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Unused spell? Do you felt it's been wasted?

Discussion in 'BG2: Throne of Bhaal (Classic)' started by Archaven, Feb 9, 2006.

  1. Archaven Gems: 2/31
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    I was wondering if any of you guys felt frustrated that often you are left with a bunch of spells 'wasted' or should i say 'unused' due that you have your entire party in critical condition and were forced to rest?

    I hate wasting in real life and each time i have a bunch of unused spells i felt frustrated. I only rest when necessary and always hated that you need to rest and get the 'proper' spells for your next encounter. That is why sometimes i will have neutralize poison, negative plane protection, cure disease spells memorized. You wouldn't know when you need them and often you wasted them without using it.

    What do you think?
     
  2. Drew

    Drew Arrogant, contemptible, and obnoxious Adored Veteran

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    I think it pays to be prepared, but once you have enough potions and your wizard knows limited wish those spells become a waste of a spell slot.
     
  3. Felinoid

    Felinoid Who did the what now?

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    I only memorize NPP until I get the Amulet of Power, which does the same thing all the time. Disease I just ride out, and there are antidotes or Bhaalpowers for poison. Mostly I memorize damage and healing spells, and if I have any "wasted", I just slam the next group I see before I rest. :evil:

    Although, my clerics usually have a lot of wasted 2nd level spells. That burns me a bit, but they're still usable on a subsequent group before I rest. Going whole-hog can be a quite liberating experience leading to something of a slaughter. :evil: I always end up with a Silence spell I haven't used, though. :grr:
     
  4. Blog Gems: 23/31
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    Yup, I tend to try to use every last spell or rechargable ability before hitting the rest button. Usually healing spells are the first to get used up. And then whatever offensive spell is left, I try to find mini encounters to waste them in... which gets me killed more often than not.

    I bet if they didn't keep track of how many days you spent in-game, I wouldn't do that. Because in other RPG's that do not keep the time stored, I rest freely and very often, to keep my party in top-notch shape.
     
  5. Archaven Gems: 2/31
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    What does Amulet of Power does? Where can i get it? :p . I've finished almost all the sidequests (yeah i'm still in chapter 2).

    Are there any random encounters that i could fight? Are the 2 encounters (you have been waylaid by enemies and must defend yourself) in the cities scripted? After defeating both battles i don't get any random encounter anymore :( .

    For you guys information, i'm playing on vanilla SoA with ToB installed and latest official patch. No mods though.
     
  6. Prine Gems: 11/31
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    You get the amulet of power from Aran Linvail in chapter 3, either by working for him or by killing him.

    I get those stupid random thug battles all the way through the game...
     
  7. Silverstar Gems: 31/31
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    Once you have Wish spell and 18+ wisdom, resting is hardly required to restore spells.

    I end up with some un-used spells too, but I don'T feel guilty at all. Afterall, I am playing with the heaviest mods created and if my aprty wants to survive, they must be in top-shape for each encounter. A few unused CLW, Free Action, and Chromatic Orbs will do no good against improved enemies I encounter.

    Wands are pretty cool for times when I am low on spells and need a packing punch. Wand of Frost, Fire and LÄ°ghtning are all devastating. Planar Spehere mod wands: Rod of Jagged LÄ°ghtning (Chain-lightning version of the lightning wand), rod of something which casts 3 disintegrates/day, rod of avarda kedavra (Harry Potter anyone? Save vs death at -3 or consumed in a greenish light, heehee I feel like Lord Voldemort! ) ah and Staff of Sorcery can cast Chain Contingency and a very potent 'Improved' Disintegration 3/day, so my maegs do not need CC or Disintegrate or even Finger of Death spells much. :evil: But this is just my game.
     
  8. Warmonger Gems: 5/31
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    I have never used more than half available spells, especially divine ones. Moreover, I usually don't cast most of spells I have remembered. There is no time and no need for that, as too many of them are useless afainst certain opponents.
     
  9. Aldeth the Foppish Idiot

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

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    I usually only rest when 1.) The party is fatigued or 2.) I need to pass time waiting for an event to occur. For example, you can only steal the pirate lord's gate horn at night, so if it's daytime when I finish Spellhold, then I catch some sleep at the Vulgar Monkey.

    Other than that, I don't rest much. I also must say that I usually have over half of my spells still memorized when I rest. That's because in being prepared (i.e,. preparing for as many situations as possible), you usually will take spells that you don't absolutely need. For example, I always have things like a slow poison or two memorized. Well, if no one gets poisoned, I'm obviously not going to be using that spell. Also, undead specific spells like false dawn are great against undead, but far less useful otherwise. Again, if there isn't any undead, I'm not likely to use that spell. I also notice I am much more likely to use up all my healing spells early in the game, and rely on potions more. Once you get to the point that you're druid or cleric is around level 12 or so, you usually have more spells than you know what to do with.

    For mages it's a little different. Basically, the lower the level of the spell, the less likely I'm going to use it. The only first level mage spells I memorize are magic missile, chromatic orb, and identify. None of which are at the top of my list of choices for most encounters. However, I do like to load up 3 magic missiles in spell sequencers for things like dragons. Cast a lower resistance, and then fire off the sequencer. A magic missile only does 2-5 damage, but the collective force of 15 is quite impressive.
     
  10. Silverstar Gems: 31/31
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    ^Heh, MM is a neat spell. Other useful level 1 picks are:

    Spook: with huge saving penalty it is useful!

    Pfrom Evil: a must for battling Improved Pitfiends. When PFE 10'radius gets dispelled, the mage/bard can save himself with a lightning cast of this.

    Shield:It adds decent AC and grants immunity to Magic Misile.

    I never memorize Identify though as I always have Glassess of Identification, or many spare identify scrolls around, or generally my PC's lore is enough, which is cool!
     
  11. Aldeth the Foppish Idiot

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

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    Well, I never use a lot of Identify spells. It's just that even with the glass of ID, you often times find more than 3 things you can't identify, especially once you hit places like the Underdark. I usually take the glasses of ID and one or two memorized ID spells.

    I honestly don't memorize PfE at all. I usually get it from my clerics or paladins (once they are high enough level) and protect the whole party with PfE 10' radius.
     
  12. Silverstar Gems: 31/31
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    Protecting the whole party with PfE 10' is nice too, BUT Imporved PFs, liches, and smarter mages almost always manage to dispel the whole party.

    Which results in big bad Pit Fiend targetting people. :mommy: Now, the party should re-arrange themselves, re-group near the cleric and cleric should cast PfE 10' again. However, there are problems: Casting time of 10' is too long and by the time the cleric manages it the PF will throw a 20d6 fireball to the party, and as they are very close to each other major casualties=spell disrupted. :doh:

    Oh, and that ongoing Teleport Field, courtesy of Liches, makes the re-grouping as a whole party practically impossible. :toofar: So I find PfE invaluable, my mages/clerics cast this to themselves instantly, saving their own butt from Pit Fiend. :thumb:

    Ofcourse, that is my game. :angel:
     
  13. starwalker Gems: 16/31
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    I rest early on more than I usually do late in the game. I tend to rest because my guys are all real fatigued or they need to because I'm practically out of healing and spells and my guys hitpoints are all fairly low. Otherwise I usually keep on trucking through.

    I do do as mentioned though to pass time sometimes and rest then however.
     
  14. Harbourboy

    Harbourboy Take thy form from off my door! Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    I find that I have rest every few minutes. My characters are always half dead after just about every battle and my spellcasters have used up the 3 or 4 spells that I rely on the most. 75% of their spells are unused upon resting because it's stuff like negative plane protection, identify, dispel magic, and lesser restoration which are essential to have memorised but not always used.
     
  15. Ziad

    Ziad I speak in rebuses Veteran

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    I always use up my offensive and buffing spells quickly, because I like to play with a spellcasting heavy party. I always end up resting once every healing spell is gone, and by that time most of the other spells are used up too.
     
  16. Truper Gems: 8/31
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    I never feel like unused spells are wasted. I rest when I need the healing, but I try to rest as infrequently as possible - I like to imagine that there's some urgency in getting after Irenicus.

    I also try to have a fairly generic spellbook. I am always playing head games with myself to determine just how much of my omnicience it is fair to use ;)
     
  17. Harbourboy

    Harbourboy Take thy form from off my door! Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    That is precisely the reason I waste most of my spells. I will have things like Negative Plane Protection memorised even if I know there are no undead around, because my characters don't know that and they hate being level drained.
     
  18. Nakia

    Nakia The night is mine Distinguished Member ★ SPS Account Holder 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!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

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    No, I don't consider my un-used spells wasted. They are there for the just-in-case situation. As I progress I fill up most of my slots with the spells I like but I always have some of the others. This is role playing and I try to play it that way.
     
  19. Aahz Gems: 7/31
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    I'm a religious rester. Rest is awesome. Full healing and spell memorization for hitting the Z key? How can you not love it? I rest after using my protagonists DUHM to bash open a chest. I hate feeling like I'm not at full potential for every fight so I rarely use a spell without resting afterwards. Sometimes I cast Stoneskin with my mages and rest afterwards to get the Stoneskin back (since the duration is 12 hours). Resting is awesome.
     
  20. Archaven Gems: 2/31
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    Hey thanks all for the awesome replies! Now i don't feel guilty of wasting and having a lot of unused memorized spells :D

    Due to this i often don't rest and rest only when necessary. I also tend to finish most of my unused spells with any encounters (unfortunately i can't find any most of the time) only then i will rest in peace :p

    I don't know about you guys but i have once having my entire party memorized the 1st level Identify spells. And i have the glass of identication myselfs which i ended up having 15 identification spells.

    I really need it because i have tonnes of unidentified items with me in my chest in Copper Coronet. Once i identified it only to find how easier if i would have identified it early on my encounters :D
     
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