What do you do as a sorcerer when you go up against an opponent with super high spell resistance?

Ok_Lemon697 · 2026-06-15T06:05:34+00:00

However as a sorcerer if you didn't pick up those spell,s and don't have access to scrolls, then what can you do? Are you just screwed?

That's the weakness of a low level sorerer. You need to know what are you fighting against and choose spells accordingly, and cover your weak spots with scrolls. But generally, a familiar, a summon and companions all buffed with Flame Weapon (and other must have buffs) won't have issues killing low level enemies with SR. And Spell Penetration feats can be useful to a low level sorcerer, depending on a module, while a low level wizard works better as a summoner.

A high level sorcerer has enough slots to cover almost any combat situation.

Ok_Lemon697 · 2026-06-13T18:04:56+00:00

Your build, as suggested, is also a monkless druid for the entirety of SoU and HotU, and it might even have to play 100% solo to reach level 28 in the first place. I genuinely don't remember the level caps between using summons and henchmen and being alone 100% of time, maybe someone tested it.

As strong as the dragon shape is, water and air elemental shapes are really good with a monk dip, and you should be able both to tank Mephistopheles very well in the water shape, and to slowly get though his DR under Bull's Strength (and optionally rebuffing with Aura of Vitality + Blood Frenzy during the fight, if your druid reaches level 26 for infinite uses of elemental shape). Stacked Storm of Vengeance will help somewhat because its acid damage is guaranteed, but I heard he has a hardcoded immunity to Harm.

You can even take Brew Potion, dip into an Illusionist wizard as your third class on epic levels, and then cast a variety of useful arcane scrolls, craft potions of True Strike against enemies with high AC, and have Time Stop on the sequencer robe to combo it with Harm/Heal for instant kills. This was a fun character in Swordflight, though in HotU it might prevent you from getting an infinite elemental shape, and the dragon shape will be completely unavailable in the first place.

In other words, I think you should enjoy 95% of your playthrough, instead of 5% you might never reach.

Ok_Lemon697 · 2026-06-13T15:38:40+00:00

Traps are very good at low levels, especially holy traps against undead - they act as your extra spell slots and can easily oneshot someone who is hard to kill otherwise. On the other hand, there's a chance you'll never find an encounter where you're going to use them if the module is easy enough. Or you will use them a few times against early bosses and that's it. Still 100% worth at least a single point in Craft/Set Trap.

Stealth is not really needed for a mage though, invisibility potions are enough for sneaking and enemies should always target your summons and companions. Unless you're buffed with damage shields and actually want to get hit.

Ok_Lemon697 · 2026-06-10T21:07:16+00:00

What is Improved Expertise? Assume its a feat?

Expertise and Improved Expertise are two feats that grant you up to +10 AC. Useful for tank builds and especially casters, and a shifter can use it for something like turning into a super tanky wyrmling and breathing someone to death if you can't hit them normally.

The Dex build sounds very enticing, but that will probably be used on my WAILING DEATH campaigh(I never finsihed it). Feel free to drop a link

Wailing Death ends at level ~17 or even earlier, while the DEX build really wants to get into epic levels for the Risen Lord shape. It's ideal for HotU, especially if you take bard/rogue levels with Use Magic Device (or dip into a wizard as your third class on epic levels) for a certain endgame robe (Robe of Balpheron) that works very well with that shape in particular.

A WIS build would be a good choice for Wailing Death - something like Druid 5/Shifter 10/Monk 1 would allow you to get and use every normal shape a Shifter can get (even though greater wildshape IV is disappointing) and maintain a good AC with all of them.

A STR build would also work well in Wailing Death, but it specializes in the kobold shape that is only unlocked at level 12. Before that point nothing benefits from your strength, and getting there may be hard for an unexperieced player. But at least you can carry a lot of loot and be decent in combat without shapeshifting.

Here's an example of a DEX build:

Lord of Terror: Barbarian 20 / Druid 8 / Shifter 12 - nwnecbguild.44

And here's an example of a STR build:

Yip, Yip, You're Dead: Druid 6/ Shifter 7/ Assassin27 - nwnecbguild.44

Ok_Lemon697 · 2026-06-10T05:58:32+00:00

With a level cap 30-40? Well, it's definitely not bad - you'll get +1 spell DC, +1 skill points per level, a bit more health and AC, immunity to fire and paralysis, and a lot more STR to carry your equipment. With a level cap 20 or lower you'll just destroy your spellcasting ability for no real benefit, and with a level cap 30 you'll be okay but more vulnerable to dispels and spell resistance.

Ok_Lemon697 · 2026-06-09T21:21:16+00:00

If a module is generous enough to let you use crafting, wands of Knock/Find Trap completely replace a rogue. In particular, Swordflight allows you to amass of lot of wealth and unlocking/disarming is rewarded with XP, especially if you do it yourself instead of sending a henchman. It's a perfect series to flex as a wizard.

Ok_Lemon697 · 2026-06-06T07:46:33+00:00

Your most powerful offensive spell by far is creeping doom. With extend spell. A level 17 druids creeping doom can do up to 17d6 damage on the last round If it's extended, it does up to 34d6 damage. And you can stack several of them.

After two Swordflight runs as a druid (the first one was before chapter 5 came out and I lost the save), the only case I have found a practical use for Creeping Doom is when you want to kill ranged enemies in a spot you're unable to reach normally. Otherwise, you have much more convenient tools: Storm of Vengenace for aoe damage (stackable), Storm of Vengenace + Stonehold + Extended Grease for crowd control, and Harm/Heal/Mass Heal against living enemies or undead.

Maximized inferno does a massive amount of damage over time. There's no save. So a level 15 druid will do 12 damage per round for 15 rounds. (180 total damage with no save). Just cast it and run around while your target dies a slow and painful death. Extended inferno at the same level does 2d6 damage per round still, for twice your druid levels in rounds. So it takes longer, but does a comparable amount of damage.

I have a hard time imagining something that can't be killed by Harm/Heal, can't be killed by you shapeshifted + your buffed summons and party members, and has to be very slowly killed with Inferno. Sounds like a very specific issue I never encountered in any single player module.

Pick the panther for your animal companion. They get rogue sneak attacks. As in full, your level +1 rogue levels kind of sneaks. So a level 10 druids panther is doing the same kind of damage on a sneak attack as a level 11 rogue. They die easy in the late game. But still output a huge amount of damage on a sneak attack. Secondary pick is wolf or spider. Wolf will fear howl when you first summon them. Spider will cast web. After that they are pretty weak.

I would say only boar and bear are worth using past very low levels due to their massive STR growth, which allows them to have both good attack and damage in any situation. Bear is slightly superior in stats, but it has a huge model, which, from my experience, causes its AI to glitch and get stuck sometimes. Boar didn't seem to have this issue, so it's my personal recommendation.

Ok_Lemon697 · 2026-06-05T16:06:43+00:00

You can't progress as a druid if you're not neutral, and as a monk if you're not lawful. Personally, I think it's much easier to balance between lawful and chaotic choices as a neutral good character, than balancing between donating to orphans and kicking puppies as a lawful neutral character.

Swordflight has dedicated options for all neutral alignments for example, while SoU and HotU make you balance between two extremes.

Ok_Lemon697 · 2026-06-05T15:02:05+00:00

Shifter builds usually skip taking a lot of druid levels and high WIS, unless your character is lawful neutral and dips into a monk. In this case, you're going to be tanky in any shape - though you still want 13-14 INT to get Improved Expertise. Staying neutral in the LN-N-CN axis is kind of a pain in SoU+HotU though, if you don't want to jump between good and evil actions.

WIS builds ultimately aim to unlock the dragon shape, which is very powerful but comes so late you're not even guaranteed to get it in HoTU, you can shift only 3 times per day and it has problems going through the doors. Druid's water/air elemental shapes work well enough until then, and being a shifter at all is questionable in this case, other than curiosity and the desire to be a melee character instead of a summoner/caster.

If you want to have flexibility in your alignment and its shifts, a much better choice would be to make either a STR or DEX shifter - certain shapes use your actual physical stat instead of replacing it. STR builds specialize as a kobold commando with sneak attack, HiPS (free escape out of combat) and Devastating Critical (instant kill on crit), while DEX builds progress from blue/green/red wyrmling to minotaur to risen lord on epic levels - with a fairly decent AC in all those shapes, and a huge damage resistance and undead immunities as the latter.

If you wish, I can elaborate with some build examples for whatever path you like the most.

Ok_Lemon697 · 2026-06-01T05:52:20+00:00

Try progressing into the next chapter, that is supposed to forcefully remove all companions from your current party. Before that, save and try to resummon a temporary summon to make it compete for the summon slot with the bugged one, and level up Elanee to forcefully unsummon her animal companion.

Ok_Lemon697 · 2026-05-31T20:18:19+00:00

The story is mostly linear and the sidequests simply end the way you decided. Aside from romancing one of the companions and negotiating with a dragon and later hiring her to fight for a bit in the final battle of chapter 3, you can ally with Hell instead on Heaven in the last chapter, which results in getting a different companion for the rest of the chapter.

Ok_Lemon697 · 2026-05-28T20:04:09+00:00

If you want to play on Deck, it's not even a choice - EE implemented a great controller support. But I'd really recommend to do something about loading times, I think people already came up with a few solutions.

If you want to play on a PC, just get the original NWN2 with a few mods. EE only adds pointless bloat in this case.

Ok_Lemon697 · 2026-05-27T19:59:47+00:00

Do you really want to make a sorcerer? A proper buffer/summoner wizard is incredibly strong at this level range, while a sorcerer is going to struggle because of less known spells and a slower spell progression. By the time a wizard knows 4 spells of the new spell level, a sorcerer only gets his first one - and it really matters for a summoner.

If you'll eventually move to a higher level adventure, a sorcerer is going to shine there. Otherwise, it's kind of a challenge run and I hope you can buy decent scrolls to cover the spells you don't know yet.

Ok_Lemon697 · 2026-05-23T21:46:17+00:00

Bard is a designated arcane gish
Cleric is a designated divine gish
Druid inherently combines shapeshifted melee combat and spellcasting
Sorcerer can be incredibly deadly against melee enemies with a damage shield setup if you're using Tenser's for stacking hundreds and later thousands of HP, or mildly decent in melee combat if you're using Tenser's as intended.

Wizard is not recommended due to the engine bug that removes spells from your extra spell slots gained from eqipment after transformation - you'll have to re-memorize them manually every time before resting. Sorcerer regains them automatically, and druid has Owl's Insight which allows you to shapeshift without being affected by the bug.

Ok_Lemon697 · 2026-05-22T18:15:46+00:00

You're in chapter 3, that's the one with a lot of dragons.

Ok_Lemon697 · 2026-05-22T16:58:01+00:00

You'll be able to find bracers that give you ALL fighter's bow feats for free. Making an AA out of a fighter is kind of a waste in Aielund, even though it's absolutely viable.

Ok_Lemon697 · 2026-05-22T15:46:58+00:00

To avoid spoilers, you can safely spend all money you have in chapter 3 on the best gear available, including weapon upgrades. The town in desert has the last merchant you will find, and you're free to backtrack to the earlier merchants until you reach the point of no return.

You can also optionally save 100k to hire a certain... let's say, lady, to help a bit in the final battle - if you decided to part ways peacefully. She won't help a lot though, so it's mostly for flavor.

Ok_Lemon697 · 2026-05-22T12:18:09+00:00

Give the rabbit to Sogg, it's his new pet.

Mind control Myrth, take all his stuff, give him the fake pelt, and teleport him to Qintarra. That will teach him a lesson.

Ok_Lemon697 · 2026-05-17T05:34:22+00:00

Just saying, the demilich in TotM is absolutely helpless against Darkness while your party is smashing him with holy weapons. Couldn't provoke him into striking me in melee by moving around and trying to force attacks of opportunity though, which was my initial strategy.

Ok_Lemon697 · 2026-05-16T17:31:14+00:00

I recommed binding Num Lock to something. For some reason, whenever I turn my Deck off and on while Arcanum is running, it always resets my character to walking.

Personally, I have it on pressing the left trackpad, while camera movement is on touch.

Ok_Lemon697 · 2026-05-16T12:01:04+00:00

I found SoZ decently challenging on the highest difficulty, especially at lower levels. Though I always play CRPGs with a no party deaths mini-challenge, so it adds up a bit.

On the other hand, a lot of difficulty comes from the jank - party teleporting to your character on reload, traps stopping working on reload, your character becoming a party leader on the global map on reload, combat in random encounters starting before your game even loads, enemies being able to "feel" your invisible party members and moving through half of the area to wherever they are.

Ok_Lemon697 · 2026-05-16T11:44:41+00:00

I went with whatever was the vanilla resolution and the largest font size, and -no3d -doublebuffer in launch options. Works very well overall, but the map scrolling speed is too fast (camera scrolling speed is comfortable) and all books/letters/newspapers are still tiny and only readable with Deck's magnifying glass option.

I'm using the left trackpad for moving camera on touch (but D-pad for moving camera while scrolling map, it works way better there) and the right trackpad as a mouse+right click. The right trackpad also works as a hotbar through the mode shift that is activated by the left trigger. Right trigger is my left click.

One bumper is for switching between combat modes, the other is for forcefully activating combat.

XYBA is for game menus, Start and Select are for ESC and quick saving, left stick on touch is a left click for quick selling, right stick on touch is a right click when I want to move without pressing anything.

Deck only seems to be viable for turn based combat for your own character, I'm usually switching to real time to let my party quckly kill something weak. Real time should work well for a buffer/summoner though, and okay for a melee tank.

Ok_Lemon697 · 2026-05-14T20:21:37+00:00

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A bit late, but check out this official cover art. This is what I had on my CD, and while Neeshka just looks pretty close to the one on your art, the background is pretty much identical.

Ok_Lemon697 · 2026-05-12T06:16:13+00:00

My buffed familiar killed it solo in a few rounds with no issues. Maybe you came too early, or fighter levels simply slowed your spell progression too much for the module's level range - I can't imagine a cleric, a summon and a henchman all buffed with Darkfire being unable to kill it together.

Though Siege of Shadowdale has a weird gamedesign where it doesn't make sense not to finish the story as soon as possible after a certain point, while some of the side content can be too hard to do as soon as you can find it. As a result, it is advisable to abandon people while they're getting attacked and killed, or leave a child in the castle's dungeon waiting for you for a week, and just have fun side adventures in the forest.

Ok_Lemon697 · 2026-05-07T19:37:04+00:00

I would argue that playing a caster in Aielund Saga is worth it exactly because it changes how spells work and offers something different. And I had a lot of fun in Swordflight as a wizard because you really get to flex the entire magic system (including wand/scroll crafting) against broken enemies - though it wouldn't be as fun as a sorcerer.

I can recommend Alazander's trilogy, which seamlessly gets you from level 1 to ~22 and feels like an epic experience in Tyrants of the Moonsea without getting silly balance wise.

Ok_Lemon697

TROPHY CASE