Party order and reputation

[Poomermon]

2 questions:

 

1. Does party order matter? I mean the order your characters act during combat. Obviously it is a good idea to have a tanky fighter be the first so he will absorb most of the damage but how about the rest? Is it better to have mage act before priest or does it matter?

 

2. Does reputation matter that much? I know you need to have some to get all the quests but is there a some point where additional reputation becomes meaningless? I was thinking like if there is a downside to robbing the castle treasury. Obviously other than the role-playing aspect.

[Lilith]

1) Depends on whether you're trying to achieve something specific. Having your priest act before your mage can make sense if you're worried that your mage might get poisoned, terrified or something and you want your priest to be able to cure it before the mage gets a turn, or if you want to cast War Blessing in the first round of combat and want your mage to benefit from the attack bonus. On the other hand, having your mage act first can make sense if you want to cast Haste in the first round of combat and want your priest to benefit from that effect.

 

2) I've heard the highest reputation requirement for anything in the game is a little less than 20. It's hard not to get your reputation that high unless you're actively avoiding quests and being as evil as possible. Even if you take every possible opportunity to lower your reputation, you can still finish up with a reputation of around 40 just by doing all the sidequests.

[Gabriel]

1. Yes party order matters -- Unlike in other Spiderweb games where your Dexterity stat decides who moves first in combat.

 

The first party member in your group moves first, and so on in order, no matter how fast or slow they are (maybe allowing enemies to get in extra attacks if a slow character of yours moves before a fast character, thus triggering a new round of combat? I don't actually know...), at least that is how the game plays by default.

 

You can decide whether to use this new system or not in the game's Settings screen under "Gameplay Settings" using the option: "Party always acts in roster order."

 

 

2. I think you need a certain level of reputation to get past areas, like the toll-gate city, Almaria, leading into the great cave -- low reputation means you have to pay a toll (at least in the original Avernum game), and high reputation gets you into the city for free.

[Parakeet]

By default, the party acts in it's order without regard to dexterity. However, if you go to the Settings option, you can return your party to Dexterity order.

 

after the damage absorbing tank, is a matter of taste. I like the next to be another fighter as that tends to exterminate one enemy & provide another fairly well armored damage absorber between the spell casters & death. After that I prefer the mage to cast a speed up spell so the priest/shaman can cast 2 spells--protective or healing as needed. I've found that in the first round of a battle 2 priest spells gave me better chance of surviving the battle. This is less important if a hedge wizard who can do a minor heal as needed is used. Be advised, this may be my personal style of living & dying as much as game tactic.

 

As to the reputation, it gets you in some places cheaper & opens up some quests (if my memory serves me rightly, which in this heat wave it may not). Since I haven't done much in the way of burglary in my game career, I can't say if the Avernum penalty of all the people in Castle/town forming a posse to beat/chop/spell you to death if you can't kill them still applies in Exile in addition to any bad reputation you get...if you live to get it. (Also, the Castle has various folks needed for quests which might cause problems if they are prematurely exterminated.) If you wish to find out if the posse still occurs, save before you attempt it & remember if you are being attacked you can't flee the town or level you are in.

 

Parakeet