Starting with a Spellbook of Acid Ball

[grayswandir]

What the hell? I didn't even know this was possible. Rolled a Mist Elf Wizard, and BAM, spellbook of Acid Ball. This saves me some frustration. Has anyone else had this happen to them?

[Carter]

you can start with any book, up to and including the spellbook of wish.

[Blasphemous]

On priests and druids, spellbooks of ball spells are next to impossible to start with or randomly obtain later but for a wizard there is no such restriction.
I frequently start with lightning ball or fireball, especially recently when I'm rolling many wizards for a special purpose game I'm planning.

[littlebrather]

On the other hand Ball spells are next to most useless to start with. Low PP and Wi makes them even worse than Burning hands, while relatively low lvl and Le do not allow character to obtain full amount of castings from one book. The only way to makes them useful is to sell AFAP, while Black Market is usually tough to Elves (and other magical races).

[Blasphemous]

For a wizard, they might be useless around levels 1-6. Then ball spells start to become increasingly useful since the pp cost is not prohibitive anymore.
Also, as a wizard, I never ever bookcast, unless it's a wish spellbook.

[LexyBoy]

As a mist elf he'd probably be able to cast it from very early on. I played a ME wiz recently who started with Death Ray and Teleportation, and read both with no problems for >400 spell knowledge at level 1.

Also, burning hands is extremely powerful!

[Toffeeviola]

On the other hand Ball spells are next to most useless to start with. Low PP and Wi makes them even worse than Burning hands, while relatively low lvl and Le do not allow character to obtain full amount of castings from one book. The only way to makes them useful is to sell AFAP, while Black Market is usually tough to Elves (and other magical races).

What's wrong with Burning Hands? It's super-reliable, and a delight for pure casters.

I only wish there was an equivalent for all the elements.

[Dlightfull]

Confirming that Burning Hands is actually ridiculously powerful.

It's actually one of my favourites, i killed lots of lich kings and some lich emperors with it (they tend to engage in melee if you get close, so having lots of DV helps).

[Blasphemous]

Yeah burning hands has the nice feature that you can cast it while in coward mode and it NEVER misses.
Rehetep goes in 1-2 castings, other undead and frost creatures much the same.
Burning hands is probably in top 5 offensive spells at the stage of the game when it's usually obtained.

[divij]

woah..i was gonna comment on how burning hands is op but a million other people beat me to it!

Burning hands is probably in top 5 offensive spells at the stage of the game when it's usually obtained

i cant think of ne offensive spell better than burning hands in the early game...ball spells are too expensive and difficult to learn...bolt spells can miss and slightly more expensive too, burning hands is simple to learn giving you ginormous castings and easy to cast...even if we include all spells in the game i think i value burning hands over all spells but acid ball, tp, slow monster and invis...mayb magic missile is situationally helpful too