Delicious Vlish

Well, what is wrong with it exactly?

This is going to sound odd... But I think I missed the oozing sword somehow.

 

I found the blazing sword, that doesn't actually do any fire damage at all. I found the freezing blade.

 

Oozing? I may have, and just don't remember it, but where?

Bolt of Fire and Smite are just about useless against mages, gazers, and many other enemies. Poking them works.

Spears do a lot of damage. Sliths get free pole arm skill levels. Quite a few over the course of the game. This is free damage.

A nephil could work in this capacity, but... Bows do not do as much damage as a spear. The Jade Halbred is insanely powerful. There is also the Slith Blood Spear which does crazy amounts of raw physical damage. Also, bows do not get an anatomy bonus. It is very, very easy for a Slith priest to get anatomy as a skill, seeing as how they must pump the two compatable skills required to be effective, and having anatomy will also make your priest more effective in first aid, which is a nice side effect.

Bows are better weapons for thieves, who are going to need every last skill point they can scrounge up for tool use and their own survival skills. Tool use, as mentioned, starts costing 10+ skill points at the higher levels. That's mage like dedication to a skill.

Bolt of Fire and Smite are just about useless against mages, gazers, and many other enemies. Poking them works.

Spears do a lot of damage. Sliths get free pole arm skill levels. Quite a few over the course of the game. This is free damage.

A nephil could work in this capacity, but... Bows do not do as much damage as a spear. The Jade Halbred is insanely powerful. There is also the Slith Blood Spear which does crazy amounts of raw physical damage. Also, bows do not get an anatomy bonus. It is very, very easy for a Slith priest to get anatomy as a skill, seeing as how they must pump the two compatable skills required to be effective, and having anatomy will also make your priest more effective in first aid, which is a nice side effect.

Bows are better weapons for thieves, who are going to need every last skill point they can scrounge up for tool use and their own survival skills. Tool use, as mentioned, starts costing 10+ skill points at the higher levels. That's mage like dedication to a skill.

Another good way not to suck.

 

Give your front line fighter Strong Will.

 

It is very likely that this character, above all others, will have his or her brains scrambled, and frequently. Strong Will can protect you from all kinds of mental conditions... Nothing is a sure thing, but it kicks in enough that it is noticeable, and very much so, especially when combined with a few luck raising items. It's a free chance to resist any hostile mental effect. Charm, daze, being frozen, being terrorised, all those conditions that take you out of the action, or worse, make you a supreme danger to your team mates. Nothing is worse than having your own fighter turn around and cut you to shreds.

 

Quick Strike is your friend. You want this skill. Some dex and some weapon skill. Once you start adding points to this, you start adding a chance to get one or two extra action points at the start of a round, plus, it allows you to act first, which is critical. You don't want monsters acting first. Especially the endgame enemies. You want to fight the game on your terms.

 

Keep your priest stocked with speed potions, so he or she can run away to a safe spot. Instead of reloading, and having to start the whole fight all over again, it is now possible to retreat, raise the dead, and return to hand out the beat downs. Your priest should have a good pair of running shoes, and if need be, the ability to carve him or her self an exit. While glass cannon priests are nice, and can cast a lot of spells, having a priest that is capable of surviving a lot of abuse and dishing out as good as they get is more important now. (Especially so on torment I am finding) I have found that I don't do much offensive holy magic on torment. I tend to conserve all my spell points for healing and such, because I do a lot of it. So it's important for them to be able to look after themselves.

 

Let the enemy come to you, and pepper them with arrows and missiles. Starting combat, and having one fast character creep forward to taunt the enemy, and then leading them back to party waiting to ambush them is a good idea.

 

Mages are typically resistant to just about everything. They are best dealt with at spear point. Or sword point. Turning them in to a pin cushion works too... But it's best to have somebody right in their face so their AI will make them run away, and they will get slowed when they run away, which means next turn, not enough action points to cast spells. Hammer them.

 

Anatomy is noticeable. And it is a must have. Training a few levels of it is worth it. It is possible to do a whole lot of hurt with the right weapons and even just a few levels of anatomy. And near the end of the game, there are many enemies effected by anatomy. It is much easier to chop them down when you know how to impale them properly.

Another good way not to suck.

 

Give your front line fighter Strong Will.

 

It is very likely that this character, above all others, will have his or her brains scrambled, and frequently. Strong Will can protect you from all kinds of mental conditions... Nothing is a sure thing, but it kicks in enough that it is noticeable, and very much so, especially when combined with a few luck raising items. It's a free chance to resist any hostile mental effect. Charm, daze, being frozen, being terrorised, all those conditions that take you out of the action, or worse, make you a supreme danger to your team mates. Nothing is worse than having your own fighter turn around and cut you to shreds.

 

Quick Strike is your friend. You want this skill. Some dex and some weapon skill. Once you start adding points to this, you start adding a chance to get one or two extra action points at the start of a round, plus, it allows you to act first, which is critical. You don't want monsters acting first. Especially the endgame enemies. You want to fight the game on your terms.

 

Keep your priest stocked with speed potions, so he or she can run away to a safe spot. Instead of reloading, and having to start the whole fight all over again, it is now possible to retreat, raise the dead, and return to hand out the beat downs. Your priest should have a good pair of running shoes, and if need be, the ability to carve him or her self an exit. While glass cannon priests are nice, and can cast a lot of spells, having a priest that is capable of surviving a lot of abuse and dishing out as good as they get is more important now. (Especially so on torment I am finding) I have found that I don't do much offensive holy magic on torment. I tend to conserve all my spell points for healing and such, because I do a lot of it. So it's important for them to be able to look after themselves.

 

Let the enemy come to you, and pepper them with arrows and missiles. Starting combat, and having one fast character creep forward to taunt the enemy, and then leading them back to party waiting to ambush them is a good idea.

 

Mages are typically resistant to just about everything. They are best dealt with at spear point. Or sword point. Turning them in to a pin cushion works too... But it's best to have somebody right in their face so their AI will make them run away, and they will get slowed when they run away, which means next turn, not enough action points to cast spells. Hammer them.

 

Anatomy is noticeable. And it is a must have. Training a few levels of it is worth it. It is possible to do a whole lot of hurt with the right weapons and even just a few levels of anatomy. And near the end of the game, there are many enemies effected by anatomy. It is much easier to chop them down when you know how to impale them properly.

Yes, that is a good point. You must have skill to be good at this game. You can not "edit" your way in to Godhood.

 

But you can cheat to get it.

The tech requirements are wrong too.

 

The game takes a 1024x768 res, at least 128 megs of memory, quite a few errors up so far. They will be fixed hopefully.

 

And there is no editor, and I doubt you will need one.

I am running a 300mhz G3.

 

Change your mouse scrolling speed. Give it more memory. It's going to need at least 128 megs of real ram.

 

I had problems with the game running when I had virtual memory turned on.

 

Turn other programs off.

 

And make sure you update your video drivers.

There is none.

Syn, you are correct.

 

Strategy wise, you can make a Slith a paper tiger with very little effort, and send them forward to destroy select targets with out putting themselves in much danger, so long as you control the crowd. The classic sword and shield set up is so much better for the lead guy, along with Elite Warrior as a trait. Once you get that shield that gives a point in Gymnastics, you start having a dependable tank that can go toe to toe with out to much trouble.

 

And if the situation goes completely bad, summons. Lots of summons. A Slith priest leading an army of shades in to battle is quite effective, and good roleplaying to boot. It becomes a numbers game. Sure, you might get tagged, but if you have a couple of shades, they might get tagged.

 

For me, it came down to having your classic sword and shield set up as the front guy and not having anybody to use the Jade Halbred.

 

When I restarted, a built a Slith that I was unsure of the design, but I had a general idea in the role playing sense of a Slith priest that could, if he had to, do what Sliths do best. A Slith priest wouldn't be some helpless twit that hides from conflict. Sliths are to proud and to noble for that. They would get their hands dirty if they had to.

 

Instead of a glass cannon priest, which I had done a few times... I had my self a real monster. They usually had about 7 or 8 strength. Through a belt if I could. Dex was about 6, so I could get parry. A level or two in parry plus some from items. My real concern was endurance, there wasn't as much as I would have liked, but when Augmented, they shot to well over 300 hit points, so it was enough. I did not pump the priest skill level to maximum. I let the Pure Spirit trait carry me past the 18 required mark. I pumped pole arms to the level needed to get anatomy, and put a few points in there, which seemed like a good idea because it helps first aid. From a role playing sense, this was a good idea... A Slith priest would know anatomy. Where to jam his spear in to an enemy to hurt them or how to bandage a friend to save them.

 

It worked quite well. So well infact, that I am using my knowledge gained from previous prototypes to create the Slith priest that is going to get me through my Torment game.

Syn, you are correct.

 

Strategy wise, you can make a Slith a paper tiger with very little effort, and send them forward to destroy select targets with out putting themselves in much danger, so long as you control the crowd. The classic sword and shield set up is so much better for the lead guy, along with Elite Warrior as a trait. Once you get that shield that gives a point in Gymnastics, you start having a dependable tank that can go toe to toe with out to much trouble.

 

And if the situation goes completely bad, summons. Lots of summons. A Slith priest leading an army of shades in to battle is quite effective, and good roleplaying to boot. It becomes a numbers game. Sure, you might get tagged, but if you have a couple of shades, they might get tagged.

 

For me, it came down to having your classic sword and shield set up as the front guy and not having anybody to use the Jade Halbred.

 

When I restarted, a built a Slith that I was unsure of the design, but I had a general idea in the role playing sense of a Slith priest that could, if he had to, do what Sliths do best. A Slith priest wouldn't be some helpless twit that hides from conflict. Sliths are to proud and to noble for that. They would get their hands dirty if they had to.

 

Instead of a glass cannon priest, which I had done a few times... I had my self a real monster. They usually had about 7 or 8 strength. Through a belt if I could. Dex was about 6, so I could get parry. A level or two in parry plus some from items. My real concern was endurance, there wasn't as much as I would have liked, but when Augmented, they shot to well over 300 hit points, so it was enough. I did not pump the priest skill level to maximum. I let the Pure Spirit trait carry me past the 18 required mark. I pumped pole arms to the level needed to get anatomy, and put a few points in there, which seemed like a good idea because it helps first aid. From a role playing sense, this was a good idea... A Slith priest would know anatomy. Where to jam his spear in to an enemy to hurt them or how to bandage a friend to save them.

 

It worked quite well. So well infact, that I am using my knowledge gained from previous prototypes to create the Slith priest that is going to get me through my Torment game.

My Slith priests have quite a bit of parry. Usually from items. I don't remember what though.

 

Also, you can give them items to make them have some serious hostile effect resistance.

 

Since everybody seems to be missing it... I do not use them as front line fighters. Has anybody caught on to this yet? There are certain specialised uses, usually involving mages, that it is good to be able to rush up to something and give it a good poke. And usually, when I do this, they are not particularly in a lot of danger. Well, that is relative, they are in mortal danger if everything goes wrong.

 

A good example is any of the big battles where there are a lot of heavy hitters... Melee types. And there is usually a mage behind them. I'll send my main tank forward, engage, and pepper them with arrows from my archer. Then, when I feel confident that it is safe to do so, since mages tend to be highly magic resistant, I send the lizard forward for The Big Poke™. For everbody missing it here, the Slith is not on the front lines. He is sneaking past the nasty tangle of battle and beelining for the annoying mage that causes pain.

 

Now, should something go wrong, and stuff does go wrong, you summon up some shades. Like a Vengeful Shade or something. And then you duck back out of there.

 

The Slith is clearly not designed as a damage sponge, but a damage dealer. And later in the game, his beginning stats have been raised a bit, through items or whatever, and he is quite capable of holding his own should the crap hit the fan. Using this design of mine, when the worst does happen, and it does on occasion, the Slith is typically the last one standing when the dust settles.

 

I had memorable battle with Dorikas that involved my Slith being the last one standing. He was able to get to a room, hide, and restore party members.

 

All I am saying is, try it.

My Slith priests have quite a bit of parry. Usually from items. I don't remember what though.

 

Also, you can give them items to make them have some serious hostile effect resistance.

 

Since everybody seems to be missing it... I do not use them as front line fighters. Has anybody caught on to this yet? There are certain specialised uses, usually involving mages, that it is good to be able to rush up to something and give it a good poke. And usually, when I do this, they are not particularly in a lot of danger. Well, that is relative, they are in mortal danger if everything goes wrong.

 

A good example is any of the big battles where there are a lot of heavy hitters... Melee types. And there is usually a mage behind them. I'll send my main tank forward, engage, and pepper them with arrows from my archer. Then, when I feel confident that it is safe to do so, since mages tend to be highly magic resistant, I send the lizard forward for The Big Poke™. For everbody missing it here, the Slith is not on the front lines. He is sneaking past the nasty tangle of battle and beelining for the annoying mage that causes pain.

 

Now, should something go wrong, and stuff does go wrong, you summon up some shades. Like a Vengeful Shade or something. And then you duck back out of there.

 

The Slith is clearly not designed as a damage sponge, but a damage dealer. And later in the game, his beginning stats have been raised a bit, through items or whatever, and he is quite capable of holding his own should the crap hit the fan. Using this design of mine, when the worst does happen, and it does on occasion, the Slith is typically the last one standing when the dust settles.

 

I had memorable battle with Dorikas that involved my Slith being the last one standing. He was able to get to a room, hide, and restore party members.

 

All I am saying is, try it.

The Emerald Chestguard is stupidly easy to get.

 

You can get it with very little trouble before you ever reach the Tower Colony.

Actually, I have made a couple of Slith Battle Priests and all have survived combat just fine. It's all in how you play really.

 

They are not a front line fighter, nor are they meant to be a front line fighter. Their job is really very simple. Run up and give somebody or something The Big Poke™. With a little anatomy (Easy to get since your int will be raised a good bit, and you can spare a few points in to polearms) a little blademaster ability, easily gained from who knows how many items, a little blessing, and so on and so on, you can run up to one singled out enemy and deliver The Big Poke™

 

When done right, it should swiftly deliver well over 100 points of damage, and, with luck, you will get a double swing.

 

Even it's somewhat less famous cousin, The Painful Prodding™ can be done rather early in the game, and still be quite damaging.

 

For example. Skunky Joe and his band of Miscreants. The Nephil archer and the front line fighter engage Skunky's cronies. The mage slows Skunky once or twice. Skunky is now prone, somewhat helpless, and there is the golden opportunity for The Painful Prodding™ You may or may not have a blessed spear at this point... But you should have a good Slith spear. Good enough. With a well buffed Slith, you dart past Skunky's bandit buddies, and, being the loving caring healer that you are, you see Skunky is obviously sick and you go to take his temperature. POKE! Skunky is now half dead... Slithkind have no bedside manner and their medicinal practices are quite brutal.

 

Still with me? Skunky is now half dead, slowed, stunned, and prone to be laid low. His buddies are still tied up with your other fighters, dazed, etc, the mage is busy freezing the balls... Er, right off of the Christmas trees with Icy Rain.

 

Another poke and poor Skunky dies.

Actually, I have made a couple of Slith Battle Priests and all have survived combat just fine. It's all in how you play really.

 

They are not a front line fighter, nor are they meant to be a front line fighter. Their job is really very simple. Run up and give somebody or something The Big Poke™. With a little anatomy (Easy to get since your int will be raised a good bit, and you can spare a few points in to polearms) a little blademaster ability, easily gained from who knows how many items, a little blessing, and so on and so on, you can run up to one singled out enemy and deliver The Big Poke™

 

When done right, it should swiftly deliver well over 100 points of damage, and, with luck, you will get a double swing.

 

Even it's somewhat less famous cousin, The Painful Prodding™ can be done rather early in the game, and still be quite damaging.

 

For example. Skunky Joe and his band of Miscreants. The Nephil archer and the front line fighter engage Skunky's cronies. The mage slows Skunky once or twice. Skunky is now prone, somewhat helpless, and there is the golden opportunity for The Painful Prodding™ You may or may not have a blessed spear at this point... But you should have a good Slith spear. Good enough. With a well buffed Slith, you dart past Skunky's bandit buddies, and, being the loving caring healer that you are, you see Skunky is obviously sick and you go to take his temperature. POKE! Skunky is now half dead... Slithkind have no bedside manner and their medicinal practices are quite brutal.

 

Still with me? Skunky is now half dead, slowed, stunned, and prone to be laid low. His buddies are still tied up with your other fighters, dazed, etc, the mage is busy freezing the balls... Er, right off of the Christmas trees with Icy Rain.

 

Another poke and poor Skunky dies.

Sliths make excellent priest characters.

 

Hear me out.

 

Early game, priests have Smite. Which they can cast once or twice and that's it. Fun is over. And while archery is all fine and good... Some times, you need to stick something. And you want that something to die when you stick it.

 

Sliths get that wonderful polearms bonus, which means you never need to waste skill points on a Slith priest. You can get away with a few points in bows, and not feel guilty about wasting precious skill points. Every few levels, pole arm skill goes up. I start my Slith priests off as follows.

 

Str 4

Dex 4

Int 4

End 5.

 

One point in quick action, 3 levels of priest skill, give them the Pure Spirit trait to bring them to level 5 for priest skill, and left over points go in to spellcraft, arcane lore, nature lore, defense, hardiness, and first aid.

 

What you have, with a small skill investment, is a character that can wear some armor, do quite a bit of damage because he can buff himself with his skills, and the ability to run up and skewer something and see it die should the situation demand it. A few points here and there in to quick action and some archery, and you have a well rounded character that can dish out some serious hurt, either physically or magically. Once he gets Divine Retribution and the Jade Halbred, he becomes the unstoppable Godzilla monster. Enduring Armor, Steel Skin, etc, all good to cast on self.

 

Sliths make nice mages too... But are kind of wasted in that role. Mages have all kinds of spells for blowing stuff apart, and all the spear does is gather dust.

Sliths make excellent priest characters.

 

Hear me out.

 

Early game, priests have Smite. Which they can cast once or twice and that's it. Fun is over. And while archery is all fine and good... Some times, you need to stick something. And you want that something to die when you stick it.

 

Sliths get that wonderful polearms bonus, which means you never need to waste skill points on a Slith priest. You can get away with a few points in bows, and not feel guilty about wasting precious skill points. Every few levels, pole arm skill goes up. I start my Slith priests off as follows.

 

Str 4

Dex 4

Int 4

End 5.

 

One point in quick action, 3 levels of priest skill, give them the Pure Spirit trait to bring them to level 5 for priest skill, and left over points go in to spellcraft, arcane lore, nature lore, defense, hardiness, and first aid.

 

What you have, with a small skill investment, is a character that can wear some armor, do quite a bit of damage because he can buff himself with his skills, and the ability to run up and skewer something and see it die should the situation demand it. A few points here and there in to quick action and some archery, and you have a well rounded character that can dish out some serious hurt, either physically or magically. Once he gets Divine Retribution and the Jade Halbred, he becomes the unstoppable Godzilla monster. Enduring Armor, Steel Skin, etc, all good to cast on self.

 

Sliths make nice mages too... But are kind of wasted in that role. Mages have all kinds of spells for blowing stuff apart, and all the spear does is gather dust.

All those emails and you didn't make that clear?

**Tears out hair**



I asked you... We... There was some serious tension over those emails.

Well thank you good sir, for finally clearing that up. I believe that finally solves several of my questions.

I look forward to the next beta test.

All those emails and you didn't make that clear?

**Tears out hair**



I asked you... We... There was some serious tension over those emails.

Well thank you good sir, for finally clearing that up. I believe that finally solves several of my questions.

I look forward to the next beta test.

Many sections of the manual are cut and pasted from Geneforge.

 

I could cut and paste email from Jeff... He said in the email that he was going to update the spell description. I guess he never did.

Many sections of the manual are cut and pasted from Geneforge.

 

I could cut and paste email from Jeff... He said in the email that he was going to update the spell description. I guess he never did.

Jeff told me in a long argument in email that the tool use skill and unlock doors have no bearing on each other. A mage with tool use will not help unlock doors the spell. Jeff made this clear to me.

 

I personally have never seen unlock doors work the whole way through the beta. Since you have to crank tool use well in to the 20s to 30s to open certain doors, chests, and traps, there is absolutely NO need for unlock doors. The whole beta through, I have never seen unlock doors do anything, because when I click on a door, I had the tool use to unlock it. And since there are so many locked objects that require high tool use, unlock doors is fairly useless. When you do come to a door that tool use can not open, unlock doors wont open it either, because it is something that Jeff clearly intended to be opened with tool use. I know exactly which doors you are talking about I think. On my second finish, I had tool use of 26. It was not enough. And neither was unlock doors with crazy levels of magery, spellcraft, and mage skill. Unlock doors had no effect on this door.

 

Drove me bloody crazy and Jeff I think became quite angry with me over the course of maybe a dozen emails trying to hash out the logic of having two skills in competition with each other that in the end does nothing but cancels out one of them making it near useless.

 

I personally could never open Athron's door in the Honeycomb and some of the doors in the final areas.

 

Tool use starts costing 10 or 11 points for each level of skill at higher levels. I seriously doubt it is possible to have a functional character and get the required levels of tool use to open every door in the game.

Jeff told me in a long argument in email that the tool use skill and unlock doors have no bearing on each other. A mage with tool use will not help unlock doors the spell. Jeff made this clear to me.

 

I personally have never seen unlock doors work the whole way through the beta. Since you have to crank tool use well in to the 20s to 30s to open certain doors, chests, and traps, there is absolutely NO need for unlock doors. The whole beta through, I have never seen unlock doors do anything, because when I click on a door, I had the tool use to unlock it. And since there are so many locked objects that require high tool use, unlock doors is fairly useless. When you do come to a door that tool use can not open, unlock doors wont open it either, because it is something that Jeff clearly intended to be opened with tool use. I know exactly which doors you are talking about I think. On my second finish, I had tool use of 26. It was not enough. And neither was unlock doors with crazy levels of magery, spellcraft, and mage skill. Unlock doors had no effect on this door.

 

Drove me bloody crazy and Jeff I think became quite angry with me over the course of maybe a dozen emails trying to hash out the logic of having two skills in competition with each other that in the end does nothing but cancels out one of them making it near useless.

 

I personally could never open Athron's door in the Honeycomb and some of the doors in the final areas.

 

Tool use starts costing 10 or 11 points for each level of skill at higher levels. I seriously doubt it is possible to have a functional character and get the required levels of tool use to open every door in the game.