Spellcasting Failure

[Storm Rider]

I have a mod component installed that allows for spellcasters to wear armour, which will affect the ability to cast spells. The problem is that I am finding spellcasting failure happening far too frequently even when armour isn't being worn. I currently have Aerie, Viconia, Jaheira and Imoen in my group. Aerie is currently wearing robes and a helmet to protect against fire, cold and electricity. Out of all the members in the group she is the one that frequently has a casting failure, and has always done so no matter what she wears. I've checked in other forums about spellcasters with low intelligence and wisdom and how that can affect casting ability but everyone in the group has what appears to be a good level in each attribute. I see this casting failure occur far more frequently than what I expected and wearing armour doesn't seem to make a lot of difference.

 

I can't remember if Imoen has fallen victim to casting failure. I believe Jaheira does at times and also Viconia has failed on a frequent basis. She succeeds more than Aerie, however and I have always fitted her with light armour of some sort.

 

Does wearing helmets affect the ability to cast spells? Could there be a bug in one of the mods? I am seeing this happen pretty much every other battle, even without having any negative spells from enemies affecting them. There are also often times when I will order someone to cast a spell and they neglect to do it, instead carrying on with melee fighting. If I switch party AI off though, that problem happens far less.

 

Regards.

[Nythrun]

Which mod?

 

Stats have no effect at all on your ability to successfully complete spells; they should always complete unless you take damage while casting or are under the Spell Failure effect.

[Storm Rider]

It was the G3 Tweak Pack.

 

I read that low Wisdom can cause spell casting failure and Imoen doesn't have too high Wisdom. She seems to have a lot more success however when compared to Aerie who has higher Wisdom. The failure seems to occur through just general casting, as opposed to being affected by negative magic or being hit (but definitely occurs more during combat). Adding greater armour or shields does affect the ability to cast a lot more, so the component seems to be working fine. What baffles me is the frequency of casting failure. I even once tried removing all clothing from Aerie (i.e. no helmet, robes or armour) and I still saw a casting failure. She currently wears robes while Jaheira, Viconia and Imoen are wearing enchanted leather armour. The failure seems to occur to any one of the spellcasters, say once every three battles. As far as I can tell, wearing helmets doesn't add a negative modifier to casting.

[berelinde]

Armor affects only arcane spellcasting. Jaheira and Viconia would be unaffected, as clerics have always been able to wear any armor in the game (except for druids...).

 

If you're in combat, I'm guessing the NPC has just taken damage or suffered some other disruption effect. Even 1 point can cause casting failure.

 

AFAIK, low wisdom does not increase the probablility of casting failure in BG2. PnP is a different story. Low wisdom would also not affect arcane casting.

[Storm Rider]

Is there a way to find out the total chances of miscasting? I know various armour types tell you of the modifier but that is the only information I know. Imoen has on two occasions now failed to cast a spell before combat has taken place (I know it is round the corner and am preparing for it with lots of protection spells). She is currently wearing magical studded leather which has a +10% chance to miscast. What is that percentage added onto? If before that modifier it was zero chance of failure (default for all casters maybe?) then it would seem absurd for the miscast to happen so often. It would kind of remind me of when I was playing the Fallout games and even though there was a 95% chance to hit someone, the computer picked that negative 5% strangely all too frequently.

[berelinde]

I think spell level and casting time figure in, too, but I could be mistaken. I'm bad at math, so I ignore it as much as possible.

 

Having a 10% probablility come up twice in a row is still not unbelievable. You wouldn't be complaining if you got two critical hits in a row, and I've seen that more than once. I actually had 4 once, but I don't expect to see that again any time soon.

 

It reminds me of my PnP campaign. My cleric was attempting to raise a dwarven fighter with something like a 19 constitution. He had a 99% chance of surviving system shock. At first, the player had forgotten to roll it, and the DM didn't notice. But later, the player goes "Oh, yeah. I forgot to do system shock when Gavin raised me." Wouldn't you know, he rolled a 00!

 

Edit: and don't forget Terry Pratchet's quote "A one in a million chance comes up nine times in ten."