Schrodinger

Strong daze and terror both work well with test 4. If the monsters are scared/dazed, then they won't respawn.

Move mountains doesn't exist. The tower colony for the second.

Quote: Originally written by Dunbar42: One other question, about lore. It says in game that you characters will share the lore skill, so you don't need to focus on one character. I've seen it mentioned on the boards that you need 15 magic lore or 25 nature lore for various things...is that 25 nature lore total? So my characters have 6, 6, 6, and 7 nature lore? 25 nature lore total for the party is indeed all you need. Don't forget that you will find at least one item that adds 2-3 points, so factor that into your plan. However, 25 nature lore is only necessary for one specific item. If you don't want one of the most powerful bows in the game, you can save 3 points (for a set of gauntlets that require 22 nature lore), or 6 points (for most everything else, which has a max of 19 required nature lore). Up to you.

The stunning blade has a chance to stun enemies in addition to the damage it does. With a suitably strong warrior, you can probably keep a single opponent paralyzed with its stunning power. It's not really that much better than other weapons, though.

I'd recommend taking the path described here as that should get you through without much hassle. Opal pylons fall to fire, ruby fall to ice, and jade fall to lightning.

The base damage of a blessed shortsword is 10-20, and shortswords do 1-2 damage per level of net skill you possess. Your net skill level equals your strength, melee weapons skill, and blademaster, give or take a bit for some other game mechanics. The steel broadsword does 9-27 damage as a base, and 1-3 damage per net skill level. For a skilled fighter, the steel broadsword will always do more damage. For an unskilled fighter, the blessed shortsword will do more damage. You can determine the damage multiplier by taking the max damage and dividing it by the minimum damage, e.g.: Blessed shortsword (10-20): 20/10 = 2 Steel broadsword (9-27): 27/9 = 3 Iron halberd (8-32): 32/8 = 4 So, the damage output is largest for halberd (1-4 per skill level). The cost per item seems to be based more on base damage level than anything else. Who knows why, but that's how it is. I guess since your weapon is going to be sold to some peasant, the maximum value is given to unskilled, high-damaging weapons?

If you need to know where the tests are located, go to the FAQ on the top of this subset of boards, and go to (JL), (BT), (E9), (GT),(GK), and (A4). These are the locations of the tests that can be done, in that order. Oops. Added (GT).

Just play the game. You'll get there eventually. Beat the big enemy one time first.

Honestly, it's very difficult to mess up your characters. A general plan to follow is to improve your stats (weapon for fighters, spells for magic users) until they become too expensive, then switch over. No stat is useless in this game, fortunately. Also, don't worry about the racial penalties. At the end of the game, a human will usually have a final level about 35, and a slith a final level about 32. The 15 skill point difference is more than made up for by the racial bonuses. Tanks (melee fighters): Melee fighters should start with 5-6 strength, 4-5 dexterity, and 4-5 endurance. Maybe increase each stat once by level 10. Endurance can mostly be ignored at the beginning as the return per point is low at low level. Having one sword user and one pole weapon user is a good idea, as there are some very powerful pole weapons after the demo. Give a melee fighter 3-4 points in the beginning of the game of either melee weapons or pole weapons (both skills increase damage and to hit% of the respective weapon class- there are more swords available and you can use a shield with a sword, but pole weapons are stronger). Have this at about 6 by level 10. Stick with that skill until about 15, when you may want to start boosting the other skill so as to access blademaster. Boost quick action to 2-4 by level 10 as well (quick action increases your attack order so you attack before enemies, and gives you a small chance to swing twice on a hit, doing double damage). Don't worry about bows for melee fighters, they'll be able to hit often enough without increasing the skill for a good portion of the game. Give you tanks 2 points in arcane lore, and that will be all you need till the Fort Avernum region, where you may want to increase it to 3-4 points. Arcane lore allows you to read spell books. Never give a non-magic user tank any points in mage spells/priest spells/spellcraft unless you have a specific plan in mind (i.e., if you like blessing spells, give one or two points in priest spells, but otherwise, don't bother). Defense (decreases chance of being hit by ~3%) and hardiness (decreases damage done when hit by a few points) are both helpful, cheap skills, that increase your survivability. Increase defense to about 2 points, and have this up to 4 by level 10. Add two points to first aid and nature lore for your tanks. One point in luck for everyone doesn't hurt, either, though the bonuses for this skill aren't that much. Mage: Start with a tool use of 7-8, and add one point to intelligence and maybe strength. Put the rest into mage spells, and use the remainder on nature lore. Aim for 12-14 points in tool use by level 10, and maybe one more point in intelligence and dump the rest into mage spells. Don't add any points to spellcraft- you can find trainers who will increase this skill for $$ instead of skill points. Priest: Similar to mage, but increase priest spells instead. Like mage, don't add points to spellcraft. Your priest will grow in spell strength a lot faster than the mage since priest spells are cheaper and you don't have to worry about tool use. I would add points to bows for the priest (2, 4 or so by level 10), as they can be a bit fragile and have no real damaging way of taking out enemies. Sure, they have smite, but that's an expensive spell. Also, add points to arcane/nature lore, and first aid for the priest. Ah! Beaten to it by Thuryl. He's got an excellent summary, so use that.

Honestly, it's very difficult to mess up your characters. A general plan to follow is to improve your stats (weapon for fighters, spells for magic users) until they become too expensive, then switch over. No stat is useless in this game, fortunately. Also, don't worry about the racial penalties. At the end of the game, a human will usually have a final level about 35, and a slith a final level about 32. The 15 skill point difference is more than made up for by the racial bonuses. Tanks (melee fighters): Melee fighters should start with 5-6 strength, 4-5 dexterity, and 4-5 endurance. Maybe increase each stat once by level 10. Endurance can mostly be ignored at the beginning as the return per point is low at low level. Having one sword user and one pole weapon user is a good idea, as there are some very powerful pole weapons after the demo. Give a melee fighter 3-4 points in the beginning of the game of either melee weapons or pole weapons (both skills increase damage and to hit% of the respective weapon class- there are more swords available and you can use a shield with a sword, but pole weapons are stronger). Have this at about 6 by level 10. Stick with that skill until about 15, when you may want to start boosting the other skill so as to access blademaster. Boost quick action to 2-4 by level 10 as well (quick action increases your attack order so you attack before enemies, and gives you a small chance to swing twice on a hit, doing double damage). Don't worry about bows for melee fighters, they'll be able to hit often enough without increasing the skill for a good portion of the game. Give you tanks 2 points in arcane lore, and that will be all you need till the Fort Avernum region, where you may want to increase it to 3-4 points. Arcane lore allows you to read spell books. Never give a non-magic user tank any points in mage spells/priest spells/spellcraft unless you have a specific plan in mind (i.e., if you like blessing spells, give one or two points in priest spells, but otherwise, don't bother). Defense (decreases chance of being hit by ~3%) and hardiness (decreases damage done when hit by a few points) are both helpful, cheap skills, that increase your survivability. Increase defense to about 2 points, and have this up to 4 by level 10. Add two points to first aid and nature lore for your tanks. One point in luck for everyone doesn't hurt, either, though the bonuses for this skill aren't that much. Mage: Start with a tool use of 7-8, and add one point to intelligence and maybe strength. Put the rest into mage spells, and use the remainder on nature lore. Aim for 12-14 points in tool use by level 10, and maybe one more point in intelligence and dump the rest into mage spells. Don't add any points to spellcraft- you can find trainers who will increase this skill for $$ instead of skill points. Priest: Similar to mage, but increase priest spells instead. Like mage, don't add points to spellcraft. Your priest will grow in spell strength a lot faster than the mage since priest spells are cheaper and you don't have to worry about tool use. I would add points to bows for the priest (2, 4 or so by level 10), as they can be a bit fragile and have no real damaging way of taking out enemies. Sure, they have smite, but that's an expensive spell. Also, add points to arcane/nature lore, and first aid for the priest. Ah! Beaten to it by Thuryl. He's got an excellent summary, so use that.

I had a party consisting of the following: Nephil archer/tank: Pump dexterity, strength to carry things, lores, and give deadeye trait. Human melee fighter: Mainly pump melee weapons, though add a few points to pole weapons so as to get blademaster, pump strength and dexterity, give elite warrior trait. Human mage/thief: Get to level 8 in mage spells, then get tool use to level 15. Afterwards, pump mage spells to ~17. Start with natural mage trait. Slith priest/pole weapons: Pump priest spells mostly (once you have 17, then pump intelligence to about 8-10, then start adding points to spellcraft/magery/fighting skills), but you'll soon realize that even without many points in pole weapons, sliths are really capable of destroying enemies without much investment in that skill. Take the pure spirit trait as well. This party did very well. You actually end up with three tanks, as the archer and priest are both pretty good and dealing damage and with the nice priest spells, can take a fair bit as well. The mage was the weakest, naturally, but was also capable of doing the most damage consistently. I would not add points to bows for any character other than your archer until you reach a trainer who will increase your skill for cheap. I typically give the tanks the lore skills (arcane lore, nature lore, first aid), as they typically have the most free skill points. Both the priest and mage need their skill ponits early on to build magic skills.

I had a party consisting of the following: Nephil archer/tank: Pump dexterity, strength to carry things, lores, and give deadeye trait. Human melee fighter: Mainly pump melee weapons, though add a few points to pole weapons so as to get blademaster, pump strength and dexterity, give elite warrior trait. Human mage/thief: Get to level 8 in mage spells, then get tool use to level 15. Afterwards, pump mage spells to ~17. Start with natural mage trait. Slith priest/pole weapons: Pump priest spells mostly (once you have 17, then pump intelligence to about 8-10, then start adding points to spellcraft/magery/fighting skills), but you'll soon realize that even without many points in pole weapons, sliths are really capable of destroying enemies without much investment in that skill. Take the pure spirit trait as well. This party did very well. You actually end up with three tanks, as the archer and priest are both pretty good and dealing damage and with the nice priest spells, can take a fair bit as well. The mage was the weakest, naturally, but was also capable of doing the most damage consistently. I would not add points to bows for any character other than your archer until you reach a trainer who will increase your skill for cheap. I typically give the tanks the lore skills (arcane lore, nature lore, first aid), as they typically have the most free skill points. Both the priest and mage need their skill ponits early on to build magic skills.

Quote: Originally written by Thuryl: A relatively unambiguous measure of how many points you've put into a stat (not counting item and trait bonuses) is how many skill points it costs to raise that stat by another point. Perhaps it'd be best to rephrase the special skill requirements in terms of how much each prerequisite costs by the time you've raised them enough to get the corresponding special skill. That is indeed what I did in the FAQ/walkthrough.

Quote: Originally written by Thuryl: A relatively unambiguous measure of how many points you've put into a stat (not counting item and trait bonuses) is how many skill points it costs to raise that stat by another point. Perhaps it'd be best to rephrase the special skill requirements in terms of how much each prerequisite costs by the time you've raised them enough to get the corresponding special skill. That is indeed what I did in the FAQ/walkthrough.

Corin is just interested in finding them, not whether they are dead or not. You can brag a bit more if you kill them, though she doesn't believe you.

Quote: Originally written by Shine123: Only if you're naked. As I understand it, items that add into or mage/priest don't seem to count toward this. Nor do trait bonuses, like the ones from natural mage.

Quote: Originally written by Shine123: Only if you're naked. As I understand it, items that add into or mage/priest don't seem to count toward this. Nor do trait bonuses, like the ones from natural mage.

Sadly, no.

Just checked- both disarming things and unlocking things gives experience.

Quote: Originally written by Epicaricacy: You get experience for disarming traps, I believe, but not for picking locks. I think it might actually be the reverse. I've leveled up after opening a door, but never after disarming a trap. Unusual.

You might overcome this bug if you reinstall and move your savegame over, as it's probably just a corrupted file. You haven't played around any with the scripts, right? Otherwise that may be part of the problem.

Sounds like a script problem. I just beat the game, and the end sequence went into effect as soon right after I hit the pylon. Unusual. Maybe you're missing a file?

This has plagued us laptop users since A1. I actually went out and purchased a portable number pad in part to improve my Avernum playing experience. They're fairly cheap now, and if you use your laptop for any sort of data entry, very helpful for those reasons as well.

1. Yes. Check the SW. 2. Check the tombs again. 3. Fort Emerald won't teach you, but you can go to the tower colony and still learn the spell.

Ah- indeed there are. I believe those two points don't cause an increase in the skill point cost either. My calcs were done near the end game. Oh well.