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Can you learn all the spells in one character? (Intelligence question)

Playing as a Skald, having a lot more fun than I imagined, but while I was trying to learn all the spells I can get I started wondering if that was even a possible.

Now while looking this up I saw that with Intelligence 19 you can learn 99 spells per level. However, I'm not entirely sure what they mean with that. Do they mean every time you level up or 99 spells for every of the nine spell levels?

Comments

  • Grond0Grond0 Member Posts: 7,305
    19 intelligence allows you to learn all spells. Note though that you don't have to 19 intelligence permanently - you can boost it with potions in order to learn more spells (and once learnt, those are not forgotten once your intelligence goes back down).
    BlackravenConwanThacoBell
  • ConwanConwan Member Posts: 39
    Grond0 wrote: »
    19 intelligence allows you to learn all spells. Note though that you don't have to 19 intelligence permanently - you can boost it with potions in order to learn more spells (and once learnt, those are not forgotten once your intelligence goes back down).

    Thank you for the answer. I've read up as much about the Intelligence 'exploit'. Though granted, that'll be more of a thing for my mage companions than for my Skald, who has 18 intelligence and will get a certian boost later on.

    Anyway, that'll satisfy my 'learn all spells' itch.
    Blackraven
  • Balrog99Balrog99 Member Posts: 7,366
    You can even learn spells that you'll never be able to cast as a Skald. Bards are limited to level 6 spells in vanilla (level 8 with revised bard spells component of tweaks mod), but can learn spells from levels 7-9. That's useful mainly for the experience boost from scribing scrolls.
    BlackravenConwan
  • jmerryjmerry Member Posts: 3,822
    Conwan wrote: »
    Do they mean every time you level up or 99 spells for every of the nine spell levels?

    The way spell learning works in these games, in detail ...

    Clerics, druids, paladins, and rangers automatically know all of the spells they can ever cast. There's no need to worry about learning spells with them.

    Mages and bards choose a certain number of spells known at character creation, and then learn additional spells from scrolls during gameplay. They do not automatically learn spells when they level up; instead they must acquire scrolls to gain anything. If you reach mage level 7 and you haven't found any 4th level scrolls, you won't be able to memorize and cast any 4th level spells.
    Spells learned at character creation are up to the level the character can cast; mages get level 1 spells in BG1, and bards get nothing in BG1 because they can't cast spells until class level 2. Specialist mages get more spells known, but are required to learn and memorize at least one spell in their specialty per level at character creation. There is no restriction on memorization after this; you don't have to memorize in your specialty on day 2.
    NPC companions in BGEE, if you first recruit them with your protagonist at higher levels, gain experience to catch up. For mage and bard companions, they also gain spells known when this happens.
    Spell learning depends on your intelligence. There are caps on the level of spell you can learn and the number of spells per level. At 18 or more Int, you can learn 9th level spells. At 19 or more Int, you can learn all the spells. And all of these depend on Int at the time of learning. Once you've learned a spell, it doesn't matter if your Int goes back down; you can memorize spells of any level even if you couldn't learn them at your current Int.
    Finally, spell learning chances. At difficulty "normal" or lower, you automatically succeed when you try to learn a spell. At difficulty "core rules" or higher, there's a chance of failure. The success chance depends on intelligence as well, and is listed on your character sheet - with a caveat. Mage specialists and other kitted characters (like your Skald) take a 15% penalty to this chance when learning spells not in their specialty, so that 85% chance at 18 Int is actually only 70% (actually 71% due to another bug). Raising intelligence to 24 or more will make spell learning an automatic success even with that penalty.

    Shamans and sorcerers have limited numbers of spells known, which they learn only at level-up. As compensation, they get to cast these spontaneously, choosing spells at the time of casting rather than memorizing in advance.
    Grond0Balrog99ConwanAxie
  • ConwanConwan Member Posts: 39
    jmerry wrote: »
    Conwan wrote: »
    Do they mean every time you level up or 99 spells for every of the nine spell levels?

    The way spell learning works in these games, in detail ...

    Clerics, druids, paladins, and rangers automatically know all of the spells they can ever cast. There's no need to worry about learning spells with them.

    Mages and bards choose a certain number of spells known at character creation, and then learn additional spells from scrolls during gameplay. They do not automatically learn spells when they level up; instead they must acquire scrolls to gain anything. If you reach mage level 7 and you haven't found any 4th level scrolls, you won't be able to memorize and cast any 4th level spells.
    Spells learned at character creation are up to the level the character can cast; mages get level 1 spells in BG1, and bards get nothing in BG1 because they can't cast spells until class level 2. Specialist mages get more spells known, but are required to learn and memorize at least one spell in their specialty per level at character creation. There is no restriction on memorization after this; you don't have to memorize in your specialty on day 2.
    NPC companions in BGEE, if you first recruit them with your protagonist at higher levels, gain experience to catch up. For mage and bard companions, they also gain spells known when this happens.
    Spell learning depends on your intelligence. There are caps on the level of spell you can learn and the number of spells per level. At 18 or more Int, you can learn 9th level spells. At 19 or more Int, you can learn all the spells. And all of these depend on Int at the time of learning. Once you've learned a spell, it doesn't matter if your Int goes back down; you can memorize spells of any level even if you couldn't learn them at your current Int.
    Finally, spell learning chances. At difficulty "normal" or lower, you automatically succeed when you try to learn a spell. At difficulty "core rules" or higher, there's a chance of failure. The success chance depends on intelligence as well, and is listed on your character sheet - with a caveat. Mage specialists and other kitted characters (like your Skald) take a 15% penalty to this chance when learning spells not in their specialty, so that 85% chance at 18 Int is actually only 70% (actually 71% due to another bug). Raising intelligence to 24 or more will make spell learning an automatic success even with that penalty.

    Shamans and sorcerers have limited numbers of spells known, which they learn only at level-up. As compensation, they get to cast these spontaneously, choosing spells at the time of casting rather than memorizing in advance.

    Thanks for that in-depth explanation of how spells work. I've noticed that both my Skald and Neera have failed at copying a few spells and while some of them are painful, I try not to cheese and save scum to make it more natural. So it's good to know that kitted classes have a penalty to that. :smile:
  • discohijackdiscohijack Member Posts: 2
    Grond0 wrote: »
    19 intelligence allows you to learn all spells. Note though that you don't have to 19 intelligence permanently - you can boost it with potions in order to learn more spells (and once learnt, those are not forgotten once your intelligence goes back down).

    But you can actually raise INT permanently. You just need Tome of Clear Thought, identify it, assign it to quick slot in the inventory, and use it.
    Conwan
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