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spell choices for a cleric/thief in a small party

Title pretty much says it all. I'm running a C/T (for the first time) through BG2. My only companion will be Yoshi-> to Imoen on the regular, with other NPCs just for their quests. I know about Sanctuary/Find Traps (though the duration on sanctuary is a little short for me), RM Backstabs, Animate dead for some decent summons, but not much else. For those that have run C/Ts, what have you done with them spell-wise? Thanks,
Blackraven

Comments

  • gorgonzolagorgonzola Member Posts: 3,864
    holy power gives the thac0 of a same level fighter, setting the str at 18.00 (so it has to be cast before duhm or rm), and 1 hp/level.
    armor of faith gives physical damage reduction.
    doom lowers enemy throws
    remove fear makes the party immune to fear
    holy smyte is really useful against evil enemies
    death ward is really useful in some situations
    chaotic commands is one of the best spells in the game imo
    magic resistance, cast on enemy, lowers his resistance if it is high, useful against dragons and other foe
    pixie dust make the party invisible
    harm can bring the enemy to 1hp if the priest hits with a mlee attack, and a priest has the ways to rise his thaco and hit, very powerful against single powerful enemies.
    blade barer can be useful in some situations
    almost all the lev 7 spells are useful and powerful, among them energy blades is the ranged GWW of the cleric, storm of vengeance is the mage disrupter, aoe and party friendly with so many elemental damages that no one resist to all them.

    last but not least turn undead, is not a spell, but as you run a really small party you can make the undead explode, at high level even liches and kangax. there are quite some battles with undeads, if you wait to do those quests until you have the needed level it makes the life much more easy.
    to know the needed level google for " a cleric is having fun bg2" you will find a thread in an other forum where the op lists the needed levels to turn or make explode different undeads. he was playing a cleric of lathander solo, but reading that thread you can learn a lot about how to use a cleric in a situation that somewhat is similar to your one, as you don't have a party with dedicated strong mlee fighters.
    AerakarBlackraven
  • LarkusLarkus Member Posts: 54
    edited September 2018
    Kneller said:

    I know about Sanctuary/Find Traps (though the duration on sanctuary is a little short for me), RM Backstabs, Animate dead for some decent summons, but not much else.

    Do you also know that Sanctuary allows you to open chests without becoming visible?

    Also, both Bless and Aid increase your damage by one point each, which is affected by your backstab multiplier (unlike bonus damage due to strength, which is not).

    DUHM can considerably increase your thieving skills.
    gorgonzolaBlackravenAerakar
  • gorgonzolagorgonzola Member Posts: 3,864
    other useful spells are the ones that remove paralysis, curse and disease, as well as heal, that should not be the regular way to restore health, as in a so small party you have all the regeneration items and potions needed (and a wand that can heal in no time, that can be used by charname and then immi in the same round, healing more than 1 person in a split second), but as the wand's charges are limited heal can save your day sometimes.

    remember that charname spells and imoen ones should work together, in synergy. let's take a dragon as example: C/T sets the dragon MR to a much lower value than the natural one and immi's spell drop it further, then C/T's doom and imoen's greater malison make his ST a trash. battle easily won, you can blind him, feeblemind him, turn him to stone, slow him or use harm and a MM a split second after, only 2 rounds of preparation after the battle begins, where some summon can tank as you lower his MR and ST, and then you have so many possible ways to win that you can fight the same battle many times winning in different ways while you have all the redundancy to be sure that even if he saves against a couple of spells the next "game over" one will come.

    as you are going with imoen i suggest you to go to spellhood quite early, and to leave all the quests you do before unsolved (final dialogue that triggers quest xp undone), so as soon as you get back to town immi can boost her xp and have still quests to grow further.

    some of the strong enemies of soa, like dragons, and many bosses are immune to back stab, still back stab can be useful until late tob. but your intended party lacks of mlee power, i feel that while the C/T will rule in soa immi will be the real power in tob, as she will have tons of spells, using clone, and IA to make her clone devastating. a high level imoen or mage can easily eat draconis for breakfast using only 2 lev 7 spells for the clones.

    you can consider to use a mild version of my powergaming strategy for full parties
    https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/68460/effective-leveling-strategy-for-the-party-my-way#latest
    to basically play soa with joshi->imoen, but having a couple of other party members that merge well with your duo ready for tob at much better levels than recruiting them there.
    if you grasp the mechanics of the thing it is not so time consuming, you loose for the whole soa way less time than the time spent by many rolling stats, or over complicated. a well leveled aerie or haer dalis can give to the party a lot of tanking and mlee power late game.
    Aerakar
  • MichelleMichelle Member Posts: 549
    To each their own I suppose. I mean, there are spells that I use that others never do and spells others find indispensable that I don’t find useful at all, but there should be a few that should be standard for C/Ts.

    Remove Fear - I cannot imagine a reason not to use this as even when you get Imoen the c/t will have far more spell slots available.
    Sanctuary - Again, with so many spell slots why not? I think one of the biggest things that not many mention with Sanctuary is that most mages will not cast true seeing even as you stroll nonchalantly through them. Important to note, beholders see through it to a degree and will probably cast their Remove Magic at you if I remember right, BUT will completely ignore invisible characters. Imoen can sit in the middle of them and cast Sunfire until you can make a campfire of their smoldering corpses and toast marshmallows, if you can handle the smell. Ulkk! That would have to be nasty.
    Armor off Faith - Takes a while to be useful but eventually it will make a difference.
    Doom - Powerful and cheap but with a long casting time and the fact that cast alone it does nothing, if there is not a combo in the making it will be one of the few spells left glaring at you for not using it when you go to rest. So will Sanctuary though many times.
    Bless - Not a bad buff to keep your c/t busy while Imoen is finishing up her before pre-combat routine. Like, you have a couple Skellies and a Mordy and Imoen is casting haste before sending them all off to die heroically.
    DUHM - Yeah, needs no explanation right? Part two of the Kick Butt Trinity.
    Resist Fire and Cold - Along with Pro Fire, is one of the most useful and cheap buff combos in the game.
    Flameblade - Has lost much of it’s usefulness since the update, Stoneskin stops the flame damage. Better off just punching the enemy unconscious.
    Hold Person - One of those spells that I never use unless a Nymph casts it.
    Aid - Mini heal and a short buff but the extra hit points last quite a while.
    Find Traps - Ummm... so... it’s a Cleric/THIEF? In the dictionary under redundant, wait no, the age of Google is upon us, google redundant. Now if you don’t want to spend the points on Find and Remove traps, then probably one is a good idea.
    Animate Dead - These bony buddies get to be pretty good.
    Holy Smite - Is it my imagination or does the blindness last for more than a round on the undead? Be mindful where your skeletons are when casting this, nothing like killing your own tank.
    Protection from Fire - See Resist Fire and Cold.
    Remove Curse, Cure Disease - No, just no.
    Remove Paralysis - I don’t think so, but I mostly run solo.
    Animal Summoning - Early in the game can help.
    Death Ward - One of the essentials I think.
    Protection from Evil - See above.
    Free Action - Until you get the Shield of Harmony maybe.
    Farsight - Scout scenery, send summons and simmy, sure sounds super.
    Defensive Harmony - This spell is quick and can help keep your tank in the “Can’t Touch This” er almost, zone.
    Holy Power - Part one of the Kick Butt Trinity.

    The last three levels are tough because it takes a lllloooooonnnngggg time to accumulate significant spell slots. Each slot is important. Also, I am short on time so I will finish “The Cleric/Thief According to Nightfall: A Unless Accumulation of Drivel “ later.
    gorgonzolaAerakar
  • LarkusLarkus Member Posts: 54
    @Kneller Since it seems that you want to play a good C/T that is opposed to unnecessary killing, don't overlook the lvl 4 divine spell "Aura of Fear" which allows you to relieve people of their equipped possessions that you can't otherwise pickpocket all without having to kill them. Preparing with a Greater Malison from one of your other party members will speed things up. This tactic will even be better once you get UAI and access to Mislead scrolls (for yourself or your Vhailor's Helm Simulacrum).
    gorgonzola
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