Most of the difficult situations can be easily overcome by just using a handful of items/tactics.
I'm not talking about sitting ducks ie dragons. I'm talking about combat on the fly.
Some useful all around tips..... ( please add your own if you've got them )
#1 Wand of Cloudkill. Don't waste spell slots since the wand is better and can't be disrupted. Use several times in the same area for effect or use to cover your trail while you flee. Anything that follows is dead. ( usually )
#2 Wand of Summoning. Again don't bother filling up spell slots with monster summonings....of any level. Use it to crate a wall of flesh so your mage can cast some serious area affect spells. Keep replentishing and eventually they'll kill whatever they are facing...assuming they can hit the target ..ie don't need magical weapons. Even if they can't hit the target great spells still get wasted on them and not you...ditto for physical damage.
#3 Animate dead. In particular Skeleton Warriors which 15th level Clerics and Magic Users / Bards can raise. 5 of those bad boys can cause some serious hurt and they last for hours. I spend more heal spells on them than on my living charactors. They require no kind of mind control delay and appear fairly quickly. Great for solo er's assuming undead companions don't count!
#4 Staff of Fire. You can easily call forth 5 elementals to assist when you are in a bind. Fast and efficient....good for spur of the moment combat. Again you can now put spell slots to better use. It comes with 30 charges and is dirt cheap to recharge...less than 500 gold. No mind control delay and they won't turn on you. Relegate all other elemental spells to the dustbin.
#1 and #2 should be in your possession in chapter 1. Sell them to a fence and then steal them back. ( or buy.....you'll never use all that cash anyway )You now have wands with 50 charges each. Pick up two of each wand and you are set for the entire game.
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