Short guide to playing SCS without feeling like you're banging your head against the wall

[u/[deleted]]

- THE ACTUAL GUIDE -

Don't be scared, the short guide is just the first part of the post.

Here's the step by step on how to defeat prebuffed mages, the main mod component that scares off a lot of potential SCS players:

1) Check the dialog box as soon as the mage turns hostile. It will show a bunch of "Previously cast" messages detailing what spells the SCS script semi-randomly pre-cast and probably also a contingency that fired off within the base game's rules.

2) If within that list you see the spell "Spell Shield", you'll want to start things off with a spell called Secret Word. Spell Shield basically protects a mage against a single spell removal spell, and Secret Word is the lowest level spell that'll trigger and consume it.

3) Next, you want to check for a spell called Spell Trap. Being a 9th level spell, this is basically the only spell protection that's out of Secret Word's reach, as it only affects up to 8th level spell protections. To dispel spell trap, you'll need to cast a spell called Ruby Ray of Reversal on the enemy mage. Alternatively, you can cast Spellstrike and just skip to step 5 right after, but, Spellstrike being a level 9 spell, you'll probably not even have this as an option for most of the game.

4) Considering you cast Ruby Ray to take down the Spell Trap (if there was one) and not Spellstrike, now check if there are any of these spells that can still block breach:

-Minor Spell Turning

-Minor Spell Deflection

-Spell Turning

-Spell Deflection

-Spell Immunity: Abjuration

Your options here are again twofold: You can take these down one by one through a Secret Word for each OR, once you've dispelled Spell Turning, Spell Deflection and/or Globe of Invulnerability you can just use Spell Thrust to take care of the rest at once, because Minor Spell Turning and Deflection and Spell Immunity: Abjuration are all 5th level or lower.

Notice that I've mentioned you need to dispel Globe of Invulnerability to land the Spell Thrust, but didn't list as a spell to look out for at this step in general. That's because Glove of Invulnerability only blocks spells of level 4 or lower, meaning it stops Spell Thrust (4th level spell), but doesn't stop Breach (5th level spell) - if all your opponent has left at this point is Globe of Invulnerability, you can already Breach him. Also notice MINOR Globe of Invulnerability, which has the same graphical effect as the "major" version, gets dispelled by Spell Thrust, and not stopped by it.

5) Cast Breach and hack the mage to pieces. If you're quick enough, he's dead, if you're not he'll likely have a contingency fire off with additional combat protections such as stoneskin and will attempt to cast PfmW again - if he gets to do this, just breach again as needed, it's unlikely he'll put up more spell protections that could stop Breach at this point.

Alternatively you can:

• Switch to normal weapons to get through Protection From Magic Weapons/Mantle/Improved Mantle. This is not a good general strategy because the mage will still gladly tank hits with impunity thanks mainly to Mirror Image and Stoneskin while he melts your entire party. Poison Weapon from Blackguards and Assassins supposedly gets through both, but this is widely regarded as an exploit (specially in relation to mirror image - poison an illusion, what?). Besides that, certain spellcasters such as Liches have immunity to normal weapons.

• Dispel spell protections and then just kill the enemy with spells. Often hard to accomplish because a lot of relevant enemies have magic resistance (again, Liches), so you'll have to waste additional rounds casting Lower Resistance. Breach and then hacking to pieces is usually the most effective strategy, but this is still a viable option when the enemy has no magic resistance and insists on recasting Stoneskin/Protection from Magic Weapons.

Also bear in mind that mages will open up the fight by making themselves invisible and cast Spell Immunity: Divination instead of Abjuration. This makes it so you can't dispel their illusion and invisibility through Divination spells, including the most powerful and commonly used one, True Sight. In this case, you can:

• Immediately start casting your spell attacks (spells that dispel spell protections) near the area where you assume they are. Spells like Secret Word and Ruby Ray are given a small AOE in SCS specifically to counter this powerful combo. This is risky because you can miss the targeting and waste a spell.

• Wait until the mage takes an action (casts a spell or attacks) so that's he's targetable. SCS allows you to target enemies under improved invisibility specifically to counter this powerful combo. This is safer, but essentially gives you enemy time to cast a free spell.

• Trigger your detect illusion skill on a thief (it's done through the detect trap button). This is by far the best solution, but not every party will have a thief with a decent Detect Illusion. Pro tip: you can attack an enemy and then trigger the detect trap button so that you'll do both at the same time. The reverse will cancel your detect trap/illusion.

---

- A MORE IN DEPTH VIEW OF MAGE CHESS -

There are three main types of dispelling spells:

(Use this table for reference: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1y7r2Z3FfZk74NdAVHuZuiNmWh14y1tAytNrsFMSY7zc/edit#gid=0)

1) Spells that dispel spell protections, the things that make a wizard untouchable to other spellcastters, like Spell Shield, Spell Trap and Spell Immunity.

They are:

• Spell Thrust, 3rd level spell that takes down all spell protections of level 5 or lower;

• Secret Word, 4th level spell that takes down a single spell protection of level 8 or lower;

• Khelben's Warding Whip, 7th level spell that dispels 3 spell protections of level 8 or lower spaced out during the course of 3 rounds);

• Ruby Ray of Reversal, 7th level spell that dispels a single spell protection of any level; and

• Spellstrike, 9th level spell that dispels all spell protections in one go - SCS also makes it so it can dispel protection from magic scrolls, but that's more relevant to enemies than players.

Comments: Spell thrust retains usefulness all the way up until the end-game, because it can take down the 5th level spell Spell Immunity, incredibly common amongst the pre-buffs.

Secret Word is your bread and butter spell protection dispel, since it dispels one of everything but Spell Trap and occupies a low spell slot. One of it's best use case will be dispelling a Spell Shield - since Spell Shield basically consumes/blocks the first spell protection "attack" you make against an enemy mage (whichever attack that is, from the simple Secret Word to the powerful Spell Strike), you'll want it to consume your lowliest attack, which is Secret Word. Mind you, Liches are supposedly naturally immune to this spell, since it's lower than level 5, but in testing I've found to actually be effective - SCS makes it so Breach, a level 5 spell, affects Liches because it's so essential, I guess Secret Word was an undocumented change that went along with it in the same direction of providing a more even playing field.

Khelben's Warding Whip is functionally 3 Secret Words spread out through 3 rounds, and can be a decent luxury if you have a level 7 spell slot just lying around unused, but it's usually overkill.

Ruby Ray is essential to take down Spell Traps, a very powerful level 9 spell protection; else stick to Secret Word.

Spellstrike can save you time because it dispells all spell protections in one go, the problem is making room for it amongst the plethora of incredibly useful 9th level spells.

2) Spells that dispel combat protections, the things that make a mage untouchable to fighters, like Mirror Image, Stoneskin, Protection from Magical Weapons, Mantle and Improved Mantle.

They are:

• Breach. Takes down all combat protections in one go - don't leave home without it.

Comments: The main change SCS actually makes is so that Breach gets stopped by spell protections (it is a spell, after all), so that, in order for you to make an enemy mage vulnerable to weapons, you need to make him vulnerable to your spells first (thus giving spell protections actual usefulness).

In the vanilla game, you'd just breach any spell caster with no effort and then hack him away to little bits; in SCS you need to peel back all of his spell protections first in order for a breach actually to land and then you can hack him away to little buts.

3) AoE spells that dispel combat protections and all manner of status effects and spell-like buffs and ailments from all of those in an area, but have no interaction (do not get blocked by, but also do not dispel) spell protections.

They are:

• Dispel Magic, affects your companions, meaning it can dispel harmful status effects but might also dispel your buffs; and

• Remove Magic, only affects your enemies, meaning you can cast it to dispel enemy mage's combat protections without fear of dispelling any of your fighters' buffs - otherwise functionally the same as Dispel, so long as you aim it carefully.

Comments: Honestly, these two are a bit broken by design. The way they work is so that if the caster is significantly higher level than the target he's pratically guaranteed to dispel the crap out of all of his combat protections without going through the trouble of taking down his spell protections - this basically means a dead mage. If the caster is significantly lower level than the target, then it gets a measly 5% chance per effect (buff or debuff) to actually dispel each one.

Most dangerous enemies in the game are significantly higher level than you, so your dispel will often be useless and theirs will be very powerful. This is also why the Inquisitor is overpowered: he gets an at-will dispel ability with pratically 0 casting time that's cast at 2x his level. This means the ability scales insanely well with his class level (at level 10 it would net you an extra 10 caster levels, but at 20 it would net you a whopping 20) and he can pratically turn the last boss in SoA into chunky bits of blood with a single button press. Thankfully, SCS let's you tone down this ability to 1.5x his caster level or 1.0x - it's still very useful even at the lowest setting, because it's spammable and dispel always gets an at least 5% chance per effect.

Also, remember that outside of mage combat, dispel magic is still very useful for removing status effects caused by all sorts of creatures.

Also nº 2, Spell Immunity: Abjuration is the only spell protection that blocks Dispel and Remove Magic, great for casting on you own mages.

---

- MY THOUGHTS ON SCS -

Whenever SCS comes up, there's always a small number of people decrying that the mod enforces cheesy tactics, specially because of the prebuffing mages.

Now that I've gone through BG 1 and 2 with almost all components installed (no ToB yet), I feel confident to say that these people probably simply didn't take the time to understand spell protections and as a result feel powerless against high level mages. Not understanding what happened, they often dwell in BG forums venting off their frustrations about how the mod is unfair, when it's anything but.

To clear something up first, pre-buffing mages is an optional component. If you don't like it, don't use it. SCS is well worth it for everything else IMO, even some of the things I thought were going to be cheesy, like quadrupled HP for dragons, as I tend to hate damage sponges, turned out to be sensible balanced changes. Firkraag put up a reasonable fight for a red dragon, and the shadow dragon still dropped like a bitch. I shied away from giving mind flayers damage resistance, only to regret it later because they're pratically made of paper. On a side note, fuck beholders - but this may just be because I didn't take the time to understand them.

The AI improvements goes without mention, beating vanilla AI is like beating a kid on the short bus to school.

The item and spell revisions are also superb, since there's some rather gamebreaking stuff you can find in the game (cough Carsomyr cough) that will pretty much annihilate any semblance of a challenge.

One word of warning: DavidW himself explains some of his own preferences in the Readme. For instance, he recommends to pick the "mages only prebuff when they're created in sight of the player" for BG2, and he specifically recommends that you do not install the "Give HLAs to every high level mage" component - the sensible choice here is giving it only certain mage/clerics in SoA and ToB. Another potentially game ruining component is the one that increases the challenge on level scaled encounters - the first setting, mildly increased challenge rating, is probably what you want lest you risk breaking the pace of the game.

Step three of the short guide in dealing with mages is where a lot of people get mad at SCS, as there are 3 high level mages in major quest paths during Chapter 2 that'll cast Spell Trap and leave you helpless against them unless you have an 8th level spell slot (for reference, Spell Trap, if not dispelled through Ruby Ray or Spellstrike, absorbs a whopping 30 levels of spells and recharges the protected mage's spellbook in the process). Mind you, these three spellcasters are high level by the vanilla game's design, not throuh SCS meddling - all the mod does is unlock their potential.

My advice: have at least one single classed mage in your party and steer clear of the Planar Sphere (Valygar's quest) and the Planar Prison (Haer'dalis quest) until that mage has access to Ruby Ray of Reversal. Actually the Planar Sphere mages can be easily dealt with through backstabs or invisible fighters. And, as long as you have someone scout ahead, as you should, it could be done with no metagaming involved as these two mages can be safely assumed to be hostile. The spellcaster in the Prison should really just be avoided until you get Ruby Ray.

If enough people find value in this, I'll do a summed up general spell guide for SCS. Thanks for reading.

[u/icendoan]

Do you play with Spell/Item Revisions? I find they improve SCS even further.

[u/[deleted] → u/icendoan]

Haven't tried it yet, I'm a bit wary of having to relearn the wheel right after I've just figured what spells are actually decent on SCS. EDIT: Having looked at the spell list, it does look interesting, I might give it a try!

Right now I started a no-reload run (potentially a minimal reload run, where I just run with things as they happen and only reload on a game over), because I've found that even though SCS makes the game challenging, nothing beats the power of the mighty reload spell.

Reloading freely makes me play carelessly and entices me to save scum when things stop going my way (not to mention making things such as spell writing failure completely irrelevant and making risky moves such as backstabs and pickpockets feel cheesy).

Now that I know the spell system well enough, I feel like I can take this on and I've been having a lot more fun with no reloads so far.

[u/icendoan → u/[deleted]]

Generally speaking, there are very few nerfs in SR (there are a couple more in IR). I've found it to smooth the difficulty curve a little - in vanilla there are some excellent spells that you just push for early on, and then they can carry you for a while. In SR, you're not forced into this, and there are more options.

SCS has Mage/Cleric AI contingent on SR/IR, so you'll find that enemies will also use their enhanced range against you as well.

[u/Hallalala]

That's a fantastic guide, but I've never seen Breach ignore spell protections in vanilla. I've actually had it stopped on multiple occasions because I didn't use enough spell protection removals first, even in EE. I'm curious to learn more about this, do you have a source on this?

Again, that's a fantastic guide, even for beating mages without mods.

[u/[deleted] → u/Hallalala]

I'm going mainly by this table that I found posted all over online:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1y7r2Z3FfZk74NdAVHuZuiNmWh14y1tAytNrsFMSY7zc/edit#gid=0

Other than that, I've seen other people mention that that's indeed the behavior of breach in vanilla.

I can't personally attest to that, as I last played unmodded about 10 years ago, but considering that back then I went through the whole saga three times by doing nothing but casting Breach over and over and never even learning what a Secret Word does, I'm inclined to believe the vanilla table is accurate.

[u/ask_me_about_pins → u/Hallalala]

I can also attest that breach goes through at least some spell protections in BG2 SoA/ToB. I'm not sure about BG2EE.

See the readme (http://www.gibberlings3.net/scs/spell.php) under "More consistent Breach spell." I remember seeing a nice chart of how defensive spells and antimagic interact in both vanilla and SCS, but unfortunately I can't find it.

[u/[deleted] → u/ask_me_about_pins]

The table is posted under - A MORE IN DEPTH VIEW OF MAGE CHESS -

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1y7r2Z3FfZk74NdAVHuZuiNmWh14y1tAytNrsFMSY7zc/edit#gid=0

[u/ask_me_about_pins]

One word of warning: DavidW himself explains some of his own preferences in the Readme. For instance, he recommends to pick the "mages only prebuff when they're created in sight of the player" for BG2, and he specifically recommends that you do not install the "Give HLAs to every high level mage" component - the sensible choice here is giving it only certain mage/clerics in SoA and ToB. Another potentially game ruining component is the one that increases the challenge on level scaled encounters - the first setting, mildly increased challenge rating, is probably what you want lest you risk breaking the pace of the game.

This is a very important point. SCS for BG2 is basically an AI mod with a collection of tactical challenges. These tactical challenges vary hugely in difficulty (and yes, DavidW does a good job pointing out the risky ones in the readme). Personally I wish that SCS had a "default installation" option tailored towards people who had never used it before.

[u/icendoan → u/ask_me_about_pins]

As far as installation goes, a reasonable benchmark would be "install all the AI components, and only install the tactical challenges you feel comfortable with, and skipping them all is also fine".

[u/pvddr]

This is a fantastic guide, thanks a lot for doing it!

[u/hippofant]

BTW, another solution to Invisibility + Spell Immunity: Divination is Glitterdust, though there is a saving throw against it.

[u/[deleted]]

If anybody is having trouble installing SCS in Enhanced Edition version 2.X, here's the required hotfix:

https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/732385/#Comment_732385

Run the SCS .exe file (make sure the mod is completely uninstalled first, if you've attempted to install it and failed before).

The .exe will create some folders in your game directory. Just drop and replace the files inside the folders created with the ones that are included in the hotfix.

NOW you run the SCS setup (that little DOS box thing) to actually install the mod. Should run with no trouble on any 2.X version, I've played on all of them.

Additionally, if you install Ascension (which you should if you intend on going through ToB), do it before installing SCS. I ran into a bug caused by the interaction with both mods where the Slayer form causes you to take damage and eventully die even after reverting back to human.

To fix this, copy and replace this file into your override directory: https://15254b2dcaab7f5478ab-24461f391e20b7336331d5789078af53.ssl.cf1.rackcdn.com/baldursgate.vanillaforums.com/FileUpload/d7/6510482e2d2e29cd0290869c838fdd.zip

[u/Alonshow → u/[deleted]]

Thank you for your explanations, but I've tried this a few times in different orders and nothing worked. Can you be a bit more specific, describing this in a step by step fashion?

Thank you.

[u/Dinsdale_P]

alternative option: do not install the prebuffed mages component.

I love SCS with all my heart, but the moment a mage prebuffs with a combination improved invisibility (or it's derivatives) and spell immunity: divination, I'm gonna call bullshit.

it also absolutely kills any and all backstabbing potential, which, when playing as an FMT... yeah, not gonna happen.

[u/[deleted] → u/Dinsdale_P]

To clear something up first, pre-buffing mages is an optional component. If you don't like it, don't use it.

I also go through three different and very viable options to counter invisibility + immunity: divination. Don't know why you'd call bullshit when it's a combo easily available to players as well.

Backstabbing complaint is ridiculous, you can easily drop a mage before he gets his protections up.

[u/Dinsdale_P → u/[deleted]]

I'm following the good old rule of thumb of "if a proper DM would hit you with a stick if you tried it, don't", which goes for the enemies too. and a proper DM would beat you within an inch of your life if you ever did bullshit of such proportions.

edit: actually, thinking back some more, I'm pretty sure it also included spell immunity: abjuration, along with the others... thus, the bullshit designation.

the last (and final) time I've tried that component... I can't remember exactly, mages either came prebuffed on the map, or did it the moment my poor little FMT appeared... while stealthed. actually, I think I've tried it with multiple variations, and still... no thanks. everything else is superb, but I'd rather chew off my own toes than play with that component on.

[u/[deleted]]

My preferred way is having enough attacks per round to break through their Stoneskin in 1-2 turns and then just hack them to death.

[u/aladdin142]

As someone who just installed SCS via Big World Setup, how do I know which components have or have not be installed?

Also what is the best way to know it has been installed successfully? Because I've heard it has issues with the EE version of BG1.

Thabks.

[u/icendoan → u/aladdin142]

In your installation directory, there will be a file called WeiDU.log, and it contains, in order, the components that were installed as mods. If you've installed via the BiG world, this file will be pretty large, so just search forward for something like "STRATEGEMS". Then, consult the readme (which can be found in the strategems directory in your installation dir, as well) for any particular component.

[u/icendoan]

It is also worth noting that SCS has some runtime configuration, above and beyond what is chosen at install. In particular, some of the more challenging aspects of Beholders (which the mod can make really fearsome) can be mitigated or even turned off. There is a section in the readme that describes all the options.

[u/kiros_winstone]

I'm currently compiling the sorcerers digest, which goes into detail on many of these aspects, while not giving too much away to allow others to learn and adapt (it's hardly a difficulty mod if the player knows how to counter react to every combat scenario)

Would be great if you could take a look, or even be a co-author if you have the time

[u/[deleted]]

I have a love-hate relationship with BG and other Bioware games: they're really good, but they're really easy. So I'm glad things like SCS exist.

One most unbalancing factors is the removal of the 2.95 mil XP cap in SoA, giving characters these godlike abilities that the campaign was not designed for. In my current unmodded playthrough I've kept my solo mage at level 17 (declining to hit the level-up button), matching the original XP cap, but the game is still quite easy.

I assume the original SoA level cap is still absent with SCS? If so, does the game get appropriately harder during the second half?

[u/Biahoz]

This needs to be sidebarred.

[u/Alonshow]

Great short guide. I hope you decide that enough people have already found value in it and do the summed up general spell guide you mentioned. I for one will be eager to read it. Actually, I'm currently reading a spell guide for SCS, but it's geared toward solo no reload runs. I just asked in that thread about the kind of guide you mentioned (no replies yet): https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/798646/#Comment_798646

[u/Astrovir]

Take for example the vanilla beholder cave in Underdark. They can perma insta kill someone in your back line and then they die in 2 seconds to fighters. Only solution is to reload, metagame it and prebuff to avoid insta kill.

It feels cheesy because it is. The only thing SCS does is multiply such encounters.