Painted Lady wrote: ↑August 30th, 2023, 9:00 am
Having such low starting points is a great way to do a challenge run. Also, throwing all your upgrades into Endurance is an interesting idea. Sounds like a fun play-through.
Yes, it was fun
"Day 133: Day 133: I scurried to Port Kuudad to try the spiders. Unfortunately, the blacksmith didn't have any demon fire to sell me. But I still won; 30 steel arrows, one potion of leatherskin and two charm potions. In the first phase, I drank the potion and rushed through the gate. Spearing the first spider, I got the attention of the others. Thus, using my first potion of charm, I threw it in the middle and charmed 3 out of 4 spiders. While they very busy killing each others, I started firing arrows on the next cluster of spiders and they ran after me – into the arms of my newly found spider allies! The fight went well, or so I thought, until my allies turned on me all of a sudden. I only barely escaped being surrounded, losing so much HP I had to use my levelup. But, with some clever footwork, I managed to get 7 spiders into a cluster and threw the other charm potion. It worked well! All the spiders next to me where now allies, and formed a wall between me and the non-allied spiders. Working together, we started bringing down their numbers – and the non allied spiders killed some of the allied spider, thinning the herd. I ran the distance to the final room, now empty of spiders, and right then the charm wore off. 2 spiders left in the second room. They charged at me, but I shoot one of them down fast. The other one kept creeping closer, while I started sweating. 26 HP left, one full health spider, and now in melee. But, the Gods were with me, I uh. I mean, I am an atheist, so the uh, power of scepticism or whatever kept me safe. At 12 HP left, I felled it. This was the first time ever I managed to melee a full health spider and only lose 14 HP, I really though my time was up. One spider left, that was badly damaged, in the last room. But the bastard was clever, keeping off my angle of fire, and pretending it hadn't noticed me. I had to get through the bottleneck between room 2 and 1 to get a shoot and BAM! It charged at me! I only got one shot off, before I hightailed it to the final room. I got 4 squares of distance. First turn – miss! Second turn – miss! Third turn – if I miss now, I have to melee a spider, albeit badly damaged, with only 12 HP left! I fire and... critical hit! Down goes the spider, the gate opens and I get 400 gold but more than anything else, my dignity as an adventurer is finally returned! I am ready, now. Time to check out that Crius Vindica fortress!"
Special note here: I might have remembered this particular fight wrong, I mean the part where the non-allied spiders killed allied spiders, because when I later charmed a Shadow Assassin that got killed by another Shadow Assassin in Thieves Arcadia, I failed the "True Healer" challenge. But maybe the "True Healer" challenge only applies to human NPC:s? Honestly, I just stopped using charm potions after the Thieves Arcadia painful reload - 4 shadow assassins are not easy to kill, so reloading a successful victory was painful! Point being, I never got to test out if dead charmed animals also fails "True Healer" challenge - but for sure, the allied spiders in the very least got very mortally wounded, so if my memory of this epic spider showdown was incorrect, it is only slightly incorrect.
However that said, the high End was mostly tactical. I dunno the specifics, but End grants bonus HP at level creation and every 5 points you get a bonus HP at level up. Also, End contributes to passive HP regen, which is very important, since that is pretty much the only way for me to heal without wasting precious potions, or sleep at an inn, which requires you to be in a town. I later googled it, because I did not want to waste attribute and skill points, and I read somewhere that a combined score of 38 gives the highest possible HP regen rate, so I had 30 End, 6 medicine and the only armor I could use - a blessed rope of the healer which gives +2 medicine. Since it doesn't have natural armor value, it doesn't count as armor, even though you need the light armor skill to use it proper. Fun story, there is a legendary weapon that grants natural armor, and it WILL fail "The Untouchable" challenge. Finally, End gives disease res, which means less reloads due to less failed "The Immaculate" challenges. Also why I played Atheist, then wisdom becomes a dump stat since I can't use spells anyways without failing "The True Warrior" and "The True Alchemist" challenges. I don't normally play atheist warriors, I always play spellcaster (that in the very least are agnostic) in RPGs. I think this might be why I made a lady character for once - atheist doesn't feel like me, and not using spells doesn't feel like me.
Anyways, the reason I want so many HPs is because I just prior to this played Eschalon I, and drawing from that fresh knowledge I knew that you can win fights through resilience. And, well. I can't use spells. I can't reduce the risk of getting hit using armor. I can't really powerlevel a melee skill, because I need "Jack of all Trades". So, I compensate through just absorbing damage like a sponge. Though, I should point out, perhaps it was not the best tactic. Perhaps powerleveling dex means you need less HP because you can kill enemies faster, and also it gives you a bit of armor - however, I think the armor part will be an early game false sense of security thing, since the Taurax will probably have 99% hit rate pretty much regardless of your dex is if you refuse to wear armor and use spells. Thus, I am like 90% sure I chose the right tactic, and I am not about to test an IRL 120 hour dex powerlevel just run to remove my 10% doubt.
Roughly at the same time I penetrate your betrothed, you will be penetrated by this sharpened pole
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