Most powerfull spells hardly used...

southafrica · Post by **southafrica** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 7:07 am

I have played many a sorc, and cleric but have recently discovered that my druid possesses one of the most powerful spells available... Nature's Beauty...
Oh, bunch of spell casters huddled together, no need to waste all those 9th level spells, my druid (with boots of speed) runs in casts a quick natures beauty then can dispatch them with ease...

Anyone else have similar under-used but powerful spells?

-SA

Ravager · Post by **Ravager** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 7:10 am

It depends on what you'd really consider a rarely used spell. I know after I played through BGI (Which was after I went through BGII) I used the Hopelessness spell a lot more, rather than just filling the 4th level slots with Stoneskins.
I know it doesn't really compare with 7th+ level spells, but it still had great effect in both BGI and BGII.

One of my favourites was Abi Dalzim's Wilting Horror, any area-effect spell that could be cast with the party firmly in the centre, only damaging enemies is very useful.

Berethor · Post by **Berethor** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 7:11 am

I rarely ever used spells. Imoen had 3 lvl 9 spell slots available but they were all filled with that amazing spell dragons breath. I usually kept my casting to a minimum only casting one druid spell, INSCECT PLAGUE

so to answer you, yeah, there are LOTS.

I never even tried natures beautey

southafrica · Post by **southafrica** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 7:26 am

Abi Dalzim's Wilting Horror is definitely a mainstay spell, as it is one of the most useful 8th level spells... haven't used hopelessness, have to give that one a shoot when I get immy back...

-SA

Call lightning is so frightening outside that it is actually worth memorizing...

Berethor · Post by **Berethor** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 7:31 am

Abi Dazims Horrid Wilting was one of my main spells, same with improved alcrity which i used once in a while to cast many of the Wilting spells quick.

dragon wench · Post by **dragon wench** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 9:09 am

Horrid Wilting is indeed devastating...
I have it stored times three in my mage's Chain Contingency. This, followed by Comet and Dragon's breath tends to obliterate large groups of enemies quite effectively

It is also rather helpful when cast during Time Stop

But...more on topic

I recently tried Nature's Beauty for the first time, and I was somewhat amazed at just how nasty it is. Equally, I have used True Sight a lot in this present game. I hadn't realised just how much easier it can make a battle when there are lots of enemy mages around.

Ravager · Post by **Ravager** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 4:22 pm

[QUOTE=dragon wench]I hadn't realised just how much easier it can make a battle when there are lots of enemy mages around.[/QUOTE]

I agree, though I prefer to get Keldorn to use it, as it casts much more quickly and doesn't use up spell slots.

Sphere of Chaos can certainly be an interesting, rarely used spell, though it has equal effects on your own party IIRC.

UserUnfriendly · Post by **UserUnfriendly** » Wed Oct 12, 2005 1:09 am

nature's beauty is one of the less known, but still incredibly effective spells. blinding all enemies with no save is nasty...effectively turns spell casters useless...less effective against melee, because when blind, your sight range diminishes to a few feet, so melee monsters can still attack if you're close enough. try it with a mislead character, and you will be amazed...

my sorceror loves it...

(I know its druid only...i cheat...a lot)

another rarely used spell is spook...try it on your next dragon...

Sytze · Post by **Sytze** » Wed Oct 12, 2005 2:35 am

Truth be told, I barely use it either. There are so many great level 7 and Quest spells, that it's hard to choose. I'm a big fan of both Greater Restoration and Storm of Vengeance, so assigning a slot to Nature's Beauty calls for a lot of restrain from myself.

VonDondu · Post by **VonDondu** » Wed Oct 12, 2005 4:05 am

[QUOTE=UserUnfriendly]another rarely used spell is spook...try it on your next dragon...

[/QUOTE]
I've been recommending Spook to everybody for years. I usually precede it with Glitterdust (which inflicts -4 to all saving throws for 4 rounds), which makes the enemy less likely to save.

Glitterdust, Hold Person, and Emotion, while not in the same league as Dragon's Breath and Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting, are great spells to use at lower levels against enemy parties such as the tollkeepers in the Sewers, the group in the Guarded Compound, and Improved Mae'Var, whom I fight long before my party can cast 9th Level or 7th Level spells. Those three spells give characters like Keto something to do besides shooting bolts from a crossbow.

Sytze · Post by **Sytze** » Wed Oct 12, 2005 10:53 am

[QUOTE=VonDondu]Glitterdust, Hold Person, and Emotion, while not in the same league as Dragon's Breath and Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting, are great spells to use at lower levels against enemy parties such as the tollkeepers in the Sewers, the group in the Guarded Compound, and Improved Mae'Var, whom I fight long before my party can cast 9th Level or 7th Level spells.[/QUOTE]
When travelling with at least one or two mages and one cleric, I love casting Greater Malison, followed by Glitterdust, and then spells as Teleport Field, Holy Smite, Emotion and even Slow.
At higher levels that's still how I start battles (quite deadly when combined with Timestop and Improved Alacrity): GM, GD, Slow, TF, Remove Magic and then I slowly work my way to the higher mage levels.

Deadalready · Post by **Deadalready** » Wed Oct 12, 2005 11:00 am

My favourite spells underdog spells are:

Vampiric Touch - Great way to heal while soloing, and can counter high level wizards and their powerword kill/stun spells! Can also be cast on doors and chests.

Farsight - THE BEST way of using project image, don't give me that Wizard Eye garbage, if your wizard eye gets dispelled or killed you can't cast another one until it's spell duration runs out(!?!). Additionally it doesn't take a summoning limit and you can cast it anywhere on map.

Clairvoyance - Saves time exploring, use it as a scroll when you enter a new outside map like Windspear Hills.

Sunfire - Soloer's Dream spell that basically hits anything around you with massive fire damage. Kills anything really damn fast and can interupt Lich spells (though not damage them).

Phantom Edge - Cast this spell and use a potion of haste then charge into a group of undead and watch this sword cut them to ribbons. Unbelievably powerful when used against liches. Great when used with a scroll of Undead Protection to save time and spells.

Pierce Magic - Remove one spell protection of any level and reduce enemy resistances, it doesn't cause dragons to go hostile either

Imprison - Kill any golem, greater wolfwere or any other high level non item dropping monster instantly. If it's used with a Illithid charm you can actually Imprison a monster, free him and then Imprison them again without them going hostile

Teleport Field - Will not affect party members but will constantly teleport any enemies randomly around for duration of spell. The trick to this spell is in the fact no one will be able to hit your mage with a melee weapon untill it runs out.

Here's some of my absolutely loved spells, there's more but I'd have to consult the manual to remember the others.

CFM · Post by **CFM** » Wed Oct 12, 2005 11:49 am

The never-hear-much-about-but-always-used spell for me was Simulacrum.

I'd put the once-per-day items in Imoen's quick item slots, like that Golem Manual and Horn of Valhalla and Efreeti Bottle, and have her cast Simulacrum. Copy Imoen would use the quick items, with Real Imoen safe and not having to use up any charges... Better part of valor!

Using the Simulacrum ability via that Helm of Vhailor was pretty cool, too. Having 2 Keldorns running around, each with a Carsomyr... Butt-kicking for goodness!

Ravager · Post by **Ravager** » Wed Oct 12, 2005 12:00 pm

I also liked to use Khelben's Warding Whip, not the most obvious of powerful dispelling spells, but potentially very useful.

SP101 · Post by **SP101** » Wed Oct 12, 2005 5:24 pm

[QUOTE=VonDondu]I've been recommending Spook to everybody for years. I usually precede it with Glitterdust (which inflicts -4 to all saving throws for 4 rounds), which makes the enemy less likely to save.[/QUOTE]

Wow... pretty impressive!

Glitterdust & Spook : This combination gives awsomes results against the adventurers of the Den of the Seven Vales and the Sewer Party.

- Spook is a MUST. Fear on 1 opponent, unless a saving throw is made at -6 (!!!) is pretty scary (bad pun, I know).

- Glitterdust : I use this one mainly to make enemies easier to take-out via area of effects spells (Fireball, etc.) and for the blinding effect (useful mainly against mages and archers).

Berethor · Post by **Berethor** » Wed Oct 12, 2005 5:55 pm

I think thats a good spell. I also like firing multiple skull traps into a qroup of enemies in a sequencer and just watching them fall. I think I overused holy smite in my game, i had all of my level 3 priest spells with aerie stuffed with it. i dont know if others use it.

the one i hardly ever use but is good is comet. it takes too long to cast, so my casters have time to get hit. i also didnt like timestop a whole lot, though it does go good with certaiin spells(improved alcrity, dragons breath, power word, kill etc.)

Deadalready · Post by **Deadalready** » Wed Oct 12, 2005 8:56 pm

Khelbens Warding Whip is a nice spell to load up on people because it can activate and destroy people's contingency spells, that's always a plus.

One of my more favourite spells is the level 1 mage spell Armour, this spell doesn't seem like much, but at the start of the game when your mages can't afford to wear bling items like the Robe of Venca or Archmagi this spell will boost their armour a huge amount. Add to this the spell lasts such a long time it won't need recasting until the party sleeps.

UserUnfriendly · Post by **UserUnfriendly** » Wed Oct 12, 2005 9:51 pm

[QUOTE=CFM]The never-hear-much-about-but-always-used spell for me was Simulacrum.

I'd put the once-per-day items in Imoen's quick item slots, like that Golem Manual and Horn of Valhalla and Efreeti Bottle, and have her cast Simulacrum. Copy Imoen would use the quick items, with Real Imoen safe and not having to use up any charges... Better part of valor!

Using the Simulacrum ability via that Helm of Vhailor was pretty cool, too. Having 2 Keldorns running around, each with a Carsomyr... Butt-kicking for goodness![/QUOTE]

try it with a restoration spell...the simmy gets ALL the levels, thaco and bonuses of the original.

try a kensai mage or kensai thief with the helm(use any item) for a truely devistating assistant...or have a project image cast multiple simmys for a small nasty army of super kensai mages...

sunfire...try this for fun...with a sorc or mage, try sunfire+delay blast fireball+delay blast fireball in a chain contingency, trigger on SELF...the sunfire makes you invulnerable to fire for a few seconds, and the resulting multiple blasts will hurt liches who are immune to sunfire...

Berethor · Post by **Berethor** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 5:05 am

[QUOTE=Deadalready]Khelbens Warding Whip is a nice spell to load up on people because it can activate and destroy people's contingency spells, that's always a plus.[/QUOTE]

I protection per round dispelled is pretty useful, it can save up your spell slots from you having to fill it up with breaches and pierce magics.

Of course the better spell would be the level 9 spell pierce magic which removes ALL spell protections.

But the warding whip is definatl a good spell, especially against liched who load themselves with protections.

CFM · Post by **CFM** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 11:21 am

[QUOTE=UserUnfriendly]try it with a restoration spell...the simmy gets ALL the levels, thaco and bonuses of the original.

try a kensai mage or kensai thief with the helm(use any item) for a truely devistating assistant...or have a project image cast multiple simmys for a small nasty army of super kensai mages...

sunfire...try this for fun...with a sorc or mage, try sunfire+delay blast fireball+delay blast fireball in a chain contingency, trigger on SELF...the sunfire makes you invulnerable to fire for a few seconds, and the resulting multiple blasts will hurt liches who are immune to sunfire...

[/QUOTE]
You are the Alpha and the Omega.

I seek apprenticeship with Darth Gizka.

This thread illustrates one of the greatnesses of BG: the amount of useful spells and abilities (and amount of imaginative combinations) is unrivaled, at least in any game I've heard of. It would almost be more of a challenge to mention a spell that is *not* useful under any circumstance.

Holy Smite is also a favorite of mine that I don't hear much about. Probably the one spell I found myself wishing I had in BG1 (besides Stone/Ironskin).

If there were any more games out there like BG, I'd miss breakfast lunch AND dinner!