A4 midgame slump

[Naburimannu]

Around the time I reach the Great Cavern I'm hitting a difficulty ramp - whether it's gathering glowing basalt from the tiny caves and getting one-shotted, or following the main quest from the castle to talk to the "great leader" underneath that same area and getting attritted to death.

 

When I started up A4-A6 I was excited about the game mechanics, but now I'm remembering what frustrates me about them: spending skill points is even harder to figure out than spending consumables. How do I strengthen my party?

 

I've got a couple of levels worth of skill points I can spend. Dying too quickly makes me think I should boost End, but at lvl 15 + with Augmentation on I've already got around 85 hit points; another 2 End is +15 hp and not going to help against 50-60 point flame damage attacks. There don't seem to be ways to temporarily boost my elemental resistances.

 

The party creation guides on Strategy Central make great reading for starting out, but by the midgame they don't seem to be steering me usefully.

[Micawber]

Have you done all available side quests so far? I often find the fire-breathing critters a bit tough, you can always leave those and come back.

 

As for attrition: summons are useful, Dex and Defense can also help you avoid getting hit. Also, I do try to have more than one priest in the party.

 

A4, more than other sw games, has tactical challenges. Sometimes you need to figure out a new technique, to survive, or to make the fight much easier. Fighting the same combat a couple of times sometimes you can find a trick, or sometimes you just get lucky.

[Randomizer]

Avernum 4 was the last game where the priest spell essence armor also raised health and you should it with augmentation. But you should take a look at spell descriptions since there are a few that will give some elemental resistances.