Walter

Nethergate also had a talking cow (I think the only other talking cow I've seen was in the first scenario for blades). However, there was no useful function for the talking cow, and it's situation was a little depressing.

You do know, the original Nethergate, unlike the remake, was made before any of the Avernum games.

It introduced for the first time in Spiderweb games some of the game mechanics that were later used in Avernum, though in other respects it held over certain features from Exile (such as the conversation system and being able to have more than two traits). It also had some features unique to it (like no levels, just a skill point every few experience, the spell circle system, and having hp being the total of your combat skills.)

Also, I remember some npc saying the mushroom diet turns the meat rancid, and they just use the cows for milk.

Yeah, focus your weapons skills a bit more. You don't need characters with points in all types of weapons skills simultaneously (though you need 6 in both pole and mellee to get blademaster trainable, but get one of them to 6 before starting the other.) You do want to put enough points to get your fighters the better battle disciplines, but that shouldn't be too hard (6 in one, plus 8 in the other to unlock another special skill, plus a few in either bows or thrown (but probably not both), should get you most of them.

 

When assigning traits, don't be afraid of getting the ones with high experience penalties. Due to experience scaling with level, you will only be a few levels behind even with a slith with divinely touched and elite warrior (and the skills you get from those traits will be equal to the points from a lot more levels than that).

 

Try to on at least a few skills put off training any points until you can buy 3 points from a trainer. You can save a lot of skill points this way (though it might be slightly more difficult until you get to the trainer and get enough money.)

 

As for all the items you get, sell them if it seems very unlikely you'd ever want to use it. However, storing certain things might pay off. For instance, using expendable items can be very handy in a difficult fight. Using certain scrolls wands and potions can make a difference between a fight being winnable or not.

 

And as for tool use, there is no reason whatsover to give any points to two different characters. There are two items in the game that will add a total of 3 to your skill, and the highest difficulty door in the game that can't be opened with a quest reward is 18, so you shouldn't get over 15 (there are a couple 20 difficulty doors you can only enter as an Anama member, but the loot behind them isn't worth spending extra points). Also the higher difficulty ones aren't till later in the game, so you can put off putting all the points in it for a while (it will be quite a while before you encounter a door harder than 12.)

 

You might want to do what I do and give more knowledge brews and wisdom crystals to your tool user to balance out their power.

And in case it isn't obvious, the topic title I used is the line you say to him.

It sounds like he was probably playing on normal difficulty, if he found it too easy despite making the questionable choice mentioned of taking negative traits (weak mind on fighters and frailty on mages).

Thanks, for some reason, I had never clicked on that button, though I had tried out what all the other buttons do at one point or another.

A few hours into a new game, I noticed I accidentally named two characters the same thing, which is confusing me occasionally when a message about one of them leveling up appears. Is there any way to fix this? Including using the cheat console or by editing one of the script files?

I noticed that if you start a character with no priest or mage spell skill, they still start knowing 1 spell level in minor heal and bolt of fire. If you then give them some skill they can buy 3 more levels from a trainer to get their skill to 4. However, if they start with some skill it is only possible to buy two levels from a trainer, getting a skill of 3.

 

Thus if you don't mind paying for the first level in the first few other spells and having more difficulty at the start, there is a slight advantage to starting the game with those points uninvested, and then just immediately put them in after starting the game.

So, anyone else stumble across the fact that there is a line of mildly amusing conversation with Dirty Dan that can only be seen if you talk to him while you have fewer than 5 coins? (After which he acts the same as if you did pay him.)

But surely Mother Alice in New Harston would want one nearby so she could get fresh milk?

Why do the people of Avernum no longer seem to have any cows? In previous games you could find cows in most towns, but now the only livestock you see in this game is giant lizards.

Health, energy, and essence are determined by multiplying your endurance or intelligence by your level and by a factor that is based on your class (I think usually between 0.5 and 2), plus a small additional amount so they aren't near zero at very low levels.

The problem though is you need 12 mechanics to disable the trap on the cabinet with the infiltrator's tunic (though if you buff yourself enough you might be able to survive the explosion).

Most creations should be able to survive a mine or two, and they do trigger them, so once you kill the enemies if you need to clear some to get at something just use creations to walk to them one at a time with healing spells interspersed.

Hmm, how does canister usage change the Trakovite ending?

That might be difficult, considering all the war tralls walking the streets. Besides, if you do you can no longer trade in research notes to that guy in the inn, and I don't think there is anything special in particular to be earned from doing so other than items in the buildings in plain view of npcs that are marked as not yours.

If you have glaahks and drayks, you should be able to handle there. It's not hard enough that you'll have to come back a while after you finish the rest of chapter 2.

Remember if you talk to the master of southforge citadel and object to making charged vlish because they are doomed creations, he tells you that vlish are just animals.

I remember in Geneforge 3, when you first see one it says it looks like a heavily modified battle alpha, so that's probably why they were made. The reason Shapers forbid drayks is not just that they are powerful, but that they are too intelligent to be properly obedient. As far as I know, the only creations able to talk are serviles, servant minds, drayks, drakons, and gazers, and battle alphas and thahds (to a limited extent with a very simple vocabulary). Vlish and roamers are sometimes described as being cunning, but they can't communicate in words.

Yeah, I tested with a weapon that gives +2 creation str and +1 creation dex, and had them attack each other, and they were 5% more likely to hit when I did not have it equipped.

Ok, what lowers the prices is turning in the safehouse, as when you do so Alwan tells you he is having Duncan lower his prices.

Also, there were a few other things I wondered about. Do plated clawbugs and plated artilas have more armor than the normal ones? Are there any differences besides level between battle alphas and betas and between glaahks and ur-glaahks? With acid-spitting creations and rotgroths, do some add more levels of acid than others? Do clawbugs do more poison levels than other creations that have a poison melee attack?

All you have to do is rearrange your party order so your creations are in front.

Maybe I have to turn in the rebel safehouse first?