BG2 - Spell choice strategy for Sorceror?
James N. Daniel, III
a good idea of what spells work for wizards, I was wondering what would
be the best choices for a (non-cheating) sorceror who chooses spells at
the beginning? Here's the list I'm currently working on (assuming
5/5/4/4/4/3/3/2 at max 17th level, and learning the spells in the
order listed for each level):
1st -
Magic Missile
Identify (hence always available without have the 2nd wizard memorize)
Chromatic Orb or Burning Hands (not sure which)
Friends (make stuff cheaper early on)
Protection From Evil (very useful when you know you need it)
2nd -
Mirror Image (must have)
Invisibility (Whee)
Melf's Acid Arrow (not great, but'll zap trolls)
Web
Stinking Cloud
3rd -
Melf's Minute Meteors (this spell is MUCH improved over the PnP version)
Monster Summoning I
Flame Arrow
Skull Trap (or something different?)
4th -
Spider Spawn (way cool summoning spell)
Minor Sequencer (double-cast magic missiles, or a web/stinking cloud combo)
Otiluke's Resilient Sphere (protect allies, or stop a singularly bad nasty for a bit)
Stoneskin (a mage without stoneskin? unheard of!)
5th -
Breach (must have for all these magical defenses)
Monster Summoning III
Chaos (it works great on me, and so I found out it messes up opponents, too!)
Oracle (or should I take True Sight at 6th instead and put something else here?)
(* NOTE -- I don't include cloudkill cuz you can get a wand of it! *)
6th -
Pierce Magic (again a necessity for tackling wizards/demons/dragons)
Globe of Invulnerability (or True Sight instead?)
Chain Lightning (or Contingency?)
7th -
Spell Sequencer
Limited Wish (very versatile, though not a combat spell)
Sphere of Chaos (or what else have people found useful at 7th level?)
8th -
Spell Trigger (more powerful sequencer)
Simulacrum (create a casting double)
(or is there something better at 8th?)
Well, these are my current guesses, but I'd very much like to hear
advice about what spells are most useful. My main strategy is that if
it exists as a wand, I don't need it in my repertoire, and I am trying
to balance offensive and defensive magic.
James Daniel
monk
Level 1:
Burning Hands
Identify
Magic Missle
Prot from evil (must have, if you are summoning demons)
Horror (-6 penalty to enemy, good cheap spell to buy time)
Level 2:
Deaf (cheap spell, 50% casting failure for enemies)
Purge Invisibility (if you've played the game once already, you know you
need this)
Acid arrow (hit a mage with this & he'll have problem casting spells for a
while)
Enfeeble (Imagine Umber Hulks down to 5 STR; good against muscular enemies)
Web (You must have at least one "mass hold" spell, this gives -2 penalty to
enemies)
Level 3:
Fireball (the heart and soul of mage's)
Flame Arrow (can do 100 damage if put in a sequencer, instant death)
Haste (summon a bunch of monsters & haste them, they can do damage)
Insivibility 10' radius (must have, there are some places where you just
want to sneak by)
Level 4:
Greater Malison (penalize ALL enemy saving throw by -4, no saves)
Improved invisibility (must have! sneak around, then fireball, then run and
repeat)
Minor Sequencer (store 2 magic missiles & save for next day. Can launch 10
magic missiles!)
Monster Summoning II (put 3 of these in a sequencer as instant army)
Level 5:
Animate Dead (MUST HAVE! At level 15, you can summon a Skeleton Knight & it
last 8 hours)
Breach (anti-mage defense)
Cloudkill (cast web, greater malison, and then cloudkill)
Domination (if successful, you just eliminated one enemy & gained 1 ally)
Level 6:
Chain lightning (good way to interrupt a bunch of mage's spell casting)
Pierce Magic (take down the mage's best protection)
Power Word Silence (all power word spells are cheap. Casting time is
instantaneous & no saves)
Level 7:
Summon Cacofiend (they are crazy mofos with their spells)
Power Word stun (stun a mage for 6 rounds and hack him up)
Spell Sequencer (store 3 fireball spells in here & you can do 30-180 points
of damage. MUST HAVE)
Level 8:
Horrid Wilthing (you can clear a room with this without hurting your party)
Summon Fiend (another crazy mofo uncontrollable monster)
As you can see, my sorcerer is more like a necormancer in Bard's Tale. He
likes summoning demons to do her bidding. Skeleton Knights as magic
resistant and you can use them to go chase vampires. They are tough!
Twin Ion Engine
the play style best suited for those who are more familiar with spellcasters
in Ultima, Diablo etc...
In article <slrn8uht2...@moebius.resonant.org>, z...@debian.org wrote:
>James N. Daniel, III <dan...@jump.net> wrote:
>>I've played through once and now I want to try a Sorceror. While I have
>[...]
>>the beginning? Here's the list I'm currently working on (assuming
>>5/5/4/4/4/3/3/2 at max 17th level, and learning the spells in the
>>order listed for each level):
>
> Well, I can comment a bit on the lower level stuff. I'm still
>working out higher level stuff in my head myself.
>
>
>>1st -
>>
>>Magic Missile
>>Identify (hence always available without have the 2nd wizard memorize)
>
> Identify is a BAD choice. Truly, is 100 per identify that
>expensive, especially since if you have a regular mage along, you can
>simply memorize a necessary ident just before your next rest stop?
>Sorcs are good for things that you have to have on-hand because you
>don't have time to rest to rememorize and change your mind. This
>
>
>>Chromatic Orb or Burning Hands (not sure which)
>
> Both. Orb *rocks*, especially after a Gr. Malison (things tend to
>save against just about everything later on in the game). Anything
>with stun/hold effects is lethal. Burning hands you probably want for
>a cheap trollkiller.
>
>
>>Friends (make stuff cheaper early on)
>
> Again, a BAD idea. You want spells that will be useful at the
>endgame, not the earlygame, and Friends is decidedly useless later
>(especially since there's a CHA-booster item available early on).
>Also, if you must use this, a secondary mage can plan for when you
>need it, and memorize it ahead of time.
>
>
>>Protection From Evil (very useful when you know you need it)
>
> You may be better off having your cleric or paladin do these,
>especially since Cure Light Wounds becomes less and less useful over
>time.
>
> I would recommend perhaps the following set:
>
>Magic Missile (must-have)
>Chromatic Orb (must-have)
>Burning Hands (good idea, and not bad damage against clusters)
>
> as definites, and two of the following, depending on style
>
>Charm Person (quick NPC containment, maybe)
>Protection from Evil (if you really like your CLW)
>Shield (insta-AC-boost, immunity to Magic Missile, useful if you're
> not planning to use Globes)
>
>
>>2nd -
>>Mirror Image (must have)
>>Invisibility (Whee)
>>Melf's Acid Arrow (not great, but'll zap trolls)
>
> At higher levels, this does a fairly impressive amount of damage,
>actually...
>
>
>>Web
>
> I've generally had a hard time using Web effectively. If it
>works for you, though...
>
>
>>Stinking Cloud
>
> Might be redundant with Web, but you mentioned using it
>specifically in combo with Web below...
>
>
>>3rd -
>>Melf's Minute Meteors (this spell is MUCH improved over the PnP version)
>>Monster Summoning I
>>Flame Arrow
>>Skull Trap (or something different?)
>
> Fireball has a greater radius than Skull Trap, and is fire-based,
>to boot. I've had better luck simply using Fireball just out of fog
>range than I have had getting monsters to chase me into Skull Traps in
>large clumps.
>
>
>>4th -
>>Spider Spawn (way cool summoning spell)
>>Minor Sequencer (double-cast magic missiles, or a web/stinking cloud combo)
>>Otiluke's Resilient Sphere (protect allies, or stop a singularly bad nasty for
> a bit)
>
> Or disables charmed allies. Or break up a crowd of powerful
>nasties. Definitely a good choice.
>
>
>>5th -
>>Breach (must have for all these magical defenses)
>>Monster Summoning III
>>Chaos (it works great on me, and so I found out it messes up opponents, too!)
>
> Hm. I might have gone for Hold Monster here instead, but whatever
>suits you.
>
>
>>Well, these are my current guesses, but I'd very much like to hear
>>advice about what spells are most useful. My main strategy is that if
>>it exists as a wand, I don't need it in my repertoire, and I am trying
>>to balance offensive and defensive magic.
>
> Think "What spell would I want to always have on hand if the shit
>hit the fan and I couldn't prepare a regular mage?" and "What kind of
>stuff would I want to always have on hand to unload my maximum
>capacity in a single burst" type spells. You had limited wish listed,
>and I'm not sure that fits in the above categories, either. Sorcs are
>most useful as combat artillery and emergency damage control, as
>anything that could be planned for could be dumped on a regular mage.
>
James N. Daniel, III
was looking for! I'm not going to follow your list exactly, but you
make a good case for several spells I failed to consider, such as
Spook (not Horror, that's 2nd-level) and Deafness. I like Fireball
and Cloudkill, but they're both found on wands. Fireball can be worth
it I think since that's 10d6 from a caster instead of the wand, but the
Cloudkill wand is just as good as the cast spell.
I find Identify a must cuz with a Soceror, it's an either/or slot, and
so if I'm about to rest anyway, and need to ident some stuff, I can
use up spell slots I'll get back tomorrow.
I'm not sure about Enfeeble? Have you gotten it to work that often?
(Or do you always use it after the Greater Malison?)
Invisibility 10'r is good, but I'm a CG Sorcerer with a Fairie Dragon,
so that's one free 10'r Invis per day. (Cast the Find Familiar with
a scroll, not as a learned spell.)
What's your opinion of Monster Summoning II vs the Spider Spawn spell?
I've found the Spider Spawn to be remarkably useful, especially once
you regularly get the Sword Spiders. In my first run-through, I had
Nalia handily win wizard duels with this spell: a couple of Sword
Spiders whack low-AC wizards hard and fast.
Thanks again for a well-considered list!
James Daniel
Werner Arend
On Sat, 14 Oct 2000, James N. Daniel, III wrote:
> 5th
> Breach (must have for all these magical defenses)
> Monster Summoning III
> Chaos (it works great on me, and so I found out it messes up opponents, too!)
> Oracle (or should I take True Sight at 6th instead and put something else here?)
> (* NOTE -- I don't include cloudkill cuz you can get a wand of it! *)
You will want Spell Immunity and/or Spell Shield. Chaos never worked well
for me.
> 6th -
> Pierce Magic (again a necessity for tackling wizards/demons/dragons)
> Globe of Invulnerability (or True Sight instead?)
> Chain Lightning (or Contingency?)
True Seeing is a must. I have yet to use Chain Lightning. Does it only
affect enemies? If yes, the go for it, Leave Pierce Magic and get Ruby Ray
of Reversal in L7 instead. If no, then leave Chain Lightning out and put
True Seeing in.
> 7th -
> Spell Sequencer
> Limited Wish (very versatile, though not a combat spell)
> Sphere of Chaos (or what else have people found useful at 7th level?)
Ruby Ray of Reversal and Spell Turning is something to think of. I
wouldn't take Limited Wish or Sphere of Chaos.
> 8th -
> Spell Trigger (more powerful sequencer)
> Simulacrum (create a casting double)
> (or is there something better at 8th?)
Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting. Single target attack spells that do damage
regardless of saving are rare. I would take that one instead of
Simulacrum.
Werner
monk
stored in a spell sequencer can do up to 180 points of damage. I don't
think there are many 180 hitpoints monster in the game. How can anyone not
like that?
"James N. Daniel, III" <dan...@jump.net> wrote in message
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