Gold Box: Spells and their Uses

I'm afraid of what loving this spell so much says about me.

Note: This was updated on 23 September 2014, after I finished Secret of the Silver Blades, to cover the spells in that game and Champions of Krynn.

In a comment on my "Behold" posting, PetrusOctavianus and Tristan Gall educated me as to the virtues of the "Enlarge" spell, which--oh, stop snickering--increases the size and strength of the subject. Unlike many D&D spells, it increases in potency with the mage's level, such that, according to the game manual, "if the caster is 6th level, the target becomes as strong as an ogre; if the caster is 10th level, the target becomes as strong as a fire giant."

It's an extremely useful spell--a bevy of them cast before a big combat can easily turn the tables--and yet I had entirely overlooked it. 

Because of this, after I finished with Dracandros, I forced myself to spend some time in random ruins, determined to cast every spell in the game and note its effects, not just for this game but for all future ones. (My research was helped considerably by a Ring of Wizardry that we found in Dracandros's tower, which doubles my mage's available first-third level spells.) These are the results of my investigations, with the understanding that I didn't cast all spells against all enemies. What I'm looking for are any comments about spells I may not be giving enough credit (or, I suppose, those that I'm giving too much credit). I'll carry this knowledge to the next game and update this list accordingly.

For experimentation purposes, my cleric memorizes an unconventional list of spells.

This is a long posting, and perhaps serves better as a reference rather than something that you read through all at once. I thought it was important to list all the spells because we're going to encounter this same list again and again--for I think 7 more games.

(I have some broader thoughts about the Vancian magic system, but I'm saving those for a later posting. For those unversed in the D&D spell system, suffice to say that both clerics and mages get a certain number of "spell slots" at each level and must "memorize" the spells during periods of sleeping. Thus, you can only re-stock spells at places and times where it's safe to rest.)

Cleric Spells

First Level

Bless. Increases the party's "to hit" rolls by 1. Not terribly powerful, but it also doesn't hurt to cast it just before combat to give the party a slight edge. I wouldn't waste a round on it in combat.

Curse. Reduces the "to hit" rolls of monsters by 1. Partly because the effects are so paltry and partly because enemies who start the game next to party members are immune, I don't think it's worth a combat round, and unlike "Bless," it can't be cast before combat. I'd rather the priest spent it attacking or casting a better spell.

Cure Light Wounds. Healing only 1-8 hit points, it loses its usefulness at higher levels, but it is helpful for getting unconscious characters on their feet before the end of a battle, mostly so they'll get the experience for the battle. En masse, it's useful outside of combat.

Cause Light Wounds. Damages 1-8. Useless now that my priest is capable of doing more than that with a melee weapon.

Detect Magic. Determines what items are magical. Useful at the end of combats to help figure out what to take. I don't waste a cleric slot on it, though; I have my ranger memorize the comparable mage spell.

Protection from Evil. Improves AC and saving throws by 2 against evil enemies, but only for one character. Theoretically useful, but obviated by the paladin's innate abilities and the fourth-level spell that protects the entire party.

Protection from Good. You rarely fight good characters in this series, even as an evil party. I can't imagine when I'd use this.

Resist Cold. Halves cold-based damage and improves saving throws by 3, but only for one character. I don't think Curse features a single cold-based attacker, but Secret certainly does. Like "Resist Fire," when I find I need it, I'll have my cleric dump everything else, memorize six of these, and re-memorize my older spells after the key combat.

As you can see, the cleric swiftly outgrows the first level. I generally keep a couple of "Bless" in memory and save the rest for "Cure Light Wounds."

Second Level

Find Traps. Does what it says, and with greater success than the thief. But traps are rare. I keep one for when I need it.

Hold Person. Paralyzes up to three humanoid targets. Extremely useful even though it often fails. 

Resist Fire. Halves fire-based damage and improves saving throws by 3. It's more useful in this game than "Resist Cold," since I've faced enemies like efreets and salamanders, but again it's something that you memorize in a hurry when you know you'll need it.

Silence 15' Radius. Prevents the target and those adjacent to him from casting spells. I haven't given this one the attention it deserves, preferring to hold or damage rather than silence spellcasters, though "Silence" seems to have a greater chance of success. You can also cast it on your own party members and then maneuver them into a radius of the enemy spellcasters.

Slow Poison. When a character is poisoned in the game, he immediately "dies." "Neutralize Poison" will cure the poison and revive him; "Slow" will revive him for a while, but when it wears off, the character dies permanently. I think it's too risky to use, and I haven't been poisoned in this game anyway.

Snake Charm. Charms snakes, which actually paralyzes them rather than turning them against the attackers. Why there aren't "charm" spells for other creatures, I don't know. It's useful for one battle in Pool, none in Curse, but quite a few in Secret.

"Snake Charm" came in real handy the one time I faced snakes.

 
Spiritual Hammer creates a temporary magic hammer that "does normal hammer damage." Rendered obsolete by any magic weapon, or a stock of regular hammers for that matter.

I thus spend almost all of my Level 2 slots on "Hold Person," with one "Find Traps" in reserve.

Third Level

Animate Dead. This spell appeared in Pool but didn't make the transition to the later games, perhaps because the second game didn't have the same NPC system. It basically turns any dead PC into a zombie NPC who no longer gains experience. It has a few potential uses: you could use it on an existing NPC to keep him from getting a share of the treasure, or on elf party members (who otherwise can't be raised, but since you generally have every incentive to keep a living, experience-gaining party (of both PCs and NPCs), it's hard to see using this much.

Bestow Curse. Reduces enemy THAC0 and saving throws by 4. I'm not sure why I'd use this instead of "Cause Blindness," which does the same things and affects the armor class besides. I guess some enemies are probably immune to blindness. Anyway, I rarely get into this kind of statistics-adjusting on the individual level. Maybe in a tough battle with a "boss-level" foe.

Cure Blindness. Does what it says. I've encountered nothing in any Gold Box game (so far) that blinds me.

 

Cause Blindness. Blinds one's enemy and thus "reduces the target's THAC0, armor class, and saving throws by 4." I'm assuming this is a typo, and that it increases the AC by 4, or I'm inadvertently helping them. In any event, I should probably spend a slot on it for those rare occasions when a single tank-like fighter gives me trouble, but generally I've ignored it.

Cure Disease. Does what it says, although I haven't found any disease-causing agents in Curse or Secret. I often keep one around, just in case.

Cause Disease. "Gives the target a disease that saps his strength and HP." Without knowing exactly how much, I'm not sure I trust the spell enough to spend a slot on it.

Dispel Magic. Removes the effects of general magic spells. Very useful, and I always keep a few handy for characters who get held or charmed. I found it was less useful in Secret, since almost anything it dispels is ineffective against my characters' heightened saving throws.

Prayer. Improves "to hit" rolls and saving throws of the party by 1 while simultaneously reducing enemies' by 1. Like casting "Bless" and "Curse" at the same time, but it actually stacks with "Bless" and can be cast outside combat. I always have at least one of these ready for pre-combat buffing.

Prayer is an important component in pre-combat buffing.

 
Remove Curse. Dispels "Curse" spells and cursed items. Enemies rarely curse me, but it's useful for the occasional cursed item. I find it easier to memorize and cast it when I need it rather than carrying it around.

Fourth Level

Cure Serious Wounds. Supposed to heal 3-17. I find that it almost always heals the low end of that range; otherwise it would be more useful than "Cure Light Wounds" in combat.
 

Cause Serious Wounds. I've decided to carry one of these around. It does 3-17 damage--often less than my melee weapon, but with a near-100% chance of working. Good for when you absolutely must cause damage, or finish off an enemy, this round.

Neutralize Poison. Obviously useful for when it happens, but I've yet to experience it in Curse. I got poisoned a lot more in Pool of Radiance, and it seems odd that it's such a high-level spell. (In Secret, poison came back significantly.)

Poison. Target has to make a saving throw versus poison or die. From my experimentation, I need to spend more slots on this. It often doesn't work, but when it does work, the instant kill is very satisfying.

Protection from Evil, 10' Radius. Like the regular "Protection from Evil," but affects everyone in a radius. I prefer this one for its mass effect, and I almost always use it as a buffing spell before combat.Yes, my paladin has it innately, but it's not easy to keep everyone next to the paladin. If I cast a couple of these on other party members, I increase the odds that everyone will benefit.

Sticks to Snakes. Perhaps the silliest spell in the cleric repertoire. The caster hurls a bunch of sticks at the enemy, which turn into snakes and occupy the target for a few rounds. It almost always fails, and even when it succeeds, it's not nearly as useful as "Hold" spells.

I've typically memorized only "Cure Serious Wounds" and "Protection from Evil" at this level, but thanks to my research, I'm spreading things out a little more.

Fifth Level

Cure Critical Wounds. It supposedly heals 6-27, but like it's predecessor, I find that it's almost always at the low end of the range. I like to keep one to heal melee characters in combat, though most characters who get so low they need it are highly likely to get knocked unconscious (or killed) in the following round anyway.

Cause Critical Wounds. Does 6-27 damage with no saving throw. Has similar virtues to "Cause Serious Wounds," but since it occupies the same spell level as "Slay Living," I think the latter is a better use of the slot.

Dispel Evil. An odd one. Supposedly, when cast on a party member, it improves the character's armor class by 7 "versus summoned evil creatures." When the character hits an evil creature in combat, "it must save versus spells or be dispelled." The problem is, I don't know what constitutes a "summoned creature." If it's limited to those summoned in combat, that literally has never happened, and I don't think the spells even exist in this game.

Flame Strike: 6-48 damage on one target with a chance that the target will make a saving throw and receive half damage. Sounds good, but I think "Slay Living" is a better use of the spell slot.

Raise Dead: Raises dead characters. Useful, of course, but raising characters in this version of the AD&D rules, whether by spell or temple, subtracts a point of constitution. Also, the system of "unconsciousness" in the Gold Box series (characters with between 0 and -10 hit points become "unconscious" instead of killed; if bandaged, they can be revived at the end of the combat) means that individual characters rarely die without taking the entire party with them. I don't keep it memorized.

Slay Living. The enemy target has to make a save versus death or die. But even if he makes the save, he still loses 3-17 hit points. Since even at its worst, it does almost as much damage as "Cause Critical Wounds" or "Flame Strike," and has a chance of causing instant death besides, I find it a better use of the slot than either of those.

I use fifth-level slots almost entirely for "Slay Living," with perhaps one "Cure Critical Wounds" in reserve.

Sixth Level

Heal. Cures disease, blindness, feeblemindedness, and restores all except 1-4 hit points. I don't know why it couldn't restore all hit points, but whatever. One of only two Level 6 spells, and it's too useful to bother with the other.

Harm. Does "terrible damage" to a living creature, leaving only 1-4 hit points. "Heal" is so useful that I haven't taken to memorizing "Harm," so I don't really know if the enemies get saving throws or what. If not, I suppose I could be persuaded to learn it once I have three Level 6 slots.

Magic-User Spells

First Level

Burning Hands. Does 1 point of fire damage per level of the caster. Even with no saving throw, underperforms "Magic Missile" at any level.

Charm Person. Turns one humanoid opponent to your side. It's awesome when it works, but it hardly ever does. I usually keep one around.

Detect Magic. Same as the cleric spell. It's worth having a few memorized to help sort through the post-combat equipment, but I prefer to have my ranger do it.

Enlarge. This is the spell that prompted my investigations. It basically makes every character a better melee fighter. I try to keep enough to cast on my weaker characters before a big battle.

Reduce. Negates an "Enlarge" spell if active, otherwise reduces an enemy in size and power. It seemed promising, but it disappeared after Curse of the Azure Bonds.

Friends. Raises the caster's charisma by 2-8. I have no idea when I would use this spell, or for what reason. I haven't seen any encounters dependent on charisma, and it's not like you have to eke every gold piece out of a shopkeeper in this series.

Magic Missile. An excellent offensive spell that just gets better as the mage increases levels. Each missile only does 2-5 damage, but a Level 11 mage casts 6 of them at once. It casts instantly, there's no saving throw, it has a huge range, and hardly anyone is immune to them.

Protection from Evil. Same as the cleric spell of the same name. No way I'm wasting a first-level mage slot on this.

Protection from Good. Just as useless as the analogous cleric spell, even for evil parties. It disappeared from the mage repertoire after Curse.

Read Magic. Serves as an "identify" spell, but only for magic scrolls. I rarely need to identify them so quickly that I can't just wait until the party gets back to town.

Shield. Protects against magic missile, increases armor class, and improves saving throws. This is another one that I've been completely ignoring and probably serves as a decent pre-combat buffing spell.

Shocking Grasp. Does 1-8 damage plus 1 per level of the caster. Thus, after Level 5, it underperforms "Magic Missile." I've never used it because "Magic Missile" casts at a range and you need to be next to the enemy for "Shocking Grasp." I suppose at low levels it might be a good emergency spell for when enemies charge the mage in melee.

Sleep. Puts 1-16 enemies to sleep. It was great in Pool of Radiance, but it only works on low-level enemies. It hasn't worked once for me in Curse. It mysteriously remains in the Secret manual despite being effective on none of the enemies in the game.

"Sleep" was fantastic against low-level monsters in Pool of Radiance

(As an aside, every time I cast either "Sleep" or "Hold," I can't help but think how horrible it would be to be a victim of one of those spells. In the thick of combat, arrows flying, swords singing, and suddenly your limbs or paralyzed, or you feel your self collapse lethargically to the ground. At that point, you know it's just a matter of time before one of your foes comes over to administer the killing blow while you're helpless, and you won't even be able to defend yourself. If magic was real, "Sleep" and "Hold" would be outlawed by the Geneva Convention.)
 

Lots of spells in Level 1, but I generally keep my slots filled with only three of them: "Charm Person," "Enlarge," and "Magic Missile."

Second Level

Detect Invisibility. Does what it says, allowing party members to target invisible creatures (who are normally untargetable). Few enemies have this ability, and it's tough to determine when an enemy is invisible (he still shows up on the screen; you have to notice that the game won't let you target him).

Invisibility. Makes the target invisible, reducing "to hit" rolls of melee attackers by 4 and making it impossible for enemies to target ranged weapons or spells. But as in most games, it disappears when the character makes an attack or casts a spell. I suppose it would be useful when fleeing (which I never do) or perhaps to protect a spellcaster for the first round.

Knock. Opens locks. There have been a few of these in the game, but the thief's picking skill usually does the trick, and "bashing" works when that fails. I often keep one in memory just in case.

Mirror Image. Creates 1-4 duplicates of the caster which disappear when attacked. A useful protective spell, and I keep one in memory to cast before difficult combats.

Ray of Enfeeblement. Makes the target weak to the tune of -25% strength plus -2% per level of the caster (that's -47% at my level). Theoretically valuable against tough melee opponents, but I've been ignoring it, particularly since you have to already be in melee range to cast it.

Stinking Cloud. Creates a 2x2 square of noxious gas. At best (but rarely), it paralyzes targets. At worst, it prevents them from casting spells and increases their armor class. As some commenters have pointed out, aside from its direct benefits, it's useful because monsters won't walk into it, so you can use it to shape the battlefield the way you want. I usually have one or two at hand for that purpose, or to cast on groups of spellcasters.

Strength. Raises strength by 1-8, but only to a maximum of 18(00). (Why this and "Friends," but not spells that increase the other attributes?) Before I found out about "Enlarge," I used it a lot pre-combat to make decent melee fighters out of my weaker character. But "Enlarge" doesn't have the cap, so it performs a lot better. I keep a couple of "Strength" spells memorized only so I don't spend six slots on "Enlarge."

There are fairly useful spells at this level, although I wish there were a couple of directly-offensive ones (when does "Melf's Acid Arrow" appear?). I keep the slots spread between "Mirror Image," "Stinking Cloud," and "Strength."

Third Level

Blink. Protects the magic user by having him "blink out" after he acts each round, making it impossible for anyone to hit or target him. It would be fantastic, especially for those rounds in which the mage goes early, except that there are so many other awesome third-level spells.
 

Dispel Magic. Removes magic effects from one character. Great spell, but I prefer to use the cleric version and save the Level 3 spell slots for other mage spells.

Fireball. Perhaps the most useful spell in the game, or at least the one I like the most. Does 1d6 per damage for every level of the caster, and over an enormous 37-square area indoors. When I face a large group of enemies all bunched together, I get tingles. Enemies often make saving throws for half-damage, but even then it can disrupt every enemy spellcaster and soften them up spectacularly. It never gets old.

An arrangement custom-made for a fireball.

 
Haste. Doubles the movement of the party, including the number of melee attacks per round. The effects are great, but it comes at the high price of aging the party one year every time it's cast. Only worth it for very difficult boss battles.

Hold Person. Same as the cleric spell, but affects 4 targets instead of 3. I prefer to leave this to the clerics.

Invisibility, 10' radius. Same as "Invisibility," but can affect every character if cast at the beginning of combat. It's a good way to start combat right, and to make the party immune to spellcasters who go before the party members. A good use of this spell is to "Delay" all character actions until the end of the round, after every foe has moved (and generally done something ineffective). I suppose you could memorize multiple iterations of the spell and ensure that your mage goes last every round, effectively giving your party unfettered ranged attacks for a few rounds.

Lightning Bolt. Another fantastic spell, vying with "Fireball" for usefulness. It also does 1d6 damage per level, but in a straight line of 4-8 squares (and it will even rebound off walls). It's great for when enemies line up instead of "bunching."

Protection from Evil, 10' Radius. Same as the cleric spell, and since there are so many useful Level 3 mage spells, I prefer to leave this one to the clerics.

Protection from Good, 10' Radius. I can't imagine a greater waste of a Level 3 mage slot.

Protection from Normal Missiles. Makes the caster immune to non-magic missile weapons. These are relatively rare in the game. The spell would perhaps be useful if enemies with missile weapons had better AI and tried to target the mage, but they don't. I can't see spending a slot on it.

Slow. Halves targets' movements and melee attacks. It affects one enemy per level of the caster. It seems like a useful spell that I've generally ignored in favor of "Lightning Bolt" and "Fireball." I should experiment with it more.

As you can see, Level 3 has some spectacular spells. I wish more of these had been available at Level 2 or Level 4. I generally prioritize "Fireball" and "Lightning Bolt" but keep an "Invisibility, 10' Radius" and "Haste" in reserve when I start to get more than 3 or 4 Level 3 slots.

Fourth Level

Charm Monster. Works like "Charm Person" but on any creature. It has a greater chance of success (though still not high) and affects more than one monster. It's always useful to turn an enemy to your side.
 

Confusion. Puts 2-16 targets in a confused state, which sometimes makes them flee, sometimes makes them attack their comrades, and sometimes makes them just stand around. Another spell that I haven't given as much attention to as it deserves. It often fails.

Dimension Door. Teleports the mage from one point on the battlefield to another. I can't think of any reason I'd use this except to escape, and intelligent movement of the mage means you'll never be in a position where it's necessary.

Fear. Causes enemies to flee. That sounds nice in theory, but you actually want to avoid fleeing enemies. At best, you have to chase them down or take them out with missile weapons. At worst, they escape off the screen, and you don't get their experience or items. "Confusion" is a better use of the slot.

Fire Shield. A neat spell that shrouds the mage in either flames or ice. Not only does it protect against attacks of the same kind, but creatures who hit the mage in melee combat receives twice the damage they cause in return. A nice punishing spell, and I like to cast it before battle. I'm not a big fan of enemies who cast it.

Fumble. Affects one target and causes him to just stand around. If it fails, the target still comes under the effects of a "Slow" spell. I guess it could be useful, but at this level we should be way past targeting one enemy at a time. [Later edit: In the comments below, PetrusOctavianus says that it works well against dragons, who have lousy saving throws, making them "forget" to use their breath attacks.]

Ice Storm. 3-30 hit points of damage to a 21-square area, with no saving throw. It's a useful mass-damage spell, but unlike "Fireball" it doesn't increase in damage as the mage increases in level. I like to keep one around for enemies immune to fire damage.

Minor Globe of Invulnerability. Protects the mage against first- through third-level spells. Potentially useful, but I don't often face enough enemy mages that I can't disrupt their spellcasting. Outclassed by "Globe of Invulnerability" later.

Remove Curse. Same as the third-level cleric spell. Since it's rarely needed, I wouldn't waste a mage spell slot on it.

Bestow Curse. Again, same as the third-level cleric spell. It makes a single melee fighter a little weaker and more vulnerable. It seems very weak for a fourth-level mage spell, and it's gone by Secret of the Silver Blades.

For fourth-level spells, I rarely go outside "Charm Monster," "Confusion," "Fire Shield," and "Ice Storm."

Fifth Level

Cloud Kill. Creates a 3x3 area of poison gas in which lower-level enemies instantly die. This is a great spell in the Infinity Engine games because enemies that don't die instantly take damage every round. I remember a few areas in which I had fun opening a door, firing off a "Cloud Kill," slamming the door shut, and watching my foes take continual damage for five or six rounds. The Gold Box version doesn't do damage to enemies it doesn't kill, though, making it much less useful. It also has a miserable casting range of only 2 squares, and it centers where you cast it.

Viola fails to kill an ettin with a "Cloudkill."

Cone of Cold. 2-5 damage per caster level to all targets in a "cone shaped area." I have a really tough time lining up the spell to hit the enemies I want (and none of my allies), but it's the only really sure-thing offensive spell at this level.

Feeblemind. Reduces the intelligence and wisdom of the target to 3, which makes him incapable of casting spells and worsens saving throws. I keep one on hand for boss-level magic users, although I find that they usually save against it.

Hold Monster. Works like "Hold Person" but on any monster, and up to 4 targets per casting. It often fails, but it's fantastic when it works, allowing any character to kill the monster with an immediate coup de grâce.

I tend to load up on "Hold Monster" at this level, perhaps keeping one "Feeblemind" and one "Cone of Cold."

Sixth Level

Death Spell. Immediately kills opponents in adjacent squares to where it's cast. Awesome when it works, but I find that high-level foes almost always save against it.

Disintegrate. Instant kill on one target. Doesn't work on some creatures, but a surprising number of high-level foes will fall to it.

Flesh to Stone. Petrifies enemies who don't make a saving throw. I guess what I need to do is work out whether this works more often than "Disintegrate" or vice versa, as they both have the same effect.

Globe of Invulnerability. Protects against all spells of Level 1-4. I think it's an absolutely essential buffing spell for mages, keeping them from getting disrupted by "Hold Peson," "Fireball," "Lightning Bolt," or "Magic Missile" before they can cast.

Stone to Flesh. Counters the effects of stoning, which happens so often in Secret of the Silver Blades that you need to keep at least one in memory.

Tough choices at this level. Each is useful enough to have one in inventory, but you only get 2 or 3.

Seventh Level

Delayed Blast Fireball. A more powerful version of "Fireball" that defeats globes of invulnerability. The "delay" part doesn't make any sense in the Gold Box engine--in fact, it casts instantly, which "Fireball" doesn't--but otherwise just as awesome as "Fireball."
  

Mass Invisibility. I guess this is useful to avoid having to keep everyone bunched together after casting "Invisibility, 10' Radius." Otherwise duplicates that spell, so I wouldn't waste what could be another "Fireball' on it.

Power Word, Stun. A curiously lame spell for such a high level. It effects only one creature, the caster has to be directly adjacent to the target, and unlike "Hold," stunning just makes the enemy inert; it doesn't freeze him for a coup de grâce like "Hold." The only thing I can think is that enemies need higher saving throws against it? Either way, "Fireball" is the better option.

No question here: every slot goes to "Delayed Blast Fireball."

Druid Spells

Although the Gold Box series doesn't allow a druid class, there are a small selection of druid spells available to rangers.

First Level

Detect Magic. Works the same as the mage and cleric spells. Since druid spells are otherwise less useful than the ranger simply attacking for a round, I have him memorize these exclusively.

Entangle. Keeps a target from moving, which sounds nice, but it only works outdoors, where I rarely fight. Again, I'd just have the ranger attack.

Faerie Fire. Creates a halo around the enemy and reduces armor class by 2. I can't see spending a round on it.

Invisibility to Animals. Does what it says. For those rare battles exclusively with animals (I literally can't think of one in Curse or Secret), you might as well use the regular mage "Invisibility" spell.

Second Level

Barkskin. A decent buffing spell that reduces AC by 1. It certainly doesn't hurt anything.

Charm Person or Mammal. Like the first-level mage spell but affects any mammal. By the time you get it, most foes have strong saving throws and the ranger is such a good attacker, it's hard to see him spending a round on this. But I should experiment more.

Cure Light Wounds. Same as the first-level cleric spell. Useful for an extra couple of castings.

I tend to memorize "Barkskin" and "Cure Light Wounds" exclusively.

Closing Thoughts

A lot of the spells I've tagged as "useless" are largely about micromanaging statistics: increasing hit rolls and saving throws for the party, decreasing them from the enemy, boosting immunity to certain spell types, and so forth. To me, such spells would make more sense if the combats lasted a lot longer, but the battle against the beholder corps aside, I can't think of one that has lasted more than four or five rounds.

I'm perfectly happy to do this tweaking in camp, just before entering a big battle, but not at the expense of a spell slot better used for an offensive spell, and certainly not at the expense of some action while in combat. I'd much rather just take a swing at an enemy, hitting or missing, than to spend a round casting a spell that might increase my chances of hitting by 20% in the next round.

My tactics might change in later games if the enemies themselves change. There was one memorable battle in Dracondrus's tower with a high-level Drow fighter with a very low armor class and over 100 hit points. Even though I was overpowered for the area, many of my attacks swished by him, and he did a good job pounding down my hit points with multiple attacks per round. If there were more battles like this--against small groups of very powerful foes--it might make more sense to me to have my priests and mages dancing in the periphery of combat, casting spells that slightly altered my melee fighters' odds. We'll see if that happens in later games.

I will update and re-post this entry after I experience Secret of the Silver Blades and Champions of Krynn in 1990, and I'll make edits based on comments that you leave below.

Pool of Radiance: Final Rating

The heroes and I enjoy a strong one after a long quest.

          

Pool of Radiance

United States

Strategic Simulations, Inc. (developer and publisher)

Released 1988 for DOS and Commodore 64; 1989 for Apple II, Macintosh, PC-88, and PC-98; 1990 for Amiga and Sharp X1, 1991 for NES

Date Started: 31 May 2011

Date Ended: 11 June 2011

Total Hours: 30

Difficulty: Moderate (3.0/5)

Final Rating: 65

Ranking at time of posting: 57/57 (100%)
Ranking at Game #453: 451/453 (100%)

      

You don't need to read to the end to get to the important news: Pool of Radiance is the best game I've played since starting this blog. I knew it would be from the second or third day. The variety of encounters is rivaled only by Might & Magic, and the tactical combat system is unparalleled. I loved it.

Here's the GIMLET. Incidentally, I'm drinking an actual gimlet right now--a tradition I will continue when writing "final rating" postings from now on.

1. Game World. It's tough to evaluate this, because Pool of Radiance is part of a larger Forgotten Realms campaign setting that has more history and lore than I will ever read in my lifetime. I grant you that it is not the most exciting of D&D campaign settings. It's a sort-of generic high fantasy realm, large enough to include derivatives from almost every mythology. Dark Sun, Ravenloft, Planescape, and other settings are more interesting (if more confusing sometimes!).

Even judging solely by what is presented in the game, however, the game world is evocative, thorough, and well-built. At the outset, the player knows the important history around the Moonsea and the circumstances that have led to the party's immediate quest. As the game moves forward, the player learns about the land and its lore through conversations with NPCs and entries in the Adventurer's Journal.

Particularly notable is the way that the game responds to character actions. Once cleared, areas remain clear. If you kill Yarash, the land around the Barren River stops being polluted (the game even changes the look of the map). Break cover after sneaking, and the entire area is on alert for you--even after you leave and return. Once you solve quests, you can't do them again. If you make friends with the nomads, they stop attacking you in the wilderness. This sort of dynamic game world is rare in the era. Heck, it's rare even now--most games deal with this issue by constantly propelling you forward and refusing to let you re-visit older areas, where they'd have to program new reactions from NPCs. It's satisfying to reclaim the blocks of Phlan, one by one, and see signs that the entire city is improving from the effort. One quibble: I never did get the guards next to the gates to the slums to stop looking at me suspiciously.

The contrast on these two screens, one from the beginning of the game and one from the end, epitomize the game's attention to an evolving game world.

           
I can hardly think of anything negative to say about this aspect, but I want to reserve 10s for games that offer a truly original experience and really pack it full of lore (e.g., Morrowind, Dragon Age). Score: 8.

2. Character Creation and Development. The first edition AD&D rules didn't offer a lot of customization, and this game strips it down even more. You have your basic set of six attributes, and a standard selection of races and classes. The level caps on certain races are annoying and simply discourage use of those races, and the level caps on mages and clerics--which you reach well before the end of the game--are infuriating. But overall leveling is well-paced (barring setbacks from level-drainers).

My biggest complaint is that the game doesn't use any of the races, sexes, classes, and alignments in a way that changes the game encounters. Perhaps the only exception is that if you have a thief, there's one section where some other thieves show you a shortcut. That's about it.

To make up for the lack of character customization in the adaptation of the AD&D rules, the creators did allow some customization of appearance, which is rather rare even today. I thought the character portrait choices looked silly, but I did appreciate the ability to customize the icons. In games that give you a standard icon, like Demon's Winter, I often forget who's who. And appearance can be an important step in role-playing, allowing you to create (literally) a white knight or an assassin dressed in black. Score: 6.

3. NPC Interaction. Although the game doesn't go so far as to offer "dialog options"--the only game to really offer that so far has been Starflight--it does offer various options at certain NPC encounters. Sometimes these are basic--"talk" or "attack"--and other times they are quite extensive--as when I had dinner with the Zhent commandant and had options to talk about politics, magic, the city, and so on. NPCs like the dutiful clerk, the traitorous Cadorna, and the pious Dirten are memorable even if you don't get to talk much with them.

The ability to take on NPCs in your party is a fun addition. Might & Magic offered it, but once you hired them, they essentially became part of your party. In this game, they still have minds of their own--as the final battle with Tyranthraxus made all too clear. Score: 6.

4. Encounters and Foes. Both rock. I can't think of any other game so far with so much variety in the types of encounters that you face. There's a traitor chained to the wall: do you free him, kill him, or interrogate him? Your mission is to stop the lizard man menace: do you do it by championing the old lizard man against his rival, or by just killing them all? You need to rescue a little boy from the buccaneer den: do you pick the lock and sneak out with him, free some nearby zoo animals to create a distraction, buy him from his jailers, or just kill all of the slavers? This is one of the only games to allow real role-playing options in the way you handle encounters, both quest-based and non-quest-based.

At the same time, the foes are well-described in the game manual and have satisfying variations in strengths and weaknesses. It's hard to call them "unique," because Dungeons & Dragons is the template on which all other games are based, but the creators did do a great job including each monster's unique characteristics. Trolls regenerate and get up if you don't finish them off quickly. Phase spiders are un-hittable every other round. Fire giants shrug off fireballs. Basilisks and medusas turn you to stone--unless you have a mirror. This, admittedly, is no different than Might & Magic. But the tactical combat grid offers you the additional advantage of seeing each foe as a distinct creature instead of "16 skeletons." [Later edit: As Petrus points out below, the encounters in this game are also somewhat unique for the era in that they make sense both internally and externally: you don't find parties consisting of elves, mummies, and trolls strolling together down the Phlan waterfront.]

The ability to parlay with most sentient monsters is a great inclusion, rendered even better by how different creatures react to different options. I loved watching kobolds run in terror when I yelled at them, but I was careful to be "sly" with ogres and "nice" to nomads--at least, if I wanted to avoid a fight. This game ties with Starflight as the highest-rated so far: 8.

5. Magic and Combat. I honestly can't think of many games in the 30-year history of CRPGs whose combat systems I like better than the Gold Box series. It is hands-down the most tactical system I have encountered--a perfect blend of CRPG and strategy game. It only gets better in future games as the number of spells increases and give you more options. Because you can only recover spells by sleeping, and because you can't go to sleep in most places until you've cleared them, the game strikes a good balance between individual-combat difficulty (as in Might & Magic) and accumulation-of-combats difficulty (as in Wizardry). The times that I died in combat, I never thought that my failure was random; rather, I could see how a specific change in tactics would turn a battle in my favor.

Duskfire's end-game spellbook.

The magic system is inextricably a part of the combat system, from the buffing spells you cast before a big encounter to the offensive spells you cast during combat. Although I thought some of the spells were useless, they all work as advertised. I've never quite understood the rationale behind the "memorization" system of Dungeons & Dragons spellcasting, but neither do I mind it. Yes, repeatedly resting and casting "cure light wounds" was annoying at times, but that's my only real complaint.

The turn-based, tactical nature of the combat allows you to really role-play in combat, something you can rarely do in other games. If you decide your lead fighter hates giants, you can have him recklessly charge ranks of them without waiting for support. You can play a mage who fancies himself a melee fighter, or a scared cleric who likes to hide in the rear. You can attack in formation--lining up and moving relentlessly down a hallway--or make it a free-for-all.

A line of fighters blocks the entrance to the hallway to protect the cleric.

I allow, of course, that many later games improve upon combat by offering more interesting and advanced spells and character-specific abilities, liking hiding-in-shadows, setting traps, summoning monsters, shapeshifting, special attacks and defenses, and so on. Yet how many of these later games have a "guard" option, or let you take a swipe at a fleeing enemy's rear, or allow enemies to flee or surrender if their morale gets too low? There are hardly any other games--ancient or modern--that achieve such a perfect blend of melee combat, spells, item use, morale, and (albeit limited) special abilities. Score: 8.

6. Equipment. Not bad but nothing special. There are the standard D&D selections of weapons and armor, with various pluses, and some special items like the "flame tongue" long sword. There are a few magic rings, potions, wands, and such. A couple of cursed items. For me, D&D won't start getting very high scores in this area until the Infinity engine games introduce detailed item descriptions, and even they don't score that high because the location of each magic item, as in this game, is entirely fixed.

Karnov's inventory at game's end.

I did think it was odd that my multi-classed mages could use any weapons and armor, but I don't know whether to regard that as a positive or negative. Ditto the game's odd compulsion to introduce literally every obscure pole-arm. Score: 5.

7. Economy. Oh, dear. The creators did such a good job with almost everything else in this game--how hard would it have been to program a decent economic system? Some of my commenters have opined that the basic problem was that experience rewards were tied to cash rewards, so you had to get a lot of money to get a lot of experience at higher levels. I say: would that have been so hard to change? Or try this: keep the absurd cash rewards, but give me something to buy with it! Why don't any of the shops sell advanced magic weapons and armor? (Magic ammunition would have been particularly welcome.) Why aren't there more encounters where I have to pay someone off? Why don't the temples have a "heal all" option? (The reason I didn't use them for regular healing wasn't the cost, but rather that casting spells individually on each character took as long as memorizing them and casting them myself.)

Just for fun, at the end of the game I sold every piece of jewelry and every gem I had. Since platinum pieces are worth 5 gold, I have 588,409 gold pieces. And that's without even trying--I left most treasure where it lay. To put this in perspective, I could enter Candlekeep 59 times. I could pay 30 thieves' guilds to tell me where the Cowled Wizards were keeping my sister. I could buy Rosethorn Hall in Skingrad 12 times and still have enough left over to furnish it.

The game gets unbalanced economically very fast. I stopped bothering to collect money from corpses before I had even cleared the slums. I left heaps of gold and platinum sparkling in the sun, because they weigh you down.

I don't even think the game gained a lot by incorporating D&D's full selection of coin types. Aside from the beginning stages, the economy is just one big fail. Score: 3.

8. Quests. Quests in this game come in the form of a series of progressive "missions" from the City Clerk, culminating in the main quest to overthrow Tyranthraxus. The precursor quests seem like steps in the main quest but they're not, really. Other than your level, I don't think there's anything to stop you from marching on Valjevo Castle the moment you arrive in Phlan. There are even quests, like slaying Norris the Gray, that never come up as an official mission. There are a couple of quests that you don't get from the City Clerk, but I actually wish there had been more of these. Again, CRPGs won't start to get perfect scores here until they feature multiple quest endings and better roleplaying opportunities, but this game is second only to the Might & Magic series in its variety in this era. Score: 7.

This was before she liked me.

9. Graphics, Sound, and Inputs. This is an era in which the best we can usually say about sound is "I didn't turn it off." I'm not claiming the sound in Pool of Radiance is good, but at least I didn't turn it off. There aren't many sounds, but the footsteps are inoffensive, the sound that melee weapons make when they connect is actually fairly satisfying, and fireballs actually sound a little like big balls of fire. The graphics aren't beautiful, but they're quite good for the era--especially the animated monster portraits (apparently copied from the Monster Manual of the time). Characters and monsters are easily distinguishable by icon. The outdoor terrain actually verges on pretty, although the indoor areas--despite having a lot of textures--suffers from a certain barrenness. It's evolving.

As for the controls (all keyboard), I picked them up almost immediately and never had to think about them after that. This is good. Score: 6.

10. Gameplay. The game is well-balanced between linearity and nonlinearity. When you first arrive in Phlan, you can pretty much only go to two places: the slums and Sokol Keep. After that, the game world opens up. Although levels and monster difficulty (not to mention the order of quests) keep you on a somewhat limited path, you do have quite a bit of freedom.

I thought the difficulty was just about right. I want to say maybe a little on the "too easy" side, but I think my own CRPG experience might be showing here. I only had to raise dead three times (and once was because of an ill-advised duel), and I only suffered full-party death five or six times. The game was certainly perfect in length. You can tell when I'm ready for a game to be over because I stop making meticulous maps and notes, and I didn't start doing that until literally the last map area. The only thing keeping it from getting a perfect score is that it's not really "replayable": different character choices would still offer the same basic experience. Score: 8.

The final score of 65 puts Pool of Radiance at the top of the heap, 5 points above its next-nearest competitor (the first Might & Magic). We won't be away from the Gold Box series long: Curse of the Azure Bonds comes up in less than 20 games. I remember it even less than Pool of Radiance--I'm not sure if I ever finished it as a youth--so I really look forward to it.

Next up is a sequel to a game that I didn't play on this blog: Questron II.

Pool of Radiance: Won!

A gaze in your eyes is all the reward I require, you high-cheekboned vixen.

The Moonsea is safe for democracy.

The end game came surprisingly quickly after my last posting, partly because I started to wane in my commitment to drawing a full map of each level. The last two areas--Stojanow Gate and Valjevo Castle--were both laid out as a series of buildings ringed around a central hub. It was easy to ensure that I explored the entire area without having to draw anything.

The moment we wandered into Stojanow Gate from Podol Plaza, some beatnik stopped us and divined that we wanted to buy his wagon even though we hadn't thought of such a thing for a second.

This screen is funny if you imagine that "sell you my wagon" is a metaphor for prostitution.

By this time, though, we had so much gold that we probably could have just paid Tyranthraxus to leave, so we were desperate to spend money on something. We bought the cart, which I gather was to serve as a disguise so we could get through Stojanow Gate. We hadn't taken five steps, though, before a bugbear patrol determined us "imposters" and attacked us. We'd been hearing about bugbears since we first stepped off the dock, but this was the first time we actually encountered any. They went down easily, but then an alarm sounded and our 250 GP cover was blown. We said "screw it" and launched a frontal assault on the gates, battering our way through while the enemy tossed rocks and arrows at us.


On the other side was a reasonably tough crowd consisting of six ettins, two Level 6 mages, and two Level 4 fighters.


You want to achieve CRPG bliss? Toss a fireball in the middle of a group like this. Watch some of them die and some of them just burn--and then hit them with another. Then send in your fighters to slice the throats of anyone who's still limping along with their third-degree burns.


With that one battle, the gate was ours, and there was literally nothing else to find in the entire 256-square map area. We marched forward to Valjevo Castle.

The Castle was actually four 16 x 16 maps mushed in several concentric squares. The castle itself was in the center (quartered among the four map areas). It was surrounded by a hedge maze, which in turn was surrounded by a ring of outbuildings. Though we ached to head right for the castle and kill Tyranthraxus, we forced ourselves to explore the outbuildings first. The encounters included:

• A group of laundresses who, angry that Tyranthraxus had conscripted their husbands, gave us some disguises. Like the cart, they didn't last long.

• A smith with three fire giants who saw through our disguise. Once they were dead, the game gave us an option to take from the smith's treasure cache, which included every non-magical weapon in the game--just in case I wanted to change my mind on the guisarme-voulge at the last minute.

Wand of Lightning: For when your enemy is immune to fireballs.

• Lord Porphyrys Cadorna the Traitor was chained in a small room, having been beaten--I guess the enemy blamed him for the failure to kill us at the Zhent outpost. He plead for his life, but we killed him like the Clerk demanded.

What happened to your hair, mustache, and beard?

• A room full of giant snakes! I was so delighted I almost wet myself. I'd been carrying around that damned snake charm spell for days--ProphetSword insisted it would come in handy--and damned if it didn't put them all to sleep. I need to have more faith.

I'll be damned.

• We started encountering random patrols who, when we spoke to them abusively, asked who sent us. When we told them TYRANTHRAXUS, they just bowed their heads and let us move along. Are the coalition forces even trying this in Afghanistan? "American! Who sent you?!" AYMAN AL-ZAWAHIRI. "A thousand apologies! Please pass!"

• A building full of records. Different files indicated that the Wizards of Thay were allied to Tyranthraxus and that his ultimate goal is to "conquer all lands south of the Moonsea." Why he's not interested in lands north of the Moonsea, given that's where Phlan is, remains a mystery.

• A gnoll overseer with some human slaves. One of them had overheard the password RHODIA to get through the inner castle gates.

• A mage in a tower who gave some notes on Tyranthraxus in exchange for his life. The notes said that Big T was "definitely a product of immersion in the Pool of Radiance," which granted him special abilities. They also suggested that he somehow brought the pool with him from the mountains to Phlan.

• A group of giants (the castle area had a lot of hill giants and fire giants) arguing about whether frogs and toads were the same thing. We tried to explain the difference, but I'm afraid we just ended up killing them.

• The giants are giving ridiculous amounts of gold. Look at all this treasure we're leaving behind after each battle:

I could buy 61.1 carts.

As I said, the castle itself was surrounded by a hedge maze. Navigating it was rendered a little easier by some maps we had found in the Koval Mansion, but it wasn't very big and probably would have been easy anyway. When we walked through the door of the inner keep, we encountered someone calling himself "Tyranithraxus, ruler of Phlan" (that's not a misspelling; he had a "i" in it). If that wasn't enough to suggest he was a fake, the fact that he had only two fighters with him and he went down in two hits would have been.

At this point, we returned to Phlan to get our last level-ups and to identify some of the equipment we'd found. Somewhere, we picked up a long sword +5 and a long sword +2 flame tongue, but I confess I don't know what battles got us which. The Clerk didn't have anything to say about the death of "Tyraninthraxus" so we returned to the castle.

Uh...don't medusas slither?

Some stairs up behind a secret door took us to a medusa. Fortunately, my characters had the initiative and killed her before she could gaze. Finding some other stairs behind a secret door, we went up a level, through a door, and found a wizard who was all-too-ready to betray his master and join the party. For some reason, we let him.

The rest you can watch on the video below.

If you don't feel like watching, I spend quite a bit of time casting every buffing spell I can think of, scouring my scrolls for more, and drinking my potions. At 02:50, we finally march down to Tyranthraxus's chambers in which, apparently, is the fabled Pool of Radiance. The demon's personal guards--10 powerful Level 8 fighters--attack, and thank god for "Hold Person," or we would have ended up a lot worse.


After battle, we spend some time healing, and then exit to face Tyranthraxus himself. He is, like the rumors say, a bronze dragon (the thief captain had noted that this was unlikely, since metallic dragons are usually good). Tyranthraxus gives each character the option to join him, and of course they all said "no." (Later, after I had won, I reloaded to see what would happen if we all voted "yes," but it just brings up the standard "party death" screen: "The monsters rejoice for the party has been destroyed"; I had been hoping for a cool alternate ending.)


Battle begins at 10:00, and Tyranthraxus is the only opponent. Koren charges him and--what the hell? Why is my swordsman hireling attacking Koren from behind?! The bastard chose to join Tyranthraxus! I've never felt so betrayed. He's been with us since the troll battle in the slums. I personally paid for him to rise from Level 3 to Level 8. I outfitted him with the best equipment I could find--well, no, granted most of it was cast-offs from my PCs, but it was still a lot better than the non-magical long sword that he started with. Do I have to mistrust everyone whose disposition is "evil"?!


My strategy for Tyranthraxus is to surround him and pummel him, which works out well, except that he kills Octavianus with his lightning breath (11:09); incidentally, who has ever seen lightning bounce off walls in real life? Duskfire strikes the killing blow (11:26), but then the stupid mage I picked up nearly kills Duskfire and Koren with his wand of lightning. At first, I figure he's with Tyranthraxus, too, but then I realize no, he was just aiming it at the swordsman and not bothering to notice that my two PCs are in the bolt's path. I get them out of the way and Lame Brain has the pleasure of chopping the traitorous dog's head off (11:47).


Tyranthraxus the demon escapes the dead dragon's body and gives a villain speech. I imagined I was in for yet another battle, but I guess Bane doesn't abide failures. Big T gets sucked into his own pool and it's all over. The game kindly auto-transports us to Phlan, where I raise Octavianus and for some reason I waste time leveling my fighters before going and getting the clerk's congratulations.

I had some fun paging through the Adventurer's Journal and looking at the entries that I didn't find. Most of them were deliberate misdirection aimed at players who cheated and read ahead. There was both a fake proclamation and tavern tale having to do with a woman kidnapped by ogres to the east of Phlan; they don't exist. There are three or four fake X-marks-the-spot maps that start at real reference points. One can picture puzzled players wandering around the area trying to find the hidden treasure that isn't there. There was a journal entry suggesting that Mace the cleric betrays Tyranthraxus, which never happens.

One fake journal entry, supposedly written by one of Tyranthraxus's servants, says that the evil lord is really Maram of the Great Spear, and he's just using Tyranthraxus's name. I've seen this "theory" pop up on some web sites, including the Forgotten Realms wiki, but I think these are based on people reading this false entry and not knowing that it's false. At least, I assume it's false--I never got this journal entry.

These maps lead to nothing.

There was a fake letter indicating "happy, prosperous people" in a castle in a swamp--this is really the lizardmen's castle. Another insists that the Pool of Radiance is in the Dragonspine mountains. There's a couple of paragraphs that would lead the careless reader to assume the nomads are evil, and attack them. The Adventurer's Journal's writers were good at trolling.

A few thoughts before I start getting my GIMLET together:

1. I could swear that the end fight in this game is different than when I first played it on the Commodore 64. I remember Tyranthraxus fighting with his minions.

2. Given that the game's name is Pool of Radiance, the pool itself plays a minor role. I'm not really even sure what it is. The various journal entries suggest that it was in the mountains, but Tyranthraxus somehow brought it into his chambers in Phlan, and it's not so much a pool of liquid as one of magical energy, and whatnot. Anyway, aside from seeing it from a distance when I enter Tyranthraxus's chambers, I don't get to do anything with it. It's certainly not the focus of the game.

3. So what happens if you return to the castle after the end game and check out Tyranthraxus's chambers, maybe get a look at the pool up close? Tyranthraxus re-appears and gives his villain speech again! Very disappointing, Pool of Radiance. I guess the developers figured no one would want to do this, so they didn't need to make a permanent change to the game map.

4. I'm still a little confused about how Tyranthraxus became a dragon. I guess he was just possessing a dragon's body (which is how he got around the whole metallic=good thing), but I feel like I missed some explanation somewhere.

I thought the ending was a tad anticlimactic, but overall a great game, and I look forward to doing the final review.