The Reverend

On Torment? Yes, I think I was level 4 before I was able to handle that encounter on Torment, and even then I barely scrapped by. I think I used a wand as well to get some extra attacks in order to kill him quicker. Wands are actually useful early in the game, because their damage is comparable to the damage you can do (or even slightly better), but they use fewer action points so you can do a wand (or scroll), and then do your regular attack in the same round. Later in the game, though, all but the best wands pale in comparison to the damage you can do, so they aren't nearly as useful (except as items to sell in order to get more money for training or spells).

The chainmail that you get there is actually pretty nice, since it gives you an extra action point. If you do decide to kill the eggs, it's probably beneficial to hang onto the armor. I don't remember its to-hit penalty being that bad relative to other similar armor.

None of the ones you mention will cause you to miss a quest. And some of them have some nice loot as well, although the fights can be difficult if you aren't high enough level.

Lucille was the one who had high gymnastics (via bows) to go with her mage spells, which allowed her to sometimes cast as many as 5 spells in a round (with haste, battle frenzy, and adrenaline rush)? That does sound like an intriguing build for Marian. I just started my playthrough (Lagran just ran away - little does he know I'll get my revenge later!) I'll try to do an update over the weekend.

For issue 1, as you say it hopefully won't happen too often - but when it does it's a great time for a blade sweep! But yes, after that you're stuck until the fatigue wears off. John can still act as a healer then, but Robin won't be able to do much. For issue 2, the same problem arises with sword fighters - although they do have more options for swords that do some non-physical damage. But even then, their damage is typically reduced. In general, the thing that I think may make this build workable is that magic users are the main damage dealers once you get into the mid-game (and forcing them to train in bows doesn't hurt at all - it just gets them closer to battle disciplines). Your physical attack characters mostly do mop up work and protect the spell casters. The archers will do less damage than the sword users, but I think their high dexterity will make them survive longer and thus be more effective at protecting the mages and priests.

As I was working my way through my Anama rules torment playthrough (no mage spells, everyone must train at least a little priest spells - see link in my sig for the full details), I got the idea that an archer-heavy playthrough might be interesting. Archers have often gotten a bad rap in some of the A:EFTP analysis, but on my first playthrough (admittedly on hard, not torment), I found my archer to be a very useful member of the party. High dexterity gives very good evasion to most attacks, and also allows you to act early, which can be advantageous. The big weakness is cold and acid, but I plan to put some points into endurance as well, and also to look for items that boost those resistances. Also, when you have characters that have a decent starting evasion, the evasion bonus of various armors starts to come in to play. Once you get the hardest enemies' to-hit chances below the 95% maximum threshold (which high DEX easily does), the evasion bonuses from items (and gymnastics) can lower it further. With Torment's 30% off the top penalty to resistances (which effectively limits you to 60% resistance), I'm think evasion might be a reasonable defensive strategy. Without further ado, here's the rules and build plan I'm thinking of. Comments/suggestions are welcome. Proposed rules: 1) Every character is at least somewhat proficient in archery (based on the Anama priest rule). They must start with at least one point of bows, and train at least one additional point every 10 levels (i.e., they must have bows at 2 by level 10, 3 by level 20, 4 by level 30, etc.). They must also put at least 1 stat point into DEX every N levels (I'm leaning towards N=6, but I'm not sure yet). 2) Every character's primary physical weapon should be a bow (spells are allowed, of course). I'm not going to limit melee/pole skills training, because you need them for hardiness. But, melee attacks should only be used either ( a ) in the tutorial dungeon (there's only one bow there, and you don't get it until part way through), ( b ) if it's impossible to use a bow (e.g., all enemies are adjacent to you and you can't move), or ( c ) as part of a DEX-based battle discipline (you gotta let archers use Blade Sweep, because they are the ones who can make the best use of it). 2) No 100% min-maxing (hat tip to RBD): At most 2/3 of each characters stat points may be allocated to any single stat. This is based on RBD's rule, but loosened a bit (his rule was at most 1/2). I like being able to have a major stat and a minor stat, as long as they don't get too out of balance. By level 35, this ends up being at most 22 (out of 33) points in your primary stat, which is not far off from what I did in my Anama playthrough (Brutus allocated 24 to his primary stat, and the rest allocated 25). Basic build plan (these are subject to change as I get a feel for how these guys play, of course): Robin Hood: The leader of our band of merry men (and one woman). Robin's a pure archer, and focuses his training on maximizing all of the skills that improve his bow use. His defense will mainly come via the evasion he gets from dexterity (plus some endurance and items with cold bonuses). Skill points: Max out sharpshooter, lethal blows, gymnastics, and, yes, sniper. It's been argued that sniper may be the weakest of these, but I still feel it is useful for a pure archer. Excess points either to additional Bows, or Hardiness via Melee. 2/3 stat points to DEX, 1/3 to END. Traits: 5 x DEX, 3 x Sure aim, 3 x Health, Negotiatior, 4 x END Little John (who is not so little): Little John is Robin's right hand man, and the group's defensive specialist. He also has recently become fascinated with the art of healing, and is taking lessons from Friar Tuck. This will be an Archer-Priest-Tank (via Evasion and Resistances) build. The skill and stat point focus will be on avoiding (DEX, gym), reducing (hardiness, resistance), and survivng (END) damage, and also healing the party since his damage output will be the lowest of the group (similar to Brother Brutus in my Anama playthrough). Max out Hardiness (via 8 + 2 bought to melee) and Resistance (via 8 to priest spells, 8 + 2 bought to spellcraft). This should require 44 points, out of the 65 you get by level 35. For the remaining 21 points: 8 bows (plus 2 bought), 3 sharpshooter, 10 gymnastics (buying 2 more brings it to 12, which gives +24% evasion to stack on top of DEX- and END-based evasion). 2/3 stat points to DEX, 1/3 to END. Traits: 5 x DEX, 5 x END, 3 x Health, Negotiator, 2 more (maybe parry mastery or sure aim??) Friar Tuck: Tuck is the jolly old clergyman of the band. When he's not telling a joke or swilling back some ale, he's pretty competent with the priest spells. He'll be primary a priest, with the archery minor required by the rule set. Standard priest build, except for the required DEX and BOW points. Not sure if I'll do 2/3 INT, 1/3 DEX or 2/3 INT, 1/6 DEX, 1/6 END. Maid Marian: Maid Marian is the party's mage (she recently developed on interest in magic, and being thrown into Avernum will force her to study it more thoroughly - I'm still work out the full back story for the party...). Primary mage, with the required archery minor. Just like Tuck's build, except focused on mage spells. It sure will be nice to have someone who can cast dispel barrier - that's the biggest thing I missed in my Anama playthrough. Having to run all over the place trying to scrounge up one more piercing crystal, and having to ignore all level 3 barriers, was no fun. Difficulty: Torment, to make it interesting (and since I've already seen that archery is effective at lower levels). Edit: Adding another rule (primary weapon must be bow). Also, did y'all know that b followed by ) gets converted to the emoticon? And c surrounded by () without any spaces gets converted to © ?

Yeah, I was referring to the dead ones respawning rather than the hurt ones regenerating. Lilith is right about not getting too far away - I think you can go a decent distance away, but on my first try I got quite far away trying to lure just a single guardian away from a couple others, and the ones I'd already killed ended up respawning. That was unfortunate ...

You can also lure some of the stone guardians away and fight them one or two (or a few) at a time, and then head back to Zephyrine and take her out without as many assistants. If I recall right, though, if you end combat the stone guardians will reset (not 100% sure - it's been a few months, but I think this happens). So, it's probably best to stay in combat mode and head back to Zeph after thinning out the guardian ranks.

And it's worth it - those are great gloves, more than worth the cost of getting rid of the Dread Curse (the priest at the Tower of Magi can be paid to get rid of it, IIRC).

I'd typically run into trouble when I got busy for a couple weeks and couldn't play. I'd come back later, and forget which town I left the boat by. I could almost always find it, but it required a bit of extra wandering.

I always try to leave my boats near towns or other major landmarks, so that if I do forget, I have a limited number of places that I need to check. It usually works out ... but I will admit to having occasionally lost a boat (or two).

If Fort Remote has already been destroyed by demons, it's too late to get that quest (or to complete it). You need to receive and finish the fort remote fire lizard quest prior to completing the quest to kill the slith king (if you want to be able to do it, that is - it is completely optional).

The undead are a bit easier to fight than the ogres, and it also seems to be a bit easier to avoid the undead on the eastern route than it does to avoid the ogres on the main route, but that's based on a very small sample size. I was about level 8 when I made it down there via the eastern route on torment, and at that point the main road route was basically impassable.

You can also get Divine Fire for your priest(s) fairly early by doing the anvil quest for Throndell in the Tower of Magi. Just be sure to avoid the wandering ogres near the Tower of Magi if you have a low-level party and you're playing on a higher difficulty - they can be tough in that case. Divine Fire makes quick work of crowds of undead.

Just to make sure they're really dead.

Yup, I can confirm that you stop getting traits after level 30. The value of extra levels beyond 30 is just the automatic stat increases and the increased hit points and spell points. For offensive-oriented priests, though, those extra spell points can make a difference (especially in the Grah-Hoth and Hawthorne battles).

My first time playing Geneforge 1, I started out as a shaper and fount it wasn't fun. I just wasn't getting into the whole managing a large group of creations thing. So, I went back and restarted as an agent and had a great time. I say go for it!

The Reverend is a bit woozy from his sudden transformation, and is not sure why he is wearing a school-boy outfit rather than his (recently new, now covered in stains) robes. And, the world seems to move a lot faster now that he is no longer a slug. After summoning Big Man's goose gun, he starts to feel light headed and sits down. Forgetting that all of his troubles seemed to start when he accepted (and of course started drinking) the skribbane bourbon from those gremlins, he grabs the flask (which somehow made its way from the hidden flask pocket of his robes to the schoolboy fanny pack he now finds himself wearing). After a couple sips, he suddenly finds himself feeling very energized. The Reverend: Hmm, bourbon doesn't usually do that - it must be the "skribbane", whatever that is. He finds some large rocks nearby and starts throwing them at the Raptors. He's never been able to throw this quickly or accurately before. Between the high-velocity goose corpses, the volleys of arrows, and the Randy Johnson-like rock fastballs, the raptors seem to be starting to rethink their decision that the Spiderwebbers were going to be an easy meal. But they are stlll hungry... The Reverend: We need to find a way to convince them that there's an easier meal elsewhere. There's too many of them for us to hold off forever. Any ideas, anyone?

And that's it! Hawthorne is dead, and Brutus, Cecilia, Fred, and Mini have completed all three major quest lines on Torment without casting a single mage spell. Long live the Anama! The Final Chapter After the last update, Brutus and Co made quick work of the Final Gauntlet. Next up was Grah-Hoth, who caused a bit more difficulty because having to get through all of the minions he summoned caused Fred and Mini to both run out of energy and have to use an energy elixir. (In general, energy issues were the biggest difficulty with this priest-focused party - offensive priest spells are expensive.) But after that, the rest of the minions went down quickly, followed by Grah-Hoth. They were prepared for similar energy difficulties when going after Hawthorne, so they tried to balance quickly moving through the Royal Spire (to face fewer enemies) with trying not to use too much energy. This meant no Divine Retributions until they reached the throne room. Divine Fire (and smite to finish off enemies who were almost out of HP) was sufficient to make it through to the throne room, although Fred and Mini had to quaff two energy elixirs each on the way, and a third right before entering the throne room. All four also quaffed an invulnerability elixir right before starting the final fight (the first time they had used them all game). Fred and Mini then used Divine Retribution (very effective against the sentinels and the mobs that entered the room after chasing us up the spire - especially because the sentinels seem very vulnerable to slowing, which DR gives you at level 2), Brutus healed (even with invulnerability, there were enough enemies in the room that we we losing 1/3-1/2 of hit points in some rounds), and Cecilia engaged enemies out of range of the retributions. Eventually Hawthorne used up his shield assisting the sentinels, and Brutus (who was nearby), snuck over and slayed him. Epilogue When they found the exit, Brutus and Cecilia were married in small ceremony on the surface by Fred and Mini. After the Hawthorne assassination, they used their fame and fortune to build an Anama Temple in Northern Avernum. Soon after they teleported back from assassinating Hawthorne, they also discovered that Cecilia was pregnant with twins. They named the children Fred Jr and Mini Jr, in honor of their friends. When they twins became teenagers, they joined the war against the Empire, and become pivotal figures (I realize this is stretching the timeline more than a little bit, but it gives a good backstory for an Anama playthrough of A:CS when it comes out). Meanwhile, Fred and Mini returned to the surface through the exit (before the Empire was able to close it off), and were able to locate some of their old Anama connections. Eventually they connected with Ahonar, and assisted in the reestablishing the Anama in Valorim during they time of Prazac. Final Party Builds Brother Brutus Strength: 35 (+ 6 from traits and items) Dexterity: 11 Intelligence: 11 Endurance: 20 (+ 7 from items and traits) Melee: 12 Hardiness: 12 (+ 1 from items) Parry: 12 Blademaster: 8 Quick Action: 2 (+ 3 from items) Dual Wielding: 1 Lethal Blow: 2 Bows: 2 Thrown Missiles: 2 Gymnastics: 2 (+ 4 from items) Priest Spells: 8 Spellcraft: 10 Resistance: 12 Arcane Lore: 2 First Aid: 1 (+ 2 from items) Cave Lore: 4 HP: 379 Energy: 265 Armor: 86 Magic: 83 Fire: 86 Cold: 83 Poison: 89 Acid: 90 Mental: 77 Curse: 47 Traits: Improve Strength x 3, Improve Endurance x 5, Mighty Blows, Parry Mastery x 2, Ambidextrous, Good Health, Robust Health, Perfect Health, Negotiator Sister Cecilia Strength: 36 (+ 7 from traits and items) Dexterity: 11 Intelligence: 11 Endurance: 19 Melee: 17 Hardiness: 12 Parry: 12 Blademaster: 12 (+ 8 from items) Quick Action: 5 Dual Wielding: 5 Lethal Blow: 5 Gymnastics: 2 Priest Spells: 5 Spell Craft: 1 Resistance: 3 (+ 1 from items) Arcane Lore: 1 Cave Lore: 2 Luck: 0 (+ 3 from items) HP: 333 Energy: 265 Armor: 84 Magic: 78 Fire: 75 Cold: 72 Poison: 72 Acid: 85 Mental: 56 Curse: 23 Traits: Improve Strength x 5, Mighty Blows x 3, Parry Mastery x 2, Ambidextrous, Good Health, Robust Health, Perfect Health, Negotiator, Sage Lore Father Fred Strength: 11 (- 3 from items) Dexterity: 11 (- 1 from items) Intelligence: 36 (+ 5 from traits) Endurance: 19 (+ 3 from vampiric knife) Melee: 6 Hardiness: 8 Parry: 5 Quick Action: 5 (+2 from items) Lethal Blow: 7 Pole: 2 Bows: 2 (+ 3 from items) Thrown: 2 Gymnastics: 2 Priest Spells: 17 Spellcraft: 12 (+ 4 from items) Resistance: 12 Tool Use: 4 (+ 1 from traits) Arcane Lore: 2 Magical Efficiency: 4 (+ 1 from items) Cave Lore: 3 First Aid: 0 (+ 1 from items) HP: 350 Energy: 415 Armor: 74 Magic: 73 Fire: 73 Cold: 73 Poison: 79 Acid: 88 Mental: 90 Curse: 58 Traits: Improved Intelligence x 5, Elemental Focus x 5, Good Health, Robust Health, Perfect Health, Nimble Fingers, Negotiator, Sage Lore Mother Mini Strength: 11 (- 1 from items) Dexterity: 11 Intelligence: 36 (+ 7 from items and traits) Endurance: 19 Melee: 5 (+ 3 from items) Hardiness: 7 Parry: 6 Quick Action: 5 Lethal Blow: 7 (+ 2 from items) Pole: 0 (+ 4 from items) Bows: 2 Thrown: 1 Gymnastics: 2 Priest Spells: 17 Spellcraft:12 Resistance: 12 Tool Use: 4 (+ 1 from traits) Arcane Lore: 3 Magical Efficiency: 5 (+ 1 from items) Cave Lore: 2 HP: 333 Energy: 425 Armor: 74 Magic: 75 Fire: 77 Cold: 77 Poison: 77 Acid: 86 Mental: 90 Curse: 39 Traits: Improved Intelligence x 5, Elemental Focus x 5, Good Health, Robust Health, Perfect Health, Nimble Fingers, Negotiator, Sage Lore

Quick update: I made it through the Final Guantlet and found the Exit yesterday, and defeated Grah-Hoth today. I've also made it through the Black Spire. Up next, the Tower of Barriers and then on to the Royal Spire and vengeance against Hawthorne! The party is up to level 36. I'll post final builds once Hawthorne is defeated.

I was once a vegetarian, many trips around the sun ago. But then I tried to make a quiche lorraine with fake bacon (fakcon?), and it made the quiche turn a very disturbing shade of purple. My vegetarianism didn't last much longer after that. Because, bacon. Gotta have bacon. As for stuffing, I usually cook it outside the bird in a casserole pan because stuffing the bird makes it harder to get the inner parts of the bird up to a safe temperature without overcooking the outer parts. But, I give the stuffing a turkey flavor by mixing in fried, chopped-up gibblets, and also drizzling some of the turkey pan juices over the top before and during cooking.

Or this.

That morning, while running at the park with my daughter, we saw a banana slug and she asked (in the way that only three year olds can), "Daddy, what if we were slugs?" Later that day when I was browsing the forums, I thought it would be fun to change things up a bit for The Rev. So I made him a slug. My apologies for making you slip-n-slide. Hopefully our characters can use that to their advantage against the raptors ...

The giant slug looks helplessly at the chaos around him. He is moving too slowly to be of much assistance, and without hands (or even arms), he can't play any enchanting melodies. As he's brooding over this unfortunate turn of events, he notices that one of the raptors has slipped on the slime he used to create his earlier message. It appears that raptors are not very good at getting up when they've fallen on their backs. He tries to point out the fallen raptor to the others, but gesturing is difficult when you have the body of a slug. Luckily Harehunter notices the fallen raptor before it is able to regain its footing, and ends its struggles with a well-placed arrow. The Reverend begins to slowly make a slime circle centered on the bus, being careful to leave a small gap directly in front of the bus so that the bus won't hydroslimoplane when it tries to leave.

I believe it shows up under your Traits. The priest at the Tower of Magi can remove it, for a (not so small) fee. But, her fee is worth it for the stuff you can get by robbing Formello.