New Player help! Charecter as well as skill questions!

[draftGuy]

Hey all! Well I got this game ages ago, and honestly it kinda 'set on the shelf' so to speak, but about two weeks ago I decided to give it a whirl. I absolutely loved it! Every level I put a point in swords, elemental and divination magic, and kinda become a spellsword of sorts. Only one point in heavy armor but I relied on leatherskin to get me through. Well I discovered this site and realized there was a patch, so I installed it and boom, my savegame is gone. Alright, well not the biggest of deals, I was only up to the cavern w/ the bees in it, so I figured that i would start again, this time w/ more of a knowledge of the system. So I'd like some feedback from the community if that is all right.

For my first toon, I found that outside of the arrow shield spell, I really didn't use any elemental magic. Now, I hadn't found any of the awesome 2nd tier buff stuff yet, but at the time I was really just using it for that, as well as pred. sight. It seems to me that I might get more bang for my buck if I get one tier of it at level one just so I can cast those two spells for a short duration when i need them, and then put the rest of my points in swords, armor, and divine magic. Kinda a paladin esque sort of character, be able to buff and heal myself, and then go smashy otherwise. Once I get to the town that I can buy some ranks in it, I'll buy my five ranks in elemental and then maybe put in some points from there to be able to get the 2nd tier good stuff to work. Basically what I am asking is has anyone else tried this route before, does it seem like a good idea, bad, etc. Anything to watch out for? In my last game because i had no points in heavy armor save one, if I didn't buff before I fight I was a marshmallow. I assume if i put one point in it every level I should see some benefits?

My second question is what is the max you can put into the various skills? I would like to just edit my savegame file and give myself a max cartography skill. I did that in the last game, and set it to twenty, but didn't want to set it to high, least the game crash, on the other hand, I would like to get the full value out of it. To each thier own, but to me, I don't feel like I should have to put points into a minimap.

So to cap, this would be my 'toon -

One point in pick locks (pretty necessary at the beginning)
One point in elemental magic
the rest split between divine magic, swords, and heavy armor


Also, any other skills that might be nice to just put a point into? In an faq someone mentioned putting a lone point into dodge, but at only a one percent chance of activating, seems like my three skill points are better spent elsewhere. Anyways, thanks in advance for the help!

[Kreador Freeaxe]

Welcome.

Somewhere around here in the forum there's a whole thread on cartography and the improvements by level. I believe I recall 17 being the last level that makes a difference in that (where you can actually see enemies on the automap before you can see them on screen).

You never really NEED pick locks, as anything you can pick, you can smash. One point in unarmed combat and you can eventually pummel anything down. Just takes a lot more patience. Alternately, you can hang on to an axe and the Wolf's Tooth amulet to give you cleaving skill and chop any doors, chests, and barrels.

I recommend at least one point in Hide In Shadows. In Book 1, it is an overpowered skill. More so for ranged combatants than for sword'n'board guys, though. With my Rangers, I use exactly the two Elemental spells you referenced, Air Shield and Predator Sight. With hide in shadows and predator sight, areas like the bee cave become MUCH easier. Also allows for creative use of the exploding barrels. It's fun to draw the Queen Bee into a trap and with one well-placed shot, drop her and any helpers she has left.

[draftGuy]

Really? You don't need to put any points into pick locks? I just kinda assumed there were some things that just couldn't be bashed down. I certainly don't mind at the beginning doing the whole 'save reload' thing to prevent my sword breaking if it is going to save me three points. Thanks!

[Painted Lady]

Kreador is right - you don't really need Pick Lock, but IMHO you ought to put one point in Unarmed Combat if you don't have it. That allows you to bash pretty much anything without worrying about breaking your sword (or whatever). I think there might be some things that you can't bash open that show up later on in the game, but there is a spell you can use to open those items. Personally, I use Pick Lock and ramp it up pretty early on.

You have a good character in mind for your next play through. However, you should be aware of the fact that you have to be careful about the guy's creation. If you don't make him an Elemental Mage, you won't start with Fire Dart - and that scroll doesn't show up for a loooooong time. If your melee weapon is a sword, you probably want Fire Dart to be your ranged weapon from the beginning.

I would recommend an Elemental Mage with 1 point in swords and 1 in light armor. The rest is up to you............

[Antigrav]

I've only finished the game once, and am playing through again with three characters simultaneously. It's going to take forever, I know, but I love experimenting with different character types.

As far as pure efficiency, it seems like a melee character that uses magic mainly for buffs and some ranged attacks goes the smoothest. But I find it more fun to play an archetype than to play the most efficient blend of abilities. For example, my assassin will always pick locks wherever they are found, whereas my conjuror will use Lock Melt and my paladin will just bash everything and only hides from enemies after having read some corrupting literature.

My only critique of this game has to do with up-front information. How many new players are going to avoid putting points into dodge, short-bladed weapons, thrown weapons, cartography or alchemy?

[Painted Lady]

You have hit on things I consider to be Book I's strengths - replayability and flexibilty. Your guy can be one of many types, and he can survive by exploiting the things that character does well.

The first time I played I wasted an unbelievable number of points on dumb things like Skullduggery and Dodge. Now, I'm so good at creating a character that the only challenge is if I play pure Iron Man and never, ever re-load...........

[draftGuy]

Thanks for the replies!

Like I said before, I did play a bit of the game before I installed the patch and everything got hosed. And I have to say, I almost never used ranged attacks. Eventually I got the priest spell towards the beginning that did I little ranged dmg, which I just kept hotkeyed at level 1 just to kill things that were running away. (because you learn early in this game that running away enemies suck. Like, for realz. I hope that is handled differently in Book 2)

So from the looks of it my opening plan is a good one. Basically a Paladin whose elemental skill I will work up once I get further into the game. I am halfway through Avernum, and as opposed to playing two things at once (I am a little ocd) I've decided to finish it before I head on to this game. Then after I get done w/ this, if book two has came out by then I might purchase that, or if not I'll head over to Knights of the Chalice.

Thanks for all the good comments!

[draftGuy]

I download it ages ago, from the website I believe. Either 07' or the begnning of 08, something around there? It just kind of sat on my harddrive after I tinkered with it for an evening.

The patch I installed was 1.04!