Bunch of questions on special skills and stuff.

[Zhukov]

New member here. Greetings to all and sundry.

 

I'm restarting my party from scratch and there's a few things I wanted to know first.

So, my questions:

 

- Does anyone know exactly what bonuses Slith and Nephil characters get with pole and missile weapons respectively?

 

- If you disregard the fact that it can lead to further special skills, is the 'blademaster' skill a worthwhile investment? Or to put it another way, is one level of blademaster better then one level in pole and melee weapons?

 

- Similarly, is one level of 'sharpshooter' skill better then one level of bows and thrown missiles? The description suggests it is.

 

- Does 'anatomy' increase damage done with missile weapons? The prerequisites (intelligence and melee/pole) suggest that it does not. However, in the real world knowing exactly where an opponent keeps his organs would help you place your arrows to better effect. The skill description isn't quite clear. Anyone know?

 

- Does 'pathfinder' skill only help the character who has it? Or is it pooled among the whole party like nature lore?

 

- Is 'lethal blow' worth the skill points? The description says, "When attacking a foe much weaker than you with a melee weapon, this skill gives you a small chance of killing it outright." I mean, if the target is "much weaker" won't my character be able to kill it easily anyway?

 

- Apart from giving the 'berserk' ability, what exactly does the 'elite warrior' trait do? Is it of any advantage to a character that primarily uses missile weapons?

 

- There are some items in the game that have things along the lines of "+3 to levels of melee damage." What exactly does this mean?

 

I am aware that some (all?) of these points been discussed before, however I was unable to find answers for my exact questions. Please refrain from biting the new guy.

 

Cheers.

[Lilith]

1) Not sure about this one, but I don't think it's a large bonus.

 

2) One level of Blademaster skill is equivalent to one level of Melee Weapons or Pole Weapons skill.

 

3) Same with Sharpshooter.

 

4) Anatomy only affects melee attacks.

 

5) Pathfinder skill helps the whole party.

 

6) Lethal Blow's description is a lie: all it does is give your attacks of doing triple damage to an enemy of lower level than yourself. The skill requirements are so onerous that it's not really worth it, even for high-level parties.

 

7) It gives a bonus to hit and damage that's apparently equivalent to about one point of Blademaster every 8 levels. It doesn't improve missile attacks.

 

8) It increases the number of dice rolled to determine damage. Basically, think of it as three levels of Blademaster, only without the bonus to hit (which doesn't really matter, since it's so easy to get your hit rate to 95%).

[Zummi]

95% is the max..right? *sob*

[Nioca]

For Nephils and Sliths: The bonus they get starts out mildly insignificant, but scales with the character's level. It's possible to achieve freakish amounts of Dexterity for a Nephil without ever dropping a point on it. On a side note, I'm not sure if the Slith fire resistance bonus scales or not.

[Enraged Slith]

Doesn't blademaster add damage even to weapons that base their damage on skills other than melee and pole skill?

 

How much does Strong Back reduce encumberance?

[Celtic Minstrel]

I thought it just increased weight allowance.

[Nioca]

It reduces encumbrance, but I don't know by how much. I think that I read somewhere that it reduced it by 3 points, but I'm not sure whether this is accurate or even if I'm remembering it correctly.

[Zhukov]

Thanks for the answers folks.