Trying a Magic/Technology character

Discussion in 'Arcanum Discussion' started by igotsmeakabob!!, Jul 10, 2010.

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  1. igotsmeakabob!!

    igotsmeakabob!! New Member

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    So, I'm curious as to whether anyone has attempted to play a character who works on both magic AND technology, trying to stay as close to the neutral 0 marker as possible.

    Is this a profitable venture? Is it too difficult to waste my time with? Will I enjoy it?

    Anyone who has tried it, please chime in. I'd like to know whether I'll be wasting my time reloading over and over or if I can negotiate through the game fairly well this way.

    Thanks!
     
  2. nomwalla

    nomwalla New Member

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    On my very first playthrough, I tried a magic-tech character. Unfortunately, the points I spent in either discipline were completely wasted. By hedging, and by having a neutral affinity, I was good at nothing. My guns did less damage than I do punching, and my spells are less effective than my skills were. Eventually, those points I invested in either technology or magic were wasted, as my investments had such pitiful returns that I ignored them.

    Upon making this mistake, I learned the first very important rule of Arcanum: don't hedge.
     
  3. Arkain

    Arkain New Member

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    Depends on what you want to do. If you want to use damaging spells that scale with your magickal aptitude don't hope for much, as they'll be relatively weak, not necessarily useless, but still nowhere near a pure magick character's powers. I guess the one exception would be Disintegrate though. If you want to use other spells, such as buffs, teleportation or healing, that's an entirely different matter. I guess a buffing character could do very well, even if he ultimately turns out to go the tech route. There are likely few things that help you like Tempus Fugit does in a tough battle.
     
  4. igotsmeakabob!!

    igotsmeakabob!! New Member

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    If the damaging spells aren't doing much, will the tech weaponry kill things well enough?
     
  5. Wolfsbane

    Wolfsbane Well-Known Member

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    I usually play a gunslinger with spells from the Temporal college. Gives you that fastest gun in the west feeling :). Spells like Teleport and Disintegrate works fine without magical aptitude as well.
     
  6. nomwalla

    nomwalla New Member

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    True, the temporal and conveyance colleges are extremely useful regardless of what path you choose, however I think your tech affinity would have to be decently strong, otherwise your gun would do piddle damage and the bonuses from those two magic colleges would be useless.

    I was thinking along the lines of literally having a 0 affinity either way.
     
  7. Wolfsbane

    Wolfsbane Well-Known Member

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    Tech aptitude has nothing to do with the damage you deal with guns. If you have magic aptitude, your chance to critically fail increases, but that's the only downside. The same is not true for damage dealing spells when your aura is tech-inclined, however.
     
  8. nomwalla

    nomwalla New Member

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    Ah, my mistake. Apologies.
     
  9. Archmage Orintil

    Archmage Orintil New Member

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    My favorite character was a technomancer. I went primarily mage and had Mechanical and Smithy doctorates for automatons to make up for what I was severely lacking in the combat department. The difficulties I encountered was that tech stores didn't sell to me (so had to spend a fate point on picking the lock on the Wheel Clan inventor chest to get components) and I lacked any actual points in skills, since they were all taken up with WP and INT and the spells and schematics.
     
  10. nomwalla

    nomwalla New Member

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    Out of curiosity, what spells did you invest in? It's quite possible that since my first attempt at hedging was a disaster, I just have a biased hatred of technomancy.

    That said, I still find it difficult to believe that a technomancer is more powerful than a pure mage or technologist.
     
  11. Wolfsbane

    Wolfsbane Well-Known Member

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    Not necessarily so.

    Imagine the technomancer equiped with the "Bonds of magic" spell. He could render any magical character helpless while letting his technological companions ripp the poor magician to shreds. The same is true for the technomancer vs any other tech character: Tempus Fugit + Haste + Congeal time = ggwp. Incoming barrage of bullets and steel claws!

    Or why not simply use stasis.

    Technomancers are just as powerful, if not more poweful, than aptitude-aligned characters. You just have to know what spells and/or tech skills to use.

    I'd say that the Half-Ogre melee monster still is the most OP being in the world of Arcanum. More often than not, the mage opposing it is dead before the spell he's desperately been trying to cast has finished.
     
  12. magikot

    magikot Well-Known Member

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    The last technomancer I had was a dwarf who loved the electrical, smithy, and mechanical schools as well as the temporal and conveyance colleges. He liked to teleport around the battlefield smashing things with a shocking staff.

    And I agree with the Half-Ogre melee monster. One of the easiest characters to stat up and cheapest to equip.
     
  13. Archmage Orintil

    Archmage Orintil New Member

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    Conveyance, Force, Temporal, Divination, and White Necromancy if I recall correctly. The early stages were pretty difficult, but I kept my magick aptitude sufficiently high to make use of magick items. If you go towards a neutral or tech aligned technomancer, it'd probably be more difficult, as you won't benefit from as many spells, but there's enough spells that don't rely on aptitude to function.
     
  14. William Blake

    William Blake New Member

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    How exactly does it interfere with your gun damage?
     
  15. Dark Elf

    Dark Elf Administrator Staff Member

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    I see your Half-Ogre melee monster and raise with Disintegrate.
     
  16. shupbeav

    shupbeav New Member

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    To be honest I think it is the party you bring with you that will determine the effectiveness of your character. A neutral character that dabbles in both has certain advantages. If you go that way I would suggest at least finding one strength and sticking to it. The first several of my characters I started I would focus on high strength stats. After a while I would basically just go around cutting off arms and legs of my opponents. That was my strength and what I brought to the party. That and I could carry just about anything. I also knew a few spells and disciplines as well. The most good that came out of it however was using teleport and resurrect from the spells and making some healing salves now and then. I didn't really get much from the tech side of the character. A good tech character requires real focus in disciplines. I managed to win the game quite easily because I had a large party that was pretty powerful as well. I would suggest getting Dante in addition to Virgil. Dante is another healer to help keep up with the battle and can also join the battle himself with spell of force. I found him to be worth keeping. Magnus sadly doesn't carry an equal weight as the rest of the team but other than for gunslingers tech followers I just don't find to be as useful. I mean they never go running to make a life restorer to bring me back to life, Virgil on the other hand once he learns resurrect will save you quite a bit.
     
  17. Muro

    Muro Well-Known Member

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    Virgil doesn't learn Resurrection. Never. Ever.
     
  18. Drog Alt

    Drog Alt Member

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    Actually, he does. Once/if he becomes Zen Virgil. Zen Virgil also gets Harm (and the whole Black Necromantic tree if he has enough points).

    Moreover, in the unpatched release version normal Virgil was also able to learn the Resurrect spell. They removed this in the first patch for (probably) balance reasons.
     
  19. Muro

    Muro Well-Known Member

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    Indeed, but there is - sadly - no more Zen Virgil in the latest official patch (not in terms of Virgil using that leveling scheme anyway), so I didn't consider that to be worth mentioning, seeing how it's not really in the game anymore.

    The same balance reasons that make it OK for Raven to learn Resurrection?
     
  20. Drog Alt

    Drog Alt Member

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    Once Virgil leaves the party in T'sen-Ang, his leveling scheme is switched to Zen Virgil. If he's not near the level cap, then he will be able to learn Resurrect and the Black Necromantic spells.

    So here's an incentive to not overlevel before T'sen-Ang.
     
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