Truth about Traits?

[Melmoth]

Is Good Constitution and or Thick Skin really worth it? I read a post on the message board where someone tested them and said both were useless yet, one of the FAQ I read said "Thick Skin Reduces melee damage taken. Good for your front-liners, obviously. Combined with Good Constitution, they can take a lot of punishment." Another FAQ I read said "Good Constitution Provides a hidden bonus to endurance (resulting in poison and acid resistance), and decreases damage taken from some attacks."

 

Now both FAQs I read seem to say Good Constitution and Thick Skin were good traits. What do you think about Good Constitution and Thick Skin do they work, are the worth taking?

 

What about Natural Mage trait it costs 15% XP but, is it worth it? How much does it add to Spell damage? I know it lets you wear armor but, since my spellcasters stay in back would not Defense skill and light armor work well enough?

 

Thanks

[Randomizer]

Natural Mage and Pure Spirit boost the damage of their respective spell types, mage and priest. They also give free levels starting at 2 in the beginning. Natural Mage also seems to make spells like Terror more effective.

 

The AI has monsters go after the last character that hit them. So spellcasters get attacked even in the rear.

 

Since the game doesn't punish high experience penalties like the earlier ones it helps to give Divine Touched to everyone.

[Schrodinger]

I wrote one of those FAQs, and I'm pretty sure good constitution and thick skin aren't worth it any more. They're cheap, but don't help enough to make them worthwhile.

 

I'd agree and say that natural mage/pure spirit are great for their respective classes. At worst, you miss out on 10 skill points, but get a lot more from these traits with time.

[Alorael at Large]

Good Constitution and Thick Skin are worthless. They don't scale meaningfully with higher levels. The experience penalty doesn't make much difference, but the wasted trait slots do.

 

Natural Mage saves you the skill points you'd spend on defence and lets your casters use a few pieces of more impressive armor, but its real benefit is in added levels of mage skill. You can check all the formulas for spell damage in the manual. Natural Mage adds two or more points to your skill, depending on your level, so it improves your bonus by two or more.

 

—Alorael, who doesn't worry about experience penalties. He's convinced that the more heavily you are penalized the better off you are.