Ridonculous Builds

I got bored, and decided to make a thread where people post up builds that really provide a different experience in terms of what they can do in the game. I’m using the skill notation where they’re ranked out of twenty, and only mentioning relevant bits of blessings and other stuff. All aptitudes have been maxed in their appropriate direction (unless specified otherwise), and character point allocations are the full 64 points (i.e. including the starting 5). If anyone has some juicy ones go ahead, here a few of my own:

Melee Monkey Half-Ogre
I was looking to make a character who could do the largest amount of melee damage in one hit. Here was my take on it:

Race: Half-Ogre

Background: Only Child

Backstory: Raised in a slum by a mother who had been raped by a wild ogre, the character was coddled as a child. His mother was despised by the community, rumours abound that she’d offered herself freely to the ogre and she was a despicable harlot. As the child grew, the local people’s ire was increasingly targeted at him – making him hate the community for not accepting him and hate his mother for be too weak to do anything about it. When he grew older and strong enough, he struck out on his own – learning the ways and old magick of an ogre tribe who agreed to take him in. He renounced everything he once was, adopting an ogre name and developing an intense loathing of industrialised cities and their inhabitants.

Initial Stats From Background:
ST 12 IN 4
CN 8 WP 14
DX 8 PE 8
BE 7 CH 4

Required Stat, Skill and Aptitude Boosts: Velorien’s Blessing (+4 DX, +12 Melee/Dodge), Vivifier (+1 ST/CN/DX/IN/WP), Gloves of Dexterity (+2 DX), Finger of Mannox (+1 WP), Dark Helm (+20 MA). Also Temporal mastery.

Character Point Allocation: 11 ST, 8 CN, 5 DX, 11 IN, 4 WP, 8 (2) Melee, 8 (2) Dodge, 20 (5) Backstab, Conveyance 5, Temporal 5, Necro White 3, Mental 2, Force 1.

Final Boosted Stats:
ST 24 IN 16
CN 17 WP 20
DX 20 PE 8
BE 8 CH 5

Desired Equipment: Bangelian Scourge (or some other sexy melee weapon), Shield of Force, Enchanted War Boots, Finger of Mannox, Dark Helm, 2 x Fated Rings, Arcane Leather Armour, Gloves of Dexterity.

Capabilities and Notes: You can pull off 24 strength backstabs using either Stun or Stasis. Necro White provides nice healing capabilities so you don’t have to shell out on potions, whilst Shield of Protection gives good defense. An IN of 16 lets you have 4 spells running at once, so you use whatever of Temporal you like. You’ll need to use tech manuals to make the Vivifier, which for roleplaying’s sake could be seen as your character simply being curious about what it might do – not them becoming a full tech convert. CN of 17 also gives you the maximum heal rate of 6, and the Fated Rings and Finger of Mannox give maximum critical chance should you ever find yourself in a position where you can't pull off a backstab. You can stick the two points that are in Willpower wherever you like, but I like them there.

The Fastest Gun In Arcanum

Race: Gnome

Background: Raised by Orcs

Backstory: When your wealthy monopolist parents were killed in an industrial coup, you barely escaped with your life by fleeing into the wilderness. You were found half-starved and on death’s door by a group of orc savages, who decided you would be more use alive than contributing to the day's stew pot. Your existence became brutal and bleak, your sense of disentitlement growing more ardent and ugly every day. Longing to reclaim your birthright and become truly exceptional, when the Tarant to Ashbury rail line was being laid close by you did not hesitate to tell the workers that a group of marauding orcs had abducted you and murdered your parents. The workers justice was swift, and you watched it all. It was not long before you were back in the city, taking readily to firearms due to the heightened perceptions you had learnt with the orcs. Unlike most of your foolish technologically inclined contemporaries, you did not shy away from magick – using Temporal to give you an edge in the duels that your embittered self often attracted.

Initial Stats From Background:
ST 10 IN 8
CN 6 WP 10
DX 8 PE 10
BE 8 CH 2

Required Stat, Skill and Aptitude Boosts: Energizer (temporary +2 ST/CN/DX), Mind Marvel (temporary +2 IN, WP, PE), Revitalizer (temporary +2 ST/CN/DX/IN/WP/PE), Vivifier (+1 ST/CN/DX/IN/WP/PE), 2 x Charged Rings (+4 DX), Goggled Helmet (+3 PE), Finger of Mannox (+1 WP), Velorien’s Blessing (+4 DX, +12 Firearms/Dodge).

Character Point Allocation: 5 ST, 7 IN, 2 WP, 8 (2) Dodge, 8 (2) Firearms, Electricity 7, Gunsmithy 7, Chemistry 7, Therapeutics 7, Explosives 6, Smithy 6, Temporal 5 – left over points 1 (I’d go for Herbology or Melee).

Final Boosted Stats:
ST 20 IN 20
CN 11 WP 18
DX 20 PE 18
BE 13 CH 9

Desired Equipment: You can make without tech manuals any gun in the game and all types of ammo so go wild, other than that – Goggled Helmet, 2 x Charged Rings, Finger of Mannox, Metal Boots, Vendigrothian War Gauntlets, Featherweight Chain, Flow Disruptor when applicable.

Capabilities and Notes: You can make any gun in the game, so try to make a complete inventory of all guns (unique ones owned by shopkeepers, etc.) to really give yourself that eclectic collection. You can save more character points by using more therapeutics or Strength of Stone, but I thought using three separate therapeutics before major fights was enough and I didn’t want additional spell upkeep. You’ll need to make your Goggled Helmet with tech manuals using the Eye Gear from the BMC (or I think Sebastian uses a pair, and Magnus can make them too) as you can’t make them yourself, you’ll also need tech manuals for the Vivifier. You’ll also need to use a Potion of Intellect to produce your first Revitalizer, after that you can just use subsequent Revitalizers to access 20 IN; given that the character is comfortable using magick I don't see this as being too cheap. Featherweight chain was favoured to carry as much ammo as possible, as was ST. Use Temporal to become the Fastest Gun in Arcanum.

So there’s two of mine, if there’s any interest I can post more up in a similar vein, however I’d be lying if I said I didn’t post them up for my own geeky vanity and that there’ll probably be no interest at all.

 

Hah, nice.

I have a few favourite, ridiculous characters.

1. The idiot savant. IN, WP, schematics and spells. Nothing else. Using some meta abuse he was accompanied by an invisible forest ape whom I role played as his imaginary friend. The dumb journal is priceless, plus you get gadgets and spells.

2. The ugliest man in the universe. Half ogre, beat with ugly stick, Melee monster. His name was Aaargh! Memorable particularly because when he first talked to Raven the only option was "..uh" and she says "you're a disgrace!" making the whole of Qintarra hostile. Being that ugly sure made for a different game.

3. Wee Mad Angus. Halfling barbarian with shrink cast on himself, actually raising his dmg. Dexterity, Melee master and role played with a violent temper. The comments he got from npcs were hilarious. "You are... What are you?"

 

Re:

Is that a unique response for an already tiny person (any minute race character) shrinking itself further?

I once played a super model who was also an explosives associate, but without throwing skills. This was vanilla (Molotov costing 0 AP) so while I usually won any brawl in found myself in, I had usually turned any spectators hostile too; the result of cocktails flying willy-nilly.

 

My quick list I suggest to noobs for different ways to play the game:

barbarian rampage - barbarian fighter character wearing barbarian clothes/dread armor who never talks to people and just kills everyone on sight

mind control takeover - evil genius who takes over the world by using the mind control device to control everyone

evil doer - evil necromancer who uses others as he must but betrays everyone. kill important npcs and raise them using conjure spirit necromancy, to enable quest dialogue.

politician - intelligent charismatic beatuiful persuasive, uses diplomacy to get through the game

priest/healer/buffer - magic user who buffs party members and heals only, never fights the enemy himself. Ressurrect spell to revive fallen comrades!

charming lass - charismatic beautiful persuasive girl who uses looks to get through the game and avoids all conflict. possibly low intelligence. charm spell!

lone wolf theif - backstabbing high dex average strength neutral/evil character. steals whatever you can, cheat whoever you can

gang leader - intelligent, charismatic, persuasive, technical backstabber/theif who uses tech instead of magic. guns at range, daggers in melee. lot of followers.

little people - only gnomes, dwarves, etc.

ranger/druid - summoning and elemental using character who is all about nature and animals and possibly no use of metal items. dog companion, bodokan lizardman companion

merchant adventurer - weak gnome uses guns, intelligent, persuasive, high haggle! ogre party member bodyguards, possibly other body guards.

archaeologist/safari english style adventure explorer - human using guns and swords, medium armor and below, with similar companions exploring for archaeology and exploration.

vampire - necromantic evil elf or human. Only dark armors (studded leather or dark robes). Possibly only hand to hand, maybe backstabbing with swords. Possibly active only at night.

powerful wizard - robe and staff/dagger only. intelligent, willpower, magic proficient, bad combat skills.

soldier - average tanky fighter wandering the world with a sense of duty but allegiance to few

knight/crusader - noble tank fighter with a personal code of honor. only good party members.

elven archer - noble/dark elf archer (possibly female) using only bows.

arsonist - explosives expert using only bombs in combat

machinist - intelligent tech user who creates his mechanical companions to fight for him

trapper - tech user fights using only traps.


If you play as a dwarf, Raven will insult you at Qintarra. If you hold to dwarven honor, you'll start an elven genocide as all of Qintarra goes hostile. All for the sake of one dwarf who wouldn't take one insult.

Tons of other ways to play the game obviously, and the backgrounds do a good job of giving ideas. Hence Escaped Lunatic.

 

Some nice builds all around, I especially like Wee Mad Angus. Now it's time for some exciting number crunching (well, maybe not), that'll segue nicely into my next build:

I was looking for a way to optimise making a purely social magick-tech character who has 100 MA but the most tech possible. [digression]As there is only 76 tech things you can actually put character points into (7 levels of 8 disciplines, 5 levels of 4 tech skills) compared to the 80 for magicka (5 spells in each of the 16 colleges) you actually get more tech aptitude for putting a point into a tech thing than you do a magick thing (80/76 x 5 = 5.26 to be exact). In practical terms this means to offset tech aptitude you always need one (sometimes two) more points of something magickal to overcome the cumulative 0.26s (so if you had Smithy 7 you'd need 8 points of spells to overcome the tech, also if you had 20 points of tech you'll actually need 22 points of spells to offset it - at least I think so, I'm not sure whether Arcanum rounds up or down for a 0.26 in game terms).[/digression]

So let's call tech character points "T" and magickal character points "M" (which also includes the elven racial character bonus equal to 3 points, the Sold Your Soul background equivalent to 4 points and the Dark Helm also equivalent to 4 points). The formula for the character point distribution you can have to make your MA still equal 100 is:

5M - 100/19T = 100, rounding up for your final value of M. The limit here if you succeed in not investing a single character point in any skills or stats using a Sold Your Soul Elf with a Dark Helm is therefore (M+T ≤ 75). No need to thank me , I'm sure you're all riveted.

As I said before I’m after a purely social character (read low physical attributes), how can I therefore save on character points needed for stat boosts? Why, therapeutics old bean! Using a potion of intellect to initially level your therapeutics to the necessary levels, you can then use Brain Builders (and the Vivifier) to assure you don’t need to invest a single point in IN, WP or CH. What’s more, you can reverse these changes using a Muscle Maker should the need arise. Marvelous!

So, what combination of tech character points and magick character points and magickal character points can you have for a 100 MA Sold Your Soul Elf with a Dark Helm? You can have 26 points of tech (though five of those have to be in therapeutics) and 37 points of spells (48 – 11, the effective point score of Elf with Sold Your Soul and Dark Helm) – with one character point to put wherever you please (well not another point into something tech, but anything else). Put those bad boys into the equation: 48 x 5 - (100/19) * 26 = 103.16 MA, perfect!

I’ve laid this out in such a manner so if anyone else wants to make their own optimised 100 MA tech-magickal elf you now know how you can distribute his points, whereas if I’d just lead with my build that wouldn’t have been transparent now would it? Would it?!

Your Elven Overlord

Race: Elf (preferably male, as the extra point is ST is quite useful)

Background: Sold Your Soul

Backstory: Basically an elf with a god complex who wants ulimited power! Original, eh?

Initial Stats From Background:
ST 7 IN 8
CN 6 WP 9
DX 9 PE 8
BE 9 CH 8 (+ 35 MA)

Required Stat, Skill and Aptitude Boosts: Mind Marvel (temporary +2 IN/WP/CH), Ring of Dark Magicks (+1 IN, with the hoedown of followers you’re going to have you don’t need resistances), Ring of Influence (+3 Persuasion, +3 CH/BE), Elixir Of Persuasion (temporary +2 Persuasion, should you feel the need for a max of 20), Gypsy Blessing (+1 CH), Velorien’s Blessing (+12 Pesuasion), Brain Builder x 8 (+8 IN/WP/CH), Vivifier (+1 all), Amulet of N’Tala (+1 ST, +1 CN), Gloves of Dexterity (+2 DX), Stillwater Beauty Blessing (+1 BE), Dark Helm (+20 MA, -1 PE). I’d recommend Mental mastery for that King of All feeling, but it’s up to you. Feel free to move the point out of Chemistry if you want to get chummy with Franklin Payne of Vollinger.

Brain Builder Side Effects: -8 ST/CN/DX/BE

Character Point Allocation: 4 (1) Persuasion, Therapeutics 5, Smithy 7, Mechanical 7, Herbology 6, Chemistry 1, Conveyance 5, Mind 5, Temporal 5, Summoning 5, Necro Black 5, Necro White 5, Nature 4, Earth 1, Water, 1, Fire 1 (the spell choice is pretty arbitrary here, going for a mix of summoning and killing spells with some basic elemental ones to offset Brain Builder abuse when the need arises, use what you’d want to).

Final Boosted Stats:
ST 1 IN 19
CN 1 WP 20
DX 4 PE 16
BE 6 CH 20

How To Offset That Horrendous Lack of ST: You’re going to need to carry heavy stuff, so you’re going to need strength. You can just layer Strength of Earth but if you’re not feeling so cheap instead use one Strength of Earth, one Elixir of Physical Prowess and the Staff of Restoration (along with the already equipped Amulet of N’Tala) to achieve a ST of 8 (you can also use Muscle Makers to briefly increase ST and lower IN, then reverse the effects with Brain Builders). I would say use Caladon Crusading Chainmail, but that’s pretty heavy as it is.

Desired Equipment: Arcane Staff, Smoking Jacket, Gloves of Dexterity, Enchanted War Boots, Ring of Dark Magicks, Ring of Influence, Dark Helm, Amulet of N’Tala.

Capabilities and Notes: Firstly on the Persuasion score don’t panic, you can keep Kerlin’s Blessing right up until you want to get Velorien’s (do the first two circles and then get all the blessing’s up to Kai’tan’s, getting Kai’tan’s only when you’re ready) – giving you an effective Persuaion of 12 which is all you’ll need for a lot of quests. The tech distribution allows you to make all the Automatons and Mechanized/Poisoned/Medicinal Arachnids you could want (an army should suffice) – using the tactic of unlocking the Wheel Clan Inventor’s chest using Unlocking Cantrip to get ahold of all his goodies (he won’t become hostile if you’re far enough away). You can make Muscle Makers with manuals, allowing you to transform your followers into hulking retards if you want; you can also make the Mental Inhibitor (well that’s if the same inventor sells Corrosive Acid which I think he should) in case you’ve ever wanted to take Simeon Tor on a fun-filled trip to the Void. You can also dial up BE when the need arises with Purity of Water. All things told, you’re pretty damn awesome.

 

The only thing you did wrong Jojo was to calc the value of TA per CP using the 100 limit. Problem with that is it doesn't hit it cleanly like with MA (5 x 20 = perfect 100). Remember, 100 is the limit, so the game actually truncates the extra TA from the 19th CP investment to reach 100 TA. The actual rate of TA is 5.5 per CP. 18 gets you to 99.

The good news is that this only throws you off by 1 point after all of that (because the error in your formula is only 5.26-5.5=0.24 per CP invested). Also, I think you have an extra point there left to spend at level 50 (64 total cp right? you show 37 magic + 26 tech = 63) so just as long as you use that final point on a spell, you hit 100 MA with 26 tech skills.

Good job on the really in depth planning too. You're really minmaxing well with the +stat options in the game. My only contribution to that would be it seems you value CH more than BE, so you could simply not finish the Stillwater Altar quest and keep the statue of geshtianna in your inventory for +1 CH instead of +1 BE.

Very nice in depth build for the most masterful technomancer possible.

 

Ah, I didn't realise it was 5.5 TA per point, you're right I had always assumed it was modeled to a 100 limit like spells are. In that case, all you need to do is take the point from Chemistry (which wasn't needed anyway if you make friends with Vollinger or Franklin Payne) and stick it elsewhere - or as you said put the free point into spells as well (though then you can't max Persuasion). Also, the forumula now takes the much simpler form:

5M - 5.5T = 100

A CH of 20 is quite easily hit already so the statue isn't needed (8 from Brain Builders, 3 from the Ring of Influence, and 1 from the Gypsy blessing on top of the base of 8) - having said that I've always wondered if you needed to return the statue in order to make a blessing to the goddess? I'd always assumed you did, but it would be nice to know for sure.

 

Can't remember about the altar exactly, but I'd be surprised if you were wrong. I stand corrected my good man.

I always wonder if anyone has played an orc revolutionary? It's possible to start a revolt in Tarant, and would be interesting to play through the game like that.

 

I did. It was a different game indeed, as an Orc bandit.

All the npcs are rude except the orcs, and it was easy to enjoy the Orc riots after that.

Speaking of orcs, past discussions have questioned the basis of this race in the real world and, having seen some satirical cartoons from the 19th century recently, its pretty clear that they're based on the Irish.

I'm part Irish and part Orcish, so I mean no offence by saying that, it's just how they were portrayed by the English back then.

P.s. yes, you definitely need to return the nude statue in order to make an offering.

 

Re:

Thought as much, if not where else would supposit the Passion Root?

 

I have done a half ogre warrior, but I never thought about giving him the "only child" background for the willpower boost. That would certainly make a strong warrior mage. I usually give that background to a half orc female. Boosted constitution on top of willpower.

I'm not sure what the developers were thinking, giving elves a penalty in CON. It's like they thought of it as more of a soldier's stat than a spellcaster's. Dwarves and Orcs get a bonus, but Elves get a penalty.

I don't know if I have a ridonculous build. I think once I envisioned using the Allfather's blessing to be an expert in all key skills. I forget if I managed to do that or not. It was a while ago. You get +12 in some stats, which should be enough for expertise.

 

Reminds me of this which I always thought was pretty cool. Never got round to giving it a shot thought.

 

I figured I'd be doing a good job just getting expert in everything. I guess it's possible to master everything if you get enough item bonuses. That would be the most badass normal that you could be.

I know some places can be forced, but I have trouble with others. I've tried to force the castle of Snel Na for that teleporting staff, but failed. I kind of think that the spot trap mastery might be redundant with a perception of 20, which allows you to see hidden stuff anyway. Though that's something I never really researched. I never ran through known trap infested areas with 20 perception and no spot trap ability.

 

So after Chat's thread about stacking Invisibility with Prowling and my desire to replay Arcanum with something a bit different, I came up with...

The Perfect Pacifist

Idea Behind Build: Don't kill a single thing, look at the notes for how this can be accomplished.

Race: Halfling

Background: Miracle Operation

Backstory: He's a nice chap who doesn't want to kill anything or anyone, at the same time he has no qualms about robbing people blind.

Initial Stats From Background:
ST 2 IN 11
CN 3 WP 8
DX 7 PE 13
BE 8 CH 11

Required Stat, Skill and Aptitude Boosts: Velorien's Blessing (+4 DX, +12 Pickpocket/Persuasion), Vivifier (+1 DX/PE/CH/WP/BE), Agility of Fire (+4 DX), Helmet of Yzar's Cost (+4 PE), Gypsy Blessing (+1 CH), Ring of Influence (+3 BE/CH, +3 Haggle/Persuasion), Ring of Concealment (+2 Prowling), Halfling Race (+2 Prowling), Jewel of Hebe (+2 BE, +1 CH), Gloves of Dexterity (+2 DX). Also Phantasm Mastery (as long as it doesn't require killing).

Temporary Blessings You'll Need To Make Use Of: Halcyon (+2 PE/WP - allows you to reach 19 PE/WP for prowling/spells), Bolo (+4 Pickpocket), Kerlin (+4 Persuasion - allowing you to do all Persuasion quests apart from that for mastery before Vendigroth). In other words, don't complete the last blessing circle until you're ready to get Velorien's Blessing.

Character Point Allocation: 3 CH, 9 WP, Pickpocket 8 (2), Persuasion 8 (2), Prowling 16 (4), Conveyance 5, Phantasm 5, Stone 1, Fire 1, Divine Magick 5, Necro White 3. Required max level: 30 (which is good as you won't be getting combat experience).

Final Boosted Stats:
ST 3/7 IN 12
CN 4 WP 18
DX 14/18 PE 18
BE 15 CH 20

Desired Equipment: Ring of Influence, Ring of Concealment/Other prowling ring, Helmet of Yzar's Cost, Gloves of Dexterity, Jewel of Hebe, then whatever you please.

Capabilities and Notes: So to not kill anything first you're going to have to let Virgil do the talking with the assassin at the Crash Site, then you'll need to sack him off and recruit Sogg. Give him a staff (preferably Virgil's) so his fatigue damage outweighs his health damage, then use Sogg to knock Radcliffe out when he attacks you and use the back off command (F5 or F6, can't remember which). Then tell him to leave at first opportunity; despite being social you're not going to want any followers as they have a tendency to murder things.

Other than that, entering sneak mode before you fast travel should allow you to avoid random encounters (I'd suggest putting all the initial character points into Prowling and Persuasion). I can't think of any other instances when killing is necessary?

For stealing, use a combo of Prowling and Invisibility to make sure people don't see you when you use Unlocking Cantrip - they will hate you forever more but who cares if they never see you again? I think that about covers all you'll need to be pacifistic, I'd do every non-violent mission you can find to get as much XP as humanly possible.

But I don't want to steal: In that case, you can remove all the spells apart from Phantasm 5 (Invisibility is independent of aptitude; the main reason to put points into spells in the core build is to raise magickal aptitude enough to allow for Unlocking Cantrip to get you into almost anything) and also remove Pickpocket - allowing you to complete the bare bones of the build by level 16. Anything else is going to be an optional extra.

EDIT: On reflection, you may need to kill

Spoiler

the Spirit Snake in the Void who's keeping Arronax hostage so you can do the persuasion ending. However, I think this is acceptable given the inescapable quandary your character is in a kill at this point isn't out of the question. Who knows, there may be some work around for this (I seem to remember in the Scavenger Hunt thread there's some sort of amulet that controls him) - I'll have to wait and see.

EDIT 2: Scratch that, the Spirit Snake can be dispatched using one of the amulet's stolen from nearby guards (talk to him and "release him"). The real issue is the guards outside Kerghan's palace/castle - see the next post.

 

And lo! the 0 kills build was achieved (if you look at the little character window in the top left corner, you can see it's right before the teleporter to the final big boss man):

Image lost due to Photobucket hosting.

I found out you do have to kill two guards in front of the big boss man's palace to progress, so I used a Dominate Will scroll to get one of the followers in the end game area on my side - made them invisible and navigated to the guards. Then I provoked the guards and cancelled the Dominate Will spell - it's a bit of a cheap work around but I suppose if the character had their own free will when they did the killing and my character didn't have to take part then that was enough (maybe there is a better work around that doesn't use killing, but I couldn't think of one). Other than that, the only other thing I "killed" was Delores Beston with the crystal ball - but I thought this was fine given the character couldn't possibly know what the outcome of giving her the crystal ball was.

In terms of more detail of getting the character to work, I really think it has to be a thief so that you can get money - either that or a very good gambler. You'll need money to get through certain combat locations at an early level (i.e. below the level you can cast Invisibility yourself) by purchasing and using Invisibility scrolls, available from Zaramin's House of Darke Magick in Tarant (the shop is only open at night - the old waiting a day whilst the shopkeeper is off-screen trick can be used to farm them). However these cost about 5000 gold apiece, and as you aren't getting money from corpse loot finding funds can be tricky. It would be nice if you could use prowling to get about, but I found even at the expert level it was very subpar in terms of keeping you hidden. The locations I used the scrolls at were the BMC mines (using two and a scroll of Exiting, you'll need to allow the first Invisibility spell to elapse out of view from monsters and then use the next - they last about two minutes) and Hardin's Pass (again, two scrolls).

As soon as you cast Invisibility yourself, the amount of quests you can do increases dramatically (for example, I only did the quest for Arbalah's artefact until I had reached Caladon through the main quest because that's when I got Invisibility). As you can't kill things, for some quests you need to get creative - a good example is rescuing Cyrus in Stillwater; I stole the key from Drog whilst invisible, unlocked the cage and then made Cyrus invisible so he could make his escape.

Early in the game, you can get by through a combo of running to avoid combat and using fate points to pick locks your unlocking Cantrip is too weak for. A good example of running around is the Bessie Toone mine; use potions to keep your fatigue up and keep running around until the four wolves in the lead up to Bessie collapse, then sneak so the spiders don't see you and click on her to get the prompt that progresses the quest. Then you can disable your prowling and make a dash for the boot.

In terms of Unlocking Cantrip, early investiture in spells and using a Dark Helm purchased from a Wise Woman should be enough to see you through - however as I mentioned if you're in situation where you really need a door unlocked then a fate point can be used with lockpicks instead (good characters get a lot of these anyway). This takes the pressure off putting so many character points in spells, should you want to dabble elsewhere.

In terms of leveling I only managed to reach 27 before the end game location you can't return from. This was from doing almost every standard quest where you didn't have to fight imaginable, including the Pickpocket, Prowling and Persuasion mastery quests (also all the Thieves' Underground thefts and telling Jason C. Guy in Roseborough about Vendigroth - apparently you get experience for that). I suppose if you were okay with indirect killing with something like the Baneful Gauntlets you could get a lot more done (clearing out the Boil for example, for which I only did the first quest for Clan Maug).

The only things I didn't do were the quest for Weldo Rubin as I was too persuasive at that point to get the option of doing work for him; you could purposefully hamper your persuasion skill to get the quest then go and do everything persuasiony (maybe you couldn't convince Loghaire to become King again?) but the experience gained isn't enough to see you to level 28 so there's very little point. Also I couldn't repair the steam engine in Shrouded Hills as Hervor snitched on my antics with dynamite (something which rarely happens to me even when I haven't killed him, which makes me wonder what the trigger for it is).

So there's detailed notes should anyone want to replicate the character, however it's not for the faint of heart given that if most random encounters will spell your doom (sneaking before traveling helps, but most creatures still spot you). Also, it's a great help if you don't sell the Zephyr story to the papers - that way you can still talk your way out of Molochean Hand encouters.

[/essay]

 

You might want to add Agility of Fire (just 1 point) to your gunslinger to make it even more ludricious. Booster spells aren't governed by aptitude afaik. My current dwarf gunslinger uses the spell (along with haste) without any problem. She is not at 100 tech yet, but I'm pretty sure it works regardless, since she is already over fifty and the spell still gives +4 dex. Ofcourse there is the cap, but it can be very useful early on and save you more points for other stuff. Can also swap one Charged Ring for Ring of Virility.

 

I thought about it (or using Strength of Stone), but I figured I didn't want too many spells on-going at once and wanted some spell slots free for Stasis. The build was very fun all in all, and I did manage to procure all the guns the game had to offer.

 

Not too much into the math when it comes to Arcanum, I find powergaming and precise optimization actually takes away from the experience. IMO the best way to roll is with a well thought out RP character, sometimes with extra-rules. By far the most fun builds I had in this respect were:

1) Autistic Half-Ogre Genius: Idiot Savant half-ogre, all earned points go in intelligence, no armour-clothes mending (as in if a suit breaks you carry on stripped down until you stumble upon a new set of clothes). Additionally, I normally go with the more offensive reply whenever it feels like it would be something a rain-man type would say.
2) Dumb and Gorgeous: Human female, supermodel background, all points go in beauty and charisma, equipment choices based on fanciness as opposed to effectiveness, every follower you can get goes with you so you end up with a plethora of companions. One of the best moments I had with this one is with the persuasion master quest, which she gorgeously screwed up the negotiations with replies that should make everybody happy.
3) Bad Luck Playthrough: this one is a bit tough, but the idea is to go for every possibility that allows for a negative luck modifier to your char - always pick up hexed items and such.

Et cetera. All in all, I guess my point is that if you choose a character rather than a build the game becomes much more of an experience. This goes for any rpg, but Arcanum has so many possibilities it is kind of a sin not to try that

 

So after reading a few threads that have been posted up recently, I've got Arcanum fever once again. Of course, I could never just play a normal character, which is why I came up with:

The Puppet Master

Idea Behind Build: You're the man with all the power, yet you never get your hands dirty.

Race: Elf

Background: Lady's Man

Backstory: You were the son of two unfortunate city elves who lead miserable lives in poverty. They were old parents, and died when you were about 50ish - partially due to age and partially due to depravation. You spent the next 100 years living the same squalid life they did - an elf trapped in an environment rapidly giving way to technology but not knowing where else to go. Finally, you grew into your looks and became a very handsome man, and you could then see a way out; you began to realise in some ways appearances were everything, and by that dint you could have the control denied to you from your destitute beginnings. For the next 50 years you travelled the world - soaking up culture, becoming wise to both technology and magick, cultivating your charm - and upon arriving at Caladon one week you found there was a blimp you could take you direct to Tarant, a proving ground for your new talents. Naturally, you did not hesitate to buy a ticket.

Initial Stats From Background:

ST 5 IN 8
CN 4 WP 9
DX 7 PE 8
BE 15 CH 8

Required Stat, Skill and Aptitude Boosts: Velorien's Blessing (+12 Persuasion), Vivifier (+1 BE/IN/WP/PE/CH), Gypsy Blessing (+1 CH), Ring of Influence (+3 BE/CH), Jewel of Hebe (+2 BE, +1 CH), Brain Builder (+6 IN/WP/PE/CH), Geshtianna's Blessing (+1 BE), Ring of Dark Magicks (+1 IN), Phantasm Mastery.

Brain Builder Side Effects: -6 ST/CN/DX/BE.

Character Point Allocation and Why: BE 5, IN 4, WP 5, PE 5, Conveyance 5 (you're an important man, you need to be able to get where you're needed at a moment's notice), Divination 3 (you can get a person's measure with a glance), Mental 5 (minds bend to your will), Necromantic White (you are the final arbiter on when someone is allowed to die), Necromantic Black (you can make even the long dead yield their secrets), Phantasm 5 (your influence isn't often seen but is always felt), Summoning 4 (you never like getting your hands dirty where possible), Persuasion 8 (2), Prowling 20 (5), Chemistry 4 and Therapeutics 5.

Desired Equipment: Ring of Influence, Ring of Dark Magicks, Top Hat, Smoking Jacket, Shoes, Pocket Watch, Jewel of Hebe.

Capabilities and Notes: So the idea here is to use Invisibility and Prowling as a means to never be seen, allowing for all sorts of shenanigans. You want to get rid of the corrupt King Praetor by staging an assassination by Sir Garrick Stout - who can do that. You want a hoard of demons to appear out of thin air and gut King Auguste Farade - also possible. You want to make even the most powerful minds in Arcanum bend to your will - you can do that too using either Muscle Maker or Mental Inhibitor to weaken their will. Whatever strange intrigues you want to write into the game are all possible with this character, and being both invisible and sneaking people won't be able to strike back at you. I would say try not to kill anyone personally, it's beneath you, but if you want to throw a punch to make someone like Sir Garrick under your control attack Praetor then of course you will (or just fail a steal attempt, etc.).

I would say this character, beyond all his charms, doesn't like leaning on followers - he would rather mind control others or use summoning for a small group. If you want to, you can relocate the points in WP and PE that get them up to their maximums (hardly necessary) but there wasn't really anything else I wanted to put points into here (or pick a different race, etc.). As with a lot of these builds, Kerlin's blessing can be retained to do more persuasion quests mid-game. Also, you will need to purchase some manuals to up Therapeutics and Chemistry expertise, as well as buffing strength with items to be able to handle them. I do realise this is a bit of an amalgam of the pacifist and elven overlord builds, but I felt the hand behind the throne niche was a pretty cool option.

 

Feeling once again in the mood to make something ridonculous, I decided to turn my hand to another build. I present to you...

The Super Living One

Idea behind build and optimisation: The idea with this build was to hit at least a permanent 20 in every stat through a combination of clothing, background, race, blessings and the vivifier boost - without the need for temporary spells or therapeutics. Considering a human character with 8 in each stat as standard, this takes 96 character points, and as there are only 64 to be gained through level ups 32 would be needed to just break even without anything else interesting thrown in (which of course, I wanted). I've detailed the process below for anyone interested.

Spoiler

In terms of race, there's one that starts with 65 rather than 64 character points distributed across the 8 stats - the half-elf. As I was convinced the character would need to be magickal too (given the amount of equipment that offers huge stat bonuses), half-elf was also in good agreement with this. Next I looked through the backgrounds, and soon realised there was one that offered many more character point then it took away - Débutante (-1 ST and DX for +3 BE and CH, a no-brainer).

After this, I needed to some testing using Virgil's Debug Menu to the build to find that sweet spot where the cost of spells invested in was worth the cost of the character points they unlocked by increasing the magickal power made available from the equipment. Though there are some pieces that offer large benefits (the Amulet of K'an-el, +4 CN; Staff of K'an T'ua, +2 DX and +2 PE) the magickal aptitude from spell investiture needed for these items (if I remember 80 and 50 respectively) far outweighs their benefit.

I found out that zero aptitude gives +2 PE from the Helmet of Yzar's cost, +1 DX from Gloves of Dexterity, +2 BE and CH from the Ring of Influence, +1 ST CN DX and BE from the Caladon Crusading Chainmail and +1 CN and ST from the Staff of Restoration. Adding one spell lets you hit 10 aptitude with a half-elf and unlocks a further +1 DX from the Gloves of Dexterity, and adding one more unlocks +1 PE from the Helmet of Yzar's Cost - so these are fine as like for like trades (though with the Helmet of Yzar's Cost, it unlocks more of the -DR and -MR from what I could tell as well). All other combos of aptitude and different items did not provide a like for like or greater than like for like trade in terms of character points.

Race: Half-elf

Background: Débutante

Backstory: Standard rich posho looking for adventure and dedicated to self improvement. Obviously being a half-elf Débutante means they have an appreciate of the struggle between tech and magick from their parents, etc.

Initial Stats From Background:

ST 6 IN 8
CN 8 WP 8
DX 8 PE 8
BE 12 CH 11

Required Stat, Skill and Aptitude Boosts: Velorien's Blessing or other combo of god blessings (+4 DX minimum), Vivifier (+1 all), Helmet of Yzar's Cost (+3 PE), Gypsy Blessing (+1 CH), Ring of Influence (+2 BE and CH), Jewel of Hebe (+2 BE, +1 CH), Gloves of Dexterity (+2 DX), Ring of Virility (+2 CN), Caladon Crusading Chain (+1 ST CN DX and BE), Staff of Restoration/Axe of Strength (+1 ST and CN), Geshtianna Blessing (+1 BE).

Notes on blessings: Whilst Velorien's only offers +4 stat points compared to the +6 available from other combos of blessings, if you're looking to invest in any of the skills it provides (which I was) it's worth it. Plus, its +DR and +MR offsets the penalty of Yzar's Cost.

Necessary Character Point Allocation: 11 ST, 7 CN, 4 DX, 1 BE, 11 IN, 11 WP, 8 PE, 4 CH, two spells of choice (or if not, a further +1 in DX and PE).

Possible allocation for the remainder 5 points: Personally I went for 2 each in Melee and Persuasion for mastery after Velorien's Blessing, and one in Beauty so I could look damn hot. However, you could forgo Persuasion Mastery to max out ST and CN without a crappy weapon for greater fun with melee. Or you can master something like Pickpocket.

Final stats:

ST 20 IN 20
CN 20 WP 20
DX 20 PE 20
BE 21 CH 20

Equipment: Helmet of Yzar's Cost, Ring of Influence, Jewel of Hebe, Gloves of Dexterity, Ring of Virility, Caladon Crusading Chain, Axe of Strength/Staff of Restoration (I preferred the staff for the bonus speed, but you get to use a shield with the axe so it's a matter of choice), Enchanted War Boots.

Notes: Whilst Débutante lowers your combat skills, the Finger of Mannox can be worn temporarily to obtain mastery (which you can get whether you're good or evil). The standard rubbish I pull (using Kerlin's Blessing to have sufficient Persuasion to accomplish certain key quests mid-game) obviously still applies.

Pics, or it didn't happen:



Other fun stuff I did with this build was making Machined Platemail for Loghaire, by using a fate point to steal the Elite Plate off a dwarf during the Persuasion mastery quest and then using technical manuals to make the chain itself. There is that platemail the smith in Caladon wears that I could have stolen instead, but from what I remember it's a knock-off that isn't as good as the real deal.