Spells? who gets 'em? (Cleric or Druid, opposition schools, etc.)

[Tennessee Ernie Ford]

I have a number of questions regarding who gets to use which spells in IWD/HoW (and computer AD&D in general). Any help would be appreciated.

• How can I tell if a priestly spell is usable by Druids or Clerics?
  
  The manual says, "At 8th level, Rangers gain the ability to cast Priest spells." This makes no references at all to a limit on spells. Similarly, the spell progression tables don't mention any limit on Druids or Clerics. In the Spell detail section, the wizardry school (e.g. Alteration) is mentioned for each spell, but not a word about spheres. In any case, neither the manual nor the ReadMes explain that certain Priests may cast spells from certain spheres, but not others.
  
  (As a side note, since the information isn't in the ReadMes or manuals, how did anyone else figure this out? From the Paper version of AD&D?)
  
• Related question. Rangers and multi/dual classes. Do Rangers get Druid or Cleric spells? Do dual Cleric/Rangers get Druid or Cleric spells or both (or does it depend on when they switch)? Do multi Cleric/Rangers get Druid/Cleric or both?
  
• Mage spell question How do I determine whether a mixed school spell is allowed for a specialist mage?
  
  For example, Summon Shadow is both Conjuration and Necromancy. In HoW, a Diviner is prohibited from Conjuration spells. Does she get Summon Shadow?
  
• General question about dual/multi-classing. How do I determine what skills/abilities are lost for Dual class characters? In BG, for example, I was surprised that my Fighter/Mage only got 2 quick weapon slots; the Fighter gets 4, why shouldn't the Fighter mage? Does this hold true in HoW as well?
  [/list]
  Any information would be appreciated.
  
  Thanks
  
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  Tennessee Ernie Ford
  http://members.aol.com/tenernie
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  TEF is the nom de web of the author of several Might & Magic websites. No relationship is intended or claimed to the fantabulous gospel singer of the same name.

[Sazerac]

Hey, TEF! Man, your website came in handy for me a year or so ago when I was battling my way through "Mandate of Heaven"! Hopefully I can repay part of the favor here.

Unfortunately, I don't think there's any good way of determining "druid" versus "cleric" spells unless they're written up at a website. There's no distinction in the manual, but there are definite differences.

I guess people figured it out by playing both Druid and Priest and noting the differences between the spells.

Rangers, as far as I know, get to cast Druid spells, rather than Priest spells. Paladins, OTOH, cast Priest spells rather than Druid spells.

If you are a specialist mage, you are limited by the restricted spell school, regardless of if it's a mixed school spell. I've also noticed that there's a lot more restrictions than are listed in the book. For example, in the book, it lists that an Illusionist can't cast Necromancy. What it doesn't mention is that they can't cast Abjuration spells either. Or a Conjurer can't cast Invocation spells nor Divination spells (say bye-bye to Fireball. ) So be careful which spell school you go with on Specialist mages. In IWD they are far more restricted than they are in BG2.

Pure fighters get 4 weapon slots
Paladins and Rangers get 3
all others get 2, including dual and multi.
and yes, it holds true in HoW as well (since I'm playing IWD using the expansion pack).

The number of weapon slots isn't that bad, since you can always pause and change weapons in the midst of battle. However, it helps free up some room for more inventory, of course.

Hope this helps!



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[Tennessee Ernie Ford]

Saz-

Thanks--both for the nice compliment (I'm amazed and gratified ppl use the site) and the info.

I was afraid that info was lacking. (I suspect it's sacreligious to say, but I've always felt there was a capricious and arbitrary element to paper D&D and I'm afraid it's made it's way into the computer versions. Sigh.)


Well, I'm off to IWD plus HoW, and will attempt to use my scripts from BG. (I'm guessing they will have to be recompiled, too, since the engines are just a wee bit different).

I'm taking a Fighter/Fighter/Fighter/Thief/Cleric-Ranger/Bard, which, at L9-11 will convert to F-Druid/F-Cleric/F-Mage/T-Fighter/Cleric-Ranger/Bard. I'm guess that life will be difficult at the very beginning and during the transition, but I will be happy to have the buffed up Dual-classed team in the end.

Wish me luck. I'll probably be back to ask more questions.

Thanks again.

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Tennessee Ernie Ford
http://members.aol.com/tenernie
----
TEF is the nom de web of the author of several Might & Magic websites. No relationship is intended or claimed to the fantabulous gospel singer of the same name.

[Leafy]

don't forget to read the manual for updates to opposition schools (in HOW manual). the IWD manual is located in .pdf format on disk one.

i've found that if a spell is of two schools and you are opposed to one but not the other, you can still cast it. As for the Ranger spells, rangers actually get a mixture of both cleric and druid spells but does not get all of either. Playing a Cleric/Ranger will give you all cleric spells and good access to most Druid spells but not all druid spells.

your Party Compositions looks solid Ernie. all fine choices. As for the fighter druid, you might as well take advantage of the fighter proficiencies you'll be getting and try to master a weapon. For druids, Longswords and Daggers make a fine choice (throwing daggers are a good missle weapon; well, maybe not, but there are some cool magic daggers in the game). Once your Druid level surpasses the Fighter level, you should be able to add the proficiencies freely up to 5. (personally, i am working on a druid lvl18 who became a fighter. This makes the most powerful fighter druid in that he gets all the spell levels (2 7thlvl!) and can master two weapons and be proficient or specialized in several others)
But the fighter to druid dual class is good because it plays out easier.

Oh yeah, and remember: if you have IWD, HOW and LM all installed, your multi-classed characters will be able to reach level 30 in each class reguardless of the EXP limit. neato, huh?

[Tennessee Ernie Ford]

Leafy:

thanks for your reply--I would never have figured out that Ranger-Clerics don't get every spell. When I played paper D&D, I never thought the system was very bizarre. But, especially as it's implementing in Black Isle games, it now seems arbitrary and capricious to me. Alas.


Thanks also for the thumb up on my proposed party. I wanted to cover as many classes as possible, without suffering the loss of levels from multi-class. I will likely do some swapping of characters during the game. Some of the pre-rolled HoW characters seem pretty decent, but I wanted to start at L1.

Does adding LM cap XP or levels? that is, if a fighter-mage can reach L30 in both classes, are fighters and mages still limited to 30, also? That would seem pretty unbalancing in favor of a non-human, completely multi-classed party.

Thanks again.



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Tennessee Ernie Ford
http://members.aol.com/tenernie
----
TEF is the nom de web of the author of several Might & Magic websites. No relationship is intended or claimed to the fantabulous gospel singer of the same name.

[Hayashi]

AFAIK the cap is based on exp. But what do I know? I'm still at the beginning of Chapter One, exploring Kuldahar.