Most Useless Spell?

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I was just wondering what everyones pick would be for "Most Useless Spell in SoA".

Part of me wants to go for "Identify".

Enough lore will get you through most things, then there are merchants and glasses of ID.

"Know Alignment" is pretty useless, except on one or two occassions.

Even "Magic Missile" can take down a kobold or two....

So.....I'll stick with "Identify"...

Your picks?

 

Ha! You should really learn to love Magic Missle!

Most useless? Ah, probably infravision, but every spell has it's uses, depending on the situation.

 

But, I DO love Magic Missile! I use it constantly! A cheap, fast spell with decent damage...what's not to love!

I forgot about "Infravision"..that has to go on the list as well!

How about "Slow Poison"?

 

Slow Posion? That's pretty useful actually cause some monsters do some pretty nasty posion damage, only reason I don't usually memorize it is because more often than not it's one of my Bhaalspawn powers, and later on it's not much of a problem...

 

i think Friends is the most useless spell ever -when would anyone ever use this? if your CHA is so low, so be it -reap the rewards and do battle with peasants ..and it closes quests ..more applicaple to pen & paper

 

Ah, not really. It's a great pick for Sorcerers since they can cast in multiple times before shopping to get 25 charisma and *very* low prices.

 

What is that Goodberry spell for ...

 

I would vote for contagion as the absolute useless spell. Lowering the targets strength, dexterity and charisma by one point is nothing, but the chance of resisting the spell makes it completely useless to me.

 

IIRC Goodberry is useful to keep a non-ToB wizardslayer alive since they cannot use potions in SoA only ...

 

lol @ regusa that is indeed the big handicap of a SoA wizard slayer

Now let me see about useless spells;
armour: in BGI it was usefull but not with the equipment in SoA.
Chill touch: just don't see my mage as a frontline fighter.
Infra vision: Can't even begin to comprehend the usefullnes of the spell.
Larloch's minor drain: this is not the kind of damage I am hoping to deal
Shield: see armour
Shocking grasp: see chill touch
Ghoul touch: see chill touch
known alignment: anybody even tried the spell?
luck: +1 bonus to my saving throws for 3 rounds YEAH.
Strength: Like there aren't any strength enhancing items in the game.
hold undead: If you have trouble with the undead they will probably make the saving throw for this spell anyway
lightning bolt: I always seem to harm my own party the most.
non-detection: somehow enemies can always see me even with the cloack
vampiric touch: see one of the other touches
Firestorm: I don't want to kill enemies in a way their inventory can be destroyed.
Remove curse: Identify items be4 you equip them. Else go to a priest. I don't need my mage memorising this spell.
disintegrate: see firestorm
flesh to stone: see firestorm
Sphere of chaos: see firestorm
energy drain: drain 2 levels??? Like that will matter on a lev20 fighter.
imprisonment: see firestorm

And there are quite a few other mage spells I rarely use, but which I can still see that they could be usefull

 

Know Alignment
Detect Evil
Infravision

Those are my top 3. Note that they're all Divination spells (I think). A solo Diviner would be tough if not impossible..

 

I would agree with Black Rose. Those 3 suck a lot, on BG2 and both BG.

Magic Missile is good since it can stop a Mage or Cleric from casting a spell.

Slow Poison is very good, especially when you get a mage poisoned


Some other like armor, Chill Touch, were
"nice" on BG1 not BG2.

 

I find most of the 2nd level cleric spells pretty useless - slow poison is the only one that I use on a regular basis. I also find charm person pretty useless - it had a few uses in BG1, but in SoA, most of your enemies will resist it without much trouble - and those that can't you can usually take out with one hit anyways. Hold became pretty meaningless after a while for the same reason...

 

What?! What about Hold Person, Silence '15 radius and Spiratual hammer? Those are all second level cleric and very useful indeed.

Detect Evil is nice with a Paladin, I like knowing who to trust. I would probably never memorize it as a spell, but I like it on a Paladin.

Also most people underrate Ghoul Touch it's very useful for fighter/mages! I can whack everyone in a few seconds then kill them with my swords.

[This message has been edited by Lord Sarevok (edited January 25, 2002).]

 

I've found that Hold Person, Spiritual Hammer and Silence 15' radius are useful only at lower levels, and against the weaker creatures. They were very useful in BG1, but most of your enemies in SoA can save pretty successfully against them - once you move away from the early quests. Silence 15' Radius has it's uses, and it's great when it works, but it often doesn't. Power Word Silence is (obviously) a much better spell for essentially the same purpose.

 

Ghoul touch also is very useful for a fighter-thief ... make a backstab and then use ghoultouch on your victim - when you paralyze your victim, drink a potion of invisibility and backstab again ... a potentially very deadly combination especially when you manage to paralize several enemies

 

I hate colour spray. 8 out of 10 times the opponent is too high a level, so it's only useful to get from the doungeon at the beginning.

 

I've never really had much success with "grease," although I do think John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John make a good couple.

 

Spiratual Hammer is very useful until you have a +3 or great weapon! Sure, Powerword: Silence is better than Silence '15 radius, but you're forgeting that one is a level 6 spell and the other is a level 2! Of course 2nd level spells won't be of that much use later on, you could just as easily say that 2nd level mage spells are useless later on, so I don't see your point.

 

Well, that is my point really: after the first couple of chapters in SoA alot of those 2nd level cleric spells become pretty much useless since most of your opponents can save against them without any trouble. 2nd level wizard spells on the other hand, like invisibility, melf's acid arrow, mirror image, blur, detect invisibility, and ray of enfeeblement (among a few others) are still quite usefull - they still work through the whole game. Most of the 2nd level cleric spells are only worthwhile for a short period in the game. It's a function of your opponents really, and not the spells themselves.

Just a note on the Silence 15' Radius though: I wasn't forgetting that Power Word silence is a 6th level spell. What I was meaning was that since the 2nd level spell has a higher chance of failing (because of your opponent's higher saves) when you really need to silence a spellcaster, you want to make sure it works. Thus, you don't want to waste a single action during a battle on a spell that probably won't work when you can cast one that has a much higher chance of working (power word silence). Well, that's my view at least - I still keep a few Silence 15' Radius, but more because there are so few other 2nd level cleric spells that are even somewhat usefull.