Gentleman Techie and a question of reaction

Hi,

I just found this forum yesterday and must say: god Im glad that theres still people playing arcanum. I bought the game myself some time ago and now I want to start playing. I have looked for some charakter builds to decide which one to start. And in one of the "what is your favorite char" polls I have found a short description of a character called gentleman tech (or some very similar name) who would use knock out gas to paralyse his oponents. Im very interested in bulding a character who is a techie (I actually prefer explosives when compared to guns) but also good with people and maybe even a part time thief. If anyone could help me with some guidelines about building this chara (stat distribution, what schematics to learn, which race and background) Id be happy...

Another question I have: If I build a character with the escaped lunatic background I get a penalty in initial reaction. Can anyone please explayn to me what this actually does and if I can work around this becoming good in persuasion, or if theres a a lot of stuff that I loose by choosing this background.

 

hmm somehow i cant get the character planer to work, its probably because Im sitting at a mac right now and dont have Internet explorer... but Ill try it out later when Im at home. any other tips (what tech schools to invest points in besides explosives for example ) would be very much appreciated though.

 

There's your answer.

 

even without the character planer I have made up a plan for my character. It looks something like this:

race: human
background: (need some advice on this one)
stats:
dex: 20 (7cp+2 charged rings+vivifier)
per: 20 (11 cp+vivifier)
int: 20 (11 cp+vivifier)
ch: 20 (11 cp+vivifier)
skills:
pick locks: master (5cp)
persuade: master (5cp)
throwing: master (5cp)
techschools:
explosives: doctorate (7cp)
electrical: charged ring (2cp)

thats exactly 64 points. But I havent taken any background yet. Any ideas? Beat with an ugly stick doesnt fit the concept, but miracle operation and raised by monks seem pretty good. And what is with charlatans protegee?? If I take it can I still become master in throwing?? (or any other combat skill for that matter) and: can I somehow get about 5 or so points loose to learn another weaponskill??

 

Raised by Monks is great because it grants you a free skill point.

Also I think you are kind of cheating yourself out of the experience by planning your first character so thoroughly. When I first played Arcanum I only knew that I wanted a techie gun-slinger. All the other skills I wound up buying were a result of necessity as I explored the game.

 

thank you for the tip Langolier, but its just that I allready have played arcanum some three or four years ago and all the three charas I built I have given up on about the time of the wheel clan quest, because I didnt like the way they were going (they werent to weak or anything, I just didnt like them anymore') so now I want to really plan my chara beforehand...

 

thanks bob,

that is one good suggestion!!!!! it also means that ill have no trouble building pyro axes for my party, and thats even without the god quests.... meaning: the +4 dexterity that i get from the final blessing...

Anyway: can somebody tell me if its worth to wait for it instead and thereby getting another 4 points for free whitch together with the blessings other boni would allow me to master fire arms and pick pockets...

 

yeah, melee weapons wont really suit my guy... but why did you say dex 18...? i thought the last blessing gives 4 dex, not two (or did I miss sth.??) I just thought having an extra weapon skill (firearms) would be nice.... and yes I would llike to use other thrown weapon as well ... so maybe I shouldnt count on the blessings too much, as with your version of my build, my chara is pretty versatile...