Solo Sorceror

[Zoltan]

Hi there!

I'm soloing as a sorceror and I'm a little bit confused about solo sorceror spell list. It's very useful but I examined a few and still I'm confused about some spells. I'll be glad if you share your experiences with me.

Level 1

Magic Missile
Identify Item
Spook
Chromatic Orb
Prot. from petrification

All these spells are OK, except Prot. from petrification. I beat the BG2 and ToB and I haven't experienced any "turned to stone" situations. Is it really necessary?

Level 2

Mirror Image
Knock
Melf's Acid Arrow
Resist Fear
Web

All these spells are OK

Level 3

Melf's Minute Meteors
Skull trap
Slow
Flame Arrow
Lightning Bolt

I can't imagine a game without fireball spell. Also there's lots of other necessary spells such as dispel magic etc

And I don't think that lightnint bolt is a useful spell. And what about slow? Don't they usually save vs spell?

Level 4

Stoneskin
Greater Malison
Emotion
Spider Spawn
Wizard Eye

I miss ice storm, a very devastating and funny spell! Emotion, Confusion etc spells are not very powerful in my opinion? And what about wizard eye, spider spawn? Isn't it better to take Monster Summon? What's the effect of wizard eye?

Level 5

Sunfire
Lower Res
Sp Immune
Ani dead
Feeblemind

Disagere with feblemind and sunfire. I miss prof from nor. wep.

Any other solo sorcerors? In beginning, some places are REALLY hard but you can get some monsters really easy. But I'm wondering about Mind Flayers!? Not face them with my sorceror yet but they're coming in my nightmares everytime I rest [img]smile.gif[/img] I'm not a cleric so any advices? to avoid confusion and mind-effect spells?

[Jim]

Hi Zoltan,

that list looks suspiciously identical to Dundee's Solo Sorcerer Spell list!

Protection from petrification is mainly for a few traps in SoA that trigger flesh to stone. To name a few, in the sewer beneath the Copper corner (the bridge), the entrance to the lich (not the twisted rune, the adjacent one) in the Bridge district, and as you approach the temple of the forgotten god.

I found friends to be more useful than this spell to help you buy items such as the Robe of Veccna and bracers of defence AC3 as early as possible.

Level 2 spells are fine, web will probably get least used.

Skull trap is excellent (20D6 damage anyone?) when combined with mirror image to protect yourself. Slow is good as it gives you more time to cast your spells when surrounded by enemies (fallen paladins for aexample). Flame arrow is devastating to one creature when cast at a max level. Lightning bolt is very useful to cast where you know that enemies are grouped in a confined space since distance and damage both increase with levels.

Emotion is very good when combined wth greater malison since it knocks enemies down making them no threat whatsoever. Wizards eye is probably one of the most useful mid level spells. It allows you to see where your summoned monsters are going, since projected images (which you will be using as a solo sorcerer) have no line of sight. It's no use summoning 15 skeletal warriors is they don't know where they're going. Spider Spawn is not bad, since two sword spiders attack 10 times per round between them - good for removing mages stoneskins and spell disruption. Monster Summoning spells are crap, at least in BG2 (IWD let you go all the way upto monster summoning VII IIRC)

Don't disagree with sunfire [img]smile.gif[/img] its 50% more damaging that a fireball spell (15D6, not 10D6), affects the same area, doesn't damage yourself and you don'r need to worry about party members so let 'em rip

I never bother with feeble mind since it only affects one creature. Cone of cold is good since it will cause 20D4+20 damage at the higher levels (40-100 damage!!) or maybe try protection from electricity to protect you from your lightning attacks instead. Protection from normal weapons is only useful at the start of the game. Manage without since your PC will become immune to botn normal and +1 weapons at the end of SoA, therefore giving you a totally useless level 5 spell in ToB!

About the mind flayer's...use death spell. Easy as pie and will take out a complete room full. If you prefer a more interactive battle, summon a load of skeletal warriors since they are immune to psionics.

Also note that you don't need to use any of the mantle spells/absolute immunity since your natural normal weapon immunity combined with protection from magical weapons makes you completely invunerable for 4 rounds.

[ 02-22-2002: Message edited by: Jim ]

[Faceman]

Forget Protection from Normal/Magical/Any Weapons spells and Mantle.
Stoneskin rulez. It can be cast fast and if you are high enough in level it will protect you for quite some time.

[Morgan_Corbesant]

i would replace the prot. from pet. with a good ole grease spell!! thats right, grease is an awesome spell, especially teamed up with a greater malasion, web, and cloudkill.

i would agree to the no on sunfire. i never found it useful whatsoever.

ive soloed with a sorceror, and ali dazims horrid wilting, cloudkills, and death-fogs are GREAT vs mind-flayers. also, if you face them when you are level 15, use animate dead alot. they are magic resistant, so they turn the mind-flayers into sushi!!!

[jabidas]

Anyone but me notice how many solo sorcerers there are, off topic a little I know but still. BTW you dont need protection from petrification at all, there is always some other way.

[Nim'ohtar]

You would be a fool to not choose protection from magical weapons. Stoneskin is an essential spell, promising to help you very often, but you see.. later in Shadows of Amn, and throughout Throne of Bhaal~ if you want to stay alive (sure you do), you'll need to be protected from magic weapons. If you choose one of the specific good paths before fighting irenicus, you become immune to +1 weapons and less (this is common knowledge enough). Combine this with protection from magic weapons (that's ALL magic weapons) you are immune to physical damage for a short time.
I faced many instances in the bhaalspawn saga where my stonskins (at level 40) were whiped clean by a gauntlet of demons or whatever else (a hasted death shade for example, irk.) Plan ahead for fights with things like: Demogorgan (improved or regular), marileth's, the female guardian gauntlet on watcher's keep level 5, demons, more demons (they can see through invisibility~ your staff of the magi doesn't help you here), and Amelyssan the blackhearted (oops, spoiler..but if you are soloing you should know by now~). So yeah. Make sure you have this spell.

That aside, get:

Timestop
project image
horrid wilting
er blah blah blah

find dundee's solo spell list -after all, he posted it for a reason.

[mangy_dog]

I dont think you can cast prot. from normal weapons along with prot. from magical weapons. At least thats what it says in the manual. Does anyone know for sure?

[Nifft the Nimble]

quote:

---

Originally posted by mangy_dog:
I dont think you can cast prot. from normal weapons along with prot. from magical weapons. At least thats what it says in the manual. Does anyone know for sure?

---

It's true that you can't cast those two spells at the same time, but if you are innately immune to normal weapons (you are a Lich, or a demon like a Marlith, or ...) you can cast Prot. from Magic Weapons alone and be immune to all physical damage.

-- Nifft

[Dundee Slaytern]

Well, different people have different styles, and I will try to explain why I chose the following spells.

All these spells are OK, except Prot. from petrification. I beat the BG2 and ToB and I haven't experienced any "turned to stone" situations. Is it really necessary?

Some people prefer to choose Friends instead, but the reason why I chose not to was because... well... you are soloing and money is not going to be an issue. Friends will only be applicable in the beginning of the game and chances are, you will not use it in the later parts of the game( unless you really want to save a few hundred dollars when you have tens of thousands of dollars), but you can always use Protection from Petrification all the way. It is a 100% guarantee that you will not get petrified through any means, whether by spell or trap. I believe prevention is better than cure.

I can't imagine a game without fireball spell. Also there's lots of other necessary spells such as dispel magic etc
And I don't think that lightnint bolt is a useful spell. And what about slow? Don't they usually save vs spell?

Fireball loses out to Skull Trap( Skull Trap deals twice the damage in the end). If you just cannot conceive a game without Fireball, feel free to choose it. After all, it is your game. Regarding Dispel Magic, using it on yourself is highly unlikely, as you cannot dispel Hold if you are held, and Charm ends the game immediatedly since your soloing. Using it on enemies is dicey too, as their levels are more often than not, higher than you, so the chance of Dispel Magic actually working on them is low. You are better off casting surefire counter spells like Ruby Ray of Reversal. Remember, you need one round to cast Dispel Magic, and if it fails( and most likely it will, unless you are fighting Orc Shamans... ...) you just wasted one round. A very bad thing.

Which is why people love Inquisitors, because their Dispel Magic acts at twice their actual level.

Lighting is usually a bad idea if you have a party, but as you are soloing, you can let it fly and bounce everywhere( especially in small rooms) while you smile smugly and safely behind your Spell Immunity_Evocation while your enemies scream and wail as their flesh gets scorched and melted from their very bones.

Slow is not to be underestimated. Combined with Greater Malison, you can reduce once free-wheeling melee tanks into plodding tortoises. Proceed to eliminate them at your leisure. One particulary good place to use Slow is Nalia's Keep. Trolls are very vulnerable to the Slow spell. Also, if things go bad, you can always use it to buy you some time and distance while you retreat and rethink your stragedy.

I miss ice storm, a very devastating and funny spell! Emotion, Confusion etc spells are not very powerful in my opinion? And what about wizard eye, spider spawn? Isn't it better to take Monster Summon? What's the effect of wizard eye?

I am going to sound like an asshole here [img]redface.gif[/img] , but... ...

BwerWahHAHAHAHA!!!! Ice Storm, devastating?!?! *sniggle*

Ice Storm is very weak in my opinion, in terms of raw damage. Even if the target stays in the area of effect from start to finish, the damage dealt is not really noteworthy. Heck, one Skull Trap can deal around the same amount of damage in less time, and it is a level 3 spell.

Spider Spawn is meant to be used in conjunction with Web, and should not be underestimated. Remember, if the enemy is stuck, he/she/it cannot fight back the spider while the spider delivers free hits. Given their attacks per round, this is a very potent combo.

I initially wanted to leave out Wizard Eye as well, but as Jim said, and I came to realise later, you are going to need it for your Project Image illusion and your summons.

Plus it acts as a very good scout as enemies usually ignore it's presence. Some of them will Dispel it, but it does not happen often.

Disagere with feblemind and sunfire. I miss prof from nor. wep.

A lot of people seem to dislike Feeblemind, but it has become a mainstay in my spell list for the simple reason that it is always fun to make a Dragon into a brainless flesh statue.

Unless you decide on the evil path, you are eventually going to gain an innate immunity to +1 enchanted weapons and below. This will immediately render your Protection from Normal Weapon spell useless. An useless spell means a wasted slot, a slot that could have been used for some other spell.

I also passed over Cone of Cold because it destroys loot, although it is in consideration as you are soloing, so you have better control over when to use the spell.

But I'm wondering about Mind Flayers!? Not face them with my sorceror yet but they're coming in my nightmares everytime I rest [img]smile.gif[/img] I'm not a cleric so any advices? to avoid confusion and mind-effect spells?

Send your summons to do the dirty work. Skeleton Warriors and Mordenkainen's Sword comes to mind. Assist them by casting Death Spell to eliminate all the Umber Hulks. Remember... you can have a horde of them if you use Project Image.

Random Sewer Denizen: "Your money or your life!"

Odin Magnus: "You and what army, twinky?"