Death Knight

Im currently planning out my party before hand to make it so I will be able to complete Avernum 5 without too much hassle. I have my mage/priest set to be a hedge wizard so I already know what her skills will be, intelligence, mage and priest spells, arcane lore and spell craft. I want to have 2 fighters to hold the front that way I have a strong defense/offense as well. The problem is Ive read you can royally screw up your fighters if you opt to getting the hidden skills when the present skills are better. Besides getting melee or pole arms to 10, and a small amount of quick action, would it be unrealistic if I were to just put points into hardiness, strength and endurance and almost forget about dexterity and train a bit in parry? If one of the fighters is a parry mastered, the other one can be more into strength and endurance. That way, each has a purpose.

Well it does depend on many things even if it won't happen. I used to think that Geneforge 4-5 would win against all of the sides but thats subjective. Sure, shapers are powerful, but if Avadon or Avernum wipes out the shaper in round 1, won't the creations die automatically?

My Avadon party Vs. My Avernum Party.... So first things first, this is what we've got-We have Jenell with all the offensive spells with a high dexterity and decent intelligence, Shima with offensive AOE attacks and my shadowwalker who is same as Shima but with shadowstep and shadow walker mastery. As for Avernum, we have My 2 dualwielding fighters both with hardiness, parry, the works with almost 80% resistance to elements and 85% armor for both of them. Along with them, we have my priest and mage who have already cast a ward of elements and cloak of blades. Turn 1#-So here we go, Avadon goes first as their dexterity is through the roof. Lathan, my shadow walker will start out with launching a AOE razor spray at the whole group of Avernites, lowering the mages and priests in that group health to half and barely grazing and or complete parry of attacks of the 2 avernite fighters. Then comes the other shadowwalker Shima, with his AOE launched, it kills both priest and mage on avernums side. Finally, Jenelll casts Spirit charge which takes the 2 fighters down to 65% health and gives them both a vulnerability curse. Turn 2#-So 2 characters out, now its avernums turn with 2 dualwield fighters. Dawson Riggs (main offensive fighter and leader of group) runs over and launches a well aimed blow with his flame sword and seeking sword, dealing a total of 480 damage to Shima, killing him outright. Next, Larek Sindian (2nd fighter of group and with higher parry and defensive skill), runs over to Lathan and delivers a wellaimed blow with oozing sword and nephil warblade, dealing 412 total damage to Lathan, killing him as well. Turn 3# With both her warriors fallen, Jenell lashes out what she has left and launches an acid storm on the 2 stalwart warriors which has very little effect as both warriors have almost maxed acid/poison res. Turn 4# Dawson Riggs smiles at jenell weeping and him and Larek finish her off with 2 regular sword strikes from their dual weapons. The lesson-no matter how evasive and fast you are and no matter how good with missile weapons, 2 homicidal Avernum fighters with the works will make short work of a party regardless. I only did this because I was thinking about how powerful Avernum characters are in late game, and comparing to Avadon, its almost no comparison. I would like to think that a shaman, a sorceress, and a blademaster might be able to take down that party that i used, only if Shaman goes first and uses vulnerability curse with her spirit charge, then sorceress casts her spell which, coupled with the blademasters arrow AOE, might be able to take the party down. Still who knows. I hope this isnt annoying to anyone. I always love comparing my favorite parties from different game series with my friends as everyone has different opinions. Dont mess with my Avernum!

Hey man. I beat geneforge 1 a while back as an agent. It was ridiculously tough as I was a first time player. Im still trying to find a character style that suits me as there are so many ways of playin a character. Now I would say that while an agent isnt my favorite style of playing, its definitely the best one to choose if you dont want a large team of creations. As for the other 2 classes, Guardians are always tough to play as in all games and are with a small force/dont rely on magic. Shapers have the most creations and thus are usually the easiest to get into in all games. Oh I forgot, Geneforge 4 and 5 add 2 to 3 classes-Shocktrooper, Servile, and Sorceress. Shock trooper is basically a shaper that can fight and summon many creations, A servile is an agent that fights better, and sorceress is a shaper that is better at magic but not as good at shaping. Geneforge 1 is tougher for Agents than other games. I would say that if you want to enjoy the game, try to play the game in geneforge 1 with the class you like and if you dont like the style restart with another class. The good thing about the 1st 2 games is that it is nonlinear. Edit-Oh and leave your sanity at the door, it makes things easier.

I totally agree with you on a lot of points. The old system was fun. The thing is though, the feel to the game is still very much present with builds, just in a different way. In the old game you could focus on a select group of skills and pump them up and thats your class. You could put almost all your points into strength and melee weapons, (not much in endurance) and that would be an offensive fighter. In the new system, its all done on attributes per lvl. If you want to make that offensive fighter now, you put strength every lvl except every 6th which goes to endurance. If you want to make a defensive, strength every lvl except every 4th in endurance. The stat building is still there like old, just different. Thats just avernum. If you really think of it, Avadon is more like old school stat system than you think. You can't just start the game with putting points into anything, you have to specialize. I think the reason jeff made the new system was because it appeals to most players on normal and will offer a challenge to those hardcore on hard difficulty and up. I never had too much trouble with Avadon once I found out the system. I spoke with many people who haven't played many of jeff's games who said they loved the game because it was difficult on regular difficulty. In the end, both systems have their pluses.

Here's the link- https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/dkkb/id572538634?ign-mpt=uo%3D4 Do you take check?

Na, I think that its not me as much as melee just doesn't work. I waited to get 3 extra lvls to buff my character and creation and was over leveled for that task. Something about the gene forge series that its the most interesting games jeff made, but the most frustrating ones he made as well. Im sticking with Avadon and Avernum, I can understand those games. If jeff makes remakes though, thats another story. I would like to play g1-5 with remade and done well.

I tried using items but they kill me in the process, if my creation doesn't die first. The problem is that gene forge seems to be unrelentlessly unforgiving to melee. You go with melee and if you don't have 12 endurance, you die of poison/acid damage. Its ridiculous.

I just reached a breaking point in gene forge 3. It is impossible to get past the infested paths on the 2nd island and heres why. Because right when you get to the swamp, you have 3 waves of enemies who are infected with poison/acid. No matter what you do, you cannot make it through as a melee guardian with a creation. Its just impossible. The main problem is that if I die, i lose, if my creation dies, i still lose as all the levels are gone. How is this fair and what was going through jeff's mind when he made this part?

You forgot one- 4-Cut back on the obscene amount of health points enemies have. This one is not with other games as much as with avadon. I didnt have this problem with Avernum EFTP and other games. It also seems that physical damage caps out at 5% taken off 30 times!. It states in the readme that enemies are given 5% physical damage resistance per lvl. That is 5% damage taken off 30 times to a party of lvl 30. While acid gets 1% resistance for lvl and magic gets 3%. That means that unless you are a shaman or sorceress, you will not deal as much damage to single opponents.

Actually Ive been reading the wikia for geneforge and it says that you can save a bit of essence by getting a low creature like Thadh and keeping it until the end. For the most part, Ive just been pumping strength and endurance on the thadh as there really is no reason to use dexterity as it will lvl up itself.

Trenton, guitar is a lot of fun. I took lessons a while back and it really paid off. Because of it, I just finished my rock cd with my brother and we just copyrighted it. It is on Itunes and we are waiting on getting the copies sent to our house. So you listen to pop, who is your favorite artist?

This is just awesome. Im having an absolute blast with my guardian in gene forge 3. I did exactly as you said triumph and the game isn't excruciating anymore. I do have a question though, I am allowing my thadh to level up and am placing points only in strength and endurance for him with the same going for my guardian, strength and endurance. My question is is it possible to fight through the game with proper tactics on normal, a guardian and a thadh, or will it be too hard. I guess I could enhance my sword with fire enhancement for physical immunes?

Well not to change topics but considering the way you can mess up your character in the old system. I believe that Avadon is almost sort of like the old system in that regard. I noticed this when playing the game a 3rd time, that I usually always respecialize (retrain) my character when i reach the Zhossa Mindtaker battle. Maybe its just me, but it seems like if you want to enjoy the game without having to get too frustrated, utility skills are the way to go for the right skill column. My blademaster used the skills that gave regeneration to survive, my shadowwalker used regeneration in focus on the right column, and my shaman used flat out hardiness and healing skills in the right column. What I can gather from this, is that the right column is very needed almost solely for archer characters, unless you are a sorceress and shaman spellcaster. That makes Avadon have more close calls with specializing than you may think.

I spoke with Zizak-Tel a month ago, they're going to keep writing in that same vein. Frankly, not to sound like Im playing favorites but thats the only Avernum fanfiction of jeff's works that I enjoy reading. Something about how Zizak's story made it almost too much like canon. What I would like to see is more geneforge fanfictions, Avernum shouldnt have all the fun.

Thats one thing that jeff got into in his games although he talks about it on his blog-Romance, sex and other scenes. I guess thats a bioware thing

Hey, from what I remember of that battle (few days ago), you have to pick the right soldier that you can damage the most and focus solely on them. I remember that dabert the fighter has the most health, so dont pick him, go after serlait, I think that he can be damaged much faster as he has less health. Also remember this is all subjective and you might be able to damage one of them more unlike what I said as your party might be different. Magical damage or poison is good too against them in this fight.

Unlike Avernum, I usually make Shima my locksmith as he is still deadly when he loses out on a few points for traps. When you think about it, Nathalie and or the main character are too vital to lose out on skill points. I guess your main character can deal with it, but nathalie needs powerful spells and spell lvls to be highly useful. Thats just my interpretation. Now if you ask me the same question in Avernum, spellcasters have the spare points always. Unless you are roleplaying a rogue for a fighter or archer character.

The only part of Avadon that I find is a pain is the Zhossa Mindtaker battle. I always find that the battle itself is the hardest battle in game. All the other battles in game are a breeze to get through, even ones after it. The reason is that at that point in the game, you have to have a strong offense and defense to last through the battle without losing any chars. I find I most of the time can get past it on norm. Sometimes, I change difficulty to casual when my characters stats just arent at their strongest point.

No I was just talking about when people on the forums list their stats. I noticed sometimes that they have like 9 or 10 dexterity and I was just wondering if they put points in it. Thats all.

I found that I like the old way better because it was much easier to put a large number of points instead of a small number at the beginning. But thats not really it-The real reason is archetypes are much easier to find for character classes. Take avernum 5 for example, you want to make a magekiller type fighter, good go do that from beginning, with regular strength and a litte endurance and dexterity/weapon skills, give that fighter the trait strong will. Presto, you just started the game and already are playing that character. You can still do that with the new system but its much harder. Another major problem with the new system is that there are maximum values with which you can place points in. It would be really epic If I could max out just 4 skills to the max. Melee, Quick action, Hardiness, and Blademaster, thats it. Instead you can only place 10 points in them. The old system I could take luck and other skills to high lvls and even though it might not be powerful, its still a heck of a lot of fun.

One of the things I still dont understand about this is when I look at melee guardians endgame pictures, there are listings of dexterity at high amounts when its really supposed to be ignored for melee guardians. Is this just with items or should you put a few points into there. I only ask because dexterity in geneforge games other than 5, all have acid resistance with it and it can be annoying to get stuck with that.

This game sounds friggin awesome and Ive never played it. It sounds like Jeff made the last game a lot like the original Avernum series with random encounters and such.

Happy Diwali! Most of my friends are Hindu/Indian so thats cool. One of my buddies is Sri Lankan so I dont know if he celebrates that too.

I find that there are mixed feelings that I have for this game. A lot of me likes it more than the original Avernum 1 with the major thing I like about the original being the stat choices and freedom surrounding it. However the graphics and general interface of the new game is more my style which is why I like the newer one more. I played Avernum 1 a little and the only gripe I have which is the graphics are hard to look at for long. Ive never played Exile 1 or 2 and 3 for that aspect. Other than that, I feel that if the original Avernum 1/Exile 1 had the graphics of this remake with stat system of old, it would be the best game series jeff made. I like this game quite a bit but mostly I feel that the stat system just doesnt offer as much freedom as the old system. However, I think the reason it works for Avadon is because Avadon isnt a remake. Avadon is its own game and therefore there is more freedom in that than this remake. Because of this, I have mixed feelings about possible future remakes in Geneforge and other series.