Character design strategy

[madrigan]

Hello all, I just started playing Eschalon after reading about it like 50 times on the Avernum forums. I'm used to playing with a party of four characters in Avernum, and I'm unsure of how to approach character design in this solo adventure. Is it better to specialize? I'm usually inclined to make the strongest, toughest fighter I can. Or, is it essential to spread points around? Are there skills that you have to have in order to finish the game, or to do so without suffering terribly?

Thanks.

[Dragonlady]

Hello all, I just started playing Eschalon after reading about it like 50 times on the Avernum forums. I'm used to playing with a party of four characters in Avernum, and I'm unsure of how to approach character design in this solo adventure. Is it better to specialize? I'm usually inclined to make the strongest, toughest fighter I can. Or, is it essential to spread points around? Are there skills that you have to have in order to finish the game, or to do so without suffering terribly?

Thanks.

What you need to win is entirely up to how you like to go through a game. You mentioned toughest fighter mode. In that case you'd like to put a lot of points into armour, a weapon and stats that support fighting. To play a first run through I'd suggest an all around Jack of all Trades type. Then do challenge games. Take armor (light), unskilled combat (for breaking stuff without using your weapon - which might break), pick locks, Find traps (1 pt in pik/find) and clerical or mage type spells.

Weapons training can be bought when you find the right towns as can Cartography (after doing a quest) and mage/cleric skills. Alchemy can be bought too. If I remember correctly the only things not found/taught are no weapon combat and armour wearing. I'll be corrected if I'm wrong by the others. Also, some of the above you can be taught by finding a book about it. Saves you spending level up points that you want to spread on important skills. There are items to wear that will also boost your skills too.

There are 3 endings. It depends on the choices you make in the game.

What's great about this game is the many combinations you can try - ie. challenges.

[Kreador Freeaxe]

A lot of people find it helpful to specialize, some of us like to generalize. Eschalon Book I can be finished by all sorts of characters in very entertaining manner. There are a few posts around that show some techniques others have used to maximize particular character types. There is no requirement for any particular skill in order to complete the game. In fact, a few people have (for the challenge of it) completed the game with only the one original skill gained at character creation based on your choice of character type.

Let yourself play and test out strategies to see what you enjoy. There's no one best way to play the game, except to have fun.

[IJBall]

Hello all, I just started playing Eschalon after reading about it like 50 times on the Avernum forums. I'm used to playing with a party of four characters in Avernum, and I'm unsure of how to approach character design in this solo adventure. Is it better to specialize? I'm usually inclined to make the strongest, toughest fighter I can. Or, is it essential to spread points around? Are there skills that you have to have in order to finish the game, or to do so without suffering terribly?

Thanks.

This should help.

Also, about your problem saving your game that you mentioned in the Book I (Mac) forum - this is a known bug with at least the Mac version of Book I. Unfortunately, it is not as far as I can tell a 'reproduceable' bug, so I don't think any of us have figured out a fix for it. AFAIK, BW is aware of the issue, but I'm not sure there's much he can do until we figure out what triggers it.

[madrigan]

Thanks everybody. My latest character has pretty diverse skills -- swords and light armor along with alchemy, mercantile, lockpicking, and cartography -- and he seems to be working out. Two followup questions:

1) What would be incredibly dumb to do? That is, are there hopeless characters, and what makes them hopeless -- aside from characters specifically designed to be used in challenges?

2) Is the damage I do to my weapon cumulative over time, or is it a straight percentage each time I take a swing at a barrel or door? Will my weapon ever break in combat?

[Randomizer]

Answer to 1 - Dumbest thing to do is not get a range attack by spell or trainer in Bordertown.
Also not having multiple saves since the game still has a few bugs (attacking Siam in Blackwater).

Answer to 2 - Weapons can break if you use them against sealed barrels and doors without any skill with that weapon or use your sword.

Damage is a roll from based upon the weapon's maximum. with bonus damage added on to the rolled damage. The best base damage is 9.

Some things like doors and monsters subtract off damage so you can do no damage.

[IJBall]

Some things like doors and monsters subtract off damage so you can do no damage.

Huh. I'm not much of a 'basher', so I haven't tested this - can you give us an example of an unbreakable door (or chest)?
I didn't know there were such things!

1) What would be incredibly dumb to do? That is, are there hopeless characters, and what makes them hopeless -- aside from characters specifically designed to be used in challenges?

As I discuss in my Ranger walkthrough, you can make effectively "hopeless" characters if you spread Attribute and Skill points around too much as you build up your character - if all of your Attributes are only ~20, and all of your (10+!!) Skills are, say, all only about Level 3, in your Level 12 character, what you'll find is that your ToHit stats are too crappy to hit high-level monsters most of the time, and when you do you manage to land a blow you won't do enough damage to make it worthwhile! Meanwhile your HP (& MP) will be too low to survive such encounters! And you'll regenerate HP & MP too slowly!! It's not that you can't defeat the "boss" monster at the end of the game with a character like this - it's that you probably won't be able to take on the mob in the Goblin Citadel courtyard and survive!

As Randomizer said, a key skill for any character to develop is some kind of ranged attack, be it Bows, Thrown Weapons or ranged magical attacks like Fire Dart or Fleshboil. Without some kind of ranged attack, the game is much harder to beat...

[Kreador Freeaxe]

Answer to 2 - Weapons can break if you use them against sealed barrels and doors without any skill with that weapon or use your sword.

Actually, even if you have skill in cleaving or bludgeoning weapons, you have a chance to break your weapon when using it on barrels or chests or doors. I forgot to change weapons once before whacking a barrel and lost my Executioner +3 +3, and I was very skilled in cleaving weapons.

[Randomizer]

The best example I have of 0% damage is the locked door to the first easter egg area upstairs in the Inn where for unarmed combat you do 0% or 1% damage. I've also seen a few chests like that you can do no damage to for some blows. Very tedious when you don't have a spell or weapon you want to waste bashing through something.

[krisklef]

I'd add one tidbit: in your leveling-up strategy, put points in Endurance early, if you haven't already at the start. You will gain more hitpoints each level-up. You might have to skimp on Dex and Str but you can use use spells/potions to help with that. And what a previous poster said about ranged attack: VERY useful in some situations.