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[valky]

You'd be surprised how many enemies aren't actually evil.

 

To correct myself then: enemies, where it matters to have a weird & insane high or negative AC are usually evil. I know there are a lot of exceptions, but those matter in terms of different protections, ie. friggin' caster.

[Jarno Mikkola]

Spell Thrust, Spellstrike - no need for such big, if any, AoE. I'd keep this single-target.

Yey, let's let the invisibility spell stop the player from using this on the enemy. Which doesn't by the way protect the player in the same way...

[Demivrgvs]

These are the spells I find OP:

 

Barkskin - too much too soon I guess

Know Opponent - physical resistance penalty should be dropped imo. Penalty to AC is enough for a 2nd level spell. In addition, it's no save+ignores MR

Blindness - 8 hours is too long duration, 1 turn as PW:Blind is enough, especially powerful spell in BG1

Spell Thrust, Spellstrike - no need for such big, if any, AoE. I'd keep this single-target.

Wail of the Banshee -save at -6 or die? mmm.....-2 is enough.

Flesh to Stone, Disintegrate - -5 penalty is too much. It's a 50% chance through SoA that this works on almost anything

Barkskin - I don't know, the +2 AC when you first get it at level 3 is a must (+1 would be really pointless imo). I could imagine the +3 and +4 delayed to slightly higher levels, but overall it would not change so much imo.

 

Know Opponent - I understand the sheer power lowered physical resistance can have against certain creatures (e.g dragons) but it's what makes this spell look unique, doesn't it? Limiting it to just -2 to target's AC would feel underwhelming imo unless we make it scale or add something else. It bypasses mr and allows no save yes, but you can consider it as a sort of Bless limited to a single opponent, quite weak for a 2nd level spell if you ask me.

 

Blindness - leaving aside this spell was supposed to be a 2nd or 3rd level spell as per PnP, I agree about its almost OP effectiveness within BG1 (SCS tweak to True Seeing hugely nerfs blindness for BG2, but not for BG1). It's a pity though, because diseases are not supposed to be short lasting, and Cure Disease desperately needs the game to include threatening disease effects to be considered.

 

Spell Thrust, Spellstrike - I'm not sure, ST in particular might keep it imo, though the upcoming tweak to True Seeing (the one you have seen with KR's Inquisitor) will make these AoE less relevant.

 

Wail of the Banshee - I agree. The plan was to cap it at -4 (SR v4 won't have any penalty higher than -4), but -2 might be fine too.

 

Flesh to Stone, Disintegrate - the latter really needs a much lower penalty yes, I'm even tempted to make its save at no penalty as per vanilla considering that now this spell still does a bit of damage on a successful save (as much as a Magic Missile), and it will have a couple of other features (e.g. destroy Mordy with no save as per PnP). I still don't know for sure how to handle Flesh to Stone, but I'm almost certain it needs something like slow or short lasting hold on a successful save to be considered appealing, else its cousin Disintegrate would always be the better pick in each and every circumstance and against any type of target.

 

Underpowered

 

Goodberry - I never ever use this

Cloak of Fear - maybe make it work as Berserker's aura? Why would you want enemies to run away...?

Pixie Dust - level 5 and works like Invisibility 10' radius, which is a level 3 spell. Never used it.

Goodberry - I wanted to make it cure fatigue (to simulate it works as a full meal) but while working on it we discovered that the engine doesn't really allow for it

 

Cloak of Fear - well, I remained true to PnP because in this case a spellcaster might actually want opponents to not get in melee with him so he can cast other spells, no?

 

Pixie Dust - I agree, and I tried to imagine possible improvements. For example I thought we could make it not affected by dispel (the dust is conjured but real, not magical), but considering it's a simple invisibility, and not II, it would not make a huge difference. Now, reading again AD&D description of pixies: "Because pixies are normally invisible, opponents suffer a -4 penalty to attack rolls. A successful dispel magic against 8th-level magic makes any pixies, in its area of effect, visible for one round, then they automatically become invisible again." I'd dare to suggest making this spell affect a single target but work as an Improved Invisibility.

Edited July 27, 2013 by Demivrgvs

[kreso]

 

Know Opponent - I understand the sheer power lowered physical resistance can have against certain creatures (e.g dragons) but it's what makes this spell look unique, doesn't it? Limiting it to just -2 to target's AC would feel underwhelming imo unless we make it scale or add something else. It bypasses mr and allows no save yes, but you can consider it as a sort of Bless limited to a single opponent, quite weak for a 2nd level spell if you ask me.

All you say is true, however, I genearlly dislike things such as lowering resistance to a negative value. 0 is "no resistance", right? How can it get worse? When IR implements DR to armors, I'm fine with it. Otoh, maybe limiting it to certain kits wouldn't be bad. It's a very powerful spell for it's level.

 

Blindness -

leaving aside this spell was supposed to be a 2nd or 3rd level spell as per PnP, I agree about its almost OP effectiveness within BG1 (SCS tweak to True Seeing hugely nerfs blindness for BG2, but not for BG1). It's a pity though, because diseases are not supposed to be short lasting, and Cure Disease desperately needs the game to include threatening disease effects to be considered.

I know it's PnP, but AI simply can't handle it. You can almost consider this as a low-level "Finger of Death" for BG1. Cure Disease is quite relevant with aTweaks, but yes, otherwise it's useless.

 

Spell Thrust, Spellstrike -

I'm not sure, ST in particular might keep it imo, though the upcoming tweak to True Seeing (the one you have seen with KR's Inquisitor) will make these AoE less relevant.

This is exactly what I had in mind. TS tweak makes AoE on these spells redundant, and honestly, I never liked the idea of "casting spells on II creatures". There are several other ways to fight them.

 

Wail of the Banshee -

I agree. The plan was to cap it at -4 (SR v4 won't have any penalty higher than -4), but -2 might be fine too.

Great..

 

Flesh to Stone, Disintegrate -

the latter really needs a much lower penalty yes, I'm even tempted to make its save at no penalty as per vanilla considering that now this spell still does a bit of damage on a successful save (as much as a Magic Missile), and it will have a couple of other features (e.g. destroy Mordy with no save as per PnP). I still don't know for sure how to handle Flesh to Stone, but I'm almost certain it needs something like slow or short lasting hold on a successful save to be considered appealing, else its cousin Disintegrate would always be the better pick in each and every circumstance and against any type of target.

T-up for Disintegrate.

Flesh to Stone - no save Slow for 3 rounds?

 

Cloak of Fear -

well, I remained true to PnP because in this case a spellcaster might actually want opponents to not get in melee with him so he can cast other spells, no?

True, but.....may be just me, since I never use even Teleport Field. I cannot stand when they run, then I have to search the whole map to find whoever ran away.

 

Pixie Dust -

I agree, and I tried to imagine possible improvements. For example I thought we could make it not affected by dispel (the dust is conjured but real, not magical), but considering it's a simple invisibility, and not II, it would not make a huge difference. Now, reading again AD&D description of pixies: "Because pixies are normally invisible, opponents suffer a -4 penalty to attack rolls. A successful dispel magic against 8th-level magic makes any pixies, in its area of effect, visible for one round, then they automatically become invisible again." I'd dare to suggest making this spell affect a single target but work as an Improved Invisibility.

Considering it's a 5th level,sounds good. The competition is great hereso if a spell should be picked over other 5th level spells it better be really good. In addition, it might help Divine spellcasters live longer.

[Salk]

All you say is true, however, I genearlly dislike things such as lowering resistance to a negative value. 0 is "no resistance", right? How can it get worse?

 

It can when the target has acquired a special weakness against a specific kind of attack. So, in my book, a negative value does not sound that absurd. Magical effects against a target with a negative resistance to magic (ex. -20%) would produce a result that is in percentage superior to normal (120%).

[Jarno Mikkola]

...Spellstrike - I'm not sure, ST in particular might keep it imo, though the upcoming tweak to True Seeing (the one you have seen with KR's Inquisitor) will make these AoE less relevant.

Erhm and when the TS is blocked by a high level spell trap-like effect, that can't be gotten rid of because of the invisibility, you just created the invulnerable bad ass idiot that can't be killed until it runs out of spells(the PfMW etc...) ... or as the invisibility has short time of casting, meaning that after the TS the SS has a chance of getting blogged ... and no, the every turn repeat of the TS means absolutelly not much of anything if it's not in effect the half of a second the SS casting times comes to contact with the  enemy that hides... actually to fix the True Seeing, the hostiles and maybe the party members too should become immune to the effects of all invisibility effects after first being seen by the spell for the duration of the one round effect(after which it gets repeated again which makes the effected targets actually detectable the whole time if they remain too close)=True Seeing.

So no change to SS... yeah, that's what I always say.

But no, I am not saying that the SS needs a large area of effect, just enought to get rid of a liches protections when you know where it is, the area of effect is actually there to make sure the the spell doesn't get the player only goofball counter that the game has... as the spell is stopped from being actually casted because it no longer has a "valid" target... an effect only affecting the player as the AI only needs to detect the hiding player character ones after which is can cast the single target spells even if the player goes invisible during the casting time.

[veyn]

Regarding antimagic AOE - personally I strongly prefer the way SCS handles them (default option, at least in v20): keep them single-target, but add new tobex flag allowing them to target invisible creatures.

[Kalindor]

Agree with veyn about spell protection removals.

 

Have you considered moving Blindness to level 3? Is there a reason why this should not occur?

[kreso]

New Improved Haste is imo slightly underpowered for it's level. Amongst Chain Lightning, PFMW, Death Spell and similar power spells like Disintegrate and Flesh to Stone it feels very underwhelming for such a high slot.

For a suggestion, I'd double it's duration.

[ancalimohtar]

Regarding antimagic AOE - personally I strongly prefer the way SCS handles them (default option, at least in v20): keep them single-target, but add new tobex flag allowing them to target invisible creatures.

 

Been playing with SCS, this is by far the better way of doing it. For one, you have to wait until they do something to even show up, so they still have like a round or so of "full" invisibility. Second, you can't miss. Third, I don't think they should all be AOE; this gives RRR and Spell Thrust a niche.

[ancalimohtar]

In general, I'm underwhelmed by level 6 and 7 divine (especially cleric) spells.

 

Level 6:

• Aerial servant and Wondrous recall are the best of level 6
  
• I can imagine Blade Barrier being good though I never use it
  
• Bolt of Glory is underpowered. Even if used just for fiends, 55 avg damage is barely 3 hits, no way I'm wasting a level 6 spell for half a round of one character's swings--barely worth the time casting it. Not to mention Fiends all have SR, so you probably wont even do that damage. Against Undead and below it's not even worth considering. 36 damage is ONE hit from Daystar
  
• Control Undead is super underpowered (what am I going to do even if I dominate a vampire? He can't drain the OTHER vamps, better to just chop him up)
  
• Elementals might be better with a different party composition, I'm already quite melee-heavy.
  
• Create Undead is underpowered too I think, THAC0 can't compare with Aerial Servant. Anyone powerful enough to warrant summons is already immune to Fear. (Plus my cleric using aTweaks' cleric script immediately starts Turning and they explode. Wonderful.)
  
• Dolorous Decay is a spell best used by enemies on players. Players don't want to cause long, drawn-out effects on enemies that are going to die in 5 rounds anyway
  
• I tried False Dawn a lot on vamps. Blinds them, yes, but I didn't notice the damage, if there was any. What's the attack roll penalty if you're blind? This should affect mages with a full complement of protection spells (minus SI: Evo), right? If so, maybe I'll try it and see if it affects their AI. If they can still timestop and Gate and Breach me, I'm not sure it's worth it.
  
• Fire Seeds--do they hurt mages under PfMW/Spell Turning? Always leery of party-unfriendly AoE spells (especially when I have Party AI On and the druid can just decide to chuck them at whoever my melee are attacking)
  
• Harm: 1 round cast time, in the middle of combat, on a front-line cleric who has no mirror image or stoneskin, means he's going to get interrupted 90% of the time. If he's not a front-line cleric, sending him against something with enough hitpoints to make casting Harm worth it is a risky proposition. Maybe cast time of 5 or something. Does Harm/Heal reverse effects on undead in BG2 engine? I don't remember.
  
• Heal is good, but I've never prepared it because potions are a dime a dozen and 1 round cast time is again a luxury I can't afford
  
• Physical Mirror is a spell I wouldn't pick unless it was level 2. How many times are you going to have trouble with arrows in BG2? Maybe in the final fight against Melissan where, IIRC, Ilasera is a deadshot? Even then, she'll just aim her arrows at someone else, as I'm sure SCS checks for this. Party-wide would be interesting, though situational.
  
• Sol's Searing Orb, 100 damage to a vamp or something at level 15 is not bad, but it's a ranged attack. How much Dex does your Cleric have? (Also, does PfMW protect against this? Does Spell Turning? If either, it's useless against Liches) How about making it an AOE that only affects undead, and does something like 1d8 per caster level. Then I would actually use it.
  

Level 7:

• Summon Death Knight: with aTweaks installed, it's bugged for me atm
  
• Creeping doom: Good in theory, though Jaheira can't cast this yet so I haven't tried it. If you cast (directly) it at a mage, does his Spell Trap/Spell Turning block it? Also, you have to Breach away his Fireshields, right?
  
• Earthquake: Party-unfriendly, but might be useful when I get it.
  
• Finger of Death: I never use save or dies
  
• Firestorm: A party-unfriendly damage-over-time AOE. Hard to justify really, even with the safe zone. I'd rather send my melee to chop up enemy mages than sitting inside the safe zone.
  
• Greater Restoration: good I guess, just make sure your cleric isn't the one dominated/held/paralyzed/petrified/feebleminded so he can fix your other characters
  
• (Un)Holy Word: If you have any party members of the wrong alignment, you're screwed. Very situationally useful, and requires lots of game knowledge to know which enemies have low hit dice. (How many do regular mind flayers have? No clue.)
  
• Nature's Beauty: Again, the good spell is Druid-only
  
• Regeneration: HP regen is underpowered. If Druids are going to get a line of Regen spells, HP-regen at this rate should be maybe a level 6 spell. A level 7 Regen spell should either prevent things like diease/feeblemind/ability-score drain, or remove them once a round or something. I hate mind flayers.
  
• Shield of the Archons, I feel like it's rare enemy mages are casting spells directly at my cleric. For a level 7 spell that's good for one fight basically, it's kind of a waste. I think it would all of a sudden become very desirable if it were to protect against Dispel/Remove Magic, as I posted in another thread
  
• Sphere of Chaos is good
  
• Sunray: Very good
  
• Symbol of Death: Can't imagine anything with fewer than 60 hitpoints that I would fear enough to waste a level 7 spell on, plus the 1 round cast time is rough
  
• Symbol of Stunning: would be good if it weren't for the 1 round cast time
  
• Symbol of Weakness: -4 to STR/DEX/CON is not that impressive. Enemies are powerful because of their special abilities. Vamps can still dominate and level drain, Mind flayers can still eat my brain, Spirit trolls can still Greater Command. Also in 2E there's not much difference in modifiers between below-average and middle-of-the-road stats. Going from 14 to 10 doesn't change anything much.
  

[kreso]

Generally, I agree, apart from:

Create Undead - I found this spell to be quite useful for some reason, and I don't want to post spoilers here, but these thingies may be of great use vs some enemies.

Finger of Death - a mage hit by it has about 75% chance to die instantly.

Firestorm - I love this spell, it's very powerful considerig the time you get it. Use with Web/Entangle/Grease for added fun.

Shield of Archon - it's cool. Try casting imp.invisibility on your Cleric as well.

Regeneration - it's my favourite spell. Long duration, coupled with decent AC it goes a long way.

Elementals -since you have aTweaks Elementals, just try and summon few of those. Cast haste and see what happens .

 

Also, Summon Death Knight is bugged even without aTweaks, it's a SCS thing. You could try newest aTweaks (4.10) and see if it changes anything. if not, you could restore the .spl file from backup I guess.

[Demivrgvs]

Wall of text ahead.

 

In general, I'm underwhelmed by level 6 and 7 divine (especially cleric) spells.

Most, if not all, of your issues are going to be handled by v4 as discussed here.

 

Level 6 Divine Spells

This is indeed the weakest level in terms of spell selection for clerics. That is why I searched into every PnP source ways to improve it, and fortunately I think v4 will manage to make it good between tweaking pre-existing spells (see link above) and adding a couple of new ones such as Banishment (aka vanilla's Death Spell) as discussed here.

 

Blade Barrier is extremely good for a warrior cleric, but within v4 caster oriented clerics might find interesting the new Forbiddance/Repulsion (aka a sort of Teleport Field which makes hard to get in melee with the caster).

 

Bolt of Glory is one of those spells which I would like to improve but I have still not find a way to do so without keeping it as per PnP as possible.

 

I added Control Undead to provide more 6th level picks, and because it's a PnP spell, but in the end we decided to remove it from v4 because it really doesn't add much to a cleric which can already use Turn Undead at will.

 

Create Undead isn't as bad as you say imo, but v4 will probably make it even better by letting it summon Skeletal Warriors.

 

SR's Elementals are so powerful that many SR players actually consider them OP. Btw, @kreso aTweaks Elementals aren't more powerful imo, but they have AD&D immunity to magical weapons which makes them extremely exploitable in certains areas of the game, similarly to how in a vanilla game a bunch of Fire Elementals could wipe out Unseeing Eye lair by themselves.

 

You are right about Dolorous Decay performing better when used by AI against the party, but I don't see it as a problem, and we couldn't make it any better. If you have any suggestion let us know.

 

False Dawn is fine now imo. Blinded characters suffer -10 to attack rolls and AI controlled ones won't even cast spells.

 

Fire Seeds are party friendly (whenever I do this it's because I want such spells to be usable by the AI, and DavidW made it clear that unfriendly spells cannot be handled by the AI). They do bypass Spell Deflection/Turning, but not PfMW (there's still a debate about making them bypass that too).

 

Harm and all the Cause Wound spells are going to be revised for v4. Heal isn't bad at all imo, but I accepted to try reducing its casting time to 6 to see how it performs.

 

Physical Mirror is the most useless spell ever, but within v4 it will become one of the best buffs ever when turned ino PnP Entropy Shield.

 

Searing Orb, together with Bolt of Glory, is in the list of spells I don't know how to handle.

 

 

Level 7 Divine Spells

I agree certain spells are not so great but overall I really don't think priests lack good spells at this level.

 

Creeping Doom is as powerful as ever, though perhaps not as much of an improvement over the already devastating Insect Plague.

 

Earthquake is a real pain to balance, but right now it's most likely slightly OP rather than not good enough.

 

Finger of Death is great, and as Kreso says with the current save penalty it's almost OP in certain cases.

 

I'm actually really proud of how I managed to code Firestorm, and as kreso I do think this spell has a lot of potential if used correctly.

 

SR's Greater Restoration couldn't be any better imo, it cures pretty much everything!

 

There's an infinite debate over (Un)Holy Word and I'm still not 100% sure of what to do with it. Arda pretty much convinced me to merge the two spells into one, but I don't know if I should add a save to avoid the effects or tweak it in some other way. Anyway, you might not like it, but the general consensus of players using it or facing it when used by SCS against them is that the current version is quite overpowered.

 

Nature's Beauty is great yes. I could not turn an extremely OP spell into a useless one.

 

As kreso says Regeneration is actually kinda good, and v4 Druids will get it as a 6th level spell, making it extremely good imo.

 

Shield of the Archons is meh yes. I've suggested a a way to heavily improve it while remaing as close as possible to PnP, I'm not sure if I convinced everyone about it.

 

On one hand I really really like what I did with Sphere of Chaos, otoh I don't like that this spell never existed outside BG.

 

Sunray is still as good as ever yes, and much more versatile.

 

Symbol of Death has never been so great yeah, but hopefully v4 will make it viable.

 

I think you are heavily understimating Symbol of Stunning. This spell is extremely effective imo, so powerful that I'd dare to say my mages prefer it over Wail of the Banshee (the latter is better against mages, but SoS is much more effective against warriors and much "cheaper"). A stunned character is as good as dead, the save penalty is heavy, and you can even use the symbol as a trap. I cannot reduce this spell casting time imo, it would make it seriously OP.

 

Just like Dolorous Decay I designed Symbol of Weakness as a spell which works best against PCs (SCS Death Knights used to cast it when there was no compatibility issue).

 

I really don't know why Summon Death Knight stopped working on certain installs. This spell has worked fine on SR+SCS installs for years, and I can assure you that Death Knights kick asses.

Edited September 22, 2013 by Demivrgvs

[ancalimohtar]

Wall of text ahead.

 

*snip*

 

After looking at the SR v4 list of changes:

 

Blade Barrier:

Since my two divine casters are a fighter-cleric and Jaheira, I mostly considered the spells from a melee-priest/buffer point of view. I think it would be good to consider the usefulness of spell lists for various types of characters. Melee priests are quite common anyway, what with Jaheira and Anomen in vanilla. The problem with Blade Barrier is its party-unfriendliness. Maybe I'm being lazy, but unless I'm in a real slugfest of a fight--which doesn't really happen since hit points/damage are never the main obstacle at higher levels--I don't want to put my cleric on an island, surrounded by enemies. If he can survive tanking all those enemies as Blade Barrier slowly cuts them down, then they're not really a threat anyway, and my cleric is better off adding his damage to important targets, or strategically casting spells. On the other hand, making it not affect allies might be too OP. I could see this spell being useful if your cleric isn't great offensively, and would best serve the party whittling down mooks.

 

Fire Seeds: More seeds--especially since they're party-friendly--would be good. This spell would be good for a non-melee cleric

 

Harm: Cast time 6 would be better, I think. 75 damage on a save makes it good to cast on hard-to-hit enemies. PfMW blocks it?

 

Entropy Shield: Without implementing component 3, it wouldn't be worth a level 6 slot. It would just be Reflected Image, a level 1 mage spell?

 

Earthquake: Didn't realize targets for all 3 rounds are fixed at the outset, regardless of subsequent movement. That makes it MUCH more powerful, though a bit nonsensical. Even if the effect becomes dependent on area rather than initial targets, I think it could be useful situationally. I've just not had the opportunity to use it, since Jaheira isn't there yet

 

Finger of Death: @kreso, the only time you would cast this at a mage is after his Spell Turning/Spell Trap is gone, but before his PfMW is gone. In other words, a thin slice of time before you Breach him. And once you get Pierce Shield, PfMW goes away BEFORE Spell Turning even. With the current state of antimagic, chopping them up is by far the best option. I guess with v4's Breach, you still leave Stoneskin on the target, so if you're short on melee, Finger of Death might be useful. Rarely using save-or-dies is more of a personal preference, I guess.

 

Holy Word: Like I said, it's too situationally useful for the party (and if you're like me and you have melee who are evil, you're kind of screwed), but yeah for enemies who always outlevel you, potentially too powerful.

 

Regen: As a level 6 spell, it might make more sense. Even so, 6HP regen per round is just not something I would value all that highly. Why would you pick this over Heal? Regen only makes sense if it heals more damage total, but Heal heals you fully, so you don't need any more HP. Therefore the only use would be to counteract damage in combat. And in combat, if anyone starts taking damage, I'm immediately stepping back to Stoneskin. If that gets interrupted or I'm out of stoneskins or it's a character without stoneskins, 6HP a round is not going to save him in the vast majority of cases. I mean, maybe situationally, or to be able to cast spells instead of drinking potions to slowly recover against a Lich's Horrid Wilting, but I think it needs some utility besides pure HP recovery.

 

Shield of the Archons: Infinite spell levels is alright, but I'm still going to lobby for immunity to Dispel/Remove. Also, a minor thing, but I think unique names like "Shield of the Archons" and "Shield of the Tana'ri" make the spell more memorable and immediately recognizable rather than a bland name like "Divine Shield." After a few hours of staring at the combat log, "Divine Shield" is going to draw a blank from me for a few seconds before I recognize what it is.

 

Summon Death Knight: Being evil-only finally gives evil clerics something unique. Otherwise being Good is way way better mechanically in BG2

 

 

Anyway, I'm still lobbying for a way for Clerics to protect themselves against Dispel Magic, as well as a way, somehow someway, for the party to protect itself against Int drain!

[kreso]

Btw, @kreso aTweaks Elementals aren't more powerful imo

I'm not sure, tbh. They're both powerhouses. My current druid is still bit far from summoning them, but I'll let you know how they do.

 

Physical Mirror is the most useless spell ever, but within v4 it will become one of the best buffs ever when turned ino PnP Entropy Shield.

There are 2 battles in ToB where it's either this, Reflection Shield or dead cleric. Even so, I agree that this spell is much more useful for AI then PCs.

 

Shield of the Archons is meh yes. I've suggested a a way to heavily improve it while remaing as close as possible to PnP, I'm not sure if I convinced everyone about it.

As I said, if this would protect from AoE it would be great. Or, like a Globe of Invulnerabilty, level 4 and lower are ineffective. It's biggest drawback is the fact that it's easilly removed by almost all antimagic spells.

 

I really don't know why Summon Death Knight stopped working on certain installs. This spell has worked fine on SR+SCS installs for years, and I can assure you that Death Knights kick asses.

And they look cool as well iirc. And yes, it's a very powerful summon.

 

Finger of Death: @kreso, the only time you would cast this at a mage is after his Spell Turning/Spell Trap is gone, but before his PfMW is gone. In other words, a thin slice of time before you Breach him.

It's a -6 penalty! Even fighters/monsters drop easilly with it. Definitely worth a 7th level slot. I'm also not keen on save or nothing, but this does damage even on a succesful save.

 

Regen: As a level 6 spell, it might make more sense. Even so, 6HP regen per round is just not something I would value all that highly. Why would you pick this over Heal? Regen only makes sense if it heals more damage total, but Heal heals you fully, so you don't need any more HP. Therefore the only use would be to counteract damage in combat. And in combat, if anyone starts taking damage, I'm immediately stepping back to Stoneskin. If that gets interrupted or I'm out of stoneskins or it's a character without stoneskins, 6HP a round is not going to save him in the vast majority of cases.

Haste doubles 6 to 12 HP/round, even tough I don't find it neccecary for this spell. It lasts for long time, you can prebuff with it, saves potions, lets your cleric do other stuff than healing you, can keep you alive even if disabled, stacks with itself and any other regen item/ability you have. 10x better than Heal for me, whose long casting time make it very impractical (altough this will be adressed). Of course, it won't keep an AC 6 character alive vs Fire Giants, but it will help -15 AC character live through them.

 

somehow someway, for the party to protect itself against Int drain!

You know, certain summons can't be stunned nor can they be drained of intelligence