Rionep Ecnirp Etlevs

1. Why do many players choose Nephilim? Do such players use bows often?

2. On a separate note, is it true that most stat gains (that grow with level) from trait/race effects are more valuable than picking a human and using skill points from earlier leveling? Is this true for practically any type of character: dedicated mage, mage/priest, dedicated melee or pole user, fighter/priest, etc?

3. If I run a dual-wield priest, slith spear tank, and dedicated mage, which races/traits should I choose?

I thought

A. DW Human priest w/ ambidex. & divinely touched

B. Slith w Elite Warrior

C. Nephil Mage w Natural Mage

but now I'm wondering if I should have chosen Elite Warrior for my human. Any other suggestions, and is there any reason to skip traits on Normal that one would choose on Torment?

4. If I'm not playing a singleton, do I get much benefit in XP when I drop from a four to three-player party? Normal mode is easy enough, I'm sure, so would I have much need for a fourth character? Should I make my dual-wield human a dedicated fighter and make my priest role fulfilled by a fourth character?

I think Avernum 0 should be named "Exile: Enter the Pit"

Then I realized I'm just cheating.

So I'm running a party of 3 right now, and whenever I run into an area with a few locked chests (or a single high level one), I just Create New Character, dump 16 Tool Use into it, open the chests, and delete the character.

I did the same with Nature Lore on separate occasions. Then I realized "I am obviously abusing the character creation function, so maybe I should stop pretending, save myself some wasted clicking and just use the editor to add 16 tool use and 16 nature lore to one of my permanent characters (who isn't allowed to raise those levels higher)."

What do you think?

So I can't tell, is the ambidextrous trait worth choosing? I play on Normal.

I never carried too many backup items, but I figured you could just drop them indoors before casting a Gold spell.

Oh well. It's the silliest of my ideas so far.

[EDIT]: Having played a bit of Avernum 6, I see that the Geneforge engine gives you quite a large inventory without the restrictive weight limit for packing unequipped items. [/EDIT]

This ties into my idea for a bank deposit. For the sake of convenience, imagine a method of turning your items into their value of gold without returning to a shop.

It could be a spell called "Like Lead to Gold," "Turn to Gold," or "Midas Touch." Or it could be a potion that does the same.

Perhaps it would require a high skill investment, high price to purchase the spell/recipe, cost xp per item, or cost a skill point to cast (like a certain spell in Nethergate), but it replaces every unequipped item in inventory with its equivalent in Gold (based on item description).

Obviously I'm complicating a Gold system that has worked fine for thousands of players, but I wanted to throw it out there. It's just that I've always farmed gold from item selling, but I've never enjoyed the time spent on it.

except the n dash you just typed is identical in length to the n dash you had accused of being a hyphen!

I read on a faq for Nethergate that you can put healing potions in a blessing pool to get knowledge brews. I haven't played far through the game, but is it still true? I found the blessing pool in the crone cavern, but I can't put potions in it.

So is an en-dash midway between a hyphen and em-dash?

Borderline (-4,-3)

Green: Shapers: Creations have few rights, and self-Shaping is discouraged.

Light green: Obeyers: Creations have little rights, and genetic modification is somewhat discouraged.

Me: Creations have few rights (which is slightly more than "little"), and genetic modification is somewhat discouraged.

This reminds of Avernum 3, where a bureaucrat from Spineridge asks for paper and ink. A nearby wandering merchant offers infinite paper for 15 gold apiece, and each paper offered to the bureaucrat nets 10 XP. I got so excited I purchased 10000 gold worth of paper. When I tried to fulfill the mission, the bureaucrat said she had all she needed, and that ended the quest.

Damn! I guess A6 is ruined for me. I was crossing my fingers that there would be an ending that puts the party in real power. They are always nameless heroes.

On that note, I would also like to see NPCs stop treating adventurers with such disdain, as if they haven't heard of the great feats performed by small mercenary bands of the past. In X2 and X3, a group of adventurers has already saved the people of the Pit and become famous. Why do soldiers, high level mages, and government officials tend to treat up-and-coming heroes with disrespect?

There are often wizards who won't "lower" themselves to teach spells to a group of adventurers that have already defeated more monsters than the wizard ever did. In Avernum 3 there are doubters who scoff at the party's abilities. Even Prazac, when asked about the terms of her agreement with Anaximander, says something like "these are higher matters of state; if they were for you to know, you'd be told." I felt like saying, "Well excuuuse me, empress. I just frakkin cleared a continent of monsters. I think I've achieved VIP status by now."

Also, 5000 gold coins? 5000 gold coins? I paid more for Hawke's Manse! I get half a mansion for defeating Valorim's foes in Avernum 3?!?

Are there any details, minor or major, that you would write differently in Avernum series remake? I came up with this after reflecting on Avernum 3, which I've just beaten. I thought it would be interesting to see how certain plot elements could play out differently.

1. Anama mission to aid research in developing an Antimagic Shard/Powder. By mid-to-late game, you can purchase an expensive item that generates an antimagic cloud.

2. Characters are no longer called "pale" after a few weeks in the sun. If party has no sliths, you are essentially unrecognizable as Avernites. There is an ironic mission in which the mayor of Gale, who resents rumors that a band of Avernites is beating the plagues, asks you to report Avernite infiltrators and tasks you with defeating the Golems "before they (the Avernites) interfere." Gives good reward, then finally realizes that you are the Avernites.

3A. When Erika is present for the final battle, Jeff has so far narrated that Rentar's defenses waver by the time she finally defeats Erika. What should change is that your party can defeat Rentar in combat after this point. If she does not die outright, she at least flees due to grievous damage suffered by your magic & blades. This hardly changes the ending, but it would be more satisfying to me as a player. I don't know if I speak for anyone else.

3B. Otherwise, there is a way to achieve an ending in which Erika joins the final battle but does not die, or if she does, she is resurrected/appears as a shade in the epilogue. I still wonder why various NPCs can't be brought back to life like the party can.

4. In any of the games, a new mission - similar to the "find Graymold (Salve) for __" quest, which pops up each episode - could be included that requires the party to "restore life to __." Even if Erika Redmark can't be resurrected, I think it would be worth acknowledging that SOMEONE, even a generic quest character, can be revived with that Return Life spell that only healers or party members seem to know.

What do you think? Are there any aspects of Avernum you've wanted to flesh out or rewrite?

Yikes. I'm stepping on everyone's toes. I admit a one-word post doesn't add much, but Samus Arancaytrus beat me to the point about typical angels' names.

P.S. Misrememorizing someone's moniker isn't considered trolling, is it? If so, I swear I'm innocent! But if I did it, here's how I would...

So I'm ready for the Keep of Tinraya, but I purposely delayed my game to day 161.

Hur hur. No, Alorael's name has only been misspelled once in this topic, but I don't know how to fix the title. Maybe it catches one's eye this way.

gunshaver writes, "Heck. Why not make the entire thread a third-person discussion? Maybe I'll use this gimmick for every post."

gunshaver adds: "-gunshaver, who will take the gimmick to new realms of absurditude"

Part of the reason I registered was to ask this very question. I'm glad I did. I found the use of third-person irritating, even pretentious, but I happen to be a grumpy, irritable person anyway. This eased my mind a little. Thanks everyone.

EDIT: and somewhat redundant

Which one first started signing posts with a third person observation?

It rarely became an issue for me in Exile games (with a higher Gold cap), but having played Avernum 3 recently, I hit the 15000 Gold max quite often. Does anyone think it would have been useful to have a bank to save excess gold in any of the games?

I recognize that gold is scarce in more recent games, so is it a moot point?

I ended up keeping a record of the gold I didn't need (45,000) and restored it using the character editor when I found all the trainers.

For a mage character approaching the final chapters of Avernum 3 (Alien Beasts, Pit of Wyrm, Tower of Zkal, etc.), which should reduce the most damage based on statistics?

Dress [+]: 1-1 damage, 20% protection from all damage

Mithril Woven Robe: 1-14 damage, 20% less chance to be hit, +10% Magic resistance, prevents petrification

Steel Plate Mail: 1-40 + 2 damage

The character's other equipment already adds 20% protection from all damage to several innate resistances [(70% fire, 40% Cold, 30% Magic,30% Mental, 40% Acid); Magic Resistance = 35; Willpower=43; Resist Elements = 20].

Does armor protection only prevent variable points of weapon damage? Does "less chance to be hit" also only protect from weapon attacks?