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Your Favorite Underwhelming Spells

GrumGrum Member, Mobile Tester Posts: 2,100
Icewind Dale
Cat's Grace (lvl 2 arcane) +1d8 dexterity, max 20

Why? Because if you have a dwarf or 2 in your party, it is a good buff. That dwarf warrior with 17dex now gets +1 armor class for 1 hour/level of the caster. That's pretty good. The dwarf fighter/thief you took with you for traps and locks? He gets the AC bonus, and his thief skills are better. This spell is useful throughout the game.

Friends (lvl 1 arcane) +5 Cha for 3 rounds + 1 round/level

Why? Because you can't get reputation increases in icewind dale. Have your Cha18 bard cast this, and suddenly your 15% discount jumps up to 25%. Very much worth a lvl1 spell slot.

Baldur's Gate
Strength (lvl 2 arcane) sets strength to 18/50 for 1 turn/level

Why? How many NPCs have Str under 18/50 who could really use that buff?

Valygar (17)
Keldorn (17)
Haer Dalis (17)
Yoshimo (17)
Rasaad (16)
Jaheira (15)
Mazzy (15...though she can self buff)
Viconia (10)

For most of the game, the best you can do is buy a belt of hill giant strength, giving one of these characters Str19. For the rest? This spell really does help them. Even characters like Nalia, Imoen, Aerie...if they are using slings or throwing daggers for when you want to save spells, then Str 18/50 will help them do more damage.

Up until ToB this spell remains highly useful. I can't get enough of it.


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So...which spells can you just not go without, with the exception of stables like stoneskin and magic missile?
ThacoBelldeltagoJuliusBorisovBalrog99NoobaccaGreenWarlockmf2112Anduin
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Comments

  • Abi_DalzimAbi_Dalzim Member Posts: 1,428
    Horrid Wi-oh, wait, damn.

    You know, I actually really like Incendiary Cloud and Firestorm. What's good about them is that it's really easy to make a party member immune to fire, and then kite enemies to death with those spells. That said, I'm also getting progressively more enamored of lower level ways to take down powerful enemies like liches or such. So, since Cloudkill won't work on a lich, use Death Fog, which will work and doesn't force you to wait until Incendiary Cloud or Firestorm or my calling card are available. Plant more than one at a time, and the lich probably won't be able to cast anything.
    NoobaccaIllustairrecklessheart
  • Mantis37Mantis37 Member Posts: 1,173
    Playing with Spell Revisions means there are very few of these.
    semiticgoddessO_BruceArdul
  • RaduzielRaduziel Member Posts: 4,714
    Melf's Acid Arrow

    Good to stack damage upon an enemy caster.
    semiticgoddessThacoBellsarevok57
  • The user and all related content has been deleted.
    Grum
  • RedrakeRedrake Member Posts: 426
    Shocking Grasp. Especially in IWD, as it always hits, it has no cap and enemies are bad at protecting themselves from electricity.

    Armor. Great to have for multiclas thief/mage. Cast it, it last 8 hours and you don't need to wear the standard armor.

    Shield. Best protection against Magic Missiles. It absorbs them.

    Color Spray. I think most people don't realize how good this is against a throng of enemies. Sure, it allows saves, but if used in conjunction with let's say Curse or Prayer, it can kill/disable several enemies.
  • deltagodeltago Member Posts: 7,811
    The problem with Colour Spray is that it isn't party friendly like sleep is and they both have roughly the same effect.
  • 10Bazza1110Bazza11 Member Posts: 169
    Find Familiar. Extra hit points, some familiars have really good thieving abilities and if you are soloing just having a little buddy around.
    ThacoBellStummvonBordwehrsarevok57Anduin
  • lroumenlroumen Member Posts: 2,508
    Detect evil and know alignment.
    Both super underwhelming.

    Why?
    I want to know via role-playing whether it makes sense to use spells like (Un)holy word, (Un)holy smite, protection from evil (x radius), as well as weapons that provide bonuses to the extremes (equaliser for instance).
    tbone1Grond0Grumsarevok57
  • tbone1tbone1 Member Posts: 1,985
    Bless. Giving the whole party a +1 can make a big difference in combat, particularly at low levels
    StummvonBordwehrThacoBellsemiticgoddessdunbar
  • WarChiefZekeWarChiefZeke Member Posts: 2,651
    edited October 2017
    Polymorphing into an Ogre is my way of making casters useful while conserving spells. They have a pretty good crushing attack.
    semiticgoddessO_Bruce
  • DrakeICNDrakeICN Member Posts: 623
    I dunno if this spell actually is considered underwhelming, but spook incapacitates a single creature for three rounds if they fail a saving throw... with a -1 per 2 caster levels saving throws. Unfortunately capped at -6. Three rounds may not seem like a lot, but it is enough to turn the tide in an otherwise evenly matched fight between your party and a strong enemy party.

    Other than that, blur actually do not suck, when cocast with mirror image in a sequencer for fighter-mages.
    tbone1[Deleted User]
  • SouthpawSouthpaw Member Posts: 2,026
    Spook (nice crowd control, that scales), Shocking grasp (scaling electric attack) and Clairvoyance (because I'm a completitionist)
  • sarevok57sarevok57 Member Posts: 5,975
    polymorph other, i love turning my enemies into squirrels, just way too much fun especially when this spell lands on casters, absolutely great

    although one time i had something amazing happen to nalia, she was casting polymorph other on a mage that had spell turning, and i wasnt paying attention and the spell got bounced back on to nalia, and she failed her save and she was turned into a squirrel, ah good times
    GrumGreenWarlockThacoBellGod
  • GrumGrum Member, Mobile Tester Posts: 2,100
    sarevok57 said:

    polymorph other, i love turning my enemies into squirrels, just way too much fun especially when this spell lands on casters, absolutely great

    although one time i had something amazing happen to nalia, she was casting polymorph other on a mage that had spell turning, and i wasnt paying attention and the spell got bounced back on to nalia, and she failed her save and she was turned into a squirrel, ah good times

    That is hilarious and very character appropriate
    GreenWarlockThacoBellsarevok57
  • DrakeICNDrakeICN Member Posts: 623
    Not technically a spell, wand of magic missile. It deals 1D4+1 damage, hits automatically, and eats through protection from normal weapons and other resistances. 1D41+1 dmg is generally nothing, but each wand have 50 (if I remember correctly) charges, and can be used by ANYONE!!! In BG1, 3 wands of magic missile versus a doom knight is surprisingly effective, slowly but surely chipping away at the enemies health.
    sarevok57
  • JoenSoJoenSo Member Posts: 910
    I almost never use it, so I was pleasantly surprised when Grease saved my life from angry verbeegs in Icewind dale.
    tbone1sarevok57StummvonBordwehrsemiticgoddess
  • RedrakeRedrake Member Posts: 426
    JoenSo said:

    I almost never use it, so I was pleasantly surprised when Grease saved my life from angry verbeegs in Icewind dale.

    Grease is one of the best low-level spells for early PoDs. Especially up to Chapter 4.
    UnderstandMouseMagic
  • DevardKrownDevardKrown Member Posts: 421
    -Identify, its "Just" 100 gold and a trip to the shop to get stuff ID'd but i want it naaaow...
    -Friends, Specially in BG1 where quest reward changes are only triggered by 18 charisma a god send.
    -Invisibility, beats thief stealth every day of the week.
    -Clairvoyance, love to cast it then i feel i finished a map, removing all the tiny black spots that are left is my personal "done" stamp.
    -Polymorph self, why waste fire arrows or lvl 1/2 spells for every single troll if you can be a Gnoll with inbuilt fire Helebarde.
    sarevok57Aerakar
  • RedrakeRedrake Member Posts: 426

    -Identify, its "Just" 100 gold and a trip to the shop to get stuff ID'd but i want it naaaow...

    Use a bard...

    ThacoBell
  • DevardKrownDevardKrown Member Posts: 421
    Redrake said:

    -Identify, its "Just" 100 gold and a trip to the shop to get stuff ID'd but i want it naaaow...

    Use a bard...

    bards are xp leeches !
    sarevok57
  • InKalInKal Member Posts: 196
    teleport field for combat
    invisibility 10 radius for convenience/utility
    sarevok57semiticgoddess
  • GrumGrum Member, Mobile Tester Posts: 2,100

    Redrake said:

    -Identify, its "Just" 100 gold and a trip to the shop to get stuff ID'd but i want it naaaow...

    Use a bard...

    bards are xp leeches !
    I beg to differ. In IWD they are amazingly good. Just look at war chant of the sith.
    In BG1 they can do almost everything a wizard can do, only with the ability to use missile weapons against trash mobs. Free identify, wand use...they’re great.
    In BG2...kinda moot. As there is only a blade and that’s more of a single class fighter/mage



    RedrakeArctodus
  • ThacoBellThacoBell Member Posts: 12,235
    Bards are the greatest class.
    DreadKhan
  • DreadKhanDreadKhan Member Posts: 3,857
    edited October 2017
    I'm using Eldoth. He needs the Gauntlets of Dex, but Elven Chain is a beast on him. Since my only other arcane is Quayle, he's very important. I'm using NPCs I never use, mostly at once. Its been fun actually, I think only Dynaheir remains essentially unused. Must say running a Shaman, even a 20 str half-orc throwing daggers feels nerfier than bards do. The wands they can use offer some utility, but god do low levels suck!

    Bards offer lots of great options though, would be nice if they could wear the Ring of Wizardry!

    Edit: Does the Ulgoth's Beard Bard instrument actually work? Couldn't get it to actually do anything, just gave false positive feedback and did nothing. :/
    Grum
  • Abi_DalzimAbi_Dalzim Member Posts: 1,428


    bards are xp leeches !

    Not in IWD they're not!
  • Son_of_ImoenSon_of_Imoen Member Posts: 1,806


    -Polymorph self, why waste fire arrows or lvl 1/2 spells for every single troll if you can be a Gnoll with inbuilt fire Helebarde.

    That's a useful tip! I didn't know that. I usually use Flame Blade by my clerics and druids to kill several trolls with a single casting, but alas it's duration is very short.
    DrakeICN
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