Harm may be overpowered, but the game can't get any less fair than a warrior/mage with mastery in melee, backstabbing and temporal abusing stun.
I keep meaning to play a half-ogre with the only child background along these lines. A full strength backstab with the Bangelian Scourge would be a terrible sight.
The better the backstab skill, the less meaningful the power and the deadlier the speed of the wielded weapon becomes. With a maxed out skill and 100 bonus damage per backstab on an unaware/stunned foe, the dagger of speed with its 1 action point attack truly shows its potential.
Yeah, that's the whole point of this lunacy of a character system. A STR4 halfling backstabber deals way more pain than a huge oaf ogre with whatever big phallic object he can lug around.
Re: Haven't you ever heard of the idea of precise strikes, Drog? One well placed jabs is more useful than a dozen lousy ones.
Hey, I still play real-time. I know, I'm out of control. Maybe the dagger of speed is still better on real-time than the Bangelian Scourge (I do realise I didn't capitalise dagger of speed and I did Bangelian Scourge - it's a mark of respect), but I'd rather have my character wielding something monstrous and fearsome than a weapon which makes his arm jerk back and forth so many times a second that he reminds me of a monkey on amphetamine.
Sneaking, stun, paralysis - the usual; all work fine in RT. It also adds in an element of jeopardy as sometimes an enemy won't remain stunned long enough for you to reach their back, which to me is fun. As always though Drog, I do love your sass mouth.
Sounds like I'll be making a new character: a beautiful half-elven thief. And just for giggles? I'll play the evil road.
Fighter/mage does seem to be the easiest type of character. I've tried a straight Ogre warrior, and a Halfling thief. While the warrior was very tough and powerful, the thief was deadlier. My most recent character is a charismatic warrior with Strength of Earth and Fireball. I do enjoy Harm as a basic attack spell, but SoE can give me 20 strength without paying points. I suppose he's kind of like a paladin, but I've considered giving him Unlock Cantrip to steal stuff.
Any update on this playthrough? You got super bored with how easy it was and quit after stillwater didn't you.
Even going bow/mage with Ellumyn's Bow you can murder the world pretty effectively, elven ranger cliches be damned