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Am jsut getting back into the game again and was wondering what spell combinations people used before going into battle or confronting enemies, I've been using defensive harmony and Bless a fair bit but wondered if I was missing something obvious????

stoneskin, barkskin, divine might etc. are useful too if you have characters that can cast them. so is protection from fear.

against undead make sure you use negative plane protection too.

Two standard issue spells are chaotic commands and remove fear. Chaotic commands protects against chaos and charm, and is very important. If Minsc starts slamming Aerie with Crom Faeyr, you might as well reload. There are spells to undo charm and chaos, but they rarely work. Some specific protections are needed against specific creatures:

1/ vampires: as mr sir said, use negative plane protection to prevent level draining
2/ liches: use death ward, because liches might use death magic
3/ dragons: use a protection specific to the type of damage the dragon does, like protection from fire for fire dragons
4/ creatures liches may cast up: use protection from evil

Your crew will always fight better when hasted, so you might want to use that.

SPOILERS





When you fight Irenicus at the Tree of Life, he tends to use spells like Horrid Wilting, which kills weaker party members. Counter this with mage spells like Protection from Magical Energy. Mages have a few good protection spells.

Prot of Evil 10' has a good duration, with some good benefits vs. evil foes. Haste, while fatiguing, is powerful. Draw upon Holy Might is amazing at higher levels. Chant is another with a decent duration, but I've never really noticed it doing anything.

And don't forget Stoneskin. It's a must for all mages, and lasts a long time. Druids get Ironskin for the same purpose.

Duration is important to me. I don't use Bless, or Neg plane protection, because they wear off halfway through the battle.

The better priest spells, starting with level 1:
1-Armor of Faith* and Remove Fear.
2-Draw Upon Holy Might*.
4-Death Ward*, Free Action and Prot. From Evil.
5-Chaotic Commands*, Ironskin (when playing a Druid) and Righteous Magic*.
6-Blade Barrier*.

*These are, in my opinion, the most powerful spells a cleric has to his disposal. Personally, I'm a big fan of Chaotic Commands and Righteous Magic. When I'm travelling with Anomen, he never enters battle without these spells activated.

Ever since Immy by accident wiped a whole lair of vampires I've been loving the combination of stoneskin+mirror image+fireshield, which will let most non-overpowered meleefighters dig their own graves.

As most people have said, it's really a question of what you're fighting. There are some keepers that are usefull in almost every combat, like for example remove fear. Whether you're fighting dragons or demons, you can be sure that some of you party members will get cold feets and run away. remove fear is a level1-spell which benefits the whole party, and there are lots of creatures which will frighten you.

I tend to use the following against pretty much everything, or when I'm unsure what they usefully do.

Pro-fear
Stoneskin/Ironskin
Mirror Image
Fireshield
Bless
Haste (in case some of your fighters doesn't have the boots)

Then, depending on what I'm fighting I usually go with some additional prebuffs, like Chaotic Comands, True Sight and Mass Invisibility+Non-Detection against your regular evil wizard.

Play in order

When I played this game I made a list of defensive and offensive spells I used before heading into a battle. To ensure maximum use of rounds for these spells I put them in a numbered order of casting.
1. Barkskin, Death Ward, Blur, Resist Fear, Stoneskin
2. Protection from Fire/Cold/Electricity/Magic, Mirror Image, Haste, Improved Invisibility
3. Aid, Sanctuary, Chant, Strength of One
4. Defensive Harmony and Bless

You're party may not be able to cast all these spells but cast them in this order so that most of these will last through most of the battle. If you can, try to setup your spellbooks and scrolls so that you'll be able to cast these spells in less than five or six rounds. That way you won't waste precious time before the battle.
There are of course more spells than these low level ones so pay attention to what they effect and how long they last to maximize there use.

J

My usual set of spells is actually usually cleric based, depending on the situation. Something like:

Protection from Fear
Protection from Evil 10' Radius
Draw Upon Holy Might
Chant
Defensive Harmony
True Sight

and then Haste from my mage. Anyone else who can cast Draw Upon Holy Might usually does. Chaotic Commands comes out against vampires, illithid, and anything else that uses confusion or charm attacks.

In general, I avoid Negative Plain Protection due to its duration. I much prefer to send in one or two or three characters with items that give them NPP rather than worry about the spell running out. Of course, having a cleric with one of those turn undead at a high level is nice too, as they can chunk even liches or at least make them afraid.

Just cast everything you have, and _can_. In this sense its kinda hard to tell something, since it depends from the party level.

And since best defence is offence
improved haste, improved invisibility and projected image are the best buff spells, if my memory serves me well.

best vs vampires is the mace of destruction

Edit: Ops, by cast everything i mean everything obvious, ie giving you or, better, the whole party boni to damage, saves or AC. Chaotic commands for example is not such a thing i think.

I have found that mislead + non-detection works increadibly well, invisible, nigh on invulnerable, difficult to detect.

Just throw a whole lot of Horrid Wilting at them.