I used to love Englarge in NWN2 engine. One female body get enlarge person and you have full screen of flesh~ The Strength effects of disarm is neither here or there. But yeah, I dont think game engine ever implement full feature of enlarge.Enlarge
Stinking Cloud
I will add that with no limited rests (Solasta) or time sensitive quests (Kingmaker) Haste has no real drawbacks in games like IWD or BG (as the spell causes fatigue once it wears out), because you can just rest after that (and reload a save, if the monsters attack you).Haste is probably one of the most useful buffs in RTWp games. Not only it's useful in combat it also makes exploration less bothersome.
Humans are prone to fall into a meta. Limit of spell slots necessitates the selection of spells, meaning a lot of people are going to use spells they consider best/useful/universal most of the time. So more specialized/niche spells are going to fall out naturally. Futhermore, if a game puts huge emphasis on combat then almost all spells - if not all spells - are going to be combat-oriented, even if a game features non-combat spells. Unless a game makes good use of spells' interactivity, but very few do. And people are lazy, so they are not going to think what else they can do, if what they do already is good enough and they won't change their spells often (because they think they are already using the most optimal/useful spells).Even there people get in ruts and turn manageable fights into fights that suck too much attention and energy trying to master them with outleveled spells under the erroneous "most spells are trash" theory.
I will add that with no limited rests (Solasta) or time sensitive quests (Kingmaker) Haste has no real drawbacks in games like IWD or BG (as the spell causes fatigue once it wears out), because you can just rest after that (and reload a save, if the monsters attack you).Haste is probably one of the most useful buffs in RTWp games. Not only it's useful in combat it also makes exploration less bothersome.
I will add that with no limited rests (Solasta) or time sensitive quests (Kingmaker) Haste has no real drawbacks in games like IWD or BG (as the spell causes fatigue once it wears out), because you can just rest after that (and reload a save, if the monsters attack you).Haste is probably one of the most useful buffs in RTWp games. Not only it's useful in combat it also makes exploration less bothersome.
Humans are prone to fall into a meta. Limit of spell slots necessitates the selection of spells, meaning a lot of people are going to use spells they consider best/useful/universal most of the time. So more specialized/niche spells are going to fall out naturally. Futhermore, if a game puts huge emphasis on combat then almost all spells - if not all spells - are going to be combat-oriented, even if a game features non-combat spells. Unless a game makes good use of spells' interactivity, but very few do. And people are lazy, so they are not going to think what else they can do, if what they do already is good enough and they won't change their spells often (because they think they are already using the most optimal/useful spells).Even there people get in ruts and turn manageable fights into fights that suck too much attention and energy trying to master them with outleveled spells under the erroneous "most spells are trash" theory.
+1 to-hit is useful right at the beginning when missing is the order of the day.I find that most of the spells included in D&D CRPGs are bloat. Especially with the way spell memorization works and the lack of in-game information about enemies in areas you visit once.
There's a bit of an expectation at this point that Grease and Web are useful. But is a buff that gives +1 damage really worth adding? Does it serve a point outside of a minor character-building skill-test?
Interested in other's thoughts on which spells are actually useful in a D&D CRPG, given the constraints of the genre.
What are you on about?There're no bad spells, only bad implementation and bad users.
Say, Command spell.
In game like IWD/BG series we mostly dont do Command because the games are designed so that commands dont work well. But a Wisdom-check command is doable in low level fights it work well against dumbass (but high HP). Make them grovel/fall prone and another melee ally can do coup de grace to finish it off~
Or Goodberry, another unused spell. IT's unused because games are mostly skipping over the campsite action and food requirement for rest: IWD/BG games has free rest (money to pay for the beds at inn are nothing). So gamers can only use it to heal, which is measly and not as initially designed.
At low levels, yes, obviously. And +1 to rolls is always useful. In difficult games, that is. Select all+click gameplay doesn't require any spells.But is a buff that gives +1 damage really worth adding?
Depend on WHEN you go about it. In a solo-boss fight they are not that useful but if there's a bunch of minions it's necessary to stop them in a pack and AoE them.At low levels, yes, obviously. And +1 to rolls is always useful. In difficult games, that is. Select all+click gameplay doesn't require any spells.But is a buff that gives +1 damage really worth adding?
Web and Fireball aren't that amazing. In situations where every round is essential, there are usually much better or necessary uses of your precious action. Holy Word for example.
Or Goodberry, another unused spell. IT's unused because games are mostly skipping over the campsite action and food requirement for rest: IWD/BG games has free rest (money to pay for the beds at inn are nothing). So gamers can only use it to heal, which is measly and not as initially designed.