Baldur's Gate Arcane Spell Guide Level 8
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- Опубліковано 24 лют 2019
- Hi this is the 8th of 10 videos going over every arcane spell in the baldur's gate series.
I play the enhanced edition with SCS on insane difficulty and no saves no reloads so this video is focused on that, but most of what I say applies to core rules unmodded as well.
If you are curious about a particular spell I have them ordered here by tier alphabetically.
S Tier spells
Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting 1:22
Incendiary Cloud 4:56
Power Word, Blind 8:27
Simulacrum 11:27
Spell Trigger 14:13
A tier spells
Maze 16:54
Symbol, Stun 19:03
B Tier Spells
Bigby's Clenched Fist 22:32
C Tier Spells
Improved Mantle 24:54
Pierce Shield 26:14
Protection from Energy 28:06
Summon Fiend 30:15
Symbol, Death 32:05
Symbol, Fear 33:45
If you would like to see me play live, my twitch stream can be found here / davaeorn I stream daily starting at 10 am EST.
Let me know what you think in the comments, God bless!
![ОРБАН приехал к ПУТИНУ и "отчитался" о поездке в Киев 😁 [Пародия]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/_0ukDovOWq8/mqdefault.jpg)
You forgot the vilest thing about Summon Fiend: the demon's kills give you no xp. Which just makes it unusable for me the same way that Disintegrate is because of the destroyed loot.
Remember people, it's not about having fun. It's about gaining levels and every damn point of xp counts. Gimme gimme gimme that sweet luscious xp!
A great video once again, Davaeorn. I've been playing BGII for years and every time I watch one these I learn something.
Thanks for watching and commenting friend!
Dude, I don't want to like your comment and ruin a perfect 69 - yes, I'm that simple - so here's one
🤜🤛
How does a mindflayer get out of a maze quickly when they can't even open a door?
😂
Can't say enough good things about this series of guides.
Pierce Shield is the only way to Lower MR on Demogorgon
This is my homework for playing Baldurs Gate 2.
Partly thanks to you I was able to understand and complete BG1. In fact you made me realise how easy core rules is once you know what the spells actually do and how saves work.
Hell yeah congrats buddy, thanks for watching and commenting!
How's your bg2 runs going?
Cheers for keeping up with the spell guide videos ! Always a great watch, very informative .
Thanks for watching!
These videos are amazing my bro! I thought I knew a lot about the BG series and then I watch your videos and learn no less than 20 new things haha.
Glad you like them!
I'm about to play my first BG EET game. I've owned the games for years; however, I've never gotten around to playing them. I'm an old-school gamer and have played every edition of D&D. I'm currently setting up a 5th edition campaign and it's going to be a blast.
Your videos are excellent and I've been enjoying them immensely. As someone who had many a lengthy 2nd edition campaign (late eighties early nineties before 3rd edition), I have a pen and paper/dungeon master's view of game mechanics. I'm not a power gamer at all and tend to loath those types of players at my table. That said, in a crpg power gaming is much different and quite interesting.
In a pen and paper campaign it's all about having fun and telling a great story. Using a spell combo that breaks the game isn't that fun for anyone, particularly the DM. Every serious DM has a horror story about an intricate encounter, that took hours to plan, being destroyed in a couple of rounds (or round) by some unforeseen power gaming 'maneuver'! While rp spells might not be fun or make much sense in a solo crpg, they can make a tabletop game so very exciting and every once in a while that low-tiered spell might just work!
One story, I remember quite fondly, was the party's mage using Bigby's Clenched Fist on a great red wyrm in a fight that was going quite badly. In fact, I remember thinking a total party wipe out was incoming if they didn't run. Needless to say they stayed and fought. It was going VERY badly. The cleric was unconscious and dying (failed the save vs. breath and took a critical bite and two claws), the thief had just gotten kicked across the cavern and was near death herself. The paladin, monk and mage were throwing everything they had at the beast. With the cleric out though healing was not forthcoming and it didn't look good for our heroes. The paladin had gotten some good licks in with his +4 Frostbrand 'Flame Drinker' (no Holy Avenger yet unfortunately) and the dragon's turn came up and it unleashed a devastating crit on the poor champion of Helm. The paladin had 2 hit points left! The entire party was dejected. Everyone that is except the mage. You see he had a plan...
As a quick aside this mage was a great friend and really enjoyed rping his characters. A Dm's dream player in other words. The funny thing was he was also an amazing power gamer; however, he never made characters to break the game. He was the type of player that loved playing a character with a serious flaw(s) (i.e., a 3 constitution for a mage once because the mage trials he endured had crippled his body and yes he had 1 hp at first level). This mage, whose name escaped me all these years later, was a huge worshiper of all the great mages from history. Mordenkainen, Tenser, Otiluke, Otto, Tasha, Drawmij, Rary, Evard, Leomund, a few others and of course Bigby. For you D&D aficionados like myself, most of these are from Gygax's own Circle of Eight.
I was actually an internet friend of Mr. Gygax for several years before his death and enjoyed the numerous e-mails we sent over the years. A rare case of 'meeting your idol actually going well. I actually never met him unfortunately; however, I sent him an e-mail pertaining to the brand new third edition campaign I was starting up. I asked him if he wouldn't mind signing my campaign's web page guestbook and he most graciously did. In the e-mail I mentioned I was living in Santa Barbara at the time and he responded how much him and his wife loved the area. We struck up a correspondence from there. I have a lot of great e-mails from the gentleman on dungeon mastering, his early campaigns and D&D in general. We also talked about life and a plethora of other topics. A very nice man and i'm sad I never met him before his death. Sorry for the name dropping; however, being an internet friend of Gary Gygax was pretty awesome and I talk about it whenever I can!
So, this plan of his was simple. He was going to use the great Bigby's Clenched Fist to smack this wyrm into oblivion. There was one simple problem, well two really. Magic resistance and saving throws. As most people know dragons had great MR and save vs. spells. The chances of this spell being more than a nuisance for our evil beastie was slim and none. Slim had already left town. My friend, out of character, looked around the table, told the cleric to put down the player's handbook because he wasn't going to be making a new character. Then he told everyone, this dragon is dead only he doesn't know it yet! Finally, back in character, he looked straight at me and said " you have terrorized the Kingdom of Furyondy long enough (Greyhawk setting) and with the help of one of the greatest spells in all of Oerth I send you to the Nine Hells!
My friend described in perfect detail the casting of the spell and the incredible mystical energy that crackled as this huge disembodied hand appeared. The great wyrm scoffed and told this puny human mage that he would save him for last. He wasn't going to kill him at first, oh no. He would torture him for weeks until he grew bored and then would eat him feet first. The wyrm cackled with delight and contempt until the hand began crushing his pretentious a$$. MR failed and the first stun took hold. The monk and paladin tore into the beast. Both heroes landed tremendous blows. however, now the dragon would save and the party, literally, was over. Except, the hand continued crushing! A one, I rolled a one. The table erupted in cheers. Maybe, just maybe the 'Intrepid Five' might get out of this yet. This round the thief was back in the fray and slashed the wyrm with her enchanted short sword 'Death Dealer'. The monk kicked and punched with furious abandon! The paladin worked 'Flame Drinker' like an artist. Maybe, just maybe they might pull this off!
The wyrm knew fear. He was hurt. Could these five mere mortals destroy an ancient red wyrm of godlike power?! This was it, this round was for all the marbles. If the dragon saved, then it would unleash its breath weapon which was back up. The table tensed as I rolled...
a 18. Doh! The wyrm breathed obliterating everyone except the mage who died the next round to a vicious bite. So much for his promise to keep the mage alive for a while. Red dragons are not the most trustworthy beings.
I'm sure most reading thought this story would end differently :D Unfortunately, dragons are tough! The party really had multiple chances to get away. They were overconfident and payed for it with a total party wipe out. However, the Bigby's spells will always have a special place in my heart because of this epic encounter.
Again, these are great videos and I'm really looking forward to this game. It's been a long time since I've played second edition. Hearing you talk about the spells brings back so many memories. Thanks so much for these videos. Just go easy on Bigby though, will ya?! :D
TL;DR - Bigby is a S class mage and Gary Gygax was the man. These are great videos and a great trip down memory lane for an old-school gamer. I've played a lot of second edition and will be diving into my first playthrough of BG soon :D
Holy shit youtube flagged this as spam so I missed it sorry about that, thanks for sharing your story with us friend I love it! Hope you're enjoying the gate as much as I am rip gary. God bless!
Dude great fucken comment and storytelling I just went down an hour long rabbit hole about the life of Gary gygax and the history of D&D
Pierce Shield x3 in a chain contingency. Deletes MR off any boss. You can STUN Amelyssan after that goes off.
You trigger it by setting condition to "helpless", using project image to become helpless when A is the only enemy left, and follow up with any stun
Wow, never thought about project image and helpless. Seems to be a good way to control Chain contingency in general.
@@gloomfiend wish I could take credit for thinking it up but it's one of those munchkin strategies that only the meganerds know. The fact that Davaeorn didn't is where it's at lol
I am learning so much fro these guides, thank you!
Glad you're enjoying them friend!
Whoop-dee-fucking-do is quickly becoming my favorite phrase
Lol thanks for watching and commenting friend!
Another great guide. Thanks!
Thanks for watching friend!
Evergreen content. Very good
For anyone interested in the Horrid Wilting spell. There are three types of plant monster in BG: The dryads, the myconids and shambling mounds. SODS adds water elementals in the underground river level and as a wand summon.
SODS also fixes an issue where shambling mounds were classed as earth elementals.
Lmao so the original game only had two plant enemies because the third isn't actually a plant?
My favorite use of Maze is to to prepare traps while the enemy is away.
Nice! thanks for commenting and watching friend!
Just a correction, Pierce Shield actually combines a full Lower Resistance (including the +10% MR lowering, different from Pierce Magic) with Ruby Ray, not Secret Word. So it goes through Spell Trap. Basically a higher level stronger version of Pierce Magic in both fronts. That's a B tier spell at least.
AFAIK the Cacofiend spell summons a Nabassu. "Tanar'ri" is a broad term for all chaotic evil demons including Nabassu, Glabrezu and Balors. As opposed to "Baatezu" for lawful evil devils such as Abishai, Cornugons and Pit Fiends.
Anyway I love your BG videos, subscribed so that I don't miss any. Please consider a guide on sorcerer spell picks for a trilogy run, with considerations for solo and party playthroughs.
I def want to do one at some point. I think the game names them specifically as tanari in the game files while the others you mentioned are listed under those names. I'm sure you're right though, my knowledge of D&D is terrible outside of baldurs gate. Sorc guide is something I do want to do. Hopefully I get better soon and can get back to work, thanks for commenting friend!
Man things in 2nd was different
I love your videos. I reinstalled BG I and II and SCS with mostly all of the mods on. However I go to the Bandit camp and realized how it changed (THE ENTIRE CAMP!) and got stomped I realized I had to throw out all I knew about builds and how I might have to min max pretty hard. I'm watching your stream vids but they move pretty fast so I was wondering if you would ever do or have planned a more in-depth walkthough guide, especially runing as evil aligned, in the future?
I kinda just do things for feel tbh, but maybe at some point! It's tough to say because I can't really say what works best, just what I've found to be consistent, for the bandit camp i use web web web aoe aoe aoe. The next two videos are class and companion guides but I might make an evil aligned / walkthrough after that. Thanks for watching and commenting friend!
13:53 thing ablaut simulacrum (faw8th spell) if you only take that an you are high enough it can also simulacrum , if you are full of summon Ifrit you can create an army of Ifrit , beats anething:D (combine it with shapesift or polimorf self :D)
Project image does not trigger dialog. Twisted rune is fun when I use my project image to put in 20 skull traps into the spawn area...😂. Shapeshifted project image can attack melee. However, rather than using intelligence drain to kill, use Minsc to talk to the djinn with limited wish, and ask for protection from undead. Use Viconia’s turn undead to prep your vampire army...😳😳😳😳
Lol thanks for commenting friend!
Hi All, I buyed bg 2 ee 2 weeks ago on steam and in my version( 0 mods) when you answear wrongly 2nd question at the "bridge" while doing the uneye cult quest, it spawns skeleton that gives no exp but drops helmet, 2h sword +1 and random treasure, just farmed it for 30 mins and get 2 spell triggers for Edwin and Jan, loads of spells lvl 6-9( abu dabi horrid !) and 70k in gems and jewelery. I could not find any information where i could get spell trigger so here you go.
peirce magic is basically mandatory against the ravager as solo sorc
True I should have added that, same goes for Demogorgan, thanks for watching friend!
Simulacrum allows the user to use wands,spells,abilities for FREE. Waiting for Spell guide 9, some juicy spells i would like to know more about. Pierce shield worked for me several times, but as you said in sequencer with 3 lower resistance its crap. The summon is also pretty crap, although without ScS the protection vs evil actually works. Didn't use blind almost in bg2 compared to the others it is less good if you dont want to rest after every encounter.
They ignore you if there are people without PFE but if they can't see anyone, they will attack you. Thanks for watching friend!
The funny thing is on my first play through i used spam chain lightning with multipule mages and rek everyone. I had 4 mages in my party tho. I was a cleric/mage, I had aeire, Jaheira, Nalia, Minsc, Imoen/Jan.
Yeah multiple mages really makes everything better. Chain lightning just scales so damn poorly its annoying. It's not uncommon to hit for single digit damage on enemies that save against it =/
Half of the spells I used to spam are C-tier xD I definitely did not approach BG in a scholarly manner. I just wanted to RP a power fantasy. It would be interesting to go back and play it "right" (learn the mechanics, follow Davaeorn's advice, see how far I could get)
I used incediary cloud against liches in solo run. Worked awesome, they were not protected against it
Level 1 - ua-cam.com/video/jxUBLrWzK30/v-deo.html
Level 2 - ua-cam.com/video/rb49jQYeI1s/v-deo.html
Level 3 - ua-cam.com/video/hLzI4HMsqLU/v-deo.html
Level 4 - ua-cam.com/video/9CTBDXn3LEA/v-deo.html
Level 5 - ua-cam.com/video/mRLqZGjJGqc/v-deo.html
Level 6 - ua-cam.com/video/XoiFvfLspYk/v-deo.html
Level 7 - ua-cam.com/video/_C4yhD6EdUQ/v-deo.html
Level 8 - ua-cam.com/video/rv1F0H52eGA/v-deo.html
Thank you for the guides !!!
According to the Wiki, Protection from Energy stacks with itself. Two casts will give 127% resistance to EVERYTHING except poison. According to a post on Beamdog, it’s missing op code 321, so it’s supposed to stack with itself. Unknown if this still works in SCS, but even then, Protection from Energy, Elements, and Magic Damage will make you immune from every magical attack except poison at full 127% resistance. Helm of the Rock and Protection from Elements will provide 100% resistance in multiple elements. 🤭🤭
Nice! thanks for watching and commenting friend
F/M casting Simulacrum with a Time Stop scroll in the quick item slot is nuts. You basically get a free use of time stop every time you use Simulacrum. I did this in my first play through of BG2 and abused the shit out of it.
Yeah that got fixed finally, quick use items on sims are stupid strong.
Yup, totally agree here. All symbols are good-for-nothing. Yet Summon Fiend is so fun! I`ll take one for pet any century!
Thanks for watching!
@@Davaeornlol I love this game. It was the game that hooked me for the RPG genre.
Well, in my current EE install with the latest version of SCS, symbol stun is party friendly. Only stuns enemies and is only triggered by them. Would this change make it into S tier or would it still be an A tier?
Anyway god bless you for these extremely informative and helpful guides.
We are almost there boys
Soon.tm Thanks for watching!
Symbol Death is the fuckin' worst. It would be ok without the 60hp requirement, but for an 9th level spell, what has less than 60hp at that level?! What were they thinking with this one? Only infravision is worse.
Yeah I don't know why they gave you so much insta death mechanics that revolve around low hp/level. With the ravager, silver sword, and axe of the unyielding in the game, you would think magic would be more effective =/. Thanks for watching friend!
I’m surprised you didn’t mention you can use restoration on a simulacrum to get a 100% level clone. At least it was, but maybe it has been nerfed?
Im guessing sanguins or whatever are whater type and the moshroom things are plant based.
Web em, incinerate em. Spam webs. One will stick.
Incen cloud is insanely strong i'm just so paranoid about the dozen ways it can end badly for you.
@@Davaeornlol but have you tried using it as a heal for your fighter?
Achieving max fire resistance takes little effort. Send him into battle, set up the blazing inferno, watch him get heals.
Have you considered collaborating with modders to make a big balance patch, to try to make every spell and class and class combination approximately A-tier?
And you could look at adding new dual/multi class combos, e.g. monk/sorcerer or monk/thief. If the monk class was boosted to A-tier, those new combinations could be worth playing.
If somebody reached out to me about it I would consider it for sure but I wouldn't be much more than a consultant in such a project.
A-DHW should (haven’t tested) do extra to the Water Elementals in I *think* it’s either the Kuo-Toa lair in the Underdark or Abizgal’s Lair. I don’t remember which has them.
Abazigals lair has them. I remember using it a lot in there but there is also an enormous amount of magical damage reduction there which is annoying as hell.
These water elementals deal crushing damage, thus a cleric or fighter with gromnirs helm and DoEasthaven can tank them easily for as long as Armor of Faith or Hardiness are up.
Also regarding protection from cold / elements: apart from adalon its also really handy for the Amelyssan fight (speaking from a base game solo PoV)
Is spell trigger meant to be able to be used in parallel with sequencer? For me it is possible, but it bugs out so much, that I dont know if it's intended to be used in parallel or not.
You shouldn't be able to use both at once no, you can pop a trigger and contingency tho
28:00 im testing pierce shield right now and i broke with it a Lich it for if you dont want to spell strike and not enough ruby rays :D there
If you still pick Pierce Shield, would that remove the need pick Ruby Ray at level 7? Or any benefit of having both (they are eg different schools)
You're gonna want to use level 8 spell slots on other shit unless you got a ton of mages. Imo there are a lot more times you're gonna want to use a level 7 ruby ray over a level 8 pierce shield more than vice versa.
Surprised you did not talk about the cheesing you can do with simulacrum. Infinite scrolls of high level spells or items with charge that you would not like to lose for instance. Agree with everything you said though, phenomenal spell.
cheers awesome videos!
It only works for older versions though I suppose I could have mentioned that, thanks for commenting friend!
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that if you cast Greater Restoration on a Similacrum, it becomes a perfect copy/duplicate of the original character, including full hp, access to spells and abilities.
Normally when somebody is level drained and restores their spells are still gone though you might be right. I'll test it and see what happens. Thanks for commenting buddy!
@@Davaeornlol You're correct, but if you use restoration on the sim and then wish rest, the sim gets all the spells back.
@@nickbrady True, but wish is pretty damn unreliable tbh. I think I've used it for sendai and amelyssan and thats it and both times I got screwed with most of them. Still a fun spell for sure and definitely possible.
IMHO, Pierce shield is better than you say here. Especially for sorcerers :
- it combines Lower Resistance + Ruby Ray in a single spell slot. Spell slots are precious to sorcerers, especially at level 5 from my experience. If you take Pierce Shield as soon as you can (level 16) you're then able to deal with any mage AND any creature with magic resistance. With only ONE spell slot. It removes much of the headache for level 5 selection (if i remember correctly, you were really annoyed with this in your game with the Dragon Disciple, where you "forgot" to take spell shield because of this).
- this spell will take effect on any opponent. That's not the case of Lower Resistance (a fair amount of bosses and ennemies are immune to level 5 spells, or specifically to Lower Resistance).
- it's an 8 slot alright, but it removes Magic Resistance much more effectively than Pierce magic. A Chain Contingency of 3 Pierce Shield (or just spamming the spell, because as a sorcerer you can) will remove all the Magic Resistance of the toughest dragons or bosses. You said Pierce magic is B tier i think, but imho the remove magic resistance of it is really low.
My point is, you may be right about this spell when it comes to mages, but for sorcerers, i think it's a really good choice. With this single spell, they don't need to take Lower Resistance, Ruby Ray, Piere Magic, and even Spellstrike might be overkill then.
Thanks for your vids, which are really good.
The world is your oyster :)
An interesting idea indeed since at 8 all you really want is spell trigger and horrid wilting as a sorc ( the rest you can definitely do without) Thanks for watching and commenting friend
What is the best specialist wizard according to your spell categorization? Who has the most S and A tier spells available??
Conjurer only loses divination and the only good div spells are detect evil and true sight. invoker only loses enchanting spells which is basically chaos and that's it. I would say conjurer is the clear winner in regards to your question with invoker being a weak second. Necromancer would be a very very weak 3rd as losing blur mirror image and invis spells is a brutal loss but still not nearly as bad as what transmuters and abjurers give up. Thanks for commenting friend! God bless
@@Davaeornlol Thanks for the detailed answer, you rock!
i feel like spells can make this game such a piece of cake
Yes and no, remember there is always the chance that even your more powerful spell will fail and the enemy gets the saving throw.
Does Horrid wilting do double damage to the myconids? Or maybe the water elementals in Abazigal's lair?
I feel like it ought to but probably doesn't im going to test it to find out.
Fungi aren't plants though! No photosynthesis in fungi, unfortunately.
Use cheap summons to keep targets occupied for clouds, symbols etc?
Symbols are buffed since I made this video. Gonna be updating a new set soon.tm
♥️
@@Davaeornlol I love you brother ! Keep up your wonderful efforts it brings a lot of
Joy to people
I thought pierce shield was not secret word + lower resistance, but actually ruby ray of reversal + Lower resistance since it can cancel any level of protection. So I would have thought it would be similar to how you found a use for Pierce Magic useful in the place of secret word and lower resistance.
Awesome videos nonetheless and clearly your understanding of the game overall is way better than mine, but I was pretty sure about this one.
You're right when I was talking about the spell I said it correctly but I did use the words secret word which is incorrect, the rating still stands at least but I'll be redoing all of arcane soon. Thanks for watching and commenting friend!
@@Davaeornlol makes sense - with so many other great level 8 spells, it's hard to justify. All the best!
How do you pronounce the word Sequence?
see quence, I do pronounce sequencer tho as suh quencer, in america we do things stupid.
Plant Creatures? Myconids.
the thord
20d4 x 10 rounds = 200d4 = 200-800 dmg per turn per cast.
x3 in CC = 600-2400 dmg per 10 rounds. FFS!
Spell shield may stop beholder anti-magic ray. Reports are inconclusive and inconsistent. 🤓
SPOILER ALERT IT DOESNT
@@Davaeornlol Yeah, that's what I thought, with SCS. It used to though, and I suspect unmodded Bg2EE it might work. But there's no reason to play Bg2EE without SCS. ^_^
@@Davaeornlol According to the SCS readme, it will stop it ONCE. Just enough for a fast nimble sorcerer to unleash a Chain Contingency of nastiness, and run for it. 😈
Divine spell guide when?
Soon my friend thanks for watching
Myconides
Thx buddy!
you can s. fear the dragon, but cannot s. stun him (which is strange)
I think old dnd rules made giant creatures immune to stuns and knockbacks, I have no idea though. Thanks for watching and commenting!
@@Davaeornlol do you know of how thief skills work? lets say after pushing it over 100 until 250 and so. i would gladly watch it just to clarify mechanics of what you are receiving
@@user-me6ns4gf9x Every ability but stealth and pick pockets caps at 100, no reason to put a single point past it. Stealth has hidden rolls so feel free to max it, pickpocket has never failed for me above 200 but it has above 100 I don't know the calculation behind that one.
@@Davaeornlol yes i found another old guide to thief and stuff. but even there some values are vogue and gossip like ) its just like an unfinished section of a game
@@user-me6ns4gf9x Yeah it's tough because a lot of stuff was coded differently and adjusted over time, the switch from bg1 to bg2 is huge because the engine was redone from scratch, changing pretty much everything.
Disagree about Protection from Energy. PfE STACKS. Cast twice on yourself, or put it into a Chain Contingency, and you're at 127% invulnerable to all elemental damage, and magic damage. Yes, the duration sucks, but a sorcerer can take just this, and skip all the protection spells and Protection from Magic Energy. 😮😮😮. Or just go Dragon Disciple...🤪
Im not into all these Symbol spells
32:05 who says having Aerie walking over a death symbol and dying is an accident though Kappa
Excellent point.