level 1: chromatic orb. that'a a very underrated spell. better than magic missile

level 2: none

level 3: haste

level 4: confusion

level 5: none

level 6: improved haste

level 7: summon hakeashar. very powerful against mages. healed by spells

level 8: abi dhalzim's horrid wilting. the best spell of bg2

level 9: time stop

level 10: summon planetar. cheat

Edited October 9, 201213 yr by thracian

Mirror Image in BG1. Once you got that spell you suddenly went from being the weakest member of the party to being able to survive any blow as long as the spell was up.

Stoneskin used to annoy the crap out of me (on enemy mages) when I first started playing. Now I remember it with such fondness.

Edited October 9, 201213 yr by Baeus

Contingency.

 

I honestly never had the patience to set up spell triggers and contingencies in BG2. But I also never messed with the difficulty-boosting mods that others seem to be so fond of. I found that I could handle the encounters the game threw at me without putting in the extra work, so I didn't bother.

My favourite was probably the one in PS:T that summons the giant laser cannon.

 

. That's my favourite by far.

Contingency made most wizard fights a lot easier in BG2.

 

I've always had a fond spot for Flesh to Stone and Wail of the Banshee.

 

Cloudkill and Horrid Wilting were good AoA spells that also had continuous damage IIRC.

I always loved Mordenkainen's Force Missiles and Smashing Wave.

Oh yeah, I forgot about Melf's Minute Meteors was a good one in BG2

 

You know, I don't think I ever used Smashing Wave; I think I always used Thorn Spray as my primary level 4 Druid attack spell in IWD/HoW and Insect Plague as 5th level in IWDII.

This is no doubt - "Symbol of Torment" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vn58158ygXI

Nothing can beat the intervention of Dungeon Master.

Edited October 9, 201213 yr by Lord Balgeron

One. Single. Spell?

 

Finger of Death. Icewind Dale 2.

"You. Die."

"You? Die."

"YOU DIE!"

"You there. Die!"

 

And so on. :D

 

Admittedly, it's actually a pretty boring spell by itself. But I found that particular scenario hilarious.

 

Lots of other spells were used much more in other games, many other spells were more useful, but I just loved Finger of Death as a dedicated Necromancer. Boy I hope I can be a dedicated necromancer in this game without having to be a hand-holding summoner.

Reminds me of Abyssal Fury, "You die!" . . . "and on the off chance you did not die, you now wish you had."

Cmon guys. Torment spells. You can't compare anything with Torment spells. Damn you MinMaxers.

While I thought they were fun to see once, I really didn't like the PST spells - the big ones (ala the Final Fantasy Summons).

 

I did like their glowy icons better than the BG/IWD drawings though (but that's because they were glowy looking) (or was it the actual spells that was glowy? Anyhow I approve of glowy things).

Edited October 9, 201213 yr by Amentep

Even the non-huge spells were better looking in Torment! Man I was addicted to that aesthetic.

Enoll Eva's Duplication! Everything x2!

As someone who rarely created a spellcasting character, "Breach" in BG2 was my bread and butter. I laugh at your puny Stoneskin! Now lets see how you hold up to a poisoned backstab....

 

And even better, despite stripping every physical protection, it was only a level five spell. Talk about overpowered...

I actually liked to cast lesser wish and wish in BG. You could never guess the outcome, but you could get some great effects when you needed them.

 

I remember using wish during a boss fight and getting the option to heal the entire party and remorize all spells.

Projected Image on a Sorcerer, about the most unbalanced thing in the game.

The high-level spells were of course powerful, but except for BG2:ToB, most of the gameplay time in the Infinity Engine games was spent at lower levels.

 

So if I look back at what spell I had the most amount of fun with on the whole throughout the IE games, it would probably be Aganazzar's Scorcher.

 

A hoarde of enemy monsters think they're real smart, for ambushing my party from behind in a tight dungeon tunnel and melee-attacking my wizard or sorceror? Well, they shoudda thought again...

Hard to choose between Finger of Death and Disintegrate.

Wasn't really a spell so much as a spell combo for me. Pair of wizards, each with Spell Turning and either Protection from Fire or Minor Globe of invulnerability, and a pair of Aganzzer's Scorchers... cast at each other. Bouncing back and forth between them. Woe to the beastie that walks between.

 

good times. Lot of prep work, and completely fried more than a few of my own party members, but SO worth it.

 

 

Alternatively, the Summon Cow spell in BG2. Especially as part of an area-effect Wild Surge.

Edited October 10, 201213 yr by Magnum Opus

For BG2 specifically, honourable mention goes to whatsitsname Reckless Dweomer.

I still remember when I faced what was supposed to be an extremely challenging enemy party in a BG2 mod with three mages in my party. A couple of time-stops and about six castings of Abi Dhalzim's Horrid Wilting later and I was picking through the remains for cool items.

 

I looovvveeeee Abi Dhalzim's Horrid Wilting.

My favorite was, beyond a doubt, Call Lightning in Planescape: Torment. (Fall-from-Grace could cast it.) The effect was incredibly fast, beautiful and it did tons of damage.

 

I honestly can't say that anything else in the other IE games really impressed me--I barely remember them apart from the probably 50000 times I cast Breach in BG2. If I could have memorized Breach as all of my spells starting at level 5 and going up, I probably would have.

 

I'd have to say my favorite spell MOMENT in an IE game was definitely the time Aerie disintegrated the dragon, though--the green dragon you fight in the elf city just before you tackle Irenicus himself. I wasn't even paying attention to Aerie--my party was getting hurt, things were looking bad, and then boop, dragon disappears. I was like, WTF.

 

I didn't even know you COULD disintegrate the stupid thing. Must have rolled a 1 on something. My usual strategy for dealing with dragons was casting Feeblemind on it 6 or 7 times until it stopped fighting back. But Disintegrate is good too. :D

Arcane - Chromatic Orb or Friends for me, Chromatic Orb could make that Shadow Dragon pretty easy and Friends was great for Buying/Selling when you were a low level character

 

Divine - while not technically a spell, it's hard to beat one-shoting a room full of Vamps and Liches with Anoymen in late SoA or ToB, assuming you took the "good" path with him. Aerie was a hidden gem in that she could do both the Arcane and Divine by mid to late game.