Baldur's Gate : The Sword Coast Chronicles : NWN2 Persistent World

so i have a wizard that focuses on divination magic and there are a few things that i would like to ask regarding the build.

divination's apposing school is illusion, but that leaves me without a lot of really good spells that wizards use for survival. should i consider losing the +1 from specialization so that i can get invis/mirror/displacement and so many others? perhaps there is a way to get my cake and eat it too that i am not aware of.

i have the 4th level divination Aeili's astrological augment and instead of giving me a buff it appears to be giving me a debuff. am i using the spell incorrecctly? i was applying it to myself and others.

If you look at the description there are chances for some debuffs, it's random.

aaron22 wrote:divination's apposing school is illusion, but that leaves me without a lot of really good spells that wizards use for survival. should i consider losing the +1 from specialization so that i can get invis/mirror/displacement and so many others? perhaps there is a way to get my cake and eat it too that i am not aware of.

Every Wizard has a feat that allows you to pick your opposition school if you would prefer not to utilize the default school. (default opposition is an NWN thing, not a D&D thing). Using that feat will allow you to chose your opposition school, but on this server basically every school has at least a few useful spells (even divination! ) I have played an illusionist and set the opposition school to evocation (no bigby, no IGMS, etc.) and the challenge of finding alternative spell strategies was part of the fun. I personally wouldn't want to be without illusion though, it's possibly the most flavorful school IMO.

aaron22 wrote:i have the 4th level divination Aeili's astrological augment and instead of giving me a buff it appears to be giving me a debuff. am i using the spell incorrecctly? i was applying it to myself and others.

The spell has the potential to provide either buffs or debuffs, or a combination thereof. The chance of a debuff though is relatively small (~25% if I recall) so you should be getting buffs most of the time. If you have tested several times you should open a bug report with screenshots so Valefort can take a look at it.

does empower and maximize work with the spell?

Aeili's Astrological Augment has a 3/12 chance of a debuff on the first random pick, then 2/11 for the second pick, and 1/10 for the third. If you get all three, you are one unlucky person (1/220 chance) but that's how the stars roll

aaron22 wrote:does empower and maximize work with the spell?

Not at the moment, didn't think about it.

Valefort wrote:

aaron22 wrote:does empower and maximize work with the spell?

Not at the moment, didn't think about it.

Empower / Maximize could be interesting if you get a negative or two...

But, isn't it kind of a pain to put in the empower/maximize effects for all 12 possible effects?

well vale i will do some tests for you, but from what i have gotten from it so far is that if i have a stat buff already active and cast AAA and it gives the same stat a stat debuff, it cancels the buff to apply the debuff on the base stat. ex. str 10 base +bulls+AAA debuff -3 str=7 str instead of 11. i will see if switching the order creates a different outcome.

also less resto cancels any AAA debuff. not sure if that is WAI or not.

WAI, enhancement spells don't stack in nwn2, the last one will replace.

pretty much all of the negatives are fairly easy to cancel out/address. The biggest negative is that you didn't get a positive bonus. I would probably cast AAA first to see what I got, then use a lesser restoration pot or whatever other buffs necessary based off of AAA outcome.

this is my first wizard build over level 14 and i am unsure which spells are effective and which ones are less so. i would like to bring illusionist into my build, and evocation was the one i was looking at dropping. the only thing that makes me hesitate is because i take on CR mobs higher than my level. my DC mage has turned into a blaster. the mobs just resist my low level save or x spells. and the same was true when i had my one PvP battle.

chad. that is what i started doing.

can i cast AAA multiple times on the same toon? or will they just replace each other?

dropping enchantment loses only heroism/greater from spells that i would think i would actually use from the base game pack. i am unsure what i would be missing from our custom lists as that is not completely up to date. might use mind fog and/or crushing despair. not sure if they work well or not.

Aeili's astrological augment is an ok spell. It's nice that it is new, and the staff did a good job putting it in.

If you get negative "buffs" then you can just dispel the spell (whether that is intended or not) so you don't have any issues.

You can survive without Illusion since most of the useful illusion spells can be executed with a wand (as you described above).

There are a LOT more divination spells now since the update, so hat's off to you for making a diviner.

I do wish that Aeili's astrological augment would have a message letting you know what buffs/debuffs you had applied to you.

Hawke wrote:
I do wish that Aeili's astrological augment would have a message letting you know what buffs/debuffs you had applied to you.

i cannot express how much i second that suggestion.

aaron22 wrote:dropping enchantment loses only heroism/greater from spells that i would think i would actually use from the base game pack.

This is the greatest of quandaries that wizard builders have to face.

What can you do without in the game.

Can I do without evocation spells? Maybe. Since conjuration has a few of them now.

Can I do without Illusion spells? Wands for invisibility and mirror image sure.

Can I do without Divination? Premonition? Sure, I can do greater stoneskin and be good.

And it goes on and on.

Actually, I think I need to look again at evocation... I might actually be able to lose that instead in the future.

Anyways, Greater Heroism maybe not seem like a lot.... but it is pretty huge. If you use summons that is +4 AB, and +4 to saves.

For your wizard who I assume is not a gish... the AB bonus won't mean much, but the bonus in saves and skills can be pretty substantial.

But again... it is what your playstyle will require.


The issue with wizards in the late game is that you only get so many spells, and the enemies are "bullet sponges" so your standard blaster spells won't go very far against groups of enemies without needing a rest.

Sure you have more level 1,2,3 and maybe even 4 spells than you every could need... but the big dog spells Level 6, 8 and 9 ... those are just a handful. Plus your requiring like 20 minutes per rest... might make for a long adventure.


In PnP the wizards I played saved their spells until the party was in serious trouble, or a major fight/boss battle was about to ensue. In a multiplayer game like this.. you don't get that luxury. That is why Gishes are so popular.

I have a summoner, who has all the summoner fixins.. and his summons drop like flies against the epic level mobs.

I know some people say they can solo wizards and sorcerers... I haven't figured that part out. So knowing what spells are better or not... just gotta know, you only have a few. At full CL 17 you will probably have 2 level 9 spells not being specialized (cause your int is high enough) or 3 spells specialized. Then level 19 you have 4 spells. It still never seems enough lol!

I feel your pain.