General Spell Info

Spell Components

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.

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.

Cast and Attack

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).

Spell Types

Some spell types need special introduction.

Area spells
These come in several "flavors" that affect their usefulness:

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Regeneration
Some cheese here.

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.

Reversible spells
Flesh to Stone and Stone to Flesh, Imprisonment and Freedom, one reverses the 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.

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.

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.

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.