Sorry if someone posted an answer to this question before. Just point me in the right direction if I happened to miss the proper post.

This is a problem I remember having back when I played my original version of this game many, many years ago. Especially with the higher level spells for my soreceror, like Fireball, or the Cold Ray for my Cleric, I seem unable to cast them without an almost certain chance of getting a spell failure notice.

What's going on here? Is it just where I happen to be? I've noted that my party members are far back enough so it's not as though they're in close combat and thus forbidden to cast, so what else am I missing? If I'll find out in time through further explanation, merely tell me so and I'll just dig in and try to figure things out, but if there's some sort of mechanical thing I need to do please let me know. Thanks!

In certain locations, no spells will work. This is due to where your party is standing BEFORE combat starts, i.e. which square in the map you're on. Certain squares just don't let any magical spells work.

Other times, monsters may be able to resist your spells. If the spell works but you get messages like "[monster] was unaffected!" then it means they are resisting your spells. This is due to the monster's innate magical or elemental resistance, and can be kind of annoying. My memory is that simply leveling up your spellcasters will result in monsters resisting your spells less often. You might also look for ways to increase the relevant stats, i.e. Intelligence for sorcerer spells and Personality for cleric spells, but that might just affect your total spell points rather than your spell effectiveness. I also think that certain spells are harder for monsters to resist than others; generally elemental spells like fireball or lightning bolt are easier to resist than direct-damage spells like dancing sword and implosion (I think). Also sometimes the spell will be partially resisted and the damage will be cut in half or something.

I don't think that your characters' positions in the combat roster affect their spellcasting ability... I think you can still cast even if you're in melee range. The only thing that you can't do while in melee range is shoot a ranged weapon, unless that character is an archer.

also, be sure that you have enough spell points and gems to cast the spells. some stronger spells need gems in order to be cast.

Thanks for your detailed reply.

I think the predominant problem for me has to do with the party position, because I've already discounted spell point/gem supply, and monster resistance (the spell does fire for those, at least). When the spell fails to cast it seems that it may have something to do with the area I'm standing in. Like I can go into the cave below Atlantium and shoot fireballs at vikings without much of a problem, but just about anywhere else the spell simply fails.

It makes me wonder if it has to do with the space AROUND the party, too. It does say in certain spell descriptions that if a party member is in melee combat, they won't be able to cast certain spells like cold ray, which is OK with me, but I wonder if this also extends to where the party is relative to obstacles around them. Lightning tends to fire without a hitch, but fireball almost always fails to even cast for me.

!!!!!!!!!!

Waltorious, you may have just earned yourself a solution tag, and my enthusiastic thanks :)

I'll test it out right now...

You know what, I think you're right!!! :)

I had an old version of this and have had the same problem for eons. You've really helped me; thank you for taking the time to think this through :)

Glad I could help! There are a lot of spells in the game that have target restrictions like that, so be sure to check the manual for the spell info before you try them out in-game.

I just wish the manual had been a bit less ambiguous. I looked at it again and it could be taken either way.

The one I'm more worried about are the aging effects and chance of eradication :)

I've found that the rejuvenation spell is a pretty decent way to reverse aging. Sometimes the spell fails and makes you older, but usually one can get a net age decrease from repeated casts. Also, I've never actually had the raise dead spell fail and eradicate a character. If you DO get eradicated, however, curing it at a temple will keep the character's endurance stat intact, whereas the resurrection spell will leave them with a -1 to endurance permanently. The temple in the first town is cheapest for such healing.

Yeah, I go back to Middlegate if I can help it. Or at least I did, until I reached a point where money only matters when it's stolen :)

Good to know that you keep your endurance, though, when you get recombobulated in a temple. They have some pretty capable spellcasters there, especially with all the bonuses you get from a blessing. :>