Baldur's Gate: High Level Abilities

General Ability Notes

Many abilities can be taken multiple times. When you take an ability more than once, it allows you to use the ability one more time per day. Single and multiclass characters gain epic abilities any time they level up when their total amount of experience points is 3,000,000 (3 Million) or above, regardless of the level associated with that number. Multiclass characters get to access BOTH of their classes' abilities. So, a Fighter/Thief would get to access both Hardiness and Use Any Item, for example. Multi-classed mages will have to wait until they can cast level 9 spells to be able to select the HLA spells, however. Dual-classed characters only have access to the abilities for their active class, and gain them only when they have 3 million experience points or more in their active class.

Warrior High Level Abilities

These are the epic level abilities for Fighters, Rangers, Paladins, Barbarians and Monks. Exceptions will be noted.

Whirlwind Attack

Effect: Gives you 10 attacks per round. These attacks incur a -4 THAC0 penalty. Lasts 1 round. Prerequisite for Improved Whirlwind Attack. May be taken multiple times.

Comments: A good, solid ability. You'll only take it once, though, since it unlocks an improved version of itself. Keep in mind the Swashbuckler thief kit takes this (but NOT Greater Whirlwind Attack) instead of Assassination. Improved Haste is a much longer-lasting substitute but depending on your party's makeup or if you're playing solo, it may not be available at all.

Greater Whirlwind Attack

Effect: Gives you 10 attacks per round. Attacks are made at full THAC0. Lasts 1 round. May be taken multiple times.

Comments: This is one of the most powerful abilities that warriors can take. Unless you are under Aura Cleansing from Improved Alacrity or the Time Stop+Improved Alacrity Wish, you should NOT attempt to pair this with other abilities that only last one round (Assassination in the case of Fighter/Thieves, for example). You are otherwise restricted to using one ability per round as usual.

Deathblow

Effect: Instantly slays any creature struck that is level 10 or under. Lasts 2 rounds. Prerequisite for Greater Deathblow. May be taken multiple times.

Comments: This ability is a bit underrated. See, most people come to a very logical conclusion: "If I'm around level 20, why would I need an ability to kill creatures half my level in one hit when I have 10 APR?" It's a sound bit of logic, but on the other hand there are a lot of enemies this automatically kills that you want dead as fast as possible. This kills almost every illithid in the game, weaker fiends, Gauths and some Beholders in one hit.

Greater Deathblow

Effect: Instantly slays any creature struck under level 12. Lasts 2 rounds. May be taken multiple times.

Comments: Better than normal Deathblow because there are a lot of enemies that fit inside this ability's level threshold, including Illithid, Umber Hulks, Trolls, Mordenkainen's Sword, many stronger fiends, Yaga-Shura's army, the Tethyrian army, and Sendai's drow & derro dwarf armies. Go ahead and try this on a lot of other tougher monsters not listed above.

Resist Magic

Effect: Sets the user's magic resistance to 50%. If the user's magic resistance is over 50%, the ability is useless. Lasts 4 rounds. May be taken multiple times.

Comments: Almost completely useless. There's a lot of magic resistance equipment to go around and getting up to 50% or higher is not terribly difficult.

Power Attack

Effect: A struck opponent must save vs death at a -4 penalty or be stunned for 2 rounds. Ability stays active for 2 rounds. May be taken multiple times. Prerequisite for Critical Strike. May be taken multiple times.

Comments: This can be a godsend when you're trying to disable a priest or mage, but beyond that it's only passingly useful. You need it to get Critical Strike, but this ability is pretty good too. Even with a good Save vs. Death if you've got 10 APR from Improved Haste an enemy is bound to roll low, and no enemy's saves are low enough to be outright immune to this. Remember that it lasts two rounds, so you can actually combine this with Critical Strike, Assassination, or Whirlwind Attack.

Critical Strike

Effect: All attacks for 1 round are natural 20 critical hits. Prerequisite for Smite. May be taken multiple times.

Comments: Note that because of the way Critical Strike makes your attacks crit, it also guarantees that your attacks will HIT, too. This is a great ability and a wonderful trump card. It's guaranteed damage when an enemy needs to die NOW. Take this multiple times, you'll want this in every fight.

Smite

Effect: All attacks for 2 rounds stun and knock back medium-sized creature or smaller. All attacks for the first round are critical hits. May be taken once only.

Comments: This is basically Critical Strike with a knockback added. Warriors get enough HLAs to justify this. Sometimes an ally fails a save and has an enemy attacking them and they can't run away. In those situations you can use this to save their life.

War Cry

Effect: Enemies within 30 feet must save vs. spell or become panicked. May be taken multiple times.

Comments: Why in the world would you use an Ability point to give yourself what amounts to a level 2 Mage spell (Horror)? Absolutely worthless.

Hardiness

Effect: Grants +40% resistance to all forms of physical damage for 1 round per 2 levels of the warrior. May be taken multiple times.

Does not stack with Dwarven Defender's Defensive Stance.

Comments: The damage resistance from Hardiness stacks with any other resistances you might have picked up. That, plus the relatively long duration of this ability, make it indispensable for the hardcore warrior. When in doubt of what ability to take, take Hardiness. You want this badly. In BG2 THAC0 and AC become mostly irrelevant, attacks just hit. You need Damage Resistance to stay alive, this is how you survive Fire Giant fights. Combine with Defender of Easthaven for +20% more, combine with Armor of Faith for another +25%.

Tracking (Ranger Only)

Effect: A ranger can use the Tracking ability to give themselves a general idea of what creatures are in an area and which direction they are. Red arrows at the edge of the screen will point in the general direction of the creatures in the area.

Comments: Could be useful for a first-time player but this ability is useless if you've played enough times to know what to expect.

Rogue High Level Abilities

Both thieves and bards have access to the abilities in this section. Exceptions will be noted.

Set Spike Trap

Effect: Sets a trap that deals 20d6 damage to anyone setting it off. May be taken multiple times for multiple Spike Traps per day.

Comments: This ability trivializes the game. This ability is so powerful I actually recommend against it purely because it is so broken. 20d6 damage, no saving throw, can be stacked up to 7 times, and bypasses Magic Resistance. This will kill every enemy in the game not named Aurumach Rilmani (who is immune to magic damage). But if you're playing solo and want to remove trash mobs and boring fights and such, take this.

Set Exploding Trap

Effect: Sets a trap that deals 10d6 fire damage in a large radius when triggered. Victims are blown off their feet. May be taken multiple times for multiple traps per day.

Comments: This is basically a Delayed Blast Fireball that you can't set at a distance, except that it ignores Magic Resistance. It's still very useful, especially for shaking up large groups, but it's much less useful than a Spike Trap. Unlike the Set Snare of a Thief or the Set Special Snare of a Bounty Hunter, this only does fire damage, which is resisted to some degree (or completely) by more creatures than any other damage type in the game. And it allows a save for half.

Set Time Trap

Effect: When triggered, casts a 10-second version of Time Stop with the rogue as the 'caster'. May be taken multiple times for multiple traps per day.

Comments: The usefulness of a Time Trap varies wildly with the rogue that's using it. It is nice for getting behind a target so you can pop Assassination. Mage/Thieves can use this to great effect when paired with Improved Alacrity, and Fighter/Thieves can use Improved Haste to go completely nuts on an enemy. Blade Bards, however, have arguably the best use for this trap. Keep in mind that many of the game's most difficult bosses are immune to time stop and this ability will work against you in those situations as it basically pits your thief against a powerful enemy for the duration of the effect. This is also a very useful ability for Fighter/Mage/Thieves who don't get access to Time Stop at all.

Evasion

Effect: The rogue gains a -4 bonus to AC and a -2 bonus to saving throws. Lasts 3 rounds. May be taken multiple times. Prerequisite for Improved Evasion.

Comments: Evasion helps, but there is no purpose in multiple ranks in the ability as you will be able to get Improved Evasion afterwards.

Improved Evasion

Effect: The rogue gains a -6 bonus to AC, -4 bonus to saving throws, movement rate +2 and immunity to normal missiles. Lasts 5 rounds. May be taken multiple times.

Comments: Far better than normal Evasion. The AC bonus is pointless, but the save bonus is incredible when stacked with equipment and spells.

Use Any Item

Effect: The rogue is able to use any item in the game regardless of class, alignment, or race restrictions but ability score restrictions remain in place. Permanent once taken. Prerequisite for Scribe Scrolls.

Comments: This is often thought to be the best ability in Baldur's Gate 2. Get it with your first Ability selection. This is incredibly useful for dual-classed thieves if their former class limited item usage (such as Kensai not being able to equip armor or gauntlets) and allows for some of the cheapest metagaming in the entire series. This makes Wizard Slayer usable after a dual-class. This allows you to use any scroll. This allows the use of class-restricted items like Warrior potions of Strength, allows Cleric/Thieves to use the Robe of Vecna to cast faster, allows the use of Carsomyr.

1.2+

This ability has changed subtly and now most 'personal' items (such as Jan's thieving equipment) cannot be used. Mods to revert to the original behavior exist (e.g. Use any NPC item)

Assassination

Effect: Every attack in the next round will be a backstab, using the rogue's current backstab multiplier. May be taken once only, except for certain multiclass thieves (because of a bug fixed by the G3 BG2 Fixpack).

Comments: Note that you must still actually HIT the enemy, and this ability does not help your THAC0. If you can reliably hit an enemy, though, this ability is incredibly powerful. Recommended, especially for assassins. Note that Swashbucklers do not have access to this ability as they have no backstab modifier, but are able to take points in the warrior HLA Whirlwind. You can only take this once, but this is even better than Critical Strike.

Avoid Death

Effect: -5 bonus to Save vs. Death, immunity to instant death effects, and +20 Hit Points. Lasts 5 rounds. May be taken multiple times.

Comments: This ability is underwhelming for anyone using a cleric as they can simply cast the 4th level spell Death Ward. The extra HP are handy as is the extra save vs. death for ability that are not instant death (such as avoiding a ghoul's paralyzation) but that's about it. However, solo thieves or mage/thieves will probably want to take this ability a few times.

Alchemy

Effect: Randomly produces a potion from a list. May be taken multiple times.

Comments: This objectively useless. This can make one random potion per HLA point invested into this when you rest form the list of:

Potion of Master Thievery
Potion of Perception
Potion of Extra Healing
Potion of Superior Healing
Potion of Regeneration
Antidote
Oil of Speed
Potion of Frost Giant Strength, except it's usable by thieves or bards

These are either available from stores or in such large quantities in set locations that they're useless. Oil of Speed is outclassed by Improved Haste. Thief skill potions are already plentiful and Thieves already have more than enough skill points to use. Potions of Frost Giant Strength are okay but also extremely plentiful and also outclassed by three better Strength potions. Don't take this.

Scribe Scrolls

Effect: Randomly produces a scroll from a list. May be taken multiple times.

Comments: Alchemy is terrible. This is worse. The scroll list in question?

Magic Missile
Haste
Fireball
Dispel Magic
Dire Charm
Invisibility
Cone of Cold
Monster Summoning II
Monster Summoning III

You are never going to use these spells. Ever. Casting these from the scrolls is useless because scroll caster level is 10. Nobody is getting 3 million XP and still at a part of the game where they need to use regular Haste, Magic Missile, Fireball, Dire Charm, Dispel Magic (CL 10 on this means it will never do anything ever), Monster Summoning 2 and 3 (which were useless back in BG1), Invisibility (comes in potion form, there's over a hundred Potions of Invisibility to be found from dungeons and enemies in BG2 let alone buying them), or Cone of Cold (average damage spell, CL10 makes it useless). If you reach 3 million XP and are trying to use infinite scrolls from Scribe Scrolls to grind XP you're losing the game. Finish Shadows of Amn, go to Throne of Bhaal, get to Saradush and shoot the off-screen respawning Fire Giant. Don't waste HLAs on this.

Enhanced Bard Song (Bard Only)

Effect: This song gives the bard a -10 AC bonus and 10% magic resistance. Allies gain +4 to hit, +4 to damage, -4 to AC, immunity to Fear, Stun and Confusion, +5% magic resistance and immunity to normal weapons. This ability replaces the current Bard Song.

Comments: This HLA is incredibly potent, basically eliminating the main downside to Blades and making Skalds superfluous. You still want Use Any Item before this, but this should be your second pick. Note that you may not want this on a Jester - Jester's offensive bard song variant can confuse enemies and knock them unconscious at higher levels for short periods of time. If you pick this, Jester effectively turns into regular Bard and you never get the offensive song back.

Magic Flute (Bard Only)

Effect: Creates a flute in your inventory that lasts for 24 hours and acts as a wand with the following charge abilities: Resist Fear 1x, Globe of Invulnerability 1x (cast at level 20), Delayed Blast Fireball 3x.

Comments: Somewhat useful by itself but the kicker is how it lasts for 24 hours. You can get two or three flutes by resting after making the first one. It can only be taken once but it's decent, you never have to prepare Resist Fear ever again at least, Delayed Blast Fireball is an okay damage spell that you never prepare because it competes with Project Image, Mordenkainen's Sword, and Ruby Ray of Reversal, while Globe of Invulnerability competes with Death Spell, Improved Haste, Protection from Magical Weapons, and True Sight.

Priest High Level Abilities

These are the epic abilities for Druids and Clerics. Exceptions will be noted.

Energy Blades

School	Range	Duration	Casting Time	Area of Effect	Saving Throw
None	0	4 turns	3	Special	None

Description: An energy blade is a discus made of pure energy. The disc gives a -10 bonus to THAC0, and when thrown does 1d4+5 missile damage as well as 1d10 additional electrical damage. This spell creates 1 energy disc per level of the caster (up to 20) and sets the caster's attacks to 9 as long as the discs are held. May only be taken once.

Comments: An epic-level version of Melf's Minute Meteors, this spell isn't much of an improvement over its 3rd level counterpart. In fact, its only benefit is that you get more attacks per round with this spell than Melf's Meteors. The blades count as +5 weapons compared to the meteors counting as +6. One minor upside to this spell is that you are Improved Hasted while you hold the blades so it is easy to reposition a character if an enemy closes in to melee range. Not worth memorizing over other level 7 Priest spells.

Storm of Vengeance

School	Range	Duration	Casting Time	Area of Effect	Saving Throw
None	50 ft.	4 turns	3	30-ft. radius	Special

Description: All enemies of 8th level or lower are slain instantly. The survivors are struck by acidic, poisonous rain and lightning. The storm lasts for 3 rounds. Each round, the victims suffer 2d3 electrical damage, 2d3 fire damage, and 2d3 acid damage (Save vs. Spells for 1d3 damage of those three elements). They also have a chance to be poisoned (Save Vs. Death) in the first round. May only be taken once.

Comments: Storm of Vengeance is terrible if you're looking for damage, but it IS good at one thing in particular: disrupting spellcasters. When the spell hits its destination, it immediately deals 1d3 fire, acid, and electricity damage and deals a second set of 1d3 fire, electric, and acid to victims that fail their save vs. spells. It will also poison victims that fail their save vs. death. So you've got 3 or 6 ticks of damage to every enemy in its AoE when this spell first goes off. Its very likely that an enemy casting a spell will be interrupted because of this, and it is also somewhat likely that even high-level mages will be poisoned because they have crappy saves vs. death. The spell lasts for 3 rounds so 2 more instances of these multiple damage ticks will occur once the spell is cast. It is fairly reliable because its an AoE so mages' spell protections won't save them from it if you don't target them with the spell directly. The culling of 8th-level victims is merely a novelty. A good first HLA.

Clerics or Druids with a kit cast this with an added -2 saving throw penalty because this spell comes from the "NONE" school and non-mage kits technically get the specialist save penalty added by any "NONE" school spells they cast.

Elemental Summoning

School	Range	Duration	Casting Time	Area of Effect	Saving Throw
Conjuration	10 yards	5 turns	1	Special	None

Description: Drawing power from the environment, this spell summons 2 16-HD elementals randomly chosen from earth, air, or fire. The elementals stay for 1 turn and will obey the caster as long as they remain summoned. There is a 10% chance that a randomly chosen Elemental Prince will be summoned instead. The Elemental Princes rule over other elementals in their respective planes. The Elemental Prince of Air is Chan, the Elemental Prince of Earth is Sunnis, and the Elemental Prince of Fire is Zaaman Rul. May only be taken once.

Elemental Summoned	Stats	Combat Abilities	Defenses	Immunities	Special
Air Elemental	128 HP 19 STR 9 everything else	THAC0 9 1 attack/round 1d20 crushing damage (strikes as +4) Speed Factor 0	Base AC 2	+1 weapons and lower	N/A
Earth Elemental	128 HP 19 STR 14 DEX & CON 7 INT 13 WIS 8 CHA	THAC0 9 1 attack/round 4d8 crushing damage (strikes as +4) Speed Factor 0	Base AC 2	+1 weapons and lower	N/A
Fire Elemental	128 HP 18 STR 14 DEX & CON 7 INT 12 WIS 7 CHA	THAC0 9 1 attack/round 3d8 crushing damage (strikes as +4) +1d6 fire damage Speed Factor 0	Base AC 2 100% Fire resist 100% Magic Fire resist	+1 weapons and lower	N/A

Prince Summoned	Stats	Combat Abilities	Defenses	Immunities	Special	Spell List
Chan (Air)	180 HP 19 STR 18 everything else	THAC0 2 2 attacks/round 1d6 crushing damage (strikes as +3) Speed Factor 0 +2d10 electric damage On hit: Destroys Mislead/Project Image/Simulacrum clones On hit: Dispel Magic, plus Deafness and Feeblemind	Base AC -6 70% Cold resist 100% Electric resist 40% Acid resist 85% Magic resist 70% Magic Cold resist	Poison +2 weapons and lower	Detects invisible creatures Permanent Globe of Blades effect	2x Whirlwind (1d8+12 crushing damage; targets are knocked backwards for 3 seconds. Party-friendly 30 ft. radius; casting speed of 1)
Sunnis (Earth)	230 HP 24 STR 18 everything else	THAC0 2 3 attacks/round 3d12 crushing damage (strikes as +3) Speed Factor 0 On hit: Destroys Mislead/Project Image/Simulacrum clones On hit: Dispel Magic, plus Deafness and Feeblemind	Base AC -7 75% Fire resist 40% Cold resist 40% Acid resist 70% Magic resist 75% Magic Fire resist 40% Cold resist	Hold, Stun, Paralysis, Petrification, Poison +2 weapons and lower	Detects invisible creatures	2x Earthquake (Party-friendly; casting speed of 1)
Zaaman Ruul (Fire)	160 HP 19 STR 18 everything else	THAC0 2 2 attacks/round 1d6 crushing damage (strikes as +3) Speed Factor 0 +3d10 fire damage On hit: Destroys Mislead/Project Image/Simulacrum clones On hit: Dispel Magic, plus Deafness and Feeblemind	Base AC -3 125% Fire resist 60% Magic resist 125% Magic Fire resist	Hold, Stun, Paralysis, Petrification, Poison +2 weapons and lower	Detects invisible creatures Deals 1d12+8 fire damage to any in 6 ft. who hit him	2x Flame Strike (casting speed of 0)

Comments: Unless you're willing to save-scum for one of the Elemental Princes, this spell is not worth it because it is similar to two castings of Conjure X Elemental and getting the lowest HD version with a bit more HP. Clerics, don't bother with this. Druids and Shamans, only pick this up on your way to the Greater version.

Greater Elemental Summoning (Druid Only)

School	Range	Duration	Casting Time	Area of Effect	Saving Throw
Conjuration	10 yards	2 turns	1	Special	None

Description: Druids, having a more powerful link to the elements, can cast a stronger version of Elemental Summoning. This spell can summon the Elemental Princes themselves, randomly chosen from earth, air or fire. The Elemental Princes stay for 2 turns and will obey the caster as long as they remain summoned. May only be taken once.

Requires: Elemental Summoning

Comments: For the Elemental Princes' stats, consult Elemental Summoning.

The Druid's version of Summon Deva. The Elemental Princes are pretty tough and have good magic resistance, but they don't have any immunity to many disabling status effects. They are no match for boss fights in ToB compared to, say, a Planetar. Again, with aTweaks the story is different, and it will take significantly more effort on your enemies' part to kill them.

Globe of Blades

School	Range	Duration	Casting Time	Area of Effect	Saving Throw
Evocation	0	1 turn	9	Centered on caster; hits creatures within 4'	Spell Negates (-2)

Description: The priest employs this spell to set up a globe of razor-sharp blades. These whirl and flash around the caster, creating a dangerous barrier. Any creature attempting to pass through the blade barrier suffers 10d10 slashing damage. Creatures within the area of the barrier when it is invoked are entitled to a Saving Throw vs. Spell at -2. If this is successful, the blades are avoided and no damage is suffered. The barrier remains for 1 turn. May only be taken once.

Comments: An epic-level version of the 6th level Cleric spell Blade Barrier, this spell isn't much better than its original variant either. It deals more damage and comes with a save penalty, but its still a save-or-nothing spell. Its long casting time prevents you from using it if your cleric gets surrounded by enemies, and by the time you get it, there's a good chance that an enemy will save against it even with the penalty. There are other, more useful Level 7 spells to memorize.

Summon Deva

School	Range	Duration	Casting Time	Area of Effect	Saving Throw
Conjuration	40 ft.	4 rounds + 1 round/level	5	Targeted point	None

Description: This spell opens a celestial gate and calls forth an angelic deva to fight at the caster's side until the spell expires or the deva's earthly avatar is slain. This HLA is only available to druids, paladins (excluding Blackguards), and good- and neutral-aligned clerics. If a neutral cleric or druid chooses this HLA instead of Summon Fallen Deva, they cannot learn Summon Fallen Deva. Evil clerics and Blackguards cannot learn this HLA. Clerics and Druids can only take this once, but Paladins can take this multiple times.

Stats	Combat Abilities	Defenses	Immunities	Special	Spell List
110 HP 19 STR 19 DEX 14 CON 16 INT & WIS 20 CHA	THAC0 5 2 attacks/round Mace of Disruption +3: 3d6+3 crushing damage Speed Factor 5 On hit: Destroys Mislead/Project Image/Simulacrum clones On hit: Stun for 1 round (save vs. spell negates) On hit: Extra 1d6+2 crushing damage vs. Undead On hit: Undead are instantly destroyed (save vs. death at -4 negates) On hit: 25% chance to Dispel Magic, plus Deafness and Feeblemind	Base AC -7 100% Fire resist 100% Cold resist 100% Electric resist 70% Magic resist 50% Magic Fire resist 100% Magic Cold resist 10% physical damage resist	Backstab Poison, Petrification, Level Drain, Charm, Domination, Confusion, Slay, Feeblemind +1 weapons and lower	Regenerates 1 HP/3 seconds Detects invisible creatures Casts Deva Heal on itself when <25% HP (Heal with casting time of 1)	Caster Level 25: 3x Remove Fear 3x Remove Curse 3x Cure Disease 3x Dispel Magic 3x Neutralize Poison 3x Cure Critical Wounds 3x Globe of Blades 1x Chaos

Comments: Another high-level summon for high-level fights. The Deva is noticeably weaker than the mage's Planetar HLA and it has a smaller spell list compared to its big celestial brother. But it makes for another decent meatshield because it won't collapse like a house of cards in ToB like if you tried to use one of the Summon Monster spells. Paladins get this HLA as a special ability rather than a spell to memorize like the two other divine spellcasting classes, so they can toss out a Deva whenever they want.

Summon Fallen Deva

School	Range	Duration	Casting Time	Area of Effect	Saving Throw
Conjuration	40 ft.	4 rounds + 1 round/level	5	Targeted point	None

Description: This spell opens an abyssal gate and calls forth a demonic deva to fight at the caster's side until the spell expires or the deva's earthly avatar is slain. This HLA is only available to druids, Blackguards, and evil- and neutral-aligned clerics. If a neutral cleric or druid chooses this HLA instead of Summon Deva, they cannot learn Summon Deva. Good clerics and paladins cannot learn this HLA. Clerics and Druids can only take this once, but Blackguards can take this multiple times.

Comments: The evil version of Summon Deva. There is no difference between the two Devas so its just a cosmetic choice if you are offered the option to choose between them. Blackguards get this HLA as a special ability rather than a spell to memorize like the two other divine spellcasting classes, so they can toss out a Fallen Deva whenever they want.

Implosion

School	Range	Duration	Casting Time	Area of Effect	Saving Throw
None	40 ft.	2 rounds	5	1 creature	Spell 1/2

Description: This spell creates a rift in the earth beneath the target which implodes and closes in upon itself, crushing and burning the target and holding it for 1 round. The spell does 10d10 fire damage and 10d10 blunt damage. The victim can save vs. Spell for half. May only be taken once.

Comments: This is probably the best direct-damage spell a cleric has. Technically it deals 5d10 crushing and 5d10 fire damage with no save, but it deals an extra 5d10 fire and crushing if the target fails their save. By the time you get it, enemies will likely save against it so the damage is decent, but the paralysis is automatic even if they do save. Bosses you'd like to use this against are likely immune to paralysis anyway. Combine this with a mage's Greater Malison and you've got a great single-target damage spell. Might be worth memorizing one after Storm of Vengeance.

Clerics or Druids with a kit cast this with an added -2 saving throw penalty because this spell comes from the "NONE" school and non-mage kits technically get the specialist save penalty added by any "NONE" school spells they cast.

Mass Raise Dead

School	Range	Duration	Casting Time	Area of Effect	Saving Throw
Necromancy	0	Permanent	2	Up to 5 party members	None

Description: A more powerful version of Raise Dead, this spell brings up to 5 party members back to life and heals 3d10+1 Hit Points per level of the caster (up to +20). They can regain the rest of their Hit Points by natural healing or curative magic. May only be taken once.

Comments: On first glance it would seem like this spell is meant for near full-party wipes. But it finds another utility by being a fast-casting full-party healing spell. Its great in a pinch when your tank is about to die and already used a healing potion in the same round, and you don't have time to spend another entire round casting Heal on him. The fact that this spell can raise multiple party members is just a bonus. Get this ASAP.

2.6+

This was severely nerfed in Enhanced Edition patch 2.6. Now any and all sources of revival can no longer target living creatures at all, so this cannot be used to heal the living. Still a good panic button in an emergency, but it won't save your main character.

Aura of Flaming Death

School	Range	Duration	Casting Time	Area of Effect	Saving Throw
Evocation	0	1 round/2 levels	4	Caster; 6 ft. retaliation radius	None

Description: This spell causes the caster to be enveloped by an aura of intense flame that both injures opponents and protects the caster from damage. This shield not only grants the user 90% Fire Resistance and an AC bonus of 4, but also protects them from attacks made within a 6-ft. radius. An opponent that hits the caster with any weapons or spells within this radius suffers 2d10+2 fire damage. In addition, the intense heat protects the caster from all non-magical weapons, melee or missile. May only be taken once.

Comments: Basically an improved Fire Shield (Red) that deals more retaliation damage, gives much more fire resistance, and gives an AC bonus. Immunity to normal weapons is largely irrelevant. For a cleric that isn't involved in frontline combat, this isn't as useful, but a Fighter/Cleric tank could get some mileage out of this spell. But the duration is rather short which limits its usage to just before combat or while in combat already.

Fire Elemental Transformation (Druid Only)

School	Range	Duration	Casting Time	Area of Effect	Saving Throw
None	0	5 turns	1	Caster	None

Description: Shapeshift into a 20 HD Elder Fire Elemental, gaining all of its traits and special abilities. When the druid returns to human form, he is also healed 3D10 damage. May be taken multiple times.

Comments: Besides the total immunity to fire, this is an underwhelming HLA. The healing on return to human form is nice I guess but its not worth picking this HLA just for that. Only take when you've obtained literally every other HLA.

Earth Elemental Transformation (Druid Only)

School	Range	Duration	Casting Time	Area of Effect	Saving Throw
None	0	5 turns	1	Caster	None

Description: Shapeshift into a 20 HD Elder Earth Elemental, gaining all of its traits and special abilities. When the druid returns to human form, he is also healed 3D10 damage. May be taken multiple times.

Comments: Even more useless than the Fire Elemental transformation. At least with the Fire Elemental you're immune to fire. Only take when you've obtained literally every other HLA.

Wizard High Level Abilities

These are the epic level abilities for both Mages and Sorcerers. Exceptions will be noted.

Energy Blades

School	Range	Duration	Casting Time	Area of Effect	Saving Throw
None	0	4 turns	3	Special	None

Description: An energy blade is a discus made of pure energy. The disc gives a -10 bonus to THAC0, and when thrown does 1d4+5 missile damage as well as 1d10 additional electrical damage. This spell creates 1 energy disc per level of the caster (up to 20) and sets the caster's attacks to 9 as long as the discs are held. May only be taken once.

Comments: An epic-level version of Melf's Minute Meteors, this spell isn't much of an improvement over its 3rd level counterpart. In fact, its only benefit is that you get more attacks per round with this spell than Melf's Meteors. The blades count as +5 weapons compared to the meteors counting as +6. One minor upside to this spell is that you are Improved Hasted while you hold the blades so it is easy to reposition a character if an enemy closes in to melee range. Not worth memorizing over other level 9 Mage spells.

Improved Alacrity

School	Range	Duration	Casting Time	Area of Effect	Saving Throw
None	0	2 rounds	9	Caster	None

Description: Improved Alacrity essentially erases the pause between casting spells. When cast, the wizard can begin casting a new spell the instant they are finished casting their current spell. The effect lasts for 2 rounds. May only be taken once.

Comments: An incredible spell that turns your mage into an arcane machine gun. Cast this after a Time Stop to rain down a torrent of spells with no one to stop you! If you're wearing equipment that reduces spellcasting speed factor (Robe of Vecna, Amulet of Power), you can potentially dump your entire spellbook onto your foes in a single Time Stop. I recommend turning on your autopause under "Cast Spell" when using this because every millisecond counts. Even without a Time Stop this spell is great because if enemies set up magical defenses you can tear them right back down, because you can cast all of your spells at any time while they can still only cast one per round. You should memorize at least one of these because you can use this to fire on all cylinders if things start to go south.

The downside of this spell is that you usually don't need to dump your entire spellbook onto an enemy. Usually one spell, especially some other 9th-level spells, will win the fight. It's very good, but not your first choice. You want other 9th-level spells first and foremost, like Time Stop and Summon Planetar.

Dragon's Breath

School	Range	Duration	Casting Time	Area of Effect	Saving Throw
None	320 ft.	Instant	3	30-ft. radius	Breath Partial

Description: Deals 20d10 fire damage and opponents will be knocked away from the caster. Victims can save vs. Breath Weapon to take half damage and not be blown away. This spell will not harm party members. May only be taken once.

Comments: An awesome spell for nuker mages, this spell does some serious damage. It's great for clearing out groups of enemies while leaving your party unharmed, just like Horrid Wilting, but it has a much faster casting time. Combine this with a Greater Malison to make sure you roast those suckers. Unfortunately, fire damage is commonly resisted and the spell takes a little bit to actually deal its damage, but enemies that are not so protected better watch out. Also note the casting time of 3 - most Mages even without the Robe of Vecna have items available to lower casting times further. This is a great way to keep enemies away from you as a panic button.

Wild Mages cast this with an added -2 saving throw penalty because this spell comes from the "NONE" school and Wild Mages technically get the specialist save penalty added by any "NONE" school spells they cast.

Summon Planetar

School	Range	Duration	Casting Time	Area of Effect	Saving Throw
None	40 ft.	4 rounds + 1 round/level	5	Targeted point	None

Description: This spell opens a celestial gate and calls forth a planetar to fight at the caster's side until the spell expires or the planetar's avatar is slain. May only be taken once. Evil mages are forbidden from learning this; neutral mages have a choice between this and the Dark Planetar but cannot choose both; and good mages are forced to choose this version of the Summon Planetar spell.

Stats	Combat Abilities	Defenses	Immunities	Special	Spell List
110 HP 19 STR 15 DEX 14 CON 16 INT & WIS 20 CHA	THAC0 5 3 attacks/round (4 via Haste) Silver Sword +3 (strikes as +4): 2d10+3 slashing damage Speed Factor 5 On hit: 25% chance to destroy Mislead/Project Image/Simulacrum clones On hit: 25% chance to instantly kill target (save vs. death at -2 negates) On hit: 25% chance to Dispel Magic, plus Deafness and Feeblemind	Base AC -7 100% Fire resist 100% Cold resist 100% Electric resist 75% Magic resist 50% Magic Fire resist 100% Magic Cold resist 10% physical damage resist	Backstab Poison, Petrification, Level Drain, Charm, Domination, Confusion, Slay, Feeblemind +2 weapons and lower	Hasted Regenerates 4 HP/second Detects invisible creatures Casts Deva Heal on itself when <25% HP (Heal with casting time of 1)	Caster Level 25: 3x Remove Fear 3x Remove Curse 3x Lesser Restoration 3x Cure Disease 3x Dispel Magic 3x Neutralize Poison 3x True Seeing 3x Flame Strike 3x Insect Plague 3x Raise Dead 3x Heal 3x Globe of Blades 3x Earthquake 3x Fire Storm 3x Holy Word 3x Symbol, Fear 3x Symbol, Death 2x Magic Missile 1x Detect Invisibility 1x Flame Arrow 3x Improved Invisibility 1x Chaos

Comments: Planetars are a hardy and useful summon, and mostly an upgrade to the Priest's Deva. They are hasted, which doubles their already impressive 4 HP/second regeneration to 4 HP/half second! Planetars come with some choice priest spells including Heal, True Seeing, Insect Plague, and Holy Word. With this summon, mages really can do anything! Planetars can fit any role, whether its to tank, cure party members, or deal ranged damage with spells.

Summon Dark Planetar

School	Range	Duration	Casting Time	Area of Effect	Saving Throw
None	40 ft.	4 rounds + 1 round/level	5	Special	None

Description: This spell opens an abyssal gate and calls forth a fallen planetar to fight at the caster's side until the spell expires or the planetar's avatar is slain. May only be taken once. Good mages are forbidden from learning this; neutral mages have a choice between this and the celestial Planetar but cannot choose both; and evil mages are forced to choose this version of the Summon Planetar spell.

Comments: This is just the evil version of the Planetar. It has all of its usual immunities and spells, and also wields the same sword. There is no difference between the two of them except that the Fallen Planetar counts as evil and gets Unholy Word instead of Holy Word in their spell selection.

Comet

School	Range	Duration	Casting Time	Area of Effect	Saving Throw
None	50 ft.	Instant; 3 rounds	3	30-ft. radius	Death Partial

Description: Deals 10d10 fire damage with no save. Enemies in the area of effect are knocked back and stunned for 3 rounds if they fail their save vs. death. This spell will not harm party members. May only be taken once.

Comments: Utterly outclassed by Dragon's Breath. The only upside to this spell is that it can stun enemies if they fail their save, which is unlikely to happen by the time you get it. Take this HLA last.

Wild Mages cast this with an added -2 saving throw penalty because this spell comes from the "NONE" school and Wild Mages technically get the specialist save penalty added by any "NONE" school spells they cast.

Extra Level 6 Spell

Effect: Gives an extra Level 6 spell slot. May only be taken once.

Extra Level 7 Spell

Effect: Gives an extra Level 7 spell slot. May only be taken once.

Requires: Extra Level 6 Spell

Extra Level 8 Spell

Effect: Gives an extra Level 8 spell slot. May only be taken once.

Requires: Extra Level 7 Spell

Comments: It's not really an option per se, you will need to take these anyways. They're still extremely powerful, with the 6th and 8th level ones being better than the 7th.

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