The Adventures of Bear-Arsed the Iron Monk

[Unclever title]

Cool idea. Though you are going to need to allow at least rock throwing at some point or you cannot get past a few certain areas.

Actually you don't HAVE to go through the Ossuary and it's been proven that if you have enough HP you can survive a portcullis collapse. Those are the only two situations that I can recall that would otherwise require a ranged weapon, I mean there are archers in some places that you can't attack without a ranged attack method but Bear-Arsed is likely tough enough to ignore a few arrows.

[Zerikin]

I was mostly thinking about the spot in the Goblin Citadel but I guess if your hp was crazy high you could live through it, never tried heh.

[Kreador Freeaxe]

It's been proven that you can survive the portcullis drop, but I though you also couldn't move on from there without opening the portcullis, which still requires throwing something, even from underneath it. You can't reach the switch.

[Unclever title]

Nope.

Nysyarc, question about this:

Once you've smashed down the portcullis on yourself and survived, can your character move in either direction? Or are you trapped and immobilized by it?!

Yes, he can move afterwards,

My question is after the portcullis closes on you and you move past it, is it shut, permanently forced open, or just open and functioning normally?

It's shut and can still be opened and closed normally, in fact I reloaded the file and got 2 darts instead, I closed the gate on myself from afar and then without moving, opened it again.

Hitting it with a dart while under the portcullis was just to see if it still worked.

The situation here is that BW and co thought that it no one would ever try/be able to gain enough HP to survive the portcullis collapse so they didn't program anything in to compensate for the situation. So luckily enough, if you get crushed by a portcullis and you survive, then you can easily take one step further (or back if you so desire) and after which the portcullis functions normally as if it had never even met you.

And don't expect it to call... Cause it never will!

[Rogosh]

Gotta give you props on the game over being GAME OVER, I don't think I'd have the patience for that. Please keep us informed!

It is indeed rather a tiresome way to play in some respects, but I find it gives everything a sort of urgency that makes for powerful immersion. You don't screw around when you're playing for keeps: falling into that pit wasn't a "woopsy", it was a "DAMNIT WHYYYYYYYYY, WHYYYYYYYYYYYYY, HOW COULD I HAVE BEEN SO CARELESS... DONT LET IT END LIKE THIS". (Yes that was a nod to PS:T, though the comparison isn't really appropriate, given the undying protagonist - a brilliant means of justifying the convention, I've always thought.)

Cool idea. Though you are going to need to allow at least rock throwing at some point or you cannot get past a few certain areas.

You should get your str/dex/spd to 15 instead of 14 as well since I am pretty sure that is where the next effect kicks in, not at 14. Are the damage stats for unarmed str/spd lilke the weapons, I cannot remember off-hand? I wonder if the bonus from speed would be worth investing some points for the extra AC. Another option for some skill point might be dropping a few into survival for extra HP regen and more poison and disease resist.

Thanks!

But yeah, basically what UT said about the portcullis. In fact, I have in mind rather a clever "trap" in the vein of the hive queen one, should it be necessary. I don't think it will. Bear-Arsed pretty much decimates goblins, as they can't really hurt him much. He's so (necessarily) proficient at maneuvering his enemies to his advantage that those that are easily separated are also easily destroyed (think baron's thicket - surprisingly easy, which was odd given the true nature of raptors, the only set i observed as being a true pack were those guarding the north entrance of western tanglewood, which fight he was only able to survive by shamelessly exploiting the zone transition), as well as weak enemies of any kind. The most dangerous ranged enemies so far were the huge pack of slimes along the coast (for that quest), and only because he stumbled onto a bunch of them needlessly (and too soon - I'm sure you've all noticed that by some native mechanic, weaker enemies are made unable to hit, or if hit damage significantly, you).

From my comparison, it appears the only meaningful return on 7 points each of speed and dexterity was a grand total of 3 points of armor rating that make no difference at all. After the first third of the game, most anything that's any threat has a 98% chance to hit Bear-Arsed. Fortunately, as above, most such are easily separated from their fellows. I am already noting a significant increase in "mob processing efficiency" (haha) with the max end build. I do wonder, however, if survival might be of some benefit, but it's actually my experience that the constant requirement for rest benefits the character significantly in that it means more experience, if some rather close calls. As diseases and toxins go, he really doesn't seem to come down with anything too serious, but it's definitely a worthwhile consideration, some survival skill, and fits with the general idea I think. I'm gonna do a quick check as to 14 vs 15 in those stats and what a few points of survival buys.

[Rogosh]

Hmm. So, it's true that 15 gives benefits where 14 does not. However, what is gained for a point each in str, dex and speed is 1% toxin resist, 1 tohit, 1maxdamage, 1 armor rating at the cost of 1% resistall and a hit point per level (which is of course most expensive if paid early so as to benefit more from the trade).

Survival appears to award 1% each toxin and disease resist for every point invested as well as an indeterminate increase to regeneration rate (which I believe must benefit already from end, as Bear-Arsed's seems quite high). Unarmed combat offers 1tohit and 1maxdamage for every other point. It seems to me that a good offense is the best defense, here.

[Zerikin]

End does increase hp regen, survival would just be for even more. Another idea would be to go for dodge. Since your AC is going to be low that would give you some straight up evasion and a bonus to hit when it triggers. But I think your basic plan is going to be the overall direction that works.

[Rogosh]

End does increase hp regen, survival would just be for even more. Another idea would be to go for dodge. Since your AC is going to be low that would give you some straight up evasion and a bonus to hit when it triggers. But I think your basic plan is going to be the overall direction that works.

Yeah. Unless he was getting more than 5 skill points (the max you can assign to any one skill per level), I just can't see putting them anywhere else given this challenge's restrictions. Though I haven't done a mathematical comparison of the two or anything, I'm aware that there will only be something like 82 total points, and no trainer for hand-to-hand. So much better do 5 times as much damage and always have +45 hit than to dodge most of the time and almost never hit. Failing that, the upper range of hit and damage benefit far outweighs say 10 or 20 % damage reduction and 1-2% hit from a 10 or 20% chance to dodge just as the endurance does pretty much every other stat.