Working with poison

Latest game, I discovered the joys of Prowling mastery 8) Poison has always been totally useless it seems to me, since you hit them with the poison, then they go hostile, and they don't take any damage while you're fighting. With prowling mastery, you can sneak right up to them, hit them with the poison, then run away. That brought to light a second issue: Poison isn't useless, it's just very very VERY weak. I put a point into Chemistry just to try out the "Strong" poison. It took 3 canisters to kill an Caladon Elite Guard, resulting in a poison level of something like 250, and more than a minute of waiting. Other bad points are the fact that you still get accused of a crime for killing an npc, even if nobody saw you do it, and you don't get any experience for killing with poison.

Does anybody have any input on tactics to make a poisoner a viable character, or is it just not realistically possible?

 

I suppose it would be useful to take down a really hard enemy if you didn't want to fight. Or maybe to assassinate someone?

I never found poison damage at all to be very useful. When I am tech I stick to Moltov Cocktails, Smithy, and Mechanics.

I suppose if you want something useful out of poison maybe an envenomed blade?

 

I never found that blade any usefull, don't it make the blade slower too? (long itme since I was a smithy)

Anyway, once the posion kicks in, the victim is six feet under.

I haven't really used poison at all, seems to me there are better ways to expose of an enemy.

 

perhaps an envenomed bow? the arrows and the poison should soften the opponent up a little before it gets within melee range.

 

doesn't the envenomed blade do 10 immediate damage and then more over a period of time? i thought it was. i quite like the sword of sickness as well, mainly because it looks cool. you ever had a mystic dagger they are kind of like stanley knifes, i love them for backstabbing theif characters.

 

I thought so too.

The Mystic Box Cutter is a great peice. But for backstabing, The. Arcane. Dagger. Just. Rules.

 

is the mystic box cutter a random item? ive never had it i usually get my best stuff from the wise women by just trading with them and then moving a screen or two away and advancing time, i can get more or less arcane everything before i leave shrouded hills by stealing ristezettes (pardon spelling) key and selling the camera to him again and again to get money. i find the sword of sickness pretty good for sogg and he seems to like it. its also good because the wise woman always has it the first time you meet her (or does for me anyway)

 

Yes, found in chests & stuff. Looks like a very fancy box cutter. Rather cute.

 

ive never bacame that good at prowling because youre followers give you away, are there any prowling followers?

 

I think Vollinger can prowl... But it's easier just to tell everybody to wait. Like the manual says, the most successful prowler is the solitary prowler

 

i suppose so, i might make a prowling background which stops you from haveing followers (can i make it so i cant have any, not even virgil?) but you get an instant bonus to prowl, also is it good to link backstab with prowling?

 

I would think so, because if you backstab an unaware opponent it is supposed to do a lot more damage than to an aware one and the only way to keep your opponent unawares really is to prowl. Of course, I have never messed with backstab or prowling so I don't really know.

 

right my next game... i can see it now, a half-ogre becoming master backstabber, and master prowler, can you imagine it? then when im good at prowling and backstabbing i will get rid of virgil, get rid of sogg, maybe leave them in a pub of something, and become a criminal the likes of which arcanum has never seen before (or at least on my computer anyway)

 

im just checking but it seems my post count is stuck on 48, if it doesn't go to 49 its broken

sorry wont do it again! thats a promise

 

no its working now doesn't matter, sorry bout that.

just out of curiosity can you use the poisen that you get from grunwald on the quest for D'ak Taan whatever his name is (the thief in blackroot)

 

STOP DOUBLE AND TRIPLE POSTING. I am serious about this, Verminator. Edit your posts, so I don't have to do it for you.

 

Volinger, Sebastian, & Tollo Underhill. I have been told that the Halfling at the Gateway to the Wastes (Weldo?) does as well, but I have never had him.

Equip Volinger & Sebastian with Hushed Revolvers. Tollo backstabs, give him a Mechanical Dagger.

Hot damn is it good. There is a multiplier involved when you do that. Also you must take Mele through Expert, at least, when you run backstab.

Hard, as they have a - to prowl. Do they have a prowl increasing background?

 

Lol, that would be one special half-ogre. That sounds about as much like a half-ogre as an orc diplomat.

 

lol i have made my own background

{1090}{the amazing prowling ogre

you were (amazingly!) bought up by halfling theifs), despite your size difference you lose your - to prowl and gain +4ranks in this skill, +2 in backstab and +2 in pickpocket, but other half-ogres made fun of you for living with halflings, therefore your charisma drops by 4.
you were also taught basic english by the halflings and gain +1 to intellegence. }

 

A bit unbalanced isn't it?

-4 CPs to Charisma, but you gain +9 CPs in other skills, as well as losing the penalty to Prowl!

Maybe you could balance that out by having a decrease of 2 in strength and 2 in constitution too because living with halflings never involved you testing your limits and you were content to just do things in half measures...