bret

Quote: Originally written by Lucidus: Well, the theory may have made some sense, but in practice it just sucked - I mean, it really sucked. I found the movement limitation extremely aggravating, even when it was not causing specific tactical problems, which it frequently did. Worse, because he lagged so far behind, and because in Avernum 5 Unshackle Mind only affects nearby party members, he was almost never close enough to help when characters did become charmed (or terrified, or whatever). Thanks, that was really helpful! I didn't list the Unshackle Mind because it is much more rare (but definitely more deadly) than acid and poison. I'll just continue keeping my priest's Dex and Quick Action low instead of trying sluggish. He usually acts last as it is, so that shouldn't be a problem.

Quote: Originally written by Agrajag: And it's not like you really need copious amount of action points for a healing-oriented priest. I didn't realize that Quick Action could get you to the point of being able to cast two spells in a round. I thought it was only supposed to help with Melee.

Acid and poison damage appear to happen the first thing when a new round begins. Given that, is it advantageous for a priest character to take the sluggish disadvantage and no ranks in Quick Action? The reason I ask is there have been many times when I wish I could have removed the poison/acid/other malevolent effect from a character caused by one of the monsters. If the priest were always the last to act in a round, they could use curing/mass curing/etc to help those characters. I have also had everyone carry curing potions, but that can get expensive quickly and they loose the action points for quaffing the potion.

Did you have problems completing the first chapter (the part that you can run on the demo) with any difficulty? I found that although I had run through the first chapter without difficulty, when I got to the Drake Pillars in chapter 3 there were some very difficult fights. Since I don't know how you feel about spoilers, I will not give any details. Based on what I've seen, I would still suggest you take multiple characters through. There are people that say they have managed to play through with four archers, but they tend to know all the tricks of the game.

Quote: Originally written by Student of Trinity: It's been said often before, and it's off topic, but you should really pump hardiness more. It's a lot better than Anatomy. So also is Quick Action, since it gives decent chances for double damage in melee. I've been thinking about pumping the Hardiness, but it didn't seem like that big a difference between the damage this character took and my warrior that does have some Hardiness. Maybe it is just that I haven't bought enough of it even for my primary melee character.

Thanks Restoration Action Figure. Guess I'll have to try that. Another 14 skill points to open a skill people aren't impressed by, I must admit to having second thoughts. I'm already having problems with my group surviving in the Pillars and now the workshop.

In order to avoid other questions about prerequisites, here is the vital information for the character in question: Level 18 Slith, 0 skill points available Started with the Priest package, no advantages or disadvantages. Strength 5 (Cost: 7) Dexterity 2 (Cost: 6) Intelligence 6 (Cost: 8) Endurance 5 (Cost: 6) Melee 3 (Cost: 5) Polearms 10 (Cost: 7) Missle 0 (Cost: 2) Thrown 2 (Cost: 2) Quick Action 1 (Cost: 1) Mage 0 (Cost: 5) Priest 10 (Cost: 8) Arcane Lore 3 (Cost: 2) Spellcraft 5 (Cost: 5) Hardiness 0 (Cost: 1) Defense 4 (Cost: 4) Tool Use 0 (Cost: 1) Nature Lore 2 (Cost: 2) First Aid 2 (Cost: 2) Luck 1 (Cost: 4) Anatomy 1 (Cost not listed, from an item) Magical Efficiency 1 (Cost not listed, from a quest) In case you are reading this Jeff V, as a first time buyer of both the game and hint book my main complaint about the game is not being able to tell what you are missing in order to qualify for a special skill. I'm not interested in getting a PhD in your game, I just want to play it without having to go into a character editor or doing time-consuming experiments. At the very least, the trainers should give a hint. For example, the trainer in magical skills could say 'If you would train more with Spellcraft, you could improve Magery' or vice versa once you've got one of the prerequisites. Maybe do it as a dialogue option. "Do you have any recommendations on my training?" You could then have the resulting answer be based on that character's abilities. Since you want things hidden, you could use generic phrases like 'a little more / need to improve / must study a lot of' to indicate how close a character is. What sort of teacher doesn't tell the student what is needed in order to get to the advanced study?

Quote: Originally written by Randomizer: Sliths (and Nephils) increase their combat skills every 8 levels, so you probably have some that you didn't get using skill points. I didn't try to get it since it only adds a little extra damage. In the case of Magery, it lists 8 Int. I was able to open that successfully with my human sorcerer that has an 8 Int and no advantages. Are you sure that Slith get increasing bonuses with Pole Arms? I thought it was a straight +2. My Nephil was able to open Sharpshooter at Bows 10, but she also has the Deadeye Advantage while the Slith priest doesn't have any advantages past those given by race.

According to this thread on special skills , you can open the Anatomy skill once the character has Int 6 and PoleArms 8 or Melee 8. I've been trying to build a Slith Priest who uses Pole Arms and thought this would be a good match. I've now got Int 6 and Pole Arm 10. Since Slith get +2 to Pole Arms, I believe this is the minimum requirements. So far the skill hasn't openned for improvement. Since I had gotten impatient and used a couple of Knowledge crystals/potions to get there, I thought perhaps it would happen once the character leveled next time. No joy. Is anyone else able to open Anatomy skill via the Pole Arm route? Any suggestions on what I might be missing? Thanks, -Bret

The rat was more sensible than the soldier. In my case the rat survived the battle with the Beast, the same can not be said for the NPC soldier.

If torment level isn't hard enough for you, take all frail characters through Torment level. I'm still working on getting through it once on normal level.

One difference is you need high Magery in order to unlock Spell Efficiency.

In thinking about it, the delay really isn't any worse than with NWN. It is just that you don't have a visual clue indicating that the transition is occurring. A splash screen for transitions would be nice.

I've an old PowerMac G5 2 GHz dual processor with 4GB RAM. Still, that should be more than enough power for something like this. I'll check the memory utilization, see if there is a memory hog.

When transitioning to another area (such as going up a ladder), the game seems to just stop for a few seconds before displaying the new area. It isn't horrible, but it is long enough where I wonder if I clicked correctly. Are other people seeing this?