So I've gotten far enough in my Tutu game now to figure out that there's stat increasing tomes to be had (so far I've gotten a Cha and a Dex). I'm trying to play as cheat free as I can. My main concerns over intelligence are the max spell level and the amount of spells known.

I'd like to have my protagonist get a 19 Int so that she can learn all the mage spells in the game. A sort of side quest with no xp reward, if you will. However, since Imoen only has a 17 Int I'd need to bump her up with the tome to get 9th level spells. I'm presuming there's only one Int tome.

So, if I'm correct, that leaves just one tome to boost Imoen or my protagonist with. Do I have my dilemma correct? Is there only that one way in the whole BG series with which to boost Int?

If so I may just give Imoen an 18 Int after I rescue her from Spellhold to simulate the beginning of her awakening as a child of Bhaal. I'll have to Shadowkeeper her at that point anyway to replicate her spellbook from my current Tutu game.

There are potentially 3 more ways to boost your INT:

1- Golden Ioun Stone grants +1 bonus to INT while worn.

2- Machine of Lum the Mad in the 4th level of WK can also be used to increase INT.

3- The "Star" card of Deck of Many Things grants +1 bonus to INT to a mage*.


* Even multi-class mages gain INT bonus from the "STAR" card. For example if you are a pure cleric you gain +1 permanent bonus to wisdom, but if you are a cleric/mage, the mage class takes precedence and you gain the INT bonus. Thief/Mage was supposed to be the only exception to this rule. The game's developers intended the "STAR" card to give precedence to thief class and grant DEX bonus to multi-class thieves; but this is bugged in the vanilla game and a thief/mage still gains the INT bonus; the pure thief gains bonus to STR because of the same bug! (IA v6 fixes this bug).

So if I give the tome to my PC then Imoen can use the Machine of Lum the Mad to boost her Int to 18? Can she use the machine twice for a "natural" 19 Int?

So if I give the tome to my PC then Imoen can use the Machine of Lum the Mad to boost her Int to 18?

Yes.

Can she use the machine twice for a "natural" 19 Int?

No.

Thank you and thank you. Guess my PC will be eating that tome as soon as I get it. Do I get the +1 Int ioun stone in BG2 or ToB?

You are welcome.

The Ioun Stone is in TOB.

Just got the tome and it was yummy to eat.

I guess I'll use the trick of drinking potions of Genius or Mind Focusing for Imoen to pad her spellbook while I'm in SoA. Not that it matters right away since I think I'm 1/2 or less of the way through BG1.

A final thanks for the info on the ioun stone.

I usually stack spells in her inventory until there's quite a few of them, then drink a potion and scribe all of them. If you keep all the INT-enhancing potions, you can do this quite a few times, and by ToB she'll have 19 INT anyway (though by this time you'll probably have all spells in her spellbook anyway)

However, since Imoen only has a 17 Int I'd need to bump her up with the tome to get 9th level spells.


Imoen can get 9th level spells with 17 Intelligence.

Yep. The spell level limit as per intelligence isn't implemented.

(Mod idea! Mod idea!)

If you have TuTu, any tomes used on NPCs will be a waste as they will not have the bonuses once you start SoA. Imoen is an excellent mage with 17 INT, she can learn 9th lvl spells and true dweomors. (HLA spells in ToB)

Also, aren't there two INT tomes in BG1, IIRC?

Nope. One tomb for each stat, other than wisdom which has 3.

Yes, ofcourse. It seems I could use a WIS tome myself. :o