well not quite, but I've recently come to a new appreciation of the 1st level spell Chromatic Orb. I'd previously written it off as useless compared to MM for a level 1 mage spell, but playing the druid avenger (who has access to a few mage spells) caused me to give it another go. After being impressed by this spell's effectiveness against trolls in the druid grove, I decided to keep 1 memorised in my solo game.

The character is a female elven lvl 12/13/15 f/m/t. I decided to pay off the thieves a bit earlier than I normally would and go rescue Imoen already. While clearing out a certain nest of Vampyres, I cleared out the bottom section and came back up to the nasty spike room to take on Lassal. Being that I'd used several spells already downstairs, the only quick offensive spell I had left was Chromatic Orb. Opting to have a quick blast at him before joining melee and flailing his ass, I was most suprised when Bodhi's Lieutenant turned into a ghost as soon as my little Orb hit.

"what, that all you got ?!"

The stun and instant death features of this spell seem to work a lot more than I'd expected from reading the description. Most trolls I've hit with it die instantly, and umber hulks were all being frozen solid for me to pick apart at leisure. Not a bad alternative to good 'ol Magic Missile, pity they're both Evocation. The description says save=negate, surely that many enemies can't all be totally failing their saves ? I'd say it works >50%

Chromatic orb rules! Magic missle on the other hand is good to eat away stoneskins and mirror images, so i usually keep at least one MM memorized too. the best first level spells in my opinion are

1) Chromatic Orb
2) MM
3) Spook

Magic Missile does not remove Stoneskin. It does remove Mirror Image, though.

It doesnt? you sure about that? Im almost certain that i casted MM on Rayic Gethras and it ate away his stoneskin. It could be though that my skeleton ally had hit at the same time resulting to the stoneskin being disabled and my MM hitting/disrupting his spell. I could almost swear that it does though.

I'm quite sure, yeah. ;) Tested it personally for the Spell Reference.

Nope, I'm afraid it doesnt in my game either [img]smile.gif[/img]
Much like skull-trap,.. the damage goes right through

EDIT:
*mubmles* stupid people keep typing faster *mumbles*

[ 01-22-2003, 11:29 AM: Message edited by: daan ]

Trolls die 'cause of the acid damage.

Chromatic Orb does seem pretty bad if you just go by the spell description, fairly poor damage combined with a HUGE +6 Saving Throws bonus for the target. You can negate that with Greater Malison + Doom, but it's still just at 0.

I've never made any use of it so maybe the +6 Save bonuses are a bit off, but I prefer the far more reliable spells of Spook (target saves at a maximum -6 penalty!!), and Magic Missile.

The real pity is finding scrolls of Spook. Sure, you can choose it as a starting spell for your PC, but I've never found a scroll of it before Chapter 5. Waaaahh.....