GameBanshee Forums

As a regular EverQuest player, I am used to relying on stat and resist-buffing on a regular basis, so when in BG, I would do the same (especially since I didn't know what encounters lay before me, as a 1st-time player). I was wondering how various folks do it?

Personally, I would use the following long-duration spells:

1. cast stone/ironskin, if still available.
2. rest
3a. Divine casters buff all party members with Chaotic Commands (vital), Prot/evil 10' radius, and death ward (rarely useful).
3b. Arcane casters buff varied folks with spirit armor (for the magic save plusses if nothing else), strength, resist fire for front-liners; Kensai-mage blurred.
3c. Girdle of Fortitude used.

That whole process probably took about 1-2 minutes, but as mentioned, I am used to waiting for buffs before adventuring in other RPGs, so I didn't mind.

that would be a correct order to buff, but if you dothis just after "waking", chances are most of your spells will wear off before you even encounter an ennemy.

What I usually do is cast the very long spells right after resting, and when a fight starts, I cast other spells I could need depending of the situatioon and of my opponent.

For me, a spell with 1 turn/level usually lasted long enough to make it to the next rest period. All of those spells are 1 turn/level, except for the spirit armor (10 turns), and blur (which my main character had in abundance - I think he had 5 memorised). If I knew that I was going to stay in a particular zone, I might summon up a druidic fire elemental and a skellie warrior or 2, since they last forever. (*** edit: note that that was not true at the beginning of BG - but by the time I was at about 12th level, I was pretty set)

I rarely buff(ed) at all - not even on my first play through the game. (mostly only via potions, if I "buffed" my characters)

If I failed a fight (protagonist) died or I didn't have any means of resurecting, I would reload and possible buff some, but I never had many buffing spells memorized on neither arcane nor divine casters.

Chaotic command was the exception but that was only against specific enemies.

I buff up my mage PC with haste, stoneskin, mirrorimage, blurr, spellturning, prot. from normal weapons (seldom tough), globe of invunerability and sometimes with holypower (sorry can´t remember the correct name of the spell, anyway when u cast it all priest spells will be disabled).
I also buff Haerdalis he can make an exceptional figther since he can cast all the arcane self spells that no other fighter has access to
Imoen is usually buffed with same spells as PC

Well

Kazaad, Fo7, Nine, BSS, VoQ and VQ and you're pretty much good to go for most fights - no, wait wrong game

Stoneskins, Ironskins, and armor are about the only spell buffs that lost long enough to keep up all the time (though that girdle of fortitude effect does, too). The others need to be applied fairly shortly before combat. Ironskins on a fighter/druid or druid/ranger who's tanking should probably mostly be reserved for heavier fights. You'll want to preload your triggers & contingencies, also, as you get to level for them.

Remember, spell casting is much more restricted in D&D based games than in mana-pool games like EQ, so for most fights, you'll have only a few buffs - scouting with an invisible character is very relevant to try to asses the hazards ahead, but don't forget that here, too, some things see through Invisibility - though only innate see invis will permit a non-detected hidden rogue/ranger.

Depending on your party, you may mostly be having your spellcasters in support, offensive or counter-caster roles.

Have fun!

If you really want to scout, get a Cat

Bah. If you really want to scout, use the SotM . Imoen becomes an unreal scout starting in chapter - err - whichever that is - 4? 5?

Death Ward can be REALLY useful, particularly against the likes of beholders with their death spell type thing. Remove Fear (Cleric lvl1) has a protective effect which I find indispensible. Nothing more annoying than your characters running around like headless chickens setting off traps and dropping items all over the shop.

I often wait till the action starts before buffing, and never use all the protection buffs at once because enemy casters have a nasty habit of removing your spell protections. If they're doing that, it can be your only chance to get in there and disrupt their casting, so it depends on the situation.

It's great when you get those boots in ToB that allow fighters to cast Stoneskin!

I try to make sure that my mages always have stoneskins active. The spell lasts for 12 hours, so there is no reason to not have it active always. Once you have stoneskin active, it should prevent casting failures at the beginning of a fight, allowing you to buff further once enemies are encountered.

Animate dead/Invisible stalkers I will cast whenever I enter a large area that I think will have a lot of enemies. They last for 8 hours, so no harm in bringing them out early. One of the greatest benefits of a single-classed cleric, mage, or a bard, is that they hit level 15 fairly quickly, at which point the animate dead spell will summon forth a skeleton warrior, strong, magic resistant, and capable of hitting almost any foe. Seen one do a critical hit on an adamantite golem for 32HP damage, not bad at all! And it's only a level 3 cleric spell to boot! It's a level 5 spell for a mage, but still is very much worth it, and it truly renders those level 5 elemental summoning spells useless (truly a relief, as I don't like sitting around for 3 rounds waiting for my mage to finish "mental combat" with the elemental, who sticks around for only a couple of minutes after that). Now, if only the A.I. would make the skeletons walk *in front* of the party while we travel the map, it would be great! The cannon fodder at the front, I say!

Any party member who has strength below 18 and will be using melee/thrown weapons, I will cast strength upon. The spell lasts for quite some time, and since I usually have at least 3 arcane spellcasters in my party, it's not a problem to memorize a few of those.

Blur/mirror image I will have my fighter mage using a lot, when he goes to melee. His AC is already very low due to the bracers AC 3 and dexterity bonus, and when combined with those spells and stoneskin, he's a tank in the true sense of the word. He can hold the enemies back and distract them, keeping other spellcasters safe, deal massive damage in melee, and, since he is nearly unhittable, he can do a bit more spellcasting while the enemy tries in vain to hit him.

I am now setting up minor spell triggers on my mages with blur + mirror image. These can be cast at will with no risk of a casting failure, and once they're up, it's unlikely that they will be hit by any phsyical attack while casting during the next couple of rounds. I'm probably the only one who didn't realize this until yesterday, blur improves saving throws! The spell description mentions that it makes it more difficult for offensive spells to target you, but it didn't specifically mention saving throws... oh well.

Bless + Chant could be combined in a minor spell trigger also, if you have a cleric/mage in your party. Allows you to get both of those short-duration spells fired off at once, and frees the character up more quickly so that they can cast some offensive/summoning spells, or more defensive/buffing spells if need be. I only use the trigger for really tough fights though, since I generally don't mind tying up my clerics with spellcasting, since fighting isn't what I have them there for.

Negative plane protection: Cast this on your tanks if they will be going toe to toe with vampires or other level-draining llamas. Not necessary if they have an item that prevents level drain, but there's only 2 in SoA that I know of, the amulet of power (only usable by spellcasters), and the improved mace of disruption. This spell doesn't last long, so you really need to wait until the buttheads are in sight before you cast it, as it's very irritating if the spell expires while you are still fighting them!

Haste is only good if you want to rest after every battle, as the characters will become fatigued afterwards. Improved haste will not fatigue them, but only affects 1 member, so is less useful. Hasting your summoned creatures might be effective though, but I haven't tried.

Spell immunity: Abjuration is good against buttheads who use the imprisonment spell. Immunity: Necromancy could be useful as well, for mages who have poor saving throws. I need to experiment more with spell immunity, I've not used it much since most mages seem to be too busy making circles around themselves to attack me with spells.

All of those other protections from spells and such I haven't used much, as my playing style has always been conservative, trying to rest as little as possible, and using those higher level spell slots for monster summoning spells seemed more attractive. I'll have to go and experiment!

Can't think of any other buffing I use. Protection from normal weapons is useless IMO, since any enemy worth buffing against uses magical weapons (except the Bhall in your dream sequence, it seems). Protection from magical weapons might be useful for a fighter/mage though. Time to test!

Edit: Oh yes, I forgot. I always have prot from evil 10' radius cast. Long duration, and it's a "cheap" spell, meaning that it's of a fairly low level and not on the same level as other useful spells I'd want to use. Chaotic commands I haven't used as much as I should, because it's "expensive". The AD&D system of spell memorization has caused me to compare the usage of spells with spending money! I really prefer the sorcerer's way of doing it. Set number of spells per level, saves headaches and messing around, but oh well...

Not keen on prebuffing unless people are dying too fast, also a majority of mages will use light breach like spells and the like.

The ones I do use are stone skins/Iron Skins right before I rest (if there's a memorised one available) usually I have Wonderous Recall for Druids so I can get a clean Iron Skin for tommorrow but I only ever have one Stone Skin spell memorised for mages.

The only other spells I might use are Melf's Minute Meteors and Protection from Evil. Often I like to use Protection from fear at the start of a battle since that seems much "cleaner".

Truth be told I don't like Contingencies or many protection spells.

It's easy to prebuff when you know what lies ahead of you. If you haven't played before or consulted a walkthrough, knowing wne to prebuff becomes a fine art. That said, I do prebuff, especially long-lasting spells. Dates from my time in Gemstone III, when I always had a range of self-cast and wand-cast prebuffs that were going constantly.