Spoilers! Staying a Level 1 Mage as long as possible game :)

[tungprc]

Okay, just for grins, I've created a Nefarious Mage and basically boosted Wisdom&Intellect to 15 and then dumped all other points into perception. I've gone with Mercantile and Meditation at 5 and Elemental at 1 and am tackling as much of the game as is feasible as a level 1 character. I am taking training for this character, mostly to level Elemental up to 5. I've been playing him for a while and will post some pics further down in the thread once I figure out how to do it in a few minutes. I'll take books and whatever happen along my way, but I'm avoiding most treasure because much of it is random based on character level. I'll come pick it back up when I level up.

[Kreador Freeaxe]

Okay, just for grins, I've created a Nefarious Mage and basically boosted Wisdom&Intellect to 15 and then dumped all other points into perception. I've gone with Mercantile and Meditation at 5 and Elemental at 1 and am tackling as much of the game as is feasible as a level 1 character. I am taking training for this character, mostly to level Elemental up to 5. I've been playing him for a while and will post some pics further down in the thread once I figure out how to do it in a few minutes. I'll take books and whatever happen along my way, but I'm avoiding most treasure because much of it is random based on character level. I'll come pick it back up when I level up.

A couple points: I would skip the Meditation personally, and put a point each in foraging and repair. That and the mercantile will let you make money to afford all the training (you can pick up the Poor and Very poor quality items from the smiths and fix them up for them--you don't make a lot per item but it adds up, and you do it while you're camping/foraging anyway). Also, I don't remember if the level for a map is set when you first enter it if you're using the fixed random seed, in which case it doesn't matter if you wait. And some chests are always low-level junk (I was sad about how low the stuff in the magic shop in Eastwillow is when my level 22 character finally got around to looking).

[tungprc]

Pooey, these are great suggestions but I've done gobs of quests already. I'm having trouble with images too. I can't seem to post directly from my pc. I'm guessing that this forum wants you to post them to an URL and then just point to the URL. I'm too lazy for that I guess I'll stick to describing what I've done/learned. It's obvious that I'm not the only one to have tried this. Note that I'm not playing with the seed generator. Half the fun of this game is reloading chests, etc.

Here goes:

Stats:
Strength 15
Dexterity 14
Endurance 11
Speed 13
Intelligence 15
Wisdom 15
Perception 35
Concentration 11

Main Quests completed thus far:
Mysterious Note
Destiny Through a Looking Glass 1-3
The Secret Society

Optional Quests:
A Den of Dragonels
Repossession
A Favor for Wendy
A Missing Disciple
Secrets of the Deep
News About Yoma Narrows
To Save a Child's Life
A Weed in the Bath House
Shortest Quest Ever

Creatures that are easily defeated by a level 1 mage with only 1 point in Elemental magic: Rats, Outlanders, Blue Oozes, Dragonels.

Creatures that are easier/only able to be defeated by 5 points in Elemental Magic: Red Wolves, White Wolves, Shadow Assassins.

[tungprc]

So far, I have Fire Dart and Sparkling Wonder for Elemental and Divine Heal for Divine. I've trained 1 level of Divine and I found a book of Light Armor. I've got 3 points to Int/Wis from the amulet that the librarian gives you.

I feel that I can complete The Quest of the Snow Pups, Spiders in the Warehouse and "maybe" The Curse of the Prospector before I'm out of level 1 quests. The Prospector might too much for a level 1 guy without cheating with exploding barrels. I'm not using barrels for any fight. I haven't killed all of the creatures that I can yet, I'm mostly interested in the number of quests completable. One tactic that I used frequently in my first game is putting a barrel in a doorway with several creatures behind it. The creatures will line up behind the barrel and wait patiently for you to kill them. If I use that tactic, I can probably even kill some of the beetles. I'm not going to do that though. I just want to see what is possible on fair ground without taking advantage of the engine.

Any suggestions? I sure wish I would have posted and waited for Kreador's reply before trying this. Repair and Foraging would allow me to level up other skills. Still it's quite a bit of fun!

[Randomizer]

You can train in Foraging and Repair so if you don't mind running a bit and using Sparkiling Wonder you can make it through Wolfenwood and quick travel out and to Durnore.

You can scare away the phase spiders long enough to do the Admantium Or Else quest in Everdale and it should also work to do the Snow Wolf Pup quest for Durnore.

[tungprc]

I went to Raven's Gate and forgot about needing a writ. I was able to kill the red wolves protecting it and I'm in Kuudad now. I'll try the spiders there, but they may be too tough if I can't keep them all out of melee range. I could use my keg tactic, but that's cheap. You can kill almost anything that doesn't have a range attack with that tactic. I'm not sure a level 3 fire dart will kill the ranged skeletons protecting the Prospector. That quest may be too tough. I've never tried scaring skeletons. In most games, fear doesn't work on mindless undead. I could level magic up to 8 or even 10 if I scrounge for the book. I'm not planning on doing that though. If the creatures weren't in the way of a quest objective and a few chests that I did ransack, then I've left them alone. I've killed everything under the Well and I killed all the dragonels in and around the nest and the house. I've killed any stray Outlanders but left their baggies for later. If I kill everything that I can, I'll be almost to the endgame areas. The beetles and the shadow assasins would be tough. If I bought Dense something, then the assassins would be cake. Especially, if I level Elemental to 10. For now, I'll just do these quests, then decide.

[Randomizer]

I think you can't get through Westwillow without dense nimbus to deflect arrows. You are starting to run out of places to go.

If you can make it past the Taurax scout on the way to Edon, the rift harpies scare to sparkling wonder usually so you can slowly kill them.

[SpottedShroom]

You can get into Port Kuudad with a level 1 invisibility potion and good timing. I've used that trick many times for non-violent characters that couldn't afford the bribe and didn't want to wait for the one in Broken Blade.

[tungprc]

Okay, the spiders are wiping me out with my current equipment. I'll do as you guys suggest and get 1 level of foraging and repair and go do the snow wolves. I'll kill the red wolves and snow wolves that get in the way and then I'll use the proceeds from their pelts to buy a few healing, mana, and detox potions for the spiders. My current stock was 1 mana, and 2 detox. That wasn't enough to defeat all 3 of the spiders in the first chamber of the warehouse. I was out of mana and detox potions and died from poison in 3 straight attempts. It was fun trying though. Bed and work are going to get in the way pretty soon though.

The first time I did West Willow, I didn't have Dense Nimbus yet. I was probably level 6 or 7 though and had healing at level 3. I mostly used the map in my favor for that dungeon. I also had fire dart at level 4 instead of level 3. The Prospector eventually runs out of mana and stops summoning. If he didn't, you could spawn levels out of him like crazy. It might be suicidal for me to try him at level one. I could theoretically get Dense Nimbus at level 1. I can use the amulet to get me to 18 and if I can find an intellect ring, that'll give me 21. I could cast DN at level 1 or 2. Probably not enough. If I try it, I'll let you know. First the wolves and then the spiders.

@SpottedShroom, yep I've been in PK that's how my Elemental is at level 5. I only took a single point at start up. I took 5 points in Mercantile for the best prices I can get at level 1 and I took 5 in Meditation so that I could have as much regeneration as possible for a level 1 character. I used invis to get in town because I need the 5 points in Elemental to kill the red wolves protecting the writ. Now I'm going to kill some wolves on my way to Durnore. I'm not trying to maximize my kills, just number of quests. I'm sure I could level up to 12 or 13 if I kill absolutely everything I can at level 1.

[tungprc]

Okay, I was able to do a grab and run on the wolf pup. I couldn't kill the snow wolves with a level 3 fire dart. They would make their save too often and I'm toast in about 3 rounds of melee vs. spell. With the 750 gold from that quest, I was able to buy a few more healing and mana pots which allowed me to clear the warehouse. I'll attempt to get the ore tomorrow and I think that'll be the max quests I can do at level 1. I'll try the prospector but I feel the skeleton archers will be too much. I might try getting a ring and dense nimbus, but I'm out of money pretty much and I don't want to go too crazy with workarounds. I just wanted to see how many quests were possible without leveling up. I could kill the Lycanthrope but I like keeping him as a merchant till near end game. The answer looks like 16 or 17 depending on whether you kill Harpen.

I'm betting Randomizer, with his knowledge of the game, could possibly complete it as a level 1 character. Up to the challenge, R? I think you'd have to use my powder keg trick on the beetles or just as explosives. With level 10 skills possible in Elemental, Divine, Foraging, Alchemy, Repair, etc. and lots of patience, could it be done? I know you'd have to game the game to do it, but it'd be cool to see on one of your completed game screenies.

[Randomizer]

It depends quite alot on when you can get that first invisibility potion to get into Port Kuudad and what scrolls and items are available. I've done pacifist enough to know that you can run past most monsters to do non-violent quests but I gained levels to max out sparkling wonder.

[silverkitty]

It depends quite alot on when you can get that first invisibility potion to get into Port Kuudad and what scrolls and items are available. I've done pacifist enough to know that you can run past most monsters to do non-violent quests but I gained levels to max out sparkling wonder.

If you run past monsters, why are getting a invis potion to get into kuudad? I've done a run past the wolves (usually getting hit once or twice, but survivably) to the Citizen papers in the wolf forest. With three different level 1 characters (I like to go buy a point of repair early - very early. it's fairly easy to walk to dwarfville once you grab the papers)

[SpottedShroom]

I always figured the writ with the wolves would be too hard to get for a pacifist without some kind of assistance (invis, sparkling wonder, hide in shadows, etc.). It's pretty tight quarters there, and a fair number of wolves.

Now if you can make it through the third level of Hammerlorne just by running from things, I'll be really impressed.

[Kreador Freeaxe]

I tried out a "seller" character and dragged the first bunch of wolves out of the trail toward the writ and then ran back and managed to get the writ and run out only taking a couple hits. Then I went to Port K where you can safely camp indefinitely and used my foraging (1), repair (1) and mercantile (5+2 for hat) to get a level 1 character with every trainable weapon and magic skill at level 10 (or 8 for thrown, since there's no book, and 1 for piercing and unarmed, since there's only a book). Also raised foraging to 10 and bought the two rings of the boar. It's really funny to have four different weapon feats to chose from at level 1, since that's the only way you'll kill half the stuff.

[tungprc]

Well, as expected, I was able to take out the spiders for the Adamantium Ore Else quest. I tried the Prospector but I just can't take the damage. I leveled up and got to 8th level. My mana went from 85 to 163, so it'll be nice being level 8 with that much mana already. As I said earlier, I could go higher staying at level one if I killed every creature that I'm able to. I really was only interested in number of quests, which ended up at 16. So you can complete 16 of a possible 30-31 quests at level 1, but you must know how that game works before it's feasible.

Now I'll be going back and clearing all the maps and picking up treasure that I left behind. I should have slightly better loot, but I don't expect to find a great difference. I've already been to the convent well and it was the same basic stuff. I did find a 400 gold necklace.