Taliesin

I'm pretty sure you got a double bonus. Something similar happened to my powergaming brother in G2 recently - for some reason he was able to get an experience reward from Barzahl maybe 20 or 30 times - something about a quest to rejoin the Barzites, I think. He gained several levels in about five minutes.

No. Experience is based on your level relative to the monster's level (I don't know the exact formula). So levels should be the same regardless of difficulty.

Awesome! Say, it's been a while.

 

Thanks for the guide, Vlish. I can't wait for the reincarnation of Learned Tal.

 

Too bad I don't have a Mac... yet...

This too is a mirror puzzle, as you may have guessed. Bring some mirrors south and direct the beam to one of the orbs next to the teleporter. It's not terribly hard. After that, you're pretty much done with the scenario.

 

Also, you'll get a great bow right at the end. Don't underestimate it.

Serviles are tough as nails, and decent with buffs as well. I say melee with a mental/blessing backup. My servile used a life-steal sword to great effect, as well. And absolutely no creations.

 

However, my brother played an Evasion Infiltrator, which nothing in the game could hit more than 5% of the time on Normal. This allows for uninterrupted devastation by Battle Magic. A very effective character.

There was an implied quote:

 

Still quite a drift, now that I think about it.

You need to row your boat to the tiny island with the blue box and grab your goodie. Then Corusca will try to take it from you. Kill him for his eyestalks. Which is a reward in and of itself.

Out of interest, how did that come about? Maybe I'll try it when I get around to playing A4.

Ach, yes. Now that I've finished A5, I'm right back to N:R and BoA again.

I am playing N:R again, as Romans this time. I was wondering if blessing the same weapon twice increases the benefit?

 

Also, are scrolls/crystals affected by the user's stats at all? My suspicion is no, since it didn't seem to matter in Avernum.

Serviles are great because you can build them to be virtually indestructible, with powerful buffs AND elite battle skills. And you can max XP by never using a single creation.

I miss the old Divine Touch. Special abilities rocked. Especially doubling your AP.

My typical party is a slith pole fighter, a nephil archer/swordsman/rogue, human priest/alchemist, human mage/priest. In Avernum 5 the nephil was a pure archer, which meant I didn't really have a swords character, unfortunately.

 

Another design which I like is an all-human party of a swordsman tank, spears/bows rogue, priest/alchemist, and mage/priest. Which is pretty much my Celtic party from Nethergate, too.

One of the northern pedestals doesn't have an orb. The clues tell you everything else.

 

Yes, the gong opens the gates when you find the correct pattern.

Press shift-D, then type "pleaselikeme" to make everyone happy.

One problem a lot of singletons encounter is painfully expensive Lores due to concentrating all points in the same person. However, my brother figured out an interesting way to work around this. When you find a book or cache that you can't use, simply create a character or two and devote their starting skill points to Arcane or Nature Lore. Then delete the extra characters when you're done. I don't know how many people already do this, but I thought it was a pretty cool idea.

Steelskin everyone and use melee against them.

Yes indeed. Snoop around in their storage rooms and you'll find a secret passage to the high security stuff. And the best part is that taking it doesn't seem to make anyone angry.

If you free the drake she tells you where to find a Cap of Farsight, which you couldn't find otherwise.

 

Also, you don't have to fight at all after angering Harkin's Landing. Just walk out the exit you opened for the drake.

You just walk near them to touch them. If you're not getting a message, check your quests list. Also, if you get the message that a sentinel sees you, you have to start over.

Talk to Shafrir. He can help.

I haven't done this much in the Avernum games, but in Nethergate I gave both my fighters some Health Circle so that they could heal everyone after battles and conserve my druids' energy. So a level or two of Priest Spells might be a decent investment.

Well, you probably won't be seeing Vahnatai for a while yet. You still have the Azure Gallery ahead of you.

 

Oh, one thing to remember. Don't complete the main quests for the Azure Gallery until you reach Thalants (Vahnatai town). It will save you a lot of trouble, as I found out the hard way.

There's a hidden switch behind the statue. Press "u" and it will be easier to find. Then go down to the end of the cave and you'll find an endlessly respawning goblin to lead back to the statue.

If you look around in the tunnels east of the Giants' Spire, you'll find a ladder that leads right up to it. Oh, and you might want to save the game as soon as you climb up.

 

Also, you can use the dead guy's boat.