Naturally, casters can be difficult to level with all those spells to pick from. The key is picking the right ones. Take example the light spell. If you cast this on a monster in the dark, sometimes, they will run away in fear. Choices, too many choices.
The trick is to cast XP spells, those are your friend, remember them well.
But, as a guy who has RCRd and created fresh wizards about 40 times in the last year, I have a few words...
Buying Summon III scrolls to push you up to level 6+ is false.
You can buff up the summons, but their AC is too low to take the hits and their HP too few to stay up for long. It is very very expensive and wholly ineffective. I had even tried as a druid to do this AND buy awaken scrolls for my companion in addition to buffing, and it always ends badly.
Something I found with my leveling of wizards is the weapon really does matter.
My Gray Orc archmage, he has low strength, high con and the ability to use a greataxe. I use him as a "gish" even though he is far from... Because when he crits he crits hard. I dont know why, but that is just how it is.
My Druid/Wizard uses a spear/shield combo, and when he hits (problem with AB right now) he hits pretty hard too.
When I use a quarterstaff, the damage is always laughable.
Ghostly Visage is your friend. The 5DR just makes all the difference all the way up through the kobolds. By the time you hit cloakwood, the 5DR does not matter as much, but the 10% concealment does.
So what is the point of all this? Wizards and yes Druids, are a severe pain in the ass to level up to the appropriate level when they can "fend for themselves". The learning curve is steep and frustraiting. Once you get to level 5 or so, you will be better off.
I remember once when I started a druid, he died 23 times... and he was level 3
If the text is this color, I am on duty, everything else is just my humble opinion.
Obvious joke thread, but the real joke might be that casters (ok, maybe not clerics) are SUPPOSED to be harder to 'level' in DnD until at least mid levels, whereupon they start to far outstrip non casters in terms of power. That's the case in every version of DnD since 1e til 3.5e... (4e's a different story) it's kind of an iconic thing; they're supposed to be hard at the start, and it helps balance out the fact they get so powerful later on.
On most NWN2 PWs however, this largely doesn't apply, especially since most servers you can grind your way out of low lvls within a matter of days rather than months or years, and non casters can take advantage of NWN2's completely borked easy UMD and/or massive amounts of magic items.
Grinding sucks, RP while adventuring makes it much more tolerable.
Hm, apart from the hugs and cheers I got, I'll not reply in depth apart from saying this:
Any caster character can manage lvl 2 in about 5 minutes, lvl 4 in about 30, lvl 8 in about 2 hours, and lvl 12 in roughly 2 days. After that, it's all game.
A side note, if you are new to BG and need to find your way, the above applies at a 50% modifier. You should, while curious enough to find out more, manage the same, in about double what I said.
The above is true only, for those able to play at least one hour a day. Thank you.
I can shed some light on that. First off, you're obviously not new to the game and able to achieve what I said. Apart from that:
When entering the game as a newly lvl1, you spend all your gold on usables. Whatever works for your caster class, buy a mundane sling and club, and head to the graveyard. Using your scrolls, potions, and whatever else you can manage to get for 1000 gp, you grind as fast as you can, while being careful, to lvl 3. Lvl 2 usually takes only 4-5 minutes.
Then. Broke, hurt, etc.. You rest, gather all the remains for 25Gp/piece since you need the gold to ressupply. You head in to town. Again, you spend nothing on gear. You buy all the scrolls and potions available, and some retreat potions to speed up in town quest levelling.
You get all the quests. Surely as a player that has been around you can just number-key your way through convo's to save time. Getting all the quests, should take about 10 minutes. With your haste potions, you run around through carefully -tweaked- paths, making the most of your time.
Once done, you save getting back to town and getting your reward for later.
Next, you check if you have enough usables to make it to Maltz's quest. You need that quest to make level 4. While you are there, you check the stores ofc for more usabels. Since you're running around with 0 gear. Once ready, you use a retreat potion after transing to the xvart road, headed for the Hunter quest.
Once you have it, it's plausible you are encumbered. Again, retreat potions offer aid. When heading back after delivering your hides for hunter, you have your chance to get the Wyvern egg. By now, you surely had saved a potion or scroll to be invis for a short time. You haste, get the egg, and run back as fast as you can. Do not fight anything.
You are now back in town. You have 850xp from hunter, and lvl-d to 4 by now. As a caster, that is huge. All your spells are secure to make you live. You're not there to destroy planets, your main goal is keeping alive, and getting those quests done.
So you race to the Fai, resupply, you're in no shape to take on the tougher quests. After the fai, you race back to catch the ferry to BG. It's time to dock that Xp. Voila, lvl 5 (and if lucky, lvl 6) Now you have a fighting chance. If you have the gold, upgrade some of your items. But be careful. You're still highly dependant on usables. You need those to do the bilberry quest, the orc chief, the mines, and the lizard egg quest.
Obviously, once you've done the above, you have a grasp of what works on BG server, you're actually laughing now, thinking to yourself: Omg, I never thought it was this easy!
And that, Dzidek, is how you get to lvl 8 in about 2 - 2.5 hours.
Edit: Obviously the above is only true for casting classes.
Edit II: Oh, and there's always the option to stop for "Rp" at around lvl 4, and grind the cloakwoods for massive Xp.
just remember that the most powerful magicians in class game .A force to pay for (in this case, the initial levels of hard to play). Or you wanted to play a strong character without making any effort?
Dzidek, my post was based on players already vetted to BG. It did not include muling, and yes, perhaps you can only reach lvl 7 in the posted time I suggested.
But my post inititially was this:
breteas wrote:In my time on bg, I noticed it's rather hard to level casters. Am I the only one? I'm sure there are others? How can this be fixed?
Does it really matter if getting to lvl 8 takes 2. 3, 4, or 8 hours? The point is, if you play a caster, complaining about how hard it is toi level is silly.
But don't fret, I've managed great xp gains at low levels. If I can prove it's possible to get to lvl 8 in about 2 to 2.5 hours, i'll post again.
Its difficult in the sense that it is unforgiving. If you make a mistake you normally end up in the fugue when you play a magician like caster. Its frustration prone. Calling it easy depends on whether the person playing a character knows all the tricks and places to go. Ofcourse its easy then. But that's also true for any other class and combination.
Most of us don't know those things though. So its not easy. I play a caster sometimes and I need advice all the time. I usually escape by the skin of my teeth when I go somewhere I ought not to. Or I go the fugue with a curse on my lips.
Its more forgiving to play a warrior or divine character in my experience. Your escapes are more comfortable and you get frustrated less. Its different gameplay styles. Part of playing a magician like caster is that knowing things becomes very valuable. Not just spells but enemies, weaknesses and laws of nature (server mechanics).
It is good that you are giving advice, very useful
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