A4 questions

[Dunbar42]

I'm new to A4 (to the whole Avernum series, really); I've only played the geneforge games. I have a couple questions...

 

I read on the boards that XP penalties aren't a big deal, so I made a Slith fighter with Elite Warrior and Divinely Touched. I'm worried now that his XP penalty is crippling...45% for the traits and 20% for his race. Is divinely touched worth it, as I only really got it for the boost to blademaster? Or would would something else, like fast on feet, be better?

 

Also, it seems as you level up you get less XP from fighting the same foes. How does this work if you have characters of different levels in the party? Does everyone get XP based off their own level, off the highest level character in the party, or off their average level?

 

Thanks for your help!

 

Edit:

 

One other question, about lore. It says in game that you characters will share the lore skill, so you don't need to focus on one character. I've seen it mentioned on the boards that you need 15 magic lore or 25 nature lore for various things...is that 25 nature lore total? So my characters have 6, 6, 6, and 7 nature lore?

[Radix Malorum Est Cupiditas]

A high penalty in no way cripples you. (Which does not mean, however, that Fast on Feet may be more useful than Divinely Touched.)

 

The level of the party member with the highest level.

[Schrodinger]

Quote:

Originally written by Dunbar42:
One other question, about lore. It says in game that you characters will share the lore skill, so you don't need to focus on one character. I've seen it mentioned on the boards that you need 15 magic lore or 25 nature lore for various things...is that 25 nature lore total? So my characters have 6, 6, 6, and 7 nature lore?

25 nature lore total for the party is indeed all you need. Don't forget that you will find at least one item that adds 2-3 points, so factor that into your plan.

However, 25 nature lore is only necessary for one specific item. If you don't want one of the most powerful bows in the game, you can save 3 points (for a set of gauntlets that require 22 nature lore), or 6 points (for most everything else, which has a max of 19 required nature lore). Up to you.

[Randomizer]

You need a combined Arcane lore, by adding up the individual character ones, of 15 to read all spellbooks. However you don't need to get this all at once.

 

The first spellbook in Fort Draco is at 3. The next two in Formello and Motrax's Caves are 4. Hrickis one is 5.

 

The Eastern Gallery have most spellbooks at 6 and 8. The exception is Fort Avernum at 12. This will do for most spellbooks until you get deep with the Great Cave. You can always go back and read a spellbook later when you can afford to raise arcane lore. It also helps to distribute it equally to reduce training costs.

 

The same can be said for Nature Lore. In the demo, most items are cached under a combined nature lore of 6. The Eastern Gallery needs up to 12. You can go higher to get harder items later in the game.

 

Nature lore does allow some monsters to become calm so they won't attack you. This is the total party level, so if someone is unconcious the level will drop and you may get attacked when you retrace your path.

 

High experience penalty means that the party will go up slower and not have as high a level (1-3 levels) as lower penalty groups. The bonus special skills will make up for the lower levels. Having a lower level will mean that the penalty for party to monster level will kick in later.

[Alorael at Large]

Quote:

Originally written by Randomizer:
The bonus special skills will make up for the lower levels. Having a lower level will mean that the penalty for party to monster level will kick in later.

Quoted for emphasis. Since the limiting factor on your level is usually the fact that you end up fighting monsters that give no experience, not a shortage of monsters to fight, an experience penalty has minimal impact on your characters. The bonuses are hefty, though.

Really, A4 isn't so hard that you can really screw up a character with poorly planned traits. I'm fond of giving my fighters Elite Warrior and Divinely Touched, but Fast on Feet is very nice too.

—Alorael, who would consider an all-disadvantage character (as is currently being tried) a true challenge. It's hard in A2, although it was done, but A2 doesn't inflict "bonuses" that weren't so that the negative traits got you coming, going, and in between.

[Dunbar42]

Thanks for the help everyone! I've been trying a pair of elite divinely touched warriors (one sith and one nephil), a human divinely touched mage/theif, and a nephil pure spirit divinely touched priest/archer. It's going well so far, and I'm glad to hear the xp penalties aren't going to ruin me in the long run.

[Radix Malorum Est Cupiditas]

Quote:

Originally written by AlO RLY?:
—Alorael, who would consider an all-disadvantage character (as is currently being tried) a true challenge. It's hard in A2, although it was done, but A2 doesn't inflict "bonuses" that weren't so that the negative traits got you coming, going, and in between.

If you'r talking about my game, that's on hold for a while until I can gather the courage to go down to Mertis.

[Walter]

While it is no way crippling, I'd say there are better trait choices than divinely touched unless you are planning on making a lot of use of at least 2 of the 3 skills it gives you (most likely if you take the challenge of trying to use a single character).

[Alorael at Large]

Elite Warrior is the most useful for a fighter. After that, what beats Divinely Touched?

 

—Alorael, who can make a case for Fast on Feet. That's really all.