Points into Melee

[Espionage]

i mean points in melee or Pole weapons, isnt it a bit of a waste going past a certain level, what is the optimium number of skill points in it. Also i was wondering is blademater skill or gymnastics any good....

[Lilith]

You know, it'd really help if you mentioned which Avernum game you're talking about, since the engine of Avernum 3 is completely different from the others.

 

In the first two Avernums, every point you put in weapon skill increases your damage by a little, so there isn't really a specific point at which it's no longer useful.

 

In Avernum 3, it's reasonable to pump points into your weapon skill until you're consistently hitting the damage cap against most monsters.

 

A point in Blademaster is basically equivalent to a point of Melee Weapons plus a point of Pole Weapons. A point in Gymnastics, as far as I can tell, is pretty much equivalent to a point in Dexterity except that it doesn't increase damage with missile weapons.

[Alorael at Large]

I think Gymnastics advances you in the turn order more than a single point of Dexterity, though. Unlike Dexterity, it can also make you completely impossible to hit in A1. I'm not sure about A2 or A3.

 

—Alorael, who likes buying points of Gymnastics. They tend to be expensive, but not unreasonable, and they work wonders when you want your mages and priests to stop going after the gelatinous globs of ooze in combat.

[Kelandon]

Similar to what Alorael said (but not identical): Gymnastics is worth getting up to around 9 or 10 in A1 and A2 on all your characters, especially since you can get 5 points of it without using any skill points. I'm less sure about its value in A3.

[Alorael at Large]

I'd agree on fighters, but I'm less convinced that Gymnastics is that useful for casters. It's not cheap to train that high, and I take the view that you're better off raising spell-related skills and depending on buffs, healing, and not having your casters end up next to angry goons.

 

—Alorael, whose caster design of choice is very skill hungry. A pure mage or priest probably has more points to burn on Gymnastics.

[Espionage]

thanks.... btw i was talking about Avernum 1.

i ws just confused because in the description of Melee/pole weapons it only talked about chance to hit, and didnt mention damage, and i was getting 95% chance of hitting anyway so i thourght **** it

[Kelandon]

Heck, I played a duo in A2 consisting of a plain fighter and a mage/priest who I eventually trained in fighting. My mage/priest was killing dervishes by the end of the game.

 

I like getting Gymnastics for casters because it only takes a few points (buy up to 5, train up to about 9) and it means that you can send your spellcasters into combat to clean up summons and garbage like that.