Most useful skills?

[adc.]

Hi guys, it seems my trigger finger is itching to play AV3 again, and I'd like to know the most useful skills in AV3, with a brief description.

 

Party build:

Spellsword

Healer

Sorcerer

Tank

 

My build ^^, can it last that long against Troglodytes, Goblins, Roaches, Slimes, Demons and all manner of undead?

[Randomizer]

Your build will probably last, but it mostly depends upon the order of what you attack.

 

Melee fighters need strength and endurance, weapon skill which is usually sword, then hardiness or defense (I forget which compensates for your armor's encumbrance).

 

Anyone casting spells should have a level in mage and priest spells so they can all cast bolt of fire, minor healing, and curing. You might want higher priest spells to counter mental effects like sleep and charm.

 

Range weapons don't do that much damage but as you increase dexterity to evade damage and go ahead of the monsters in combat they do some damage especially in narrow corridors and places where melee fighters can't get in range.

 

Eventually spell casters do the major damage and fighters are just meat shields to protect them.

[Tycho Maudd]

For the primary stats, I usually have enough str to max out carry weight, enough dex to always go first, and endurance when I can spare it to increase health, usually later in the game since it has a bigger impact then. As for intelligence there's only one place I remember there being a check against intelligence and I forget what it needs to be to pass it, but other then that one case I never like to put points into it.

 

For the combat skills, polearm is the most damaging until you hit the cap, plus a slith gets innate bonus to it, so that's normally my melee weapon a choice, a secondary fighter will then get a sword. These skills are primarily for hitting things so whenever you find yourself missing too much put more points in.

 

For ranged weapon, javalins are too heavy to really be of use and razordisks are fairly rare until the end game so I skill that. Bows on the other hand have plentiful ammo, and a nephil can do good damage with them as backup weapons when magic starts to run low or you can't get into melee as a fighter. I actually like archery enough I've made a 4 nephil party to snipe people before they get close, it's actually pretty powerful since you can focus fire from range and don't use any mana. I wouldn't recommend it without pairing it with magic or melee though since it lacks a punch up close when you really need to take someone down, or when facing large groups.

 

Hardiness I only get enough of to not have an armor penalty, defense gets a few points when I have spare I want to spend, but I don't really see too much benefit from having a lot of it.

 

Assassination is a must for melee fighters, I try to have enough to assassinate on a majority of hits. That gets easier as you gain more levels so I usually invest into it early on, then leave it be later.

 

Mage/Priest... get these to 18 on a caster. For a fighter I like to have at least 1 in each, up to 3 mage for priest spells, and either up to 6 or 8 (or is it 9?) priest at the most to get mass heal/cure or unshackle mind. Those spells can be very useful to have a second caster for if you only have one priest.

 

Arcane lore is only really needed to learn spells, spread it out around the party with spare points is usually enough. Potion making, it's useful if you use potions or for knowledge potions, get enough to make them if so, or just skip it, I've never had a problem not getting any points in it.

 

Cave lore is the same as arcane lore, get enough to find caches, spread out among party members when it's cheap. Tool use only gets points when I encounter a trap/door I can't disarm/open, only one person gets it.

 

First aid is useless.

 

Luck is an interesting skill, tons of luck will make you hit for closer to max damage, take closer to min damage, and prevent you from dieing. A character with super high luck is nearly invincible. However it needs to be very high to see those effects which prohibits you from getting extra skills. Splurge on it if you get lots of knowledge brews, but don't skip over other needed skills to get it. I also try to have at least 1 point of it with every character early on.

 

As for special skills:

Magery/Resistance cannot be trained in, so don't worry too much about it, try to give each primary caster 5 points of magery (bought from Erika I think?) any more you can get is gravy.

 

Anatomy/Blademaster, these are expensive skills but worth it until you hit the damage cap. Try to find trainers to get 5 points in each for fighers, and spend more if you're still not at the damage cap. Anatomy does work with archery but not as effectively as it does for melee.

 

Gymnastics is amazing, get it, put points into it until things can't hit you and you always go first.

 

Pathfinder can get by with just trainers so you can walk everywhere without needing to cast safe travel, more of a convenience than anything else. Points are totaled across the party so there's no need to spend skill points on it.

 

Barter... I forgot what the magic number of points is across the party to get maximum selling/buying values, but get that number of points, I know I saw it somewhere online. I think you can get by with just training a few people in it, no need to spend skill points.

 

Edit: I forgot Vahnatai Lore! Like barter there is a magic number of points that you need, I think it's 10 or just a little more. Purchase only as much as you need.

 

If you can get find herbs, great if not, no big deal. Does exactly what it says, it's nice but not a game changer by any means.

 

I think that covers all the skills (I am working solely from memory here so if I missed one or two let me know and I'll post my opinion on them.

 

 

As for how you build your party, you can get through with almost any party you make, just adjust the difficulty if you have problems. I don't find too much need for a dedicated tank since you can't really force attacks onto a single character, he should probably be more of a melee damage dealer. I've found it's better to take more damage (which can be healed) and kill enemies than it is to sit there taking blows while you whittle them away. Plus, the more non-magic damage you have, the longer you can go without running out of mana and needing to stop and rest. I would also try for a few points into bow on the dedicated casters so they can do something without spending mana. I would also suggest that after you get 18 points into mage or priest for the respective characters, you start dumping points into the other one so that you have two mage/priests.

[Earth]

trainer gets barter upto 5 at least in A1.

[Jerakeen]

Yes, but the point is that you don't need that much. I think a total of something like 16 across the party maxes you out. Might be a bit less.

[Earth]

its cheap to train so ...........

[Tycho Maudd]

Maybe, but the whole point of the skill is to save/make gold, so wasting it training it higher than needed kinda defeats the purpose.

[Randomizer]

You have so much money in the First Avernum Trilogy that you keep bumping up against the money cap or piling up loot in town for when you can sell it. Now Second Avernum Trilogy, Geneforge series, and Avadon all have less money so you need to prioritize what you are going to do with it. Maybe this was a result of Blades of Avernum not selling well enough or Jeff just decided we had too much money to play with in the game.

[Earth]

I hit money cap few times in AEFTP due had best equipment already so I went and bought more potions.

 

no big money problems in 2nd trilogy or Avadons outside no money to buy item x when 1st time met merchant who has it on sale (and in Avadon 2 once couldn't afford to pay Nicodemus his "fee" for making item).

[Tycho Maudd]

Maybe this was a result of Blades of Avernum not selling well enough...

 

I think that's the most sadistic reason for the "lack" of money in the newer Avernums I've heard.