Messed up the game, trying again...

[Lucifiel]

Okay, I'd spent about 1.5 hours on this game before I realised how much my mage sucked.

So, I'm creating a ranger now.

Just one question: which skills are recommended?

I'm going to pick Cartography, Alchemy, Armour(Light), and any trap and lock-related skills, seeing the number of chests in this game.

I admit I'm rather overwhelmed, though, by the amount of statistics like Intelligence, Wisdom, etc.

[GSV3MiaC]

Alchemy is good, Cartography is required, but you can learn both these from trainers and books so don't dump too many points in. Key thing, IMO, is to be able to at least cast 'heal' on yourself.

You may also have failed to notice (I did) that the starting stats are random (and you can re-roll them) between 7 and 14 (don't even ask what kind of dice that implies). So it is pretty easy to go off with a rather hopeless character.

The other defining attribute is whether you opt for a mage type or fighter type starting character - one gets more HP per level, the other gets more magic points. Again, not terribly clear from the documentation.

[acoustibop]

A set of 7 dice, each with the numbers 1 and 2 (maybe you could have a 6 faced die with 3 ones and 3 twos...) would produce numbers from 7 to 14, GSV3MiaC.

[Nepharis]

1d8+6

Re: original question:

It's easy to spread your character to thin, and as a result get a guy who's versatile but ineffective. Alchemy and Cartography are key, but you don't really need them right away, and can be trained, so are not great at character creation. At the start, pick a weapon type and magick (if you're going magick... some divination would be good for a ranger), and get a few levels of those. Look at the descriptions of the skills you take to see what stats you should take. If your confused, putting everything to 15 and pumping up endurance early is always a solid way to go.

~nepharis

[Lucifiel]

Thank you, everyone for your advice.

In the end, I picked a guy whose stats were around 13 to 15 and with skills centering around bow and lockpick-related skills. I guess I'll develop and learn any other skills should they be needed.

[GSV3MiaC]

1d8+6
~nepharis

Maybe - if the distribution is flat (i.e. 7 and 14 are just as likely as 12) .. have you done any testing to see if it is?

[hekele]

1d8+6
Alchemy and Cartography are key...

I actually skipped alchemy entirely except for getting the guy to train me in a level... and then never once used it, so I don't know that it's critical... but cartography for sure.

[Katixa]

I have a ranger too, and I focused on Archery and Swords. Also a bit in Light Armor. Basically those are the 3 skills I always increase when leveling up. I bought 3 Cartography points on the trainer and then I use +2 Cartography sandals.

I decided to forget about Alchemy or Lockpicking or whatever... because else my char was having bad time killing things, something that you do a lot in this game.

And I could have dropped Swords and use those 20 points in another thing, but I wanted to be sure I could also melee, and not only distance attack. So I can (for example) hit with a sword while holding a torch, for dark dungeons.

[GSV3MiaC]

Attacking, two handed, in the dark is what those light spells are for. 8>.

[Lucifiel]

Oh gods... one more utterly newbie question coming up: (Yeah ... I haven't played a lot of rpg games before)

It seems to take my ranger tons of arrows to kill some of those monsters. It seems he can't seem to hit them even at point-blank and he hits a lot of times but with no damage delivered. Yes, I'm in a dungeon next to a light-source(I always try to lure them to the torches... heheh). Is there some sort of trick to the combat that I'm missing? I've level 5 in Bow.

[GSV3MiaC]

You just aren't doing enough damage, so after any offset there is no damage at all. I can't remember what ups the damage for bows - read the documentation. Doubtless the bow skill, but probably Str or Dex or whatever too.

[Laudimir]

Its worth noting that there is a penalty to hit for LONG-RANGE and POINT-BLANK attacks.

Also, I believe that the whole hit w/ no dmg is just extra flavor for a miss.

[GSV3MiaC]

No, it's not quite the same. When the game says '80% chance to hit' or whatever, that really is the 'to hit' chance. Once you roll a high enough number and DO hit, you then get to 'roll for damage' .. which is going to depend on your attack ability. The target then, presumably, gets to either roll for defense, or just gets some fixed offset deducted (if THEY are wearing armor for instance).

So if you max damage is 8, you should be rolling 1-8. If the target gets -2 for armor effect, then any roll <3 will result in no damage. So while your 'to hit' may be 80%, your 'and did some damage' is only 60% (6/8 * 80%) - for that particular target.

Obviously if your max damage is 3 you are in sad shape - 2/3rds of your hits will now have no effect, (and the other one will only result in minor cuts and grazes).

[Laudimir]

Hmm...I swear Ive swung at many a monster with Bless lvl6, scored a max non-crit hit, and, on a separate occasion, hit with no damage (same mob type).

Unless you have some kind of specific data proving otherwise, I still strongly believe myself to be correct. Perhaps BW could illuminate us.

[GSV3MiaC]

But why do you persist in believing that when rolling a 1-N it will never come out at a 1 (or whatever) just because it sometimes comes out as an N (or even an N + critical with triple damage?).

As far as I know most of the 'buffs' just increase the maximum damage, or add some small overall .. none of them guarantee that you'll never roll a small enough damage number that the creature's natural amour class will reduce it to zero, especially for tough monsters as encountered later in the game. Try it on some tough doors as well - you will have 100% hit rate, but quite often low or no damage.