Distribution of Shaping Points (and other shaping questions)[G5]

[Jindrak]

(The first three paragraphs are background, if you aren't interested, skip!)

 

Well I'm a long time Spidweb player, I've bought and completed every Exile and Avernum game (2 was the best of both ), but I just never got into Geneforge very much. I'm not sure why, but it just never really got me into the game very well.

 

Then I got my leg into a cast and needed something to do until I could go back to my normal routine, so I picked up Geneforge 5. I played a significant way through on one run (joining the Rebellion at one point), but was generally unhappy with my character. It was a shaper with an absurd load of skill points in intelligence (my army consisted of two Rots, a War Trall, a Gazer and two Cryoas), and I generally just sat back and let them go bananas on people. There was never really a problem with him, I just wasn't satisfied, so I deleted all my saves. I do this a lot. You should've seen my WoW phase, it wasn't pretty.

 

So now I'm trying to decide between a warrior and a shaper. I put a lot of stock into the player models, and sorry ladies, I just don't like playing the other gender, even if it doesn't affect gameplay at all (I switched the Shaper and Shocktrooper models in the files, but it ended up not working well).

 

Questions

Shaper

Should I stack points into a single shaping class? If so, which one?

How much intelligence/endurance should I aim for?

Should I stack points into a particular magic class?

 

Warrior

What should be my balance for strength/dexterity/endurance?

What shaping class should I use for support?

Should I stack blessing or healing magic?

[Lilith]

For a Shaper, you definitely want War Tralls in the second half of the game, which means investing in Battle Shaping. Early battle creations are nothing special, though, so you might want to put a couple of points in Magic and/or Fire early on. There are perfectly good magic and fire creations that are usable in the late game too, of course. Intelligence should be 20-25 by the later parts of the game: it's almost impossible to have too much. Endurance is hardly necessary at all: a point or two can be helpful, but you shouldn't really be getting hit very much in the first place. For magic, Mental is the only one worth investing heavily in: a little bit of battle magic is useful, but you shouldn't rely on it too much, and there are artifacts that can raise all your magic skills by 5 points anyway.

 

Warriors need enough strength to wear the best armour available to them, and enough endurance to, well, not die a lot. If you're dying a lot, you probably want more endurance. Dexterity is nearly useless unless you want to use missile weapons a lot. Shaping for warriors is an interesting question: you probably want to go for at least a couple of fire or magic creations so that you can deal out something other than physical damage when you need to, although there's nothing wrong with having a war trall or two as well. It's not necessary to invest skill points in shaping skills beyond the minimum you need to make the creations you want, although it does help if you have the skill points to spare. Blessing and healing magic are important but you only need enough skill points in them to cast the best spells you currently know.

[Jindrak]

Thanks for the info, after trying and failing miserably to modify some player models, I went with warrior. Let's see how this goes.

[Randomizer]

Warriors can get through most of the game without creations. So you can wait on making them until you have the items that will give you bonuses to make them.

 

Make sure you put some points to missle weapons so you can attack at a distance to lure enemies towards you one by one. There are a few places where going into melee at the start causes you to get swarmed.

 

Mental magic should be increased from the start since daze is always helpful. You will never be as good as other classes, but there are too many places where daze or charm will keep you from being swarmed to death especially when you face stunners like glaahks or war tralls.

[Jindrak]

So here's what I'm going for:

High: Strength, Melee, Quick Action

Medium: Endurance, Mental Magic, Leadership

Low: Ranged Weapons, Dexterity, Fire Shaping, Mechanics

 

Yay or nay? Is mechanics ever vital? Should I jack up parry? Luck?

[Randomizer]

Luck improves armor, resistances especially poison, and to hit.

Parry is nice but doesn't matter either way at 2% per level in melee and 1% per level in missle it takes a lot to make a difference.

Mechanics will give you lots of nice loot and make some places easier. Mechanics of 7 will really help in the demo area and raising it to 10 will be helpful in Mera. After that the items will help in most other places.

[Doo]

An alternative, if you change your mind and decide to go for Shaper, is to jack your Mechanics up to 12 and then sneak into Rawal's room and steal yourself a Shaper Robe. It also pretty much frees you from putting any more points into Mechanics, as 12'll pretty much get you through everywhere, and even if it doesn't the few Infiltrator items you pick up along the way should cover it.

[Øther]

The most you need in the game is either 16 or 18, and that is in Bennholds keep. It still is nice to have mechanics, though, so you don't have to worry about living tools.

 

For shaping: Battle is ok, but once you get second tier rotter and war trall, those will be two of your most used creations. Magic is also alright, and the wingbolt and gazer(if you have enough essence) will probably be the most powerful of those, but the war trall seems better than them. Fire is pretty good early on, but eventually is overcome by battle. The kyshak (sp) and drake are probably very good creations when you get them, but they get passed over by the battle creations. The best of the fire, the drakon, is very expensive, especially if you want to give it skills, so battle is more practical. I always have a mix of the creations, but I do think you should invest in battle the most.