Soul of Wit

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I keep seeing posts suggesting that energetic herbs are rare (relative to the other herbs.) My experience is that both mandrake and greymold are rarer.

I suppose that someone who is constantly making energy potions/elixirs might jump to this conclusion.

I just played the Secret Cow Level in Diablo II.

Moo-Ma-Moo, Ma-Moo-Moo-Moo

Humor (Humour for our Brit, Canuck and Aussie friends) on the Internets

And, yes, I know that it's pronounced "ozzie". Don't quiz me on the pronunciation of major Australian cities, though.

I still say that Webster got it right with the whole -or thing. After all, you Brits don't say emperour or horrour, do you? You'll come around... Uh oh, I can see the anchour in your eyes.

I'll "bump" this to agree with Thuryl. I can make a strong argument that the "exploration penalty" argued in this thread--actually increases replay value. I don't want to find every single sidequest the first time through. If I do then I expect to be obsessive about it and/or to make a lot of saves. To work for it.

Any good RPG combines realism and fantasy. Without some significant elements of realism, the game trends towards an abstract exercise--no different than a pure strategy game.

Please don't even suggest laziness. A5 is shareware--not commercial--but it involves considerable effort to release and to maintain after release. Throw in Mac and Win support and you have quite a challenge. You don't have to be a coder/scripter to figure that out.

I support the idea of running a potential bug up the flagpole to see if other posters salute. The key word there is "potential". One man's bug is another man's intentional feature is another man's unintentional (but, hey, I like it) feature. Feel you have a legitimate bug? Again, another poster repeats: spidweb@spiderwebsoftware.com

Edit: read "bump" as "mild rant"

Gelmax tips:

1. use Daze spells to lower the number of active bats

2. the Mass spells (Curing and Heal) are available at this point

3. Gelmax himself deals out damage when attacked (thus, your own battle disciplines may kill you!)

Taliesin just gave you the location of the fake Dellinger. The real one is sitting around one of the many fires in Exodus.

Before it. Look for an E/W channel, lined with rocks.

Explore the shore NW of Shanker's isle. You'll find a dungeon with surly Nephs.

The crocolisk mission is given out by the potion peddler north of New Harston.

At this point in the game, you should be able to deal well more than 30 damage for most characters. Are you selling all of the better weapons? If not, have you invested skill points in combat skills? Quick Action can give bonus second hits, too. Use battle disciplines for extra punch! I seem to remember the Slow spell working, but maybe not.

Be sure you are hitting the same guard until he dies. I seem to remember them "jumping around" upon each split. Only hit in a round when everyone can pile on. If your priest needs to heal in a round then skip offense in that round. Also, figure out which spells do the most damage (it sometimes is not intuitive.) Last, no area of effect spells.

Careful. Several weapons drip acid. It's easy to overlook.

Hey, we're not talking about cutting-edge graphics. Two words of advice:

USED MAC

(or, save up for that dream dual-boot Mac and play Avernum 6 in two OSes)

And don't end combat while "under the influence". Lightning will kill you in very few moves.

D'oh!

You've answered your own question. The worms in question require you to be on the "other side".

Correct. The corruption is no longer caused, but you still have to get rid of it. In my case, it never went away on its own.

Working fine on the Intel iMac iron. To clear your dock corruption (without a reboot) fire up Terminal and type:

killall Dock

(case is important)

Pump up the Leadership.

Talk to a relative of the family in Ft. Monastery to get the first quest.

Late in the game, a gold chain and a platinum ring are each key items in a crafting recipe. Also, Mandrake is the rarest of the herbs. Never waste it. In general, it's a great idea to do a save just before saying yes to having an item crafted for you.

My favorite A4 reference is Gervais, named for the co-creator/star of the original Brit version of The Office. Hmm, I guess that should be "favoUrite".

[Edit] A literary reference, I guess, only in the sense that Gervais is a "writer".

The door opens in a hallway on the other side of the wall that you're near. Go clockwise from where the lever is to get to the newly opened door.

For getting things: G, and then choose 1-4 (party members in order) and then the items are listed A-?. No clicking needed unless the things are in a chest or whatever.

Put Tool Use and Mage Spells on one character. The mage gets the Unlock Doors spell later and that spell is boosted by Tool Use. I found that giving most of my Wisdom Crystals/Knowledge Brews to this character kept things pretty even until late in the game.

Don't spread Tool Use amongst the party. Some skills can be spread across the party. Nature Lore needs increase for the party as a whole as you get further into the game. The same is true for Arcane Lore. I eventually needed a total Nature Lore of 23 to dig up the cache just outside of Rentar's Keep.

The game is balanced in favor of bow use. I gave my spellcasters bow skills in the early-to-mid-game so that they could keep their distance and stretch their spell points, while assisting the fighters. Eventually, the entire party was slinging arrows.

The general consensus is that Nephils are the preferred race, due to their advantages with Bows and Gymnastics. I ran a party of four nephs and made them four different colors to tell them apart.

A basic party is a melee fighter, a pole fighter, a mage and a priest. Mages need to up their mage skills faster than the priests need to up their priest skills.

Strength is great for fighters but also lets you carry more. Don't forget Endurance. This is your "hit points" and will need to be fairly high as early as the Formello area.

MILD SPOILERS: Parry is one of the easiest "hidden" skills to achieve. It's great for your fighters. Boost Dexterity and Defense equally until you see Parry as a trainable skill.

There are trainers who sell skills for cash (no experience needed, you might say.) So, stealing and killing (and selling that booty) do pay.

This quest is in the Silvar section of the hint book. It reads "Vorhees is still in Mertis, not far to the south." It's explaining where Mertis is, in relation to Silvar. This is, of course, redundant (and misleading) information. Both the in-game map and the hint book can help you find Mertis.

I entered Formello (with "permission") from the West. There was no "greeting" related to the restricted access. When I reached the other entrance on the far side of town, the greeting was given as if I had just gotten to town for the first time.