that fell asleep, not to mention nothing is attacking your team.
*edit* forgot to mention you're going to have all the counter attacks to other mages buffs. You can dispel all their buffs which can make or break a fight against another mage.
If you mean spells, it depends on what's memorized at the time. I have a feeling you think the magic system is the same as in NWN, where it's a little different.. to cast a spell, you click an icon the open up a bar on the bottom of your screen, it then shows the pictures of all the spells you have memorized, from left to right (lvl1-2-3-4, etc) you then click on one of the images, and select a target if it's a target spell.
At :09 seconds watch where he clicks. It's also an example of a wild surge, he cast a spell and got a wild surge.
*edit* Mind this is bg1 not EE. But you get the idea.
Let's say you're about to get into a fight off-screen. You buff yourself, and buff your party. Easy enough. You and party enter the fighting area, the melee charge in , ranged... well they range. You are going to click your magic symbol and click sleep, and click it right in the middle of the enemies. You're then going to either click Magic Missile and target people, or go into auto attack mode with your sling. I think it's very do-able.
You can only cast one spell every 6 seconds as it is. Unless you're in some deep trouble (which you shouldn't) I think it would be more than managable to pull off without sweating it. I guess it depends on if you're controlling more than one character, but you can always set them to an ingame script and just have them follow you.
Anyways, if you're just controlling you, I think it would be possible to do it without pausing at all.
I've never bothered with it, since I prefer to pause and take my time, but that might make a difference for you.
I know for sure it exists in BG1 and BG2, it's part of the config program, though not sure about EE...I'll dig around.
Is there a place I can see how many spells of each level I can ultimately learn? I'm trying to plan ahead using the very excellent spell reference resource someone linked in this thread but I don't know how many I'll get to pick total.
EDIT: Is this what I'm looking for? http://www.planetbaldursgate.com/bg2/character/classes/tables/wizardcast.shtml#wizards
So at most I could learn 5 first-level spells for example. I just want to make sure I'm looking at what I think I'm looking at.