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A:EftP - Playthrough as sent-down Anama


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If I recall correctly, the Anama don't show up in Exile/Avernum until the third title of the series, but presumably they already existed on the surface by the time of E1/A1/A:EFTP.

 

This gave me the idea to do a playthrough as a group of Anama priests that were sent down for speaking up a bit too loudly about their opposition to magic.

 

The rules for my playthrough will be pretty simple:

1) Every character was an Anama priest on the surface, so they all have to start the game with at least 2 levels of the priest spells skill.

2) All characters must remain faithful to their beliefs. Thus they can never train in or purchase any levels of the mage spells skill.

3) They must attempt to continue their studies even while in the underworld. Thus they must put at least one of their skill points into the priest spells skill every 10 levels. I.e., they must have invested at least 3 points into priest spells by level 10, 4 points by level 20, and 5 points by level 30 (since they must start with at least 2). They are of course free to invest more points in priest spells if they want.

 

I will be doing this playthrough on Torment difficulty, to make it interesting (I've breezed through hard, albeit without these restrictions).

 

My thoughts are to have my front two characters be the warrior-priests. They will be dual-wielders, with just the minimum investment in priest spells (2 at the start, 3 at level 10, 4@20, 5@30). The first will be more defense-oriented - priority to hardiness/parry over blademaster, and perhaps even buying some spellcraft in order to access resistance (since he's already forced to buy some priest spells). The second will be more offense-oriented, but still not neglect hardiness and parry.

 

The two back characters will be full-on priests. I will rush to get attack-oriented priest spells like call the storm and divine fire as soon as possible, to make up for the lack of a mage.

 

Any thoughts or advice? One thing I've realized is that I will never be able to get by level 3 magical barriers, since I'll only be able to dispel barriers with piercing crystals. Is there anything essential that is only accessible via a level 3 barrier?

 

If folks are interested, I can post updates on how this goes as my playthrough proceeds. It may be slow, though, since even on good weeks I only have a few hours per week to spend gaming.

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You don't need level-3 dispel barrier for anything, no; you'll just miss out on some treasure. This should actually be a pretty viable party build -- the main things you'll find yourself missing are Haste and efficient AoE damage (especially early on, before Divine Fire). Healing and summoning spells don't depend on the caster's Intelligence, so you could actually make your frontline characters into effective hybrids if you can spare the skill points, although that's a fairly big if.

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The only things of value behind level 3 magical barriers are more wisdom crystals and a few spell books, but those are mostly mage spells.

 

You are going to be limited to damage types from spells and priest spells use more spell energy. You will miss icy rain level 3 with immobilizing sliths.

 

Get both hardiness and resistance to 12 for at least one front character by getting priest spells to 10 and holding off on buying training. The extra resistance is worth it. You can use him as a default healer since he won't do as much damage.

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Thanks for the tips - I like Randomizer's idea of getting priest spells up to 10 for my defensive warrior-priest, so I can give him 12 resistance. He should be able to soak up a lot of damage that way, and survive long enough to heal/unshackle mind the other characters. I don't think 10 is enough to cast raise dead, though, alas (although I'm not sure).

 

And that would also work well with Lilith's point about healing and summoning not depending on intelligence. I could have my tank summon a pet before the battle to soak up even more damage, just like shamans in Avadon.

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Originally Posted By: Earth Empires
you'll miss lvl 3 haste which can bring battle frenzy but that can be done via potions, I use alot cloak of curses due magic resistant monsters (dunno how much weakness curse helps but every help is welcome).


Weakness Curse on your enemies plus war blessing on your party makes a significant difference if you're having trouble hitting your opponents, which happens a LOT if you don't go all out on one stat.

The increase to damage your enemies take is generally not as valuable as the increase to your chance to hit your enemies. Same goes for the chance to avoid granted to you by shield chant.
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Originally Posted By: Earth Empires
you'll miss lvl 3 haste which can bring battle frenzy but that can be done via potions, I use alot cloak of curses due magic resistant monsters (dunno how much weakness curse helps but every help is welcome).


I'll probably end up meditating at Fort Emerald (gives you cloak of the arcane) alot to make up for the lack of the cloak spells. As for haste/battle frenzy, I'll have to make judicious use of the appropriate potions, wands, and scrolls (rather than just selling them like I did when I had a mage).
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alot battles will be tough cause 1st good priest area damage spell is rain of fire and it to be effective monsters need to be in small area (icy wind has its uses but its weak) due no aoe spels so you'll need alot wands and scrolls to counter lack of mage spells and you take risk to run out of those before last battle (however you'll do main quests), lvl 3 fireball has chance to hit opponent next to that who got hit, smite doesn't do that.

 

it'll be tough but you might survive even from Grah and Empire, Pyrog and Sulfras (if you decide to kill him/her) will be tough and Drath won't be easy either.

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I got to put in a couple hours towards this playthrough over the weekend. In case anyone's curious ...

 

Backstory:

 

Brutus was an Empire soldier who had started to become disillusioned by some of the atrocities he had witnessed during his service - particularly those committed by Empire army mages. While stationed in a remote village, he met Cecilia, the daughter of the local blacksmith. Cecilia was a gifted swordswomen, who had been practicing with her father's blades ever since she was a young girl. She had recently learned of a religious group known as the Anama that preached the evils and danger of magic. After hearing Brutus' stories of the magical atrocities he had witnessed in the army, she decided to bring him to one of the Anama's services. The Anama's anti-magic message resonated with the young couple, and they became regulars at their Sunday services.

 

However, the Anama were on an Empire watchlist due to their heretical beliefs, and Brutus's unit was ordered to raid their local temple. When Brutus learned that this was about to happen, he slipped away and warned Cecilia and the leaders of the local Anama group, Father Fred and Mother Mini. They managed to escape minutes before the raid and went on the run.

 

They were able to evade capture for a couple monthes, during which time Fred and Mini taught Brutus (now Brother Brutus of the Anama) and Cecilia (now Sister Cecilia) more of the religion and some basic rituals. However, no one can evade the Empire for long, and they were eventually captured and banished to Avernum.

 

Party build plans:

 

Brother Brutus and Sister Cecilia are dual-wielding swordsmen/women. Brutus is a bit more defensively oriented due to his soldier training, and is also fascinated by the healing rituals. He will eventually get his priest spell skill up to 10, and his spellcraft up to 10 (8 trained, 2 bought), enabling him to train his resistence to 10 and then buy it up to 12. He will also be the primary healer of the party. Cecilia will only get her priest spells up to the minimum required by the rules of the playthrough (5), limiting her maximum resistence to 7. She will spend the extra points improving her offensive skills to become a more deadly swordswoman. Father Fred and Mother Mini will devote themselves to their priestly rituals, and also study a bit of lock picking on the side. They will eventually put some points into weapons in order to unlock hardiness and also enable adrenaline rush.

 

They will use the sage lore traits to replace arcane lore as much as possible. They will not worry about the stagnant tunnel priest spells book, because they will probably need to purchase most of the important spells in that group before they are ready for the tunnels.

 

Getting their Bearings (exploring the Eastern Gallery, aiding Silvar):

 

Despite mild resistence from a bandit with delusions of grandeur, Brutus, Cecilia, Fred, and Mini quickly made their way out of the arrival caves and discovered that the people of Avernum had managed to create a liveable world for themselves, albeit one which relied far too heavily on magic. They decided that their banishment was actually the gods' way of showing them their new calling - to spread the faith of the Anama to the caves, and show the people of Avernum the dangers of relying on magic.

 

Our party began exploring the towns and forts of the Eastern Gallery, and performing a few simple tasks to raise funds. After seeing all of the troubles faced by the people they met, they quickly realized that the best way to spread their message would be by showing the Avernites that they (the Anama) could solve their problems without resorting to magic.

 

They found a sympathetic healer in Fort Dranlon who charged only a very modest fee to teach Fred how to improve the ritual of smiting and Mini how to perform a ritual that calls forth a heavenly storm to damage and throw back groups of enemies. They were unfortunately unable to afford any additional training because they had discovered that without better negotiating skills they were unable to sell the items they found for a resonable price. They elected to hang on to them in their heavenly junk bag until such time as they were able to study the arts of negotiation (aka, get the negotiater trait).

 

With their newfound rituals and some additional combat practice from wandering nephil and goblins (aka, reaching level 3), Brutus and co. were able to earn the gratitude of the city of Silvar by clearing their sewers of an infestation of worms and the nephil who was summoning them. The citizens and mayor thanked them, but it was clear that this was not going to be sufficient to convince the Avernites that all of their problems could be solved without the aid of magic. The mayor advised them that they might be able to gain access to the the Avernites' seat of government if they assisted the northern city of Formello, but they elected to hone their skills further in the Eastern gallery (and continue to spread their message) prior to making the journey north.

 

To be continued...

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  • 2 weeks later...
Originally Posted By: RaustBlackDragon
BRother BRutus, SIster CEcilia, Father Fred, Mother Mini...

You did that on purpose, didn't you?


Possibly wink

Originally Posted By: RaustBlackDragon
Hey, does Brutus want revenge on Emperor Hawthorne?

Does the Orb of Thralni qualify as forbidden magic? Because you can't get to Hawthorne without the orb of thralni.


The Anama sell various wands and crystals in their stores in A3 and A5, so they seem to be okay with magical items. A bigger stretch might be working with Erika, and letting her teleport them to the surface. But they may be willing to bend the rules a bit in order to rid the surface of Hawthorne and his oppression of their brethren.

Mild A3 spoiler:
Click to reveal..
They've also heard rumor that his daughter (and likely successor) Prazac is more tolerant than her father.
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They'll also see things that reinforce their beliefs, like the Demon at the Tower of Magi, and just meeting some of those crazy mages like Linda...

 

Being human, they will tend to selectively pay more attention to those things which confirm their beliefs - and less to those that would contradict them. smile

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Brutus, Cecilia, Fred, and Mini reached level 10 over the weekend, so I thought I'd post another update if anyone's curious.

 

Next steps: Eastern Gallery and Points North

 

After helping out in Silvar, Brutus and friends decided to try to win some more hearts and minds around the Eastern Gallery, while at the same time improving their skills. They assisted Fort Dranlon with some goblin and bandit problems, and rescued some Cotran prisoners from the nepharim fortress. They got to practice some guerilla tactics in the nepharim fortress, and were able to make good use of the "call the storm" ritual to push enemies back and make their escape before they got overwhelmed. They also managed to use the same tactics to steal the radiant shortblade from the nepharim temple without having to take on a fight that would have probably been too difficult for their abilities at the time.

 

After engaging in a number of other minor quests around the Eastern Gallery (reaching levels 7/8), the Anama headed north to visit Formello and the friendly dragon Motrax. They took a quick side trip south to the Tower of Magi (holding their noses around the mages) and visited the helpful priest Throndell who tought them a ritual to call down a rain of fire from heaven, in exchange for the whereabouts of the anvil in Fort Draco (and a hefty sum of money ). They were then able to retrieve the Formello mayor's necklace, and in so doing earned a token to visit the castle and hopefully spread their message to more of Avernum.

 

Builds

 

Brother Brutus

Strength: 14 (+ 3 from traits and items)

Dexterity: 4

Intelligence: 4

Endurance: 7 (+ 1 from traits)

Melee: 7

Hardiness: 7

Parry: 6

Quick Action: 0 (+ 1 from items)

Priest Spells: 3

Cave Lore: 2 (both bought)

Traits: Improve Strength, Improve Endurance, Mighty Blows, Good Health, Robust Health, Negotiator

 

Brutus is still at the minimum Priest Spells required by my Anama playthrough rules (3 by level 10). Once I max out hardiness and parry, I'll start putting points into resistance, which will require additional priest spells skill (and spellcraft). At that point he will start to take on more of the party healer role.

 

Sister Cecilia

Strength: 14 (+ 4 from traits and items)

Dexterity: 4 (+ 1 from items)

Intelligence: 4

Endurance: 7

Melee: 9

Hardiness: 5

Parry: 4

Blademaster: 2 (+ 1 from items)

Quick Action: 0 (+ 2 from items)

Priest Spells: 3

Cave Lore: 1 (bought)

Traits: Improve Strength x 2, Mighty Blows, Ambidextrous, Good Health, Negotiator

 

Cecilia's build is going about as expected. She is the most deadly for single target damage, and is currently wielding the Nephil Warblade and Singing Rapier.

 

Father Fred

Strength: 5 (+ 1 from items)

Dexterity: 4

Intelligence: 14 (+ 2 from traits)

Endurance: 6

Preist Spells: 12

Spellcraft: 6

Resistance: 2

Tool Use: 3 (+ 1 from traits)

Traits: Improved Intelligence x 2, Elemental Focus x 2, Nimble Fingers, Negotiator

 

Mother Mini

Strength: 5

Dexterity: 4

Intelligence: 14 (+ 3 from traits)

Endurance: 6

Gymnastics: 0 (+ 1 from items)

Priest Spells: 12

Spellcraft: 6

Resistance: 1

Tool Use: 4 (+ 1 from traits)

Magical Efficiency: 0 (+ 1 from items)

Traits: Improved Intelligence x 3, Elemental Focus, Nimble Fingers, Negotiator

 

Fred and Mini are pretty similar. Divine Fire has been very nice! It won't be as helpful when I get to the Sliths, though.

 

Other Notes

 

Having two casters that can cast call the storm has been interesting. Two castings of it can push melee-only enemies far enough back that they can't attack. This made the fight with the ogre near Formello easy. He would run up, Brutus and Cecilia would smack him with their swords, and then Fred and Mini would knock him back with Call the Storm. He would run back, but never had enough action points to run all the way and attack, so we never took any damage from him (and his lizard pets were quickly eliminated since many of them fell within the storm cones).

 

I'm thinking of going for the waterfall warren cache with the blessed breastplate, thus the 3 points of cave lore I bought. I will also grab the two free points of cave lore to get to the 5 required. I realize 2700 is a lot to pay, but it will also open access to a number of other caches of sellable items that should partially make up that cost. Plus it will allow access to more renewable herb patches, which can also be used to bring in additional funds.

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Originally Posted By: Earth Empires
That Slith tower south from Dranlon might become trouble w/o good area spells and Sliths have high fire resistance and you prolly don't have/can't cast Divine Retribution so your priests will deal with slimes mostly.


I'll probably be casting Call the Storm a lot in the Slith areas, and using its knockback for tactical purposes (or for guerilla raids - kill a couple sliths, knockback the rest, escape, and return).
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Originally Posted By: RaustBlackDragon
It would be more useful though, if there were some way to immobilize enemies in conjunction, because otherwise they can just move back to you. Though I guess it helps mitigate the effects of battle frenzy.


Two castings is often enough to push enemies far enough away that they can't reach you, unless they have extra AP. So with the two dedicated priests in my party, it can be very effective against melee-only enemies. As I mentioned in the playthrough notes, I used that tactic to take out the ogre near Formello without him getting to take even a single swing at me.

Also, a single casting is enough to push enemies back from an ally, allowing them a chance to run away.
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Originally Posted By: Earth Empires
Icy Rain immobilizates but higher level monsters either resists it or it lasts only 1 turn (vanishes when their turn comes).

I think there are scrolls which do Icy Rain but only at lvl 1.


I have found scrolls and wands occasionally useful in the early going - spamming Divine Fire when you are in the level 8-10 range can eat up spell points pretty fast, so it's nice to have backup attack. This is especially so since you can use items twice even with 8 action points. I suspect they will become less useful as I level up and gain more spell points (and as their damage relative to my spells drops), and also after I buy a couple points of efficiency.
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  • 2 weeks later...

I meant to do an update at level 15, but it slipped, so here's a level 16 update:

 

Progress

 

Brutus, Cecilia, Fred, and Mini spent most of the time since the last update exploring southeast Avernum. They lifted (at least temporarily) the undead curse in the Mertis Area, explored the honeycomb, and fought a bunch of ogres. They haven't yet taken out the ogre mage, but almost succeeded in their recent attempt, so they will likely return soon to finish him off. They were also appalled to learn about the mess that the mages at the Tower of Magi had gotten themselves into with the Haakai - typical power-hungry magicians, ignoring the safety of themselves and others in the pursuit of their evil arts.

 

They also discovered the Freehold of Kyass and helped them with a couple simple tasks, met a strange Empire envoy under Formello, raided a few Slith outposts, and repaired a beautiful crystal cavern.

 

Just recently they arrived in the great cave. After clearing out the sewers of Almaria, they headed down to Patrick's tower to deliver a recruitment message from Kyass. While there, they used the graymold salve recipe they had found earlier to cure Patrick's wife.

 

With their improving reputation (well known), Brutus and Co. are hopeful that they will eventually be able to convince more of the Avernites to join their faith. So far they haven't had much luck - some nonsense about the mages being the reason the Avernites have light and food - but they have faith that if they continue to help Avernum without using magic, the people will eventually see the wisdom of the Anama's ways.

 

Builds

 

Brother Brutus

Strength: 21 (+ 3 from traits and items)

Dexterity: 6

Intelligence: 6

Endurance: 9 (+ 3 from traits)

Melee: 10

Hardiness: 10

Parry: 10

Quick Action: 0 (+ 1 from items)

Priest Spells: 3

Spellcraft: 1

Resistance: 1

First Aid: 1 (from quest in Mertis)

Cave Lore: 4 (2 bought, 1 from quest in Mertis, 1 from pool in Giant lands)

Traits: Improve Strength, Improve Endurance x 2, Mighty Blows, Good Health, Robust Health, Negotiator, Parry Mastery x 2

 

Brutus is still at the minimum Priest Spells required by my Anama playthrough rules (3 by level 10). Now that he's maxed out hardiness and parry, he's starting to put points into resistance, which will soon require additional priest spells skill. At that point he will start to take on more of the party healer role.

 

Sister Cecilia

Strength: 21 (+ 5 from traits and items)

Dexterity: 6 (+ 1 from items)

Intelligence: 6

Endurance: 9

Melee: 13

Hardiness: 7

Parry: 7

Blademaster: 5 (+ 1 from items)

Quick Action: 0 (+ 2 from items)

Priest Spells: 3

Cave Lore: 2 (both bought)

Luck: 0 (+ 3 from items)

Traits: Improve Strength x 3, Mighty Blows, Ambidextrous, Good Health, Robust Health, Negotiator, Sage Lore

 

Cecilia's combat skills still make her the most deadly for single target damage. She is also the most commonly knocked out, though, so she's starting to fall a bit behind on XP (about 300 behind the leader).

 

Father Fred

Strength: 6 (+ 1 from items)

Dexterity: 6 (+ 2 from items)

Intelligence: 21 (+ 4 from traits)

Endurance: 9

Preist Spells: 17

Spellcraft: 9

Resistance: 6

Tool Use: 3 (+ 1 from traits)

Magical Efficiency: 0 (+ 1 from items)

Cave Lore: 2 (both bought)

Traits: Improved Intelligence x 4, Elemental Focus x 2, Nimble Fingers, Negotiator, Sage Lore

 

Mother Mini

Strength: 6

Dexterity: 6 (+1 from items)

Intelligence: 21 (+ 4 from traits)

Endurance: 9

Gymnastics: 0 (+ 1 from items)

Priest Spells: 16

Spellcraft: 8

Resistance: 5

Tool Use: 4 (+ 1 from traits)

Arcane Lore: 1

Magical Efficiency: 1 (+ 1 from items)

Cave Lore: 2 (both bought)

Traits: Improved Intelligence x 4, Elemental Focus x 2, Nimble Fingers, Negotiator, Sage Lore

 

Fred and Mini now have 1 level of ward of steel and ward of elements from spell books (Mini trained in a point of arcane lore so they'd be able to read the ward of elements book in the Freehold). This, combined with training in mass healing, has been a great aid to party survivability.

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Originally Posted By: Earth Empires
I'm not convinced that your party will survive from some tough battles (like Slith castle, Slith Temple, Spiral Pit and of course main quests).

They already survived the Spiral Pit. On my first try they had to run from the battle at the exit (after killing the commander in the center), but then on my second try I used a different strategy and was able to win that battle as well.

I'm not anticipating too much trouble later - the only real difference from a fairly standard two fighter/one priest/one mage party is two priests rather than one priest and one mage. By the late game, priests have a decent selection of area damage spells (call the storm, divine fire, divine retribution) - not as many as mages, but having three characters who can cast mass healing and two who can cast raise dead will be helpful. If a singleton can do it, I'm sure these guys can do it. And for melee heavy battles, multiple level 3 call the storm casters is amazing - two knockbacks pushes melee-only enemies far enough away that they can't hit you.
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call the storm is bit useless damage wise and some enemies don't move that easily (2 blocks after 2 cts's is wasted mana) and it doesn't do damage to undeads (skeletons, liches, etc), div. fire is nice but does less damage than fireblast (although my party has lvl 3 fb and only lvl 2 df), div. retr. is nice but very energy consuming and needs to be done closeish to enemy/ies.

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Originally Posted By: Earth Empires
call the storm is bit useless damage wise and some enemies don't move that easily (2 blocks after 2 cts's is wasted mana) and it doesn't do damage to undeads (skeletons, liches, etc), div. fire is nice but does less damage than fireblast (although my party has lvl 3 fb and only lvl 2 df), div. retr. is nice but very energy consuming and needs to be done closeish to enemy/ies.

It clearly will be more difficult than a party with a mage - mage's are probably the strongest characters in the game as far as dealing lots of damage. That's why I'm considering this a "challenge" playthrough. However, I think it's at most a moderately difficult challenge. Clearly there is no one priest spell that will work for every battle (the same is true for mage spells), but I think there are enough options that there should be some tactic that gets me through each of the battles.
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  • 3 weeks later...

A quick update if anyone is still following this. The party is now all at level 21:

 

Brutus and co. have continued to explore Avernum and gain experience, and have joined the Scimitar and gotten a quest to find the exit. They also met with Erika and got a quest to slay Hawthorne. They are a bit conflicted over helping a well known mage like Erika, but they are willing to at least consider it since Hawthorne is such a danger to their remaining Anama brethren on the surface. They also found the return life tome in the Gremlin's Gold (having two priests capable of casting this has been very helpful in some tough battles), took out the ogre mage, cleared the commander of the slith island near Cotra (and his pet slimes), rescued the G.I.F.T. Spider, and killed a bunch of bandits, giants and sliths (but not Sss-Thsss or the Giant overseer, yet). Next major task is to go after Sss-Thsss, although they may try to get a bit more experience first.

 

The builds have continued to go as expected - Brutus has begun investing more points into the Priest Spells/Spellcraft/Resistance, and he's becoming quite hard to hurt (and also a decent healer). Cecilia maxed out Hardiness and Parry, and is now not getting killed off nearly as often (she's actually slowly catching up with the others in terms of XP - only about 150 behind now). Fred and Mini have maxed out Spellcraft and Resistance (and have Priest spells at 17), so they are starting to put a little into weapons skills to get battle disciplines and also access to hardiness. They also bought a couple points of arcane lore, and are starting to train magical efficiency, because I'm finding that priest spells are expensive - they sometimes run out of SP at inconvenient times. My plan is for each to buy 2 AL from Erika, and then train 2 ME, and then buy two ME. If anyone is curious, I can post the complete current builds. If not, I'll wait until my next update.

 

One concern I have is that piercing crystals seem a bit rare, and I know at least a few will be needed for the game winning quests. Right now I have 4, and I can see at least 4 in the item list that I haven't yet retrieved (not counting the one that is behind a level 3 barrier, since I'll never get there). I think there is one for sale in the Freehold that I haven't bought yet (waiting for prices to drop to pretty average - they are at slightly expensive now). That will make 9, which is probably enough for the necessary quests, but I may have to skip out on some other things, like the Slith Fort north of Fort Emerald, which I think requires a piercing crystal to enter (if you are playing a no-mage party like this one).

Edited by The Reverend
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  • 4 weeks later...

I unfortunately don't get as much time to play as I'd like, but it's coming along slowly but steadily. They are all at level 24 now, and about to take on the main slith castle and Sss-Thsss. Since the last update, they've cleared the giant castle and taken out the overseer, and cleared most of the Slith forts and settlements. I plan to post another update after Sss-Thsss.

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A more complete update, since I know at least one other person is still following this playthrough. :)

 

Level 26 Update - Sss-Thsss Is No More!

 

I took out Sss-Thsss and then the demons at Fort Remote last night, which was enough to push the last of my party members to level 26. Since the last update, they've cleared out the giants, the two bandit fortresses south of Fort Spire, and all but one of the Slith towns and fortifications (including retrieving the demonslayer blade from the temple). The only exception is the Slith fort just north of Fort Emerald - I didn't want to waste a precious piercing crystal to get into it, since I want to make sure I have enough to finish. They are a precious commodity in a no-mage party like this.

 

They also now have all of the major endgame quests on their quest list. This has led to a bit of dissension among the party as to what their next steps should be. Fred and Mini, as long-time Anama members, are interested in trying to make the surface world a better place for their Anama brethren, so they want to take out Hawthorne (even if it means cooperating with a mage like Erika, although that is hard for them). They'd also like to find the exit so that they could possibly rejoin the remaining Anama at some point. Brutus and Cecilia, on the other hand, are interested in settling in Avernum, starting a family, and possibly starting an underworld branch of the Anama. Thus their highest priority is getting rid of Grah-Hoth - and they are a bit concerned about the danger of trying to assassinate Hawthorne (and also having to submit to being teleported by a mage).

 

Before taking on any of those tasks, however, they all agree that they need to gain a bit more experience. They plan to go after Lord Chuckles (they got to the gremlin's treasure earlier, but never took him out), Pyrog, Drath, and the Haakai in the Tower of Magi before proceeding with the main quests.

 

Party builds

 

Brother Brutus

 

Strength: 33 (+ 5 from traits and items)

Dexterity: 8

Intelligence: 8

Endurance: 13 (+ 5 from traits)

 

Melee: 12

Hardiness: 12

Parry: 10

Blademaster: 1 (+1 from items)

Quick Action: 0 (+5 from items)

Gymnastics: 0 (+2 from items)

 

Priest Spells: 8

Spellcraft: 10

Resistance: 8

First Aid: 1 (from quest in Mertis)

Cave Lore: 4 (2 bought, 1 from quest in Mertis, 1 from pool in Giant lands)

Luck: 0 (+3 from items)

 

HP: 271

Energy: 200

 

Armor: 77

Magic: 77

Fire: 72

Cold: 77

Poison: 75

Acid: 85

Mental: 45

Curse: 27

 

Traits: Improve Strength x 3, Improve Endurance x 3, Mighty Blows, Parry Mastery x 2, Ambidextrous, Good Health, Robust Health, Perfect Health, Negotiator

 

Brutus is the party's main tank, with lots of points in hardiness and resistance and high hit points. He's become quite hard to kill. He is also a decent healer (now that his priest spells are up to 8 he can cast mass healing), and often plays that role since he has the weakest attacks of anyone in the group. When he does attack, he uses his dual-wielded swords (the singing and seeking rapiers).

 

 

Sister Cecilia

 

Strength: 33 (+ 7 from traits and items)

Dexterity: 8 (+ 1 from items)

Intelligence: 8

Endurance: 13

 

Melee: 16

Hardiness: 12

Parry: 10

Blademaster: 10

Quick Action: 2

Dual Wielding: 1

Lethal Blow: 2

Priest Spells: 4

Spell Craft: 1

Resistance: 1

Cave Lore: 2 (both bought)

 

HP: 243

Energy: 200

 

Armor: 76

Magic: 69

Fire: 68

Cold: 71

Poison: 68

Acid: 82

Mental: 36

Curse: 14

 

Traits: Improve Strength x 5, Mighty Blows x 2, Ambidextrous, Good Health, Robust Health, Perfect Health, Negotiator, Sage Lore

 

Cecilia's combat skills still make her the most deadly for single target damage, especially in the first round when she can do an adrenaline rush. She is wielding the flaming sword and the nephil warblade. Her survivability has improved dramatically, and as a result she is now only 100 XP behind the leaders (Fred and Brutus). She can also heal in a pinch, and will often handle post-battle healing to preserve spell points for the others who need them more. A level 3 minor heal, with the regeneration it grants, will often be enough to fully heal her friends in a few rounds.

 

Father Fred

Strength: 9 (- 2 from items)

Dexterity: 8 (- 1 from items)

Intelligence: 32 (+ 6 from items and traits)

Endurance: 13 (+3 from vampiric knife)

 

Melee: 3

Hardiness: 3

Parry: 3

Quick Action: 2

Lethal Blow: 0 (+2 from items)

 

Priest Spells: 17

Spellcraft: 12 (+2 from items)

Resistance: 10

Tool Use: 4 (+ 1 from traits)

Arcane Lore: 2

Magical Efficiency: 4 (+ 1 from items)

Cave Lore: 3 (2 bought)

Traits: Improved Intelligence x 5, Elemental Focus x 5, Good Health, Nimble Fingers, Negotiator, Sage Lore

 

HP: 242

Energy: 350

 

Armor: 68

Magic: 65

Fire: 63

Cold: 63

Poison: 61

Acid: 77

Mental: 90

Curse: 44

 

Father Fred has become the most deadly party member. With the mercuric chain and the quicksilver bulwark, he can cast two divine retributions or divine fires every round. I have invested a little in quick action for three reasons:

  • Casting early in the first round (before enemies act) allows him and Mini to thin out some of the crowds, reducing the damage we take from large swarms.
  • It gives access to lethal blow (which I believe helps spells, despite the tool tip to the contrary)
  • The fatigue reduction will actually be useful in long battles once he gets access to adrenaline rush (I've seen it help Cecilia, who has quick action plus some fatigue reducing gear, get access to a second or occasionally third round of adrenaline rush that she wouldn't have gotten to otherwise).

Mother Mini

Strength: 9

Dexterity: 8 (+1 from items)

Intelligence: 32 (+ 5 from traits)

Endurance: 13

 

Melee: 3

Hardiness: 3

Parry: 3

Quick Action: 1

 

Priest Spells: 17

Spellcraft:12

Resistance: 10

Tool Use: 4 (+ 1 from traits)

Arcane Lore: 3

Magical Efficiency: 5 (+ 1 from items)

Cave Lore: 2 (both bought)

 

HP: 226

Energy: 345

 

Armor: 66

Magic: 65

Fire: 62

Cold: 62

Poison: 58

Acid: 74

Mental: 90

Curse: 34

 

Traits: Improved Intelligence x 5, Elemental Focus x 5, Good Health, Nimble Fingers, Negotiator, Sage Lore

 

Mini currently only gets one spell per round, but once I grab the mercuric sandles from good ol' Lord Chuckles (up next on my list) she'll be able to get two. She is also the group's ward caster - she's the only one with level 3 in steelward and spellward. This leaves her with a bit fewer energy points for battle, which may be a problem when she starts casting two spells per round - but I gave her an extra point of magical efficiency to hopefully help that. You'll notice that I have more Sage Lore traits than I need - I initially didn't plan on getting more than 1 or 2 points of arcane lore for the whole party, but later I realized that I would need magical efficiency since priest damage spells tend to be more expensive that mage ones, and I kept running out of energy in some of the longest fights (or having to switch to just using smite to avoid running out).

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There's no question that spells can do critical damage - the question is whether LB affects the chance or not. The tooltip specifies melee and missile damage only, but we all know how reliable those are.

 

This is quite simple to test against the scrawny nephilim in the tutorial cave. With a basic level one mage, Bolt of Fire did critical damage zero times out of 12 shots. With Lethal Blow edited up to 10, he got critical hits 5 times out of 17 shots. Case closed.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I've made more progress on my Torment playthrough with Anama rules (see the first post in this topic for the rules I came up with). They also need to generally adhere to behaving as good Anamites (Anamians?). This came up when deciding what to do with Drath's Spellbook (see below).

 

This will probably be my penultimate update, since all that is left is the three final quests (and I've done all the prep work/pre-quests/finding items for all three). The reason the level jumped so much between the last update and this one is that I saved all my wisdom crystals/mandrake for right before the final quests, since their experience grants don't scale down with level (or at least not nearly as much as other sources). So, I got my characters to almost level 32 after finishing the non-final quest portions of the game, and then used all my crystals, bumping them all up to level 35.

 

Level 35 Update - Ready for the final quests

 

Since the last update, Brutus et al have continued to travel the Underworld, spreading the word of the Anama and saving the people of Avernum from the evils of magic. After a quick detour to get rid of the annoying Lord Chuckles, they took out nasty Pyrog and his giant helpers. Upon studying his spell book they discovered it was predominantly priestly rituals, so they handed it to their friends in the Freehold, and were rewarded with some excellent training discounts. They next went after Drath so that they could retrieve the last piece of Demonslayer, and use it to take out the Adze-Haakai in the Tower Magi (once again, those mages getting themselves into trouble that they need priests to save them from). They made quick work of Drath (he's not so bad if you are level 29 when you take him on).

 

They retrieved the final piece of Demonslayer from Drath, but were not sure what to do with his spellbook. They didn't dare to read it, since they could feel that it was full of the worst kind of magic. They also didn't want to tempt their friends (Avernum and the Freehold) with such evil magic, and they clearly didn't want their sworn Empire enemies to have access to it. However, the rewards offered for it were quite tempting (and would be quite useful to their quests). Ultimately they decided to play a little trickery on the Empire (after what they did to their brethren on the surface, they had no moral qualms about this). They gave Thantria the book, and she placed it in her room and retrieved an excellent set of armor as their reward. After accepting the reward, they attempted to enter her room to destroy the book before she could send it up. Thantria objected strenuously and attacked them, so they took her out, looted her room, and destroyed Drath's book (stabbing it repeatedly with Demonslayer was quite effective at exorcising the demons that inhabited its pages). They had realized that they would likely have to take out Thantria eventually anyways as part of their secondary mission to rid Avernum of Empire influence (they felt this was necessary in order to allow the Anama to truly flourish in Avernum).

 

After taking out Pyrog, Drath, and Thantria, our heroes rid the Tower of the Adze-Haakai, and then wandered around a bit more cleaning up the rest of their quest list (except for a couple things they disagreed with, like driving away Kyass). At this point they were all close to level 32. They then used their accumulated wisdom crystals and herbs to bump themselves up to level 35 (as mentioned earlier).

 

If you'll recall from our last update, Brutus and Cecilia were interested in staying in Avernum, starting a family (the heroes of my future Anama playthrough of the forthcoming A:CS remake have to come from somewhere!), and helping the fledging Underworld Anama movement get off the ground. Thus their primary interest is in getting rid of Grah-Hoth. Fred and Mini, on the other hand, want to return to the surface to assist the surface Anama in their struggles against the Empire. So they are interested in finding the exit and in assassinating Hawthorne. They have all agreed to help each other, and Brutus and Cecilia have agreed to do the exit quest first in exchange for Fred and Mini marrying them on the surface (they want to get married as soon as they can so that they can at least have that in case they don't survive Grah-Hoth or Hawthorne).

 

Party builds

 

Since the last update, I've concentrated on survivability. In particular, with the Torment penalty to resistance, I've convinced myself that endurance is more important than on lower levels (since your damage resistance maxes out at 60% instead of 90%). So, as you'll see below, all of the characters (and especially Brutus) have had nice bumps to their endurance. I was made more confident in doing this (and thus not putting many of these last points in attack stats) by noting RaustBlackDragon's success on Torment with an even lower investment in primary attack stats than what I already had for all of my characters.

 

Brother Brutus

 

Strength: 35 (+ 6 from traits and items)

Dexterity: 11

Intelligence: 10

Endurance: 20 (+ 7 from traits)

 

Melee: 12

Hardiness: 12 (+ 1 from items)

Parry: 12

Blademaster: 8

Quick Action: 2 (+ 3 from items)

Dual Wielding: 1

Lethal Blow: 2

Bows: 2

Thrown Missiles: 2

Gymnastics: 2 (+ 4 from items)

 

Priest Spells: 8

Spellcraft: 10

Resistance: 12

Arcane Lore: 2

First Aid: 1 (+ 2 from items)

Cave Lore: 4

 

HP: 372

Energy: 255

 

Armor: 82

Magic: 79

Fire: 83

Cold: 79

Poison: 88

Acid: 90

Mental: 70

Curse: 36

 

Traits: Improve Strength x 3, Improve Endurance x 5, Mighty Blows, Parry Mastery x 2, Ambidextrous, Good Health, Robust Health, Perfect Health, Negotiator

 

Brutus is the party's main tank, with lots of points in hardiness and resistance and high hit points. He's also added quite a bit of endurance since the last update. This has been a party-wide trend, as mentioned earlier, but Brutus as the main tank has taken it even further - all 5 of his stat point increases since the last update, plus his two traits, have gone into endurance. He's become virtually invincible. He remains a decent healer, and now that he has his mental resistance up a bit higher he can often play the role of mind unshackler as well (typically Cecilia is the only one susceptible to mental attacks on a regular basis). As before, he often plays that role of the healer due to having weaker attacks, but he has improved his armaments (seeking rapier and venomous blade) and blademaster skill a bit so his dual-wielding attack is not as weak as it used to be.

 

Sister Cecilia

 

Strength: 36 (+ 7 from traits and items)

Dexterity: 11

Intelligence: 10

Endurance: 19

 

Melee: 17

Hardiness: 12

Parry: 12

Blademaster: 12 (+ 8 from items)

Quick Action: 5

Dual Wielding: 5

Lethal Blow: 5

Gymnastics: 2

 

Priest Spells: 5

Spell Craft: 1

Resistance: 3 (+ 1 from items)

Arcane Lore: 1

Cave Lore: 2

Luck: 0 (+ 3 from items)

 

HP: 327

Energy: 255

 

Armor: 84

Magic: 76

Fire: 74

Cold: 70

Poison: 69

Acid: 85

Mental: 50

Curse: 15

 

Traits: Improve Strength x 5, Mighty Blows x 3, Parry Mastery x 2, Ambidextrous, Good Health, Robust Health, Perfect Health, Negotiator, Sage Lore

 

Cecilia has become even more deadly now that she's wielding the spectral falchion (+8 blademaster!) and the flaming sword (or Demonslayer when facing demons). The high damage output of her swords, combined with an adrenaline rush in the first round, can take out many tough enemies.

 

Father Fred

 

Strength: 11 (- 3 from items)

Dexterity: 11 (- 1 from items)

Intelligence: 35 (+ 5 from traits)

Endurance: 19 (+ 3 from vampiric knife)

 

Melee: 6

Hardiness: 8

Parry: 5

Quick Action: 5 (+2 from items)

Lethal Blow: 5

Pole: 2

Bows: 2 (+ 3 from items)

Thrown: 2

 

Priest Spells: 17

Spellcraft: 12 (+ 4 from items)

Resistance: 12

Tool Use: 4 (+ 1 from traits)

Arcane Lore: 2

Magical Efficiency: 4 (+ 1 from items)

Cave Lore: 3

First Aid: 0 (+ 1 from items)

 

HP: 345

Energy: 405

 

Armor: 74

Magic: 74

Fire: 72

Cold: 72

Poison: 79

Acid: 86

Mental: 90

Curse: 53

 

Traits: Improved Intelligence x 5, Elemental Focus x 5, Good Health, Robust Health, Perfect Health, Nimble Fingers, Negotiator, Sage Lore

 

Mother Mini

Strength: 11 (- 1 from items)

Dexterity: 11

Intelligence: 35 (+ 7 from items and traits)

Endurance: 19

 

Melee: 5 (+ 3 from items)

Hardiness: 7

Parry: 6

Quick Action: 5

Lethal Blow: 5 (+ 2 from items)

Pole: 0 (+ 4 from items)

Bows: 2

Thrown: 1

 

Priest Spells: 17

Spellcraft:12

Resistance: 12

Tool Use: 4 (+ 1 from traits)

Arcane Lore: 3

Magical Efficiency: 5 (+ 1 from items)

Cave Lore: 2

 

HP: 327

Energy: 415

 

Armor: 70

Magic: 72

Fire: 75

Cold: 74

Poison: 75

Acid: 84

Mental: 90

Curse: 43

 

Traits: Improved Intelligence x 5, Elemental Focus x 5, Good Health, Robust Health, Perfect Health, Nimble Fingers, Negotiator, Sage Lore

 

Fred and Mini both now have two AP boosting items and access to Adrenaline Rush, allowing them to cast Divine Fire and/or Retribution twice every round, and four times when not fatigued (or three if they have to move to get into position). With their Quick Action Points, they often go before all or most of their enemies, allowing them to significantly reduce mobs before they ever get to attack (I always play with the setting where action order is determined individually rather than for the party as a whole).

 

Edit: I changed Brutus and Cecilia's equipment around right after this post (boots and cloaks), and also bought Cecilia 2 points of resistance. I've updated their stats and resistances to reflect this.

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Quick update: I made it through the Final Guantlet and found the Exit yesterday, and defeated Grah-Hoth today. I've also made it through the Black Spire. Up next, the Tower of Barriers and then on to the Royal Spire and vengeance against Hawthorne!

 

The party is up to level 36. I'll post final builds once Hawthorne is defeated.

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And that's it! Hawthorne is dead, and Brutus, Cecilia, Fred, and Mini have completed all three major quest lines on Torment without casting a single mage spell. Long live the Anama!

 

The Final Chapter

 

After the last update, Brutus and Co made quick work of the Final Gauntlet. Next up was Grah-Hoth, who caused a bit more difficulty because having to get through all of the minions he summoned caused Fred and Mini to both run out of energy and have to use an energy elixir. (In general, energy issues were the biggest difficulty with this priest-focused party - offensive priest spells are expensive.) But after that, the rest of the minions went down quickly, followed by Grah-Hoth. They were prepared for similar energy difficulties when going after Hawthorne, so they tried to balance quickly moving through the Royal Spire (to face fewer enemies) with trying not to use too much energy. This meant no Divine Retributions until they reached the throne room. Divine Fire (and smite to finish off enemies who were almost out of HP) was sufficient to make it through to the throne room, although Fred and Mini had to quaff two energy elixirs each on the way, and a third right before entering the throne room. All four also quaffed an invulnerability elixir right before starting the final fight (the first time they had used them all game). Fred and Mini then used Divine Retribution (very effective against the sentinels and the mobs that entered the room after chasing us up the spire - especially because the sentinels seem very vulnerable to slowing, which DR gives you at level 2), Brutus healed (even with invulnerability, there were enough enemies in the room that we we losing 1/3-1/2 of hit points in some rounds), and Cecilia engaged enemies out of range of the retributions. Eventually Hawthorne used up his shield assisting the sentinels, and Brutus (who was nearby), snuck over and slayed him.

 

Epilogue

 

When they found the exit, Brutus and Cecilia were married in small ceremony on the surface by Fred and Mini. After the Hawthorne assassination, they used their fame and fortune to build an Anama Temple in Northern Avernum. Soon after they teleported back from assassinating Hawthorne, they also discovered that Cecilia was pregnant with twins. They named the children Fred Jr and Mini Jr, in honor of their friends. When they twins became teenagers, they joined the war against the Empire, and become pivotal figures (I realize this is stretching the timeline more than a little bit, but it gives a good backstory for an Anama playthrough of A:CS when it comes out).

 

Meanwhile, Fred and Mini returned to the surface through the exit (before the Empire was able to close it off), and were able to locate some of their old Anama connections. Eventually they connected with Ahonar, and assisted in the reestablishing the Anama in Valorim during they time of Prazac.

 

Final Party Builds

 

Brother Brutus

 

Strength: 35 (+ 6 from traits and items)

Dexterity: 11

Intelligence: 11

Endurance: 20 (+ 7 from items and traits)

 

Melee: 12

Hardiness: 12 (+ 1 from items)

Parry: 12

Blademaster: 8

Quick Action: 2 (+ 3 from items)

Dual Wielding: 1

Lethal Blow: 2

Bows: 2

Thrown Missiles: 2

Gymnastics: 2 (+ 4 from items)

 

Priest Spells: 8

Spellcraft: 10

Resistance: 12

Arcane Lore: 2

First Aid: 1 (+ 2 from items)

Cave Lore: 4

 

HP: 379

Energy: 265

 

Armor: 86

Magic: 83

Fire: 86

Cold: 83

Poison: 89

Acid: 90

Mental: 77

Curse: 47

 

Traits: Improve Strength x 3, Improve Endurance x 5, Mighty Blows, Parry Mastery x 2, Ambidextrous, Good Health, Robust Health, Perfect Health, Negotiator

 

 

Sister Cecilia

 

Strength: 36 (+ 7 from traits and items)

Dexterity: 11

Intelligence: 11

Endurance: 19

 

Melee: 17

Hardiness: 12

Parry: 12

Blademaster: 12 (+ 8 from items)

Quick Action: 5

Dual Wielding: 5

Lethal Blow: 5

Gymnastics: 2

 

Priest Spells: 5

Spell Craft: 1

Resistance: 3 (+ 1 from items)

Arcane Lore: 1

Cave Lore: 2

Luck: 0 (+ 3 from items)

 

HP: 333

Energy: 265

 

Armor: 84

Magic: 78

Fire: 75

Cold: 72

Poison: 72

Acid: 85

Mental: 56

Curse: 23

 

Traits: Improve Strength x 5, Mighty Blows x 3, Parry Mastery x 2, Ambidextrous, Good Health, Robust Health, Perfect Health, Negotiator, Sage Lore

 

 

Father Fred

 

Strength: 11 (- 3 from items)

Dexterity: 11 (- 1 from items)

Intelligence: 36 (+ 5 from traits)

Endurance: 19 (+ 3 from vampiric knife)

 

Melee: 6

Hardiness: 8

Parry: 5

Quick Action: 5 (+2 from items)

Lethal Blow: 7

Pole: 2

Bows: 2 (+ 3 from items)

Thrown: 2

Gymnastics: 2

 

Priest Spells: 17

Spellcraft: 12 (+ 4 from items)

Resistance: 12

Tool Use: 4 (+ 1 from traits)

Arcane Lore: 2

Magical Efficiency: 4 (+ 1 from items)

Cave Lore: 3

First Aid: 0 (+ 1 from items)

 

HP: 350

Energy: 415

 

Armor: 74

Magic: 73

Fire: 73

Cold: 73

Poison: 79

Acid: 88

Mental: 90

Curse: 58

 

Traits: Improved Intelligence x 5, Elemental Focus x 5, Good Health, Robust Health, Perfect Health, Nimble Fingers, Negotiator, Sage Lore

 

 

Mother Mini

 

Strength: 11 (- 1 from items)

Dexterity: 11

Intelligence: 36 (+ 7 from items and traits)

Endurance: 19

 

Melee: 5 (+ 3 from items)

Hardiness: 7

Parry: 6

Quick Action: 5

Lethal Blow: 7 (+ 2 from items)

Pole: 0 (+ 4 from items)

Bows: 2

Thrown: 1

Gymnastics: 2

 

Priest Spells: 17

Spellcraft:12

Resistance: 12

Tool Use: 4 (+ 1 from traits)

Arcane Lore: 3

Magical Efficiency: 5 (+ 1 from items)

Cave Lore: 2

 

HP: 333

Energy: 425

 

Armor: 74

Magic: 75

Fire: 77

Cold: 77

Poison: 77

Acid: 86

Mental: 90

Curse: 39

 

Traits: Improved Intelligence x 5, Elemental Focus x 5, Good Health, Robust Health, Perfect Health, Nimble Fingers, Negotiator, Sage Lore

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