New party - Ascension + SCSII scripting

[irook]

Hello there,
I just installed SCSII AI improvement to my BG2: ToB game along with some other stuff (like Ease of Use, Ascension and Items Upgrade mods). Need to say the SCSII game is far different from vanilla game (much tougher I may say, but fun).
I would like to gather a six-man-at-arms party, which will consist of one created character and 5 NPCs. I like playing with NPCs – I have a feeling of belonging to that beautiful world.

So the party:

1) Sorcerer (PC) – I really like playing an arcane spellcaster. Sorcerer is, without any doubt, the best choice from all of them. He do not need nothing special. Robe of Vecna is not in Deidra´s sortiment, but SCSII move this item to Demi-lich in Watchers Keep. Anyway, I like more the Robes of Arch-magi (upgraded). So no Robe of Vecna. Maybe Staff of the Magi (with removed instant invisibility thanks to SCSII also). Less cheese, more fun. And Robe of Vecna does not have that very cute hood, which Arch-magi robe does.

2) Sarevok – good fighter, excelent death-bringer attack, nice banters through the whole ToB (with Ascension). Will probably use Ravager +6 (with Psions blade +5 for special occasions). Does anybody know, if Carsomyr +6 upgraded with Items Upgrade mod is usable by fighters? If yes, this make an other possibility for good weapon.


3) Korgan – berserker is the best fighter´s kit, in my opinion. Korgan´s personality is really cool. His quest is rather insignificant, but I do not care. The trouble is with right equipment. I will start with axe (Stonefire or Azuredge) and big shield (probably Fortress shield or the small one with immunities to confusion, stun, charm, domination, etc.). I really do not like Crom Fayer. Strenght 25 is fine, but not that necessery (potions, girdles,...) , instant ogres, trolls and golems killing is not worth either. Elemental damage is cute with killing mages through stoneskin, but there are other weapons. I prefer use the components for making this hammer rather separately. Gloves and Girdle will have some use, hammer of lightning will be somewhere in inventory for several occasions, or I will just sell it. Will see. I think that I will specialize Korgan on Flails and then two weapons wield, ending with Flail of Ages +5 in his main hand and Axe of Unyielding +5 in his off hand. While I really love the decapitation effect of the axe, Flail´s elemental damage and slow effect without save possibility can´t be ignored. Moreover, there is not any other NPC (as what I know), which can use benefits from Axe of Unyielding +5 better (regeneration, +1 CON, +1 AC). Korgan will have CON 21 and the regeneration rate will be rather significant. But it is a tough call – maybe the Flail of Ages will belong to someone else, and Korgan will end up as classic dwarf hero with Axe +5 and Hammer +5 (Crom Fayer). I do not know now.

4) Viconia – she is outstanding. Personality, stats, race, portrait and... how to say it politely... yeah, romance. This will be easy: Girdle of anyogre strenght, big armour, big shield, good helmet. Probably Mace of Disruption +2. I would like to rise her magic resistance to 100%. Any advises to the right equipment?

5) Imoen – her optimistic character just blew me out right in the first part of Baldurs Gate saga. I like her very much. She has quite cute story lines in Ascension. Also, the dual class to the mage is the best thing she could do. While she will pick up experiences as a single class mage, she will grow to a very powerful spellcaster (like Khelben the Blackstaff I may add). She is also a reason that my (PC) Sorcerer can calmly concentrate on spells which are useful in long therms. Imoen can and will cast everything what will my party need in different parts of game. She will also wear the Arch-magi robe (upgraded) and Short bow of Gesen (elemental damage, no need for ammunition).

6) ? – I do not know, what this party will need. If there will not be a usable NPC, maybe I will create another fighter.


Notes to consider:
- I don´t like paladins. They are something between cleric and fighter and if Carsomyr +5 is not in the game, they are boring. And I do not like characters which are funny only due to equipment.
- I don´t like bards. The same reason as for paladins. They are something between thief, mage and wannabe-fighter . And they do nothing. Only good thing on bards is HLA „use any item“. And that´s it.
- I would really like to use flail Defender of Easthaven +2. But to be effective, it shoud be used by tank. And now we are back at equipment possibilities for Korgan and sixth character. Maybe Viconia could use it, but it seems quite non-sense to me. I would prefer to boost MR for her instead.
- I do not want another mage.

So, what do you say?

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

Keep slot 6 for rotating NPCs - Cernd for Trademeet, Valygar for the Planar Sphere, etc.
Alternately, if you're set on constant NPCs I'd suggest Jaheira.

[koz-ivan]

jaheria or cernd would allow for another divine spellcaster and give you access to all the druid spells.

anomen would give you another divine caster and a platform for both the flail of the ages and / or the defender easthaven. plus it will give you a cleric for bodi's lair in ch 6. also a plus for him is you don't have another pressing need for the gauntlets of dex.

[irook]

- The free 6th slot for quest NPCs is "Sarevok", since I get him for up to ToB.
- I used to play druids a lot, but I found out druids have only few spells "usable": Insect plague (slightly weaker with SCSII) and Greater elemental summoning for princes. Iron skin is fine, but its level is the same as for True seeing and Insect plague. The problem is what to choose.
- enough of Jaheira: lots of play with her in past, right now she is good only for her quest to obtain Ring of wizardry.

- it seems that the 6th person should be a fighter for flails dual wield. Viconia will have mace of disruption +2 and Korgan Axe/Hammer. Three butchers in front line would be fine due to smooth process through the game.

[Stworca]

You might want to pack another physical dps. From my experience one arcane caster is more than enough, and you already have two. Viconia has cleric spells so this point is checked aswell.

Go with Jaheira if you have Tactics also installed, and build her on Spears. Spear from The Red Badge is pure awesomeness. Without tactics - hard to tell.

[galraen]

"I don´t like bards. The same reason as for paladins. They are something between thief, mage and wannabe-fighter . And they do nothing. Only good thing on bards is HLA „use any item“. And that´s it."

Your choice as to whether or not you like bards, but to make that false sweeping statement is hilarious. Bard is one of the most powerful classes in the game, surpassed only by an 18th+ level mage, maybe. Haer Dalis would certainly make mincemeat out of the rest of your chosen companions.

Don't like them, fair enough, but don't put them down without trying to get the best out of one.

[koz-ivan]

bards do have some real upside, i'm still getting used to haerdalis, lot of micro management but he gets results.

[galraen]

bards do have some real upside, i'm still getting used to haerdalis, lot of micro management but he gets results.

Yes, that is the drawback with Bards, the micro-management, so I can easily understand not liking them, but if you play them right they are death bringers extraordinaire!

[irook]

Your choice as to whether or not you like bards, but to make that false sweeping statement is hilarious. Bard is one of the most powerful classes in the game, surpassed only by an 18th+ level mage, maybe. Haer Dalis would certainly make mincemeat out of the rest of your chosen companions.

Your statement is the same as mine. This discussion is not about quality of bards, as I have in my party two arcane spellcaster and really do not want another one, but I am eager to know the reason(s) why bards "rock" as you say. Or, HaerDalis, exactly - let it be easier for you to explain.
Maybe you can persuade me to play with one.

[galraen]

"Your statement is the same as mine."

Er no, it was almost the complete opposite!

One caveat here, which I should have mentioned before, when I talk of a bard as being ultra powerful, I am of course talking about a Blade.

The advantages/disadvantages of a Bard have been discussed numerous times on here, this discussion touches on some of the advantages. There is debate about which is the more powerful Bard or Fighter-Mage, used to it's full advantage I'd say the bard wins personally. Against a Fighter/Mage/Thief nothing wins, it is the most dominant force in the game of course; especially if you have a mod that removes the level cap and gies the HLAs that the F/MT should be able to get at higher levels.

Amongst other things, apart from their special abilities (and all it takes to allow a blade to move when using defensive spin are boots of speed or, I believe, Free Action, not sure about the latter). Is their ability to utilise scrolls and wands, and of course with UAI any item in the game. Equip a bard correctly utilise all its abilities and it becomes an almost unstoppable force, no single class fighter stands a chance, not even Korgan who I love.

The bottom line though is that you play whatever you want to play, that was never in contention from me. I just took exception to the off-hand way you dismissed a bard, as being as bad as a Paladin even; and without Carsomyr you're dead right, Paladins are arguably the weakest class in the game. They shouldn't be as weak as they are, but unfortunately Bioware badly nerfed the class.

[galraen]

I'm going to arouse the ire of the mods for double posting, but I want to keep the two replies separate.

For your 6th character given your stipulations the obvious choice to me is Jaheira, so obvious in fact I assume there is some reason you don't want her, which wouldn't be at all unusual.

The other obvious type of character is a thief of some sort. The desire not to have another mage rules out Jan (ironically I like to use Shadow Keeper to turn him into a jester, a natural class for him I think ). You presumably don't want Yoshimo for reasons that are obvious to anyone who's played the game before, and Nalia is a duplicate of Imoen who you want to keep. If you wanted anpother alternative there are two mods available on Pocket Plane that I would recommend, Amber or Fade, both available here. both come as thieves, but can be changed into fighter/thieves using Shadow Keeper, which you can get here

[irook]

Well, my party is not_so_new right now.
At this point I am in the service of drows in Ust Natha city in Underdark.
My party is complete, except Sarevok, who will join us at the beginning of Throne of Bhaal.
The sixth character is priest of helm dualled to fighter immediatelly. I have to say that this character is extremely useful; she has access to two True seeing per day as innate ability (quick casting) as well as to priest spells to level 4. Armour of faith, DUHM, Dispel magic and Death ward. She is using Flail of Ages +3 in the main hand and Defender of Easthaven +2 in the off hand. Besides of helm of charm protection, good armour and boots of speed she needs nothing.
At my last play she completely destroyed the Mind flayer enclave in Underdark, almost alone. And that is something for me, because Mind flayers obtained some really cool abilities thanks to SCSII. I like them very much - if you are unaware, thay can wipe all your party in few seconds.

[RiseofBane]

Mind flayer was super annoying killing my warrior 1hit until I found out it was intelligence drain that was killing me. I had 1 intelligence as base points, no wonder I die so easily. But after I started drinking potion that increases intelligence, my warrior also wiped out mind flayers so easily, with proud 2handed Sword called Lilcorth. I have 5proficient points for 2handedsword , and maxed 2handed weapon style.

[Sykar]

1) Sorcerer (PC) – I really like playing an arcane spellcaster. Sorcerer is, without any doubt, the best choice from all of them. He do not need nothing special. Robe of Vecna is not in Deidra´s sortiment, but SCSII move this item to Demi-lich in Watchers Keep. Anyway, I like more the Robes of Arch-magi (upgraded). So no Robe of Vecna. Maybe Staff of the Magi (with removed instant invisibility thanks to SCSII also). Less cheese, more fun. And Robe of Vecna does not have that very cute hood, which Arch-magi robe does.

Debatable

[galraen]

Mind flayer was super annoying killing my warrior 1hit until I found out it was intelligence drain that was killing me. I had 1 intelligence as base points, no wonder I die so easily. But after I started drinking potion that increases intelligence, my warrior also wiped out mind flayers so easily, with proud 2handed Sword called Lilcorth. I have 5proficient points for 2handedsword , and maxed 2handed weapon style.

Nothing kills Mind Flayers like a warrior with Deathblow and/or Greater Deathblow that's for sure. The same is true for Beholders.

[Sykar]

Nothing kills Mind Flayers like a warrior with Deathblow and/or Greater Deathblow that's for sure. The same is true for Beholders.

That is interessting. I have never tried using Deathblow but that is a good info. Will keep that in mind maybe useful for my current SCSII+Ascension installation.

Plus some Fixpack stuff from G3 site.

[irook]

Debatable

Yes, like everything. I do not know yours favourite playstyle, but mine is "less (micro)managing better for me". Sorcerer is the most universal character in the game. He/she can adapt to 99,9% situations in the game. From difficult coincidences during the tough boss battles, where you feel the control of the battle slipping away between your fingers, to random encounters, which often catches your party totaly unprepaired.

Anyway, my party now contains Sarevok as well. The main tank is my own fighter dual from priest of helm; using Defender of Easthaven, Armour of faith and Hardiness she can absorb a huge amount of damage. The biggest hitter is Korgan, obviously. Crom Fayer and its strength 25 is cute. Once he gets Axe of Unyielding +5, his killing ability will be even more impressive. Sarevok is party leader, but his approach to battles is careful. He has the most HP but his AC and resistances are not even decent. Yet. Once he gets Ravager +6, he will be unstoppable. Decapitation from Ravager and his own deathbringer assault gives to his enemies virtually no time to react.

With my magical support from Imoen, Viconia and my sorcerer I am satisfied , more or less. From time to time Vici dies, but thats because I am lazy, and almost all the time she moves across the battlefield unbuffed. This is simply my playstyle. When the things became difficult, she quaffs invisibility potion or cast sanctuary. But sometimes I am just not going to make it (enemy is fast, or I overlook the battle text in the heat of fight). Very often hiding/invisible backstabbers are going after her (dont know why )

[Sykar]

Yes, like everything. I do not know yours favourite playstyle, but mine is "less (micro)managing better for me". Sorcerer is the most universal character in the game. He/she can adapt to 99,9% situations in the game. From difficult coincidences during the tough boss battles, where you feel the control of the battle slipping away between your fingers, to random encounters, which often catches your party totaly unprepaired.

I am inclined to say that 99,9% is a gross exageration. Let's imagine a level 16 Sorcerer and a level 16 mage/invoker/conjurer just for the fun of it hitting the Underdark.
The specialized wizards have as many spell slots as the Sorc roughly and the mage trails behind by one per level. So this difference is 0-1 per slot which isn't too big.
What else? Many opponents here are heavily protected by MR. Far too many opponents to continously use LR, Pierce Shield or Pierce Magic.
Most Sorcs won't even have those spells bar LR. LR in itself needs 2-3 applications per drow to use spells reliably on them so after 2 drows you do what? Rest? Stick to your meager archery skills?
Or perhaps change your spell book and get all those nice summons from level 4 onward which a Sorc can't unless he uses Power Word: Shadowkeeper?
And before you say Sunfire and hitting yourself with spells to avoid MR I consider those as exploits and not worth debating.
Now on to the next thing. At 16 you have 1 Spell of level 8 as Sorc. Most will choose a heavy AoE spell like Horrid Wilting or Incendiary Cloud which are quite useless in this region. Likewise most of their spells from 3 onwards will be heavy AoE spells like Skulltrap, Cone of Cold, Sunfire, Fireball mixed with some defensive spells like II, Stoneskin, etc and maybe 1-2 disablers like Chaos, Hold Monster, Dire Charm or whatever. All these spells bar the defensive ones are pretty uselss in the Underdark. What is useful here? Summons. As many as possible. Now is there anyone who plays a Sorc summoner heavy unless his game is modded? Didn't think so.
The wizards on the other hand can easily opt to change his memorized spells to summons mainly and buff them up with haste for example.
Furthermore he has already access to Spell Trigger while most Sorcs will opt to wait for that until around level 20. Likwise many do not choose Sequencer intitally for level 7 and many do not bother with the minor version.
So the wizard can compensate a lot here because of the Sorcs extremly limited selection.
This is just one brief example where a wizard has the upper hand over a Sorc which costs not much more than some clicks and another rest at worst depending on your playstyle.
Unless you aren't above using the already mentioned heavy cheese in which this discussion doesn't matter at all since then you will use anything available anyway. Which I do not.
As to totally unprepared, unless you constantly use very specialized spells almost exclusively like Shackle Undead, Clarivoyance, Identify etc. on your mage he will be prepared sufficiently 99.9% of the time if you have a clue about the game. As to this nice number it's made up just like yours.
A Sorcerer doesn't get a solid advantage until level 20 and only thanks to Bioware gutting a wizards spell progression and allowing a Sorc to get more spells than he should be able to if you'd follow the D&D 3rd rules. Then again Bioware always liked to break some major rules in their games.
So most of SoA a Sorc is even a bit weaker.A Wizard reaches the first 5 spell levels sooner which is a definite plus. Furthermore he can compensate lesser spells per day for a while through immediate access to triggers,sequencer and contingencies while still being able to cast completely different spells which just takes one more rest.
Just a small insight as to why the Sorc hype is overly inflated.

[irook]

I am inclined to say that 99,9% is a gross exageration. Let's imagine a level 16 Sorcerer and a level 16 mage/invoker/conjurer just for the fun of it hitting the Underdark.
The specialized wizards have as many spell slots as the Sorc roughly and the mage trails behind by one per level. So this difference is 0-1 per slot which isn't too big.
What else? Many opponents here are heavily protected by MR. Far too many opponents to continously use LR, Pierce Shield or Pierce Magic.
Most Sorcs won't even have those spells bar LR. LR in itself needs 2-3 applications per drow to use spells reliably on them so after 2 drows you do what? Rest? Stick to your meager archery skills?
Or perhaps change your spell book and get all those nice summons from level 4 onward which a Sorc can't unless he uses Power Word: Shadowkeeper?
And before you say Sunfire and hitting yourself with spells to avoid MR I consider those as exploits and not worth debating.
Now on to the next thing. At 16 you have 1 Spell of level 8 as Sorc. Most will choose a heavy AoE spell like Horrid Wilting or Incendiary Cloud which are quite useless in this region. Likewise most of their spells from 3 onwards will be heavy AoE spells like Skulltrap, Cone of Cold, Sunfire, Fireball mixed with some defensive spells like II, Stoneskin, etc and maybe 1-2 disablers like Chaos, Hold Monster, Dire Charm or whatever. All these spells bar the defensive ones are pretty uselss in the Underdark. What is useful here? Summons. As many as possible. Now is there anyone who plays a Sorc summoner heavy unless his game is modded? Didn't think so.
The wizards on the other hand can easily opt to change his memorized spells to summons mainly and buff them up with haste for example.
Furthermore he has already access to Spell Trigger while most Sorcs will opt to wait for that until around level 20. Likwise many do not choose Sequencer intitally for level 7 and many do not bother with the minor version.
So the wizard can compensate a lot here because of the Sorcs extremly limited selection.
This is just one brief example where a wizard has the upper hand over a Sorc which costs not much more than some clicks and another rest at worst depending on your playstyle.
Unless you aren't above using the already mentioned heavy cheese in which this discussion doesn't matter at all since then you will use anything available anyway. Which I do not.
As to totally unprepared, unless you constantly use very specialized spells almost exclusively like Shackle Undead, Clarivoyance, Identify etc. on your mage he will be prepared sufficiently 99.9% of the time if you have a clue about the game. As to this nice number it's made up just like yours.
A Sorcerer doesn't get a solid advantage until level 20 and only thanks to Bioware gutting a wizards spell progression and allowing a Sorc to get more spells than he should be able to if you'd follow the D&D 3rd rules. Then again Bioware always liked to break some major rules in their games.
So most of SoA a Sorc is even a bit weaker.A Wizard reaches the first 5 spell levels sooner which is a definite plus. Furthermore he can compensate lesser spells per day for a while through immediate access to triggers,sequencer and contingencies while still being able to cast completely different spells which just takes one more rest.
Just a small insight as to why the Sorc hype is overly inflated.[/color]

Ok.
First, I don´t know why you use the red font colour in your answers. When someone see this maybe he/she thinks that there is something important. But there is not. Its just a common answer to something. For me it is just harder to read (strains my eyes).
Second, with all the respect to your comments and possibly to your experiences with the game, I do not agree with just a word from what you have written. This is why:
- incidentaly, I had my sorcerer (PC) and mage (Imoen) on the level 16 or so, when I hit the Underdark (for fun). Sorcerer had nothing relevant for a wizard in his inventory (if you don´t count e.g. ring of protection +1 as relevant). On the other hand, Imoen had the upgraded Robe of Archmagi (bonus spells lvl 1-4), two rings of wizardry (bonus spells lvls 2,2,3,4,5,6,7) and amulet of metaspell influence (bonus spell lvl 2).
- as I mentioned in the very beginning of this topic, I have SCSII and Ascension completely installed. That is important, because mages in the vanilla game can do nothing, and its not worthy to bother yourself with spells like ruby ray of reversal, pierce magic, breach and protective magic for your mage, because nobody goes after your weak spellcasters (if you play it little bit smarter). I saw that you have experiences with those mods as well - so you know well, what mages ander SCSII can do to you party (and spellcasters)
- back to your example: mage can do nothing to magic resistant drows. That is true. But your only solution (summons) can do the same to drows. Nothing. At best, you can have Mordenkainen´s swords (which my sorcerer had), but the duration of this spell is quite short. Not to mention that enemy mages know well what the Death spell can do. So what I did? Because I planned this part well forwardly, my sorcerer had important spells like breach, ruby rays and protection from magical weapons already learned. As lvl 8 I had (as you guess well) "horrid wilting". I had spell sequencer from lvl 7. Imoen had spell trigger and sequencer. From tactical point of view it is not important, because I always use triggers and sequencers deffensively. Enemy mages often trigger your spellcasters with debuffing magic and well played sequencer/trigger saves your ass before they can wipe your non-protected wizard. Horrid wilting was good spell to choose during to fight with lich named Deidrex (iirc). Anyway, my fighters did the dirty work and killed all drows I had to kill and my spellcasters had the important role during fights with drow mages (ruby rays, breaches, and remove magic). I didn´t use sunfire neither in the situation which really called for that.

- what is the point? I didn´t even consider to change Imoen´s spellbook during my trip through Underground. There is no reason for such a thing (see above). But what I wanted to say - my sorcerer had always the edge over Imoen even with the equipment discussed above; he had more spells and versatility is just awesome. When I need 6 Breaches, I cast 6 Breaches. When I need 2 spell imunities and lower resist, I had those as well. And still had 3 Breaches online. Imoen can´t do those things. This versatility is even better using 9th lvl spells (ToB). And this is the biggest difference between mage and sorcerer.

To sum it up, sorcerer is better then mage from level 10 (when he gets 5 lvl spells) to the end of the ToB.

[Sykar]

Ok.
First, I don´t know why you use the red font colour in your answers. When someone see this maybe he/she thinks that there is something important. But there is not. Its just a common answer to something. For me it is just harder to read (strains my eyes).
Second, with all the respect to your comments and possibly to your experiences with the game, I do not agree with just a word from what you have written. This is why:
- incidentaly, I had my sorcerer (PC) and mage (Imoen) on the level 16 or so, when I hit the Underdark (for fun). Sorcerer had nothing relevant for a wizard in his inventory (if you don´t count e.g. ring of protection +1 as relevant). On the other hand, Imoen had the upgraded Robe of Archmagi (bonus spells lvl 1-4), two rings of wizardry (bonus spells lvls 2,2,3,4,5,6,7) and amulet of metaspell influence (bonus spell lvl 2).
- as I mentioned in the very beginning of this topic, I have SCSII and Ascension completely installed. That is important, because mages in the vanilla game can do nothing, and its not worthy to bother yourself with spells like ruby ray of reversal, pierce magic, breach and protective magic for your mage, because nobody goes after your weak spellcasters (if you play it little bit smarter). I saw that you have experiences with those mods as well - so you know well, what mages ander SCSII can do to you party (and spellcasters)
- back to your example: mage can do nothing to magic resistant drows. That is true. But your only solution (summons) can do the same to drows. Nothing. At best, you can have Mordenkainen´s swords (which my sorcerer had), but the duration of this spell is quite short. Not to mention that enemy mages know well what the Death spell can do. So what I did? Because I planned this part well forwardly, my sorcerer had important spells like breach, ruby rays and protection from magical weapons already learned. As lvl 8 I had (as you guess well) "horrid wilting". I had spell sequencer from lvl 7. Imoen had spell trigger and sequencer. From tactical point of view it is not important, because I always use triggers and sequencers deffensively. Enemy mages often trigger your spellcasters with debuffing magic and well played sequencer/trigger saves your ass before they can wipe your non-protected wizard. Horrid wilting was good spell to choose during to fight with lich named Deidrex (iirc). Anyway, my fighters did the dirty work and killed all drows I had to kill and my spellcasters had the important role during fights with drow mages (ruby rays, breaches, and remove magic). I didn´t use sunfire neither in the situation which really called for that.

- what is the point? I didn´t even consider to change Imoen´s spellbook during my trip through Underground. There is no reason for such a thing (see above). But what I wanted to say - my sorcerer had always the edge over Imoen even with the equipment discussed above; he had more spells and versatility is just awesome. When I need 6 Breaches, I cast 6 Breaches. When I need 2 spell imunities and lower resist, I had those as well. And still had 3 Breaches online. Imoen can´t do those things. This versatility is even better using 9th lvl spells (ToB). And this is the biggest difference between mage and sorcerer.

To sum it up, sorcerer is better then mage from level 10 (when he gets 5 lvl spells) to the end of the ToB.

Have you actually ever tried summons like Efreeti, Djinni, Sword Spiders, Skeleton Warriors, etc?
Of course some aren't able to tank 5 drow warriors. If you use them like this you are ignorant as of their roles. Sword

You have told me nothing new. Your layziness to do anything outside of standard has not disproven my points. Your claim that summons do nothing just proves your ignorance. There are many summons who are quite valuable against drow, starting with Skeletal Warrior to Mordenkainens to Invisble Stalkers to Cacaofiend and it's bigger brother Summon Demon. Especially with some fixes to make demons and the like on par to AD&D rules they are quite vicious. Of course especially with SSCII it's not like just summoning them and throw them into the FoW will solve your battles as well but they do far more than
When do you need 6 Breaches? That has never happned to me. Quite frankly 2-3 is the most you need in any given fight since you can just AoE a mage to death or use elemental weapons and just take care of his Illusions with True Sight unless he uses SI: Div of course.
By the way I do have installed SSCII, Ascenscion, G3 Tweak and Fixpack among other nice little stuff like improved demons, dragons and the like so they aren't pushovers anymore. If you ever had used Gate spell and edited the Pit Fiends weapons to a proper +4 enchantment as per AD&D rules you'd know he is quite close in power compared to Solars and Planetars.
Evoker/Conjurer is about on par with a Sorc and a Mage doesn't trail far behind until level 20. The difference especially with Gear and HLAs is so small it's not even funny. Since I can assume we are talking about that we know the game and know exactly what comes when a mage can be even more superior as I mentioned in my previous post. If your Sorc could summons some decent stuff you'd have even less problems.
Unless you are careless with your Protection from Evil which isn't a big deal.

I actually find red more pleasant to read and your initial ad hominem is quite amusing. I couldn't care less about colours though so I won't use the red in this post.
And yes my post is important simply because the claim that a Sorcerer is oh so much more powerful is simply not true. It's far from as simple as that.
By the way since you had Mordenkainen and Sequencer guessing who had to get all those RRRs and the like isn't hard. What would your Sorc do without a support arcane mage? Casting from scrolls? For how long?
So much for 'my Sorc was so much better than Imoen!' when you gave them two different tasks actually and hers was just as important than yours. Just that Imoen can easily switch between roles. And no Contingency as well? Pity.
Of course I did guess well. Most players are quite predictable and what is true for MMOs is true for SP games as well. The herd follows the shepherd and if he says Sorcs are superior at all times then it's of course true.