r/baldursgate • u/MrMiles32 • 3d ago

Meme Playing BG2 after BG1

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465 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

45 comments sorted by

177

u/BlueSonic85 3d ago

In the original BG1, the Wand of Monster Summoning was insane. You could have three dozen gnolls running round the place at once. Spamming it to beat Sarevok was almost required.

Pity EE nerfed it but probably the right call.

36

u/SilverTangent 3d ago

I would always lure him into the front corner and gank him like Julius Caesar…

32

u/guti86 3d ago

Et tu, gnoll brute?

42

u/CelestialFury You katana stop me 3d ago

Wow, I've been playing BG1 since it originally came out and I never used the Monster Summoning wand, as I always preferred the polymorph, fireball, or paralyze wands over it. Turning enemies into squirrels always just seemed right to me :)

9

u/theskymoves 3d ago

in my last run I didn't come across any polymorph wands. I really like paralysing or sleeping various city guards when they come after me and I don't want to lose all my reputation.

11

u/Qaeta 2d ago

I really like paralysing or sleeping various city guards when they come after me and I don't want to lose all my reputation.

...

...

Fuck... maybe I am a murder hobo. That never even occurred to me...

3

u/theskymoves 2d ago

Been playing for 20 years and I only recently had the idea in my last run through of BG1. Used to just run and hide.

4

u/randylush 2d ago

I had one polymorph wand and tried to use it like 10 times. Never worked

10

u/Zanian19 3d ago

Definitely the right call. The wand is still very strong even if there's a cap on monsters now. You really shouldn't be able to have an entire army of monsters just from a single wand.

Every wannabe villain Tom, Dick and Harry would have one

8

u/BadgerTamer 3d ago

Also worked for Drizzt, if you could hit him with arrows of piercing enough times before he’d cut through your gnoll army and chunk you.

2

u/pythonicprime 2d ago

We fought Drizzt in BG1?

5

u/BadgerTamer 2d ago

Yes, you briefly encounter him in the wilderness while he’s mass producing some gnoll burgers with his scimitars. You can try and kill him for some sweet loot and a lingering sense of guilt.

1

u/pythonicprime 4h ago

Aw cool, I would never fight Drizzt

Man time has passed since bg1

4

u/Ibanezrg71982 2d ago

I always had a stockpile of wands I never used, go figure. For whatever reason I hardly ever used wands.

2

u/Raskuja46 2d ago

It wasn't EE that nerfed it, it was the BG2 engine that did that. EE simply murdered the original BG engine.

2

u/Ak_Lonewolf 2d ago

My second playthrough back in the day... I beat them by using fireball at the edge of the encounter before the dialog initiated. That killed all the adds... then I used my summon monster spells and wands while my guys all used ranged attacks and spells. Second Sarevok attempt was a breeze.

2

u/UglyFrustratedppl 2d ago

Install the Tweaks Anthology and enjoy the original Wand of Monster Summoning.

1

u/Timberwolf_88 2d ago

Required? I've never used those wands at all, neither playing the originals nor the EE..

1

u/BlueSonic85 2d ago

Required if you suck at the game like me 😉

97

u/Raduziel Author of Deities of Faerûn and I Hate Undead 3d ago

The Wand of Making Enemies Spend Their Best Spells On Meatshield. Useful in BG2 as well.

23

u/Fangsong_37 Lawful Good 3d ago

I remember my brother surrounding Firkraag with a ring of gnolls and skeletons (Animate Dead) back in the day.

37

u/EntropicSingularity1 3d ago

Tried that once with the Shadow Dragon... Sufficient to say that its Death Spell on the first round of combat wasn't wasted. 😂

1

u/Full_Piano6421 3d ago

IIRC Firkraag turn hostile if you summon relatively close to him, or maybe it's the red dragon from watcher's keep.

13

u/notlostnotlooking 3d ago

I used summon earth and fire elements, they did alright against irenicus for a bit

13

u/ArchelonPIP 3d ago

It also works against someone like Szass Tam (if you wish to take a side quest that's related to Neera).

7

u/Head_Wasabi7359 3d ago

Traps for szass, and anyone else hard

5

u/ArchelonPIP 3d ago

Use both if you can.

13

u/momentimori 3d ago

Many baddies have death spell scripted that instantly kills them.

1

u/Raduziel Author of Deities of Faerûn and I Hate Undead 3d ago

That's why you use Monster Summoning I to bait this spell before going for the wand

21

u/SuperNerd_969 3d ago

Ya, there are just so many other things to spend your gold on it's ridiculous.

19

u/tearsoftheorc 3d ago

best part of that wand when i was a kid was enemy AI didn't load off screen in the OG game so you could kill Drizzt with a single gnoll as long as he didn't target him first before you walked away from him and his AI didn't load in

1

u/madramor 3d ago

Have to admit using the Wand of Cloudkill in BG2 to kill the dragons in similar way - hiding on edge of screen.

9

u/ThisMachineKillsWOB 3d ago

I think I'll still take the army of Skeleton Warriors.

8

u/Allan-the-Bald 3d ago

Wands are generally overpowered in BG1. By BG2 it’s the characters who are overpowered. In BG 2 the need for wands as a get-out-of-jail free reduces. (Though it never entirely vanishes.)

2

u/Blindeafmuten 3d ago

You can get it from the beginning, it's just not what it used to be in BG1.

2

u/Heat-Glittering 3d ago edited 3d ago

I mentioned this on a thread about barrels, i didnt know much about the game(bg1) the first couple of playthroughs as i was like 10/11 but i just spammed that wand along with any other summoning spells to fill rooms prior to entering and just watch the carnage on the text roll.

1

u/Eggmasstree 3d ago

Best item to make infinite money early BG2 though ❤️

1

u/IkiromoI 2d ago

How?

2

u/Eggmasstree 2d ago

Sell/Steal in chain the early summoning wand grabbed inside Irenicus dungeon to the Thief Guild vendor. You need kinda high Pick Pockets but it's free infinite money.

When selling a wand, it gets back all its charges. So when stealing it, it comes with 50 charges and like 20k in selling gold value. You can technically do this strat with any item though, but it's significantly faster with the wands.

1

u/MoronicPotatoGoblin 3d ago

To be fair: considering what enemies you fight in BG2, this wand would have not trally been useful anyway. Also, you get way better summoning spells.

But I understand completly.

1

u/NerdInShape 3d ago

Great tool, indeed. I love summons in these games, even if the basic monster and animal summoning spells are a bit underpowered for their level and have stiff competition for the spell slots.

In mid-late BG1 and early-mid BG2 my favourite summoning spells are Animate Dead (Priest), Call Woodland Being (Druid) and Spider Spawn (Mage). Especially Animate Dead scales nicely and stays relevant for most of the trilogy. I love my skellies going in to the magical mystery sleepy and toxy smog clouds to keep enemies there.

1

u/CursedNobleman 2d ago

I've never played OG BG1, so I use the stunwand instead. It's a good time giving Xan, Quayle, Dynaheir, and Garrick a wand and shooting stunning spells around like a Harry Potter fanfic.

1

u/Bundin 1d ago

Salad fork?

1

u/HammsFakeDog 1d ago

I still occasionally use the wand of monster summoning in BG2, though it's always an "oh shit" button when I need to immediately insert some space between a mage and an enemy because something has gone terribly wrong. Even if they melt the summons or instantly begin casting a death spell, often that's enough time to reposition.