Skill Tricks, And A Question (A Few Spoilers)

[Trickster]

Hi there. I'm a fan of EB2. I was critical of EB1 because of the RNG-scumming it promoted, but with the so-called "hardcore" mode forcing the RNG to be fixed in advance, I think it's much better. Though I found a way to trick it so that a chest can hold more than one random set of contents, heh.

Anyway, I'm writing to say I beat the game with 9 challenges (the typical ones), missed the Orakur book Easter egg though I guessed how to do it at the time (never found bronze leggings and didn't want to wear any armor aside from my sneaky +3 healer's belt). But the interesting thing I did involved the skills.

I set my game up by choosing an Atheist Rogue so that I would start with Lore, one of the skills that can't be taught. I put 0 points into skills to start, and somehow after many attempts stole past a pack of red wolves to get a Citizen's Writ, right there at the start of the game. This let me buy up Elemental to 5 and complete the minor quests so I could max out every skill point. The hard part is not taking Meditation...that's where I relented. But every skill that was taught and book I got at level 10, taught only at level 8, book only at level 1, before putting any points in.

However, I notice at the end of the game, there are Skill and Attribute bonuses which are always divisible by 1000. How are these calculated? I'd like to know so I know how many times I need to level my character by random swamp encounter to reach the next tier in each.

Trickster

[BasiliskWrangler]

Each Skill above 20 (base skill, not boosted) earns you +1000 points for your Skill Bonus.

Each Attribute above 30 (again, not boosted) also earns you +1000 points for your Attribute Bonus.

[KillingMoon]

I set my game up by choosing an Atheist Rogue so that I would start with Lore, one of the skills that can't be taught. I put 0 points into skills to start, and somehow after many attempts stole past a pack of red wolves to get a Citizen's Writ, right there at the start of the game. This let me buy up Elemental to 5 and complete the minor quests so I could max out every skill point.

It's a favourite way of mine as well to start with zero points invested in skills. If not using bear fists or knife - no trainer for those - it makes sense to start with nothing invested.
If you manage to sneak to the citizen's writ in the forest largely unnoticed, you will make it out of there as well, probably taking a few bites, but that shouldn't kill you. The problem is only when the wolves are spotting you too soon and you're finding yourself surrounded already before you've come to the writ.
But there is a writ that is easier to come by, with no enemies guarding it and just some wolves en route that are easier to keep at a distance. That's as spoilerish as I'll get about it, though.

[Turtle]

The problem is only when the wolves are spotting you too soon and you're finding yourself surrounded already before you've come to the writ.

If you're patient, you can lead them one at a time to Fletcher's Grove, where Hunter will take care of them for you.

[Trickster]

Is that >= 20 and >= 30, or > 20 and > 30?

Trickster

[xolotl]

If you manage to sneak to the citizen's writ in the forest largely unnoticed, you will make it out of there as well, probably taking a few bites, but that shouldn't kill you.

Personally, if I want to zip to Port Kuudad really early in the game like that, I prefer to just go through the "back door" route. The wolves can have a pretty strong chokehold around that writ, but the enemies along the other route are far more easily avoided. Once you hit the QT marker in Kuudad, it doesn't matter if the gates aren't actually open yet. Then you can go back to get the writ at your liesure once your character's better equipped for it.

[IJBall]

Each Skill above 20 (base skill, not boosted) earns you +1000 points for your Skill Bonus.

Each Attribute above 30 (again, not boosted) also earns you +1000 points for your Attribute Bonus.

Thanks for the ultimate explanation of this.

I must say, I am a little dissatisfied by this - it seems to me it should be +1000 points for every *point* over 20 in any Skill and +1000 points for every *point* over 30 in any Attribute.

It's not like going to the above system is going to "inflate" end-of-game scores all that much!

But I find it a little unfair that someone who has END=61 is only going to get +1000 points, but someone who has INT=31 and WIS=31 will actually be getting +2000 points...

[SpottedShroom]

If you manage to sneak to the citizen's writ in the forest largely unnoticed, you will make it out of there as well, probably taking a few bites, but that shouldn't kill you.

Personally, if I want to zip to Port Kuudad really early in the game like that, I prefer to just go through the "back door" route. The wolves can have a pretty strong chokehold around that writ, but the enemies along the other route are far more easily avoided. Once you hit the QT marker in Kuudad, it doesn't matter if the gates aren't actually open yet. Then you can go back to get the writ at your liesure once your character's better equipped for it.

And I prefer to buy a potion of Invisibility in one of the first two towns - any level will do - and use it to flip the switch without the guards seeing you.