don't understand spell points and meditation

[mcolton1]

My 2 practitioners only have 1 or 2 spell points to use in a battle. Some spells take 8 points to use. How do you get to that. My max spell points is over 10.
Some skills say you gain a point when you are meditating. WHEN are you meditating.
Thanks for any help

[Vaidelot]

Meditation is active practitioners' skill used in combat. It gives you spell points the next turn after it's used (provided the enemies didn't broke your practitioner's concentration during their turn). Several passive skills in a skill tree also provide your practitioner with additional points on a start or end of evry turn. And, of course, you could use potions or special bard's song to get some more.

[Le Libertine]

You an also carry over spell points to your next turn, unlike opportunity points.

[Rilbur]

There's also a bard song that gives everyone around the bard MP.

[Rilbur]

This question may deserve a bit more thorough of an answer than we originally gave.

Meditation is both the name of a skill tree for practitioners, *and* an ability under that tree. The fact that they named an entire tree after it should suggest it's importance, but then they futzed around with the sub-par 'bladecasting' tree that can be ignored other than it's useful strength boosts.

Despite it's nominally optional status, please make no mistake: the meditation ability is a nigh-necessity for spellcasters. Expending large number of ability points on it and it's associated upgrades is only technically optional, skipping doing so would represent a 'challenge mode'.

At it's core, meditation lets you transform opportunity points into mana points by channeling for 1 turn. Early on, you may get 1 MP for the process -- if you can complete it. Later on, abilities let you gain more MP, or let it occur more quickly.

However, this isn't the only option. You can also gain mana points through potions, which also increase your intelligence. I wouldn't rely on this for every single fight, but it can give you a huge power boost on those fights when you do use it. (I strongly recommend having at least one party member take the crafting tree just so you can double the effects of potions, though being able to brew your own potions / greater potions is nothing to sneer at either) THe opportunity cost of the potions can be expensive -- but the amount of power they unlock is purely terrifying when you really need it.

Additionally, there are various 'miscellaneous' tricks. The two I'm aware of is the bardic spellsong (and associated capstone that starts everyone with extra MP) and a priest tree ability that lets you enter a stance for more MP every turn.

(The difference between a stance and a channeled ability is that stances last until canceled, but otherwise they function nigh-identically, and are mutually exclusive)

[Zankor]

I'd like to add to waht Rilbur has stated here and point out there are also boots that can reduce the cost of a spell by 1 or grant 1 spell point, which is basically the same thing, when moving. This further allows you to use Oppurtunity to gain Spell points.

[Colonel Troutman]

Originally posted by Rilbur:

This question may deserve a bit more thorough of an answer than we originally gave.

Meditation is both the name of a skill tree for practitioners, *and* an ability under that tree. The fact that they named an entire tree after it should suggest it's importance, but then they futzed around with the sub-par 'bladecasting' tree that can be ignored other than it's useful strength boosts.

Despite it's nominally optional status, please make no mistake: the meditation ability is a nigh-necessity for spellcasters. Expending large number of ability points on it and it's associated upgrades is only technically optional, skipping doing so would represent a 'challenge mode'.

At it's core, meditation lets you transform opportunity points into mana points by channeling for 1 turn. Early on, you may get 1 MP for the process -- if you can complete it. Later on, abilities let you gain more MP, or let it occur more quickly.

However, this isn't the only option. You can also gain mana points through potions, which also increase your intelligence. I wouldn't rely on this for every single fight, but it can give you a huge power boost on those fights when you do use it. (I strongly recommend having at least one party member take the crafting tree just so you can double the effects of potions, though being able to brew your own potions / greater potions is nothing to sneer at either) THe opportunity cost of the potions can be expensive -- but the amount of power they unlock is purely terrifying when you really need it.

Additionally, there are various 'miscellaneous' tricks. The two I'm aware of is the bardic spellsong (and associated capstone that starts everyone with extra MP) and a priest tree ability that lets you enter a stance for more MP every turn.

(The difference between a stance and a channeled ability is that stances last until canceled, but otherwise they function nigh-identically, and are mutually exclusive)

Great post here, massive props to you!

[Colonel Troutman]

One other quick little tidbit for you, make sure you are finished using any spells you wish to use with your practitioner before you have them meditate, at the point you meditate they can no longer fire off any spells that round. I like to finish with any spells I wish to use, and then have my spellcaster meditate right away after that, as it takes up an opportunity point to meditate, and if you are out of opportunity points you don't get a chance to meditate that round.