Liking the game, some questions though...

[Farwalker]

Possible ranged weapon solution - throwing. Throwing isn't perfect, but it kind of goes well with alchemy if you make demon oil. Try it with no points invested (just train up to level 8 ), and if you want you can get the feat for just 2 more points. A volley of demon oil is worth trying at least once... Also, it's quieter than a bow.

Bow is good too, you can get to level 10 and the feat with no skill point investment, just trainer and book. Can be handy to pull out once in a while.

[IJBall]

The only problem I see with your build is the lack of a ranged weapon. You are going to have big problems in some areas if you can't attack from a distance.

My most recent char actually didn't have any kind of ranged weapons for the whole game, and he was fine except for the Taurax Spearmasters near the end, who were doing a good job of tearing me apart (which could have been countered with more points in armor or shields, of course). Still, I made it through; while ranged weapons certainly make battles easier, they're definitely not required.

I'm currently playing an all 'hack-and-slash' Fighter character with no ranged attack to speak of, and have had no problems with him since about post-Level 10. Though, admittedly I haven't gotten to the Spearmasters yet - but I'm not too worried about the latter, as my guy is also proficient at Shields (currently at Level 17).

This is all a long-winded way of saying you can play non-ranged characters, though I think they are more of a challenge during the first 10 Levels, and do lead to more opportunities to "mess up" in the character building along the way (as happened with my first runthrough of Book II with my first attempt at a Fighter).

[Kreador Freeaxe]

I'm trying a character right now with no ranged attack. I got his piercing weapons to 10 (then 12 when I found the book), then pumped up Shields. The only other skill I started him with was a point in repair. One important thing to remember when dealing with ranged foes is to switch into Parry mode for the approach. I had fun with the Sentinel Stalk at the bathhouse by approaching from behind the closest wall at night in a thunderstorm. It took me about 6 double-strikes to kill the thing, with it having 4 chances to hit me heading in and heading out to hide behind the wall until my Feat refreshed. Out of those 48 chances, it hit me 3 times that weren't parried or deflected with my shield. By the time I'm leveled up enough to go after the Spearmasters, I expect an even better standard. The spiders in the warehouse were trickier, but at night I could stand around and maybe one in 25 strikes would hit me. I just stood in the little entry so only one at a time could attack and waited for my feat to renew until I'd cleared the first room and a half.

[SpottedShroom]

One important thing to remember when dealing with ranged foes is to switch into Parry mode for the approach.

This was key for my melee-only character. By the time I got to the spearmasters, they only had 1% chance to hit when I was in Parry mode.

[deathknight1728]

I changed the move silently to hide in shadows. Works much better so far. I'm going to buy the game early this weekend. The only thing to wonder now is why I didnt hear about this game earlier. Besides all that, all of your entries have been much appreciated. You guys and soldak are prally the only companies i've played that do this.

[Evnissyen]

Instead of bows: I'm thinking throwing knives should be useful in tripping switches. Can't comment on this myself, since I'm playing a Ranger. For spellcasters, of course: Fire Dart.

Painted Lady:
How many points in Repair do you need for it to actually be viable?

My problem with skills like Repair and Foraging is that they're only useful when camping, which I don't do often enough to make them extraordinarily useful. I'd have to make a habit out of camping in order for it to be useful... which wouldn't be a big deal if I had less trouble finding 'safe' places to camp.

Does Repair work when renting a room? Because I tend to do that more often than camping. This is because camping takes longer to restore your hp, and in the meantime your hunger and thirst bars decline pretty quickly. Way too often I wake up starving. (Notably more frequent than being woken up by mercenaries or evil creatures, which, in Book 1, honestly, was another good reason for camping.) (In Book 1 I rarely ever rented rooms.)

[CrazyBernie]

Instead of bows: I'm thinking throwing knives should be useful in tripping switches. Can't comment on this myself, since I'm playing a Ranger. For spellcasters, of course: Fire Dart.

Painted Lady:
How many points in Repair do you need for it to actually be viable?

My problem with skills like Repair and Foraging is that they're only useful when camping, which I don't do often enough to make them extraordinarily useful. I'd have to make a habit out of camping in order for it to be useful... which wouldn't be a big deal if I had less trouble finding 'safe' places to camp.

Does Repair work when renting a room? Because I tend to do that more often than camping. This is because camping takes longer to restore your hp, and in the meantime your hunger and thirst bars decline pretty quickly. Way too often I wake up starving. (Notably more frequent than being woken up by mercenaries or evil creatures, which, in Book 1, honestly, was another good reason for camping.) (In Book 1 I rarely ever rented rooms.)

With a melee character, I always carry 5-10 stones on me for tripping switches and igniting kegs.

I often will only use a pair of Tinker's Gloves for my repair needs... but if you want items repaired in short order, more points = more items repaired faster. I find that camping in shorts bursts greatly decreases the chances of an encounter. The more points you put into Foraging, the slower your hunger and thirst bars will deteriorate.

Repair does not work when renting. You get a meal with your stay, so the assumption is that you eat and sleep, filling all four of your "consumption bars," even if that sleep is only an hour's worth.

[Evnissyen]

Yeah, the 'free meals': part of the attraction to the inns.

Assumedly you do all your eating and drinking before you sleep, since when you wake up the bars are always slightly reduced.

Another advantage, besides the short duration in comparison to camping: It's always daylight when you wake up.

EDIT: Hey! 666 posts! I think I'll stop there for today.

[deathknight1728]

So I guess in essence-you should only camp when your full on food and have no pots, and or have foraging/repair.

To be honest, i've yet to rent a room for the night.

[Kreador Freeaxe]

So I guess in essence-you should only camp when your full on food and have no pots, and or have foraging/repair.

To be honest, i've yet to rent a room for the night.

I always rent a room for one night in both Everdale and Port K to get a look at what previous travelers have left in the dressers (though in Everdale you can take a look without paying easily enough).

[Rowanas]

Kreador, you actually pay to look in those rooms?

Normally I pick or smash my way into the rooms and clear them out. Then when I'm done, I fleece the stuff to the innkeeper.

Once I get all the skill books, innkeeper mortality rates in the Mistfell region start to experience a sudden peak.

[Evnissyen]

Once I get all the skill books, innkeeper mortality rates in the Mistfell region start to experience a sudden peak.

You're mean. I don' wanna talk t'you no more.

[SpottedShroom]

Once I get all the skill books, innkeeper mortality rates in the Mistfell region start to experience a sudden peak.

You're mean. I don' wanna talk t'you no more. :(

Not mean, just nefarious :) This is an RPG, after all - if my character sheet says nefarious, I'm darn well going to play nefarious.

[Evnissyen]

Personally, I think I'd prefer our 'morality' be defined by our actions, rather than our just saying so and then doing what we please.

...and for our 'morality', thus, to define how we're perceived to people who've heard of us.

Reputation, in other words. I think I've been arguing for Reputation for a couple years, now.

[Rowanas]

Reputation is always a better way to go. You can see that it's becoming a much used concept in gaming today, more and more games are discarding DnD alignments for flowing, natural feeling systems.

It's also more the case that we're abandoning classes as well, allowing players to create whatever type and shape of character they want to. I like it, because I can't stand class/alignment. In Eschalon alignment doesn't make too much difference, you're not forced to play the way you pick at the start.