Spell points

[snowman1991]

Is there a cap on the amount of spell points a character can gain from increasing levels?

 

My characters have stalled on 39 points for the last few levels is there anything I can do to make them increase with each level up?

 

Any help appreciated. Thanks.

[Slawbug]

Characters don't gain spell points by levelling up. You have to buy them manually with skill points.

 

There is one other way spell points are given out: at character creation ONLY, you get 3 spell points per level of priest or mage spells. That's it.

[snowman1991]

Oh. Thanks for the help they must have started on 39 I can't believe i didn't realise.

 

Started each of them with level 4 on priest and mage.

 

Thanks.

[Celtic Minstrel]

I think they get a bonus for having trained in the spell skills at all, too; at least, assuming what Slarty said is correct, and that you started each of them with level 4 in both skills (for a total of 8 levels of magic skill), they would have to have received an additional 15 spell points on top of the spell points from training in the magic skill. 3*8 + 15 = 39

[Slawbug]

No, there is no such bonus. It's just 3 per level of any spell skill. Presumably, snowman put 15 spell points in manually when he created them.

[Celtic Minstrel]

...ah, yes, duh. I forgot about that part.

[Lilith]

In general, it's not a bad idea to start all spellcasting characters with as many points in their spellcasting skills as possible, since you effectively get back 50% of your expenditure for mages and 60% for priests. Mages should have 7 levels of Mage Spells, priests should have 7 levels of Priest Spells, and mage-priests... well, that depends on whether you can put up with having 1 Intelligence and doing direct damage only with wall/field spells until level 3. If you can, 4 Mage/7 Priest. If you can't, 3 Mage/6 Priest and spend the points you saved on Int.

 

You can begin with even more skill points to spend on spell levels by starting with the pre-generated party and taking all their stats down to 0 instead of just deleting and replacing them, but at that point you're basically cheating and you may as well just use the character editor.

[Thaluikhain]

Originally Posted By: Lilith

You can begin with even more skill points to spend on spell levels by starting with the pre-generated party and taking all their stats down to 0 instead of just deleting and replacing them, but at that point you're basically cheating and you may as well just use the character editor.

Hey? The pre-generated party costs more to create than what you're given?

[keira]

Frrrrr gives you 81 skill points, iirc.

[Cryolemon]

Originally Posted By: Thaluikhain

Originally Posted By: Lilith

You can begin with even more skill points to spend on spell levels by starting with the pre-generated party and taking all their stats down to 0 instead of just deleting and replacing them, but at that point you're basically cheating and you may as well just use the character editor.

Hey? The pre-generated party costs more to create than what you're given?

Yeah, not sure why, but they do.

[Thaluikhain]

Hmmm...maybe it's because they spend points on less than useful things like lock picking, archery and thrown weapons, instead of worthwhile things.

[Dantius]

Originally Posted By: Cryolemon

Originally Posted By: Thaluikhain

Originally Posted By: Lilith

You can begin with even more skill points to spend on spell levels by starting with the pre-generated party and taking all their stats down to 0 instead of just deleting and replacing them, but at that point you're basically cheating and you may as well just use the character editor.

Hey? The pre-generated party costs more to create than what you're given?

Yeah, not sure why, but they do.

It's true in BoA, too. Using a prefab class as opposed to a custom class can yield you lots more skill points. I think that the Hedge Wizard has ~12 more skill points than a custom, which does make a little difference at earlier levels.

Of course, most of those skill points are spent in things like First Aid and Thrown Missiles and Potion making, but it's still a decent deal.

[Cryolemon]

Originally Posted By: Thaluikhain

Hmmm...maybe it's because they spend points on less than useful things like lock picking, archery and thrown weapons, instead of worthwhile things.

Well, it would seem that the points are spent in those things in addition to the "worthwhile" things.

[The Mystic]

Then again, it all depends on your definition of "worthwhile" when making your party. Some people might prefer archery/thrown weapons to the various hand-to-hand weapon skills, or vice versa. Others may prefer to pick locks instead of bashing or the Unlock spell. Still others might want to start off with a character that has 7 levels in priest or mage spells skill. There's a lot of flexibility to your character builds.

[Cryolemon]

Definitely, but I think for the most part people don't use lockpicking or archery very much. Mainly because archery and thrown weapons are pretty useless, and everyone starts out with the unlock spell (has anyone tried to make a party with NO magic?).

[The Mystic]

I get a few levels of lockpicking early on, because I tend to be rather frugal with my spell points until I gain a dozen or so levels.

 

And I agree about archery and thrown weapons being fairly useless, except for a god bow and arrows I made for my archer.