What are the ultimate overpowered spells IYO? Overpowerered compared to other similar type or same level spells, that is. Or then just toss up your favourites which you wouldn´t want to see taking a hike from your spellbook.

My most simplest picks:

Magic Missile (this is everything else but useless)
Breach
Fireball
Stoneskin

...

[ 02-25-2003, 02:17 AM: Message edited by: NiceWorg ]

I would say these
Spell Immunity Abjuration
Prot. from Mag. Weapons
Prot. from Mag. Energy

or at high level

Time stop
Improved Alac.

Slice a piece of that cheese and let loose.

Well, if you are talking about overpowered you would not want to forget:
-skull trap
Plus, sunfire, protection from magical energy, spell immunity, and the horrid wilting spell are some useful ones.

Magic Missile, Mirror Image, Skull Trap, Stoneskin, Lower Resistance, Chain Lightning, Project Image, Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting, Time Stop.

identify, for obvious reasons
chain contigency, walking around look a guy, look 3 adhw flying at the guy, look a bunch of dead bodies
greater malison
lower resistance

By the way, welcome to Ironworks, Gopher Bait!
[img]graemlins/thewave.gif[/img]
I hope you have a great time here!

Magic missile useless? Blasphemer! Aside from all the wondeful uses it has (all two of them) this is THE single most overpowered spell in the game. Wish, time stop, horrid wilting, anything else you name may be overpowered yes, but they're all higher level spells, and when you encounter a mage who's high enough level to cast those spells, you expect bad ass spells! Not Burning Hands and Ghoul Touch... they're overpowered, but much more reasonably placed in the 'spell level' chart. Magic Missile is overpowered for a few basic reasons

1) it allows no saving throw for half damage or no damage
2) it always hits... not sometimes, only on weekends and holidays, when 'i' comes before 'e' except after 'c', or just when the target is wearing pajamas, but ALWAYS
3) it adds missiles the higher level you get (at least in PnP, not sure about BG2)
4) it does more damage the higher level it gets (from added missiles)
5) if I remember correctly, it's physical damage, which strips ironskins and various spell protections (mirror image)
6) it's only first level and it ALWAYS HITS and allows NO SAVING THROW :-D

Anyway, using those reasons alone, and the 'spell creation guide' I found in some older publication (mage handbook, dragon magazine, I can't remember) Magic Missile should be at least a 4th-5th level spell. THAT'S the definition of overpowered. No other spell that I used the chart with was that far below the level it should be. Granted the damage isn't that much, but that's not my fault [img]tongue.gif[/img] Heck even the minute meteors need thrown, and I think you can still miss with those! (not to mention that Imoen's Magic Missile is the ONLY spell in the fight outside of Jon's dungeon that actually hits him) *nod of approval*

Some of the other spells can kill hordes of enemies in a few rounds, yes, but they're 8-9th level spells. What else did you expect them to do, give the bad guys diarreah?

[ 02-25-2003, 03:58 AM: Message edited by: 605 ]

I think he agree's with you because he said anything but useless.
That's just how I took it. I like your rebuttle though! [img]smile.gif[/img]

I have 2 choices;

1-spell sequencer + fireball x 3

2-time stop + ADHW + ?dragon breath?(hla) x 2

ps. welcome to ironworks gopher bait!! [img]smile.gif[/img]
make it 3 coices:

3-spell sequencer + secret word x 3

[ 02-25-2003, 04:53 AM: Message edited by: Fiend ]

you misread, he likes Magic Missiles too [img]tongue.gif[/img]

</font>

• Time-Stop it ends here. :D</font>
• Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting can we say ''P.A.I.N''</font>
• Stoneskin Owyaa! just break your sword.. so I can trottle some fireball's down your throat without interruption [img]smile.gif[/img] .</font>

*blushes and tries to regain my composure* Well, yeah! He darn well better after that arguement! *ahem*

*writes "I will read posts more carefully" 100 times on the chalkboard*

It´s okay. [img]graemlins/nicekitty.gif[/img] [img]tongue.gif[/img] I agree with the details as well. But then, it´s not very powerful if you´re below 5th level mage.. but it could still be a bit less powerful.

Ah, a fellow Fighter/Mage at heart. I can but second that triplet! [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img]

As for being the Ultimate Spell Of Mass Destruction, i think Project Image takes the cake with little effort. Heck, no effort -- only Simulacrum's absue potential is similar, but Project Image still trumps it.

To answer the subject question, as a party mage. There's only one spell I couldn't live without, and that's Haste. As far as I'm concerned, it increases the efficiency of a Fighter-orientated party by geometric rates.

ive never soloed a single classed mage, and my multiclassed mages are more fighter than mage.
for my party mages, here is my MUST list

identify and magic missile
fireball, haste
breach, lower resistence
spell trigger with 3x Lower Res

2-3 mages... 1 cleric... 1 dragon
-------------------------------
1. magic resistance on dragon
2. spell trigger (3xLR)
3. lots of MM

LMFAO !!!! lol 605 i was just about ready to start an all out war on the guy,
heh reckon i misread to...

anyway dont forget about chromatic orb, this spell is highly underrated... i always picked MM over chromatic orb, but at higher levels this spell rocks !!
it almost always insta deaths the weaker enemies and stuns more powerfull enemies (tho not to sure bout that anymore).

anyway as for the rest..... ABI DALZHIM BABY !! never leave home w/o it.
breach ,,,,,a classic.
as six always says , no selfrespecting mage can go ANYWHERE w/o stoneskins,
prot from magic's very usefull

and a role playing favorite's gotta be finger of death.... theres just something about insta killing a guy at will that gives ya a powertrip like woah.
and offcourse finger of death comes together with greater malison.

oh and i cant forget about lower resistance for those dragons and drow basterds.

I find myself using MM and Minute Meteors all the time because I know they work, I don't know how many times the big bad boss has falled with one last hit of a MM. I love Haste as well - the best buff spell as far as I'm concerned. that would be my three picks

Don't you favor Improved Haste? It's way superior to Haste, in my opinion. Yes, it's more expensive. Yes, it only effect one target. But it pays off. I did the math for several of my fighter heavy parties, and Imp. Haste trumped Haste big time. Perhaps it's because i usually play with quite a few Mages, so i can afford it... dunno. [img]graemlins/1ponder.gif[/img]

Just to highlight how Magic Missile works in BG2,
</font>

1. It deals Magic Damage, so it will not strip Stoneskins, but punch right through them.</font>
2. You get a maximum of 5 missiles at level 9+, 4 at level 7-8, 3 at 5-6, 2 at 3-4 and 1 for level 1-2</font>

In other news, Chromatic Orb becomes a level one Finger of Death when the caster is level 12+. The only difference is that the target has a +6 saving bonus, and it deals acid damage, not magic damage.

Don't you favor Improved Haste? It's way superior to Haste, in my opinion. Yes, it's more expensive. Yes, it only effect one target. But it pays off. I did the math for several of my fighter heavy parties, and Imp. Haste trumped Haste big time. Perhaps it's because i usually play with quite a few Mages, so i can afford it... dunno. [img]graemlins/1ponder.gif[/img] </font>[/QUOTE]Well, it depends on how your party is set up. I got two partial mages and FIVE pure/partial fighters. Thus, I can only afford 5-6 Imp Haste per sleep since both of my mages have other important 6th level spells they need to have memorized at all times, and that is only enough to put Imp Haste on all my Fighters once per rest. Imp Haste is obviously far better than Haste, but I have to preserve it for particularly tough battles where it's necessary to prebuff properly.
Haste on the other hand, I can keep active constantly, and I can Haste my entire party, and all my summons, in an instant. Whereas it takes more than two rounds to cast Imp Haste on all my fighters. Not only is it a spell that, with a single casting, grants me 6 extra attacks per round (Aerie sometimes joins the fight), but it also doubles the movement speed of my entire party and gives them all speed factor bonuses. One casting of Imp Haste cannot achieve a fraction as much in a Fighter-orientated party.

But if one, like you, play with a mage-orientated party with few fighters, it might be possible to use Imp Haste on a regular basis, making Haste obsolete.

Many Mages or many Fighters? Nah... many Fighter/Mages! :D [img]tongue.gif[/img] ;)

I tell you this... Four Imp. Hasted fighters with solid weapons (with side effects) just tear through every non-tactics encounter within a round or two. Really. It's scary to watch. :eek:

Many Mages or many Fighters? Nah... many Fighter/Mages! :D [img]tongue.gif[/img] ;)

I tell you this... Four Imp. Hasted fighters with solid weapons (with side effects) just tear through every non-tactics encounter within a round or two. Really. It's scary to watch. :eek: </font>[/QUOTE]Well, now now... Multiple Fighter/Mages would require a custom party no? [img]smile.gif[/img] I feel overpowered enough already with just one Fighter/Mage NPC with nearly 100% MR (Sola). In fact, I probably would've kept Imoen instead of him if it weren't for his NPC-specific challenges (which really haven't been that spectacular either yet, though I still hold high hopes for the Eclipse Team)
My team of PC Ranger/Cleric, Minsc, Keldorn, Mazzy, Sola and Aerie already cuts through just about anything like butter when Hasted.

Uh, feel like I lost the plot. The point is that in the sort of Fighter-orientated non-customized parties I usually play with, Haste is more useful and effective than Imp Haste.

[ 02-25-2003, 04:54 PM: Message edited by: Rataxes ]

i allways use abi-dalzims horrid wilting, mordenkainen'sword, magic missle, finger of death, flame arrow... and stoneskin is a butt saver.

Edit: Cant forget haste!

[ 02-25-2003, 05:25 PM: Message edited by: Xero279 ]

Spells you cant live without? How about Raise Dead? [img]tongue.gif[/img]
Imprisonment was a nifty way to get rid of that anoying half-elf wench, Jaheira :D I've never gotten tired of Simulacrum eather.

Ghost Armour.
Stoneskin.
Mirror Image.
Improved Haste.
Tensers Transformation.

ATTACK!!!

Wow.....I didn't think these spells would get their first mention THIS far down the thread, but here goes.

Greater Malison
Web
Stinking Cloud
Holy Smite
Chaos
Horror
Emotion: Hopelessness
Silence 15' Radius

Let's hear it for Incapacitation! The 2nd floor of the Guarded Compound was completely helpless by the end of the 1st round, and the only damage done to my party was when Keldorn stepped on one of the Traps. (Roleplayed--Jan didn't know there were going to be Traps. No buffing spells, either.)

Another good thing about incapacitation is that your summons never turn hostile.

One good thing you guys didn't say about magic missle: Casting time=1. That's what makes it so good. Same with Chromatic Orb. I am playing a game where I pumped up a sorceror in SK (Yes, I know it's cheating, but I thought it might be fun to go around and check out all the tight spells. I am not using this to figure out how to do anything or giving away any of the plot with it. His name: Sauron =). Also I have not jacked him up to much in anything more than spells so he still can die and it is a challenge to cast the spells right agaisnt hard enemies, especially becuase the difficulty is on insane.)anyway, one thing that makes Chromatic Orb better than finger of death is that it takes hardly any time to cast. Whereas FoD, Disentigrate etc. take so long to cast that usually someone has attacked you by the time you cast it.

Anyway, my favorite/must have spells would be:
Magic Missle
HASTE!!!!!!!!!!!!
Raise dead/Harper's call
Heal
Animal summoning III
That's all I can think of right now. (note that I have only actually played through the game far enough to get Imoen and I don't know too much about how some of the high level spells fit in with the game.) Jaheira's Harper's call followed by a heal spell is awsome to have. Also Restoration is a critical spell to have when dealing whith so absolutely NASTY vampires (I didn't realize that Aeirie could cast that spell untill I had already spent countless hours going back to temples to get my level drains restored. Oohh those things are nasty! *shudders*).

Finger of Death can casted instantanously... if you have the right equipment.