Remove magic vs. Dispel magic

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Hey guys, I've been going through spell descritpions to learn a bit more about them as I level my party through BG1.

I'm a bit confused about the difference (if there's any) between remove magic and dispell magic.
They seem to do the same, with the difference that dispell can actually remove buffs I will have on my characters.

Is it worth using dispel at all? The only cases where I think it would be useful is if my melee characters all get hold person on them, or rigid thinking, so I can dispel it (although I would dispell buffs too). Is that the best way to deal with removing bad spells on my party members?

Any help on this will be appreciated

Thx

 

Ideally, assuming the caster is a mage, sorcerer or (best case scenario) bard Remove Magic is always a better alternative to Dispel Magic. You should only use Dispel Magic if you want something very specific removed, like Tenser's Transformation (a buff).

Despite this Dispel Magic is more often used than Remove Magic because:
-You probably don't have a bard in your party.
-It's the signature skill of Inquisitors, who cast Dispel Magic at double their character level.
-All caster classes get Dispel Magic, but only arcane casters can cast Remove Magic.
-Your mage will generally be fighting higher level casters, so he may choose to skip these two spells altogether in favor of protections/immunities and spells like Breach.

 

I keep Remove memorized for my Mage-types, Dispel for my Cleric/Druid types. Sometimes you will want one, other times the other, so I found it best to have both!

 

It really depends on your play style and your party setup.

If you have a party of six, comprising three fighters, a thief, a cleric for healing and a mage you might want to take Dispel Magic as you can use it to free the melee characters who are doing all the real combat work without worrying too much about dispelling your own buffs and protections as your mage has a huge meatwall and you'll not have that many buffing spells cast (considering the limit on how many you can cast and how many people there are to buff up).

If you are soloing as a sorcerer then you absolutely want to go with Remove Magic. Here your buffs are incredibly important and you cannot risk dispelling them plus, when you are affected by one of the spells for which Dispel would be useful you cannot cast.

Each spell shines with a more/less magically aligned party. A simple way to think of it is 'How many important buffs am I going to be carrying around?' versus 'How many times are my characters likely to need something dispelled from them (taking into account buffs, pre-knowledge of the game and items)?'. The more buffs you have the bigger the downside of Dispel Magic. The more vulnerable your party to status effects the more you'll miss it.

In a big party try to have someone available for either spell. If you only have one you WILL want the other at some point.

*Hopes at least some of that made sense*

 

Blades answered perfectly IMO. Dispel Magic is essential for getting rid of nasty stuff on your party members, while Remove Magic is better for removing beneficial (for them) buffs on enemies. I don't see how you can say one is "better" or "worse" than the other. You need both IMO. And if you had to chose between one or the other, I'd actually take Dispel Magic.

 

I agree with Aldeth and others on both being important. However, I can point out that when I use Keldorn (I honestly don't think I've ever played an Inquisitor myself since I like to play things that aren't represented by NPCs) I can often manage to use Dispell magic to hit only the enemy and leave my party unscathed. It's difficult and not always possible, but it is viable often enough.

That said, Remove Magic is ten times easier to use. Maybe if we had something to indicate the area of effect a given spell would occupy like Pool of Radiance II did it would be even better.

 

Dispel magic from Keldorn has saved me many a reload so I always value that. Lord knows I hate to be charmed, dominated, or confused.