Arcane Spell Casters

[Frenetix]

Anyone think they're a bit under powered in BG1?

[Stilgar]

Arcane, ar that clerics/druids or mages? (always have them mixed up)

For both classes count: their not underpowered they have SUMMONS
to do their dirty work

[Frenetix]

Arcane = Any wizard variant or sorceror.

Divine = Cleric and druid.

[Baldursgate Fan]

Aye, I for one say that spell casters are underpopwered; but I have come round to the view that it brings out the role player in us. After so much powergaming in SoA and ToB, its refreshing to start out as an apprentice once more.

[garazdawi]

Yes they are, unfortunatley so does this hold true for the Arncane enemies as well. I mean daveorn is only hard because of his traps and the summoning spell..... if you can breach that he's dead before you know it.... the next mage in power that you have to kill is so easy that I can't even come up with an example of one.......... I liek to fight magitians so this IMO is one of the only bad things with BG-...... just my 2c...

[Baldursgate Fan]

I can't remember whether it was Semaj, the one with Sarevok? He's a real toughie of a magician if you don't use the cloudkill while off screen trick.

[nephtu]

Of course they are, but it's level based. A level 1 mage is the next best thing to useless "I cast MAGIC MISSILE at the monster - ok, time to go rest now" Really, the best thing you can have them memorize is Identify, they're just baggage in combat for the first few levels.

By late in the BG1 game, especially if you have TotSC, they're already beginning to catch up nicely, and by ToB they're more like "insanely overpowered"

Semaj, like Daevoron, is easily killed by a wave or two of cannon fodder summons to drain his good combat spells & wear out his buffs, while the party blazes away at him with missiles.

PS - have you gone through Bondari reloads in ToB?

[garazdawi]

well this thread is about BG1, and hence the mages are underpowered..... in TOB every one is over-powered, but then again you ARE a GOD by then.......as for semaj... never had any problem with him(her)..... this might be because I tend to kill Sarevok in teh first round of combat..... , this makes facing Semaj incredibly hard...... if not impossible

[JackOfClubs]

Mages start out weak, but I don't think they are under powered. For one thing, they can suplement their lack of spells with wands which is a huge advantage.

[Mister Popo]

Well, it depends...

If you want to solo as a single class mage, your going to have a hard time, but...

Isn't your mage that hastes all your char's so a difficult fight is just tricky?

Doesn't the mage have nice fireball's to shoot at large groups of annoying people?

I love mages and I think, yeah their under powered, but that's because they can't stand up for themselves.
Usualy with the hard enemy's I use my fighters to block them from my mages (I usualy have to, myself often one of them) and then finish them of with ye ol' faithful magix.

@BGfan.... mmm isn't that a classical type of good old Blue Stilton what your using on James (sorry, Semaj) there?

[zeyk]

Good thread.

Contrary to what most people are saying here, I found soloing a mage incredibly easy. It all depends on how you play it. My main spells were:

Blind
Mirrored Image
Dire Charm

Any blinded enemy is a dead enemy, as they just stand there and you can pelt them with bullets. I usually dire charmed tough fighters and used them to kill their friends, then when they were done, I blinde them and killed them... muahaha

Mirrored image is an awesome spell. You're basically immune for a few rounds while they hit your ghost images. By that time they're either charmed or blinded.

Of course it's nice to toss a few fireballs when there's a group of enemies tightly grouped, but I only used it a few times.

Your mileage may vary.

[Mister Popo]

And if ever in a pinch you can always summon help, wich is very handy. (Mostly as distraction)

Mmm, just hasted a Hobgoblin... didn't know that was possible actualy.