Schools of Magic and priest Spheres
Every spell belongs to (at least) one School of Magic. Although priests have no
Schools system (they have Spheres), their spells are still treated as if
belonging to a particular School.
The School a spell belongs to has virtually no effect on the game. Various creatures have immunity to a certain School in the PnP game. In BGII, they get their protections through resistance scores and the immunity items listed in the appendix.
Level
Spells are implemented up to level 20 in BGII. Spells that level up will not
increase in effectiveness after that, even if their description does not
mention they are capped.
Range
The manual and in-game spell descriptions measure spell ranges in feet and
yards. Scripts measure ranges in search squares. The description of area
radius is mostly incorrect. The proper radius in search squares has been
included in the spell lists in this document. Most spells can be cast from a
range 1 further than indicated here if you manually place the caster at exactly
that range.
1 search square = 1 yard (or so it seems).
Range Touch is 2. Attack spells with touch range pose great threat to frail spellcasters. Pure wizards should avoid going toe to toe with enemies at all costs, unless heavily protected. Priests suffer far less from this issue, having much better Hit Points and armor.
The maximum viewing distance is 27, which is extremely limited. Spells that have range Sight are cast at 26 by default. Spells that have really big ranges (over, say, 20 yards) can still not be cast beyond sight range. The limited sight radius means all encounters start out pretty close, something mages can have trouble dealing with.
Duration
Combats tend to be so drastic and short that most spells easily outlast a
fight. Some spells have such incredibly long durations that they last
practically all day. Scripting these spells to be cast immediately after
resting may save you the trouble and prevent you from forgetting about them.
Casting time
Low casting times are preferable for several obvious reasons with less obvious
consequences:
Area of Effect
Area spells can be a threat to the party as well since you cannot cast them at
really distant enemies. Enemy AI can't handle them; just watch how often they
Fireball their own.
Saving throws
BGII is full of dangerous, high-level creatures that have very low saving
throws. Accordingly, "save-or-else" spells tend to lose their shine when you
are faced with anything worth throwing spells at.
The more dangerous creatures tend to have saves of 5 or so, making about 3 out of 4 saving throws. Of course, you often need only one failed save, so do not discount these spells entirely.
Spells that penalize saving throws or still do something to an enemy that makes its save suffer slightly less from this drawback. Area spells are also slightly more effective (especially the stationary ones), as the chances of at least one enemy failing the save are much better.
Magic resistance
As if saving throws were not enough, plenty of the more dangerous creatures
also have magic resistance, which denotes a percentage chance for each spell
cast at the creature to fail to affect it. This works differently from damage
resistance (including the confusingly named magic damage resistance),
which will always ignore a percentage of damage.
In AD&D, characters get one action every round (6 seconds). Besides moving about a little, you get to attack, cast a spell or do one other similar thing.
Some of this is treated differently in BG. There are three basic things you can do in a round, in any order you like:
As you can see, if you are quick about performing the spell-equivalent action, you can spend the remaining time on walking or attacking. The consequences of this are enormous, for spellcasters and warriors alike. Getting in a few hits in between spells (or a quick spell in between hits, depending how you look at it) is much better than simply standing around. Even simply moving to a better position on the battlefield beats doing nothing.
Melee attacks are regulated by Speed Factor. Walking up to an enemy to bash them usually gets you an end of round, resetting your initiative to take your Speed Factor into account. This means that bashing after casting is tricky, though still much better than just standing around. Melee oriented spellcasters do well to cast a quick spell after their last attack every round. Ranged attacks are immediate and not regulated by Speed Factor. This makes them especially suited for use in between castings.
This tactic may be a programming oversight; it is definitely not supposed to work like this in the PnP game. Hey, your enemies do this too (only they are not too good at it).
Some spell types need special introduction.
Area spells
These come in several "flavors" that affect their usefulness:
Party friendly: These spells do not affect party members (or summons). They can be cast up close without risk. The manual tends to leave "Does not affect the party" out of spell descriptions pretty often.
Cast area spells near enemies in the fog of war to make them suffer out of sight. They will often not respond. |
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Enemies cannot see stationary area spells. Cast these between yourself and your foes and watch them run straight through the area to get at you. Cast these near creatures in the fog of war and wait for them to perish. Have your magic resistant Skeleton Warriors lure enemies into the area of effect. |
Blindness
Blind creatures have their sight range reduced to about 3, enabling them to
target only those creatures immediately next to them. Especially effective on
ranged attackers and spellcasters. Keep your distance from Blinded enemies and
pepper them with ranged attacks; they will not give chase. Immunity to
blindness is extremely rare.
Charms
Charm Person (or Mammal), Dire Charm and (Mental) Domination do more than
simply taking one enemy out of the battle; they provide you with a nice
expendable friend. These spells are way better than regular save-or-else spells if
they work. Immunity to charm is very common.
This spell type is fatal to solo characters.
Clones
Mislead, Project Image and Simulacrum are some of the most powerful spells
available to wizards. These clones are the ultimate summons, probably due to a
glitch or programming oversight (they are certainly not supposed to work like
this in any PnP version of the game). They can win you every battle in the game
if used to anything near their full potential.
What clones can do depends on their type:
Clones get their own set of spells and can start casting immediately after being spawned. Cast every spell you have multiple times, especially summons (see below). They can also use all innate abilities you have at the moment of their creation (including abilities gained from Polymorph Self or Shapechange). Neither of the two can do anything useful with trigger spells. They can also not produce another copy of themselves, but can produce other types of clones.
Clones can use their own copies of the caster's items. Use the Staff of the Magi for multiple Fireball/Lightning combos or summon a dozen Fire Elementals with the Staff of Fire. Fill up your quick slots and use the same Scroll of Protection from Magic over and over again. Use the Ring of the Ram or Book of Infinite Spells several times per day. Wizard clones can use arcane scrolls. Send them into battle with a few scrolls of Time Stop and Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting for some fun. Have them Shapechange and enter melee, summon hordes of Mordekainen's Swords or cast multiple Power Word Blinds with the right stack of scrolls.
To extend the use of your short-lived clones, have them summon creatures that stick around for a good time, such as Skeleton Warriors or Invisible Stalkers. Have them cast their enhancement spells on you whenever possible.
Have your clones cast Farsight or Wizard Eye and you can blast your enemies into oblivion from a safe, remote distance.
Clones do not check the 5 creature summoning limit. They can summon any number of creatures. Creatures summoned by clones are not automatically unsummoned if the clone expires. Build up a huge army this way. |
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Clones do not check the 7 traps limit. Thief/Mages (or Thieves casting clone spells can carpet monster lairs with traps this way. |
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Second generation clones often start developing weird traits. The same goes for clones that were saved and reloaded. These clones tend to lose their names, get assigned a default soundset (often speaking inappropriate lines), and (this is where the cheese comes in) lose their restrictions. See individual clone descriptions for the effects this has. |
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Have a clone cast a trigger spell and switch to another party member before it's finished (you'll have to be quick in the case of contingencies; use the keyboard). The selected party member will now open their spellbook, enabling you to construct the contingency or sequencer for them instead of the clone. You can even have your clerics and druids set up contingencies or triggers this way. |
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If you order a clone to change into the Slayer, the protagonist changes instead. |
Contingencies
See Triggers.
Demons
Cacofiend, Summon Fiend and Gate all get you very nasty enemies if you
are not careful. These things will make a beeline for any party member they can
see, ignoring all other creatures in their path. Demons cannot see those that
are Protected from Evil. Possible tactics to make proper use of these things
are:
Besides the need for Protection from Evil 10' Radius, there is another reason to leave demon calling to Clerics. They may only get Gate, but they get it at the same time wizards get their first Cacofiend. Save your arcane spell slots for all those powerful spells Clerics never get.
All three demons are Race DEMONIC and Class TANARI. All are 50% magic resistant, have several immunities, and are unaffected by non- magical weapons at the very least. All of them have various spell-like abilities (varies per demon type). As they are gated instead of summoned, they are not affected by Death Spell and the like in the way summons are.
Demons do not get along and will attack anything, including other demons. Do not call more than one at a time. The demons are GOODBUTRED, which means they are not affected by party friendly area spells until after you attack them (even if they are attacking you).
You do not gain Experience for creatures killed by your demons, so be ready to deal the death blows.
If you have the needed Protection from Evil, beat up your demons when you no longer need them for some easy Experience. They will still not react to you. |
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You do not lose Reputation if your demons kill innocents. Some snotty nobles annoying you? Introduce them to Mr. Pit Fiend. |
Dispelling spells
Dispel Magic and Remove Magic have several advantages over the more specific
protection removal spells. Both of these spells will try to affect multiple
enchantments and are not limited to certain types of enchantment. They will
affect combat protections, spell protections, prep spells, and the effects of
potions and activated items. They will also destroy clones. (Minor) Globe of
Invulnerability is not affected.
The effectiveness of these spells is lessened by the fact that their chance of dispelling depends on your relative level. Most enemies will be of higher level than the party, greatly reducing the odds. Leave this to priests and Inquisitors if possible. Priests reach higher levels sooner than wizards, so their odds are slightly better. Inquisitors Dispel at twice their level (almost guaranteeing success), and get the ability for free anyway.
Blindness and deafness are un-dispellable. |
Elementals
Elementals summoned with the Conjure (Lesser) Air/Earth/Fire Elemental spells
are relatively powerful, have some good immunities, and last practically all
day. Do not be fooled by the names of these spells; the Elementals are still
summons and still vulnerable to Death Spell and Death Fog.
Wizards conjuring Elementals have to spend three rounds "staring down" the Elemental after it arrives. To say that this is inconvenient in the middle of combat is of course a gross understatement. You even run the risk of the thing turning hostile anyway. They are worth summoning only if you play a solo wizard; do not bother with these things if you have any kind of warrior in your party whatsoever. Druids get their own versions of these spells and do not suffer from the "cooling off" period. Elementals are actually their best summons.
Healing
Healing is always good. Although you can rest until healed, you may not
always want to do so. Rest may be interrupted, you may wish to get a speed
record, or maybe you just feel that camping out in the Shade Lord's dungeon or
leaving little sis Imoen in the clutches of Irenicus for another night somehow
is not right.
The Cure Wounds spells have seriously lost out on their usefulness since BG1. Gone are the days of having to search and fight for a spot to camp uninterrupted. BG2 also rather generously doles out stacks of Potions of Extra Healing, and two (rechargable) Rods of Resurrection. You could easily do without Cure Wounds spells.
Casting healing spells during combat is tricky; it wastes time that could have been spent preventing more damage (by taking out enemies or protecting the party). Use healing spells in combat only if it immediately saves lives or if you will heal more damage than your enemies will do in the round you spend casting.
Haste
Haste sort of doubles the speed at which you "live". While hasted, effects that
normally apply once per second now apply once per half second, and AI scripts
are executed every half second instead of every full second as well.
Hasted characters take continuous damage twice as often. Watch out for insect swarms, poison, disease and acid. |
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Hasted characters regenerate at twice normal rate. Combine three Regenerations with haste and regenerate 108 hit points per round. |
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Hasted characters protected by Blade Barrier or Globe of Blades deal damage every half round instead of every full round. |
Illusion removal
The usefulness of these spells (Detect Invisibility, Invisibility Purge, Detect
Illusion, Oracle and True Sight) starts out as very little (Detect Invisibility
does only that) and goes up to pretty useful (True Sight). This has more to do
with what illusions a particular spell will remove than anything else. Illusion
spells can be pretty annoying (though your enemies do not take full advantage
of the clone spells). You will probably need something like this, but not on a
very frequent basis. Just memorize a single copy of the highest level version
you have access to, or carry some scrolls. As with dispelling, leave this to
priests (preferably Inquisitors) if possible.
Invisible enemies tend not to be a big problem; most do not take full advantage of being unseen. Thieves will backstab and mages will get a chance to cast uninterrupted. If you can deal with the consequences (Stoneskins foil backstabs, various immunities protect you from the uninterrupted spells), you do not need to deal with invisibility ever.
Invisibility
Not being seen has some pretty obvious uses in scouting. It is also good for
setting up for first strike in combat if you can get the entire party
invisible. Lastly, it can provide an easy retreat if things get really out of
hand.
Invisibility, Invisibility 10' Radius and Pixie Dust make the recipient(s) invisible. Regular invisibility is lost completely if you cast spells or attack (which, incidentally, is what you will be doing most in combats). The effects of the party versions are applied to each individual party member; one breaking the invisibility will not cause the others to become visible as well.
Improved Invisibility, Shadow Door and Mass Invisibility will make the recipient(s) invisible and improved invisible. The regular invisibility can be broken normally, but the improved invisibility part stays. If you lose the regular invisibility, you become partly visible (shimmering). While shimmering, you get big bonuses and can still not be targeted with spells. This makes (Minor) Spell Deflection practically obsolete with the way enemy spellcaster scripts are written. Of course, you cannot target improved invisible party members yourself either. This is one of the very few ways to protect against Breach and conventional spell protection removal, since all of those are targeted.
Sanctuary and Mislead work slightly differently. See their individual descriptions for details.
Level 18+ enemy spellcaster scripts very cheesily cast free True Sights. If you meet one, do not bother with illusion spells unless you have Spell Immunity - Divination. Several nasty creatures (such as Beholders, Dragons and Liches) are able to see the invisible.
Not all spells break your invisibility when cast. This depends on the spell's type. Defensive spells (the ones with a blue icon) never break invisibility, while offensive spells (with red icons) do. The remaining spells (with white icons) are somewhat inconsistent. Melf Minute Meteors (red), Time Stop (red), Improved Alacrity (red), True Sight, Project Image, Simulacrum, Limited Wish and Wish do not reveal, while Polymorph Self and Haste reveal invisibility.
With the way enemy spellcaster scripts work, this spell practically paralyzes them when used right (getting up right under their noses), leaving them to try to target a shimmering character over and over again. |
Melee spells
Spells that create an item with which the caster has to hit enemies are mostly
worthless. Pure wizards and Sorcerers have pathetic combat abilities and will
not last long anywhere near the frontline, so they should avoid these spells
like the plague. Fighter/Mages and priests are much more durable and have
better THAC0. They could make use of these spells, were it not that most are
not worth the effort of casting if you have a good weapon. Spells that enhance
the caster's melee capabilities are also best reserved for priests and
Fighter/Mage types, as only they are suitable for melee in the first place.
Although the icons in your weapon slots may suggest differently, off-hand items are not replaced.
If you cast one of these spells while holding Dak'kon's Zerth Blade in your main hand, several of your spell slots may be wiped clean. |
Regeneration
Some cheese here.
Regeneration is not supposed to stack. If you combine two different regeneration rates, only the best will take effect. However, if you combine two equal regeneration rates they stack. |
Resistance spells
Resist Fire, Cold, Fire/Cold, Acid or Electricity, Protection from Energy,
Fire, Lightning, Magic Energy or the Elements, none of these spells is really
worth a slot of its level. Not only is their protection easily missed, they
protect against things you will not run into on a regular basis. Skip these if
at all possible. Keep a scroll in your scroll case if you feel really insecure
without them.
100% resistance will prevent all damage, but will still not prevent spell disruption if you are hit.
Having more than 100% resistance to some elements will actually heal you on exposure to that particular element. |
Reversible spells
Flesh to Stone and Stone to Flesh, Imprisonment and Freedom, one reverses the
other.
Casting these over and over on the same enemy gets you Experience each time. Of course, Imprisonment is much better suited for this as it does not allow a save and ignores magic resistance. Use your clones to cast from scrolls and build up levels cheaply. Soften your victims up with a Polymorph Other. |
Sequencers
See Triggers.
Silence
Most of the lower level enemy Mages are scripted to cast Vocalize with ForceSpell()
(not disruptable) and without checking HaveSpell(). Silencing them
will do no more than occupy them for a round. Most of the high level Mages
(including Liches) are more vulnerable to silence, and priests cannot even
Vocalize. Being silenced disrupts spellcasting.
Both Silence and being Vocalized cancel each other out. The last spell to be cast is the only one that has any effect. This also applies to Vocalize effects bestowed by items.
Spell protection removal
There are several spells that specialize in removing an enemy's spell
protections (see the Spell Protection Overview
for details). Annoying though these effects may be, there are two easy
workarounds available:
In other words: do not waste any slots on spell protections if you can go with either of the above alternatives. The workarounds have the added advantage of instant effect, while removing protections does not disable, disrupt or damage your opponents in any way yet.
A fun alternative to casting these spells to remove (Minor) Spell Turning is bouncing beneficial spells off of them. Casting Improved Invisibility on your opponent would take out his Minor Spell Turning and make you invisible.
A third way to remove (Minor) Spell Turning is to cast Spell Turning yourself, then cast a spell that will be bounced back and forth, ending up on your opponent.
On rare occasions, this type of spell will remove all weapon proficiencies when cast on a party member. This is an irreversible bug; save often. |
Spell protections
(Minor) Spell Deflection, (Minor) Spell Turning and Spell Trap are decent
protections against enemy spellcasters or creatures with spell-like abilities
(such as Beholders). The enemy AI is not smart enough to utilize either of the
aforementioned workarounds for these protection (although they are still as
likely to cast area spells anyway).
Not worth the effort in a party, but very important when soloing. Besides the obvious protection against enemy spellcasters, these spells also protect against various nasty traps. The "Minor" versions are less dependable in this respect, since they will not stop the Maze (deadly when solo) and Energy Drain traps.
The spell protections do not stop spell protection removal, Breach, Lower Resistance or area spells (see the Spell Protection Overview for details).
Spell protection removal
See the Spell Protection Overview for
details.
Summons
Extra bodies are always a good thing; even the lowliest critter will occupy
dangerous enemies for a round or so often soaking up dangerous spells.
You can summon your creatures near enemies in the fog of war. The summons have their own sight radius and will go off alone, keeping the party out of the enemy's sight.
Summons are unsummoned if the party moves to another area. Summons are already "present" when their summoning animation starts; they are just invisible and disabled.
Level 12+ Mages or Sorcerers and level 16+ Bards are able to memorize Death Spell or Death Fog (and most will have at least one). Watch out with your more expensive summons here; use cheaper summons ones first to draw these spells out.
The Nishruu, Hakeashar, Djinni and Efreeti are spellcasters, though none of them will cast spells without manual orders to do so. These spells may be a programming oversight (the creatures were probably all copied off the same creature file). All have exactly the same spells memorized, being:
BGII has a "summoning limit" of 5 creatures. Trying to summon more will just waste spells.
Some creatures are incorrectly not registered as summons. These are Worgs, Ettercaps, Black Bears, the Djinni from the Ring of Djinni Summoning and Ras +2 in sword dance mode. These creatures may take you over the 5 creature limit. Get the fix from Baldurdash. |
Touch spells
Not to be confused with melee spells (no Hit Roll is needed here), although
attack spells with range Touch are nearly as dangerous to the caster.
Being rather frail, pure Mages and Sorcerers should stay away from Touch attack
spells. Priests and Fighter/Mages have the armor and Hit Points needed to use
these spells to full effect.
Traps
Skull Trap, Delayed Blast Fireball, Glyph of Warding and the three Symbols may
be set as traps. All trap spells are triggered when someone steps into range 8.
All traps are permanent until triggered, just like Thief traps. Rest and set (literally) dozens of them at spots where you expect a difficult fight and lure enemies into them, or place them directly at known spawn points. |
Triggers
(Minor) Sequencer, Spell Trigger and (Chain) Contingency allow wizards to build
up incredible firepower. Casting these spells before resting means you get back
whatever spells you place in them. You could just rest twice in a row and get
the best of both worlds (although that probably means leaving your little
sister to rot in Spellhold for another day...).
The triggers that are able to store three spells could be cast during battle to speed up spellcasting in combat; you can cast three spells (not counting the trigger) in only two rounds that way.
Spells placed in triggers will fail if:
The order in which the spells are cast is the order in which they have been placed in the trigger, though casting appears instantly. The order in which the effects are applied depends on the types of spells put in:
Cleric/Mage types will be able to put their Cleric spells in the triggers, allowing for some interesting combinations. Trigger spells will not store trigger spells themselves, neither will they store Identify, Find Familiar or Wondrous Recall.
(Chain) Contingency casts instantly (even when the game is paused) and does not affect your alacrity. This means that they can be cast in rapid succession, even in between other spells. This particular bit of cheese makes them ideal for casting in the middle of combat. |
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The use of triggers circumvents some restrictions. You can stack multiple Chaos Shields or Protection from Normal Weapons with Protection from Magical Weapons. |