Help needed badly

[Galadria]

Scott, welcome to the forum. There are several sites that list these, especially that by Dundee Slaytern. Just search the posts. Most important, at your level, I would guess would be Magic Missle. Right, Dundee?

[Mitro Jellywadder]

Scott,

Welcome to the board.

Some of the important starting spells...

Magic Missile....any respectable mage has this [img]graemlins/hehe.gif[/img] ..perfect spell disruptor and not too bad of damage.

Melf's Acid Arrow...does extended damage over a period of time. Another good disruptor.

Web...if they can't move, they can't attack you.

Fireball/Skull Trap...starting out, you need to be able to inflict the maximum damage to groups that you can. Skull trap ends up doing much more damage in the long run, but I still like watching the fireballs blow up... [img]graemlins/hehe.gif[/img]

Melf's Minute Meteors...I wouldn't leave home without it. Excellent for hitting and running away. Put some distance between you and the melee attackers, continue to pelt them with MMM and back away. Works very well in conjunction with web or entangle.

These are a few of the offensive spells that are quite useful in the early stages of the game. (And they are available when you create your sorcerer.)

[Scott Lucas]

Wow thanks Mitro! These spells look great. Could anybody give me some advice on how to use spells like web and MMM together and how to use area affect spells like skull trap w/out hurting myself?

Thanks for the tips!

[Mitro Jellywadder]

quote:

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Originally posted by Scott Lucas:
Wow thanks Mitro! These spells look great. Could anybody give me some advice on how to use spells like web and MMM together and how to use area affect spells like skull trap w/out hurting myself?
Thanks for the tips!

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No problem. Something I always have on is the auto-pause option set to pause when an enemy is sighted. If you know where the bad guys are going to be, (perfect example is the groups of attackers in the Irenicus' dungeon) as soon as the game pauses, find the enemy at the end of your visual range. Cast a fireball or skull trap at that enemy, the area of effect will usually get most of them. When you start to cast, you stop walking. (Your party doesn't. So remember to stop them from charging into a blast zone.) Since the enemy is still a good distance away, you don't have to worry about the backlash effects of hitting yourself or your party.

Web is one of the easier spells. Just cast it in the middle of a group, or anywhere you want to. If you are fairly new to casting spells with areas of effect, it will take you a while to get used to the radius of the attack. Once you figure it out, you can pretty much guess where to throw it and not hit your party. As soon as the enemy is webbed, you can stand back and toss your MMM's at them, fireball them, skull trap them, throw daggers at them, sling rocks at them, shoot arrows at them, magic missile them, etc....

[andrewas]

the hardest part in surviving your own area-effects is simply coordinating your mages and fighers. in multi-player i had to physicaly throw my bro off the computer and de-memorize his fireballs, but in single player its more down to simple common sinse (dont fireball and charge at the same time) and being careful.

fireball seems to have a huge radius in 640*480 mode, but you get used to it. if it make you feel any better, go up a dozen or so levels and you wont even notice 10D6 damage. unless youve already been beat up a bit, but thats life.

skull trap is harder since if it dosent go off in battle (once this happened to me with 16 of the buggers hidden behind a special effect - much pain) your own characters can trigger it. in my sorry case it added up to 240d6 damagem which anybody will most definatley notice. you can however get rid of it with a summon, should you have a few war dogs, skeletons or elementals left over.

much later on there are area effects which ignore your own party members. these are very cool and should _not_ be used with caution.
except with innocent bystanders around, unless you want an instant rep of 1.(10 rep points per bystander, usually they have 1-4 hp and 10 ac and 0 resistance to everything)

using web and minute meteors together is simple, cast web at a group of troublemakers, and procede to pummel the ones that _dont_ get caught with meteors, + a figher with ring of free action. the ones that get caught can wait for later.

[Whailor]

So you are trying to beat the first level, these handful of goblins, now for a year or so? Did I read it correctly?

Are you trying to solo perhaps? If not, then I fail to see how these 'things' can be of any problem whatsoever. If you are not a fighter, then get the Minsc out of the cage, Jaheira as well. You have Imoen with you too. Get the gear from the room where Imoen came out at the start of the game, equip your party members and done. All it takes. Waltz to goblins with the team and just beat the holy bejezus out of them. They die with 1 hit max each..

From all the 'things' you encounter there, these are easiest. Frankly, if you are trying to solo (i.e. not use anyone but your own char) and never played BG before, then perhaps it's not a good idea to start with the spellcaster char as well, at least not the first time. Make a fighter and tryi with him. Or her, whatever the case might be. Make a berserker, since while he/she is Enraged, they have quite handy abilities and immunities. And I suppose an enraged, charging chick with big weapons in her hands is a fearsome picture indeed...

What it will do is save you at least a year or two more, when you encounter the more powerful foes there, in bunch. Consider the saved time my friend!

quote:

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Originally posted by Mitro Jellywadder:
Scott,

Welcome to the board.

Some of the important starting spells...

Magic Missile....any respectable mage has this [img]graemlins/hehe.gif[/img] ..perfect spell disruptor and not too bad of damage.

Melf's Acid Arrow...does extended damage over a period of time. Another good disruptor.

Web...if they can't move, they can't attack you.

Fireball/Skull Trap...starting out, you need to be able to inflict the maximum damage to groups that you can. Skull trap ends up doing much more damage in the long run, but I still like watching the fireballs blow up... [img]graemlins/hehe.gif[/img]

Melf's Minute Meteors...I wouldn't leave home without it. Excellent for hitting and running away. Put some distance between you and the melee attackers, continue to pelt them with MMM and back away. Works very well in conjunction with web or entangle.

These are a few of the offensive spells that are quite useful in the early stages of the game. (And they are available when you create your sorcerer.)

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Melfs minute meterors all the way for me. monstor summoning can also be a deterrant

[Barb]

I use Melfs Minute Meteors loads! They kill goblins in no time. Also, I find web spells annoying. If you have a party, they sometimes get stuck in the web. GOOD LUCK!!!

[Ningauble]

One of the best pieces of advice I've ever read for Irenicus's dungeon is to turn up the brightness (either on your monitor or in the game). It helps to have your bearings in the dungeon, not just so you can see where you're going but also so you recognize rooms you've been in before.

Hey, this is my first post!

[andrewas]

barb, use the ring of free action, arlanes(sp?) sword or the spiders bane (i think you can get one of those in BG2). all of these, and quite a few more give you free action, and three figherrs with free action will mince anything webbed. plus, by the time your ready to ship out, you should be pretty much immune to anything with a saving throw.

ningauble, welcome to the board.

nice idea, but irenicuses dungeon is pretty well lit anyway. or maybe my brightness is to high already. anyway, if you ever do get lost use the map.