HOF Solo Sorcerer Spell Selection

[MasterDarkNinja]

I'm looking for some advise on what spell selection to make for a HOF solo drow sorcerer run (with 2 levels of Paladin for saving throw boost & fear immunity). I've beaten Icewind Dale 2 a few times before, but never on HOF difficulty, so I need some advise.

Also, I should note, I'm not even going to try to get 52+ AC in HOF to dodge blows, I'm going for as much damage resistance as possible (I'm using a rebalancing mod that for every point of AC armor gives also gives +1 physical resist), so that's something to take into consideration for my spell selection, my sorcerer WILL take a beating if a monster gets near them in HOF and they don't have spell buffs to protect them.

Specifically, I'm wondering about how good a hand full of spells really are I see recommended for HOF Sorcerer spell selection.

This is the current set of spells I'm considering, and questions on some of my selections.

1st (7): Magic Missle, Burning Hands, Shield, Mage Armor, Chromatic Orb, Grease, Protection From Evil
(I was also considering Summon Monster I here, since I read somewhere a while ago it's actually half useful/not a joke in HOF mode. Still, I figure higher level summon spells will be better even then)

2nd (7): Mirror Image, Blur, Melf's Acid Arrow, See Invisibility, Eagle's Splendor, Knock, Bull's Strength
(was also considering Snilloc's Snowball Swarm for early area of effect damage in normal difficulty, I also considered Luck for small boosts to things, but then I saw a lot of the things I cared about aren't effected by luck. I had been considering Cat's Grace to, but then thought it wasn't worth it in HOF if I need over 50 AC to dodge attacks)

3rd (6): Skull Trap, Magic Circle Against Evil, Slow, Blink, Flame Arrow, Haste

(I considered Dispel Magic & Nondetect, but realized Cera Suma lets me cast unlimited Dispel's, and if I ever need nondetect I can wear the nondetect sash, I also considered Summon Monser III, because again, I heard it doesn't suck so much in HOF)

4th (6): Shadow Conjuration, Stoneskin, Malison, Improved Invisibility, Fire Shield (red), Fire Shield (blue)

(Also considered: Emotion Hope, Otiluke's Resilient Sphere)
I'm really conflicted over this one. I've read that Otiluke's Resilient Sphere can be very useful for getting rid of a power house temporarily in a fight in HOF, but if they make a reflex save I wasted the spell, and it only targets one guy. Anyone have experience on if this spell is worth it?
As for Emotion Hope, I read in a HOF guide that it's +2 to saving throws may be worth it, but that doesn't seem worth it to me.
As for why two Fire shield spells, 1) They stack and BOTH give damage back to melee attackers, often as much or more then the damage they're giving you 2) The Fire/Cold resistance they give.

5th (5): Animate Dead, Greater Shadow Conjuration, Chaos, ?, ?

Spells I'm also considering here
-Lower Resistance (I'm VERY conflicted on this spell, it cuts SR in half, but SR CAN let enemies resist this spell, which makes it a lot less useful even with the half SR roll for this. Also only effects one target. Is Lower Resistance at all worth it? I've picked it all the times I play as a sorcerer, but I've like never used it, though I haven't gotten far in HOF the one time I tried)
-Dominate Person (-2 Will Save penalty, I read dominate is VERY good in HOF)
-Cone of Cold (A serious amount of cold damage, more then any other spell I'm considering, diversity of damage types is good. Not as good range as Sunfire however)
-Sunfire (never accidentally myself, no party to hit when soloing, lots of damage in normal mode, but on the drawback side there's better damaging fire spells at higher levels)

6th (5): Shades, Mass Haste, Chain Lightning, Acid Storm, ?
Spells I'm also considering here
-Trollish Fortitude (healing potions heal a pathetic amount for a 300+ HP character, what were they thinking? I can't always keep running to a healer to heal, and in battle this is a great way to recover while spell casting spells (instead of drinking potions every 5 seconds). Still, I'm wondering if this is a bad idea, since none of the sorcerer spell selections guides I've seen have ever even mentioned Trollish Fortitude)
-Disintegrate (Chance to instantly kill, though I have a similar thing with Finger of Death, but this works on undead. Is loot destroyed from Disintegrate?)

7th (4): Finger Of Death, Delayed Fireball, ?, ?

Spells I'm also considering
-Mordenkainen's Sword (never used this, because I've always thought a caster should be casting spells, not swinging a sword like a fighter, even if it is from a long range like an arrow. But I've seen so many people say this is a great spell, some even saying it's about your only way to kill Iyachtu Xvim because he rips through summons too fast, and someone even claimed none of the enemies resistances work against it, is this true?)
-Elemental Barrier (I'd really like to be able to get a +15 elemental resist boost, but I'm not sure if I can fit it in)
-Control Undead (Read it's like mass dominate for undead, but better. Still, not sure if there's enough undead for it to be worthwhile, is it?)
-Cacofiend (Summon lower demons, though I'm starting to lean against this, since after some experimenting it seems a max level sorcerer summons shades & shadow conjurations of the exact same creates as Cacafiend, but ones you can control)

8th (4): Mind Blank, Horrid Wilting, ?, ?

Spells I'm also considering
-Symbol of Hopelessness (I read everywhere that is a really good crowd control spell, though I've never used it, but I'll probably pick it)
-Summon Monster VIII (high level summons kick butt all game)
-Power Word Blind (I've read this is useful, I'm not really convinced that blinding everyone will help much though except 1) get archers to enter melee combat and 2) delay a wizard from casting an offensive spell for about the two seconds it takes to walk up to one of my summons or sorcerer)

9th (4): Wail of Banshee, Gate, Mass Dominate, ?

Spells I'm considering (my hardest choice)
-Summon Monster IX (Summons kick butt monsters all game, regardless of HOF mode or not, including the fire damage worm that hits multiple foes at once, and some other kickass monsters like a snow giant, and a greater werewolf. On the other hand, the monster I care most about, the fire worm, starts to become redundant late game at level 30, since I can summon fire damage Gle's whatever they're called with Shadow Conjurations and Shades, as well as Lightning damage demons)
-Executor's Eyes (4x the chance for my army of summon warriors to deal critical hits. Do most (or any?) enemies in HOF have such high AC that you NEED a critical hit to hit them? Also is it worth taking this feat to power up the rest of my summons? Or should I go for more summoning heavy weight firepower that I can actually control, unlike the demons I gate in)
-Meteor Storm (I've read this will always hit and do at least some damage, while delayed fireball can get resisted, still I'm really leaning against this, since monsters have too much HP in HOF for it to be worth much)

Well that's it, any advise on spell selection for a sorcerer to go from normal to HOF difficulty would be welcome.

[MasterDarkNinja]

Ok, I did some more research on some of my questions, so I'm posting the answers here for anyone finding this with a google search or whatever.

Lower Resistance
A description of how Spell Resistance Works.

However, even if we have spell resistance, it's not at all certain that it
is high enough to repel the spells thrown at us. The way it works, a d20 is
rolled and enemy caster level added to the roll. If the figure is lower than
your spell resistance, the spell is resisted, otherwise not. Noting that both
DG and Drow start at SR 12, a first-level caster would have to roll at least
twelve on a d20, giving us 55% chance to resist. Quite conveniently, enemy
spell caster levels will be mostly similar to ours, meaning that during the
course of the game, about 50% of the spells thrown at us will be resisted
completely. Finally, when party's Cleric reaches a high enough level to cast
the spell "Holy Aura", it gives a flat +25 increase on to everyone's SR -
raising the effective SR to well beyond what could be needed to resist almost
any spell.

So do a bit of math.
-Max Spell Resistance allowed is 50 (from what I read).
-Max caster level is 30
So, assume a HOF monster has 50 SR, when my level 30 caster casts a spell I have a D20 + 30 chance of beating their Spell Resistance, which means at best I tie (I assume a roll of 20 always hits just like critical hits), so I have a 5% chance of my spell working.
On the other hand, with lower resist, their 50 SR becomes 25, so my D20 + 30 roll will ALWAYS work (unless I roll a 1 I assume).
Lower Resist will take away up to 15 spell resist for 20 rounds (it takes 1 point each 2 caster levels).
So instead we need to beat a roll of 35 now, which we have a 75% chance of doing, or a 95% chance if we use another lower resistance.

Also, a list of some enemies that have high spell resistance.

Noting that enemies have either no spell resistance at all (a vast majority
of them) or they have a very high resistance (Chahopek, monks in the monk
chambers, Slayer Knights of Xvim etc), the Spell Penetration feat is actually
a minus rather than a bonus, as it'll only make our own party hurt more. For
those rare occurrences where it becomes important to drop someone's spell
resistance, it's just plain easier to use the Lower Resist spell repeatedly
while keeping the own party better protected from own spells. Or just bombard
the enemy with spells that don't allow for spell resistance, such as Skull
Trap or Horrid Wilting. Even HOF Slayer Knight of Xvim squeals in pain after
having popped a dozen Skull Traps, believe me.

One other side note, some spells (seem to be a small number though) aren't effected by lower resist.

There's one catch to SR, though. It won't work against some area effect
spells. (I still don't know why.) Most notably, Horrid Wilting is not
resistible, nor is Meteor Shower or Cone of Cold. However, all the fire-based
spells I've tried seemed to be resistible. This is especially important to
know if we're ever going to consider the possibility of blasting our own
group as a last ditch attempt to kill monsters that have surrounded us - use
a fireball or some such. Even more so when considering the use of a dedicated
decoy that will be bombarded by everyone else.

Edit: I have an update on this. I noticed a polearm, Twelve Paces, that gives 3 lower resists a day, so I did some experimenting. At level 30 with 41 spell resistance the weapon took away 19 spell resistance from me, NOT 15 like I expected.

I then rested to regain my 41 natural spell resistance, used Lower Resist that my sorcerer had learned and my spell resistance was brought from 41 down to 0! So it appears that the lower resistance description is WRONG then. Maybe it takes 2 spell resist points away a level instead of 1 every 2 levels?

Oh and I tried with twelve paces using lower resist on myself two and three times in a row. While the first use of twelve pace reduced my spell resistance, the second and third uses had ZERO effect, so I assume it DOES NOT pay to use a second lower resist on anyone, unless they resisted the lower resist spell the first time.

Executionor's Eyes
About monsters AC in HOF

Fortunately, monster AC's don't really go up that much on HOF. Yes, you'll
occasionally run into monsters that are annoyingly hard to hit, but for the
most part, even your pathetic Mages will probably be able to hit atleast twice
a round at level 30.

The basic consequence of this is that in many cases, you can start getting
Power Attack for everyone who can use it and maxing out the value for +5
damage. Of course, you might not want too many people melee-ing, as it's hard
to protect that many characters. This also means that you should be less
worried about keeping Rapid Shot on at all times.

It also means that, for the most part, you should start preferring items that
do more damage over items that can hit better. A good example of this is
Scales of Justice, a special HOF mode Axe that lets you switch into different
"modes" - in one mode you can have +5 accuracy and +5 damage, in another you
can have +10 damage. In most cases, keeping the +10 damage mode active is
probably the best idea, as you're already probably going to be hitting every
single one of your attacks.

This means that you don't NEED Executioner's Eyes most of the time to actually hit most enemies in HOF, but the extra damage from all those extra critical hits can still really help out. Also, just to note, this spell only lasts for 10 rounds.

Links to my sources for those interested.
http://www.gamefaqs.com/pc/552350-icewi ... faqs/55200
http://www.gamefaqs.com/pc/552350-icewi ... faqs/28063

So, after all this reading here's how I resolved my spell picking decisions.
1st (7): Magic Missle, Shield, Mage Armor, Chromatic Orb, Grease, Burning Hands, Protection From Evil
2nd (7): Mirror Image, Blur, Melf's Acid Arrow, See Invisibility, Eagle's Splendor, Knock, Bull's Strength
3rd (6): Skull Trap, Magic Circle Against Evil, Slow, Blink, Flame Arrow, Haste
4th (6): Shadow Conjuration, Stoneskin, Malison, Improved Invisibility, Fire Shield (red), Fire Shield (blue)
5th (5): Animate Dead, Greater Shadow Conjuration, Chaos, Cone of Cold, Lower Resistance
(decided there just wasn't room for Dominate Person, despite the nice -2 to saves bonus, since it does only effect 1 target)
6th (5): Shades, Mass Haste, Acid Storm, Chain Lightning, Disintegrate
(decided I had to go with Disintegrate over trollish fortitude for a few reasons, 1) Works on the undead unlike finger of death, 2) -4 saving throw bonus with spell focus)
7th (4): Finger Of Death, Delayed Fireball, Mordenkainen's Sword, Elemental Barrier
(Decided control undead wasn't worth it since most of them are enough of a push over anyway, and I can just hit and run disintegrate when they are tough)
8th (4): Mind Blank, Symbol of Hopelessness, Horrid Wilting, Summon Monster VIII
9th (4): Wail of Banshee, Gate, Mass Dominate, ? (leaning towards Executioners Eyes over Summon Monster IX)
(I'm thinking 1) I already have a kick butt level 9 summoning with Gate, 2) Executioner's Eyes can keep my other summons alive longer, by taking enemy monsters out sooner)

[kmonster]

You don't need mage armor, you have shield, you don't need haste, you have mass haste. You don't need both protection from evil and magic circle against evil. Emotion: Hope is worth taking for the HP and damage bonus, definitely more useful than malison. Since your enemies get 50 percent outright miss chance with improved invisibility there's no need to give them 20 with blur.

But that the game will be too easy if you make perfect decisions anyway, so just start playing and have fun.

[MasterDarkNinja]

Slight update to this after coming back to continue my sorcerer solo months later.

1) After some experimenting I have to agree, Mage Armor is rather useless. It looks like it's only adding 1 AC to my character, while Shield adds 4, and blocks magic missiles. The only plus is that Mage Armor works for a really long time. So yeah, dropping Mage Armor for Summon Monster I next time.

2) Realized after starting the game that you're right about Haste and Mass Haste, I was thinking Baldur's Gate 2 with Haste and Improved Haste being different. Also, I just realized that one HOF weapon makes you always hasted, so that makes the individual haste useless.

3) Where does it say that Improved Invisibility gives a 50% chance of missing? There's nothing in the description about even a chance to hit penalty to enemies THACO once you've made yourself known.

4) Protection From Evil and Magic Circle Against Evil are both necessary for a few reasons.
4a) Long term, I have far more useful Level 3 spells then Level 1 spells to cast, so it may be more economical at times to just cast a level 1 spell three times then to cast a level 3 spell once.
4b) Most often when I'm summoning Demons I don't have any other summons to protect from the demons, hence it would be wasteful to use magic circle against evil on just myself.

Don't know about you and others, but most often when I summon demons it's either entering a new map with swarms of enemies right next to me, or against a powerful foe like a Golem that my other summons can't put much of a real dent in before they're killed in a few seconds.