Advice requested about spirit animal abilities
BelgarathMTH
Member Posts: 5,653
Hey, I was thinking of creating a totemic druid character, and I would appreciate some general tips about the spirit animals.
@bengoshi , Wasn't that you who did a solo run as a totemic druid and became kind of an expert on the class?
What I'm looking for is tips about which spirit animals are best for which enemies, like "Use Snake against mages because his poison will interrupt their spells", "Use Bear against heavily armored melee fighters", Use Wolf against archers because he can get to them the fastest", and that sort of thing.
My favorite spirit animal is Lion, but from studying the ability table, it seems like the other three animals are better as far as combat ability. Is there anything Lion does better than the other three?
I've lost the link to the spirit animal abilities table, so I'd also appreciate if anyone can repost that here.
One of my favorite enhancements provided by the EE's is that they fixed the spirit animal ability so that you can control which one you summon, instead of getting a random animal. Great job, Beamdog.
@bengoshi , Wasn't that you who did a solo run as a totemic druid and became kind of an expert on the class?
What I'm looking for is tips about which spirit animals are best for which enemies, like "Use Snake against mages because his poison will interrupt their spells", "Use Bear against heavily armored melee fighters", Use Wolf against archers because he can get to them the fastest", and that sort of thing.
My favorite spirit animal is Lion, but from studying the ability table, it seems like the other three animals are better as far as combat ability. Is there anything Lion does better than the other three?
I've lost the link to the spirit animal abilities table, so I'd also appreciate if anyone can repost that here.
One of my favorite enhancements provided by the EE's is that they fixed the spirit animal ability so that you can control which one you summon, instead of getting a random animal. Great job, Beamdog.
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Comments
Actually, I now find it so powerful that I would automatically include a totemic druid into any custom party I make in an EE game.
I've gone through IWD with a totemic druid in my party, and she was an answer in 70% situations. I've gone through the Black Pits with a totemic druid, and there she again helped enormously.
In BG1-BG2-ToB, a totemic druid is very solid. Even with crappy stats (mine had 75 ability stats at the start) she can be viable with all the difficulty mods installed.
@BelgarathMTH and others who are interested in reading about the usefulness of Spirit Animals - you're welcome to https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/30553/the-tale-of-the-totemic-druid#latest
First of all, check exactly how the Totemic Druid ability work: https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/35702/please-help-me-get-the-totemic-druid-ability-summon-spirit-animal-to-work
Then I advice to have a look on @elminster 's : http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/31754/totemic-druid-summon-stats
You should also have a look here:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/pc/663933-baldurs-gate-enhanced-edition/faqs/65403 (search "Spirit Animals")
It will give you exact stats for each of Spirit Animals at 1, 3, 5, 7 and 10 levels.
Spirit animals are indeed awesome. When the caster is of the 10th level or above, the summons have the following abilities:
Caster Level 10
Spirit Bear
Stats: 96 HP, Str 18/83, AC 2, THAC0 10
Attack: 1d10, Speed Factor 2, thrice/round
Saves: 8death 10wand 9poly 10breath 11spell
Resists: Cold 100%, Electricity 100%, Poison 100%
Immunities: Charm, Feeblemind, Confusion, Stun, Fear, Berserk,
Polymorph, Sleep, Fatigue, Petrification, Level Drain,
Normal Weapons
Special: Movement Speed +8; attack Panics for 30s if target fails
save vs death at +3; permanent Free Action and Death
Ward.
Spirit Lion
Stats: 72 HP, Str 19, AC 1, THAC0 8
Attack: 1d8+2, Speed Factor 1, thrice/round
Saves: 8death 10wand 9poly 10breath 11spell
Resists: Electricity 100%, Cold 100%, Poison 100%
Immunities: Feeblemind, Confusion, Stun, Charm, Fear, Berserk,
Polymorph, Sleep, Fatigue, Petrification, Level Drain,
Normal Weapons
Special: Movement Speed +11; permanent Free Action and Death Ward.
Spirit Snake
Stats: 45 HP, Str 18, AC -1, THAC0 9
Attack: 1d8, Speed Factor 2, twice/round
Saves: 7death 9wand 8poly 9breath 10spell
Resists: Cold 100%, Electricity 100%, Poison 100%
Immunities: Charm, Feeblemind, Confusion, Stun, Fear, Berserk,
Polymorph, Sleep, Fatigue, Petrification, Level Drain,
Normal Weapons
Special: Movement Speed +8; attack poisons for 2 damage/second for 6
seconds unless target saves vs death; permanent
Free Action and Death Ward.
Spirit Wolf
Stats: 56 HP, Str 16, AC 0, THAC0 9
Attack: 1d4 + 1d6 cold, Speed Factor 2, thrice/round
Saves: 7death 9wand 8poly 9breath 10spell
Resists: Cold 100%, Electricity 100%, Poison 100%
Immunities: Charm, Feeblemind, Confusion, Stun, Fear, Berserk,
Polymorph, Sleep, Fatigue, Petrification, Level Drain,
Normal Weapons
Special: Movement Speed +10; attack holds for 7 seconds unless
target saves vs death at +1; attack does level drain
unless target saves vs death at +5; permanent Free
Action and Death Ward.
So, they're immune to Level Drain, domination and nearly every nasty effect there can be.
Note that as for the Death Ward, they indeed have this effect but the thing is, the Death Ward in the EE doesn't protect summons from an insta-death. It's not a bug but an intended behavior: http://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/614504/#Comment_614504
Also, at the 10th level they're immune to attacks made by Normal Weapons. This basically makes them awesome against a LOT of opponents, even up till ToB (check a thread about my solo run).
As for which animal to use, till the 10th level I always looked at exact immunities the animals brought. For example, at level 1 a Spirit Bear has an unique immunity to Fear (useful against Tarnesh), while a Spirit Lion has an immunity to Charm (useful against Sirens).
At level 3 a Spirit Snake and a Spirit Wolf get an immunity to Petrification, so you can automatically go hunting Basilisks without problems.
So, pay attention to exact immunities of each Animal up until level 10. After that, I use A Spirit Lion the most, because of their fighting abilities. They can hold their own even against bosses in SoA (if these bosses don't have a Death spell).
Also, don't forget to buff you animals with spells - especially till level 10. If it's not a Spirit Lion, you can give a good STR to your animal with the Strength of the One spell.
From time to time I use a Spirit Snake against spellcasters - a poison is execellent in these things. But normally I just summon 3 Spirit Lions and from Invisibility (granted by Pixie's Dust) watch them reap enemies apart.
Actually, the first common enemies Spirit Animals found problems to deal with, were Fire Giants with the SCS setting. As you see, it's a long, long way. And even agains the Fire Giants, I've found a way for the Spirit Animals to be effective (I'll write about that in my future solo druid update).
Lions deal nice damage but they just do that... attack, I'm rather fond of inflicting crippling effects so I mostly go with the wolf.