Randomizer

I'd rather use another sword that has better attack bonuses like Radiant Soulblade or Seeking Rapier. By the end game I boosted hardiness so I don't take much damage. That and a lot of invulnerability elixirs that were just piling up. In the end I was zapping everything with spells or bow since I was too far away for melee attacks. Demonslayer didn't seem as good as in the other games for damage even versus a demon.

I'd rather use another sword that has better attack bonuses like Radiant Soulblade or Seeking Rapier. By the end game I boosted hardiness so I don't take much damage. That and a lot of invulnerability elixirs that were just piling up. In the end I was zapping everything with spells or bow since I was too far away for melee attacks. Demonslayer didn't seem as good as in the other games for damage even versus a demon.

Singleton in Torment I finally finished at level 45 for my nephil pure spirit divine touched archer/fighter/mage/thief/priest. Missed level 46 by a few points. Dorikas and the Darkside Loyalists were a challenge, although for a fight versus party level it was still easier than Nodicuas. The last battle, I was two rounds away from winning and the screen froze. At least I only had to refight that battle. A bit easier than I thought it would be after the fights in Erika's Ruins. I'm taking a break from Avernum to load and run the Geneforge Trilogy before the next chapter is released.

Singleton in Torment I finally finished at level 45 for my nephil pure spirit divine touched archer/fighter/mage/thief/priest. Missed level 46 by a few points. Dorikas and the Darkside Loyalists were a challenge, although for a fight versus party level it was still easier than Nodicuas. The last battle, I was two rounds away from winning and the screen froze. At least I only had to refight that battle. A bit easier than I thought it would be after the fights in Erika's Ruins. I'm taking a break from Avernum to load and run the Geneforge Trilogy before the next chapter is released.

All it's really good for is to fulfill 2 quests. The Almaria one at least has a good reward. The gazer in the north part of the area has a better reward in the Gazer Sandals. Demonslayer wasn't any help versus the haakai since melee attacks slow the attacker.

All it's really good for is to fulfill 2 quests. The Almaria one at least has a good reward. The gazer in the north part of the area has a better reward in the Gazer Sandals. Demonslayer wasn't any help versus the haakai since melee attacks slow the attacker.

I glad to see Jeff's reply. The problem with lighting is the choice of color backrounds. If there is enough contrast between the colors we wouldn't have to increase the brightness to see in the lower black backround areas the black monsters.

As a singleton you have trouble when you have to fight both at once. Switching off to go after the unprotected one means that the demon mostly holds back and terrorizes you while the golem attacks. You can do it with more mindshield scrolls and invulnerability potions than I had available. I needed to have shades between me and the demon so he wastes his terror on them. But then the golem whacks two shades a round and I have trouble fighting both and creating allies.

As a singleton you have trouble when you have to fight both at once. Switching off to go after the unprotected one means that the demon mostly holds back and terrorizes you while the golem attacks. You can do it with more mindshield scrolls and invulnerability potions than I had available. I needed to have shades between me and the demon so he wastes his terror on them. But then the golem whacks two shades a round and I have trouble fighting both and creating allies.

The maps are in the NW area of Blosk in an upper level box and the quest (job board I think) and reward are in Dharmon.

With Farsight its easy to find secret passages, but if you map enough you could usually narrow it down to a blank area on the map. After a while I could usually guess where a secret door should be hidden. Besides it's fun to find hidden stuff.

For those who obsess, I decided to count the number of wisdom crystals and knowledge brews available in the game. Also the number that can be made by Strine from mandrake roots. You can buy 5 during the game: Grindstone - Jenn West Cotra - Potionary Store Tower Colony - Oliver Patrick's Tower - Julz Dharmon - Oliver There are 4 as rewards from quest: Castle - Ghall-Ihrno - comfort gives 2 wisdom crystals Blosk - Mayor - slaying enraged wrymkin gives knowledge brew Fort Remote - alchemist - ingredrient quests gives knowledge brew and other potions for 2 graymold, 1 mandrake, and eyestalks There are 24 and 1 knowledge elixir (4 points) for usually killing monsters that guard them: Nephil Lands- under checkpoint past fire lizards (need high nature lore to get it without a fight) Slime Tunnels - lower level Haunted Mines - lower level (need piercing crystal) Motrax's Cave - lower level Eastern Gallery - Swamplouse Mertis Spiral - upper level (need piercing crystal) Honeycomb - lower level behind dispel barrier spell barrier Camp Samuels - lower level after golem Great Cave - southeast corner after fighting Aranea Stoneseer Great Cave - lower level area with Abisythe behind icy crystalmists Great Cave - south wall after Dripfang and terror wolves Slith Lands - cultist area northwest part of the city Scree Caves - dragon's hoard Blosk - upper level enraged wrymkin Great Cave - east of Dharmon lower level in mine with crystal basilisk Western Wastes - third map section past Fort Remote beyond gazer guarded bridge and difficulty 40 door Basalt Tower - near gate Basalt Tower - lower level south west corner in crystal workers area Spire - northside with Kring and bandits Abyss - Test #6 reward Harston - lower level - with Cryos demon (need dispel barrier) Giant Warren - lower level treasure chamber Khoth's Ruins - lower level west side Knowledge Elixir (need dispel barrier) Dark Lands - center of map section near wrymkin Erika's Ruins - upper level lich There are 4 that are cached and require a nature lore somewhere between 4 and 12 to find: Great Cave - lower level area with Abisythe behind icy crystalmists Great Cave - below Patrick's Tower tunnels after fighting sparklingmists Patrick's Tower - lower level holding cell with gazer (need dispel barrier) Great Cave - lower level chitrach tunnels northwest of Castle Great Cave - beyond the mage guarding Daggerfall mine west of Dharmon There are 4 marked NY (not yours) that you can steal if you close the door: Almaria - lower level past golem Fissure Inn -upper level guest room Gnass - lower level guarded by hellhound Fort Remote - room Mandrake roots are the hardest to find ingredient of the five needed for knowledge brews. Nature lore 3 will get 16 and nature lore 12 will get 37. The mandrake and graymold in the Basalt Fortress is only accessible from caches after the terror wolves are released and not available later on in the game. Out of the mandrake obtained one is used for the Fort Remote quest as a good use to reward. I used in Bargha some to buy Answering Gloves and Magus Vest. There is one mandrake root south of Erika's Ruins so you will have to go back later to use it. To get nature lore 12 for a singleton: buy 2 levels in Fort Duvno from Walner, 1 level as quest reward in Fort Dranlon, and spend 26 skill points in training for 7 levels. With the Explorer's ring from Eye Krotus you have 12 levels. If you have nature lore 14 there is one more mandrake root northeast of the Tower Colony. If you have nature lore 15 there is a wisdom crystal in the Giant Lands cached in the passage north of the stairs leading to the giant intelligent friendly talking spiders. There is another mandrake root in the Sliths Lands southeast of the altar (need nature lore between 13-15). Another is Scree Caves going east from Fort Saffron's north gate. In the final part of the game, in the north part of the Dark Lands, the Giant's have a camp. There is one wisdom crystal in the center. Then cached are a wisdom crystal and a mandrake root. At this point they aren't much help. Then in the final keep's upper level, 2 more wisdom crystals and a mnadrake root for those that need a few more skill points.

For those who obsess, I decided to count the number of wisdom crystals and knowledge brews available in the game. Also the number that can be made by Strine from mandrake roots. You can buy 5 during the game: Grindstone - Jenn West Cotra - Potionary Store Tower Colony - Oliver Patrick's Tower - Julz Dharmon - Oliver There are 4 as rewards from quest: Castle - Ghall-Ihrno - comfort gives 2 wisdom crystals Blosk - Mayor - slaying enraged wrymkin gives knowledge brew Fort Remote - alchemist - ingredrient quests gives knowledge brew and other potions for 2 graymold, 1 mandrake, and eyestalks There are 24 and 1 knowledge elixir (4 points) for usually killing monsters that guard them: Nephil Lands- under checkpoint past fire lizards (need high nature lore to get it without a fight) Slime Tunnels - lower level Haunted Mines - lower level (need piercing crystal) Motrax's Cave - lower level Eastern Gallery - Swamplouse Mertis Spiral - upper level (need piercing crystal) Honeycomb - lower level behind dispel barrier spell barrier Camp Samuels - lower level after golem Great Cave - southeast corner after fighting Aranea Stoneseer Great Cave - lower level area with Abisythe behind icy crystalmists Great Cave - south wall after Dripfang and terror wolves Slith Lands - cultist area northwest part of the city Scree Caves - dragon's hoard Blosk - upper level enraged wrymkin Great Cave - east of Dharmon lower level in mine with crystal basilisk Western Wastes - third map section past Fort Remote beyond gazer guarded bridge and difficulty 40 door Basalt Tower - near gate Basalt Tower - lower level south west corner in crystal workers area Spire - northside with Kring and bandits Abyss - Test #6 reward Harston - lower level - with Cryos demon (need dispel barrier) Giant Warren - lower level treasure chamber Khoth's Ruins - lower level west side Knowledge Elixir (need dispel barrier) Dark Lands - center of map section near wrymkin Erika's Ruins - upper level lich There are 4 that are cached and require a nature lore somewhere between 4 and 12 to find: Great Cave - lower level area with Abisythe behind icy crystalmists Great Cave - below Patrick's Tower tunnels after fighting sparklingmists Patrick's Tower - lower level holding cell with gazer (need dispel barrier) Great Cave - lower level chitrach tunnels northwest of Castle Great Cave - beyond the mage guarding Daggerfall mine west of Dharmon There are 4 marked NY (not yours) that you can steal if you close the door: Almaria - lower level past golem Fissure Inn -upper level guest room Gnass - lower level guarded by hellhound Fort Remote - room Mandrake roots are the hardest to find ingredient of the five needed for knowledge brews. Nature lore 3 will get 16 and nature lore 12 will get 37. The mandrake and graymold in the Basalt Fortress is only accessible from caches after the terror wolves are released and not available later on in the game. Out of the mandrake obtained one is used for the Fort Remote quest as a good use to reward. I used in Bargha some to buy Answering Gloves and Magus Vest. There is one mandrake root south of Erika's Ruins so you will have to go back later to use it. To get nature lore 12 for a singleton: buy 2 levels in Fort Duvno from Walner, 1 level as quest reward in Fort Dranlon, and spend 26 skill points in training for 7 levels. With the Explorer's ring from Eye Krotus you have 12 levels. If you have nature lore 14 there is one more mandrake root northeast of the Tower Colony. If you have nature lore 15 there is a wisdom crystal in the Giant Lands cached in the passage north of the stairs leading to the giant intelligent friendly talking spiders. There is another mandrake root in the Sliths Lands southeast of the altar (need nature lore between 13-15). Another is Scree Caves going east from Fort Saffron's north gate. In the final part of the game, in the north part of the Dark Lands, the Giant's have a camp. There is one wisdom crystal in the center. Then cached are a wisdom crystal and a mandrake root. At this point they aren't much help. Then in the final keep's upper level, 2 more wisdom crystals and a mnadrake root for those that need a few more skill points.

Natural Mage and Pure Spirit boost the damage of their respective spell types, mage and priest. They also give free levels starting at 2 in the beginning. Natural Mage also seems to make spells like Terror more effective. The AI has monsters go after the last character that hit them. So spellcasters get attacked even in the rear. Since the game doesn't punish high experience penalties like the earlier ones it helps to give Divine Touched to everyone.

The plot was the weakest point. The main villlian wasn't that good and the second one wasn't used that well. Maybe the Darkside Loyalist plot will come back in a better form someday. The "new" monsters from Geneforge were used because they were available to insert quickly into the game. Someday the graphics will ready to bring back all the great monsters of the old Avernum games. The combat engine is better so there is no longer the delay command. We finally have the true area effect spells from the Exile games, but I would have like a targeted multiple target spell like the Exile Flame Arrows. Also now that you could use spells to hit invisible creatures there are no black shades and guardians. It's not like Jeff needed a graphic for those monsters. The game is still fun with limitations. Money is tight, you can only get 2 levels of training, items are not available in quantity, etc. but you can work around them.

You will have to go back later to get through the difficulty 8 door to the undead. Start with what you can reach from the surface and use the skill points from going up a level for a spellcaster with mage spells. I started out with no tool use and found that you still can do enough, but it helps to have initially at least tool use 5. You don't need more than 8 to finish the demo.

After you finish the Slime quest you can get Farsight spell to help map out secret passages. At least you narrow down where to look.

The family's got a little quest that gets you an armor ring. I think they also give you some money for helping out the son at Fort Monastary.

Never found a use or quest for marsh worm fangs. Of course I never got any either.

Destroy all the pylons in the Western Wastes on the way to Rentar's fortress. The jewels left behind are worth about 3000 in money. Also it's a bother but gather up all the equipment left behind by the Avernite soldiers. There are other places like the refugee camp south of the Castle that have minor items that you can grab for money. It's time consuming, but over the course of the game it adds up to real money.

Reputation existed in the earlier games, Avernum 1-3, where having a high reputation got you things. That no longer exists. There are some actions that can help or hurt you in conversations. Stealing a NY (not yours) item in sight of an NPC can cause them to turn hostile is the easiest example. In Bargha, Gladwell asks you to feed his slimes and if you kill them he will not help you anymore (If you kill one it doesn't matter). Fulfilling that request gets you free access to a spellbook behind a barrier.

I don't know if there is a fix except by reseting the flag that you ended the undead. If you've killed off the ones in the center that ends the cauldron born. The quest only gives you experience and a disruption wand so you don't miss much. If it means that much you can always start over unless someone knows the command to reset the appropriate flag in the game. The main quest to end the problem has Aaron giving you his blessing so fighters get blademaster increased by 1 and spellcasters get magery increased by 1.

I think I read that someone got into the rooms above X in the Tower Colony. Solberg is in Patrick's Tower. There was nothing in them and they did not connect to the area with the notebook behind the gate.

I never had that much trouble finding them. They shouldn't have gotten killed because the Cauldron Bones don't come into Mertis.

I always hated Call Beast, because the choices were so bad at low levels. At least with Summon Aid you got multiple monsters to distract your enemy. Doomguards were just boring hack and slash. Spells didn't do much so it was just haste, bless, and fight. In A2 you also had to make sure they didn't swarm the spellcasters. But it was just a half hour I'll never get back. In Exile they were so pitiful in attacking that even my spellcasters could kill them and almost never take damage.