Skip to content

Uninterrupted Casting

SchneidendSchneidend Member Posts: 3,190
in General Discussion (Spoiler Warning!)
Is there a reason (besides trying to annoy me, obviously) that some casters in BG2 don't have their spellcasting fail when they get hit? Liches are the principal offenders, it seems, but the dwarf statue in the portal area of the first level of Watcher's Keep seems to regularly get off Insect Swarm regardless of how many poisoned arrows hit him. Has anybody else encountered this?

Comments

  • CrevsDaakCrevsDaak Member Posts: 7,155
    This happened in the vanilla game too, also with the (damned) Draconis, who don't waits 6 seconds too.
    It is annoying, but it is how the game was implemented.
  • Zzidolfas86Zzidolfas86 Member Posts: 77
    Breaking every annoying rule you have to live with is a "clever" way to make stuff harder :p

    This game is fantastic, but there is a lot of shit in the rule set that has always annoyed me so much. Stuff that just honestly makes the game less fun, and made playing in p&p a complete pain.
  • AshendilAshendil Member Posts: 56
    I think what the OP wanted to get at is whether this is according to the rules or if it is a kind of bug. I have been wondering about this for a while myself.
  • nanonano Member Posts: 1,632
    These are scripted spells, aren't they? I don't think they can be interrupted. They bypass the usual requirements for spellcasting too... I've had confused liches still finish their string of SCS pre-buffs. That one I consider fair though, as it's supposed to represent the lich buffing before the fight.
  • JiveOneJiveOne Member Posts: 43
    It's probably a bug, but in some cases it may be that the initiative of the caster is so low that they're actually "casting" the spell early in the round before they get hit. They'll still show the long casting animation, but in the behind the scenes numbers they may have technically cast the spell already.
  • GamingFreakGamingFreak Member Posts: 639
    It's one of those reasons why I rely on stagger abilities like Poison or Insect spells. That or just quickly remove their protections and chunk 'em. With liches it's a bit trickier, but there's always protection from undead scrolls.
  • SchneidendSchneidend Member Posts: 3,190
    GamingFreak said:

    It's one of those reasons why I rely on stagger abilities like Poison or Insect spells. That or just quickly remove their protections and chunk 'em. With liches it's a bit trickier, but there's always protection from undead scrolls.

    A poisoned bolt and a poisoned arrow, one from each of two blackguards, has failed to keep that damn dwarf in Watcher's Keep from casting Insect Plague.
  • NoonNoon Member Posts: 202
    http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/15730/why-does-damage-seem-to-only-sometimes-disrupt-spellcasting

    Clerics and druids can sometimes sustain some damages and still cast their spell. Neera or Nalia also successfully cast a spell by the end of my SoA playthrough while taking some minor damage. There is no known rule afaik, but it has been like this since BG vanilla.
  • ghostowlghostowl Member Posts: 171
    get a massive 2-hander like Dorn on your team or a 7x backstab assassin and chunk them before they can finish the spell!!
  • CrevsDaakCrevsDaak Member Posts: 7,155
    Also, maybe it is because they have ForceSpell( in their scripts.
    Also, for casting failures, a d100 is rolled, there are like 45% of failing if hit by damage type and time, so the weapon with the best interrupting chance is the Flail of Ages (all the weapons with elemental damage has increased probabilities), after Dragon's Breath. And, also, I think that as you progress in level you got lower probabilities of failing when hit.
  • SchneidendSchneidend Member Posts: 3,190
    ghostowl said:

    get a massive 2-hander like Dorn on your team or a 7x backstab assassin and chunk them before they can finish the spell!!

    I have Korgan, Dorn, and a Blackguard Charname with 19 Strength on my front line. Even with focus firing, the dwarf statue I'm talking about have a crazy amount of HP because of its high level.
  • nanonano Member Posts: 1,632
    CrevsDaak said:

    Also, maybe it is because they have ForceSpell( in their scripts.
    Also, for casting failures, a d100 is rolled, there are like 45% of failing if hit by damage type and time, so the weapon with the best interrupting chance is the Flail of Ages (all the weapons with elemental damage has increased probabilities), after Dragon's Breath. And, also, I think that as you progress in level you got lower probabilities of failing when hit.

    Hmm, where did you get this information?
  • CrevsDaakCrevsDaak Member Posts: 7,155
    nano said:

    CrevsDaak said:

    Also, maybe it is because they have ForceSpell( in their scripts.
    Also, for casting failures, a d100 is rolled, there are like 45% of failing if hit by damage type and time, so the weapon with the best interrupting chance is the Flail of Ages (all the weapons with elemental damage has increased probabilities), after Dragon's Breath. And, also, I think that as you progress in level you got lower probabilities of failing when hit.

    Hmm, where did you get this information?
    @nano
    From my giant sized brain, from trying tryin' tryin', and from PnP, but that don't matters. I don't know the exact numbers of fail %, but the game rolls a die to determinate that.
    Also, please namedrop me the next time :P
  • nanonano Member Posts: 1,632
    @CrevsDaak As giant as I'm sure your brain is, I was hoping for something more substantial :)

    I'm guessing you're talking about divine spell failures? I don't think I've ever seen an arcane caster not get interrupted by damage, outside of scripted spells. Whether it's 1 damage or a crit backstab for 100 doesn't seem to matter. Heck even 0 damage stops casting unless you have ToBEX.
  • CrevsDaakCrevsDaak Member Posts: 7,155
    @nano Arcane spells should have higher failure chance (and they do), not many times but still happening, my 18/22 M/T gets hit in between the spell, and, he stills casting a spell. I never used mods in my vanilla version, nor tweaks, fixpacks nor anything (I installed SCS 4 days ago, but I haven't used a Mage in the game since so), Divine spells don't tend to get interrupted, because of they failure chance, I think it improves with your level, because at lvl1, all the spells I casted could get interrupted, but now in ToB, I start casting Skull Trap, and I make Mazzy hit the PC while he is doing so, he keeps casting the spell (she hits for damage, I wasn't using Stoneskin) and it don't says casting failure, some other weapons (Flail of Ages) interrupt (almost) ever, mage casting a spell? Go Anomen, hit him with FoA. The FoA deals out many damage types, and that is why it tends to interrupt casting all the time. Some great Mages and Clerics from ToB have lower failure chances, Sendai, I hit her with Gesen's Shortbow, and, despite of being two different types of damage, she stills casting the spell, then Mazzy hits (for damage) and interrupts the SAME spell (it had long casting time and my Party is nice fast-hitting-group), the same happens with all the spells, unless they are set by the script to be ForceSpell(Myself,WIZARD_SPELL_TURNING), what will force any character, despite of its class/alignement/anything to cast the spell with no failure chance. ApplySpell does the same, but without casting time, what means, it applies the effects of the spell instead of casting it (like 0 casting time spells).
    Then, to interrupt spells, it is the number of damage types what matters, the best weapon to interrupt spellcasting in SoA is Dragon's Breath (Haldberd found in the Underdark), while in ToB the Flail of Ages is boss (not to mention 33% no save slow :D).
  • nanonano Member Posts: 1,632
    @CrevsDaak I think you are right. I tried what you said and it does work that way. I wonder what the formula is and how it scales with level...
  • CrevsDaakCrevsDaak Member Posts: 7,155
    @nano I wonder the same, we should ask to someone of the devs.
Sign In or Register to comment.

2024 Overhaul Games, a division of Beamdog. © 2024 Hasbro, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Baldur's Gate, Dungeons & Dragons, D&D, Forgotten Realms, Baldur's Gate, Wizards of the Coast and their logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast LLC in the U.S.A. and other countries, and are used with permission. Hasbro and its logo are trademarks of Hasbro, Inc. and are used with permission. © 1998 BioWare Corp. All Rights Reserved. BioWare, the BioWare Infinity Engine and the BioWare logo are trademarks of Bioware Corp. Black Isle Studios and the Black Isle Studios logo are trademarks of Interplay Entertainment Corp. Atari and the Atari logo are trademarks owned by Atari Interactive, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.