Using Gale

[Haru]

I've decided to just drop using him entirely. It does not seem to matter how much set up I do or how much prep' I do before a fight. He is guaranteed to be targeted and killed repeatedly. I even use him as a buffer now, or to set things on the ground before a fight starts, but he's either picked off by snipers, jumped over to and murdered by NPCs, etc.

Yes, I do try and get him out of range, and I use things like mage armor and mirror image.

Oh and he misses attacks CONSTANTLY.

He feels like a wasted character slot.

[Recjawjind]

My literally invincible gale laughs at your pathetic one.

Thinking he's weak means you don't know how to build wizards.

[jojobe]

give him heavy armor. stone skin bark sink protective sphere greater invisibility.

[Haru]

Originally posted by Recjawjind:

My literally invincible gale laughs at your pathetic one.

Thinking he's weak means you don't know how to build wizards.

I mean, feel free to enlighten me. That's what I'm here for.

[hotdaniel]

Yeah, it's pretty bad. I know it's my fault for not understanding how to play optimally, but at the same time, I just don't find things like sleep and grease very exciting. Plus, gale's story ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ getting my characters killed repeatedly, wasting revivify scrolls AND feeding him items. He kinda just ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ sucks. I had a story conversation with an option to dismiss him, which I took in a heartbeat. I ended up thinking it would likely cut me off from figuring out what's up with the Necromancy of Thay book, so I reloaded my save with gale. Gale can stay, for now. But, damn, he sucks.

[jojobe]

Originally posted by Recjawjind:

My literally invincible gale laughs at your pathetic one.

Thinking he's weak means you don't know how to build wizards.

really that was not helpful at all...shameful Think about someone is frustrated instead of helping them you come along and say something like that. That comment is a sign you play too many video games and have lost your humanity.

[Recjawjind]

Originally posted by Haru:

I mean, feel free to enlighten me. That's what I'm here for.

Respec him to bump him to 16 dex
Cast mage armor
put on bracers of defense
equip a shield


Congrats, your gale now has the highest AC in the party in act 1 and won't be targeted (13 mage armor base + 3 from dex + 2 from bracers of defense + 2 from a shield = a casual 20, if something DOES sneak trough, just cast shield for 25 ac. If you want you can also put shield of faith on him for 22/27 with shield spell up)


In act 2 is when he can truly hit invincibility. Make him an abju wizard, level 10 preferable, cast warding bond on him
Congrants, you're now untouchable.
Eversince he hit level 10 he genuinely hasn't taken a SINGLE point of damage, I kept track.

Edit: Tactician, ofcourse.

[Gaius]

Originally posted by Recjawjind:

Originally posted by Haru:

I mean, feel free to enlighten me. That's what I'm here for.

Respec him to bump him to 16 dex
Cast mage armor
put on bracers of defense
equip a shield


Congrats, your gale now has the highest AC in the party in act 1 and won't be targeted (13 mage armor base + 3 from dex + 2 from bracers of defense + 2 from shield = a casual 20)


In act 2 is when he can truly hit invincibility. Make him an abju wizard, level 10 preferable, cast warding bond on him
Congrants, you're now untouchable.
Eversince he hit level 10 he genuinely hasn't taken a SINGLE point of damage, I kept track.

Bracers of defense doesn't wok if you have a shield equiped. It's explicit in the item's description:

Become the Bulwark: You gain a +2 bonus to Armour Class as long as you are not wearing armour or holding a shield.

[Haru]

Originally posted by Recjawjind:

Originally posted by Haru:

I mean, feel free to enlighten me. That's what I'm here for.

Respec him to bump him to 16 dex
Cast mage armor
put on bracers of defense
equip a shield


Congrats, your gale now has the highest AC in the party in act 1 and won't be targeted (13 mage armor base + 3 from dex + 2 from bracers of defense + 2 from shield = a casual 20)


In act 2 is when he can truly hit invincibility. Make him an abju wizard, level 10 preferable, cast warding bond on him
Congrants, you're now untouchable.
Eversince he hit level 10 he genuinely hasn't taken a SINGLE point of damage, I kept track.

Cheers, I will give that a go.

[Recjawjind]

Originally posted by Gaius:

Bracers of defense doesn't wok if you have a shield equiped. It's explicit in the item's description:

Become the Bulwark: You gain a +2 bonus to Armour Class as long as you are not wearing armour or holding a shield.

Whoops, you're right.
Just use a shield then, and put the bracers on someone else.
So 18/20 with shield of faith

You can make up the difference with the bard gloves in grymforge, and boots somewhere with +1 ac.

Edit: Gloves are in last light, not achievable in act 1.

[Recjawjind]

Originally posted by Haru:

Cheers, I will give that a go.

Small correction, bracers of defense does not work when using a shield. So instead put on the bard gloves from grymforge that give +1 ac, and there are also boots somewhere that give +1 ac.

Edit: Gloves are in last light, not achievable in act 1.

[SmallGespenst]

an alternative option would be giving him the Bracers of Dexterity (merchant in Mountain pass sells them, they set dex to 18.) and a shield + mage armour for 19 AC, but that does mean you're not giving them to another character

[Recjawjind]

Either way, shield proficiency is *very very VERY* powerful, especially since pretty much all caster "weapons" (staves) are versatile and you can use them with a shield just fine.

[Quillithe]

A low intensity option is just to give Gale a shield and light armor (or cast mage armor) - he can use both. Then teach him the shield spell.

That can get you to 13+2+1 (+5) = so a pretty easy 16 AC that goes up to 21 when needed a few times. Then throw in mirror image or displacement potentially too.

For casting, I usually suggest control spells.
Early on Sleep is VERY strong - it sleeps 24 + 8/lvl health of enemies, counting current health, and you get free crits when you hit them in melee. Starting a fight by sleeping some of the low health archers a lot of early fights have can make things a lot easier, and a fast party member can run around getting automatic crits to finish them off.

Getting some spell DC items can make spells with saves very strong too.

Actually casting spells with attack rolls that do damage isn't really a strength of the wixard IMO.

[Mad Marduk]

1. Move him farther back and have him use half his movement to get into cast range and then the other half to retreat back. Misty step for a hard reposition.

2. Get his AC up. He is being targeted because he is an easy target with a few less HP. With even just Mage Armor and Bracers of Defense you'll find that he is not only more survivable, but that he gets targeted less as well.

[Gaius]

Originally posted by Recjawjind:

Originally posted by Gaius:

Bracers of defense doesn't wok if you have a shield equiped. It's explicit in the item's description:

Become the Bulwark: You gain a +2 bonus to Armour Class as long as you are not wearing armour or holding a shield.

Whoops, you're right.
Just use a shield then, and put the bracers on someone else.
So 18/20 with shield of faith

You can make up the difference with the bard gloves in grymforge, and boots somewhere with +1 ac.

Edit: Gloves are in last light, not achievable in act 1.

I think they added those gloves exactly so non-human of half elf casters could match the armor class :)