My spell picks for Sorcerer so far

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I've been struggling through Icewind Dale II, and been having a blast (I'll probably give a review of this game soon).

I was hoping for some comments on my sorcerer spell picks so far:

Level 1:
- Burning Hands, Magic Missile, Ray of Enfeeblement, Shield, Charm Person

Lvl 2:
- Melf's Acid Arrow, Web, Blur, Mirror Image, Protection from Arrows

Lvl 3:
- Melf's Minor Meteors, Lance of Disruption, Skull Trap, Slow

Lvl 4:
- Emotion: Hope, Stoneskin, Spider Spawn, Fireshield (red)

Lvl 5:
- Sunfire, Cloudkill, Animate Dead

Lvl 6:
- Disintegrate, Planar Binding: Fire Elemental

Lvl 7:
- Prismatic Spray

Initially I had 'Colour Spray', although I found that one round stunned was too short a duration to be useful. Summon Shades was an initial pick, but the monsters are far weaker than those produced by the Summon Undead and Fire Elemental Spell.

Fire Elemental, Disintegrate and Prismatic Spray are incredibly powerful.

I'm on Chapter 5, by the way.

 

sorc spell book

Ah, a not often discussed, but important aspect!
I've underlined essential choices.
For the ideal sorcerer spell book, what you need to add are:

1: Chromatic Orb (can disintegrate at high level), Grease (has effect even if saved against) & Mage Armour (long lasting AC bonus), you can get rid of RayoEnf. & Charm for this.

2: Cat's Grace (long lasting DEX bonus), you'll get another pick later, so choose this. Important spells are Bull's Strength and Vocalize, but try to get them covered by clerics and mage/bard.

3: Blink optional (good protection), Fireball (gets you through early-mid game), Flame Arrow optional (good damage), Invisibility Sphere! (allows for cheesy tactics, rescues you), Stinking Cloud optional (incapacitate them, and they don't wake up if you damage them). Make sure others cover Dispel Magic, Magic Circle. Lance of Disruption and MMM can be done without, there are better spells to pick.

4: Impr. Invisibility optional (cheesy defense tactic), Malison should be covered, Mord. Force Missiles optional (good damage), Otiluke's Resilient Sphere only if you haven't got Tactics installed ( biggest cheese spell in the game), Shadow Conjuration beats Spider Spawn.

5: Chaos (safe crowd control), Greater Shadow Conjuration (summons powerful shades, even demons, they become much more hard hitting than Animate Dead summons, and your cleric covers those), Lower Resistance should be covered by someone. I've rarely found a good occasion for using Sunfire, you could do without it.

6: Acid Fog and/or Acid Storm if you have Aqua Mortis feat (storm has good damage, few are resistant to acid, fog slows), Chain Lightning w/Scion of Storms feat (electric damage is not often resisted either), Mass Haste! ( great buff spell, very useful after summoning a horde), Shades (very hard hitting summons, they still have plenty of hit points), Tenser's Transformation if you'd ever want to use you sorcerer in melee. You are better of without planar binding spells, summons can go hostile, and aren't that great.

7: Clerics should have a casting of Banishment if they can spare one. Delayed Blast Fireball grows to extreme damage at high level, Finger of Death is an effective spell to be used with Greater Spell Focus: Necromancy, Mass Invisibility is actually a mass version of Improved Invis., Mordenkainen's Sword for damaging powerful enemies in melee from a distance, Seven Eyes is the best protection spell, I liked Suffocate with GSF: Transmutation. Prismatic Spray is interesting, but you run the risk of petrifying/disintegrating enemies and destroying valuable loot.

8: Fiery Cloud (if you can get enemies to stay in an area, this can deal out more damage than any spell), Flaying is cool, but Horrid Wilting is better against a group, Great Shout is handy, but there are better choices, Iron Body has potential, but also drawbacks, Mind Blank can protect a character with a weak will saving throw from enchantments and the like for a full day!, Power Word: Blind becomes an excellent incapacitating spell even against powerful enemies with high saving throws, Symbol of Hopelessness is very popular too.

9: Aegis isn't as good as Seven Eyes, but worthwhile, Black Blade of Disaster will help you against the most powerful of enemies because it's +5 enchanted, for all other enemies Mordenkainen's Sword is safer, Executioner's Eyes gives you amazing combat bonuses for 10 rounds, Gate can be cast by clerics, requires protection from evil, and the goodbutred demon doesn't give you experience for his kills, but it's strong, Mass Dominate needs to be used well, but can be the most effective against a weakminded horde of enemies, just be careful not to harm them, Meteor Swarm is very damaging, but is eclipsed by Delayed Blast Fireball, Power Word: Kill is practically useless because of the hitpoint limit, Summon Monster IX can also be cast by clerics, Wail of the Banshee is the crowning achievement of any sorcerer.

 

Ah man, I used to have a massive word-file with comments and usage on almost all the 273 spells. Pity I lost it. Anyway, here's my pick (in the order they should be taken)-:
1-Sleep: Effective throughout Chp 1. Make em snore and take them 1 by 1. Becomes useless fast, but hey, its too effective to ignore. Although, if you have a Wiz in the same party, let him use it rather than Sorcerer.
1-Mage Armor: Excellent buff spell that is useful through the whole game due to its massive duration. Take it, most definitely.
1-Magic Missile: Early on, it does ok damage. Later however, its very good to take down enemy Mirror Images.
1-Chromatic Orb: The true worth of this spell comes beyond level 7, once it starts stunning opponents for 13 rounds. Especially useful against enemy casters and warriors.
1-Ray of Enfeeblement: This is quite good if you have a high enough DC. Almost destroys the melee capability of most enemies.
2-Aganazzar's Scorcher: BEST damage in early game.
2-Cat's Grace: Excellent buff valid throughout.
2-Bull's Strength: This is optional. Since Clerics have it, I'd suggest using it with them. It becomes obsolete after Clerics get Champion's Strength.
2-Eagle's Splendor: Bonus CHA. 'Nuff said.
2-Luck: Worth it. That's a +1 bonus on ALL dice rolls.
2-Mirror Image: Just in case.
3-Fireball: Your first mass damage spell.
3-Ghost Armor: Another life-saving buff.
3-Slow
3-Skull Trap
3-Flame Arrow
4-Stoneskin: Makes you almost immune to damage in Normal mode for quite a while.
4-Emotion Hope: Solid bonuses to pretty much everything.
4-Spirit Armor: Another awesome buff.
4-Malison
5-Chaos, Dominate Person, Lower Resistance, Animate Dead, Greater Shadow Conjuration (best Summoning spell aside from Animate Dead)
6-Mass Haste (no better buff spell in the game), Disintegrate, Chain Lightning, Acid Storm.
7-Delayed Blast Fireball (most dangerous blaster), Finger of Death (insta-kill), Mordenkainen's Sword, Prismatic Spray, Suffocate.
8-Horrid Wilting (death on steroids, no SR to save you!), Symbol of Hopelessness (best Enchantment spell EVER), Mind Blank, Great Shout (emergency measure to bail your Sorcerer).
9-Executioner's Eyes (let the carnage begin!), Wail of the Banshee (scream...), Meteor Swarm, Mass Dominate.

You could ask reasons for the rest of them later. I think my post was getting too big

 

I'm a little confused. A few comments/questions.

- Why would anyone pick Mage Armour over Shield, giving that Shield gives an extra +3 to AC, as well as immunity to Magic Missiles?

- Grease only slows movement rate, what good is that? In fact, I was disappointed to find that unlike Baldur's Gate II, Web doesn't prevent a foe from attacking you. What a let down!

- As to the Cat's Grace/Bull's Strength/Eagle's Splendor spells, the bonuses provided seem minimal. But yeah, I agree that Luck seems good.

- Ghost Armour? Why?

By the way, I selected Lance of Disruption because it does bludgeoning damage (good against magic resistant foes), and can hit more than one opponent.

 

- Shield is self-cast only, whereas Mage Armor can be cast on anyone. Shield also has a shorter duration, but it IS better if your caster is also a tank.

- Toss in stuff like Grease, Web, Spike Stones, Spike Growth and Entangle, and see if there are any monsters able to head through it. Paste them with Cloudkill, Stinking Cloud, Suffocate, Incendiary Cloud to watch them roast to a slow death. Or just bombard the bejeezus out of them.

- The bonuses DO seem minimal, but they are pretty good. Use them.

- Ghost Armor gives a massive deflection bonus (+5) and lasts a good while. The only other spell that gives a higher deflection bonus is Divine Shell (+6) and that is self cast, Clerics & Paladins only. Deflection bonus stacks with Shield, Armor, DEX, and Generic bonuses.

- Lance of Disruption ain't bad, but gets outclassed fast.

 

Which spells are the best to choose depends a lot on the rest of your party you didn't tell about. Without knowing important facts giving advice includes a lot of guessing.

 

more elaboration

Because it's longer lasting. The immunity to missiles is rarely needed, and the 1hour/lvl duration keeps your mage nicely protected all day.

I think Web does still paralyze, Entangle doesn't. The good thing about Grease is that it's cheap, quick-casting, and has effects even if high level enemies make their saving throw! Web, Hold, Entangle, they all have NO effect if the enemy makes its save. It can be a nice touch to any killzone you're creating. I personally like it with my bard mix-in. It's funny, he's a bard5/cleric25 with 11CHA, and you'd expect all the bard's attack spell to be useless at this point in the game, but Grease still has effects!

The long-lasting bonuses are handy if you plan to go on for a while before resting, Champion's strength is better if you're a frequent sleeper. Cat's Grace is best if you use the AC bonus, reflex s.t. bonus, and ranged attack bonus, but is so cheap and long lasting, you might as well give it to all your characters. Luck is better achieved through other means, like items and songs, this 10 round duration makes it a pricy buff.

This is only useful IMO if you're chasing the extremely high AC bonuses in Heart of Fury, to become near unhittable.

But getting them in a line from your spellcaster is uncommon, you'll be lucky if you hit even two, and must avoid hitting your frontliners, I think.

 

Disintergration, power word kill and banshees wail are always good. With any spells, I always think that boosting your spell penetration is a good idea.

 

Hah, my favourite thing in Sorc playing - it's choosing spells. I sit half our every levelup trying to think 10 levels ahead.

My first point is always the same - there will be a backup spellcaster (or even 2 of them) that will handle simple buff and "spells-to-become-useless-after-Chapter-5". So my sorc can concentrate on realyy powerful spells or ones that can not be easily found.

General concept - I try to have the best AoE spell, then the best disabling spell, than I decide between buff/attack 1 creature/summon spell.

Level 1 - Armor, Magic Missile, Burning Hands, Chromatic Ord (does wonders after Malison), Shield.

I did not take RayofEnf because never saw much effect in the later part of the game.

Level 2 - Prot from Arrows (Chapter 1 and 2 to just breeze through with it), Luck, Mirror Image, Cat's grace, Eagle's Splendour

No good damage spells if the early game that beat the buff that Cat's Grace gives

Level 3 - Fireball, Ghost Armor (we need to buff our tank), Skull Trap, and my personal choice for HoF is Magic Circle against Evil (I do Monk Chambers with my Sorc)

I tried Flame Arrow, Lance of Disr and other damage spells, but the damage output really sucks, so I tossed them in my last game.

Level 4 - Stoneskin, Spirit Armor, Improved Invisibility, Shadow Conjuration (sweeeet at later lvls)

I never take Malison because it does not require a greater caster level to cast it better, nor a DC, nor it has a duration, so anyone with 14 INT and level 7 can cast it. Same thing for Emotion Hope. I also dropped Fireshields because the damage sucks and I never go into melee with my sorc =)

Level 5 - Chaos, Animate Dead, Cone of Cold, Sunfire or Greater Shadow Conj later.

Chaos is much better than Cloudkill, IMHO

Level 6 - Mass Haste (super Buff) and I strongly agree with Fire Elemental. It is one of the very best summons in tha game due to BIG damage resistane and his fists are enchanted and go through almost any monster resistane. A sorc with Miror Image, Invis, Circle ag. Evil and Fire Elemental does Monk Chambers solo in HoF.

Level 7 - DBFB (has unbeaten damage output), Mord. Sword - I will not spoil it for you, cast it with a Mass haste on your next boss and then open up the combat statistics.

Prismatic Spray is a saving throw lottery while DBFB geves awesome damage even with a saving throw made.

Level 8 - Symbol of Hopelessness, Flaying

Level 9 - Wail and Exec. Eyes

 

I'm going to try and replay the game so that on this run-through, I can handle the end-game bosses.

I'm willing to concede the point on 'Armour', given that it can be cast on anyone (unlike BG2), and has a longer duration than shield.

My first level picks will probably be:

Identify - I really, really wish I had this for my previous game. I thought that I'd have gold aplenty and that sages would be around every corner, but that wasn't true.

Chromatic Orb - Does almost the same amount of damage as Magic Missiles, but also causes an additional nasty effect. And it is improved by 'Spell Focus: Evocation'.

Armour - Yeah, well, self-explanatory, I guess.

Ray of Enfeeblement - I'm still taking this, because the damage reduction is massive.

Charm Person - Works for the entire game, and it seems to be bugged in my favour, as the charm effect has a permanent duration.

coin:

It stops movement, but the opponent can still attack. But I think they suffer attack penalties.

I'm not going to take Melf's Arrow this game, I'll replace it with Az's scorcher.

Why doesn't anyone here seem to like Blur? 1/5 chance of an attack missing is pretty good.

 

Web can disrupt spells but it works both ways

 

I like Blur, I'd definitely take it over the Luck spell, it lasts longer, and stacks with Blink to get even more miss chance.

It was in your first post as one of your choices, and I thought it went without saying that it's a good choice.

 

Why is chromatic orb so popular? Doesn't the enemy need to fail their save in order for the spell to do any damage?

 

Chromatic Orb can stun or even kill instantly if that save is failed (at higher levels anyway). Just take the appropriate feats and cast Malison before Ch.Orb and it will work great.

Identify is a waste of a sorcerer spell to me... just have a Wizard learn it or something.

For first level, I like Magic Missile, Ch.Orb, Sleep, Armor, Burning Hands, Shield...

 

Chromatic Orb can't kill in IWD2. But the stun lasts 1r/level, so you should easily be able to hack the monster apart in that time.

Identify is actually better from a Sorcerer, since you can burn unused slots on it before sleeping, instead of having to prepare just the right number of IDs each day. Of course, if you have a Wizard, he'll have at least 18 INT, so you can easily get K:A high enough to identify everything for free.

 

My bad. Wrong game heh

 

It can paralyse though, which makes it useful if your caster suddenly finds themself targetted.