Death and Drek

Has anyone ever noticed the hit penalties from armor actually making a difference for a melee/pole fighter? I'm partway through the Great Cave in my game of AV4 (average party level 20), and between Blessed Breastplates, Vambraces, Bracers, and/or Helmets both of my fighters are around -30% or so to hit. Yet they never miss. They are parried/riposted from time to time. So does this miss chance actually make a difference? Does your overall chance to hit affect your damage or an enemies chance to parry? I'm curious if there is a subtle effect for miss chance going on I wasn't catching...

I've been using the Ghostly Blade for a while, and when I hit enemies it says that they are "cursed". I'm assuming this is the Jinx ability mentioned in the item list and walkthrough. Does anyone know what effect the curse has on enemies?

I'm about half way through my first game of AV4, and I've yet to have any characters place points into thrown weapons. Considering bows have unlimited ammunition and weigh far less than a bundle of javelins, I went with bows. But now I've found some razordisks and fine lances, which seem capable of dishing out some serious ranged damage in the hands of a capable character. I'm wondering if I should have one character advance points in thrown weapons to use some of the neat throwing weapons I've found. Does anyone else use thrown weapons, or is it bows until the end of the game?

I'm about half way through my first game of AV4, and I've yet to have any characters place points into thrown weapons. Considering bows have unlimited ammunition and weigh far less than a bundle of javelins, I went with bows. But now I've found some razordisks and fine lances, which seem capable of dishing out some serious ranged damage in the hands of a capable character. I'm wondering if I should have one character advance points in thrown weapons to use some of the neat throwing weapons I've found. Does anyone else use thrown weapons, or is it bows until the end of the game?

Quote: Originally written by Croikle: Note that there's probably equipment that you can use to mildly increase your *Spells skills, so you won't need to train all the way to 17.[/QB] I believe the traits Natural Mage and Pure Spirit add "virtual" levels to their respective spells skill as you level.

SPOILER . . . . . . . Okay, I've been trying to figure out what I do with Giscard, the snobby rich guy near Formello. I finally broke down, peaked at the walkthroughs, and it turns I need to find a letter for him before I can complete his quests. Where the heck do I find this letter?

Is there any way in AV4 to get a better price for sold goods? I'm only at the Eastern Gallery, but so far every merchant who was willing to buy from me only gives about 25% of the actual value. Can I improve this, either by a quest or a location? There dont' seem to be any skills in the game that influence buying/selling...

So far I've been increasing Endurance, Defense, Dexterity and Parry - at least for my warrior types. It's been paying off since my warriors don't get hit in melee very often, and they've been able to parry some hits as well. My mage has yet to see a single point invested in ANY defensive stat, and needless to say melee is pretty much near instant death for him. What's really been chewing apart my party lately is energy attacks. So far I've been wiped about by fire breathing lizards, acid ooze creatures, and a ruby skeleton who hit me with a "rain of fire" which was an instant TPK (WTF is up with that!?!). So how should I deal with this? Hardiness increases the fire/energy/cold resistance, but if it doesn't do much then what's the alternative? All the protective Priest spells seem to make you harder to hit, but I haven't found anything to stop fire/energy/cold damage, other than a few magic items...

I'm wondering how other A4 players allocate points in the defensive stats for their characters. From my understanding Endurance, Hardiness, Defense, and Luck are the main defensive stats with Dexterity (makes you harder to hit) and Intelligence (helps resist mental attacks) being somewhat secondary defensive stats. Is it better to concentrate on one or two stats and pump them up or spread around your points evenly? What about Mages and Priests who aren't front line fighters - what stats should these type of characters concentrate on?

I'm well into the demo, my party is approaching 10th level, and I'm wondering if I should try and cross-train my fighters so they can reach the requirements for Blademaster. Now I realize Blademaster is an awesome skill, and both my warriors have virtual ranks in it from their traits - one is human, melee weapons, elite warrior & divinely touched the other is a slith pole weapons fighter with elite warrior. But I'm wondering it is worth it to train each in the weapon skill they don't use (currently at 0 ranks) so they can put points into Blademaster when they could continue to gain ranks from their traits and use the skill points in other areas. To get a weapon skill to the required level will cost several levels worth of points by itself, and I don't know if those points would be better spent on things like Parry, Luck, Endurance, Intelligence (to better resist mental attacks), or Hardiness? Comments and advice from the Avernum 4 veterans out there?

Quote: Originally written by Air: You can find a stunning blade in the demo on a body guarded by many turrets. Oliver in Formello sells a yew longbow which is better than a yew bow. Thanks!

I just started the Avernum 4 demo a few days ago, and I'm about 75% finished, cursing myself as I didn't register my copy earlier in the week since now I may finish the demo before Monday So here's my question: What is the best weapon to be found in the demo? Right now my Slith spearman has an iron spear, my melee fighter an iron broadsword, and my Nephil archer a Yew bow. I just finished the Fort Draco quests and now I'm headed on to Formello. Will I find anything better before I hit the end of the demo? Have I missed anything cool along the way? My mage has the magic dagger from the Goblin shrine, which is nice for him, but not really what I consider a "best" weapon (read "best" as does most damage!).