Two questions
FredN
Member Posts: 258
Some issues have come up, on which I would like some clarification.
1) I am currently playing a Bard. Intelligence is 17; until now I have had no problem scribing any spell into my spell book. Are Bards considered to belong to a specific school of magic? I just now bought a scroll of Skull Trap, but was unable to copy it to my spell book. The scroll specifies that it is not uasble by Illusionists. If Bards are considered to be from this school, that would explain the failure.
2) Watcher's Keep. A lot of areas adjust the levels of the dwellers to more or less that of the adventuring party. I wanted to do only a part of the top level of WK, for a specific reason, namely to acquire Foebane. I would leave the rest for much later, possibly even until ToB. But I don't want to drop the levels of the enemies in the lower levels, since this would lower the experience I would gain with a much higher level crew than I have now. Is there any danger of that happening?
1) I am currently playing a Bard. Intelligence is 17; until now I have had no problem scribing any spell into my spell book. Are Bards considered to belong to a specific school of magic? I just now bought a scroll of Skull Trap, but was unable to copy it to my spell book. The scroll specifies that it is not uasble by Illusionists. If Bards are considered to be from this school, that would explain the failure.
2) Watcher's Keep. A lot of areas adjust the levels of the dwellers to more or less that of the adventuring party. I wanted to do only a part of the top level of WK, for a specific reason, namely to acquire Foebane. I would leave the rest for much later, possibly even until ToB. But I don't want to drop the levels of the enemies in the lower levels, since this would lower the experience I would gain with a much higher level crew than I have now. Is there any danger of that happening?
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At 17 INT, you can only learn up to 14 spells per level. If you have 14 or more spells of that level in your spellbook (3rd level in this case) spell learning is disabled. Drink an INT-boosting potion if you want to learn all the spells; you're uncapped if your intelligence is 19 or more.
* Aside from possibly mod kits. Which will include any restrictions in their kit descriptions.
The Watcher's Keep thresholds:
- First floor: 5 or more party members and an average level of 14 required to get the full-strength version.
- Second floor: 5 or more party members and an average level of 14 required to get the full-strength version.
- Later floors do not have any significant level-dependence.
In all cases, the difficulty adjustment scripts run when you first enter the area. If you don't want to lower the difficulty of later levels when you enter Watcher's Keep early, just don't go to those later levels.
So, really, all that matters for you is whether you care about despawning some of the statues and swapping the random monsters around the level for easier ones. You're not going down to the second level any time soon, after all.
.....Also, where can I get a scroll of Find Familiar? Nalia knows this spell on her own, but I can't find it for myself. Neither the Helmites atop Watcher's Keep nor the two scroll sellers in Waukeen's Promenade have any for sale. I know there are other magic dealers in other towns, but I am not ready to go traipsing all over the world just yet.
....Addendum: OK, I erased a spell, and Lo! I was able to learn Ghost Armor. Cool beans. Also, there is supposed to be a scroll of find familiar on the first floor of Nalia's Keep. I forget now; I wonder if I found it and gave it to Nalia? Bah! I'll have to go back and look, but I suspect this is how she learned the spell. Oh well.
.....Addendum 2: I am being a total ditz here. The scroll was in my scroll case. Doh!
The only "video game" aspect to the whole thing is that it's only checked at the moment of scribing. So normally I'll boost my Int and scribe everything - having more than the limit won't stop you from using anything in your spellbook.
As for Find Familiar, no one in Athkatla sells it. But you can buy it in Trademeet, even before you deal with their problem and open up most of the shops. You can also find a copy in de'Arnise Keep, or in the streets of Athkatla from one of the guild war encounters.
Reporting to the EE Fixpack now.
I think it's more likely due to my version of the game. It has some quirks which I have been told are not possible; like the disappearing exit of the Cave of the Dead in ToB. I loaded up some saved games from both SoA and ToB, and neither bards nor mages, whether myself or an NPC, have spell limits diplayed, just the % chance to learn a spell. Oh, and I have done the verify files thing 5-6 times, and they always check out normal.
It's not necessary to erase, drink a Potion of Genius. 😎
Ok, I know that, but it's relatively early in the game and I don't have any just yet.
According to baldursgate.fandom wiki, they are sold in all temples (SoA). 😎
Only the MC can cast Find Familiar. This is widely known and clearly documented since the days of the OG game in 2000
Reading is a helpful RL skill/habit in this game. Shocking I know, but this game came out originally during an era where people actually read books.
If you'd rather not read things while ingame, this might help:
https://baldursgate.fandom.com/wiki/Find_Familiar
Spell description (yeah I know, it's actually 4 paragraphs long, how dare they?) clearly states:
This spell enables the caster to attempt to summon a familiar to act as his aide and companion. Familiars are typically small creatures. A creature acting as a familiar can benefit a wizard, conveying its sensory powers to its master, conversing with him, and serving as a guard/scout/spy as well. A wizard can have only one familiar at a time, and he has no control over what sort of creature answers the summoning, if any at all come.
(Note: This spell may only be cast by the protagonist.)
The creature is always more intelligent than others of its type (typically by 2 or 3 Intelligence points), and its bond with the wizard confers upon it an exceptionally long life. The wizard has an empathic link with the familiar and can issue it mental commands. The caster receives half the familiar's total Hit Points (rounded down) as bonus Hit Points. However, the caster must take care to treat his familiar well, for if the familiar should die, the caster loses the bonus Hit Points and half the familiar's Hit Points again as damage. Also when a familiar dies, the caster loses 1 point of Constitution PERMANENTLY.
Example: A Mage has 12 Hit Points and casts Find Familiar. The imp summoned has 9 Hit Points, so the caster gets a bonus of 4 Hit Points. The caster now has 16 Hit Points. If the familiar dies, the caster loses those 4 Hit Points (putting him back at 12), loses 1 point of Constitution permanently (which may cause additional Hit Point loss), and takes 4 damage.