Mechalibur

My level 2 slow seems to occasionally curse enemies if it doesn't slow them (I think war curse if I remember correctly). Maybe that's not a level 2 perk, though. I think I bought 2 levels at once, so I have no experience with level 1.

 

Maybe it's in my head, but it seems to mostly happen with boss fights (Which is the only time I use it).

If an enemy is immune to a debuff, then the game gives them an alternate debuff. For example, if an enemy immune to daze if affected by a daze ability, they're poisoned instead.

If you test enough you'll see there's more variation than that. (Alternately, supply all relevant stats, traits, and equipment and let's check it.)

I did it 20 times against 5-6 enemies each time (so over 100 individual slowed enemies). All of them were 6-7 rounds, so if changing the spell level increases that, then it should be safe to say there's a duration increase. I think I'll use the editor to give one of my characters mage spells and see if changing levels of slow has any effect on the maximum rounds of slow from levels 1-3. I'll post my finding tomorrow.

Challenge: find a game where "haste" isn't overpowered

The duration is always within a certain boundary though (6-7 turns in my case). If that boundary changes after purchasing a new spell level, then it would be evidence of a duration increase.

Some great info here, thanks! Yeah, it looks like archers really fall off when playing completely optimized. Haven't done torment yet on Crystal Souls (been playing on hard), but I hope it's like AEftP where you don't need to be super optimized to win.

I think I more frequently don't have haste than have it (at least for my first runthrough of a game where I don't know when enemy fights start), so I get a decent amount of use out of gymnastics and sniper. Gymnastics also adds evasion, and Sniper adds War Curse/Weakness Curse/Slow/Poison (only the last one is bad), so they have some effects beyond the chance at an extra action.

I'm starting to think Adrenaline Rush and Haste need to be redesigned. Haste is so cheap to cast that if you're able to prepare before battles, you can easily start most fights with battle frenzy, and get 4 attacks per character (although gymnastics/mercuric equipment does give a chance at 5) on the first turn. AR also just makes about every other battle discipline go unused. The increase of the hit floor from 5% to 20% is also a bit painful for anyone specializing in dexterity.

The editor doesn't seem to be able to change spell levels, so I can't really do much testing, but I think it's likely one of the slow levels increases duration. The description says 3 rounds, but my mage was always getting 6-7 rounds of it, which my blessings equipment could not solely account for. Level 3 doesn't seem to have any stun added. I cast it around 20 times, with no stuns.

I usually position my melee fighters or tanks to the left, right, or behind enemies that use magic attacks. This makes them direct the cone at whoever is in melee range, causing them to aim it away from the back row. Also, a lot of the cones are fire attacks, which uses dex to avoid. Cold and acid are based on endurance, but most of those effects are area based, so the archers/mages shouldn't get hit by those.

The biggest threat to archers seems to be other archers, and even then, it usually requires 2 or 3 hits to kill them (4% chance of two 20% accuracy attacks hitting, < 1% of 3 hitting). My archer died the least out of my party, but that was partly due to aggressive positioning of my mage (he has to get fairly close to hit as many people as possible with the cones. Worth the risk if half the people die at the end of his turn )

Protection is still unlisted for level 3 (50% chance of Regeneration for 2 turns). Just to be specific, I would also recommend updating the description of ward of elements to magic, fire, and cold resist, instead of just magic.

Anyone have any idea about what changes for Slow/Return Life, if anything?

Awesome. Just keep in mind, I'm not arguing that archers are the best thing ever, just that they aren't "useless."

Sniper was really useful for me. Yeah, I have haste up frequently, but because of the 10 (+3 or so) points he had in sniper, his chance of getting the extra attack was 65% instead of haste's 33%. Definitely a noticeable difference. The status effects are also useful, even late game. War Curse and Weakness Curse are decent bonuses (War curse especially against heavy hitters like Sulfuras), Slow is usually great, and the only bad one really is poison, but even that's a slight increase in damage (the poison damage over time was around 10% of the base damage).

Edit: I also don't always have haste up. It has a relatively short duration, and sometimes my mage needs to start off with a damaging spell to kill off an enemy instead of casting a buff that will sometimes add DPS. You could make an argument for casting buff spells before every single fight, but that usually requires prior knowledge of the area, or using tactics that trivializes most encounters anyway (like reloading until your haste gives battle fury).

Hadiness is incredibly useful, yeah, but the great thing is archers, if positioned right, are rarely in danger. My archer had the least amount of defense overall, but died the least.

Okay, just got a bunch of wisdom crystals from Patrick's Tower and leveled my priest to 35 so he could get Divine Host. It's actually Spine Shield for 5 turns.

Cloak of Curses - Each level supposedly increases the chance of an attack giving a status effect

Daze 3 - Stun for one turn

Haste 3 - 30% chance of Battle Frenzy (2 rounds). Also as an aside, 20% bonus refers to how long it lasts, which isn't really clear to new players.

Slow 3 - No idea

Icy Rain 3 - Immobilize for 3 turns (40% chance)

Acid Splash 3 - Lightning for 3 turns

Cloak of Bolts - Each level increases the ranged damage bonus

Minor Summon 3 - Hasted for 5 rounds

Lightning Spray 3 - Weakness Curse for 3 rounds (40% chance)

Blink 3 - Daze nearby foes for 2 turns

Capture Soul - Each level increases which monsters you're able to capture

Simulacrum 3 - Shield Chant for 5 turns

Cloak of Blades - Each level increases melee damage further

Dispel Barrier 3 - You can dispel sparkling barriers (not the red ones, but the blue ones that sparkle)

Summon Aid 3 - Hasted for 7 turns

Howl of Terror 3 - Slow for 4 turns

Fireblast 3 - Add further 20% bonus

Arcane Summon 3 - Haste for 7 turns

Cloak of the Arcane - Each level increases the spell damage bonus

Arcane Blow 3 - Daze for 2 turns

Minor Heal 3 - Gives regenerate for 3 turns

Curing 3 - Cures 3 effects

Smite 3 - 30% chance of War Curse for 2 turns

Protection 3- 50% chance of regeneration for 2 turns

War Blessing 3 - 50% chance of spine shield for 2 turns

Call the Storm 3 - 40% chance of Weakness curse for 3 turns

Summon Shade 3 - Spine Shield for 5 turns

Ward of Thoughts - Each level increases mental resist bonus

Move mountains - Not stated, but some rocks require higher levels of this spell to be broken

Heal 3 - Regeneration for 3 turns

Mass Healing 3 - Regeneration for 2 turns (50% chance)

Mass Curing 3 - Cures 3 Effects

Ward of Steel - Each level further reduces physical and acid damage taken

Divine Fire 3 - Adds further 20% bonus

Domination 3 - Adds further 20% bonus (presumably to duration)

Ward of Elements - Each level further reduces magic/fire/cold damage taken

Return Life - Not stated, but I think each level increases the number of people revived (1, 2, or 3)

Divine Retribution 3 - Stun for 1 turn

Divine Restoration 3 - 15% bonus

Divine Host - Never got enough priest points for this. I'm assuming Spine shield for 7 turns.

I do kind of wish they got some new battle disciplines though. Like you know those empire archers that shoot out a cone of arrows? I wanna do that!

Just finished a playthrough on hard with a nephil archer. Because of the skill tree arrangement, archers can put a bunch of points in skills like Lethal Blow and Sniper, which adds a bunch to their damage. Unlike melee fighters they can also pick off high priority targets like cultists and hraithes. They don't need to invest much into endurance, and high dex helps the whole party go first in combat. They fall short compared to casters, but everyone does.

You get the bonus as long as it's equipped.

What were the hydras like in Avernum 2? Any abilities that made them unique?

Thanks for this. It took me an embarrassingly long time to locate the mage trainer in Fort Dranlon

Doomguard is immune to Capture Soul. Probably a good thing

How can you tell an enemy's level?

Anyway, the accuracy could be something like 50 +/- level difference(times some modifier). Increasing your level in capture soul might give a bonus to the chance, or might also just let you capture some enemies that otherwise wouldn't work.

On the teleportation list, click the upper rightish area. The mouse icon never turned into a hand for me, maybe it's different on Windows or something. Just click in that general area, and it should teleport you somewhere.

Difficulty-wise, this game seems more manageable early on compared to EftP on torment, bit the late game fights can get quite difficult. It might make dual wielding worth the extra wait.

The fiery sword is so powerful that it's probably worth mentioning twice. And yeah, if you don't have all the ingredients, the extra recipes won't show up for Townsend. I think you also have to specifically ask "Can you make any new items?" for them to show up.

Edit: Another thing I noticed: Erika opened up her locked scroll room before I killed Garzhad. I think the trigger is returning the Angierach Crystal Soul instead of killing Garzhad.

There is at least some random component. The chat box will say something along the lines of "Capture Soul Failed (75%)"

It doesn't seem to be based on normal accuracy formulas, so it's probably level based.

I keep a notebook handy. If there's a barrier, stone, outdoor rift, or wax seal that I can't get past, I write a note about it. Once I get the appropriate spell/item, I go back to all the locations I listed.

But yes, I agree that it would be nice to add custom markers to the map.

Oh, and if you have 15 TU (or 14 + gloves), you can get +1 hardiness to all characters in the Empire Archives.