Baldur's Gate Wiki

Chant is a 2nd level priest spell that brings favorable bonuses to the caster's party, and penalties to enemies.

Description[]

By means of the Chant spell, the priest brings special favor upon themselves and the priest's party and causes harm to the priest's enemies. When the Chant spell is completed, all the priest's allies within the area of effect gain a +1 bonus to attack rolls, minimum damage/healing rolls, and Saving Throws. Furthermore, damage dice for all effects outside a weapon’s base damage is reduced by 1. For example, a 6d6 fireball will do 6d5 damage, and an arrow of fire that deals 1d6+2 piercing plus 1d6 fire damage will deal 1d6+2 piercing plus 1d5 fire damage instead. The priest's enemies suffer the opposite effects.

Multiple chants are not cumulative.

Gameplay[]

This caster applies this spell to self only.

When the casting is finished, the spell's effects radiate in a 15-feet radius from the caster and at that moment apply a series of favorable effects to party affiliated creatures, and penalties to enemy (hostile) creatures that are in the area of effect.

The internal game mechanism to achieve this, is actually performed by a casting of two different spells - one for the party, and one that only affects enemies.

As the spells are instantly applied, any party creatures outside the area of effect won't receive the chant's favor, and any enemies outside the AoE won't be penalized.

When the spell is cast, a text is displayed, reading <CASTER>: Casts Chant, and any in the AoE show <RECPIENT>: Chant - a brief 3D effect renders over each creature.

A party member will show a color glow pulse for spell's duration, as well as an icon (No. 18) titled "Chant".

Party members or enemies affected by a penalty chant effect will show a purple-colored 3D effect (CURSEH) when the spell is applied, and then also continue to show the glow pulse.

When Chant applies to a friendly party member, it bestows the State: Positive Chant:

Enemies affected by the spell will suffer the reverse of this, with the State: Negative Chant:

See the Luck article for more details about what it influences, and some examples in the Notes section below.

A creature exposed to a negative/penalty Chant spell can potentially block it with Magic resistance.

The spell is also blocked by Spell Immunity: Conjuration and a Minor Globe of Invulnerability.

A chant spell can be removed by any applicable Dispel Magic effect.

When the spell's duration expires, a sound effect will audible signifying the spell's end.

Applying more than one chant spell won't work, they cannot "stack".

Notes[]

Some examples of what a positive and negative luck modifier can influence during gameplay:

  • +1 Positive luck provides +1 bonus to weapon damage and attack rolls. This bonus increases those rolls but will not exceed their normal maximum. For example, a character wielding a long sword will normally deal 1-8 damage; that same character under the effect of Chant will deal 2-8 damage. As such, these bonuses are not shown on the inventory screen, since they only apply when the attacks are calculated.
  • A unique damage reduction effect that applies to incoming spells and extra weapon damage. This bonus decreases the rolls of attacks made against the character but will not exceed their normal minimum. Using the spell description's example, ordinarily a Fireball spell can roll 1-6 for each dice used; when cast against a character under the effect of a positive Chant, it will roll 1-5. This does not apply to normal/fixed weapon damage (for example, a Long Sword +2 will not have its damage reduced).
  • Negative or bad luck increases the probability of damage from incoming spells and increases the probability of reduced rolled weapon damage inflicted by a penalized creature, the inverse of the rules above.

Trivia[]

The Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 2nd Edition ruleset requires that the priest performing the Chant spell must remain stationary and concentrate on the favor being applied on the party and penalties upon enemies in the area of effect. The spell can continue for as long as the caster can maintain the chant uninterrupted. This BG video game version of the spell changes this to a fixed one turn duration and doesn't implement the concentration requirement, allowing the caster to engage in other actions, which is quite a detour from the idea of a continuous priestly "chant".

Gallery[]

See also[]

  • Bless — similar AoE buff with different properties.

Mod content[]

This section is about unofficial content that is only available via fan-made mods.

Spell Revisions mod has changed this divine spell, revising its description, changed its AoE, and implements a caster chant concentration bit. See below:
Chant
Level: 2
School: Conjuration
Sphere: Combat
Range: Personal
Duration: 1 turn
Casting Time: 1 round
Area of Effect: 60’ radius
Saving Throw: None

By means of the Chant spell, the priest brings special favor upon <PRO_HIMHER>self and <PRO_HISHER> party and causes harm to <PRO_HISHER> enemies. When the Chant spell is completed, all the priest's allies within the area of effect gain a +1 bonus to attack rolls, minimum damage rolls, and Saving Throws. Furthermore, damage dice for all effects outside a weapon's base damage is reduced by 1. For example, a 6d6 fireball will do 6d5 damage, and a flaming long sword that deals 1d8+2 slashing plus 1d3 fire damage will deal 1d8+2 slashing plus 1d2 fire damage instead. The priest's enemies suffer from the opposite effects.

Multiple chants are not cumulative. This spell requires a moderate amount of concentration by the caster, so <PRO_HISHER> movement is slowed by half.

Note: This spell is only usable by Cleric/Paladin classes.


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