I have a few questions which have been partially or fully answered elsewhere but I just need some clarifications and help (p.s - just been to the Vale of Shadows so still early days);

1. Is there a heal/cure spell for mages as I'm yet to come across one and think it may be essential later on?

2. My bard has a spell book and has learned a few level 1 and 2 spells. However, when trying to cast them, they are all greyed out (even though I've never used them? -(I understand the daily limit)

3. I don't get the whole priest scroll thing. I have an elf ranger who has an empty priest scroll but can't add any as there's no write magic option. Are the scrolls therefore useless to me? (also see below)

4. Finally, I don't have a cleric or druid (or anyone dual classing as either). I quite like to choose a party based on my personal preferences rather than looking up *create the ultimate party* from google etc. However, is this going to seriously hamper me as the game progresses?

Thanks - all advice is appreciated.

No. Arcane casters don't get any type of healing spell. Is your Bard wearing armor? If so, that disables casting. Divine spells (Ranger, Druid, Cleric) are bestowed when you reach a level where you're able to cast them. Once you reach that level, you have access to all spells of that level and can choose form there what ones you want to memorize for the day (much like mages). However, unlike mages, divine spells cannot be scribed into your spell book. If you have a scroll, just use it in your quick item slot.

I can't recall offhand what level Rangers get access to spells, but I believe it's Ranger level 6 before you can cast first level spells. It will make things a little tougher but you should be able to cope, depending on your party composition. What's your party make-up?

Thank you Coelocanth!

Yes, my bard does wear armour - so that's him needing a change of kit.

My ranger is still in her infancy in terms of levelling - so I'll keep grinding until she gets the required xp. So, correct me if I'm wrong but the scrolls are still required to cast a spell even when the appropriate level is reached?

My party is as follows:

2 pure fighters
1 ranger who can also use melee weapons when required
1 bard
1 mage who at the moment is pretty useless!
and 1 Fighter who has duel classed as a thief as I hate to leave a locked box behind!

No, once you reach the appropriate level, all the spells of each level you're able to cast will appear in your spell book. Then it's just a matter of memorizing whatever spell(s) you choose for the day, just like a mage does. Okay, you should bealright. You've got some good melee presence as well as a couple arcane casters. Just stock up on healing pots and you should be fine. May have to rest more than a party with a healer, but that's no biggie.

*edit* Actually, once your Bard get access to Song of the Sith, you won't need to worry about healing out of combat anymore.

Scrolls are usable independent of character level, so if your ranger (or any other party member) can't use a scroll now, he'll never be able to use it. Sell such scrolls (and usable but unnecessary ones) to Orrick for the money, you can use it to buy the Robe of Enfusing and the Clasp of Bron's Cloak from him.

Your ranger will need 36,000 XP to reach level 6, but even then he'll only be able to cast cure light wounds once per rest for healing 8 HP. Healing hitpoints will be a problem until your bard gets the level 11 song at 220,000 XP.
Until then you'll have to rest for getting healed 1 HP every 8 hours, you can enable "heal party on rest" in the configuration, there's no time limit in the game.
Resting in an expensive inn room lets you regenerate HP faster by resting, other methods for healing are using the "potions of healing" you find (they're too expensive for buying) or paying a temple to cast cure light wounds on your party members.
There are some mage spells which can be (ab-)used for healing the caster (but not other party members) like Larloch's Minor Drain, Vampiric Touch or Trollish Fortitude.

Not having a Cleric will hurt. Being able to turn undead and heal people is very useful early in the game.
If you find some Elfin Chain for your Bard (s)he will be able to cast spells while wearing armour.

Thanks - as mentioned I do prefer to do things my way than construct a *must have* party. Again, thank you. Money doesn't seem that easy to come by early on so *every little helps* (to quote a large UK supermarket chain). I think I only have about 1,000 coins and the blacksmith's selling items for 40,000+ Perfect - I will keep an eye out for it.

I think that's all my questions answered although let me know if you think of anything else. I genuinely appreciate all your help.

About Elfin Chain: You need luck to find one since they're random drops at 2 locations in chapter 3. They aren't named Elfin Chain, if you find chain which adds additional cold resistance you'll be lucky, this is it.
In my first game I didn't find any, my bard used bracers and the "shield" spell.

For buying expensive stuff in shops it's worth buying a "friends" scroll first and have your bard scribe, rest, memorize and cast the spell. With 20 cha you get optimal shop prices.
Buying stuff from Orrick should have priority since his inventory changes when chapter 2 and 4 start. But don't buy everything, the Clasp of Bron's cloak is the only chapter 1 item which will stay useful and can't be bought elsewhere until the end of the game. The cat's grace spell can't be bought elsewhere before the expansion.

The Dale Tweaks mod at G3 has a component that allows arcane spell casting in armor - at an increasing chance of spell failure the heavier it gets. Unless, as already mentioned, you get one of the elven armors from the Severed Hand.

You're going to find the going very difficult without a cleric or druid, especially in some of the later battles. You'll need to buy plenty of Healing and Mummy's Tea potions to compensate. And you'll miss some dialog related XP.

I've found druids to be helpful. Not only do they have healing/buffing prayers, but they also have some decent offensive ones as well that BG1 or 2 don't have.

I'm caught between trudging on or using a character editor (if there's a reliable one) to redistribute skills to allow me to have a decent cleric. What I won't do is add to the original skill dice throws, otherwise my conscience kicks in :)

If I do choose the editor option, is there a reliable one that I can use with the sticky mod guide in this forum? I just want to avoid screwing up my existing game.

I've got the Widescreen mod, Unfinished Business, Item Upgrade, and the Fix Pack installed. I've successfully edited my characters with Dalekeeper. Just make a duplicate save and use one of those two as the save file you edit.

I tried Dalekeeper and it recognises the saved games (which I've backed up) but when selecting one of the files, I get a message saying *seek failed on an unnamed file*. It then shows just one, first created, character with all stats set to 3.

- Is there a way to get this working on Win7 x 64? and
- When/if we can get it working, can other party members be tweaked as well?

Sorry for all the questions - one seems to lead swiftly to another...

edit: Ah - I think I've got it! After the message, I noticed that bar below the character pic. If I scroll right and then left again, it seems to work. I've tweaked my characters, checked the new edited save and it seems to have worked.

Sir, you are a genius! Done what you advised and worked perfectly.