Puksis

Reached Silvar/Fort Avernum-area. I have mostly cleared areas before Formello, except the ones that require Dispel Barrier or DB crystals and the Drake in Motrax lair. I just can't afford the crystals, even if I found one selling them. I'm sparing for the Defense, NL and Hardiness that can be bought in Silvar and Duvno. Unlock Doors has been a nice help. I can unlock doors up to difficulty 10. Limited carrying capacity and the lack of Hit Points / Augmentation is still an issue. Bolt of Fire and Icy Rain are still my main damage sources. Current stats and spell levels (I might wait for another level up to get a point in Mage Spells):

I have finally lost my sanity. Began to replay Avernum 4 on Torment, using one character and only picked the worst disadvantages the game has to offer. I have cleared most areas before Fort Draco. But naturally I don't have Unlock Doors, and don't have Tool Use either - so some areas are unreachable atm. I have had a constant battle with the limited carry limit (currently at 45 Lbs), the lack of hit points (50. I pretty much end up one-shot whenever an enemy hits me), lack of Nature Lore/Tool Use and skill points. I think I won't be able to reach Parry in a long time. It has been a rough ride, and will most likely just get even worse. But I will do it. I will update the topic as I go on. Current stats:

Began playing Avernum 2, after never completely beating it. As with all Avernums, I play on Torment. (Completed A3,4,5 and 6 on Torment. A3 as singleton (with disadvantages only), A4,5 with a duo and A6 with a trio). I have reached all the way to Fort Remote. I have returned one Crystal soul from the Empire Fort. Currently, I am playing with a Slith-Nephil duo. The Slith has Natural mage and Completely Inept as the character traits. Nephil has Divinely Touched and Completely Inept. Both are at level 47. Both have 283 hit points. Slith has 14 strength, 7 Dexterity, 11 Intelligence, 14 Pole weapons (and 8 Anatomy). Nephil has 17 Intelligence, 18 Priest Spells and 4 Magery. So the questions: -Why the Slith does so little damage with a Blessed Halberd against Guardians (the only way to damage them, as summons don't see them..), even with lvl 3 Beast Ceremony and Heroic Brew? -Why the Nephil heals so little? Does getting the level 3 heal really have such an effect (with the level 2 heal, I tend to heal around 35 points of damage)? The Guardians tend to chew up my Slith faster that I can heal, even when hasted Oh, and please, don't tell me where to find it. I want to find it myself -Is the disadvantage of "Completely Inept" giving higher negative impacts on damage values compared to Avernum 3, as I didn't have a similar issue in it? Or is the Torment just harder in A2 than A3? -OR is the Elite Warrior a "requirement" in order to actually deal damage with a warrior? Sincerely, Laati / Puksis

Kinda off-topic, but I wanted to ask a stat-related thing that I could not find on strategy central. What does the + levels of damage in combat actually do? Does it add a die, or as extra levels on melee / pole / archery / spellcraft to the damage formula?

Well, SW games skill tree has always been quite simple. The only difficulty was to get Adrenaline rush to the mage. Luckily most points can be gotten via trainers. The level difference is caused by the XP penalties. Slith has -45 % XP, Nephil has -18 % and the mage has +-0 % -Laati thinks that people getting banished to Avernum or soldiers working at a food depot should not be next to God - thus using the disadvantages quite often.

Made an Excel graph from the stats I have at the moment. The "Total points" is what the game says I have, "From items" are stats from items and "Cost" is how much it costs to put a point into it. N/A means that I can't put points into it or don't have it unlocked yet. As you can see from the graph, the game might give too much XP, thus characters level up too quickly. I didn't need to choose between getting Lethal Blow or Riposte, I could get both. Mage has over 600 mana, and it allows be to spam Arcane blows quite a lot. And the last one has had enough skill points to reach 18 Priest spells, enough Tool use and even some for archery skills (Giving the Heartstriker bow nice amount of damage). Everyone has some NL, AL and FA as well. Keep in mind, I have around 75 skill points as knowledge consumables.

Began to play A6 after completing A3 singleton (Both of the worst disadvantages) Torment, A4 duo Torment and A5 w/ full party on Torment. My A6 party has a Divinely Touched-Elite warrior Slith, Natural Mage-Brittle Bones Human (Yes, a human) and a Deadeye-Nimble Fingers Nephil. The Slith is meant to be a pole-wielding tank (so no dual-wielding), the Human is an off-tank mage and the Nephil is a archer-thief-priest-Swiss-Army-Knife. So from the start, it didn't sound like an effective party. At the moment, I must be quite close to the end-game. Without spoiling, I have completed Levitt's quests and one of the "certain reptile's ones". At the moment, it feels like the game has given up. The challenge pretty much stopped after The Great portal: Main plot quests have been easy, only one of Gladwell's quests and a few bosses have felt like a challenge. I have 30 knowledge brew, 3 knowledge crystals and 3 knowledge elixirs, yet I feel I have no use for the extra skill points. I most likely have enough arcane lore (Have read highest lvl spells), I can dig all the chests and I can open 90% of the locked doors and traps. Is the game's Torment difficult just easier than previous ones, does the items give too much stats or is min-maxing just less important?

Got trough the first scenario, on level 17. After gotten the simulacrum, things have gotten a bit easier The rebellion was defeated on level 24. Any suggestions for a user-made scenario? I am looking for one that is made for level 20 parties, and it should be longish too

After many years, I noticed that the game is still on my hard drive. I decided to began the adventure once again, now with only single adventurer. The beginning was more difficult than in A3, because the less amount of enemies in the outdoors, not to mention the Altered beast.. I chose to use a Slithezkai, with Natural mage and Elite warrior. I am at level 16 at the moment. I have cleared the school, and not far away from clearing the places below the school. (Not including waste depositary). The only problems that I have had, were the Alien Beasts, the mage/rogue warrior at the small dungeon and the Vampire which I have not yet beaten.. HP 87 MP 57 Rune reading 7 Strength 8 Dexterity 5 Intelligence 6 Endurance 8 Hardiness 1 Defence 2 Mage spells 8 Priest spells 5 Arcane lore 6 Potion making 1 Tool use 2 Nature lore 2 First aid 1 But the problems have been since the start.. First, I forgot to add enough Mage spells, to get unlock doors. I temp-fixed it with strength, yet there are a few doors that I could not open. The other problem is rune reading. There has been many places, where I didn't enough rune reading skill. And at the moment, I can't invest any skill points, because I need to spare them for Mage spells (Simulacurum, and capture soul). Is there any great spells on the first scenario, that I might miss if I do not get them? Do you think, that re-visiting a scenario is abusing game mechanics? -Puksis, after a long break.

Part of the fun.

Why people are completely forgotting the Disadvantages? I am doing fine with four chars with weak minded DA. (Difficulty is set to hard).

Originally Posted By: Earth2025 Originally Posted By: Puksis No need to haste. Works well without. Yes but haste helps. Doesn't matter when your party is in real time movement.

Originally Posted By: Barzhal Further to what Randomizer stated: Stand just south of the sentinel you need to talk to in order to begin the test, but make sure you wait until the patrols are not near (off the screen to the left and right). I was able to talk to him, begin the test, and head directly south (toward an open door) and pass the test without ever entering combat mode. I believe I casted haste on everyone prior, but I doubt it was necessary. No need to haste. Works well without.

Actually your graphs slope should be A BIT higher, because there are more points on the left side. (And I think you should make it like a kind of recumbent parabola?)

Thanks you all. (By The Way, I am familiar with dices, but not with that skill).

Well, you can satisfy your need of collecting things with em. I have over 260 rocks in my priest packbag.

It has been a long time since I was here. I have started the A5 again, and I got the warmaster helmet Click to reveal.. from The Khora-Vysss. I am just wondering, what the +2 level of damage skill does?

Quote: Originally written by Thuryl: Yes, yes, and the Improved Evasion ability in D&D allows a character to completely avoid damage from a fireball going off in a sealed room. We've heard it all before. Please refrain from attempting to make game mechanics make sense: it will only make both you and the game designer cry. I wasnt talking about evasion, I was talking about dodging it! The rock has 100% hitchance!

Quote: Originally written by Yama: Capping hit chance at 95% (and 5%) is a very old RPG convention that stems from D&D and its 1d20 combat rolls. It has displayed remarkable robustness for a rule that isn't essential, showing up in RPGs all over the place. That may be because it makes sense. You can always get a lucky dodge somehow, can't you? If there would be an alley in some game, witch is 2 metres wide, and you set up a trap. U will start running and U will face a deadend. The trap is a 1 metre 98cm wide rock, that rolls towards you. So is there any chance of lucky dodge? And the rock wont stuck.

I have a question. IF there is a hitchance in a5, can U hit with 100% chance. Im annoyed in a3 when my hittingchance is more than 95% and I still miss! Could there be a 100% hittingchance?

Near the divine retribution challenge is a gremlin in the forest. He will bless me for 10k. What does it do? Or have I been cheated?

BTW. When this topic turned into singleton parties, what is your "heroes" level? Mine is 72...

I just finish the game without it. I am in the great wall place already.

Tower of magi was WAY before golems... It took so long because singleton/torment/one disadvance.

They arent there? I want arcane blow lvl 3...