wasbear

I recently started a new torment singleton playthrough after finishing A:EftP that way and am having a lot of trouble with the low survivability of my character (still in Chapter 1). I've tried raising both armor (through wearing armor, hardiness and parry) as well as Endurance, but it seems that even at 50-60% armor, enemies largely ignore it. Minibosses can 1-2 shot me, so I have to heal almost every turn. I'm not sure if it's even possible to get decent damage mitigation even with the best armor sets. I don't recall A:EftP being quite as difficult on Torment, so I'm curious if any of the beta testers managed to run a singleton all the way or most of the way through the game. What stats/skills/traits did you focus on first? I'm happy to report, however, that a singleton can do quite well on Hard difficulty. The difference is literally night and day. Do you guys know what the armor/resistance penalties are for Hard and Torment in A2:CS?

I found that the simplest way to complete the quest is not to fight anyone you don't have to. Having blink as a mage helps a lot, but even if you don't have it, simply run past the endless royal guards - only two of them should follow you at a time due to corridor width. I then ran into the throne room and focused my attacks on one golem. Keep hitting him until the emperor's shield goes down, blink to the emperor and kill him, then blink to the portal exit. To me this kind of fast in and out approach is the only realistic way such an assassination could have been done in the first place.

I've noticed the same phenomenon in my last playthrough. Even at the end of the game with most of my resistances at or close to 90%, I don't think I was able to block more than 2/3 of the damage reliably. That's why you need endurance/healing on Torment. No matter what the exact mechanics are, the game is still beatable on Torment with a party or solo.

Here's the singleton build I finished the game with on Torment: I basically followed Randomizer's suggestions from a previous thread. Start with some mage spells (1-2 points), some priest spells (1 point) and some melee weapons. First raise melee weapons, hardiness and parry to 10. Then raise priest spells to 12, mage spells to 4-5 for icy rain, spellcraft to 10 and resistance to 10. Finally, finish the game after raising mage spells to at least 9 (for blink, which is helpful in the Adze-Haakai, Grah-Hoth and Hawthorne fights for positioning), and ideally 14 - so you can cast cloak of the arcane with items. With regards to stats, raise strength until you can hit enemies reliably, then endurance so you can survive, and then focus on intelligence by mid/end-game since spells will become the main source of damage in many fights. You don't need to buy cave lore/tool use/arcane lore, if you use a little trick, although it may not be for purists. Simply create additional characters with the required skills, then delete them afterwards. I see it as bringing an expert to help you out with a specific task, rather than having a companion. Torment can be hard enough without diluting your build into non-combat relevant skills.

Since the Windows release is just around the corner, I was wondering if you guys had any other suggestions for making successful singleton builds. Is it wise to focus on melee combat/survivability early and then pump magic later on? Are priest spells better than mage spells due to better area of effect? Any tips for the early game in terms of getting good equipment easily and/or which areas are good to explore first?

It seems a bit unfair that Avernum is released on the iPad for $10 while the same game is $20 on PC/Mac. You're paying double just for using a different platform.

The game is available, if you know where to look. The hintbook is also available from the same place.

I was just wondering if any of the beta testers tried playing the game solo. Is it viable in Avadon - if not on Torment, then Normal difficulty?

So is slith really better than nephil for a singleton this time around, given the decreased usefulness of both bows and dodging? Is dodge sufficient to avoid most attacks on normal if not torment difficulty?