keturn

"Eschalon"! That's the game I was trying to remember the name of this afternoon. And yes, that's the game where it doesn't take all that long to buy enough "hide in darkness" skill so that in a dungeon or outside at night, nothing can find you unless you walk up to it and poke it in the face. Which means you're pretty much invulnerable as you sit in the shadows and hit things with projectiles. So, uh, yeah, perhaps not the best model either.

Ok, so any schmuck who studies with a mage for any length of time at all can summon fire, send it as far an archer can shoot a longbow, and roast vermin. Priests can cast spells that last through many hours of dungeon crawling. But nobody in my party can make a magical light source or see in the dark? ... even though they're traveling among wizards who have spent generations *underground*? You'd think that one of them would have been tired enough of having candles blow out on them (or stolen from their nightstand by wandering adventurers) that they would have found a spell for this. But I'm not done with the game yet, so maybe it's some 17th level spell or a secret of the Anama. Or, this is my first Avernum game, so maybe there's something I missed... (Just because I'm grumbling about this doesn't mean I'm enjoying the game any less. On the contrary, I think it's pretty great. Thanks!) On a slightly more useful note, what does having a light source do? I've been assuming that fighting in the dark lowers your chance to hit, but I'm not really sure about that, or if your enemies are as bad at seeing in the dark as you are. Can you sneak around more without a light? Not that I've ever had much success sneaking anywhere in this game.

Equipping a stack of twenty-six javelins is a great way to add a lot of weight. How can I split the stack so he's not trying to equip all of it at once? Same goes for splitting stacks of potions to redistribute among party members, etc.

The help file says that wearing too much armor hampers spell casting. What is the limit? Is it just whether or not you have hit the encumbrance weight? Also, is there anywhere in the UI that totals the to-hit penalty for what your character is currently wearing? Or what their base to-hit value is given their current skills and weapon? I'm having a hard time deciding whether those plate vambraces are worth it or not. On a related note, are to-hit penalties relevant to spellcasters, or does magic not use it?