Spell recommendation request, solo mage

Remove all ads!

Good day,

I am considering playing (or attempting) a solo mage through the game. Needless to say, this should provide considerable entertainment, potentially more excitement than I would want if I choose the improper spells.

Which spells would everyone reccomend for such a mission? An informal list (perhaps with a few comments on priority) would be greatly appreciated.

Also, would anyone reccomend playing as a specialist mage? The extra spells would be handy, but would limit the necessary flexibility a solo mage would require. The conjurer seems plausible, however.

Thank you for your time,
Jarikus, The Unwise Apprentice

 

Solo..?! Oh, thought you were gonna try to take the game on with no party members, heh Well bud, I din't really know but make sure you have Breach and Khelben's Warding Whip, for the rest It's kinda obvious, Magic Missile, Fireball etc... Sorry not too specific, I only have a 2 intelligence ya know Maybe Slappy'll have more for you

 

There are a few spells that are an absolute MUST.

1.Dispel magic- You are gonna need this one. Just trust me.

2.Magic missle- In my opinion, by far the most useful lev 1 spell. It is almost always the first spell I use in combat.

3. Melf's Minute Meteors- You meet lots of trolls in the game, and you cannot possible use one-shot fireballs on them all. You get plenty of meteors, and they're range. Better then some pissing sling, that's for sure.

4.Color Spray- This is the best way to take out all those fragging pansy creatures like goblins so you can concentrate on bigger stuff. (Web would also work here)

5.Blur- They can't kill what they can't hit.

6.Monster Summoning- You are GONNA need some support. Even if they are just cannon fodder.

7.Protection From (Weapons/Magic/Projectiles)
ect...- The protection spells that protect you from combat damage are very useful, and using 4 of them in conjunction, make you practically invincible.

8.Skull trap- Just read the description in the book. It is usefull SO often it's uncanny. Makes for good suprise attacks or getaway cover.

There are more, in higher levels, but frankly I am not sure how long this post can be. These ones would be the useful ones in the lower levels though.

 

Yes definetely Breach, Lower Resistance, Secret Word, Khelben's Warding Whip, Ruby Ray of Reversal.
Also, Blur is good but dang don't forget Stoneskin and Mirror Image which will buy you a lot of time.
Melf's Minute Meteors, Vampiric Touch, Skull Trap, Magic Missle, Horror, Cone of Cold, and conjuration spells will be good offense.
Do not overlook Oracle and Shadow Door, they are great! So are Contigency, and the Trigger spells.
Protect yourself- Resist Fear, Protection from (fill in blank)
Polymorph Self(Gnoll), Phantom Blade, and Enchanted Weapon to get +3 weapon and this will definetely help!
Limited Wish(make sure you have good wisdom)and Simulacrum will really help.
You solo means if you can hack it you will lvl up quickly high lvl spells and the exp cap remover will help to get those awesome lvl 9 spells.

 

Tenser's Transformation is an incredibly useful spell, as are some of the elemental summoning spells. Sure they aren't as good as the priest version, but elementals can be more than fodder.

 

Hello,


Thank you all very much for your posts, with your information and my luck I may just survive my little adventure.

Also, to maximize chances of survival, I was considering taking a human swashbuckler or bounty hunter up to level 11 (solo) and then dual classing to mage. This could provide some valuable find traps and place traps ability.

What are everyone's thoughts on familiars and alignment? I imagine all of them are rather fun in their own right, but which is everyone's favorite?

 

One question: You are in a house with many trapped and locked chest/doors. What do you do know? How can you remove traps and unlock many chests (after that 2 knock-spells are used?) So indeed you have to be a swashbuckler first, and then dual to a mage (no specialist) then you have a chance. O and please use the XP-Gap-remover, you really need 9 lvl spells and some lower Thaco.

Well I indeed advice much summoning (monsters and later elementals, djinni's, efreets etc.) to keep the attackers busy. I also advice to have a spell trigger for protection-removing on other mages and a spell trigger with wich you can cast 3 or 4 good protection spells on yourself and a twigger with lot's of magic missiles.

There are 2 problems I think:

1. The Dragons
2. Carrying al the stuff with 1 person...

Maybe I will play the game soon with the 2 childs of Bhaal only...

[This message has been edited by Headbanger (edited April 18, 2001).]

 

Ye should try the sorcerer.
Me think he's the best of mages. The conjurer also very good, but he can't cast divination spells, so any illusion user could defeat him for good.
TRY THE SORCERER, I SAY!

 

A few comments:

Headbanger says you need to be a thief.
That's not true.
Even though it may not seem so a thief is the last thing you need!
Traps you take head on or protect against or avoid altogether.
Locks you either force open or rest and cast Knock.

DarkAngel22 says you "MUST" have Dispel Magic and Color Spray.
That's not true.
Color Spray: need I say why it's not needed?
Dispel Magic: Read the spell description. It will very often just not work. If you are an Inquisitor on the other hand...

I can recommend these spells:
- Magic Missile
- Blur
- Resist Fear
- Melf's Minute Meteors
- Stoneskin
- Animate Dead
- Sunfire
- Simulacrum

Of course there are others, but include the above spells and you won't regret it.

 

My recommendation:

defense:
- blur
- mirror image
- protection from evil
- stoneskin
- fireshield
- spirit armor
- spell deflection
- spell turning

offense:

- magic missile
- fireball
- cone of cold
- death spell
- finger of death
- Abi Dalzim's horrid wilting

Store these in contingency and trigger spells and you'll be a blast!

 

Of course you can use bash and knock but then you should have at least 10 knock-spells for you will realy be emberassed to see how many times you need to unlock thing. And of course you can just tsep in all the traps but you aren't always protected from anything and there are trap that kill you in a sec...... so you'd better multiclass a thief with a mage then.

 

In reply to Headbanger:

- About Open Locks:
In the few cases where you need lots of knock at a time you can just rest and memorize all the knocks you can.
Open locks is not reason enough to pick a thief.

- About Traps:
Lethal traps are extremely rare and in those cases you have two options:

1. Find out which spell the trap consist of and protect against it.

1a. A good option is to cast Spell Immunity and pick immunity to the applicable spell school.
1b. Another option is to use Spell Deflection.

2. Avoid the trap.
(One example is a certain Spellhold trap...)

* Conclusion: *
You do not need a thief to complete BG2.

 

False: Thieves are essential, but you ignorants will never learn about that, tss, tss ... <shakehead, deep sob>

 

Technically I agree, you don't HAVE to have a thief, but they make your game flow so much faster.
Thinking about all the hassle I'd have to go through without a thief, I started a solo game with a Swashbuckler to be dualled to a Mage.

 

actually thieves and mages (followed by clerics and even bards) are *useful* for the party. Thieves help in getting all the loot faster without losses (traps), they open doors, set traps and scout.

Beeing short of thieving abilities till I retrieve Imoen I found the game sometimes a bit tough to play.

 

Back to topic: I´d recommend to take the swashbuckler as a first class for he offers better fighting skills (though no backstab) and *unrestricted* thieving abilities.

The only advantage of the bounty hunter class it the set traps ability and when you dual at lvl-10 or 11 you´ll just have some 2 or 3 of these traps. Traps can be useful when placed properly but there´s still Yoshimo around to do that job.

 

You should get a sorcerer if you want to play solo with a mage.

I play solo with a sorcerer and it's pretty easy if you know who to choose the right spell, you have less spell but you dont have to memorize which one you want to have it all the time.

you need protective spell
protect evil, fear, normal and magical weapon,etc...
need some summoning spell, spider spawn
you can use sunfire, you need it to play solo
and i dont have remove the cap of exp. i dont know if i will do because we still need some challenge, plz

Chris

 

You've got to have Mordenkainen's sword!!!
And Summon Earth Elemental!

Work on your spelling buddy, I won't always be around to fix it.

[This message has been edited by Taluntain (edited April 23, 2001).]

 

Ahh! Mordenkainen's Sword, now that's an excellent spell. I love it! The Skeleton Warrior from Animate Dead protect me for hours and will hold off the enemy until I can summon up a sword or two. Then I sit back and enjoy the show.

Earth Elemental? I gave up on elemental summoning as a mage after too many of them refused to do what I tell them to. Anyone else had that problem?

My Jaheira loves to cast Conjure Fire Elemental and that one I love.

So, is there a difference between mage and priest spell?

 

The elementals summoned by mages have to be engaged in a contest of wills and if that fails they'll attack you.