Nice: infinite* wisdom crystals and herbs.

[Jerakeen]

In a fine Spiderweb tradition, the Slith village at the entrance to the waterfall warrens will restock if you buy them out, giving you all the wisdom crystals and herbs (except graymold, unfortunately) you can afford. *OK, so the supply is only as infinite as your cash flow, but the price is right.

 

Sweet!

[Soul of Wit]

All herbs can be found in outdoor herb patches. Most (all ?) of then will replenish over time. There definitely is a Graymold patch.

Click to reveal..

NE of the Freehold of Kyass, on an island/peninsula

Can anyone confirm that there is a Mandrake patch that actually replenishes?

[Jerakeen]

There is a mandrake patch in the Giant Lands. *

 

I know about the patches, of course, and you can get infinite wisdom crystals for free if you want to spend the rest of your life wandering the length and breadth of Avernum.

 

And hey, who wouldn't?

[Soul of Wit]

I knew that this game was generous with the wisdom crystals, but infinite seems crazy...

 

...until you hit level 30. Suddenly, you only get to upgrade every 5 levels. It beats a hard (and early) level cap, though. I'm looking at you, previous Spiderweb game.

[Jerakeen]

And since I've read that killing monsters stops giving you XP once you hit level 40, I've been saving all my wisdom crystals until that point, or the endgame, whichever comes first. Is that crazy?

[Superba]

I saved 18 for a different reason, my game is not finished yet (Final Gauntlet done, Grath-Hoth close to the end), however I collected them because from time to time in game there's people talking about a wizard gone mad trying to use crystals to revert the teleport and escape tothe surface. I'm not that sure they referred to wisdom crystals but I held them, you know, just in case.

Now, if there's another way to use them I would like to understand how it works, and sorry I am not sure I understood what you are going to get, why, when and how you "buy them out" in the mentioned village to obtain "the restock".

[Jerakeen]

If you buy everything in the shop, which you can do for something over 3000c, then leave and return, the items in the shop will have been replenished.

 

You can keep the wisdom crystal and the herbs you want, and sell the rest somewhere else. It will still cost you a fair chunk of change, of course.

 

That business with the portals is just a wild idea someone had. The only use for them is to give you free XP.

[Soul of Wit]

...

[Kreador]

Originally Posted By: Soul of Wit

Originally Posted By: Superba

I saved 18 for a different reason, my game is not finished yet (Final Gauntlet done, Grath-Hoth close to the end), however I collected them because from time to time in game there's people talking about a wizard gone mad trying to use crystals to revert the teleport and escape tothe surface. I'm not that sure they referred to wisdom crystals but I held them, you know, just in case. ...

I am guessing that the crystals mentioned by the wizard are one of the many references, in this first Avernum, to the Vahnatai race. I do not believe they are mentioned by name in the first game, but they become a big part of the plot in the second game of the series. The Vahnatai elders become Crystal Souls and the Vahnatai are big on crystals, in general.

Early in the game several people tell you about the crazy wizard, and that he left that crystal by a statue. When you find it, it's a Wisdom Crystal.

I do believe there is one place in this game where the name Vahnatai appears, but I'd have to load a save with my experienced party to go double-check.

[Quiconque]

Unless you fight random battles over and over -- a worse grind than infinite herb-gathering -- the economy in Avernum is limited. Wasting 3000 gold on a few herbs and wisdom crystal is a huge waste of money when there are so many valuable trainers and spell trainers.

[Jerakeen]

After you sell off the excess, it's more like 2000c, but I agree that you wouldn't do it as long as you have training you still want to buy. Many Spiderweb games seem to give you an excess of cash toward the end, though, and I haven't gotten far enough to see whether it's true here or not.

[Randomizer]

Also while Wisdom Crystals are infinite, there seems to be a slight diminishing return from about 200 XP at the start to 160 XP near level 55. There is a random factor with experience gained where I've glimpsed higher and lower values at the same character level.

 

Some monsters still give XP at level 40, but it's mostly in the west part of the map and the boss monsters. I've got a singleton character up to level 58 and it's boring to keep going for the next ingredients.

[nikki.]

Originally Posted By: Kreador

I do believe there is one place in this game where the name Vahnatai appears, but I'd have to load a save with my experienced party to go double-check.

I want to say Athron tells you.

[Superba]

Originally Posted By: Kreador

Early in the game several people tell you about the crazy wizard, and that he left that crystal by a statue. When you find it, it's a Wisdom Crystal.
I do believe there is one place in this game where the name Vahnatai appears, but I'd have to load a save with my experienced party to go double-check.

Then I own 18 wisdom crystals to use, good to know!

With regard to the Vanathai,look for a place far NW (level 3 dispel barrier) and you could get a very good piece of armor...

[Jerakeen]

There's a Vahnatai ghost somewhere that mentions the word.

[Ceiling Durkheim]

Quote:

After you sell off the excess, it's more like 2000c, but I agree that you wouldn't do it as long as you have training you still want to buy. Many Spiderweb games seem to give you an excess of cash toward the end, though, and I haven't gotten far enough to see whether it's true here or not.

It isn't. Money does become a bit more plentiful in the late game, but there's also drastically more to spend it on than in 'previous' games. Why? Because of the way training works. In previous Avernum games, one can only buy the first two levels of a skill from trainers (not counting trait/race bonuses). In AEftP, one can buy two levels of any skill for any character, whenever you want. Even 10-capped skills (i.e. almost all of them outside the first tier) with 10 points already invested. Also, unlike A4-6, it's actually worthwhile to buy two levels of any spell you plan to use frequently from trainers. Money is theoretically infinite because of unlimited random encounters, but in practice this becomes really tedious really quickly.

[Quiconque]

At least one of the dragons refers to the Vahnatai, there is the ghost in the single-level crypt who mentions their name, and there is the sign in the barrier cave.

 

I'm not sure if there's quite enough money for a singleton to max out ALL skill and spell trainers without hyperslow gold-farming, but there's definitely more than enough money for a singleton to train everything he is actually going to use -- which is almost all of the skills, and maybe half of the spells.

[Randomizer]

If you get negotiator trait there is definitely enough money to max out all skill trainers and most spell trainers that you can use. I'm sitting on over 20,000 coins and not much to do with them until I can reach level 60 to max out resistance.

 

A party of 4 spell casters is always going to be short of money and even a regular party of 4 will not be able to get everything without all the characters having negotiator trait.

 

Selling off excess healing herbs, items, and gold farming randomly generated monster encounters is a pain. But it least it gives you something to do while waiting for the herbs to replenish.

[Jerakeen]

Oh wow, I just got to Bargha; no, I don't foresee having a lot of cash left over.

[Superba]

You also find plenty of special weapons and enchanted armor, once you made your choice what is left is a lot of items that can be sold for good money.

[Fael]

Originally Posted By: The Turtle Moves

And since I've read that killing monsters stops giving you XP once you hit level 40, I've been saving all my wisdom crystals until that point, or the endgame, whichever comes first. Is that crazy?

If you're not playing a singleton, probably -- my party was level 34/35 when I finished the game.

Originally Posted By: Randomizer

A party of 4 spell casters is always going to be short of money and even a regular party of 4 will not be able to get everything without all the characters having negotiator trait.

I dunno -- i had a regular party of 4 with everybody having the negotiator trait and I didn't come close to being able to get everything I wanted. Didn't spend money on anything but training and wisdom crystals and sold all armor and weapons (but not potions, scrolls, or wands) that I wasn't actively using.

[Arch-Mage Solberg]

Originally Posted By: The Turtle Moves

And since I've read that killing monsters stops giving you XP once you hit level 40, I've been saving all my wisdom crystals until that point, or the endgame, whichever comes first. Is that crazy?

Level Peak? That stinks. You able to get to level 99 in Exile! Why suddenly stop at 40?

Post #650

[Ceiling Durkheim]

Quote:

Level Peak? That stinks. You able to get to level 99 in Exile! Why suddenly stop at 40?

It doesn't: some high level monsters still give experience, as do wisdom crystals. The real issue is that after level 30, you only get health/mana/auto-assigned stat points for 4 out of 5 levels, and no skill points or other stat point. Also you don't get any more traits, period.

[Lilith]

Also, I'm pretty sure the level cap in Exile is actually 50, and getting much higher than 35 was just as tedious in that game too.

[Quiconque]

Exile also drops the skill points you get from 5 to 4 after level 20, and from 4 to 3 after level 40. And yes, 50 is the cap. By that point in the game, you level up with gold by buying Knowledge Brews from Silverlocke.

[Lilith]

Skills themselves also had caps in Exile, and quite low ones at that: hit points capped at something like 200, spell points capped at 99, mage and priest spells capped at 7 and most other skills capped at 20. If you weren't trying to make hybrid characters, it was quite easy to cap out on all of the skills you were really interested in long before you reached level 50.

[moomina]

In a fine Spiderweb tradition, the Slith village at the entrance to the waterfall warrens will restock if you buy them out, giving you all the wisdom crystals and herbs (except graymold, unfortunately) you can afford. *OK, so the supply is only as infinite as your cash flow, but the price is right.

 

Sweet! <img src="graemlins/grin.gif" alt="grin" title="grin" height="15" width="15" />

 

I can't find the "Slith village" you describe, please can you give the specific name on the map?

 

I'm right near the end, and all my characters are close to level 35. Trying to get them up to 35 before the endgame. Wandering about having fights outside is boring. As is waiting for herbs to regrow. I don't know who/ what else to kill or do for more XP other than go to this "slith village" and buy wisdom crystals with my remaining cash...but I can't find it.

 

Thanks!

[Lilith]

 

 

I can't find the "Slith village" you describe, please can you give the specific name on the map?

 

I'm right near the end, and all my characters are close to level 35. Trying to get them up to 35 before the endgame. Wandering about having fights outside is boring. As is waiting for herbs to regrow. I don't know who/ what else to kill or do for more XP other than go to this "slith village" and buy wisdom crystals with my remaining cash...but I can't find it.

 

Thanks!

 

It's a small outdoor encounter with a village of sliths on an island, not an actual town. Look for the lowercase letter s at the far north end of this map.

[moomina]

Never mind, I found it. Weird though, only one Wisdom Crystal for sale, and once I purchased it, there are no more, even if I wander about a bit and come back later.

[Lilith]

Never mind, I found it. Weird though, only one Wisdom Crystal for sale, and once I purchased it, there are no more, even if I wander about a bit and come back later.

 

If you buy every item in the entire shop, it'll restock its inventory.

[moomina]

Thank you :-)

[achilles73]

All herbs can be found in outdoor herb patches. Most (all ?) of then will replenish over time. There definitely is a Graymold patch.

 

Click to reveal..

 

NE of the Freehold of Kyass, on an island/peninsula

Can anyone confirm that there is a Mandrake patch that actually replenishes?

 

How come I cannot see what is under spoiler tags on this site?

[Randomizer]

There have been two migrations to different servers and software. This has broken links for the oldest posts and changed spoiler tags so some can't be seen.

 

Welcome to Spiderweb Software. Please leave your sanity at the door. As Spock would say, "It's only logical."

 

Edit - I checked and it isn't possible to fix that spoiler tag by editing.

[Kennedy]

Back in the original Avernum 3 I think that you could sell something to a shopkeeper and it would permanently be added to their stock. As I recall I sold magical notes and knowledge brews so I could have infinitely many, Plus the notes could then be resold to another NPC who would give you XP (and possibly profit). Hence you got unlimited XP and skill points. Not to mention the level cap was removed.

[achilles73]

There have been two migrations to different servers and software. This has broken links for the oldest posts and changed spoiler tags so some can't be seen.

 

Welcome to Spiderweb Software. Please leave your sanity at the door. As Spock would say, "It's only logical."

 

Edit - I checked and it isn't possible to fix that spoiler tag by editing.

 

Got it; thanks!

[Spukrian]

Edit - I checked and it isn't possible to fix that spoiler tag by editing.

Got it; thanks!

 

It is possible to see the contents of the "Spoiler".

 

1. Press the "Quote" button in the post.

2. The text and the "Spoiler" will be added to the "Reply" window at the bottom of the thread.

3. In the upper left corner of the "Reply" window there is a button labeled "Toggle editing mode", click this button once.

4. The "Spoiler" will be revealed!

 

Note that I use Windows 8 and Firefox.

[Earth]

works in win10 with ff too (and should work in all systems and browsers). gtk if mods want to go thru and fix all broken spoilers.

[spyke252]

Late to the party by almost a decade!

Money is definitely unlimited, even in 0 CL runs, as greymold is infinitely farmable and graymold salves sell for 60 (300 * .2, more with negotiator) so you get 120c every 2 minutes of holding down the spacebar.