Dying agent[G5]

[Untamed Banana Slug]

Essence blades is 50 essence, so I'd leave 150 essence in reserve, that will leave you with 100 essence to play with (5 mass madness spells! ).

[Spddin Ignis]

my essence is at 1,200 so...

[Untamed Banana Slug]

How did you get so much essence?!

[Randomizer]

Creations each need about 150 to 200 essence depending upon the ones you use.

 

Trakovites spell trainer Sage Mendoa:

 

after joining - advanced spells (expensive) - mass madness, battle roar

 

after Destroying the Minds quest -

most advanced spells (exhorbitant) - kill, essence lances, purifying rain,

strong daze, charm, mass madness, essence armor, elemental aura, battle roar, major heal, cleanse group, mass restore

[Namine]

Shaper Spddin, how did you get so much essense?

[Spddin Ignis]

My intel is inbetween 20 and 25 i dont remember. The sooner you get your intel hig the higher it will get because it increases everytime you level up depending on where your nubers are at.

[Untamed Banana Slug]

Were you playing as a lifecrafter? I had about 22 intelligence as a sorceress, and didn't have over 1000 essence.

[Namine]

wait is this in geneforge 5?

[Untamed Banana Slug]

Yes.

[Randomizer]

Geneforge 5 can get characters to reach levels in the 50s. So there is plenty of time to raise abilities.

[Namine]

im surprised you can get over 1000 essense, oh i've also been wondering how high should i bing end int str and dex?

[Spddin Ignis]

the max is 62 i beleive for levels

[Spddin Ignis]

in this run through im a shaper.

[Namine]

oh, that may explain it. I'm an agent (obviously) XD

[Randomizer]

From a discussion of GF5 without shaping here are Drakefyre and my final stats:

 

Drakefyre's Stats

Randomizer's Stats

[Namine]

When i make the agent, should i have it pure magic? or should i have some melee stuff in there too?

[Untamed Banana Slug]

Pure magic. Melee is redundant.

[Namine]

hmm, what about parry? is it useful at all?, oh and luck too, arn't they both useless?

[Untamed Banana Slug]

Parry is not worth investing in, although you can always buy a few points from Rawal's trainer. I wouldn't worry about luck either. It's nice to have from items, but those points would be better spent on mental magic/spellcraft.

[Namine]

so what do i do so i take less damage from oppoenents?

[Untamed Banana Slug]

Armour with golden crystals or any damage reducing augmentation, weapons that increase resistance (charmed falchion is the best weapon for a sorceress IMHO)and cursing your opponents with vlish. Armour is very effective in Geneforge 5, you can effectively become a tortoise.

 

On the flip side, killing your opponents quicker and incapacitating them (daze, terror, charm) helps reduce damage. Dominate/charm is very useful for drawing fire away from you and your creations. Charm an individual in the middle of a mob, and the mob will focus fire on him instead of you!

 

Mass Madness is golden. It won't charm the very powerful foes such as bosses, although it will slow them. What it will do it charm all of their henchmen, which is just awesome. Very good if you intend to fight Taygen.

[Namine]

I see, thx a ton banana slug, any other spells you recommend?

[Randomizer]

Any attack spell with lingering damage past the initial round, so poison (searer), acid (burning spray), and lightning aura (lightning aura or advanced version - essence lances). If you can do all three to some targets you can get 200+ damage a round after you apply them.

 

You should get some melee skills from a trainer and artifact items for the few monsters that mostly take physical damage. The worms in Lerman's Pass are the best example. You don't need much and a decent sword will give over 100 damage a blow.

[Namine]

Oh yea that reminds me, ive found prices are really expensive and have been trying to find out what are good sources of money? Do you guys have any?

[Øther]

Sell sell sell. If you see anything that you don't need; sell it. You can even steal a few things(usually) from towns and such without them attacking you.

[Namine]

if i steal, won't it affect quests? and the ending?, and i don't sell because i don't know whats valuable or not xD

[Untamed Banana Slug]

If no-one sees you, it's not a crime. And you can get away with quite a few thefts that are seen depending on how tolerant the city is of crime.

 

Money is scarce up until you hit the Storm Plains, then you're rolling in it.

[Øther]

If you steal, it only affects the town you are in. You could cheat (if you wanted) and use pleaselikeme or something like that, but if merchants still trade with you, and nobody is trying to kill you, then you are good. As far as I know, it doesn't affect the ending.

 

You know if something is more valubale then what you have if it gives more protection/damage, and gives more stats. Sometimes how much something sells for gives you a clue, but I think it only really did that in Avernum.

[Randomizer]

Keep crystals, pods, and spores since they use 3 AP and are really helpful when slowed.

 

When you get better armor than sell older versions. Most of the gemstones you find can be sold since you only need about 10 for crafting.

 

I added recently Synergy Style Item List and marked items that can be stolen if you closed doors or wait until no one can see you. Also some zones allow thefts where you are seen as long as you don't reach the zone's crime tolerance level. For some reason Drakons are very touchy, but you can steal a lot from Shapers.

 

Also do quests for the Shapers since they pay well and most don't affect the game.

[Lilith]

Originally Posted By: Shaper Spddin

The sooner you get your intel hig the higher it will get because it increases everytime you level up depending on where your nubers are at.

This isn't true, by the way. If you raise your Intelligence at a higher level, your essence will automatically readjust itself as if your Intelligence had been that high all along, so how soon you put points into it won't affect your final essence.

[Student of Trinity]

There have to be lots of monsters that will give more than 1 xp. There are things that were giving me over 20 at level 50 with 6 Shock Tralls. So you just have to find them, maybe in areas you missed.

 

From the emphasis you give to your mission from Rawal to kill Platano, I wonder if you realize: Rawal is not the main plot. He's just this jerk who put a control tool in your chest, and he has no way of knowing what you are doing when you're far away from him. So let him wait. Kill Platano for him eventually if you want — as you already know, Rawal's rewards are pretty decent. But there's a whole lot of other much more important stuff to check out. In particular, if you join one of the five factions, you can get training in higher level spells like Charm, Strong Daze, Essence Armor, Resistance Aura, Essence Lances and Kill.

 

I agree with most of the previous advice, but not all of it is equally important.

 

A couple of creations can help, though there are only a few places where it's really hard to do without them. Depending on the difficulty level you're playing at, and how much Essence you have, this might be the one thing that makes the game easy for you, or it might not really help much at all. As an Agent you'll have a hard time building up the huge Shaping skill levels that can make your creations much better than the rogues and enemies. If the best creations your Agent can make are disappointing, try some of the other things people have suggested here — and then try the game again as a Shaper-type, to see that creations can be really good.

 

It will help a lot to get better armor, including enhancements from crystals. You want Flamecaster Greaves or the like, a good shield, a breastplate rated at least 34%, the whole outfit. Items that add to your AP are especially great. (If you need strength to wear it all, put a few points into Strength, and forge a Talisman of Might.) Toward the end of the game an Agent should be taking quite low damage from most attacks, and not worrying about stun.

 

But the big, big thing you need with an Agent is use your spells well. You probably should be putting one of the long-lasting Essence blessings on yourself at the start of every zone, and maybe also keep up a Regeneration Aura. Protection and War Blessing should be maintained constantly. All these blessing magic spells really make a huge difference. Speed is worthwhile, too, at least until you get your AP over 9 with items.

 

Attacks that do damage over several rounds are also your friend as an Agent, because you can slam an enemy with a couple of them and run away and wait for them to die. The AI is pretty stupid, so you should be able to shake them off in a round or two even if they chase you, especially if you've slowed them or left behind a disposable Fyora or something to distract them. If your spell wears off before they die, heal up and run back and repeat.

 

But by far the single biggest trick you'll want for a G5 Agent is Mental Magic. Strong Daze is great if your Spellcraft and MM stats are high enough, and you should make them high enough for SD to be great. Charm (or before it, Dominate) is the best, though. Cast it on one enemy in a pack, and the rest of the pack will almost always pile onto your new friend. Keep on casting it on other swarm members each round or two, and you can get a swarm to wear itself down fighting itself. Whenever one of them gets near death, kill it yourself for the xp. And when bosses shape creations to attack you, you can Charm them into attacking their creator.

 

Finally, some G5 zones are just really hard, and you'll need to come back later. Most of the remote and hard-to-reach zones, reached through trapdoors and the like, are quite hard. But so are the Wastes around Gazaki-Uss. Level 35 is midgame in G5. There's a lot of other stuff to do.

[Untamed Banana Slug]

Creations are essential for any boss which is immune to mental magic.

[Student of Trinity]

True, but they can be the boss's creations, which you have charmed.

[Untamed Banana Slug]

That won't work so well against bosses with no creations, or weak creations. On Torment, I'd say that you *need* the damage output that War/Shock Tralls give you.

[Student of Trinity]

They certainly do work well if you've got them. But people have done it without them. And the few low-level Tralls that an Agent can make certainly won't be enough to make the whole difference on Torment. I've been finding quite a few guards, and of course rotdhizons and gazers, that take ten or more high level Shock Trall hits to go down, and that can kill a Shock Trall in a couple of rounds.

[Untamed Banana Slug]

How would you get the required damage output without upper tier creations?

[Student of Trinity]

In a word, slowly.

[Untamed Banana Slug]

Hah! The problem is, the longer it takes to kill your opponents, the greater the opportunity they have to kill you. And I also lack patience.

[Spddin Ignis]

And i do reccmend a relativly good amount of melee weapons becausr there are a couple of creatures totaly immune to magic. As said earlier lermans pass is the best example. Ot will also help with killing the unbound. Get them in a corner so they cant use their death ray thingy and beat the living essence out of them.

[Drakefyre]

Unbound are also not resistant to magic, so I like to stand out of range of their area of effect spells and pump them with acid, essence lance, and kill.

[Spddin Ignis]

but you dont have those spell early in the game.

[Alorael at Large]

And you shouldn't be trying to kill Unbound early in the game.

 

—Alorael, who suggestion for money is to pick up everything that isn't someone's property and check it's price in the item info screen. Once you get a sense of what's worth selling you can try stealing that sort of thing from towns as well.

[Spddin Ignis]

im talking about when you first get into the mera-tev.

I kill unbound the second i see them.

[Namine]

Well thanks for all your help guys, feel free to comment and add any tips =D, so i was wondering, what are you? Pro shaper or rebel? and why.

[Namine]

Oh, guys i was wondering, if you make something like a shaper or a sorceress, since they usually stay away from hand to hand combat should i still add it in strength and endurance?

[Spddin Ignis]

not much end,, shapers are extremely resistant to most attacks, and you might wanna add a point or 2.

[Namine]

what about strength?

[Randomizer]

It depends upon your playing style. A dead weight shaper that just casts blessings and healing doesn't need strength since it avoids fighting and getting hit. If you plan to be active and do damage then you will need some strength for armor.