Spell changes

Notes

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Spell visuals

Always consider the spellcraft skill of character before recognizing visual effects of spells in character.

"A character who doesn't recognize a spell mechanically shouldn't immediately react to spell visuals. In other words, though a character may see the floating eyeballs but doesn't necessarily put together what those eyeballs mean. After all, we have the Spellcraft mechanic for a reason." DM Watchtower

DM Watchtower:

"The simple answer is - what you see in game is what your character sees. For reasons including, but not limited to the simple fact that many (most?) players won't have any idea what the standard IC visual descriptions for each and every spell would be based on extended D&D canon. Thus, the easiest way to create a server-wide standard is to simply say "visuals you see on the screen are the same visuals your character sees".

This is not meant to be a blanket answer that covers every single situation, but it is one that I happen to use (and I'm fairly certain that's how the devs see it as well)."

Spell Focuses

(For roleplaying tips and description of schools see separate article about spell school.)

Abjuration

Grants a +2 to dispel checks per focus (total of +6 with an epic focus). Epic focus in abjuration allows you to cast the -ward spell, which appears to function like a Mass Hold Person spell with a "large" (5 meter radius) area of effect.

The epic abjurer can also cast -ward_teleport, which prevents anyone from teleporting into or out of an entire map for the duration of the spell.

The shield spell protects against Isaac's Lesser Missile Storm if you have a spell focus in Abjuration, and against both missile storms if you have greater or epic spell focus in Abjuration.

Divination

Diviners can see the attunement of player characters, and gain the ability to use the Deck of Stars item.

Characters with Epic Spell Focus in Divination can cast -scry, which lets them spy on another character for about a minute. The diviner must be under the influence of Clairaudience/Clairvoyance to -scry. Select the target of the -scry by entering the first few characters of their name (or their full name if you prefer).

Enchantment

The enchantment basins offer gold piece discounts to those with Spell Focus: Enchantment. 10% for basic focus, 20% for greater focus and 35% for epic focus. The percent values associated with each level is a reduction in base cost, which lowers gold cost, exp cost, and raises the percent chance of success. The decrease of failure makes it possible for epic Enchanters to make items that normal, unfocused people cannot make.

Evocation

Epic Spell Focus in evocation provides a significant boost to the epic spells Hellball and Greater Ruin.

Illusion

Epic Spell Focus: Illusion grants the -send_image ability, allowing the player to send an image of themselves to a target, say something, and vanish. The -send_image spell works once every 3 IG hours (18 minutes RL), and has no XP cost.

The image sent will be identical to the caster's appearance at the time of sending the image. If polymorphed, or casting a spell (as with *conjures* or *casts*), those visuals will be transmitted to the recipient of the message. However, -disguise has no effect on -send_image: your name appears as though you were not disguised.

The -send_image spell can be used across servers, but visuals will not be transmitted. The illusionist will appear instead as a ball of light, and the name will be given as "Mysterious Ball of Light". This can be used to send messages without revealing the name of the message sender.

Bug with send image: sometimes the "image" may not be received by the target (due to lag, or simply by having missed it in a transition). However, like with the Halfling/Goblin Messenger messages, you will receive in your right dialogue what the message contained.

Transmutation

Epic Spell Focus: Transmutation allows use of the Teleport spell. Typing -teleport brings up a Planar Portal dialogue, allowing the user to teleport to any known Portal for 100xp, once per day (here meaning once per rest).

Also, with with normal and greater focus in Transmutation, a character is able to activate golems after reaching level 15.

Conjuration

Summon spells provide buffed summons when casting the Planar Binding line of spells and Epic Spell: Dragon Knight. Each successive spell focus in conjuration improves the buffs received by these summons.

Conjuration focus also improves the Summon Creature line of spells in a manner identical to the cleric's Animal Domain. Each Summon Creature spell summons the next-higher creature (i.e. Summon Creature I summons a dire boar, rather than a dire badger).

Epic spell focus in conjuration grants the -yoink spell, which lets you teleport another PC to your location (they get the option to go or not).

Necromancy

Spell focus: Necromancy turns Undead summons (Animate Dead, Create Undead, Create Greater Undead as well as Pale Master and Blackguard feat-spells) into "henchmen", allowing you to summon both an undead creature and an ordinary summon (Summon Creature I-IX, Mordenkainen's Sword, Gate, etc) at the same time.

Greater spell focus allows the caster to cast twice for two undead, and you can mix and match the undead created (for example, a Shadow and a Skeleton Warrior). Epic Spell Focus instantly creates two undead creatures. This includes the benefit of "henchmen" from the initial Spell Focus - other creatures can still be summoned.

Epic Spell: Mummy Dust and Epic Spell: Dragon Knight (for Pale Masters who summon Dracoliches, see below) are unaffected and count as summons, not henchmen.

Arcane Defense

Taking Arcane Defense: Abjuration, adds +2 on your level check for resisting a dispel. Effectively, you are more difficult to dispel. (It does nothing against Spell Breach though.)

Summons

Summoning of Elementals

If you have a book of that specific "elemental type" in your inventory your "Summon Monster (elemental)" will only bring creatures in of that type. This does not work for the Druid spell Elemental Swarm: you still get four different elementals.

Alignment Specific Spell Changes

Gate:

Good - Deva

Neutral - Balor

Evil - Balor

Dragon Knight:

Good - Silver Dragon

Neutral - Prismatic Dragon

Evil - Red Dragon

Palemaster - Dracolich

• The duration of Dragon Knight spell has been increased on Arelith.

"Dragon Knight lasts a little longer than normal on Arelith and the dragon gets the usual conjuration buffs, but is otherwise unaffected by conjuration summons." Mithreas

Underdark Summon list

Summon changes from summon 1-9

• Summon 1 = Rat
• Summon 2 = Dire rat
• Summon 3 = Worg
• Summon 4 = Dire Spider
• Summon 5 = Grey render
• Summon 6 = Hell hound
• Summon 7 = Huge Elemental
• Summon 8 = Greater Elemental
• Summon 9 = Elder Elemental

Planar Binding

All of the Planar Binding spells last 1 turn/caster level.

Groups of spells

• Death Armor, Elemental shield and Acid sheath do not stack anymore, the last spell cast overrides the others

• The spells greater magic weapon, magic weapon, holy sword, flame weapon, darkfire and keen weapon can not be stacked any more. The last spell cast overrides the other.
  • Bless Weapon continues to stack as normal.
  • Blade thirst stacks with other weapon enchantments.

• Darkfire / Flame weapon is nerfed so it caps out at level 10 or so.

• Darkfire, Flame Weapon and (Greater) Magic Weapon have had their duration reduced to turns rather than hours as well.

• All Bigby's spells: have a reflex save now. Only Bigbys clenched fist does not have a reflex save, as it already has a fortitude save. None of Bigby's spells are possible to scribe, due to a bug in NWN. For example with the Bigby's Crushing Hand (the ninth level spell) the opponents roll a reflex save first, to check if they get grappled; then they roll the fort save, to see if they get stunned.

EDIT: But they still would take Damage, if stunned or not.

• Charm/Domination spells: Technically they have not been changed but due to some auto-hostiling scripts they do not work as intended against other players who are neutral to you (it comes down to the target becoming hostile when the charm fails, and the target goes into a stampede-like mode, attacking the caster immediately and non-stop, and when the charm is successful, the target seems to grab random items from his/her inventory and uses the items, like potions).

Individual spells

• Balagarn's Iron Horn: (this is NWN bug) The spell is described to be from Transmutation School, but it mechanically belongs to Enchantment one. You can not scribe it or use it if Enchantment is your forbidden School.

• Blackstaff: works on other quarterstaff like weapons (magic staves and dire maces).

• Bless: Last rounds instead of turns.

• Call Lightning: Deals d10s of damage rather than d6s, when cast in an outside, above ground, stormy or raining area.

• Continual flame: Does not last forever.

• Gate & Epic Spell: Dragon Knight: Summons alignment appropriate creatures, as well as a duration increase. Note: Gate's duration is the same when used unprotected, so the hostile Balor will vanish sooner than a "properly" summoned one.

• Find traps: Does not disable traps, just reveals them.

• Flesh to Stone: is permanent only until the caster rests or dies.

• Freedom of movement: Doesn't protect from movement speed reduction effects, including those from armour penalty, Slow and Web spells. (Still protects you from the Bigby line of spells, Paralysis, Entangle and similar effects.)

• Greater Sanctuary: Now rounds per level/4 and it has a "Cool down timer" 240 seconds

• Greater Shadow Conjuration counts as Illusion spells for purposes of spell focuses.

• Improved invisibility: Lasts rounds instead of turns. The concealment bonus is still in turns.

• Invisbility: Last rounds instead of turns.

• Invisibility Sphere: Last rounds instead of turns.

• Isaac's Greater Magic Missile: Maximum 10 missiles per target. If more than one target it sends out 20 missiles. Maximized damage output - 120 damage (though this spell can do up to 180 damage to a single target if empowered). Cannot shoot more than half it's missiles at one target.

• Knock: Only opens chests, not doors. (only a few doors can be 'Knocked')

• Mordkainen's disjunction is capped at 20. (To remove an effect, the caster makes a dispel check of 1d20, +1 per caster level (to a maximum of +20) against a DC of 11 + the spell effect's caster level.)

"A lv30 Caster has DC41, a Lv20+ ESF Abjuration caster using Disjunction has +26, so they need a 15+ on their roll to dispel each one." Calassus

• Shades counts as Illusion spells for purposes of spell focuses.

• Shadow Conjuration counts as Illusion spells for purposes of spell focuses.

• Shield: protects against Isaac's Lesser Missile Storm if you have a spell focus in Abjuration, and against both missile storms if you have greater or epic spell focus in Abjuration.

• Time Stop: Only affects one area and has a cool-down timer as well of approximately three minutes

• True Seeing: Last rounds instead of turns.

Known bugs

These bugs are more due to Neverwinter Nights itself, and less Arelith-specific.

• Charm and Mass charm makes the target hostile to you

• Aid fades away when the extra Hit Points are beaten out of you.

• Battletide will fade or disappear sometimes when you transition. Also sometimes it will not go away even after it's duration is up and you have rested.

• Magic Circle vs Alignment, duration is still not working even if you stand still.

• Invisibility sphere, Magic Circle vs Alignment, Dirge etc (spells working in circle around caster and following him): may not follow the caster due to lag. It dispells itself when caster leaves its area.

"It's all because of lag. The area of effect is centred on the caster, and if the caster moves out of that area, the spell stops. In lag-free situations this isn't a problem because the area of effect updates quickly, so the caster never gets out of it before it re-centres on the caster. There are some ways to potentially fix this... but it's not really a priority." Fire Boar

• Balagarn's Iron Horn is from Enchantment School. It can not be scribed or use by those with forbidden Enchantment School.

• Vine Mine introduces a speed bug.

Magical item creation feats

Scribing (Scribe Scroll)

Other spells can be scribed with the right components. These are certain items that must be in the Scriber's inventory prior to the scribing attempt. They, along with the Blank Scroll will disappear and be replaced with the relevant scroll. Discovering these in character is encouraged, and so components will not be listed.

Spells that require a component to be Scribed:

• Firestorm
• Greater Restoration
• Harm
• Storm of Vengeance
• Time Stop
• True Seeing
• Undeath to Death (and only Scribeable by Clerics with the feat)

Spells that can not be Scribed

(due to bug, confirmed by Mithreas)

Balagarn's Iron Horn for those with forbidden Enchantment School. You can not scribe it or use it.

In addition (due to NWN itself):

Domain Spells can't be scribed.

Undeath to Death can't be scribed by Arcanists, Clerics with the Feat can.

Remove Blindness/Deafness is the same.

And on top of that: Certain Cleric Domain Spells, like Stoneskin (Earth Domain) or Improved Invisibility (Trickery Domain) are not scribeable by clerics. It has something to do with those spells not normally being available to Clerics. This however may be corrected in the future. Note that Domains that let you cast certain spells one (or more) levels sooner are NOT affected by this bug.

Changes to Wandable Spells (Craft Wand Feat)

On Arelith, all spells (Wiz/Sorc, Ranger, Druid and Cleric spells) from level 0 up until level 4 are "wandable", even spells that are normally not wandable in the default Neverwinter Nights, like True Strike, Expeditious Retreat, Camouflage, Entropic Shield and so on. There is only one exception, namely the Cleric spell Divine Power, and this exception is intentional.

As with scrolls, certain Cleric Domain Spells, like Improved Invisibility (Trickery Domain) are not wandable by clerics. It has something to do with those spells not normally being available to Clerics. This however may be corrected in the future. Note that Domains that let you cast certain spells one (or more) levels sooner are NOT affected by this bug.

Changes to Potionable Spells (Brew Potion Feat)

On Arelith, all spells (Wiz/Sorc, Ranger, Druid and Cleric spells) from level 0 up until level 3 are "potionable", even spells that are normally not potionable in the default Neverwinter Nights, like True Strike, Expeditious Retreat, Camouflage, Entropic Shield and so on.

As with scrolls and wands, certain Cleric Domain Spells, like Cat's Grace (Animal and War Domain) are not potionable by clerics. It has something to do with those spells not normally being available to Clerics. This however may be corrected in the future. Note that Domains that let you cast certain spells one (or more) levels sooner are NOT affected by this bug.

Brewed potions on Arelith use a standard magic potion object, so that brewed potions can be used by shapechanged characters (like ordinary potions).

External links for Item Creation Feats

The following descriptions are not Arelith-specific and could be slightly different on Arelith (especially the listed prices and charges):

Standard NWN Scribe scroll feat

Standard NWN Brew potion feat

Standard NWN Craft wand feat