Spells for low-level parties to fight mages?

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It has been a while since I played Shadows of Amm, and to test my longrange spell mod, I started a new sorcerer. I was freshly out of Iranicus's dungeon, and had only had time to recruit Viconia and Aerie before encountering the quest where Jaheria had been poisoned by Ployer. I don't remember his mages being particularly tough, but I've been getting creamed. Yes, I know I could have bribed them, but I'm too cheap, and they kinda rubbed me the wrong way with how they were willing to sell him out.

Anyways, what spells should I have picked for my sorcerer, as well as what should my clerics and Jaheria have memorized before starting this fight? My sorcerer hasn't gotten 5th level spells yet (though he is 1 level away), and neither can Jaheria nor Aerie cast them.

Try to give the minimum for taking down mages.Currently, I hve
Chromatic Orb
Magic Missile
charm person
blindness
spook

acid arrow
mirror image
web
glitterdust

remove magic
skull trap
slow

stoneskin
malison

and I was going to take Breach next level.

I remember using other spells to take down mages, but they were all higher level. How do I do I save Jaheria with a low-level party? Please include spells to use with the other NPCs as well. At the moment, which I plan to change soon, I have Sorcerer, Aerie, Yoshimo, Minsc (and Boo), Jaheria, and Viconia. I do eventually plan to ditch Jaheria and Minsc for Valgar and Keldorn, but I don't want Jaheria dead!

There are LOTs of guides that give advice for spell picks and strategies for Throne of Bhaal, but not so many for getting you through Shadows of Amm. The thing that galls me is that I don't remember having this much trouble last year.

 

I've never actually fought these mages (always bribed them), so the advice below is based on a wider experience of mage-fighting, rather than these particular ones.

Mages have a good save vs spells, so Chromatic Orb is likely to struggle to do anything against them. Charm, Blindness and Spook could provide you with a brief advantage, but all require a failed saving throw. Magic Missile may be your best bet as it can cut through Mirror Images quickly and ignores Stoneskins.

Mirror Image is good to have up early, but later on you'll be wanting to throw offensive magic out rather than defensive, if possible. Web is likely going to work against you in this small space. So really, Acid Arrow to disrupt their spells when you can and Glitterdust is you find they often use Invisibility.

Probably going to be too small a space to use Skull Trap without hitting your own party. Slow would make it easier to hit them, but isn't going to do much to stop their spells. Remove magic is, while useful, very much dependant on your Sorcerer being high enough level. If they are pulling out bigger spells than you, don't bother.

Stoneskin? Should have been cast before the fight anyway. Greater Malison is a lovely spell when combined with other disabling spells. Unfortunately, you don't seem to have many other than the first level stuff. I would strongly advise you to consider picking up a scroll of Emotion: Hopelessness to follow GM.

Strategy for Minsc and Yoshi is pretty straight-forward. If you can't Haste them, check to see if you have an Oil of Speed or two. Incidentally, you should have enough time to swap Minsc for Keldorn, should you wish. Keldorn is one of the most useful people to have around when fighting mages.

Clerical spells are likely going to be protective against mages- Remove Fear should be cast right at the start. Hold person is a good one to fill out level 2 slots with (remember to cast GM first). Jaheria could also Summon Insects, which would disrupt spell casting.

Does any of that help you? If there is something special the mages are doing, mention that and we should be able to work out a way around.

Longrange spell mod?

 

I found the problem - I was set to "insane" difficulity. That is why it was so much harder than I remembered. I thought Ilyich was more challanging than I remembered, but just wrote it off. Every other fight was easy up until now, but that's not saying much. This is the first decent fight I've been in.

As for what the mages were doing, it was simply that I could not get rid of their spell protections. Remove magic wasn't appearing to do a thing. Thus, since I couldn't penetrate their spell protections, hold person and insect swarm were ineffective. As was Magic Missile.

I was looking for suggestions on what spells I should have taken, with the idea of using Shadowkeeper to change them. P&P lets me swap out spells on level up, so I don't feel it that much of a cheat. I forgot what the best order was for spells to take, only remembering what spells I used the most. I don't recall ever playing all the way through with a sorcerer before, only with a bard and a C/F/M, both imported from BG1 (as far as arcane casters go). Now I realize that it was probably the difficulty level of the game, not my bad memories forgetting to pick a vital spell.

 

Protecting people from charm/confusion tends to be a good first step. But that's a cleric thing, mostly.

 

That explains it. I wouldn't have exected Remove Magic to have any effect- the greater the gap in level between you and the caster, the harder it is for the spell to work.

 

How do I do that without Chaotic Commands? My divine spellcasters were unable to cast 5th level spells at that point. I buffed with bless, protection from evil, chant, and haste but it wasn't enough. I also had a couple barkskins and armor of faiths along with the requsite stoneskins and mirror images. Even tried using my shield scroll.
Well, it was barely enough combined with a dozen Power Word:RELOADs. Even then, several party members had to be raised.
The only one I could protect from it was Minsc, by having him down a potion of regneration, then charge in and go bezerk on the mages while everybody else backed away from the madman.

The one thing that helped a lot besides that was having Jaheria work her charms on Ployer.

 

Aeger's Hide
Shield of Harmony
Lilarcor
Greenstone Amulet
Equalizer

All protect against confusion. Many more protect against charm.

 

Greenstone Amulet isn't that from BG1?

And there's a helmet in the Harpers HQ.

 

You can pick up a Greenstone Amulet from a Drow merchant in the Underdark.

 

That helmet protects agaist charm but not confusion -- there are a lot of items that protect from charm (I am too lazy to list them all).

 

Secret Word is the 4th level spell proteciton remover. It'll take care of most of their protections from spells. That should help out a ton. I always make sure one of my casters gets it early on as it's the first thing that can take care of minor spell turning and minor globe.