SpottedShroom wrote:I leveled up naturally, always putting all points into Endurance. I got the +2 Strength from the Wizardtorium and +1 stat point from the secret area SW in Rockhammer before level 2, though. I suppose if I'd been hardcore, I could have tried to get the +2 Strength from the witch's lair, too. That's probably how to beat my 704.
Are you sure you didn't "save up" some levelling up at some point? I'd been curious what the absolute max HP is in the game and I seem to be unable to get higher than 609, if I level up normally. I wonder if there's some attribute-increasing thing somewhere in the game that I'm forgetting about, though I did look through all the available game scripts.
Here's the char I had been testing with, with some XP-and-stat-boosting items in inventory:
http://apocalyptech.com/eschalon/misc/c ... hp_starter - Male, Nor'lander, STR 15, END 36, HP 87. My technique was to use the Gem of Strength four times (simulating Wizardtorium and Emayu Lair), Orb of Bonus once (simulating the Rockhammer secret), and then Gem of XP to start levelling up. (Once you get high enough, the Gem of Major XP becomes more convenient.)
If I level up "all at once" to level 30, I can manage HP of 813, which is nicely impressive. This is enough to survive Karamiklan's attack, btw! If you survive the onslaught, the Malkur/Erubor cutscene starts playing regardless, and you get to participate in the endgame. Fun! If anyone manages that For Real in the game, I would love to hear about it, and also love to know how long it took to camp through all that XP while staying at level 1. :)
