How many mages can scrolls in BG1 reasonably support?

Comments

• DreadKhan Member Posts: 3,857

  June 2019

  There is a limitless supply of level 1 and 2 scrolls IIRC in BG1, as they are random drops for sure, I think Doppelgangers can drop level 3. As for finding an exact spell, very few spells have only 1 scroll, but I would check either on here or elsewhere if you need a specific spell for a mage, IE Stoneskin, because there might not be enough Stoneskin scrolls in game for 3 mages IIRC, but you don't require Stoneskin to be a useful mage by any means, so don't let that stop you.
  
  I've heard of people trying 6 mage IWD ( @subtledoctor was that you?), and scrolls are way harder to find in that game than Baldur's Gate. TBH, almost all spells have enough scrolls for 3 mages to be very effective, even if they are all generalists. I think only spells added by EE are hard to find copies of, as they aren't always in stores, but the core spells should be widely available. A bigger issue is robes... If you go neutral, Imoen can use the Good robes, and Edwin can use the Evil robes.
  
  BTW, you might want to consider a sorcerer for one mage if you're REALLY worried about spell availability. EE added one in BG1, and he's a real gem actually, though wildly overpowered in BG1. His dialogue is limited, but very good. He's evil, but he comes with his own robes of Evil, so he's a really the strongest NPC by far. Unless he was removed when I wasn't looking, I haven't used him in years!

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• sarevok57 Member Posts: 5,975

  June 2019

  for buying spells, you have 4 sources ( 2 main, 2 small ) - This is only taking bg1 without Sod into account ( since i have very little XP with SoD)
  
  main:
  Thalantyr at high hedge
  wizard dude at sorcerous sundries
  
  small:
  innkeep at feld post's inn
  innkeep at ulgoth's beard
  
  and then there are spell scrolls from loot drops ( RNDTRE01-05 )
  
  but in terms of copies per spell it kind of goes like this:
  
  Level 1
  
  without random treasure drops and specific item locations, you are looking to 2-3 copies per spell
  
  with random treasure drops and based off of specific item/creature location you are looking at another 2-3+ per copy
  
  although there are some level 1 spells that are finite such as:
  
  find famaliar - 1 copy
  spook - 1 copy
  reflected image - 1 copy
  
  level 2
  
  without random treasure drops and specific item locations, for the most part there are 2-3 copies per spell
  
  with random treasure drops and based off of specific item/creature locations again you are looking at another 2-3+ copies per spell
  
  the level 2 spells that are finite are:
  
  power word sleep x1
  glitterdust x2
  ray of enfeeblement x1
  vocalize x3 or 4
  deafness x1
  
  level 3
  
  without random treasure drops and specific item locations, you should be able to find 1-2 copies per spell
  
  with random treasure drops and specific item/creature locations you should be able to find 1-3+ more copies per spell
  
  the level 3 spells that are finite are:
  
  hold undead x1
  detect illusion x1
  melf's minute meteors x1
  invisibility 10' radius - can ONLY be dropped by creatures who have random treasure5
  spell thrust x1
  minor spell deflection x1
  remove magic x1
  protection from fire x1
  protection from cold x1 * don't remember if this is in default bgee or not
  wraith form x1
  
  level 4
  
  now this is where things start to get very limited, since the treasure tables in bgee don't go pass level 3 spells, so for what its worth im going to go by memory on how many copies of each spell that can just be found between level 4 and 5 whether its from a shop/location/pick pocket from a certain someone etc..
  
  otilukes' resilient sphere x2
  polymorph self x1
  stoneskin x2
  wizard eye x1 * either this or farsight or both, dont remember
  contagion x1
  spirit armor x3
  minor spell sequencer x1
  ice storm x1
  fire shield blue x1
  fire shield red x1
  improved invisibility x1
  minor globe of inlvulnerabilty x3+?
  remove curse x1 or 2
  monster summoning II x3 or so
  spider spawn x1
  confusion x2...?
  greater malison x12 or 22?
  emotion hopeleness x4 or 5
  enchanted weapon x1 maybe?
  
  level 5
  animate dead x 1
  cloudkill x3
  cone of cold x1...?
  sunfire x1
  shadow door x1
  monster summoning III x1
  hold monster x2
  chaos x2...?
  domination x2...?
  feeblemind x2...?
  
  
  
  the reason why some of these have question marks is because in the EEs the sorcerous sundries had a huge spell arsenal added to it so more copies of spells could have been added there, although i know that for some reason sundries holmes has at least 10 or 20 copies of greater malison wowzers
  
  so with that, if you visit all the shops, clear out all the areas clean and use that tab button/pick pocket button, you should find a sufficient amount of scrolls
  
  if you are going to play with 3 mage types, you should be good when it comes to spell scribing, unless you are one of those players who dont mind failing to scribe scrolls then you might get into a small pickle

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• Meyahi Member Posts: 143

  June 2019

  Thank you @DreadKhan for your ideas and @sarevok57 for the precise answer.
  I guess I’ll adapt the spellbook of each according to their actual role in the party (buffs for charname , utility/situational spells for imoen and damage staples for edwin in case there is a shortage of scrolls).

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• Aaezil Member Posts: 178

  June 2019

  Just make one a sorceror...

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