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Spell learning

Discussion in 'BG2: Shadows of Amn (Classic)' started by joacqin, Oct 21, 2003.

  1. joacqin

    joacqin Confused Jerk Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    [​IMG] I have played this game for almost two years now and there is one thing that has bugged me constantly. Spell learning, the failure rate is way higher than it is supposed to be. I know the theories of remembering failures and such but that doesnt cut it here. If my mage has an 18 int he has an 85% chance of learning a spell, however he fails way more than 15% of the times, it is more like a 40% failure rate. If it had only been that I had been somewhat fine with as 15% is still a rather large number and I might exaggerate to myself the amounts of failing, but if I let my mage drink a bunch of potions of genius so he has a 99% chance of learning a spell which is the biggest you can get the failure rate is still atleast 20%. This is mostly evident when you have a bunch of scrolls to memorise, if your entire inventory is full you are bound to fail to memorise atleast 2-4 spells.

    This is very annoying, is there anyone but me that have noticed this?
     
  2. fade Gems: 13/31
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    I always thought that it was 15% failure rate for each spell. I thought that that was applied to every spell the mage tries to learn. If what I said is true, that would explain why it is hard to for you to learn them.
     
  3. Splunge

    Splunge Bhaal’s financial advisor Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    @ Fade - a 15% chance of failure per spell should, on the whole, equate to 15% of all spell memorisation failing, which is what joacqin is saying.


    @ joacqin - I've noticed this too, but I always just figured it was my imagination because I hate it when it fails, especially if it's a spell I want as opposed to one that I'm memorising just for the XP. In fact, if it's a spell that I really want, I will usually do a reload *gasp* and try it again. However, just last night, I had Imoen drink 2 genius potions, and still failed 2 of 10 or so attempts. So I think I might agree with you that the failure rates are higher than they should be. Either that, or I'm really unlucky.
     
  4. stefan Banned

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    Or you could just change the difficulty to easy, where you cant fail, and then change back...
     
  5. Mystra's Chosen Gems: 22/31
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    I find the learning failiure goes up with the level of the spell. If you're trying to learn 7th level spells, there's going to be more failiures than 1st level spells.

    Just what I've noticed. Maybe it's me.
     
  6. joacqin

    joacqin Confused Jerk Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    I think you may have a point in the failure rate going up with higher level spells, but it could also be that you notice it more keenly with higher levels spells as you have either spent good money on them or you really want that spell, compared to memorising friends purely for the XP.
     
  7. Golden Avenger Gems: 2/31
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    [​IMG] I Agree the failure rate is higher than it is suppossed to be. Its like Imoen can only memorize 55% of the spells in Jon's hotel.Not memorizing the spell is not as bad as not getting the expierience points that you schould be getting :(
     
  8. Khann Gems: 1/31
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    I agree with you guys. I always thought that I was either nuts or really unlucky. I never actualy did the numbers, but it's got to be way more then 15%, even with potions of genius. At 99%, even if you try to learn some 20 spells, you *should* not fail (well, 1% of 20...)
     
  9. Aldeth the Foppish Idiot

    Aldeth the Foppish Idiot Armed with My Mallet O' Thinking Veteran

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    I may have an explantion for this. According to 2nd Edition Players Handbook, PnP rules, the percent chance for successfully scribing a spell decreases by 10% for every spell level over the level you can currently cast.

    So for example, if the highest level spell you can cast is 6th level, and you are trying to scribe an 8th level spell, your chance of being successful is whatever your % chance of success is, -20%. So even if you had a 99% chance of success, you chance of being successful in such a case is actually only 79%.
     
  10. joacqin

    joacqin Confused Jerk Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    Well, you still have problem even if your mage is able to learn any level spell. I just think they have slightly messed up the probability, or have a fixed probability and int doesnt matter.
     
  11. Buck Naked Gems: 8/31
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    "Its like Imoen can only memorize 55% of the spells in Jon's hotel."

    Having Imoen scribe scrolls in Irenicus' dungeon is quite simply a total waste. ;)
     
  12. fade Gems: 13/31
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    Ah, sorry about my misunderstanding of how it worked. The first time I have played above easy is with my solo sorcerer, thus I have not had a problem with it. :p
     
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