Is there a way for a cleric to memorise his spells without resting ?

I am currently playing a solo ranger/cleric, and do not want to spend too much time on this game if a cleric cannot replenish his spells without resting the way a mage can.

Any advice on how to accomplish this would be appreciated.

A mage cannot replenish his spells without rest. I know, I know, the game allows you to do that, but that is besides the point. The rules does not and it is a flaw in the game.
They made an error in one class, but didn't repeat it in another. In shorter terms - no you cannot replenish your spells without rest.

... actually come to think of it I may be wrong here. There is a bug that allows you to cast Simulacrum indefinately from Vhailor's Helm. I cannot recall if Shield of the Archons allows you to re-memorize spells. If that is the case then you can technically replenish your spells without sleep.

Well, Shield of the Archons does not restore spells, but Wondrous Recall (Level 6) restores 2 spells of 5th level or lower. But since casting all these spells and exploiting bugs takes a lot of time and work, why don't you just rest? Restores all spells, heals you, and takes about 1/2 a second. Especially in ToB where you can just use the planar portal to go back to Hell where there is no ambush chance. If you have something against rest then please explain because fatigue can be a problem after a week of sleeplessness. Either way, good luck with that!
-Brainless One

In my version of BG2/TOB, it is not possible to cast simulacrum indefinitely from Vhailor's Helm. At any rate, the duplicate character is created at only 60% of the caster's level and does not have his full range of spells.

Spoilers ahead !!!
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To explain the reason for my question, I was thinking ahead to the final battle where you cannot rest. If I could have my ranger/cleric cast his spells only once (including Wondreous Recall), he would not stand much of a chance and I would be better off using another character class.

By the way, I see nothing wrong with using the "flaw" in the game (as mad=dog calls it) which allows a mage to replenish his spells without resting, since in the final battle, your opponent can retreat at her leasure to recharge ("I need more power !").

At any rate, if this was not possible, there would be no way for a solo mage to finish the game.

For a Mage, they can cast the Wish spell, one of which's options allows you to restore yourself as though having a full night's rest, including spell recovery! It can only be used once however, so that is best saved for the final battle.

Spoilers!
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Yes, the final opponent is indeed cheap in that way, but in a way it makes sense given that she has many other souls/essences to draw power from, whereas you have but one!
-Brainless One

PS: It is possible to beat the final opponent soloing with any class probably. Single-classed fighters I have done before, so a Ranger with all Priest spells should have no problem!

The cheapest way I can think of (and it's definitely a cheat) is to open up shadowkeeper and load a recently made save from shadowkeeper. This new save will treat you as if you're fully rested.

Eh? You are a Cleric/Ranger, not a pureclassed Cleric. There are many ways to solo BG2, not just by spellcasting. People have soloed with pureclassed Fighters, Thieves, etc...

Plan out your fight, ration your spells. You have a strong melee warrior, exploit that to your advantage.

With Armor of Faith, Hardiness and the Defender of Easthaven, you can easily toe to toe with the Final Boss. To give you one tip on how to play the Cleric/Ranger.

EDIT] Oops.

[ 08-20-2005, 08:26 AM: Message edited by: Dundee Slaytern ]

Might wanna edit that post, Dundee ;) There's a certain name in there that doesn't belong [img]graemlins/doh.gif[/img]

The hardest part about the final fight is taking down the boss' spell protections. If you can do that, the boss is vulnerable to sustained physical attack (Greater Whirlwind). If you have the flail that slows enemies down (and if you're a Cleric / Ranger, you should - it's arguably that class' ideal weapon), that works like a charm. The elemental damage goes through Stoneskin and if you found the two extra heads, the chance of the slow effect goes up to 50% without a saving throw!

Of course, if you have Ascension, it becomes a little harder. Even if you do have Ascension, there are still many different ways to finish it. One of my favorite accounts is this one.

Thanks for all the replies so far!

Just to comment on some of the points which were raised:

Cheating: I do not like to cheat (Shadowkeeper is a no-no), ever since I hacked my very first game of BG in frustration (at the time I knew nothing about using different strategies).

Wish: wish I could have my cleric/ranger cast it! In my previous two solo runs, I first played a sorcerer and then a dual-classed kensai/mage. No problems there. I could cast Wish as many times as I wanted using PI (although I did run out of images sometimes and had to reload).

Soloing with any class: I guess it is possible if you really know the game inside and out, but I am not such a "hot" player (I still get sweaty palms during every "boss" fight!). In my humble opinion, some classes are much easier to solo with than others (witness any spellcaster using Project Image).

Armor of Faith, Hardiness, etc.: that is exactly the problem, you cast them once and that's it. But as you know, the final fight is a very long one and I would not want to have to ration my spells and HLAs. I'd probably be better off using a pureclassed ranger (at least he can cast Wish! - I think). I was actually very upset to find out that my ranger/cleric (at levels 13/15) has his spellbook greyed out (I guess the developers thought this would make him too powerful?).

The flail: I have already equipped my r/c with this great weapon, however, if only the elemental damage gets through (a maximum of five damage points per hit), it is going to be a loooong battle!

All things taken into consideration, I guess I'll take a break from this attempt, unless another reply to this post convinces me otherwise. A pity in a way, because so far, the ranger/cleric has proven to be quite powerful (by the way, I imported this character from my last solo BG1 game, in which he did very well).

The Ranger/Cleric cannot cast Wish! The Ranger half knows Druidic spells whereas the Cleric knows Divine spells. That is why people choose this multiclass, as it gives EVERY priest spell for them to choose from! Wish however is an arcane spell so only Bards (from a scroll), multi/dual/single class mages, or sorcerers can cast it. However you are right in saying that your Ranger/Cleric is powerful! He can easily finish the final battle by himself, if you just use your weaker spells at first, and save the big ones for last (but forget offensive spells completely - specialize in summoning and protecting you and your summons). But it sounds like you are a little nervous attempting a solo when you don't quite know it "inside-and-out" yet. If that's the case feel free to run through it one more time with a party, and think at each battle, "what would my R/C do here?", while your R/C's game is on hold. Best of luck,
-Brainless One

His spellbook is not greyed out, unless you mean Wizard spells, which of course R/Cs cannot cast, any more than they can use Thieving skills. His Priest scroll is perfectly fine, in fact R/Cs have more access to Priest scrolls than any other class.


[ADD:] Not quite every spell, Brainless One. R/Cs cannot cast Unholy Blight, Unholy Word, Greater Elemental Summoning, Summon Fallen Deva, and they have to choose between Mass Raise Dead and Symbol: Stun.

[ 08-20-2005, 02:26 PM: Message edited by: SixOfSpades ]

I hope a solo Cleric/Ranger doesn't choose "Mass Raise Dead" [img]graemlins/lol.gif[/img]

What? Why?

Wow, news to me! Though, yes, why would they have to choose? HOW do they choose? I've never played a Ranger/Cleric before, but I see why they wouldn't reach Druid HLA Pool abilities. But why choose between those two spells?
-Brainless One

Sorry if I have caused some confusion due to the incorrect use of terminology.

When I mentioned my PC's "spellbook" which was greyed out, I was referring to his "Mage Book" as opposed to his "Priest Scroll".

I have also noticed that the correct name for the character class I am using is Cleric/Ranger. The reason I stated it the other way around is that I was getting all the ranger quests.

To set another matter straight, I have checked one of my savegames, and a pureclassed Ranger cannot cast "Wish" or any other arcane spell. My memory had played a trick on me there, since I seemed to remember that Minsc could cast spells, but of course those were from his Priest Scroll.

And indeed, I am not very comfortable with having to plan out my spells for the final battle. So far, I have always used "Wish" to restore my party or solo character (no matter how powerful they were) to their fully rested state.

While I appreciate all the advice given, I think that I shall put this solo C/R game on hold until such time as I feel confident of completing the final battle without rest.

If this post is considered "thread necromancy", I apologise in advance.

I just wanted to confirm that it is, in fact, possible for a solo Cleric/Ranger to beat the final "boss" without resting (at least on normal difficulty, which I always play on since that is tough enough for me). My PC came out on top and did not even use all of his HLA's and summonses. Of course, he also died quite a number of times, especially when the "boss" could not be beaten down to "near death" quickly enough and then summoned too many minions.

The one weak spot of the cleric/ranger in this fight were his summons, which are limited (one high-level summons at any one time and only one chance to cast simulacrum using a certain helmet) compared to a magic user's nearly unlimited number of HL summons (using PI and Wish).

At any rate, I am glad that I did not give up on this character, who I found relatively easy to solo - I have had harder times using a full party.

Thanks to all who encouraged me to continue with this solo attempt !

Well done! I've never been brave enough to solo, plus I'm too attached to Minsc and Imoen. :love: Did you use the golem book at all? I've found it to be much less useful in Throne of Bhaal because the golem (I never found the adamantium golem page :( ) seems to be very vulnerable to things like Death Spell - I'd summon it and it'd immediately get taken out.

Anyway, I'm glad to know everything worked out. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[ 09-10-2005, 08:51 AM: Message edited by: Western Paladin ]

acronym,

Congratulations on your solo. Somewhat 'after the horse has bolted' however just a thought on the 'final boss' and your solo as per; <font color=#ff9900>"Of course, he also died quite a number of times" </font>(Ctrl-A or click-and-drag over blank area to reveal final battle tactical spoiler);

<font color=#3d2f1b>Rods of Resurrection can refresh all of your hit points. There are three of them in the game, plus your Simulacrum's if you don't mind a little quick slot abuse. Therefore you have up to 40 hitpoint refills for that last fight.

As it happens, today I've just completed a solo Wizard Slayer, and went through 25 charges in that final confrontation, plus all of my Hardiness and all but two of my Greater Whirlwind HLAs!</font>

Congratulations again - I'm not sure about you, but I always get a great sense of achievement on finishing it as a solo.

Western Paladin,

You should give solo-ing at least one go. It's not for everyone, particularly role-players who otherwise miss their inter-party banters. If you did want to try a solo, you could do worse than a Fighter/Mage/Thief multiclass as your first shot.

By the way, a Ranger/Cleric can't use the Golem Manual.

As for the location of that last page ...(Ctrl-A or click-and-drag over blank area to reveal item location spoiler);

<font color=#3d2f1b>It 'should' be on a table in the cave-laboratory of Iycanth the Mad (the mage who seeks a Gauth's Eye Stalk) as part of Abazigal's Lair. It's the area where you can 'recruit' some newbie adventurers to do the Eye Stalk acquisition for you.</font>

Thanks for the congratulatory remarks, Western Paladin and Cam_H !

Western Paladin, I can also recommend trying a solo game since in my experience, it is a very good way to get to know all the capabilities of a particular character class. I find that when using a party, I tend not to use all the capabilities of each character. Soloing forces one to dig deeper, and also to use different tactics.

Cam_H, I did in fact do as you suggest in your hidden tactical spoiler (used up about half the charges). The problem of my solo Cleric/Ranger dying arose from the fact that once outnumbered, he was taking so many hits so fast that by the time the effect set in (game lag), it was all over. One day I'll get a faster computer !

Congrats as well on your solo Wizard Slayer effort, sounds like a good choice for my next attempt (at present I have gone back to playing BG1, however).

Finishing a solo (or NPC) ToB game does not so much bring a sense of achievement for me, but rather a great feeling of relief that it is over with. This is because I find that some of the final "boss fights" are just too over-the-top for my liking, leaving me drained afterwards (that's why I usually return to BG1).

I should probably warn you then that a Wizard Slayer solo is one of the most 'challenging' classes I have done; in particular 'Fear' is a threat for much of the early game, and edges you to undertake one of the more difficult dungeons to secure an item that the kit can use to address this matter.

My PC was evil in alignment, which allowed for a couple of powerful evil-only items to be used that were well suited to the Wizard Slayer. In hindsight it was an effective move.

Best of luck with your BG1 game! [img]smile.gif[/img]

Couldn't a C/R simply use potion swap cheese to get infite spells. I mean you'd need quite a few wish scrolls, but I think there are at least 3 around, and I'm sure if I checked there would be more. Potion-swap is definitely very cheesy, but some might not consider it "cheating".

Wow, news to me! Though, yes, why would they have to choose? HOW do they choose? I've never played a Ranger/Cleric before, but I see why they wouldn't reach Druid HLA Pool abilities. But why choose between those two spells?
-Brainless One </font>[/QUOTE]Sorry, thought I'd already answered this. Ranger/Clerics have so many 7th level spells that their scroll will actually overflow if they choose all of the Quest Level HLAs. Choosing the last one (which is pretty much guaranteed to be Mass Raise Dead, since it's all but useless) will push the aphabetically-last-placed spell (which is Symbol: Stun) off the page, where it cannot be seen or selected.


And there are 3 scrolls of Wish in the game, barring any added by mods, and I haven't heard of any of those anyway.

ister, what is the "potion swap cheese" that you mention ? Please enlighten me !

Please ignore my last reply, I have found an explanation of the "potion swap cheese" in the SoA forum.

If I had known about this trick, I would probably have used it, since I think that the final boss (and some other bosses in ToB) are very much on the cheesy side !

Pause the game.

Right Click on a potion in a inventory slot and choose drink.

Switch a scroll from inventory with the potion.

Leave the inventory screen

end pause

The spell from the scroll will be case [img]smile.gif[/img]

I'd guess that it would let you use the golem manual as well.


Personally I don't use it. But it's more of a BUG that a CHEAT. But if you really want to restore all of a C/Rs spells without resting and without hacking with shadowkeeper it will work.