The essential Cleric/Mage spells.

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I've only recently began replaying the D&D Infinity Engine games. When I used to play I was always a tad ignorant about the spells. However, I'm trying to remedy that. I would really appreciate some help from you veterans.

I've noticed that some spells are essential or must have in order to progress smoothly. These are the ones that help you deal with other mages, clerics, vampires, Mind Flayers, dragons and the like, not the ones for everyday casting. I've made a list and would appreciate any additions to ESSENTIAL spells that you would recommend. Please tell me why you would add them as well.

Mage Spells:
1. Breach
2. Remove Magic
3. Pierce Magic
4. Dispel Magic
5. Remove Fear
6. Spell Immunity Abjuration
7. Lower Resistance. Added as it's very effective vs dragons.
8. Haste(at least up until ToB where you start getting multiple boots of speed)

Cleric Spells:
Remove Fear
Dispel Magic
Protection from Undead scrolls
True Seeing
Sunray
Death Ward
Chaotic Commands
Negative Plane Protection
Protection from Fire
Free Action

Added by Eyebreaker
1) stoneskin is just an uber protection spell that no mage should do without.
2) haste will make your party faster both in movement and attacks per round.
3) cloudkill can be used to smack down on a group while hanging to the side out of view. Usually you'll need a couple on the harder bunches but it's worth it.
4) dispel magic because it can save you when you need to dispel a charm person on one of your guys. Very handy.
5) Mirror image because it is going to save you on a number of hits that would have hit you if you didn't have that spell going

Now, I've got to ask, why isn't Protection from Undead a spell you can gain instead of relying on scrolls? Perhaps someone could build an undead mod where you can earn the spell? idk, just woolgathering.

Where I have major trouble is the AOE or Area of effect spells. I tend to not use them at all as it ALWAYS seem to do more damage to my party than any enemy.

Other questions:
1) Which do you feel are the best summon spells? and
2) Why isn't Summoner a specialized mage slot?
3) Which are the essential Druid spells?(Need help badly)
4) Which spells would you immediately erase as useless?
5) Other than Edwin, how would you rate the rest of those with mage spells?
6) Are there any mods that are spell related but are NOT overpowered?

AOE spells that do not affect your party:
Cleric
1. Holy Smite
2. Cloak of Fear
3. Repulse Undead(unless, of course, one of your party is undead)
4. False Dawn(unless..same as above)
5. Storm of Vengeance
6. Call lightning(druid)
7. Nature's Beauty(Druid)

Mage:
1. Horror
2. Glitterdust
3. Hold Undead(if one of your party is undead. it works on them)
4. Greater Malison
5. Chain Lightning
6. Sphere of Chaos
7. Control Undead
8. Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting
9. Wail of the Banshee
10. Comet

Added by paracelsi:
(Arcane)

• Haste - faster movement speed and +1 attack per round for everyone . This spell is a game-changer until you get HLAs
• Polymorph Self - dozens of practical and tactical uses. There's the sword spider (5 attacks per round, poison attacks, web spell immunity), the gnoll (uses a +3 weapon so it can hit magical creatures, weapon does fire damage which makes it excellent for finishing off trolls, weapon has reach) and the mustard jelly (100% magic resistance)
• Magic Missile - comes out fast, disrupts casters, can deal massive damage when multiple mid-high level mages cast it
• Invisibility - last 24 hours, perfect for scouting out areas so you don't have to worry about traps and suddenly meeting a group of Umber Hulks which can use Confuse Gaze on one of your guys
• Melf's Minute Meteors - free ranged +5 weapons which you can throw at 5 attacks per round. Single class arcane casters bards, mages and sorcerers) should not miss this spell
• Animate Dead - the skeleton warriors have magic resistance, various immunities to enchantments and can hit some magical creatures. Arcane summon of choice until you get Mordenkainen's Sword
• Spell Immunity - also has a lot of tactical uses. Grants immunity to a specific spell school, so if you know that a certain enemy spellcaster likes using Evocations (like Fireballs) or Conjuration (the symbol spells) then you can safely ignore those with this spell. Becomes even more useful with mods because enemy wizards use more dangerous spells
• The Contingency and Spell Trigger lines - more spells in one cast
• Improved Invisibility/Mislead - bards love these because the conjured image can sing. Thief/Mages love these because it allows them to spam backstabs
• Protection from Magical Weapons - especially useful if you use mods (enemies suddenly realize that's in their best interest to rush your mage, activating various dangerous HLAs while they're at it)
• Mordenkainen's Sword - basically a floating +4 weapon. Immune to most status effects, can only be removed by death magic and magic damage spells (like Magic Missile)
• Project Image - basically clones your wizard. Disables your wizard for the time being, but no biggie
• Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting - party friendly AoE massive magic damage spell
• Simulacrum - lesser version of Project Image, except it doesn't disable your wizard. Works better for non-single class mages and bards because the clone gets to keep all its special abilities (like HLAs)
• Time Stop and Improved Alacrity
• Wish - Lots of really powerful effects with some luck and a good wisdom score

(Divine)

• Healing spells, mix and match
• Armor of Faith - significant resistance bonus to everything at higher levels
• Detect Evil - for newer players. It actually works on the entire map, for some reason, giving you some idea of what to expect (liches, vampires, etc)
• Doom - ignores MR/saves
• Sanctuary - panic button
• Draw Upon Holy Might - significant bonuses to stats at higher levels. Makes it so that any character with access to the spell does not need Crom Faeyr to reach 25 strength. Also helps low strength NPCs equip gear with higher strength requirements
• Animate Dead
• Holy Smite - party friendly AoE damage spell that can cause blindness. Works on a lot enemies in BG2
• Call Woodland Beings (druid) - at the level you get it, basically allows a druid to cast spells not even a single class wizard will have access to yet. Excellent against humanoid opponents. Also makes druids the game's best healers until you get spells like Heal
• The Restoration and raise dead/resurrection line of spells
• Insect Plague (druid) - can shut down enemy casters
• Conjure Fire Elementals (druid) - good summons that can hit almost every creature in the game
• Aerial Servant - one of the few summons that deal crushing damage. Viconia comes with this if you get her at higher levels
• Harm and Heal
• Nature's Beauty (druid)- game over for anything not immune to blindness

 

I would use the cleric spell slots for dispel magic and remove fear so you can fill your mage spells with offensive spells.
I would def take up some cleric spots for hold person and maybe even hold undead. Also I'd def take emotion: hopelessness. Great spell like the hold spells. Great for crowd control.
There are a couple of def spells you need to take as a mage;

1) stoneskin is just an uber protection spell that no mage should do without.
2) haste will make your party faster both in movement and attacks per round.
3) cloudkill can be used to smack down on a group while hanging to the side out of view. Usually you'll need a couple on the harder bunches but it's worth it.
4) dispel magic because it can save you when you need to dispel a charm person on one of your guys. Very handy.
5) Mirror image because it is going to save you on a number of hits that would have hit you if you didn't have that spell going

I know what you mean about the AOE damaging spells like fireball and skull trap. I never use them myself for just that reason. My guys tend to get nuked with them. They just run in ahead of the spell. Looks like a race if you watch it

As for the summoner, the specialty mage is called a conjurer in this game for some reason.


#4 = If you do erase any spells make sure you pick up and memorize any you find. Great XP there, if you put them in your book that is.

#5 = I almost always end up taking Jan along. I love the little guy. He is the best mage/thief in the game IMO. He progresses in thief where the other thieves don't. Except for Hexxat (if you have the EE). I don't use Hexxat personally. Don't like the whole "were this mega ability draining cloak so you can go out in the day light.". I use her for her quest and then ditch her. But that's just me. Plenty of people love that chic so try her out for yourself if you haven't already. She DOES have a couple cool abilities too. I just hate the cloak. And NO I'm not just going out in the dark. I HATE night time in games. I'm probably the only one that loves Jan's crossbow. He can get stunning ammo. It's slow to make so I cheat in some more with EEKeeper. He can only make 5 per day!? Lame. Lol. He also looks pretty snazzy in the Robe of Vecna

Oh. Almost forgot, welcome to the game. It's my personal favorite game. Especially with the new Enhanced Edition.

 

Note that essential is relative. Some spells are just about essential when you first get them, but become less useful as the game progresses.
Spells I consider essential include:

(Arcane)

• Haste - faster movement speed and +1 attack per round for everyone . This spell is a game-changer until you get HLAs
• Polymorph Self - dozens of practical and tactical uses. There's the sword spider (5 attacks per round, poison attacks, web spell immunity), the gnoll (uses a +3 weapon so it can hit magical creatures, weapon does fire damage which makes it excellent for finishing off trolls, weapon has reach) and the mustard jelly (100% magic resistance)
• Magic Missile - comes out fast, disrupts casters, can deal massive damage when multiple mid-high level mages cast it
• Invisibility - last 24 hours, perfect for scouting out areas so you don't have to worry about traps and suddenly meeting a group of Umber Hulks which can use Confuse Gaze on one of your guys
• Web - lots of tactical uses, forces enemies caught in it to make a save every round or be disabled. Also works as a divide-and-conquer spell
• Melf's Minute Meteors - free ranged +5 weapons which you can throw at 5 attacks per round. Single class arcane casters bards, mages and sorcerers) should not miss this spell
• Animate Dead - the skeleton warriors have magic resistance, various immunities to enchantments and can hit some magical creatures. Arcane summon of choice until you get Mordenkainen's Sword
• Spell Immunity - also has a lot of tactical uses. Grants immunity to a specific spell school, so if you know that a certain enemy spellcaster likes using Evocations (like Fireballs) or Conjuration (the symbol spells) then you can safely ignore those with this spell. Becomes even more useful with mods because enemy wizards use more dangerous spells
• The Contingency and Spell Trigger lines - more spells in one cast
• Improved Invisibility/Mislead - bards love these because the conjured image can sing. Thief/Mages love these because it allows them to spam backstabs
• Protection from Magical Weapons - especially useful if you use mods (enemies suddenly realize that's in their best interest to rush your mage, activating various dangerous HLAs while they're at it)
• Mordenkainen's Sword - basically a floating +4 weapon. Immune to most status effects, can only be removed by death magic and magic damage spells (like Magic Missile)
• Project Image - basically clones your wizard. Disables your wizard for the time being, but no biggie
• Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting - party friendly AoE massive magic damage spell
• Simulacrum - lesser version of Project Image, except it doesn't disable your wizard. Works better for non-single class mages and bards because the clone gets to keep all its special abilities (like HLAs)
• Time Stop and Improved Alacrity
• Wish - Lots of really powerful effects with some luck and a good wisdom score

(Divine)

• Healing spells, mix and match
• Armor of Faith - significant resistance bonus to everything at higher levels
• Detect Evil - for newer players. It actually works on the entire map, for some reason, giving you some idea of what to expect (liches, vampires, etc)
• Entangle (druid) - poor man's Web, can't be picky at the level you get it
• Doom - ignores MR/saves
• Sanctuary - panic button
• Draw Upon Holy Might - significant bonuses to stats at higher levels. Makes it so that any character with access to the spell does not need Crom Faeyr to reach 25 strength. Also helps low strength NPCs equip gear with higher strength requirements
• Animate Dead
• Holy Smite - party friendly AoE damage spell that can cause blindness. Works on a lot enemies in BG2
• Call Woodland Beings (druid) - at the level you get it, basically allows a druid to cast spells not even a single class wizard will have access to yet. Excellent against humanoid opponents. Also makes druids the game's best healers until you get spells like Heal
• The Restoration and raise dead/resurrection line of spells
• Insect Plague (druid) - can shut down enemy casters
• Conjure Fire Elementals (druid) - good summons that can hit almost every creature in the game
• Aerial Servant - one of the few summons that deal crushing damage. Viconia comes with this if you get her at higher levels
• Harm and Heal
• Nature's Beauty (druid)- game over for anything not immune to blindness

 

I appreciate the feedback and will update first post with the new information.

I had forgotten, when I made the essential list, to include haste due to no longer needing it. 4 "paws of the cheetah" and other speed increasers have made it obsolete in this playthrough. My bad.

Insect Plague isn't essential, but is highly effective.

I just can't use the AOE spells with any kind of confidence. It's for that reason I don't summon Djinn/Efreeti as they tend to nuke my party while barely touching the enemy.

Heal is the best single healing spell there is as far as I know, but isn't essential. I'll add it as "spells that are effective."

Spell immunity tends to get used against "abjuration" mostly.

I play a large assortment of RPG's and TBS(turn based strategy) including the King's BOunty series and Magic Duels. Just throwing that out there if anyone needs help with those.

I've also party members I put in unofficial roles:
1. I tend to put the character with the best lore among those I'm using(atm, it's Imoen) as unofficial treasure hoarder. I put a bag of plenty with her, scroll case, ammunition case, potion case, glasses of the Unseeing, and a jewel bag in her inventory. All things get passed to her or I use her alone to pick things up. I also, after I had a few, put the least strength girdle on her so she can carry it all.

2. In the middle of the pack, usually a cleric, in this playthrough Anomen, I put Hexxat's bag since this is my first time playing EE. He's the unofficial "Junk handler" and all things quest wise, but not equipment, goes into his inventory and eventually into his bag. letters, various sundry items, etc. go into this .

3. My chief fighter...mule...I give the other bag of plenty and he gets the better treasure to save for Cespenar to upgrade.

I also have a problem with some of the scripts. There should be more imo.

1. Defensive Mage/Cleric..basically for Aerie. Load her up with the defensive spells of both and have her cast both.
2. Thief Controlled/Enemy response. With this they STILL always look for traps, maybe even auto disarm them. When an enemy appears, they respond with ranged weapons and/or offensive spells with going melee when creatures close with them
3. Mage Summoner- When enemy appears always starts summoning cannon fodd...I mean creatures, starting with the most powerful known on down.
4. Fighter Defender of the weak- With this, it's like standard attack except when enemy sneak through the lines going after the spellcasters. The fighter breaks off melee and goes back to protect the weak.
5. Ranged then melee- Upon seeing an enemy they immediately start ranging them. When the enemy closes, they revert to melee without the stigma of backing up like they do if ranged only. I've noticed this with Mazzy as when the enemy closes, she backs up to see if she can range some more when she should switch to a melee. Hell, she has 5 in Shortsword in my playthrough as well as the 5 in shortbow.

 

Insect Plague is just one of those spells that define the druid as a spellcaster in BG2. It's essential in the sense that if you don't use these spells, then the druid's presence in your party may not be justified. Why not just bring a cleric, or a mage instead?

Heal/Harm are just unique. Perhaps not truly essential, but it just makes no sense not to use them considering how powerful these are when you get them. Viconia, for example, starts with these spells if your PC is level 11+ when you get her. Assuming your PC is a single class character, you probably only need to do a few quests to get to level 11 after escaping Irenicus' Dungeon.

I use Spell Immunity: Divination and Conjuration a lot, myself. The former protects your clones/illusions like Mirror Image from spells like True Sight, and the latter protects you from the Power Word/Symbol line of spells (these spells usually require high saves or ignore saves completely).

Just use party-friendly AoE spells. There are a few others like Chain Lightning (Abi-Dalzim's and Holy Smite have already been mentioned). Many transmutation/enchantments/conjuration spells also ignore party mates.

 

wait a sec...Chain Lightning and that Horrid Wilting don't affect party members? I already knew Holy Smite didn't but....Well, I appreciate that bit of knowledge to no end.

Forgive me and my ignorance as I've always been "mage poor" in my gaming skills and am making a concentrated effort to get better. I'm still limited as I have to see things from a strategic/tactical standpoint(sorry I was born this way) but I do try.

I Will make a list of AOE spells that don't affect your fellow party members later. That's a handy guide to have.

King's Bounty series has gotten me a lot more aware of Magic skills. I'm still hesitant to use AOE spells as my strategy differs from most in it. I make the front lines their front lines and play passive defense. My ranged units are thus protected and free to wreak havoc. I also beef up those lines with summoned creatures, which don't count towards unit loss and are expendable. Having the ranged units/clerics free I can resurrect those that ARE my units and thus achieve no loss victories in the entire game. however, I tend to use Distortion spells in it with a smattering of healing and not so much the damage spells.

*btw, those games are often on sale for peanuts and are very entertaining..hint, hint.

King's Bounty series:
1. First one came out around 1992 for PC and Sega Genesis. Fun, but a bit dated.
2. Second one came out and was a direct copy of the first, but enhanced for PS2 and called "Heroes of Might and Magic: Quest for the Bone Dragon Staff
3. a Russian company took over and made, around 2007, King's Bounty: The Legend
4. They then made what is considered to be the best one by most: King's Bounty: Armored Princess. They made expansions and if you're going to buy, buy King's Bounty: Crossworlds instead as it also has the complete Armored Princess but has all the rest too
5. next was King's Bounty: Warriors of the North centered around Vikings.
6. Finally, we have King's Bounty: Dark Side where you play "the villain".

Those that "get in" tend to play them to death up to making their own level: The Impossible no loss. One reason being the items/spells/units etc. are in different locations in each playthrough. For example, my last playthrough of Dark Side didn't have Heresiarchs available anywhere in it where every other playthrough did. ..They're a dark cleric class.

 

I updated the first post and will add Peracelsi's input later, once I condense it down. If I missed any AOE that doesn't hit your party, please tell me so I can add to the list.

put Peracelsi's in verbatim except removed Web and Entangle. Every time I've used them, I watch as over half my party get immobilized and pounded on while maybe 1 enemy gets caught.

In early battles, Horror actually paid off great as an AOE that doesn't harm you, especially against large parties.

 

I actually used web a lot. Usually I sent it far enough ahead of my party that I didn't have to worry about anyone getting caught other than a tank who could take a few hits before being free enough to hit back. Plus I think a ring of free action or possible another magic item made a party member immune to web attacks. So I could send just a party member or 2 wacking their way through a bunch of trapped monsters.

 

Well, there are several ways I think you can get the AOE spells to not harm you or affect you as much.

Protection from Electricity would make throwing some lightning around no problem I'm guessing, plus there are a few electrical resistance items.

Protection from Fire would do the same for Fireballs and maybe Meteor Storm.

Does anyone know of others of this ilk?

 

Well, you can try and stack as much magic resistance as you can - and generally just watch out where you throw your AoE's.
As far as lightning spells go, just pop a potion of absorption for 100% electrical damage immunity - only really useful if you throw lightning bolts around a lot which can bounce around quite erratically.
Other then that, i really don't bother with any elemental protection spells - protection from fire being the only exception for when i want to throw fireballs around.

Cold damage is pretty rare, Acid even more so (the only place i might use protection from acid is vs Abizigal in ToB) Protection from the elements gives protection for all types, but it doesn't give 100% which is lame, and just not worth a lvl 7 spell - same thing with protection from energy, it doesn't grant 100% resistance so its total ass for a lvl 8 spell.
Protection vs normal weapons is only useful if you already know in advance you are not going to run into enemies wielding magic weapons - you're better off using protection vs magical weapons especially during the later parts of bg2, and Shield is better then protection from normal missiles. there's a lot of better spells around to spend my spell slots on then protection from XX to be honest.

Protection from evil is another exception - doesn't really protect you from a specific type of damage but since most enemies in the game are classed as evil, so the majority of them will get the -2 penalty to hit, while you get a +2 to saving throws from their attacks. Just grab the '10 ft radius version unless you are playing solo.
As far as debilitating spells go like web, anticipate when you are going to use it and get freedom of movement either by casting it on yourself, using a potion, or wearing a ring of freedom.

Keep in mind that some spells work well together, like web and spider spawn (the spiders wont get stuck in the web, you dont even need to cast freedom of movement on them) as well as animate dead + cloudkill (undead are immune to cloudkill) also, if you are going to use area of effect disabling spells like cloudkill, death fog, etc - be sure to carry a few castings of Zone of Sweet Air so you don't have to wait out your own spells after each battle before progressing.

The bg2 spell reference is probably your best bet for detailed and in-depth spell information : http://www.sorcerers.net/Games/BG2/SpellsReference/Main.htm

 

Was just going to link the spell reference as well, beat me to it. Note that some of the G3 fixpack things fix some of the bugs, and possibly the EE editions fix some more of the cheese / bugs.

Let's see if I have some time to post some thoughts about spells.

Arcane:
Buffs:

1. Stoneskin: bread and butter protection.
2. Haste: increase damage output for everything but magic.
3. Resist Fear: good, but leave to your cleric if you have one.
4. Mirror Image: escape some damage, never bad.
5. Mislead: continuous, unbroken improved invisibility. Well, as long as nobody dispels it. Infinite backstabs for thief/mage multi/dual-classes.
6. Protection from Magical Weapons: immunity from most enemies (unless they have plain weapons).

Debuffs:

1. Greater malison: good to boost damage output (less chance of saving for half damage for fireball or Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Whilting (ADHW), for instance).
2. Lower resistance: good to lower enemy magic resistances. Use higher level versions like pierce magic or pierce shield for enemies that are immune to spells below a certain level (liches, mostly).
   
3. Breach: bread and butter for removing stoneskins and fire shields.
   
4. Dispell/remove magic: good for quickly getting rid of mislead images or removing charm or confusion from a teammate.
5. True Sight: instant dispell of all illusions and invisibility. This is a great spell.

Summon:

1. Spider spawn: starts out not too bad, but gets really good once you get to sword spiders (I forget the exact level, think you get sword spiders at something like level 12)
2. Animate dead: starts out fairly meh, though the summons do last 8 hours. Once you hit lvl 15, you get skeleton warriors, which are great summons, especially when hasted. Leave it to your cleric if you have one, though, they get them at a lower level (3 instead of a mage's 5) and I believe they too get the upgraded skeleton warriors sooner.
   
3. Mordekainen's Sword: pretty great, though competing with some other good spells at this level.
4. Project Image: at the same level as mordekainen's sword, it disables your caster for a while, but gives you the opportunity to empty you spellbook for free. Also bypasses five summon limit if PI summons. The base for some of the best cheese.
5. Summon Planetar: HLA spell, can cast heal, has vorpal weapon, can see (and attack) invisible enemies, and is hasted. Normal summon limit is one, but with PI you can cast as many as you have memorised.

Damage:

1. Magic missile: good early on, later on stil good to either disrupt spell casting or to get rid of some mirror images if you don't feel like using a dispel for that.
2. Chromatic orb: gets better effects as you level up, up to and including instant death.
3. Fireball: nice AoE, though damage is limited as you level up.
   
4. Flame arrow: only single target, but damage increases more as you level up than fireball.
5. Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting: the ultimate party-friendly AoE spell.

Well, that's not complete, but lists most of the spelsl that I use the most. At level 9 there are some great spells as well, most importantly Time Stop, Improved Alacrity and Shape change. Get the robe of vecna and amulet of power to reduce your casting time, then, depending on what you want, and who you are facing, you can cast time stop, then improved alacrity, then unload your entire spellbook. Or have your projected image do it for you (use farsight to let you use your projected image beyond your normal sight range).

Or cast improved alacrity and summon everything that you can, then haste it and send it on its way. Or, again, let your PI do it for you.

Or cast shape change, then cast time stop, then change into a mind flayer and attack an opponent. Even if he/she/it is normally protected by a script, you can still instantly kill it this way. Like if you don't feel like going to the fire mountains and just would like to kill Yaga Shura straight away.

I'll see what thoughts I can muster on divine spells later.

 

Yeah, wherever the spell reference mentions a bug with an ability would get fixed with a patch from baldurdash you can pretty much assume it's already included in the g3 pack/enhanced edition bug patches.

One note on your damaging spells : i'd rate skull trap up there, it is even better then fireball in bg2 - 1d6 damage per caster level in a 30' radius, that just doesn't stop scaling - and you can set it as a trap much in the same way as a delayed fireball spell.
It has 20' more range, so you can cast it from farther away, and damage wise it outclasses both - fireball caps at 10d6 at caster level 10, 15d6 damage for delayed blast fireball.
So starting from caster lvl 10/15 the skull trap will always have as high or a higher damage potential then fireball /delayed blast fireball respectively, making it the better choice in my book.

 

Yeah, the list wasn't complete by any measure. Skull trap is pretty good, but it has both smaller range and radius as fireball, so it's not strictly better. Damage scales better for skull trap, so on higher levels it will normally do better than fireball anyway.

 

Thanks for the input. I'm still examining the spells carefully and still do not like using those that can damage the party. That's just me, a personal preference.

I do like using Planetar and Deva, but you can only choose one at a time. You can't have a Planetar and Deva at same time either. Doesn't matter, I still use them as much as possible.

Just finished the first playthrough after over a decade and having trouble deciding on what to play next. I prefer single class and want either a Cleric, Mage or Thief.

 

Planetars are better then deva's. They have a much larger spell selection, as well as vorpal attacks. it is also immune to weapons of +3 or less (devas are only immune to +2 or less.)
Also, whenever a planetar is gated in it is hasted, has regeneration and can see invisible enemies.

Also, i'm unsure if these methods are fixed in the enhanced edition, but you can cheese your way to having more then 1 planetar.

method 1 is casting project image - they get all your spells including hla's and have no summon limit.
If you cast Chain Contingency, fill it with three Project Images and set it to fire "When Helpless." then cast a Project Image, which causes your caster to be come immobilized (as per the Project Image spell), which fires the contingency, giving you three more Projected Images. Now you have four copies of yourself, with all your spells. And each Projected Image ignores the limit on summoned creature, so each one can cast up to six Planetars, for a total of 24 Planetars if you do so on all 4 PI's.

method 2 is to use simulacrum - cast 1 simulacrum first (either spell or vhailor's helmet ability if running a fighter/mage) then self-cast one Planetar. Use the Planetar to cast Lesser Restoration on your simulacrum - this gets rid of the negative levels a simulacrum normally gets. then have simulacrum cast simulacrum on itself, repeat until you have 4 copies of you, all lesser restored by Planetars, and have each one of them summon Planetars.

Like i said though - i never actually tried this in the enhanced edition, as it makes everything way too easy. (as cheese is wont to do) Even Demogorgon doesn't stand a chance vs 24 Planetars.

 

Planetars are strictly better than deva's, yes.

They fixed the multiple projected images in one of the more recent G3 fixpacks, so I would assumed it is fixed in the EE as well. You'll want some improved alacrity as well, so you can summon them all quickly (and possibly add some Mordy's or skeletons, then haste and resist fear the lot.

Hadn't heard about the simulacrum one, though it sounds a bit more complicated than a simple PI.

I used the multiple PI's once on Mellisan's last battle. That was almost over before I finished summoning the second wave (adding mordy's swords after summoning around twenty planetars). It's also a bit wasteful, as not all of them were able to even hit her because they got in each other's way. It's funny, but a simple, single PI can do the job almost as well. I never needed more than 5 planetars (and some mordy's swords) to take down abizigail, anyway.

 

Sorry for late response.

Thank you. I'll definitely summon planetar rather than Deva.

 

Chances are you are gonna have access to both anyway if you take along an arcane and divine caster in your party (paladins also get access to deva's iirc)
Deva's are still worth using - instead of the vorpal hits of the planetar they get disruption attacks which will destroy undead (similar to the mace of disruption.)

 

Yeah...I find myself fighting undead as the best fights in this and other games. Any good suggestions on RPG's or TBS's that are ripe with these encounters that you'd recommend?

Yes, it's worth having Deva around as an extra.

 

Well, undead are a pretty big fantasy rpg staple to be honest.. you could go for planescape torment/icewind dale once you finish BG2, both are also infiniity engine games and feature undead as enemies.
There's also the more recently released sword coast legends.