Casting AOE spells...

[Beast]

How the heck do we use spells like sleep, lightning bolt or good ole Fireball when the casting times are so long and its not turn based? By the time the spell is cast, I end up murdering my own party because the enemy has moved close to my party and KABOOM everyone dies.

How do people deal with this conundrum?

[bad_fur_day1]

Well it helps to fire them at the ground near enemies so they end up caught in the area of effect but not yourself. They are also is ideal for slow moving enemies like undead.

[AlexMBrennan]

By aiming carefully. You know where your party is standing and where the enemies are going which should allow you to aim the spells where they will hit the enemy but not your party members.

spells like sleep

Given that this spell has a casting time of 1 and no friendly fire I really don't know what to tell you. Maybe try playing the game before you start complaining about it?

[Beast]

Originally posted by AlexMBrennan:

By aiming carefully. You know where your party is standing and where the enemies are going which should allow you to aim the spells where they will hit the enemy but not your party members.

spells like sleep

Given that this spell has a casting time of 1 and no friendly fire I really don't know what to tell you. Maybe try playing the game before you start complaining about it?

My post was not a complaint, I haven't played these games before and was looking for advice. Found a wand of lightning bolt, murdered my party members a few times with it and thought I'd ask for some advice. I've only used sleep a handful of times when sneaking into combat... I assumed it would also affect friendlies like entangle does. Guess not, thanks for pointing that out.

[Corey Greyfox]

Originally posted by Jim, Earthworm:

How the heck do we use spells like sleep, lightning bolt or good ole Fireball when the casting times are so long and its not turn based? By the time the spell is cast, I end up murdering my own party because the enemy has moved close to my party and KABOOM everyone dies.

How do people deal with this conundrum?

Lighting bolt can be a tad unpredictable. I personally avoid using it unless I'm playing solo, and even then you can't use it in certain places because it might kill an innocent person and then there goes your reputation.

As for fireeball, target the ground, not the enemy. It'll take some practice, but once you get it, you can land that fireball so it'll hit where the enemy is going to be, but not where your party is going to be. Another tactic is to cast Globe of invulnerability and stoneskin on your mage and have them rush into the middle of the group of enemies while your team hangs back, then cast fireball at your own feet. Globe of invulnerability will protect your caster from the fireball, and stoneskin can help hold off the physical attacks long enough to get the casting done.

As for turn based, if that's your preferred play style, you can set auto-pause to pause after each round. It's not "true" turn based, but it does make it feel a little more like it.

[Steve (Dawn's Hubby)]

Originally posted by Jim, Earthworm:

Originally posted by AlexMBrennan:

By aiming carefully. You know where your party is standing and where the enemies are going which should allow you to aim the spells where they will hit the enemy but not your party members.


Given that this spell has a casting time of 1 and no friendly fire I really don't know what to tell you. Maybe try playing the game before you start complaining about it?

My post was not a complaint, I haven't played these games before and was looking for advice. Found a wand of lightning bolt, murdered my party members a few times with it and thought I'd ask for some advice. I've only used sleep a handful of times when sneaking into combat... I assumed it would also affect friendlies like entangle does. Guess not, thanks for pointing that out.

When someone is continually rude don't worry about them. Just click the profile name, then "view profile", then "block all communication," like I just did. I do this when I see the behavior in nearly every reply and for no reason.

In any case, were you able to solve it with that advice OP? If not I think I saw a few Youtube posts on that very subject. Please let us know how it turns out.

[MidnaFeetEnjoyer]

Read the spell descriptions, be smart about it and test it out by selecting spells, save, rest, cast on your party or whatever and reload. Have fun.

The basic logic is that some spells are very strong but risky (like fireball), so you have to use them very tactfully and some are not so strong (melfs acid arrow, flame arrow), but easy to use. You need to make sure ranged enemies aren't aiming for your wizard while they are casting(it's easy, once they start shooting the first enemy they see, they won't change targets so long as they don't lose line of sign), do some kiting and move your frontline to some different position where the AOE hits your enemies, but your frontline manages to slip out of the edge of the radius just in time, which is tricky.

There are spells, potions and items that can give you protections if you want to yolo. But some of those can be a limited resource.

Sleep is party friendly. Basically all enchantment spells are party friendly. Colour spray isn't, but it's not enchantment school.

[MidnaFeetEnjoyer]

Originally posted by Steve (Dawn's Hubby):

When someone is continually rude

He did only one reply. Learn to count.

Originally posted by Steve (Dawn's Hubby):

I do this when I see the behavior in nearly every reply and for no reason.

He said absolutely nothing wrong. OP made a bit of a fool out of himself by mentioning "sleep" when asking about spells implied to be hard to use and party unfriendly, which is in fact, as Alex mentioned, has the casting time of 1 and is party friendly. And the reply was pretty restrained, considering. Pretty harsh of you to explain how to block communications just from that. You're kind of also insulting OP by implying he doesn't know the very basics of steam navigation, or that he can't decide for himself. These last few generations, by Bhaal sheesh.

[bad_fur_day1]

Oh I believe he was just a little short with what he believed was a silly question. It actually was just a player accidentally killing their whole party with AOE spells and confusing the sleep spell.

[Bounce]

This game has a steep learning curve -- don't be afraid to ask questions :)

[Wicket W. Warrick]

Originally posted by Jim, Earthworm:

How the heck do we use spells like sleep, lightning bolt or good ole Fireball when the casting times are so long and its not turn based? By the time the spell is cast, I end up murdering my own party because the enemy has moved close to my party and KABOOM everyone dies.

How do people deal with this conundrum?

Go invisible with a thief and aim with the mage at a dot immediately before the first enemy.

Distinguish spells that hit party and innocents from others. Fear and sleep can be cast also in the middle of a fight, they won't affect party.

Use wands (no casting time).

[Hell-met]

aggro, aim, AC, stoneskin, mirror image, invisiblity, range, etc.

the game is extremely versatile

[rompier02]

Hi. Scout with a thief for the enemy's location & loose the Fireball without them seeing you i.e don't break the FOW. Place the rest of your party members far from the AOE radius. Best option for me first salvo with web & then the Fireball. Some enemies are immune to web spells though. Good luck. Same goes for Sleep in my case.

[Beast]

Cool, thanks for the tips everyone!

[jinath715]

Originally posted by Jim, Earthworm:

How the heck do we use spells like sleep, lightning bolt or good ole Fireball when the casting times are so long and its not turn based? By the time the spell is cast, I end up murdering my own party because the enemy has moved close to my party and KABOOM everyone dies.

How do people deal with this conundrum?

Mostly, I use a thief or ranger to scout around. Find a group of enemies. Get the mage in range enough without being seen by the mob of enemies and then throw a classic Lina Inverse special at them:)

[Godsarm]

Originally posted by Jim, Earthworm:

How the heck do we use spells like sleep, lightning bolt or good ole Fireball when the casting times are so long and its not turn based? By the time the spell is cast, I end up murdering my own party because the enemy has moved close to my party and KABOOM everyone dies.

How do people deal with this conundrum?

Use Wands, they go off immediately.