I feel like I may be stupid but:

Is it just me or is Burning Hands just way better than Magic Missile.

At level 3 the minimum burning hands can do is 7, compared to magic missile which does 4 at minimum.

Also it seems like my Pseudo Dragon familiar is a bit op with its knock down but people told me familiars were garbage. Was I mislead?

No... for the following reasons:

1) You gotta use Burning Hands close up, which is very dangerous for a low level caster.

2) Burning Hands can hurt allies that get in the way.

3) As you level up, Magic Missiles improves (number of missiles fired increases)

4) Magic Missile is pure magical energy. Less things are immune or resistant to it compared to fire damage.

As for familiars... their utility declines as you level up. They are pretty good early-game. Also you lose 1 Constitution point permanently each time a familiar is killed. So using it in dangerous battles is very risky.

Different tools for different jobs. Magic Missile is an absolute must spell, and here are some of the reasons (there may be more):

Has a VERY short spell casting time (invaluable)
It cannot miss (but can be resisted)
It is ranged!
Removes Mirror Image projections
Disrupt spell casters if not protected
Spam for weak encounters when outnumbered
Soften up heavy hitters
Allows for saving higher spells for tougher encounters
It scales well for a level 1 spell
It's chance of actual damage is reliable.

Thanks for the posts guys.

I finally got Dynaheir and decided to switch my character and her memorized spells to all magic missile (only level 3 atm), and it's been going pretty good. I do admit, even though Burning Hands does more base damage, the fact that I had to be right next to them to cast it was making me save it. Burning Hands is an instant cast though.

Another question, if you guys don't mind. I'm thinking of Dual Classing Imoen into a mage, or maybe a cleric for more heals (dunno if this is a good idea, might just stick with mage), when's a good time to do that? She's my only thief and I'd like to make sure she is of sufficient level in lock picking and what not before I do so.

Most people like to dual class her to mage at level 6. That way you'll still be able to get her abilities back before the end of the game, and she'll reach level 8 mage as well.

Don't. No, really... don't. You already have two mages, and a thief is absolutely essential for disaming traps: no other class can do it. Imoen has the best stats in the entire game series, and she's best as a scout in BG1. But not only that, dual classing in BG1 is just plain silly. It's a completely different story in BG2, but in BG1 she will spend most of the game 'catching up' and lacking a thief. Spend all of her points in Find Traps and Stealth -- use your mages to open any difficult locks (Knock).

Yeah don't bother to Dual-class Imoen. You need her trap finding skills for the endgame. Some people dual-class her for the sake of roleplay, because she becomes a dual-classed mage in BG 2. But that will happen regardless of wot u do in BG 1, so u don't need to plan ahead in that respect.

Also Imoen does not have enough Wisdom for dual-class Cleric.

There are two good reasons why Magic Missile is preferable to the Burning Hands spell:

1. Ranged attack spells is always superior over melee attack spells.
2. There is NO saving throw to avoid damage; target takes full damage.

Burning Hands is the fun spell you cast when the target is 100% immobile and harmless. For example, to finish off a Troll that has fallen after being beaten to the ground.

Or it's one of the spells you use regularly, if you have chosen say a F/MU who specializes in close combat and touch spells. Perhaps such a character *likes* to mix it up and get in enemy's faces while laying down Ghoul Touches and Vampiric Touches....

There are as many ways to play any of these games as there are players and the only "right" way to play is the way that entertains the player the most.

I'm all for explaining the easy way to play to people, i.e. ranged attacks, having the mage hide at the edge of battle and so on - these suggestions for newcomers make sense, without a doubt. But it should be kept in mind that this is *not* the only way to play, nor is it the only way to play a Mage or any other spellcaster.

My Blade, for example, rarely if ever has any Mag Misl spells memorized - just personal preference.

It also depends on the game, of course. Xan's ability to cast Sleep multiple times per day, taking out numerous *multiple* enemies at once, is, IMHO, vastly superior to Dynahier's ability to cast multiple Magic Missiles - which target only a single enemy. Sleep will remain useful throughout most of BG1 [it will work against Black Talon Elites, for instance], while Magic Missile is really only important and "better" with regards to taking out mages... Which is a big reason why I rarely take Dynaheir in my party....

Yes, Magic Missile is fast, does decent damage and can disrupt spell casting. Burning Hands is equally fast, does decent [and less variable] Elemental damage and can also disrupt spell casting. At say PC 3d lvl, a Magic Missile spell does a range of 1d4 + x2 damage, or 4 to 10 points, or an average of 7 points per casting.

A 3d lvl Burning Hands does 1d3 +6 or 7 to 9 points of damage, with an average of 8, or, if saved against, 3.5 - 4.5 damage, with an average of 4. Not a significant difference really, IMHO, since the variable number in BH is small [the single 1d3] while the variable number in MM is large [*all* 1d4 rolls].

At 10th lvl of ability [equally max for both spells], the MM does does 5x 1d4+1, or 10-25 points of damage, with an average of 17.5. BH does 1d3+20, or 21-23, with an average of 22, or 11 if saved against.. Considering that at 10th lvl, one assumes you have ways of lowering enemy saving throws on a fairly routine basis, the difference in expected damage is again not that significant.

The point being that there are many ways to look at spells and decide which is the one *you* enjoy most, or value most, or prefer. Some of this comes down to game mechanics, i.e. MM is "better" because it is ranged, say, but the fact that it *is* ranged might not appeal to a player or their character, if they want to fight toe to toe employing touch based spells. After all, there is more to the game than just what X person or group says about what action or choice has the most "utility"... :) Just one man's opinion, of course... :)

I agree!
You'll get no argument from me on what is the only way to play any game. I'm all for variety.

When I play party-based cRPGs, my main goal whenever we encounter threats is to halt the enemy(s) dead in their tracks, render them harmless (Sleep spell is excellent in this regard as reported by Darvin) and then destroy them without incident.
--- or ---
Remove the threat temporarily until I can devised a plan to destroy them without incident.
--- or ---
Utterly destroy the threat outright.

...or when all else fails...
---RUN AWAY!!!

All sound viable to me! :) One other thing in disabling spell's favour, over mass damage spells, is that most of them are parrty-friendly, while most [although not all] mass damage spells are *not* party friendly.

If you mis-target a Sleep, or Emotion, or Chaos spell, the worst thing that happens is you waste the spell. Mis-targeting Lightning Bolts, Fireballs and/or Ice Storms can actually ruin your day... ;) Even getting a Web or Stinking Cloud spell "wrong" is a lot worse than getting a Sleep spell wrong. It can take a fair bit of practice to learn the area of effect of all of these spells in gameplay terms, especially when newcomers are used to games that have an AoE outline or something similar to help with targeting.

And of course, for players who like to send the Tanks into the fray quickly, and "mix it up", casting nearly any mass damage spell into the thick of melee is kind of iffy.... :)

lol first time I used Fireball was funny.

And hundreds hours of BG experience later, I still refuse to use Lightning Bolt.

Yeah, the Russian Roulette spell. I steer clear, too. :D

I used to avoid it like the plague. A couple runs back, however, I discovered the joys of using the Wand of Lightning in outdoor encounters where you don't have to worry about the bounce-back. It's pretty much an 'I win' button for the tougher encounters (I'm specifically thinking of some of those bounty hunter groups). It's awesome.