Questions about the game and Suggestions for Tech Character

Hey, this is my first post... I've played through the game once as Muck Evil Eye (the premade half-ogre) and I have some queries...

1) As you may know, Alberich's blessing is +1 in strength. After offering the lava rock, I get the message that I've received Alberich's blessing. The problem is, Muck's strength remained at 24 (for clarification: his original strength was 24). Shouldn't it be at 25 after the blessing? The only diffence is that the number is now green in colour, rather than white. So, my question is, can blessings increase your stats past what is normally possible (for that race)? It seems that half-ogres have a max of 24 in strength, barring any enhancements. And, can the vivifier increase the strength to 25 then?

2) If there are 2 items, one with a higher AC and the other with a higher DR, which one should I choose, assuming all other factors (weight, any other protection) are equal? On a related note, do I choose the Miner's Helmet (AC: 15) or the Goggled Helmet (AC: 6, DR: 9)?

3) It seems like accessories (rings and amulets) for the tech characters are fairly limited. It seems that charged rings are the only tech-usable rings and there are no amulets at all. Any comments?

4)How does the speed of a weapon determine the number of strikes (or shots)in a single turn? Is there some sort of mathematical formula to correlate the factors?

5)If a follower is standing in my line of fire and I shoot at the enemy, will he/she get hit and will his/her reaction to me drop?

6)Does anyone know the effects of imbibing a learned Therapeutics potion (e.g. Elixir of Persuation, Elixer of Physical Prowess) ?

Also, I'm starting a tech character and my intended stats at Level 50 are

Male Half Elf, no background

Strength 8
Constitution 7
Dexterity 21 (12)
Beauty 9
Intelligence 20 (12)
Willpower 8
Perception 20 (12)
Charisma 8

Melee 5 ranks (5)
Dodge 5 ranks (5)
Firearms 5 ranks (5)

I still need to pick a school and I've omitted Herbology, Therapeutics & Chemistry 'cos they seem fairly useless. My two foremost choice are Gun Smithy & Explosives. I'm hoping to be able to pick pocket & pick locks but it seems I don't have enough character points left. Any comments, anyone?
Note: Numbers in brackets are the amount of character points I spent in that attribute.

Sorry for the long post, apologies if I didn't search carefully enough and thanks for any help.[color=#][/color]

 

Re: Questions about the game and Suggestions for Tech Charac

Your stats cannot exceed the racial limit, even with blessings. You should have left his ST at 23 to exploit the blessing bonus. Green light means that your stats are artificially boosted up with blessings or items.
I think the Vivifier CAN boost your stats up beyond racial limit, if that limit is below 20. I am not 100% sure though. I believe I had my halfling gunslinger's ST boosted up from 17 (halfling's racial maximum is 17 as they have a -3 ST penalty) to 18. But I've never had my dwarf characters DX exceed 20, Vivifier or not.

Depends on your fighting style really. I usually prefer DR. My enemies don't get to punch me too often, so the chance of escaping a punch doesn't worry me much. DR is useful against things you often can't avoid, like traps or hurting yourself in a critical miss.

Again, depends. If you're melee, take Miner's Helmet- light is useful in dungeons and at night at zero range to increase accuracy, AC is nice to have and you don't really need perception. If you're a ranged fighter, Goggled Helmet saves you 3 character points on PE, so it is preferable. Personally, as I don't usually bother learning Smithy, Goggled Helmet is not an option at all for me. I use Miner's hemlet for melee fighters and Chapeau of Magnetic Inversion for gunslingers and archers (I use light armor in this case, and +20DR bonus is worth the 2CPs)
I use Miner's Helmet for a melee fighter and Chapeau of Magnetic Inversion

There are a few amulets and neutral rings, but charged rings are the best you can get. As for amulets, Jewel of Hebe is neutral and gives a nice charisma+beauty bonus. Cassie's necklace gives +40 magick resistance (not that it is of any use really).

.
Yes there is.

Speed 1-2 = 8 AP
Speed 3-5 = 7 AP
Speed 6-7 = 6 AP
Speed 8-11 = 5 AP
Speed 12-14 = 4 AP
Speed 15-17 = 3 AP
Speed 18+ = 2 AP

Your speed reflects the number of AP (action points) you have. Now you can calculate how many shots/swings per turn you can make.

It CAN happen with boomerangs or weapons that shoot arrows or other visible projectiles (Bronwyck's gun, blade launcher, Tesla gun, Tesla Rod). It cannot happen with bullet based guns.

Why don't you try experimenting?
Elixir of Persuasion gives you a persuasion boost of half a CP. Elixir of Physical prowess boosts up ST and CN by two each. Next ones in the tree give you respectully: +2 PE,+2 DX, +1 to all physical stats,+1 to all mental stats and +1 to all. The effects do not neutralize each other, so you can drink three-four elixirs before the battle and turn yourself into a big scary tank.

Well I have some.

1)Why no background? Don't you want to spare some CPs or gain other benefits? I recomment Educator background: you can have one follower less, but you can train your followers to apprentice or even expert status. Useful for melee or gunslinger players.
2)You do not need INT20 unless you seek the +10% success rate in skills bonus (which you probably don't, as you did not select any non-combat skills). The Potion of Intellect (which you can buy from Wise Women) gives you a short time +10 INT bonus, enough to learn all schematics if your basic INT is at least 9. It can also be used to make yourself smarter for dialogs.
3)Half Elves have a penalty on tech skills, including Firearms. Prepare yourself that you will not be able to receive the Firearms Master status.
4)Gunsmithy is not really needed for a gunslinger. All truly useful guns can be stolen, made of found schematics or otherwise acquired in the game. That includes Hand Cannons and Elephant Guns. However, it is useful to have Vollinger around, as he can make repeater rifles required for making Charged Accelerator guns or Mechanized guns. Then again, there is a Mechanized gun in the game as well.
5)I find having more than one fighting skill to be a waste of character points. I know some people like playing by guns+melee scheme for the sheer coolness of it- but in practical terms either one is sufficient
6)As for tech schools to learn- the only one that may be worth studying to the top is Electricity. Tesla Rod + Looking Glass rifle (also to be found in the game)= Tesla Gun, and the Tesla Gun rules. Explosives is not really worth learning beyond Stun Grenades, Molotovs are about as good as the Explosive grenades, weight less and are easy and cheap to make in ridiculously big numbers.
7)Lock picking is a must for a technie. A mage can live off pick pocketing, but a tech player needs a lot of stuff and money.

 

Int for a techie can be partially substituted by Int-Potions, but you have to quaff a potion not only to learn schematics but also every time you want to use them. That may be acceptable when creating armor or weapons, but if you want to be able to create explosives or potions a high intelligence will be handy.

 

Not really. You just need to have enough potions. And they're cheap and quite easy to come by.