Hello all!

This is my 3rd time playing BG2 and I seem to use my magic users in the same fashion each time. Usually, I have them equipped with some sort of missle weapon and the only time they cast spells is to haste my chars, dispel protections on enemy magic users, and otherwise stay our of harms way. occasionally, i'll have them sneak upto a group of enemies and cast an area effect spell to soften them up. so far, this has worked for me but I have the impression that i'm not using them to their full potential. so could you people provide me some nice tips with how to get my magic users more involved and be more effective? perhaps some scripts that i could set them up with? (i keep my mu's on the "ranged" script) thank you.

Well, one of my favorite spells (I use edwin as my magic user) is horror. It can work amazingly well. I also have plenty of dispell magics and magic missles around. Can't hurt to use summons. Death Spell is a must. Absolutely great spell.

I used to be very similar to you in my style of play, but I recently played through the game with a solo sorceror. I know it can be a hard thing to do, but if you are willing there is no better way to learn how to get the most out of a class than by soloing with it.

most of the time, wizards should indeed stay in the background... but when your muscle can´t get things done, a wizard can usually walk through the opposition and mow down anything in his path:
few things should be standing up after a barrage of skull traps from sequencers, followed up with a few horrid wiltings if you´re high enough. project image allows you hurl spell after spell at your hapless opposition without losing them from your spellbook and is probably the single most powerful spell at your disposal.
in fights versus enemy wizards, don´t bother with debuffing - noones magic protections are flawless so try to find the way to their heart (be it weapons with elemental damage, non-magical weapons, magical weapons or, most often, area spells) or just take whatever they can throw at you while polymorphed into a mustard jelly, then laught at them madly when they try to hit you with a brittle stick.
don´t be ashamed of cowering in the background in everyday encounters that would be a waste of your supreme skills... when needed, you can show those petty little fighter types what real power is.

clerics don´t really have the opportunity of such power trips, but they are nice and steady performers: adequate in melee, often the primary tanks in my groups (since i prefer caster/fighters like jaheira and haer´dalis over straightforward butt-kicking machines) with an impressive arsenal of spells. gate doesn´t have its equal among wizard spells, nor has fire storm (assuming the xp cap of 2950000). clerics are your tactical warheads as opposed to theatre-level weapons of mass destruction, and they fit that bill very well - they won´t be able to take out hordes of enemies within seconds but are excellent artillery support (holy smite and hold person are very useful) and won´t need to rely on pansy things like stoneskins to survive a fight with a 4-year-old.

Low level Mage area of effect spells are useless in the middle of the battle, unless you prepare properly. If you use Protection From Fire on your front line fighters, you can lob Fireball after Fireball right into the middle of the fray. Flame Arrow does a good amount of damage to an individual foe. When sequenced, they do over 100 points. Resist Fear is another great long lasting prep spell. When you get to higher level spells, as you build up your spellbook, use them as you get them. There are tons of great high level spells, and as many stategies regarding them. I break them down depending on the situation. Defence, attack, summoning, and shield breakdown. There are creatures that have a high Magic Resistance; so, forget the offence unless you have enough time to lower his MR. There are unique situations throughout the game. I find summoning Invisable Stalkers against MR Mind Flayers. Think about your strategy for each fight. It's a group fight; so, help each other out. At high levels, it gets to be a no-brainer.

Just train ya mage on a high level learn lots of spells and ya wil be just like me; strongest in the realm [img]graemlins/wizardtrouble.gif[/img] (hahaha lol)

Just rock it [img]graemlins/rocking.gif[/img]