What spells are you packing?

I favor haste, cleave health, flesh to stone, disintegrate, sunburst, horrid wilting, bigby's crushing hand, black blade of disaster, and mordenkainen's discjunction.

Luminus' redeeming flames, greater sanctuary, phoenix's frigid bolts, silverblade's searing strike, ice storm, delayed blast fireball, firebrand, and mestil's acid sheathe also often find themselves mixed in quite often.

What spells do you use a lot?

Invisibility. There is so much you can do, places you can go while being hidden. Need to get by a bunch of orcs but can't take them on? Invisibility. Suspect there are Rust Monsters up ahead? Invisibility. Is the monster you're trying to take down surrounded by henchmen? I use Invisibility to get close to it so I can get a few extra licks in before its goons start taking whacks at me.

I also like Ghostly Visage as it gives a bit of Concealment and frequently can be help you stay on your feet a while longer in combat.

Though I've only had the spell True Strike on Aenea gauntlets, it has meant the difference between a round of hitting or a round of miffing.

Heh...as a player who likes melee PCs, I dislike Mestil's Acid Sheath. I say ban it . Unless, of course, my mage uses it.

I use tenser's floating disc. Then I don't have to pack around everything myself like some common meatshield.

Joking aside, I've always been a big fan of the ray version of otiluke's freezing sphere...lots of cold damage, no save (it's a ranged touch attack), with the potential to double the damage dice with a critical hit.

I love zipping around Aenea with the various teleport spells.. of particular importance for Jay (my shadowchild) transference, espicially when in the midst of a large open area, lugged down by junk and that cave-safe-haven is ALL THE WAY OVER THERE....


I also like invisibity, improved invisibility (which is akin to invisibility until you do something and Ghostly Visage therefter) and when partying invisibility sphere...

With Shouri, my ftr/sor/PM, I'm rather keen on Gnimishes Shockwave for the initial damage and possible stuning effect, then going in with melee... she also likes a bit of disentegrate and flesh to stone...

I like playing "Goblin Skittles" with her... for its level, Sphere of Denial is a brilliant little spell....

With Grace my clr/wizzi of Mystara... she tends to cast mainly buffs, including weapon buffs (for all those 2d6 damages) and health of the soul... ... combat wise it's a double-wammy of Word of Faith (for intial damage/stuning/blinding/outright death, followed by a firestorm or four... ...

The main thing with Grace though is other then the druid/ranger (and one or two pally/bard only) she knows EVERY spell Aenea has to offer.... so she becomes a good spelltester, and I randomly fill her spell per day quite often, just to actually see what things do...

I like playing "Goblin Skittles" with her...

I laughed a lot at this.

Does Shouri ever say "Taste the Rainbow" when casting Color Spray?


Edit: Doh! I thought I was being so clever with the last sentence. A quick Google search reveals that I'm only the 1,520,538th person to ever to make that comment on the interwebs...

Does Shouri ever say "Taste the Rainbow" when casting Color Spray?

lol....

She hasn't done but she might start doing so... I rather like that one...
Erm.. I'm not sure Colour Spray is in her list of known spells actually...
I'll have to go and check...

It's a very good spell throughout the game. In fact a wand of color spray (which has a DC of 14) is very good on enemies with a low will save for any rogue through levels 15ish. Possibly higher.

*pays close attention, as she's building her first arcane caster ever*

At iddle baby levels, I'm finding Sleep indispensable.

Svair wrote:Does Shouri ever say "Taste the Rainbow" when casting Color Spray?

Naturally, this is the first thing I thought of, too, but I think the "skittles" is actually english for bowling

Yeah it is .. it's a very "childish" term for the ten-pin game... but that's the mindset you get when typing with a 1yr old on your lap...

I still like the comment though.... and the sweets are one of my fav's...


Alternatively... Earthrooted boots + Tempests Microbusts = Good fun...

There was never a moment I cherished more than the time I suffered my gabillionth humiliating get-smacked-down-like-a-little-girl insta-death from fighting Beholders, and decided to start trying new spells....

I saw that Sunburst had a secondary blinding effect and wondered what a gas-bag made of eyeballs would do if it couldnt see.... I went in invisibile, cast the spell.... then almost fell out of my chair when the beholders craptastic reflex saves bit them in the hindquarters.... and they all got to float there doing nothing about the pissed off archmage who was about to obliterate them, cuz they couldnt see him to blast him with eye-rays

Since that day, Sunburst became a permanent part of my favorite spell collection.... and to boot, it also beats the stuffing out of undead.... AND its party friendly.... AND it does magical damage (though not a lot unless the targets are undead).

From the low end of the spell pool, I like the buffing spells with the hr/lvl durations such as Ice Armor, Mage Armor, animal ability enhancing spells, etc. And Extended, of course.

And while it can be deadly, IGMS and Lesser versions here creates the need to actually cozy up to the enemy in order to work; no distance at all.

Also from the low end of the spellbook:

Flame Arrow. Its damage scales better than any other spell available, (1 arrow that does 4d6 fire per 4 caster levels, so 10 arrows at level 40 for a whopping 40d6 fire dmg, as much as Hellball!!, but single target only)

Yes there is a save for half, but even if they make it.... 20d6 for a 3rd level spell?
And what if you Maximize it?

120dmg for a 6th level spell on a *successful* save?

240 if they fail, and say hello the the Great Hall if they are vulnerable to fire LOL....No brainer.

Last thing, in spell combat(only a pvp concern for the most part).... each arrow counts as a separate spell effect. Meaning your 10 arrows are 10 separate 3rd levels spells, but all cast in a single action... and will *shred* any spell mantle they come across(even an ioun stone of absorption- indeed those iouns are so potent that this is probably the best if not only way to deal with them, as they cannot be dispelled by breaches such as mords, etc). A 3rd level spell taking out up to a 9th level spell protection?

Again, no brainer.

**Technically I could see the above as a bug.... but in light of how the Ioun stones of Absorption are not dispellable or breachable, and fire resistance gets applied to each arrow... I dont see it as overpowered damage-wise. Mainly its just the counting as separates spells that is broken.... too many saves and a little too effective against mantles.**

Three main drawbacks:

1. Evasion kills it due to the inherent DC being based on a 3rd level spell (only an epic spell focused evoker can do much about that) so they make the save and the spell is wasted. Totally. Makes ya wonder why hitting somebody with a fire arrow isn't a touch attack.... when hitting them with an acid arrow *is* a touch attack.

2. Fire resistance gets applied to *each* arrow separately... so 10 fire resistance will block 10 damage *per Arrow*, putting that 120 down to only 20 on a successful save

3. 10th level Red Dragon Disciples are flatly immune, cuz they like fire... ie 100% fire immune.

Silvania's Nova of Life:

Yes, it will only harm Undead.

Yes, you must sacrifice 90% of your current hit points, all but killing yourself.

Yes, you will be stunned for 3 rounds afterwards, making you unable to disengage or respond to attacks.

Yes the target can make their fortitude save and take only 1/3 damage from the spell.

The good news:

If you prepare *properly* after pulling the pin but before removing the spoon on this Holy Handgrenade-

1. You will have used Health of the Soul and Endurance (or better yet, a *maximized* endurance) to grant yourself many additional hitpoints, thereby substantially increasing your damage potential. Swapping on an amulet that boosts your CON to round out the full +12 enhancement bonus is a good idea.

2. The spell inflicts positive energy damage.... just about nothing has resistance to that.

3. The spell may allow a save... but it does *NOT* allow for Spell Resistance... this is doubly important... because a spell that does not make a resistance check *also* does not allow for an immunity check. That's right... even a Demilich who is immune to all 9th level spells and below will get to suck the damage this spell inflicts.

Make sure you can squeeze by for 3 rounds after you obliterate the undead in the area, buff up, and toss this grenade. If you are facing a mix of undead and non-undead, you may want to make sure your meatsh...erm, warrior allies have the non-undead under control before casting.

Due to the mechanics of the spell, its dmg being based on your current hps... and it not allowing for SR.... your caster level is just about irrelevant when it comes to this spell....

Also note the above is extremly effective with a certain Aenean amulet in play that vastly improves caster HP *smiles*

I found out a long time ago that just makes the spell sick, lol

daveyeisley wrote:If you prepare *properly* after removing the spoon but before pulling the pin on this Holy Handgrenade-

I think you've got this one the wrong way 'round; otherwise, very helpful info

yeah, it be "pull the pin, release the spoon", then it's all chuck n' duck

Ra Cha Chongo wrote:

daveyeisley wrote:If you prepare *properly* after removing the spoon but before pulling the pin on this Holy Handgrenade-

I think you've got this one the wrong way 'round; otherwise, very helpful info

I dunno what yer talkin about lol....

damnit...

RayvenNightkind wrote:yeah, it be "pull the pin, release the spoon", then it's all chuck n' duck

And make sure all the grenades that have been thrown blow up before you stand back up again, otherwise you're liable to have a drill instructor land fist-first on your head (for your own protection, of course )

Among my three big casters, they all tend to favor tactical spells.

For two arcane casters, sunburst and mass blindness/deafness, for the cleric, word of faith. Sunburst gives blindness that's permanent until magically removed, but is a reflex save. Mass blindness/deafness is a 1 round/caster level duration, but is a fort save. Word of Faith is the cleric equivalent, and has a 1 round per two caster level duration, but has no save (although it is still subject to SR). For baddies btween 5 and 11 HD, there's also a stun effect for WoF, and for 4HD and lower, instant death. All no save still.

Darkness+ultravision/true seeing is also a favorite of mine.

Cast ultravision or TS on yourself, and then, cast darkness on yourself as well, or cast it on an enemy close enough so you are also within the darkness effect. While you are in the darkness, the enemies will not be able to see you. If you cast it on them, but are outside the darkness yourself, the will be able to see you however... so, you wanna be inside the darkness too.

NOTE: Most of info here is up to date, however some spell changes an the addition of the Aenean Epic Magic System do affect the validity of some of the opinions herein. Please feel free to post details regarding such situations and I will endeavor to correct the info in this post. Thanks, - Dave.

Handing out my trade secrets here. I and others have been doing that for a while, so I guess more is better

NWNWikki has some general spell info available, I don't agree with all of it, but its a worthwhile read.
Check it out.

Some brief summaries of various important spells for Arcane Casters:

Arcane Caster Essential Protectives:

1. Shadow Shield. One of the most robust protections spells available. It gives you +5 Natural Armor, and 10/+3 damage reeuction which is powerful by itself.

In addition, you are invulnerable to necromancy spells (such as enervation, Energy Drain, finger of death, wail of the banshee, glacius' hypothermia, horrid wilting, cleave health, harm, destruction, and slay living, or any of the inflict wounds spells.) You ALSO become 100% immune to negative energy damage.

The drawback to this spell is that it is "breachable". That means that the "breaching" spells, lesser spell breach, greater spell breach, and Mordenkainen's Disjunction will always automatically be able to remove Shadow Shield, without a caster level check. There is a list of breachable spells, and these breaching spells go down the list in order removing spells from highlest level to lowest. Each spell has a limit to how many breachable protections it can remove, when it fulfills that quota, the remaining breachable spells remain until another breaching spell is cast on that target.

2. Tempest's Protective Gale. This spell is a no brainer when facing off against archers. 100% miss chance due to the extremely powerful winds. Note the very short duration however, 1 round per 2 caster levels. If you want this one to last a bit, you *need* to use Extend Spell. Also, this spell is one of the best AC boosting spells for a caster. +1 deflection bonus per 3 caster levels... so at level 39, you are gaining a whopping +13 deflection. Nothing else in game can give deflection that high!

3. Energy Buffer. The strongest elemental damage protection available. 40/- resistance to ALL elements is very powerful. Watch out for the limit of 60 damage absorbed for any type, however. If you are up against a threat that has significant elemental damage output of one type, be prepared to recast this multiple times during the fight. Still, all in all, this spell is basically free hit points, which an arcane caster sorely needs. It is also the best tactical response to being the target of a hellball... combine it with Tempest's Stormshield (see below) and you wont even be touched by the tac-nuke... who needs evasion!?

4. Lesser Spell Mantle, Spell Mantle, and Greater Spell Mantle. These spells' tactical applications are complex enough that they probably deserve to be covered in their own post. The basic gist of it is, when you need to not get blasted by incoming spells, you throw one of these up. They are all "breachable" and can be easily dispelled by another arcane caster, regardless of caster level, but that makes the enemy caster waste time and an action dispelling rather than nuking you.

In spell combat, proper use of these spells in combination with other spells such as Haste, Greater Sanctuary, Mordenkainen's Disjunction, Greater Spell Breach, True Sight, Energy Buffer, and Shadow Shield will decide the fate of any caster. My best advice is: getting a mantle up should be your 1st defensive priority in spell battle, as it protects you from all non-epic spells, and will force your opponent to use an action to dispel it rather than open up with offensive magic. If you have a mantle up, and your opponent does not dispel it first thing, then your options of response open up nicely... all depending on the disposition of your opponent at that time.

Situational awareness is absolutely *critical* in spell battle (aka Cert'Amen). If you dont know exactly what is going on with yourself, your opponent, and your environment, you will invariably make a mistake... and lose.

5. Haste. This spell is a compact and efficient combination of defense and offense. Properly used, this spell can enable a less powerful caster to defeat a more powerful one. The +4 dodge AC is a wonderful perk, and an Arcane caster who is going to melee damn well better cast this spell first. The extra attack per round at your *full* lead attack bonus is another reason this spell is invaluable for melee. The duration is only 1 round per level, but trust me when I say that the lack of permahaste items in Aenea makes an *extended* Haste one of the most beautiful things there is

However, the true power of this spell in NWN (and D&D 3.0) is in its ability to allow a second spell to be cast in each round. It also affects counterspells. A non-hasted caster cannot counterspell a hasted caster (theres
a good bit more to it, thats just a one line summary). And Imagine if you will, the endless cycle of "Caster A dispels caster B with Mords.... Caster B immediately spell Mantles. Caster A dispels Caster B again.... Caster B remantles." If you get a haste up, and your opponent does not.... you get your dispell off AND a chance to attack before he remantles... or alternately, you get a chance to mantle yourself AND dispel your opponent.

Due to this factor alone, Haste is your second most important priority in Spell Battle (arguably more important than spell mantle, but I disagree... being hasted doesnt help at all if your opponents first move is to smack you with a Bigby's Grasping Hand, taking you out of the fight in round 1).

Lastly, movement speed. There are inevitably going to be times when your spells arent right for the situation, and your opponent has you where he wants you... and the only way to survive is to MOVE!... haste can help you do that to escape AoE's and also to avoid the melee threat of certain Bards who like to sing the Most Boring Song (ie. Mundane Melody).

6. Improved Invisibility/Displacement. These two are inferior to Greater Sanctuary in one respect that if an enemy is close enough to see you, or has True Seeing, you can still be targeted by them. However, the reason they are still very important for melee is the 50% miss chance. Half of all incoming attacks will miss, buying you more time to do other things before you have to disengage or heal yourself. Improved Invisibility requires a higher level slot, but makes up for this with ten times the duration of displacement.

Two other important notes: Improved Invisibility is an invisibility spell and hence, can be dispelled by Invisibility Purge (including the 50%miss chance), while displacement cannot. Also, when you are relying on damage shield spells like Acid Sheath, Fire shield, Razorleaf Shield, and Death Armor to do the lion's share of your damage output, using this spell or other effects that make you harder to hit (like boosting your AC) can be inadvisable, as getting hit less means these spells inflict less damage. Against a mob of enemies who do very high melee damage (like Orc Destroyers), you may still want to at least consider the 50% miss chance, as without time to heal, you may wind up dead before your damage shield spells can do enough damage.

7. Tempest's Stormshield. A nice solid duration, and 100% electrical immunity are side benefits to this spell. The big advantage here is *immunity to Knockdown*, the Bane of Arcane Casters. Hellball, Knockdown, Improved Knockdown, Sphere of Denial, Bigby's Forceful Hand, Tempest's Microburst, Overpowering Shout, Quaking Chorus, Great ThunderClap, and others are all ways to put you on your backside and make you vulnerable at the worst possible moment. With this spell active, you need not fear such, and can respond to emergencies on the battlefield quickly.

8. Protection from Evil/Good/Law/Chaos. These 4 spells have a wonderful duration, are not breachable, and will protect your mind from all mind effects except those from True Neutral opponents (very rare). Since you probably arent going to use your gobs of first level slots for much else besides maybe magic missile, slotting these four can save you from using a higher level slot for Lesser Mind Blank.

9. Acid Sheath, Fire Shield, Flora's Razorleaf Shield, Death Armor. These are the great equalizers. Are you up against an enemy with spell immunities galore, high Spell Resistance, and a Melee barrage that will wear down your best protections very quickly? Give them something to think twice about with these spells. The more they hit you, the faster they will die, and chances are, unless they are hitting *extremely* hard (in 70+ range) or have VERY high elemental resistances, these spells will cause them to take more damage from hitting you than they can deal with their weapon. NOTE: Fire Shield will also make the caster 50% immune to fire and cold damage.

End result, they will stop hitting you... either cuz they are smart and patient, or because they were stupid and now dead. I recommend extended versions of ALL of these spells.

Notes: Most of these are breachable, notably Acid Sheath and Fire Shield. Acid Sheath is the bread winner for damage, and VERY few things have the kind of Acid Resistance it takes to make the damage manageable. Also, if at all possible, if you can wear your opponent down to low Hps without using these spells, it is a wonderful and effective tactic to save them for last, when your wounded opponent finally believes they have a chance to beat on you... and then they get a nice suprise in the middle of their assault and wind up dead before they can react Make sure you have improved combat casting, or enough concentration skill to avoid disruption or this trick doesnt work.

10. Epic Mage Armor. Praise be for making this spell work as was intended in the Epic Level Handbook. No garbage +5 bonuses of various types that wont stack with the stuff you already have. No... in Aenea this
spell is actually worthy of being called an EPIC spell.

+20 Armor bonus to AC.

The only things it wont stack with is Enhancement bonuses on Armor, or on Bracers. Combined with full plate thru the use of Automatic Still Spell III, or with -45% arcane failure on the armor(Chitin Armor works beautifully for this, sucks that you cant craft the appearance though), you can get a VERY high AC with this spell. 8 for full plate, 1 for Dex if you have at least 12 dex, and 20 for Epic Mage Armor. Thats a 39 AC wearing nothing but your full plate.

This spell cannot be stopped by spell failure, and cannot be dispelled. Nuff Said.

11. Epic Warding. The best source of Damage Reduction in the game. soaks 50 damage from every hit. The only weapon that will bypass it must be a +20 weapon. You will probably never see such a thing in Aenea. The only way to get something that high is to be an arcane caster with a +20 stat mod (meaning your casting stat must be 50 or higher), and use the Black Blade of Disaster Spell... which, considering the Black Blade's Attack bonus is only +27 on the lead attack... it will hit only 5% of the time, making it not a threat.

Everything else must resign itself to losing 50 physical damage from each of its strikes... and about the only things that can do 50+ physical damage in a single strike(non-crit, mind you) are druids in Dragonform, or rogues with high sneak attack dice. Yes, a 70 Strength bestial Orc red Dragon Disciple with a 2hander can, too... but how much past 50 will he be doing? 60? 65?... well now, thanks to epic warding... he is doing 10 or 15... and god help him if you have your damage shields active, too. This spell cannot be stopped by spell failure, and cannot be dispelled. Nuff Said.

And a note on fireshield... it grants increased fire and cold immunity, so it has an application as other than a damage-shield.

Dismissal seems to be slot effective way of eliminating summoned foes, esp any BBoD headed your way.

As a rather poor player of a caster, I appreciate any spell that will allow me time to consider tactics, sift thru quickslots and/or radial dials, and generally keep the opponents off my PC. Thus, Quillons's Company of Archers has quickly risen to among the most frequent spells in my book.

And if and when I frown at the poor damage output, I simply remember that any kills they get gain nothing in XP for me. Plus, you just gotta luv summoned allies that can take a Hellball or two, and are still willing to chat after the fight.

Phoenix's Frigid Bolts is amazing.

Just saying.

MotM.....not really a spell seeing as it is a semi-class ,but if used properly it can "Kill" your most powerful enemies quickly without having to deal with long drawn out healing. While you don't get the loot for capturing an enemy it comes into use during DM events (sorry Mythgar, Gaelen and every other DM). When you are being attacked from all directions by super powerful creatures that you usually only see one at a time or never its always a good idea to fight fire with fire. As long as you can get the creature down to near death and have the catch command on a quick button you can spam the command until you get past the creatures save or until it roles a 1. In the end if your quick enough you can capture an entire army (5 man max ,but still) of deadly creatures ready to throw back at their old counterparts. While you can only use one at a time because it uses your summon slot (if this where not true I would be running around with 5 vorshy's right now) the extra body on the field can help you and your comrades survive longer and in some cases depending on what you catch turn the tide of battle. Also a side note a MotM can capture other MotM's creatures, this is something I learned in my battle against Aurora (made for a snazy monologue). All in all next time Mythgar yells across Aenea for blood ,bring some friends and make some during the battle as well.

Derik Aerlias Physics and MotM abuser


(You can not capture Blackguards they are humans!!!! *shakes fist*)

You can however catch the Orc Destroyers in alatha for a rather nice ounishment for an enemy

Pop an invisibility potion, summon a creature to bring it to near death and capture it. Easy peasy.

I'm still a huge fan of using vorshy to fear and take out smaller guys. Orc Destroyers are great for when your just poking around aenea and want a dev crit buddy. Beholders are good ,but I have trouble catching them due to me dev crit. them every time. Really anything I face in DM events that has crap tons of HP or was just in general difficult for my group to kill is worthy of catching in my book. The only creature I have found that I am unable to catch due to my own dice role is an ancient demilich. One day I will catch one and turn it back on its creator

__Ua__ wrote:...you can spam the command until you get past the creatures save or until it roles a 1.

This has recently changed, so that you get up to one "attempt" per MotM level against any single creature (after that many failures, the creature's confidence in itself is so strong that it knows it can resist your attempts at capture without even trying)...later attempts will always seem to result in the target's "willpower" roll being 2 higher that yours...a warning message will be added soon to the feedback so you notice it happening right away instead of wasting time on futile attempts.

Bumping this thread for newer casters to learn from, and hopefully start new discussion

Thank you Dave. I am so cornfused!! Now maybe i wont die!

Lucky Wabasher
(neo - wiz)

Lauralai wrote:Thank you Dave. I am so cornfused!! Now maybe i wont die!

Lucky Wabasher
(neo - wiz)

With time and practice, I believe anyone can play a caster well. For some folks it is just a little counter-intuitive to their playstyle, and mayhaps they just never enjoy it as much as other types of characters.

Before I made the first version of Crideas in single-player NWN, all of my characters were melee-warrior types. After I made him, I studied the spells, what they did, how they worked, and then practiced using them. I fell in love with casters and never looked back.

I have a passion for it, so I enjoy helping folks learn more about playing casters and getting more enjoyment from them.

That's certainly not to say I don't enjoy playing melee characters, but they tend to get boring for me faster than spellcasters.

Make no mistake though, for all the potential that casters have later on, its easier to die early in their careers. At least until you figure out some tactics that work for you. Usually, by the time you have a solid foundation of levels and power underneath you, you will have already learned the ins and outs of your spell list, managing your quickslots, and casting effectively in combat.

Its sort of a wonderful double-feature to be able to explore a spellcaster class at the same time as you explore the breadth of a world such as Aenea. I will always have the fondest of memories doing so with Crideas.

Well,Lyann almost always keeps Stilled Ice storm on hand, as she usese lvl 4 slots for imp. inv. As a change, she keeps empowered Ice storm memmed for emergencies. Then again, if she is hunting, she keeps maximized ice storm maxed out. Of course, if she runs short, her main weapons is a dolled up Staff of White Dragon with I think it may be Ice Storm.............I may need to get her some warmer clothes.

Here is a link to some info I had posted about what spells will and what spells will not nuke or hamper your party-mates.