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There are a few spells in NWN2 that are so absurdly powerful they completely overshadow other spells of their level and widen the already massive gap between mundane classes and spellcasting classes and should be removed. There are also spells that were changed in the conversion from PnP to NWN2 that they are incredibly underpowered. And finally, there are spells that exist in PnP that are not in NWN2, but would make good and useful additions to the server.
To start with:
Remove
Issac's Greater Missile Storm/Issac's Lesser Missile Storm: Not much needs to be said on the topic of these spells. They are instant kills for any PvP matchup, and are even worse when Arcane Scholars empower the greater version. They have a gargantuan area of effect and the longest range possible, while capable of doing 120 points of irresistible damage to anyone lacking spell resistance (everyone except clerics). There is no reason these spells should exist.
Lesser/Greater/Superior Resistance & Conviction: A large part of the reason that IGMS and Maximized Sonic Orbs are such popular spells are because spells that rely on failed saves to do damage are terrible. Clerics and Wizards, but mostly clerics, can boost their saving throws to ridiculous levels by layering Superior Resistance and Conviction for a massive +11 to all saves, which is further bolstered by the +4 against spells from 20 ranks in spellcraft, and the +3 from Nightshield, for a total of +17 against all saves before taking into account any of the other spells or items that increase one's saving throws. These spells do not exist in PnP and for good reason.
Avasculate Instantly cut your opponent's health in half and stun them unless they succeed on a Fort save, in which case they lose half of their hit points anyways.
Greater Stoneskin/Premonition DR 20 and DR 30 is silly. Wizards can already Mirror Image and Displace themselves, as well as teleport, summon walls, instant kill a fighter, and more. All these spells do is make a wizard more invulnerable against a fighter than they already are.
Modified
Bigby's Forceful Hand: Against a creature with 38 strength, the spell will fail half of the time. As it stands now, this spell absolutely destroys anyone not warded by a Freedom of Movement spell. It should be changed to be more in line with it's PnP counterpart. Specifically, a Hand creature should spawn that can be attacked. It should have 20 AC and hit points equal to the caster's total. Disintegrate and successful Dispel Magic attempts should destroy it. At the beginning of every round it should make a bull rush attempt to knock the target down for one round.
Bigby's Grasping Hand As above, but with a bonus of +16 instead of +14 to the Bull Rush.
Bigby's Clenched Fist Create a targetable Fist as above, but rolls for damage normally.
Bigby's Crushing Hand Change the spell to offer two subradial options: Crush and Bull Rush. In both cases a targetable hand is created that can be attacked. If the Crush option is selected it will function as it does now. Bull Rush will cause it to make a bull rush attempt every round with a +18 bonus.
Undeath's Eternal Foe Please remove the 250 gp casting cost and make this minute per level. It is otherwise an absolutely terrible spell, and even with these changes it won't be much better.
Acid Fog, Acid Splash, Scintillating Sphere, Stinking Cloud, Web
These are all conjuration spells that bypass Spell Resistance in PnP. They should be changed to bypass SR in NWN2.
Storm of Vengeance Compare with the PnP version. At the very least, this spell should affect everyone in the area, the caster, their allies, and neutrals included. It should also require the caster to concentrate to maintain the spell, much as the Detect Evil and Detect Undead spells do. Further, a spellhook should be added so that any spellcasters attempting to cast in the area of the Storm much make a Concentrate check to do so, or lose the spell. Characters should also make a Fortitude save to avoid being deafened, rather than a Reflex save to avoid stun and electrical damage. The damage should also be scaled to mirror the gradual progression in the PnP version of the spell, rather than flat 9d6 damage + stun every round for characters that fail the Reflex save.
Tenser's Transformation As a wizard, James has a lot of spell slot items, as well as Intelligence and Wisdom items for even more spell slots. The Polymorph effect causes him to lose these spell slots whenever he casts the spell. Furthermore, as a high level character in the Hands he has access to some nice weapons. Rather than polymorph the character, I would ask that the normal bonuses be applied, but that the caster gains the Martial Weapon proficiency feat for the duration of the spell, forcing the wizard to carry a sword or axe or what have you around with them.
Greater Dispel Magic In NWN2 the caster cap for Greater Dispel is +15. In PnP it is +20. It should be changed to +20.
Mordenkainen's Disjunction Rather than give the caster an uncapped dispel check, it should dispel all active buffs/effects without a check. This is a 9th level spell capable of destroying artifacts of the gods after all, and would make casters seriously think before walking around as buffzillas when they could lose them all at a moment. I also know of more than a few fighters that would love to watch the field of 4-5 lvl 20 clerics and wizards suddenly lose all of their buffs with one spell from their own wizardly buddy.
Shadow Simulacrum
Illusionists really don't have anything going for them in NWN2; fixing the bug that limits you to a target with 1/2 the caster's HD to the stated value of a target with twice the caster's hit dice would be a very welcome change.
Undeath to Death This spell was changed on Sundren to make vampires immune to it. Considering that they are already immune to Death Effects, Mind Affecting Effects, Paralysis, Petrification, Ability Damage, Ability Drain, Critical Hits, Sneak Attacks, Energy Drain, Poison, Disease, Sleep, and negative energy I see no reason they shouldn't be vulnerable to a 6th level Will save.
Alarm Please, please, please remove the VFX and annoying buzzing sound. Also, when the caster currently leaves an alarmed area the alarm spell disappears. It would be far more useful if it stayed for the full duration, regardless of what area the caster is in. That way a character could Alarm a door or corridor, then move well far away and do their secret dealings. If the alarm is tripped they'll have ample time to run away or prepare for the intruder.
Nondetection Apply a local integer to the target with the caster's level + 11 (Caster level + 15 when cast on elf). Have detection spells check this int and roll the diviner's caster level against the DC.
To start with:
Remove
Issac's Greater Missile Storm/Issac's Lesser Missile Storm: Not much needs to be said on the topic of these spells. They are instant kills for any PvP matchup, and are even worse when Arcane Scholars empower the greater version. They have a gargantuan area of effect and the longest range possible, while capable of doing 120 points of irresistible damage to anyone lacking spell resistance (everyone except clerics). There is no reason these spells should exist.
Lesser/Greater/Superior Resistance & Conviction: A large part of the reason that IGMS and Maximized Sonic Orbs are such popular spells are because spells that rely on failed saves to do damage are terrible. Clerics and Wizards, but mostly clerics, can boost their saving throws to ridiculous levels by layering Superior Resistance and Conviction for a massive +11 to all saves, which is further bolstered by the +4 against spells from 20 ranks in spellcraft, and the +3 from Nightshield, for a total of +17 against all saves before taking into account any of the other spells or items that increase one's saving throws. These spells do not exist in PnP and for good reason.
Avasculate Instantly cut your opponent's health in half and stun them unless they succeed on a Fort save, in which case they lose half of their hit points anyways.
Greater Stoneskin/Premonition DR 20 and DR 30 is silly. Wizards can already Mirror Image and Displace themselves, as well as teleport, summon walls, instant kill a fighter, and more. All these spells do is make a wizard more invulnerable against a fighter than they already are.
Modified
Bigby's Forceful Hand: Against a creature with 38 strength, the spell will fail half of the time. As it stands now, this spell absolutely destroys anyone not warded by a Freedom of Movement spell. It should be changed to be more in line with it's PnP counterpart. Specifically, a Hand creature should spawn that can be attacked. It should have 20 AC and hit points equal to the caster's total. Disintegrate and successful Dispel Magic attempts should destroy it. At the beginning of every round it should make a bull rush attempt to knock the target down for one round.
Bigby's Grasping Hand As above, but with a bonus of +16 instead of +14 to the Bull Rush.
Bigby's Clenched Fist Create a targetable Fist as above, but rolls for damage normally.
Bigby's Crushing Hand Change the spell to offer two subradial options: Crush and Bull Rush. In both cases a targetable hand is created that can be attacked. If the Crush option is selected it will function as it does now. Bull Rush will cause it to make a bull rush attempt every round with a +18 bonus.
Undeath's Eternal Foe Please remove the 250 gp casting cost and make this minute per level. It is otherwise an absolutely terrible spell, and even with these changes it won't be much better.
Acid Fog, Acid Splash, Scintillating Sphere, Stinking Cloud, Web
These are all conjuration spells that bypass Spell Resistance in PnP. They should be changed to bypass SR in NWN2.
Storm of Vengeance Compare with the PnP version. At the very least, this spell should affect everyone in the area, the caster, their allies, and neutrals included. It should also require the caster to concentrate to maintain the spell, much as the Detect Evil and Detect Undead spells do. Further, a spellhook should be added so that any spellcasters attempting to cast in the area of the Storm much make a Concentrate check to do so, or lose the spell. Characters should also make a Fortitude save to avoid being deafened, rather than a Reflex save to avoid stun and electrical damage. The damage should also be scaled to mirror the gradual progression in the PnP version of the spell, rather than flat 9d6 damage + stun every round for characters that fail the Reflex save.
Tenser's Transformation As a wizard, James has a lot of spell slot items, as well as Intelligence and Wisdom items for even more spell slots. The Polymorph effect causes him to lose these spell slots whenever he casts the spell. Furthermore, as a high level character in the Hands he has access to some nice weapons. Rather than polymorph the character, I would ask that the normal bonuses be applied, but that the caster gains the Martial Weapon proficiency feat for the duration of the spell, forcing the wizard to carry a sword or axe or what have you around with them.
Greater Dispel Magic In NWN2 the caster cap for Greater Dispel is +15. In PnP it is +20. It should be changed to +20.
Mordenkainen's Disjunction Rather than give the caster an uncapped dispel check, it should dispel all active buffs/effects without a check. This is a 9th level spell capable of destroying artifacts of the gods after all, and would make casters seriously think before walking around as buffzillas when they could lose them all at a moment. I also know of more than a few fighters that would love to watch the field of 4-5 lvl 20 clerics and wizards suddenly lose all of their buffs with one spell from their own wizardly buddy.
Shadow Simulacrum
Illusionists really don't have anything going for them in NWN2; fixing the bug that limits you to a target with 1/2 the caster's HD to the stated value of a target with twice the caster's hit dice would be a very welcome change.
Undeath to Death This spell was changed on Sundren to make vampires immune to it. Considering that they are already immune to Death Effects, Mind Affecting Effects, Paralysis, Petrification, Ability Damage, Ability Drain, Critical Hits, Sneak Attacks, Energy Drain, Poison, Disease, Sleep, and negative energy I see no reason they shouldn't be vulnerable to a 6th level Will save.
Alarm Please, please, please remove the VFX and annoying buzzing sound. Also, when the caster currently leaves an alarmed area the alarm spell disappears. It would be far more useful if it stayed for the full duration, regardless of what area the caster is in. That way a character could Alarm a door or corridor, then move well far away and do their secret dealings. If the alarm is tripped they'll have ample time to run away or prepare for the intruder.
Nondetection Apply a local integer to the target with the caster's level + 11 (Caster level + 15 when cast on elf). Have detection spells check this int and roll the diviner's caster level against the DC.
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