Spell prepping
DragonKing
Member Posts: 1,977
This one is mostly for players who prefer to be pure/specialized wizards/mages over soc or duel classing.
Purist forever!
How many spells do you tend to prep? Or what's your rule of thumb about spell usage? Unlike the soc, we can only cast as many of a spell that we have prepped, so do you prefer to stack spells or keep a large supply of different spells ready?
Purist forever!
How many spells do you tend to prep? Or what's your rule of thumb about spell usage? Unlike the soc, we can only cast as many of a spell that we have prepped, so do you prefer to stack spells or keep a large supply of different spells ready?
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I do not abuse resting so my spell casters are very conservative with their spells.
Of course, that's taking into account the fact that I know the game pretty much inside and out, and know what is going to happen. That's not very RP-friendly, but unfortunately I can't exactly make myself forget what I know now can I... >_>
That being said, it's no surprise given the whole Vancian system. It leads itself easily to such behavior by its very nature.
For example, I often have my lvl1 all Magic Missile and nothing else. There is hardly anything useful at that level, so I go for the best spell for the majority of situations. It's similar for the levels after that, though admittedly there will be occasions where I spread a bit simply because I can afford to - I won't use most of the spells of that level a lot of the time, so I can afford to have things available should I actually come to need them. It basically doesn't happen, but why not I guess.
Personally I do find it a little sad that so many spells are simply not worth casting. There are way too many marginal, unreliable effects that are simply not worth the spell slot and cast time. Since I went over to the Spell Revisions mod this has improved somewhat, but not substantially. A lot of stuff is just soooo clunky...
For no-reload runs, however, things can change dramatically. SCS2 can allow enemies to pre-buff, and when I have that installed, I pre-buff as well, for almost every battle, and there are a lot of buffs I use. If enemies don't pre-buff, neither will I, but I will reorganize my spellbooks very often and rest frequently to make sure my party is adequately equipped at all times. If I don't, Charname dies, and the run fails.
For especially difficult or complicated encounters in no-reload runs--like Irenicus, Melissan, the Five, and Bodhi--I will actually think over the battle for days before actually starting the fight, trying to figure out how I'm going to tackle this one specific encounter.
I have found that it's much more effective to have a mage with one copy of five different spells than five copies of one big spell. Versatility is extremely useful for mages, even in normal playthroughs. You might have gobs of damage power if you stock up on Skull Traps, but Skull Traps won't help you deal with golems or mages, the damage won't be worth it if your party is injured and you can't Skull Trap the enemy without hurting your party members, and it can't fix a lot of situations that other spells can. Sometimes, Invisibility 10' Radius, Dispel Magic, Remove Magic, Haste, and Minor Spell Deflection will have a much bigger impact on a fight than a Skull Trap, and if all you've got are Skull Traps, all you've got is damage power. It's best to keep your spell options diverse, so you won't be caught off-guard when something goes wrong.
But I have a tendency right now to make stacks of 2s, or 2s with a remainder of 1. This is due to the fact I try not to abuse rest, which is a lot easier to not do with a sorc than a wizard. Only travel during the day, rest through the night (alot easiet outside then in doors.) Try to minimalize my casting, since studying takes hours and bhaal knows I hate studying.
I actually tend to specialise more narrowly with the divine spells. For example, it's often useful to keep the party protected against confusion (etc.), so I usually memorise several Chaotic Commands.
I must say that it also depends on my mage's personality - sometimes I choose a colorful shiny spell over a discreet one.
Anyway you can also cast from scroll.