Baldur's Gate - Blathering On to Number 4

Lilura has the fourth edition up of her (I assume it's a her) blathering about Baldur's Gate. This one is about the Priest and Cleric spells, level scaling, boss encounters and an introduction to Durlag's Tower.

The divine spell selection may seem a lil' uninspiring in the face of the dazzling repertoire displayed by arcane practitioners; the spells being more tailored to protection, buffing, healing and summoning rather than encounter-dictating disablement and bombardment; however, parties who shun clerics and druids may find adventuring more painful and tedious than it would otherwise be, and for new players access to the healing line of spells is vital.

The campaign offers forty-six divine spells in total [1], with clerics clearly offering a wider range than druids (C: 10/12/10/8/-, D: 6/8/5/5/2). Clerics offer nineteen spells unique to them and druids a meager six; two of which are fifth circle spells by virtue of faster level progression under the TotSC cap. Unknown to many, Ranger/Cleric multi-classes erroneously benefit from both cleric and druid spells, thereby boasting the broadest range of divine spells possible (C+D: 10/14/12/8/-). Access to fifth circle druid spells isn't as advantageous as one might imagine, BioWare having nerfed the range to offer just Animal Summoning II & Cure Critical Wounds [2]; though they aren't exactly useless, with the former calling forth up to six raging bears and the latter healing a welcome 27 hit points per casting.

Sporting the full range of healing spells and Good Berry, druids are tailored to healbotting more than clerics, who instead offer great buffs such as Aid, Chant, Draw Upon Holy Might, Strength of One & Protection From Evil 10' radius, along with Freedom of Action and anti-mage spells such as Silence 15' radius, Miscast Magic and the eminently useful Dispel Magic, a must-have in order to bring negatively afflicted party members back into action - or back on-side! (Dispel Magic is also a third circle arcane spell.) [3] As alluded to earlier, both clerics and druids are sorely lacking in the AoE department, the former only having the trap-like Glyph of Warding and the latter's Call Lightning being uncastable indoors; however, the undazzling repertoire is in keeping with the spirit of AD&D 2nd Edition rules.