Alorael at Large

With some notable exceptions like Commander Johnson, most Avernites seem to take at least a neutral view towards other races. I guess being the banished dregs of a society teaches you acceptance? —Alorael, who thinks you're looking at it backwards. If humans on Earth can't get along with each other, why would they get along with non-humans on Ermarian? If there's anything dependable about people, it's bigotry.

It's also possible, although pretty unlikely, that the Tinraya SDFs are tied to something else, or just written strangely, so that a value of 0 isn't helpful. —Alorael, who would like to know how Jeff got through programming the game if he can't keep his SDFs straight.

I'm pretty sure that he already said that he doesn't remember the A3 SDFs anymore. You're probably out of luck. —Alorael, who is a great advocate of the daily save file. Unless a few KB of space matter to you, never save over your old games!

You, on the other hand, revive topics nearly two months dead. I'll take the double posts, personally. —Alorael, who will kill this topic that never really needed to exist in the firstplace. 25% of the posts within it are meaningful.

I had an easier time with Avernum than with Exile. I also agree with Djur. Very few fights dragged on for a long time with the end in question. Some are very quick and hard, some are very long and hard at the beginning, but none leave you sweating all the way through. —Alorael, who had an even easier time with A3, at least at the beginning. The damage really didn't quite balance right. By the end, the cap made damage stop being ridiculous, but that's only for the very last battles of the game.

Nope, no relation to the smith. This fight really isn't supposed to be won reasonably, and the only thing it gives you is access to the easter egg (or EAS TER EGG, as the case may be). —Alorael, who also doubts you could miss the fight. Even a party strong enough to breeze through the Ziggurat would notice all the efreets.

It's called Glorious Shield or something of the sort. It also may be possible to keep it if you use the editor to leave Goagh-Nar without passing the entrance. —Alorael, who still doesn't consider that especially significant. Cheaters deserve to lose AP!

If you have potions of invulnerability, this is definitely the time to use them. —Alorael, who also would consider summoning creatures to act as cannon fodder. He didn't do it when he fought the efreets, but if you can get the critters in front of you, they'll help.

You can use the editor to set the flags in theory, but nobody knows what flags they are. Sorry. —Alorael, who invites you to kill golems instead of giants.

Divine Warrior is so good it's almost no fun. War Blessing makes a great cheap substitute. Beast Ceremony is great for the times you know that the evil, dangerous [insert person/demon/etc.] is just around that corner or behind the door. Haste 3 and Mass Healing are simply staples of the killing things business. Light is simply essential. Out of the damage spells, I get the most mileage out of Divine Fire, Lightning Spray, and Ice Lances. —Alorael, whose only real spell dislikes are Forcecage, Acid Spray, and the summoning spells.

It should work if you step only one the last rune on the right. I suggest reloading and trying again. If you can't or that doesn't help, you're in for some fun times using all the runes to try to get the brazies lit. For what it's worth, they all work in a certain pattern. —Alorael, who is positive that the last rune works. If it doesn't, you have a definite problem.

It's five times if you haven't gotten and activated Erika's amulets. If you have, Erika appears the first time you charge Rentar-Ihrno after setting all the beams. If she doesn't, you've missed a beam or two. If you don't have the amulets, you're in for some fun while charging the panel five times. —Alorael, who is willing to bet large sums of money that there is no bug in your copy of Avernum. Note that some lasers can't be activated in the order that you reach the switched because the beams will block your path.

Quote: Originally written by Genenum: What are the buildings with no doors in Bengaro, Aminro, and Storm Port? If I'm thinking of the same buildings as you, I think they're supposed to be large rocks, actually. It was easier to tell in Exile 3. There's one with something hidden inside it, but most of them are just rocks. Quote: Are they to do with the Thieves Guild? Nope. Quote: Why can't the Empire, Avernites, and Vahnatai just get along? Well. First the Empire banished the Avernites into a lightless, dangerous underworld. Then the Empire attacked the Avernites and kidnapped the revered, almost divine leaders of the vahnatai. There's bound to be some bad blood there. —Alorael, who was somewhat surprised while playing E3 to find that the Avernites are quite willing to save the Empire that banished and then invaded them.

I think the percentages shown are based on a stock, generic opponent. High enough melee skill means that you'll always hit an opponent with no increased ability to dodge, but by the end of the game you're fighting heavily armored and high level enemies. I imagine that willpower is similarly modified by the power of the creature using abilities or spells against you. —Alorael, who is also fairly certain that all employees of broadband providers are required to sign an agreement stating that they will do everything in their power to avoid helping customers at any time. It's the only logical explanation.

Chapters 2 and 3 of E2/A2 earn it bonus points. E1/A1 does the best job of providing a good introduction to Avernum. The actual plot is all but nonexistent, but it's great fun for exploring, massacring, and learning what's what in the underworld. —Alorael, who thinks that in some ways E3/A3 is better at imitating E1/A1's style than being a game with a plot. As Kel noted, its plot leaves much to be desired. The exploration aspect also suffers from the plethora of utterly generic and meaningless towns.

Well, yes... but, you see... there's absolutely nothing I can say to that. Chalk up one egregious failure to function for me! The Black Halberd is the best polearm to be found, period. For most of the game, however, I use the Radiant Slith Spear. There are a number of choices for best sword. My vote goes to the Mithril Blade, mainly because there's not much that beats +1 AP. The Thirsting Blade gives it a run for its money, but you can only get it at the very end of the game, and I've heard that it isn't as effective in versions of A3 later than 1.0.0. I've never had a pure archer character. I always load archery on one of my fighters. In any case, the clear choice for a projectile weapon is the Fury Crossbow. In fact, because it also gives +1 AP, it's good for any character, even one who never fires a bolt. As I said, I don't bother much with my casters' combat abilities. They mostly get the weapons that I've replaced for my fighters. That's probably the best you can do unless you find weapons that boost casting abilities. I give all my characters the heaviest armor I can find. The best is Pachtar's Plate, and there are any number of good but not quite as good substitutes. If your mage has the Natural Mage trait, you can treat it like any other character for armor. If not, there are a number of robes and shirts that don't encumber, but since I always use the trait I never pay much attention to them. —Alorael, who could add where to find all the lovely items he mentioned. Since this post is already long enough for now, he'll save it for later.

It's on the same list that has already been pointed out twice. Go here and scroll down! —Alorael, who hopes that third time will be the charm in this case. There are only so many times that a single link can be provided.

The best you can find, obviously. Knowing which Avernum you're playing would be helpful. —Alorael, who will point out that he never gives his mages/priests any skill with melee or pole weapons. Bows, yes, but if your casters are in combat, you're not doing something right.

For what it's worth, I'm almost positive that there are no magic barriers in the Grim Cavern that can't be dispelled. —Alorael, who can only remember one place with any so if you're thinking of another, it's possible.

Quote: Spiderweb says: You can turn off the character editor permanently. Should you have done this and want your character editor back, this is how to restore it (written backwards for extra secrecy): fI gnisu a hsotnicaM, worht yawa eht "munrevA 3 sferP" elif ni eht secnereferP redlof. fI gnisu swodniW, eteled eht "tad.3munrevA" elif ni eht 3 munrevA ataD redlof. Please note if you have registered the game, this might unregister it. If your game becomes unregistered, contact us for a new key by calling 206.789.4438 or emailing spidweb@spiderwebsoftware.com. There is no charge for this but please include the name you registered under, which game you need a new key for and your current registration code (located in the lower right hand corner of the title screen). —Alorael, who has actually avoided saying anything of his own in this entire post (if the attribution of the quote doesn't count).

The editor has all kind of nifty options even if you don't have the full version (which, by the way, now comes free with registered E1). —Alorael, who doesn't know any debug tricks.

Stay away from Delis now. It's not all that important anyway. —Alorael, who believes the editor will do the job too. It's probably not even worth the few clicks it takes to do it, though.

My advice is not to use unidentified equipment, potions, scrolls, and wands. It's not that expensive to pay for an identifier, and they're scattered conveniently. —Alorael, who only bothers with "unknown" gear when he knows what it is. If you find a halberd in the Remote Cavern, it's probably worth using (although there is a cursed fake...).

No, you can't overthrow Mayor Knight in A3. I don't know of any BoE/A scenarios that specifically involve that rebellion, either. —Alorael, who wouldn't mind ousting a good half of the Empire's assorted bureaucrats and other impediments to progress, preferably with excessive screaming and bloodshed.

Having a high reputation helps you out all over. I don't have a list of all the places, but I'm sure they apply somewhere in the Abyss, and certainly in Avernum. I'm not positive about the Empire Lands, though. Most of your time in there is just spent fighting, and fighting rarely requires reputation. A low reputation never has any benefit. You can steal anytime, although there aren't many grand heists to pull off. You can join Scimitar in A1 by doing the required quests and having the requisite reputation anytime, I think. No, you cannot work for the Empire. —Alorael, will add that you can only get to all of the Abyss in A1 and part of it in A2, that the Empire Lands exist only in A2, and that Avernum is just Avernum except in A3, where there is Upper Avernum and the rest of Avernum, which you can't reach.