Various Noob Questions

[CynVicious]

Thanks BW, been waiting two years for this game.

That being said, I am having a hard time and would like a little help please.

My female ranger is poverty stricken and starving to boot. She does not want to buy food and fail The True Ranger challenge, because she's failed all but three of them already.

I have read lots of advice for rangers but she is still not getting it!

Some questions that I have for general game play include:

1. Can enemies see you when you have Gravesomething Flame active ? She found a hat and scroll and was surprisingly smart enough to learn it.

2. What makes you recognize objects ? She has INT and WIS of 15 but can not identify simple objects such as a tin ring or mace.

3. Do you have to have the recipe in the book to make potions and imbue weapons ?

4. Where do you get the werewolf quest from and do you have to kill him right away ? Things are so tough now she can not afford to lose the store yet.


Thank you for your help, she could surely use it.

[Mod.]

1. Can enemies see you when you have Gravesomething Flame active ? She found a hat and scroll and was surprisingly smart enough to learn it.

It should cancel out hidden in shadow status as well as invisibility status (assuming you have the latest version).

2. What makes you recognize objects ? She has INT and WIS of 15 but can not identify simple objects such as a tin ring or mace.

The Lore skill, which is complemented by Int., not at all wisdom.

3. Do you have to have the recipe in the book to make potions and imbue weapons ?

I think so. You can save and then try it.

4. Where do you get the werewolf quest from and do you have to kill him right away?

You get it from Xed, who is right outside of the demo area north of ironpool dam. You can take as much time as you want before completing it.

She does not want to buy food and fail The True Ranger challenge

Get higher foraging. There is a trainer of it in Wolfenwood.

[IJBall]

3. Do you have to have the recipe in the book to make potions and imbue weapons ?

I don't think so - if you memorized or wrote down what the recipes were from a previous playthrough, you can just mix together the proper reagents (provided you have them in your possession!) without having the recipe.

My female ranger is poverty stricken and starving to boot. She does not want to buy food and fail The True Ranger challenge, because she's failed all but three of them already.

Honestly? Better to fail the challenge, IMHO.

But as Mod. suggested, if you start a new game, with Foraging skill from the start, you're more likely to be able to pull the "True Ranger" challenge off.

[Dragonlady]

Thanks BW, been waiting two years for this game.

That being said, I am having a hard time and would like a little help please.

My female ranger is poverty stricken and starving to boot. She does not want to buy food and fail The True Ranger challenge, because she's failed all but three of them already.

Have you tried finding stuff in barrels and chest in town or close by area? There is food in some of those barrels. Have you done any of the quests, like the blacksmith and priest? You get reward money for those, not to mention loot you find that you can sell.

2. What makes you recognize objects ? She has INT and WIS of 15 but can not identify simple objects such as a tin ring or mace.

Yes, this can be annoying. The higher you INT, the better able you will be to ID things. OR you can find a ring or two of +2 Lore skill. OR get Magic Divine - Lore spell. You need wisdom of 15+ to cast it. The higher you level the higher you can cast 'Lore" and harder to Id items. I find it a bit annoying not to be able to know what a steak or fish is, but then remember this isn't the real world where items are shipped all over and items can be looked up on the internet.

3. Do you have to have the recipe in the book to make potions and imbue weapons ?

Wellll.., if you have alchemy skill and knowledge from cheats or previous playing the game you don't have to have the recipe in the book. Warning, for Imbueing weapons, you'll need skill level higher than 10. Higher than 17 for +3 to hit/damage..I think.

[Kreador Freeaxe]

I find your food troubles odd. I've never had a problem with food in the game. Spiders drop it. Rats drop it. It's in cabinets and barrels all over the place. I usually have to store some away because I can't carry it all.

The only advantage to having recipes in the recipe book (aside from not having to look at your hand-written notes to get the right stuff) is that you can click on the recipe and it will automatically put the stuff in the mixing window.

[Rebelicious]

[...]

2. What makes you recognize objects ? She has INT and WIS of 15 but can not identify simple objects such as a tin ring or mace.

[...]

Come back when you can't identify a potatoe.

One guy on here had issues identifying a rock.

If she can identify tin rings and maces, she's a bloody genius!

[Kreador Freeaxe]

I think the "unknown" in Book II is a bit more everpresent than it was in Book I. Personally, I like the idea of a more rigorous identification system, so if you're skilled in the appropriate skill for things like spells, armor, weapons, etc, you would be able to recognize items in that category more easily (add the appropriate skill level to the Lore + Int calculation). For things like food, the skill would be Foraging, and for reagents, Alchemy.

[IJBall]

I think the "unknown" in Book II is a bit more everpresent than it was in Book I. Personally, I like the idea of a more rigorous identification system, so if you're skilled in the appropriate skill for things like spells, armor, weapons, etc, you would be able to recognize items in that category more easily (add the appropriate skill level to the Lore + Int calculation). For things like food, the skill would be Foraging, and for reagents, Alchemy.

Honestly, I still have problems with the way INT/Lore is implemented in Book II.

First off, I don't think Food should pretty much ever be unidentifiable unless it's something really exotic (e.g. pheasant?...) - it's pretty ridiculous when your character can't ID salted fish or dried meat (aka "beef jerky"!).

Second, I think certain things (e.g. all "stone" weapons) should also always be identifiable.

OTOH, it seems like almost all Alchemical reagents are always identifiable, when it probably should be the opposite.

Your idea, about tying in item ID'ing with character Skills is intriguing, I'll admit. But I'd rather these simple issues with ID'ing were ironed out first.

But, again - we can save this discussion for the opening of the Book III forum...

[silverkitty]

First off, I don't think Food should pretty much ever be unidentifiable unless it's something really exotic (e.g. pheasant?...) - it's pretty ridiculous when your character can't ID salted fish or dried meat (aka "beef jerky"!).

I hold the contrary opinion that food has one of the best justifications for needing Lore to ID it - you can tell it's salted fish easily enough, but you need skill to tell if it's still edible or more likely to kill you. My opinion.

[Rebelicious]

First off, I don't think Food should pretty much ever be unidentifiable unless it's something really exotic (e.g. pheasant?...) - it's pretty ridiculous when your character can't ID salted fish or dried meat (aka "beef jerky"!).

I hold the contrary opinion that food has one of the best justifications for needing Lore to ID it - you can tell it's salted fish easily enough, but you need skill to tell if it's still edible or more likely to kill you. My opinion.

It's usually very easy to tell if food is edible or not.

Berries and whatnot notwithstanding.

[silverkitty]

Yah, I'm thinking cases like
* berries
* mushrooms
* "meaty spider legs" (sure you didn't include a dangerous part of the spider?) * maybe "are you sure that's not a poisonous japanese puffer fish?" (or, rather, the Eschalon equivalent)
* some bread is meant to be a little moldy, some is bad if it's a little moldy

things like that.
Plus, remember, everyone in modern first world nations is brought up to have the equivalent of several ranks of lore and numerous other skills that people in a more scrappy time could not take for granted.

And, I have no idea if the fauna and flora in Eschalon are nearly as easily edible as the ones on Earth -- but there sure seem to be a lot more dangerous predators in that world.

But, this is all just opinion, not worth going on a long(er) digression about.

[CynVicious]

Wow, thank you all for the tips. Which leads to more questions....

OK, finished a quest(DL) and got some money for 3 levels of foraging.(Mod)
Started camping out and got a lot of wicks and an" unknown" substance(IJBall). I say its a pot leaf but can not sell it regardless. When she can camp no more because hunger wakes her up rented a room in Everdale for the dinner. Is this a good idea?

@Kreador Freeaxe, no spiders yet and barrels net her a rotton apple and some beef jerky she can not identify or sell. I was hoping wolves gave meat but alas, only pelts. It must be Murphys Law because 10 scrolls of draw water is more than enough

[Rowanas]

You rented a room to get dinner?! This is crazy talk. Those inn keepers charge the moon for a night. I suppose if you're keeping to the ranger challenge, though, it's easier to do it like that. A much better way is to get "create food" (divination, level 1) from then on, you'll never need to waste such a ridiculous amount of money on a room again.

Create food is available from all good magical wares shops.

[SpottedShroom]

it seems like almost all Alchemical reagents are always identifiable, when it probably should be the opposite

I especially like low INT/lore in combination with forage. "I found this thing in the woods. I don't know what it is, but I get the feeling that you could brew a potion with it."

[Kreador Freeaxe]

OTOH, it seems like almost all Alchemical reagents are always identifiable, when it probably should be the opposite.

You need to up your foraging, IJBall. There are lots of things I pick up when camping that I can't identify (Well, I know what they are, but my character doesn't). I get each identified and then keep one of each in inventory at all times so that I don't have to pay to identify it again. My new Cleric doesn't have this problem, since Lore is a Divination spell (saves the trouble with his 9 Int--couldn't recognize a potato--probably tried to eat the rocks the first time).

Cyn, the spiders are mostly in the Farrock Caves behind Everdale. If you go looking for the Adamantium Ore for the blacksmith there, you'll see plenty of them.