Always low on gold

faustmn · Post by **faustmn** » June 14th, 2009, 8:25 pm

I'm playing a level 8 Ranger and doing pretty well thanks to some of the tips here (e.g. pushing Dex). One problem I have is accumulating cash. Potions and even general equipment seem much higher priced than in similar RPGs, and having to buy bunches of arrows doesn't help.

Any money making strategies I am missing?

On a related note, how much help is the "Spot Hidden" skill? Are there a lot of secret stashes out there?

Thanks in advance

azraelck · Post by **azraelck** » June 14th, 2009, 10:04 pm

I'm not sure that Spot Hidden is necessary. I played through as a mage, with high perception, and found a number of stashes, but not enough to justify the skill points or stat points just to get them.

I had cash issues as well. However, with a mage, I found that most spells are worthless to unneeded. My monk is making use solely of tier 1 buffs and healing spells.

Dragonlady · Post by **Dragonlady** » June 15th, 2009, 2:12 pm

Hopefully you can find a book on merchant skill and use a few points to get it up to level 5. Items cost less and sell for more when you have this skill.

Take everything you can and sell it (unless you need it right away.) even if it means making several trips back to a store.

Also, you might buy alchemy skill and make potions from the ingredients you find and sell them to gain cash. After a while you will want to keep some of the potions to help you along the way.

And, of course, there is always the save scumming of treasure chests/barrels to find high priced items to sell like all that heavy armour you can't wear if all you have is the light armour skill or vice versa.

pfors · Post by **pfors** » June 21st, 2009, 6:05 pm

If you want to always have a good supply of cash, the best way I think is to make and sell potions.

*possible mild spoilers below*

Don't bother getting any alchemy skill from the start, but get five levels of mercantile. Save up 1500 gold for when you get to Bordertown and buy five levels of alchemy training. Next time you level up, place it all on alchemy. With the brewmaster's ring (you should find one around this time) you'll now have a level 11 alchemy skill, enough to start spitting out some fairly valuable potions (e.g. charcoal and belladonna for a 400 cure disease). A master merchant amulet will help you turn a better profit.
I'd only recommend playing like this if you feel that a lack of money is a big problem, it takes some of the charm out of the game.

azraelck · Post by **azraelck** » June 21st, 2009, 8:09 pm

If you take a point in Merchantile at the start, you can get 2 free ones from a book in a chest at Bordertown. You'll need invisibility of some sort; as well as a way to pick a lock. Otherwise you'll just get the skill (I think, it seemed that skill training books gave me 2 points in skills I already had, and 1 when I didn't have them). So there's 3 points.

Honestly, I don't think gold is really a major issue except with mages, and then, if you manage which spells you buy it won't be. Several spells are outright useless; I ended up with all spells on my first playthrough and only found maybe 10 I used constantly. If your lucky, you may even get some needed spells for free; in my monk playthrough I've found several scrolls of Air Shield and Predator's Sight already.

Alchemy can raise a good bit of gold, but is time consuming. I only use it for a few potions, Mana Fortify, Heal and Mana, Detox, and Demon Oils. Everything else I handled via magic or didn't need at all.

dare49devil · Post by **dare49devil** » June 21st, 2009, 8:45 pm

azraelck wrote:If you take a point in Merchantile at the start, you can get 2 free ones from a book in a chest at Bordertown. You'll need invisibility of some sort; as well as a way to pick a lock. Otherwise you'll just get the skill (I think, it seemed that skill training books gave me 2 points in skills I already had, and 1 when I didn't have them). So there's 3 points.

-It would be better to use the book to actually 'learn' the skill, because that is a free '3 points.'

-If you already spent the three points to 'learn' the skill, then a book will give you +2 to the level. Therefore, you get a free '2 points.'

-If you are playing ranger...You really shouldn't be having thattt much trouble with money. Just buy the 1 gold arrows. (the other ones aren't needed, and if you want them, buy X amount and save them for the boss monsters!) Also, you get the blue arrows on drop occasionally which I usually save for tougher mobs or bosses.

azraelck · Post by **azraelck** » June 21st, 2009, 10:03 pm

Hmm, didn't think of it like that. Still, as said I don't see why a Ranger should be having gold issues. At one point, I had over 500 arrows that I sold, all magical, from drops. Plus another 700 'normal' arrows. Anything other than those two types I had sold. Never bought any.

Then again, I only briefly used a bow, and at that point the single point of skill was rather insufficient to do anything with, as well as the fact I was often using it in the dark, without light.

Poxx · Post by **Poxx** » June 22nd, 2009, 1:22 pm

dare49devil wrote: -It would be better to use the book to actually 'learn' the skill, because that is a free '3 points.'

hm.. I disagree. It's better to buy up 5 points in whatever profession and THEN read the book to get another 2 free points. Then you will have 7 skill for 1500 gold ( which is very very cheap. Skill points are worth more than a few 100 gold in my books.

dare49devil · Post by **dare49devil** » June 22nd, 2009, 1:34 pm

Poxx wrote:
dare49devil wrote: -It would be better to use the book to actually 'learn' the skill, because that is a free '3 points.'
hm.. I disagree. It's better to buy up 5 points in whatever profession and THEN read the book to get another 2 free points. Then you will have 7 skill for 1500 gold ( which is very very cheap. Skill points are worth more than a few 100 gold in my books.

-Well, we were discussing Mercantile. There is no trainer for that.

faustmn · Post by **faustmn** » June 22nd, 2009, 2:17 pm

[quote="azraelck"]Hmm, didn't think of it like that. Still, as said I don't see why a Ranger should be having gold issues. At one point, I had over 500 arrows that I sold, all magical, from drops. Plus another 700 'normal' arrows. Anything other than those two types I had sold. Never bought any. quote]

That's amazing to me. I rarely get arrows--certainly not hundreds.

Unclever title · Post by **Unclever title** » June 22nd, 2009, 4:03 pm

faustmn wrote:
azraelck wrote:Hmm, didn't think of it like that. Still, as said I don't see why a Ranger should be having gold issues. At one point, I had over 500 arrows that I sold, all magical, from drops. Plus another 700 'normal' arrows. Anything other than those two types I had sold. Never bought any. /

That's amazing to me. I rarely get arrows--certainly not hundreds.

I'd venture that as not being the typical case considering my own experience. Though I have gotten up around 80 flight arrows from drops before, and I wasn't even a ranger,

.

dare49devil · Post by **dare49devil** » June 22nd, 2009, 6:16 pm

Unclever title wrote:I'd venture that as not being the typical case considering my own experience. Though I have gotten up around 80 flight arrows from drops before, and I wasn't even a ranger, .

-Yea, when I played ranger, I would kill them and not let them touch me. So I would be using ALOT of arrows. =P

-I would agree with Unclever.

azraelck · Post by **azraelck** » June 22nd, 2009, 9:51 pm

I didn't say I got it all in a single drop. I first sold my arrow collection at about 15 hours. I beat the game at 18. I probably did get more arrows than normal, since I didn't seem to get anything else worthwhile. I never found any willow saps, acids, sulfurs, or mandrake roots outside of shops. Most of the time, the only regents I found were spider silk and ash.

I probably used 80 flight arrows, missing every time. All in a single dungeon, even. Which is why I didn't bother with them later; it was too late to get my skill up to par that it'd be useful.

taltamir · Post by **taltamir** » July 3rd, 2009, 11:34 pm

there is an alchemy trainer, so do NOT waste the skillpoints on it...
cost:
lvl1: 100 gold or 3 skill points
lvl2: 200 gold or 1 skill point
lvl3: 300 gold or 1 skill point
lvl4: 400 gold or 1 skill point
lvl5: 500 gold or 1 skill point

If you find the alchemy book do NOT read it until you reach the trainer! The book gives you level1 if you don't know the skill (3 skill points worth), or 2 skill points increase if you have at least 1... BUT... trainers will NOT train you if you are at level 5 or more.
So ideally, buy the 5 skill points using gold, then use the book to get skill level 7. Then you can put some more points in if needed.

the breakpoints in alchemy are level 1, 5, 10, and 15.
You can wear TWO rings of alchemy +3 at the same time for a +6 total bonus.

The Drunken Lizard Pub

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