Sorry for the vague title but it's all I could think of on short notice.

What tactics would you use if you, say for instance, downloaded a mod for bg and were going to unknown area's and had no idea of what sort of things you would be up against what would your spell picks be?

This is assuming you use the "classic 3 fighters, 1 cleric, one theif and mage party" and that it's a mid ToB or high SoA level party.

I think in the long run spells would be the most crucial in the sense you cannot change your memorized picks at will as a fighter can weapons, so as for Clerics I think some good general purpose spells to go by would be, apart from healing:

levels

1
Armour of faith
Doom
Remove fear

2
Chant
DuHM
Slow poision

3
animate dead-great fodder in low and high levels
powerful allies in mid levels
Dispel magic
Holy Smite
Zone of sweet air

4
Death ward
Free action
Lesser restoration
Holy power

5
Chaotic commands (the name sounds a lot more offensive imo)
Flame strike
(if playing Druid) insect plauge
(if playing Druid) Iron skin
Mass cure
Raise dead (but I never need to use it :) )
True sight

6
Heal
Physical mirrior (bows, arrows and bolts are common pretty much everywhere
Harm
Bolt of glory

7
Firestorm
Greater restoration
Natures beauty
Symbol stun

quest
Greater elemental summoning
Summon Deva
storm of vengance (this is only really useful if you have certain encounter enhancement mods agains spell caster for spell disruption.

And for mages there's just so much to go through that I don't really have the time or patience right now.

Mods tend to render useless the most commonly used spells. Things like Protection from Acid, Teleport Field are usually good to have.

Summoning spells are great. See a monster, summon some creature, let the monster rip it to shreads while you think of a better tactic.

I think I heard somewhere elemental damage disrupts spells anyway even if the target is immune to the element.

Provided the caster's not throwing away spells via a script, I'd say yes they will be disrupted.

The classical party is always the best, I think. I'd also throw a Druid in there as well, though. Druid Spells only seem to shine in the dimmest circumstances. :)

[ January 09, 2004, 10:10: Message edited by: Scythesong Immortal ]

I don't know how clever this tactic is but I always have a couple of characters capable of making *others* invisible if they are held, confused, stunned et al. It's a big shame (a fault, indeed) that Otiluke's Resilient Sphere requires a saving throw from party members because, as we all know, the nastiest monsters can see invisible.
Remove fear is great to have handy, preferably in scroll form because you need to be prepared for the (near) worst case scenario and that would include the caster suffering a hammering at the same time as he is trying to remove the terror from his 'headless-chicken' companions. [The *worst* case scenario is that the only one with the scroll is panicked!]
The same goes for Dispel Magic and Remove Magic. This is why it's always good to have more than one mage: one for the useful spells like Mordenkainen's Sword and Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting, and another for all the Greater Malisons, Improved Hastes and the aforementioned security spells.

Many has been the time I have given my own party member a good whack with my Staff of the Magi to clear his head! NB. Always try to remember to first remove the Belt of Giant Strength before doing this!

Scrolls to have at all times: Stone to Flesh, Protection from Poison, Restoration. These should be held by the one (usually a mage) who can protect himself from such effects with a spell trap, for example. He can then get the others out of the sticky if need be (in theory).

All characters should carry at least one potion of invis. and five healing potions. Unfortunately, which to drink first is not always obvious!

[ January 17, 2004, 19:16: Message edited by: keldor ]