SevenMass

I believe someone posted a modified script some time ago where all the tutorial dialogs where removed, but I don't remember where to find it... If you find it, and if you use it, remember to back-up the original.

As far as I know, Jeff said your starting position would be different than usual, not that you won't be adventurers. It could just mean you start on the surface. But I personally think he means you start out as a more mature adventurer, rather than a level one nobody that has to prove himself first, starting with lame fed-ex quests. In this article Jeff explains how he hates starting over again as a nobody, in every RPG out there. Therefor, starting as a mature adventurer makes more sense.

Quote: Originally written by Randomizer: Here's a different beginning. You start out as Anama missionaries sent by to convert that evil mage ridden land of Avernum. Do you keep the faith or turn to the dark side and learn magic? That would be an unacceptable start for me, I want to play a mage, from start to finis! WHEEEEEE, for mage power!

You can steal 2 items in plain sight before people in an area go hostile. This is per area (a town usually only covers one area) If you plan to steal an item in plain sight, ensure yourself that there are no other items in the area that are worth more. There may be a few situations where you can consider it, such as the graymold in the healers house near Fort Draco, to more easily fulfill the herbalist quests. You can steal as much as you like, as long as no one is in your line of sight. Closing doors behind you helps, waiting until wandering townsfolk wander out of sight also helps. There are a lot of items you can steal with enough patience, and relatively few that can't be stolen at all without being seen. (and most of them aren't worth much anyway) (Yes, I power-gamed through this game from end t end more than once )

Indeed, the testing circle near Formello is not part of the test series, its a part of a different quest.

I wonder though, I've never had problems with mana shortage so much...

If you are looking at the world map, you'll see 5 houses to the left side of Bargha just check them all out. If you've read the dialog carefully, the person in question is a spy working for an organization you have been hunting for a while. (did you do the quests for the intelligence-agent in the castle?)

Hardcore mode in Diablo2 anyone? Especially if you play it on the closed realms on battle.net! Perma-death and no way to re-load or insert a back-up save! I only play HC mode in D2. That said, Staying alive in D2 isn't all that difficult. Most deaths are due to internet LAG.

There is a (late game) spell that can revive them in the field. I believe that the idea was just to auto-rive dead characters when entering town. Just as they would auto-rest! In order to explain away why a dead character would be auto-rived upon entering even a pit-hole like Grimstone, Jeff just said that the characters became "unconscious." That way, the "resting" could explain why they returned. I don't think Jeff is seriously impressed by some mad parental group wanting to remove death from the game. Otherwise demon summoning and necromancy would have to go too. Not even mentioning the deaths of your enemies, and the concept of taking items that are clearly marked "not yours."

The documentation of game mechanics is one of my pet peves. I hope it will be improved in A5.

Wearing armor will give a chance that a spell fails. That means the mana and action points are wasted and the spell remains un-cast. Any armor that gives encumbrance will increase the fail chance. The natural-mage trait allows up to -20% encumbrance before the fail chance starts to kick in. But I'd take the trait for its bonus rank in mage casting skills more than its anti-encumbrance effect, as my mages usually don't have enough strength to wear heavy armor anyway.

Well, here it is: av4items.htm Unaltered. It could use an update, adding some more item locations etc. Or maybe someone can make a new file, using the data from this file as a basis to start from. I won't promise it will stay up for long. (though it may very well stay up for long)

Does this help?

To the OP: The biggest resistance comes from armor. Example, a suit armor with AC 30 will also add 15% resist fire/cold/energy, just from its AC. So most items with magical properties that increase resistance can be discarded of once you have decent armor. As for that file that lists items, I've downloaded it to my HD (v 0.9) If the original author has somehow lost his file, and wands it back, I could upload it... I mean, I remember reading somewhere he said he lost it...

This walkthrough at GamesFAQ mentions the following list, I think its pretty accurate. (this document isn't flawless though) I'm quoting: Quote: Construction items Fine Leather Fine Steel Focusing Crystals Gold Bars (a few) Emeralds (a few) Rubies (a few) Healing Herbs Spiritual Herbs Energetic Herbs Graymold Mandrake Root Sticks (a few) Crystals (a few) Gold necklace (maybe 1) Platinum Ring (maybe 1) Fine waveblade (maybe 1) The real question is: is it worth it? I feel there are very few possible crafts that come at a time and place in the game they are useful enough to go for it. With few exceptions,you are likely to find better gear hunting nearby criminals, or as quest reward. In any event, you probably want to safe all your mandrake roots for the potion master at very end of the game, and not spend them on crafting gear. But its up to you of course, the game doesn't requite power-gaming to win.

The general advice is to spend mostly all gold on training skills, you can gain spells from reading books, and a point in magery or spell craft has the same effect as adding 1 level to the spell itself. The only items you would want to buy from merchants are knowledge brew or crystals. There are a very few exceptions to this, such as a relatively good bow, in Formellow, or a focus crystal in Grimstone. But thats about it. Oh, and paying the priest in Dharmon for its blessing is also a good investment. But you don't need gold for anything else, so only the trainers are left. Note that you can't have more than 30k, if you do get more, you will still have 30k, and the gold you gain after that will just disappear. So its a good idea to buy some trainings every time you near the 30k limit. That way the gold won't go lost. Personally, I just invest points in things such as arcane lore, or nature lore. But for other skills I'd not invest points until after I got 2 levels of payed training. Buying training for archery and sharp shooter for all your characters is well worth it, except if you have a specialized archer, then you'd probably already invested in these skills for that one character from the start. Other things i do is buy training in spellcraft and magery. Before I meet the trainer for these, my spellcasters would invest in "Mage" or "priest" or intelligence, These will need the points anyway, so spellcraft can wait until after the trainer. These are just my thoughts on this. Here is a list: The city name is where the skill is cheapest. So, you can train arcane lore in Formello, but its cheaper in Coltra. Also note that The trainer in Silvar becomes cheaper after you destroyed the shade, and it will also give training in more skills after this event. There are some more trainers who will only train you after you did a quest for them. Pp means gold per point (if it takes 4 points to invest 1 in skill x, and if training in x cost 2000 gold, the efficiency is 500 gold per point you buy) 1up means cost for buying the first rank in the skill 2up is just 2 times 1up PartyMax is what it would cost to buy max training for all party members. The numbers below are the cost for buying all trainings for one character, and for every character. Code: Pp 1up 2up PartyMax-----------------------------------------------------------------Melee Silvar 450 1,800 3,600 14,400Pole Silvar 450 1,800 3,600 14,400Bow Camp Samuels 480 960 1,920 7,680Throw Camp Samuels 400 800 1,600 6,400Quick Action Silvar 1,800 1,800 3,600 14,400Arcane Lore Coltra 1,000 1,000 2,000 8,000Spelcraft Coltra 667 2,000 4,000 16,000Hardiness Silvar 1,800 1,800 3,600 14,400Defense Silvar 900 1,800 3,600 14,400Tool Use Almaria 2,800 2,800 5,600 n/aNature lore Duvno 1,120 1,120 2,240 8,960First Aid Coltra 800 800 1,600 6,400Quick Strike Silvar 600 2,400 4,800 19,200Parry Silvar 600 1,800 3,600 14,400 Blademaster Silvar 360 1,800 3,600 14,400Magery Coltra 375 1,500 3,000 12,000Magical Eff. Fort Remote 360 1,440 2,880 11,520Resistance Fort Remote 600 3,600 7,200 28,800Sharpshooter Camp Samuels 200 800 1,600 6,400----------------------------------------------------------------- 63,640 237,760

Maybe "Blade mastery" should be renamed into "Melee mastery," and Melee should be called "Sword."

But I also want to be able to organize my inventory while the merchant screen is open. And It did occasionally happen to me I accidentally sold an item I just wanted to move. Just making the "selling-corner" bigger would cause more unwanted sells.

I have a good idea to add! A special cursor for selling stuff. Right now, selling a whole sack of loot can be mighty annoying. You have to really aim the cursor at the small corner of the inventory square, and if you miss, you pick the item up, then you have to drop it again, and try again... A better way to do it is if you could hold a modifier key, ctrl/alt/cmnd/shift, or a combination of such keys. While the Key(s) are hold down, the cursor changes into a "selling cursor," and you are able to sell the items by clicking on them anywhere on the inventory square, not just the little corner.

Quote: Originally written by Amber Device: Besides, the question isn't about what cheats are available, it's about what will be available. That is known by at most three people in the world right now. But you are forgetting about his friend, Dante, 93% of what he says is true! UPDATE: never mind, he beat me to it himself...

In fact, don't even bother going through all of those sheds, just walk back and forth between the 2 sheds north of Formello until you collected enough of them. Or at least, that's what I do!

Quote: Originally written by Nija_Halycron: try 20 more than 16 you don't need anywhere in the game. (that is 13 +3 from items)

Quote: Originally written by Randomizer: You don't need more than tool use 16 for traps. I would even say: you don't need more than 13! there are gloves that add +2 and an amulet that adds +1. If you go that route, it does mean you'll have to go back to earlier area's to clear traps you couldn't clear before finding those items, though.

Code: Parry: 6 Dexterity(26pt) + 6 Defense(18pt) Quick Strike: 6 Dexterity(26pt) + 6 Melee(30) or Pole(30) Gymnastics: 8 Dexterity(42pt) + 6 Strength(26pt) Blademaster: 6 Melee(30pt) + 6 Pole(30pt) + 6 Strength(26pt) Anatomy: 6 Intelligence(26pt) + 8 Melee(44pt) or Pole(44pt) Lethal Blow: 8 Anatomy(44pt) + 8 Blademaster(52pt) Riposte: 8 Parry(36pt) + 6 Blademaster(36pt) Sharpshooter: 6 Dexterity(26pt) + 8 Bows(28pt) or Thrown(28pt) Magery: 8 Intelligence(42pt) + 6 Priest(30pt) or Mage(36pt) Magical Eff: 8 Magery(44pt) + 8 Endurance(36pt) Resistance: 8 Dexterity(42pt) + 8 Endurance(36pt) + 8 Hardiness(20pt)

Quote: Originally written by Slartyphobia: As far as I can tell, there are zero respawning chitrachs except for the bugs created on-the-fly by the queen. There are in the great cave. And I'm sure Chitrachballons didn't count those. (yet)