Downloaded last night and basically got to watch the intro / toy with character creation. So far, so good!

I'm wondering I should go deep focus on skills, and if there are 'must-haves' for the top of the game. Part of me is tempted to skip cartography, even though it seems pretty essential. Does the game reward or punish focus? I'd love to make, say, a Ranger who is all bows (putting points there and then saving a few for when the maximum goes up.)

If I had to narrow down one two support skills to start between Mercantile, Foraging, Light Armor, Dodge, Hide in Shadows, and a melee weapon skill - what would people here recommend?

My other character attempt is going to be a magick using alchemist... Thinking Elementalism extreme focus with some foraging and alchemy there. Anything else essential to start?

It is quite refreshing to be playing a game where the building / character designing seems so high stakes! Can't wait to really sink into it.

I haven't played a ranger in a long time! Many of the skills you can find trainers for..eventually. Cartography being one of them. Finding your way around is somewhat easy if you buy a map. You won't get details and such but it's handy if you get yourself lost..or you could cheat and save game before buying map. Buy map, screen capture it and then go back to saved game.

I've mostly played Elemental Alchemist, though I eventually get some Divine levels for protecting myself and figuring out what items are (Lore). I take Unarmed combat when starting so I can break barrels, Light armor, 5 pts in Elemental, Mercantile, pick lock and it varies what other one I take.

That's the good thing about this game, you can try all kinds of combos and have fun playing them all.

There are plenty of subject areas in the forums for the best combinations to take. Check them out.

Some people think cartography is essential. I never start out with it, and I've played entire games without ever even buying it/learning it. Then again, I'm weird.

For Ranger, a strong focus on Bows early on will pay huge dividends. Getting one level of Mercantile can be helpful so that standard arrows only cost 1 coin instead of 2. Beyond that, it's up to you. Just remember that as a Ranger you're going to want to do a lot of moving to keep your distance from attackers.

It's kind of hard to be a pure Ranger and not put a few points in either Elemental or Melee. The reason is that it is too dark in dungeons for you to be able to see, so your ranged attack is ineffective.

Eventually there are spells and potions you can buy/make/find that help, but in the beginning you really need to be able to either carry a torch while using a melee weapon or have a spell that hits the enemy.

The Ranger is one of my favorite builds. I usually start out by maxing out bows and investing in a melee weapon skill (either swords, cleaving, or bludgeoning). I then pick up one other skill, like cartography, hide in shadows, or move silently. And I save the other 2 points for the first time I level up, so I can pump 5 points into Bows to get the weapon feat at level 10.

If you're going to make bows your primary weapon, then definitely pump attribute points into concentration and dexterity, as recommended. Boosting dexterity also helps with Move Silently.

Odd, that many scoff at my "cheating" as i have read in many other forums, but truly, foraging and alchemy are always my first picks. I am not good, i guess, with a bow as it seems every time i shoot an arrow, i miss, even when at level 10, Mind you the higher the level the LESS i miss. So i trained my ranger to be more of a melee/elemental/alchemy specialist. Te higher your foraging, the faster one can sell the herbs to get equipment and the alchemy to keep supplying my fire darts and compress atmosphere with the mana they demand.

Got a chance to play for a few hours - and I'm hooked! Excellent game! Finding that every decision I make on stat allocation and skill learning has been interesting, and the difficulty level feels about right. I'm enjoying the limited arrows and strategic thinking that it brings.

My Ranger, just level 3, has pumped pretty much everything he could into Bows (I think 13 now.) He learned how to dodge by reading, just like I did! (True story, actually. The joys of being nerdy and a child in America.) I took Light Armor and unarmed, figuring him to be a true archer who had no option but fists close up.

I'd love to get foraging and stealth next, and spot hidden is also attractive, as I'm sure I'm missing tons of stuff. Cartography too - not having a map at all has made exploration complicated. Especially with all those damn tape worms I got. (Steady diet o' rat so far. Mmmm.)

On a side note, I'm enjoying the storytelling as well. The story, though maguffin driven, seems to be well told / executed (based on what little I've seen in the first town.) Overall an excellent game - and I've already chosen playing it over playing Skyrim on one occasion.