Which spells should i choose?

[naginata]

i am Playing a wizard (enchanter)
and now I'm just before level 9 just . Which spells should I choose? What really makes sense?

[JDouglasBarson]

I just find it easier to use control spells since most of the spell slots are taken up by support spells. Not taking damage is always useful and I don't count on it always working. I use damage spells to finish off enemies. I never like the careful planning to use fireballs, controlled fireballs, rays spells, touch spells, etc required to quickly kill enemies. I have mercenary fighters for the late game.

[Jekko]

Originally posted by wie Ebenholz:

Originally posted by Morgian:

Yes, the late game swarms are called mandragora swarms, who have hitpoints in the hundreds and dish out serious STR damage, and have a poison that causes confusion.

once your bard or cleric reaches level 5(?) and can cast "delay poison, communal", nothing with poison should bother you anymore. it holds for hours, and makes you immune vs being poisoned, so cast it directly after resting.

I thought the same and boy I was wrong. They apply massive STR damage as a disease and can destroy you in seconds. You either need paladin or blight druid with disease immunity to tank them or use summons and spam aoe as fast as you can. Heal and remove disease helps

[kaymarciy]

I've been wondering for a while (never tried it), but shouldn't you be immune to this crap in the Elemental Form?

[naginata]

Are there any other Merchants with scrolls in this game?

[JDouglasBarson]

I have not seen any other merchants. I am waiting for the DCL and hope they add more spells.

[rumpelstiltskin]

i'm pretty underwhelmed with level 8 atm, don't even know what to choose.
mind blank / protection from spells are pretty expensive for what they do, which is only a situational protection against certain magic, and i'm not even sure they'll be useful for endgame encounters
seamantle, dragonkind, etc are only useful for battlemages, not backline casters
polar ray is worse than hellfire, death clutch is worse than gimped up finger of death (which in turn is also worse than hellfire). and i don't get the point of horrid wilting at all.
power words only work on low HD enemies. tranquility allows a per-round will save against nausea. prediction of failure has no save, but is a fairly mild debuff.
shout was nerfed to a 1 round stun, and it's worse than stormbolts on everything (damage, affects allies), except range. so maybe i'll go with stormbolts, since it's half-decent fort-based damage and a bit of stun. unless elder elementals are really good (which i don't think they are)

[Jekko]

Originally posted by rumpelstiltskin:

i'm pretty underwhelmed with level 8 atm, don't even know what to choose.
mind blank / protection from spells are pretty expensive for what they do, which is only a situational protection against certain magic, and i'm not even sure they'll be useful for endgame encounters
seamantle, dragonkind, etc are only useful for battlemages, not backline casters
polar ray is worse than hellfire, death clutch is worse than gimped up finger of death (which in turn is also worse than hellfire). and i don't get the point of horrid wilting at all.
power words only work on low HD enemies. tranquility allows a per-round will save against nausea. prediction of failure has no save, but is a fairly mild debuff.
shout was nerfed to a 1 round stun, and it's worse than stormbolts on everything (damage, affects allies), except range. so maybe i'll go with stormbolts, since it's half-decent fort-based damage and a bit of stun. unless elder elementals are really good (which i don't think they are)

Get empower and fill lvl 8 with chain lightning/hellfire/disintegrate

[naginata]

Level 6 Spells require Level 11 am i right?

[BlueBangkok]

Originally posted by Valdr:

The most useful I use for late game: Stinking cloud (!!!), legendary proportions, summons, haste, chain lightning, baleful polymorph, blur/dispacement, AoEs for swarms. I found most ranged touch spells to be pretty meh late game, they tend to miss way too much.

In order to not miss rays against powerful enemies you have to combine them with true strike. One true strike is enough for 2 standard casts or one empowered cast, more if you do quickened/extended true strike.
Ray casters have one of the most devastating single target damage outputs in the game.

[rumpelstiltskin]

Originally posted by BlueBangkok:

Originally posted by Valdr:

The most useful I use for late game: Stinking cloud (!!!), legendary proportions, summons, haste, chain lightning, baleful polymorph, blur/dispacement, AoEs for swarms. I found most ranged touch spells to be pretty meh late game, they tend to miss way too much.

In order to not miss rays against powerful enemies you have to combine them with true strike. One true strike is enough for 2 standard casts or one empowered cast, more if you do quickened/extended true strike.
Ray casters have one of the most devastating single target damage outputs in the game.

doesn't true strike apply to a single next attack only though? i mean it's still great, but it shouldn't be possible to use it on all hellfire rays from a single cast, let alone several casts.
also, there's a robe that gives +4 to ray attacks.

[Slap Happy Pappy]

Originally posted by rumpelstiltskin:

Originally posted by BlueBangkok:

In order to not miss rays against powerful enemies you have to combine them with true strike. One true strike is enough for 2 standard casts or one empowered cast, more if you do quickened/extended true strike.
Ray casters have one of the most devastating single target damage outputs in the game.

doesn't true strike apply to a single next attack only though? i mean it's still great, but it shouldn't be possible to use it on all hellfire rays from a single cast, let alone several casts.
also, there's a robe that gives +4 to ray attacks.

Casting rays while invisible makes target flat footed. The ray denies target his armor bonus. On a human, this means you just have to hit 10AC.

[rumpelstiltskin]

Originally posted by Slap Happy Pappy:

Casting rays while invisible makes target flat footed. The ray denies target his armor bonus. On a human, this means you just have to hit 10AC.

flat-feetness denies dex bonus (touch denies armor), but are you sure it actually works like that in the game? seems pretty strong. i know invisibility enables sneak attacks, but not sure about the dex bonus. also, stronger enemies have armor from other sources, like natural, unearthy grace, etc. and invisibily only increases your stealth by 20, so i guess if someone has perception say 40 they'll be able to see you. i don't know if this means "see" as in "be generally aware of your presense" or "deny any boni normally granted by invisibility", though.

[Slap Happy Pappy]

Originally posted by rumpelstiltskin:

Originally posted by Slap Happy Pappy:

Casting rays while invisible makes target flat footed. The ray denies target his armor bonus. On a human, this means you just have to hit 10AC.

flat-feetness denies dex bonus (touch denies armor), but are you sure it actually works like that in the game? seems pretty strong. i know invisibility enables sneak attacks, but not sure about the dex bonus. also, stronger enemies have armor from other sources, like natural, unearthy grace, etc. and invisibily only increases your stealth by 20, so i guess if someone has perception say 40 they'll be able to see you. i don't know if this means "see" as in "be generally aware of your presense" or "deny any boni normally granted by invisibility", though.

math wise, yes, many critters also have natural armor, but greater invisibility on octavia spewing scorching rays tends to be... just... devastating. Give it a shot.

[rumpelstiltskin]

Originally posted by Slap Happy Pappy:

math wise, yes, many critters also have natural armor, but greater invisibility on octavia spewing scorching rays tends to be... just... devastating. Give it a shot.

i mean i know it works great in practice, except it's my MC who is an AT, and now i also have an extra AT merc (with slightly more optimized stats). because, i fugured, ok AT is a great dps'er, but what could be better than an AT? clearly, two ATs. but i'm only entering Naryssa's house now, and i expect there will be a serious difficulty ramp-up

[BlueBangkok]

Originally posted by rumpelstiltskin:

Originally posted by BlueBangkok:

In order to not miss rays against powerful enemies you have to combine them with true strike. One true strike is enough for 2 standard casts or one empowered cast, more if you do quickened/extended true strike.
Ray casters have one of the most devastating single target damage outputs in the game.

doesn't true strike apply to a single next attack only though? i mean it's still great, but it shouldn't be possible to use it on all hellfire rays from a single cast, let alone several casts.
also, there's a robe that gives +4 to ray attacks.

It should work exactly as you said in theory, but for some reason it works for a fixed amount of time in PKM, despite spell's description. So whatever ray attack you can sneak in during that time will get +20 insight bonus from true strike. Not sure if it's a bug or design choice.
Greater invisibility also works wonders as others mentioned, and both invis and true strike are imho bread and butter spells for any ray caster.