Skills and such

Do you guys towards the end of the game, if you're playing a mage, do you find that at the the further you advance, that your stats stay pretty level? Or do you make some really high, not worrying about the others?

I am trying to play a mage, but I don't want to waste any char. points in a stat I won't really use... Right now, my willpower is 11, charisma 10, everything else is 8-9. I am trying to get all of the conveyance, force, and white necromantic colleges. I am apprentice in persuasion and haggle with rank 1 in both. I guess I'm just wondering where I should put my char. points. I have been pouring them into spells, but my willpower is too low for rank 3 spells. What should I concentrate on building up? Any thoughts on this would be appreciated..

 

Concentrate on Willpower definitely. You'll need to get that to at least 18. The sooner the better.

Depending on what type of character you are playing, you might want to spend some CPs in charisma and persuasion. Getting up to expert level opens up more possibilities in the game.

After those two, I'd start spending some on intelligence. Having alot of spell slots is nice. You can use a stillwater blade to fill them up with free vorpal bunnies.

If you're playing turn-based, then dex is important even for a mage. Although later on in the game, spells like Haste and Tempus Fugit make a super high dex redundant. And if you rely on followers (or bunnies) to do your damage for you, then it really isn't all that important.

 

Milo, thank you. You have been very helpful. What are vorpal bunnies, though? And you're saying, the higher Int. I have, the more spell slots you get? I didn't know that...


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: bryant1380 on 2001-11-21 19:40 ]</font>

 

An hour ago, until the BUGS in this game derailed me once again, I was playing a mage. I was having great success concentrating on Constitution, Intelligence, and Willpower. Have you considered investing character points in the first level spells of Earth and Fire? I did, and now right before battle I use the Earth spell to crank up my strength and the Fire spell to boost my dexterity. My wimpy mage goes from 8 in strength and dexterity to 16 in each, just like The Incredible Hulk, and he can wade into battle with his Arcane Great Sword.
Definitely put points into the three stats I mentioned, though. Constitution determines how long you can maintain a spell, Intelligence determines how many spells you can maintain at the same time (up to five), and Willpower determines which spell levels you can learn. As a mage you'll want at least an 18 in CON and WP, and a 20 in IN is required to cast all five spells at the same time. Hope this helps.

 

that helps a lot. More than you know. Keep 'em coming!!

 

Vorpal bunnies are the ass-kickers of the animal world. If you have a magical aptitude at or near 100 and you cast Succour Beast or use a Stillwater Blade (unlimited Succour Beast spells for free), then you'll summon a bunny. If you used the stillwater blade, then you don't spend any fatigue to keep the spell running either. All it does is take up a spell slot.

Spell slots are those little boxes at the top center of the screen. For each 4 points of intelligence (rounded down) that you have, you get 1 spell slot. If you have 10 intelligence, you get 2 slots. If you have 12 int, you get 3. 16, you get 4, and so on. These slots are for spells that you maintain, meaning you don't just cast it once and it's done (like harm or heal spells); rather you cast it and it keeps on going until you turn it off. Examples would be Shield of Protection and Agility of Fire. When you cast these, they take up a slot. The more slots you have, the more maintained spells you can have going at one time.

Now say you have 2 slots. If you use a Stillwater Blade, you can "fill in" those two slots with vorpal bunnies. Since the sword casted the spell, rather than you doing it yourself, you don't spend any fatigue maintaining the spell. So you basically get two kick ass followers who never whine at you for free.

And the higher your intelligence, the more bunnies you can have.

 

Thanks. Milo, one more question.

How do you "use" the sword to cast the spell? I have run across magick weapons, but haven't figured out how to "use" them. Other than use them for melee...

 

With magical weapons that have a spell in them, you "use" the spell by clicking that little swirly-looking blue button on the left side of the Action Point bar.

If you have a magical weapon equipped, it should bring up a new screen in the description box which tells you what (if any) spells the weapon has, and how many "charges" it has. Each time use the weapon to cast a spell, one charge gets burned. In the case of the Stillwater Blade, the spell is Succour Beast, and it has unlimited charges.

 

a "button" with magickal symbol on it,should appear on the right side of the quick slots.
(when you put the weapon in your hand)

 

Hmmm. I must not have a magick weapon with a spell. Milo, I do have the sword that Doc Roberts gives you for defending the Shrouded Hills Bank. Does it have a spell?

Also, do you have to put the weapon in a quick slot, or just equip it in order to see the swirly blue button?

 

If I recall correctly, that sword doesn't have any spells in it. It's just magical in that vague sort of general magicky way.

Only a few weapons have spells in them. The Stillwater Blade is one of them. Off the top of my head, the only other one I can recall is the healing staff. There're others, I just don't remember them right now.

And you don't have to have the weapon in your quick slot. You have to have it equipped (ie in your hand) in order to "use" it for it's spells.

 

i'm a mage and using a pyro-axe...
and about the weapons with magick there is also the shaman's staff

 

so the sword doesn't do anything? maybe does it give you a bonus in a stat or something?

 

The one that Doc Roberts gives you? Yeah, it just gives a magical bonus. No other good stuff.

 

Milo, I'm sorry I'm so stupid, but, magickal bonus? What kind? And how do you find out what it does?

 

Don't worry about it, bryant. How will you know if you never ask, right? And the manual doesn't exactly make this sort of stuff clear...

Anyway, all I meant by "magical bonus" is the extra numbers in the parenthesis. You know when you look at the description of the weapon? It'll say something like:

Damage: 1-10 (+5), TH +5 (+10)
Adjustment for magical aptitude: 87%

The number in the parenthesis is the magical bonus you get. The lower number, the "adjustment for magical aptitude" is the percentage of the number in the parenthesis that you recieve. The higher your magical aptitude, the higher the percentage you recieve, and the more bonus you get. If you where a techie, for example, you'd get 0% and none of the bonus, making it just a regular sword. As you move up the scale towards the magical side, you get more and more of the bonus. When you hit 100 magical aptitude, I think you get 100% of the bonus for all magical weapons and armors.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Milo on 2001-11-21 20:40 ]</font>

 

One other question. When it says Damage 1-10, what that means is that on every blow with the sword, I have the chance of taking 1-10 points of health, right?

 

In reference to magickal items, keep in mind that some have different aptitude requiremtns than others in respect to the "adjustment for magickal aptitude %" shown on the weapon. Some items require 75% aptitude to be fully effective and even with tech aptitude have some effect (such as the filament sword which maxes at 75% magickal aptitude and is at 49% at the "0 mark").

 

Hmm, thanks Squish, I never knew that.

And bryant, you've got it exactly right. It's like those old pen and paper RPGs. 1-10 is like the computer rolling a 10 sided dice to determine the damage you do. It'll be 1-10 + whatever bonuses you get.