Timesink

I'm going to give Gad the bag of sugar from Grah-Hoth. We'll see what that does for my reputation.

Interesting. I'm starting a replay trying to build a legit archer. I noticed before that Sniper lists damage at +4% compared to Melee at +3%. Combine that with a shortcut to Lethal blow and I wonder if an archer might do at high levels. Especially with all the great gear that was sale fodder in 1st run. I'm looking forward to it

I'd like to see a future version of Adrenaline Rush, or any turn where if you have a certain # of action points left you can still move. Say if you have 6+ AP remaining you can still move. Enemy slows still apply of course, but if I fire of an AR and wipe out all adjacent opponents I'd like to step one to the left to get a whack on the next guy. I mean when I think of AR I think of a bezerk axe wielding maniac leveling foes all over the field, or an archer leaping around firing shot after shot, then ducking for cover. Of course it would be particularly deadly for casters to lay down overlapping sheets of AOE

I'm going to see how many iron/meal I can collect in my second playthrough. I got pretty high the first time. Like 78 meal I turned in at once and sold them all! Might make the early game tough, but I think it will be much easier now that I know where to go when/etc. Anyone sneak in 2-3 steals early on? I mean batant right under their nose take a Steel Shield or iron crude broadsword, something that would be a significant upgrade at the time? I never did until I found out most friendly towns allow 4 steals. Might give that a try

I've read the forums pretty thoroughly and am at the end of a pretty epic first playthrough. I started on torment and was getting crushed, so I knocked it down to hard, and aside from the middle levels when I spent a long time wandering trying to find a place I could hack it it was pretty smooth sailing. On to the questions. "Hostile effect" = does this include all non-physical damage types and attacks? Mental/Magic/Fire/Poison/Acid/Cold? Or is it just things that a curing potion interact with? Haste rebuffs against slow, yes? But I noticed unshackle mind also cures slow? Mental = Stun, terror, daze, charm, and slow? Not sure about the last. For items that give bonuses to Blessing/Curse does that include Mage spells? Blessings = Protection/War chant obviously, but also haste? Curses= (priest? - domination?) Slow, Daze, Howl of terror (Spray acid?) Is acid Elemental? I also noticed things like Exploding Imps lightning penetrates invulnerable. Made Grah-Hoth more interesting. That's been the only place I've had to use invulnerablity, although I haven't done Hawthorne yet. ***Big question: Does intelligence affect To-Hit with mental attacks? Daze/Slow/Domination/Howl etc? Or is it just the Mobs resistance? -- Also does intelligence effect summoning at all? Or just base level of the spell modified by summoning focus (if present)? Do creature levels go up at all with L2-3 or just the buffs? I never found summoning useful except as a distraction/blocker. I found myself healing (or mass heal! my pets just to keep mobs busy. That was useful, but they were not dealing any damage. I think I severely underused Debuffs. Once I stated getting L2-3 Lightning, Arcane blow, etc I noticed how great a little slow or weakness curse could be, not to mention the snare of daze in outdoor encounters. My tactics were pretty much frantically trying to kill as many or the most dangerous creatures as quickly as possible. Dungeons were fun mostly exploring in combat mode. I ended up using ranger with +2 action point gear and gymnastics to scout as the extra points made ducking around corners and getting back much easier/flexible. In general I love the game. I started with an Archer/ranger, Paladin, Mage and Fighter. My ranger ended up picking up Mage 8 and Priest 8 and contributed a good bit of added AOE damage and was still hitting with a the bow at except against bosses (40-60% against equal level bosses). I'd like to do another playthrough with a ranger who sticks with the bow and becomes buff/debuff/healer plus wicked sniper. End party build: 1) Eric - Viking Dual-Wield Fighter - not a true tank more of a berzerker who took a ton of damage but dealt event more. With three healers to back him up he was fine, especially once he got Hardiness to 10+2. 2) Balan- I wanted a Paladin who could frontline and swing a mean sword while healing and blessing, but found the INT/STR/END to be too thin. He ended up in reserve much of the time, but came up front a bit to help finish fights or add backstab opportunities. 3) Marion- Started ranger with Bow, tool use, cave lore, first aid but after reading and playing quickly added Priest and ended up with mage as well. Ended up with 8 mage 8 Priest and was a lot of fun to play but definitely not min/maxed. She could lay on a mean sheet of Icy rain and Lightning while making strategic shots and with going first with guaranteed two actions started the party off with Haste and War Ceremony which was very nice. Made outdoors much easier. Gymnastics is fun. To randomly start some rounds with +4-5 action points keeps things interesting. Frenzy + AR + gymnastics + sniper + items = 5+ actions some rounds 4) Selene- Death dealing mage who picked up 8 Priest by the end for mass heal, although I probably could have stopped at 6 for unshackle. Using her as a healer was waste of an AOE attack. Most dangerous opponent on the field was always my own Bezerker on pixie dust. He could one hit kill either of the ladies and usually my Paladin as well. Of course he did have Venemous Blade and Flaming sword in hand at the time. Thanks to whoever (Lillith?) posted the quick acting Fighter acting before Mobs and slow acting priest acting after. That fixed almost every charm fight except found myself with a few where Gazers would slip in a charm up front. Ok, TLDR. Thanks for all the great info. I think I had a couple other questions, but this has gone on too long already

After I finish Hawthorne I'm planning an epic killing spree. I'm going to train everything I can buy and then lay waste to the underworld. Grah-Hoth ain't got nothin' on me!

I know this info exists elsehwhere, but I think it would be great to have it here for one stop shopping. Graymold at headwaters near Kyass. (x2) Healing herbs north of monastery (extreme north, center of map) x2 Spiritual herbs near Mertis (and Magi) x2 Energetic herbs just south of Homeycomb, north of wandering merchants. x2 Mandrake south of giant fortress x1 Not sure of the cave lore reqs.

Sounds like you've already rebalanced missiles quite a bit, but the elite archers in some of the late game empire/bandit battles have some very nice abilities which include cleaving arrows (not sure about that one), an a rapid shot/rain of arrows hitting 3+? or a chance of doing lower safe to every opponent? Dunno. The animation is pretty intimidating. Empire got a gattling bow.

Is the 45 bars of iron a misprint? I've been lugging around dozens of these things for months now, and while if I swing my pack hard enough they make a decent weapon, it does slow me down when running from drakes. I cashed in a handful in Silvar a long time ago. Am I missing something or is there some grand bargain in the end-game where Boutell melts down 40 bars for a hudraulic drill to tunnel back to the surface? Thanks

The book west of fort remote giving Remove Barrier L1 only also does not respect sage lore. Thanks for all the great info, registered to post this. Now I'm going to see if I can forage some sanity, as I seem to be fresh out.