Tcheedchee Posted May 1, 2008 Share Posted May 1, 2008 Hello all, I'm a total Avernum-Newbie. Started the quest with the standard-hero-set,which is provided in the beginning, and at least I got to Harkin's Landin/Exodus. Did most of the quests here (I think…) the lesser ones concerning the claims, crypt, damaged pylon, caldera-field, reported spies (Kelda and the young dude), broke the guardian-golem at the pylon-field (unfortunately, for Foramon didn't approve of that…),killed slith-gangsters,killed Gelmax (Phew!), got the pit crawler (Double-Phew!) and received the reward from Lark. I also started quests into Khora-Vyss… So it's not too bad, and one should think, my party should be able to deal with Lysstak also. Anyway Lysstak is really givin' me a hard time killing him. Unfortunately only my mage got a decent slow-spell. My priest can't help here. My mage is also the only one with rain of ice, which works quite well on Lysstak. Unfortunately, my mage never gets his hands free enough of slowing him, to use rain of ice on Lysstak, because, as I said, my priest can't help here. My heroes do not have very high skills yet, I suppose. Is there a special combat tactic or a certain gimick, I could use/would have to find yet? I have also found and drunk the shield potion in the room right bevor the 2nd lift, where the spellbook was. I always lose, when Lysstak generates his third self, as I have also lost Varrick's assistance, when I had to give up a recent round, which I managed to escape. Since then Varrick hides in the vicinity, but he can't be persuaded to fight with me again (because the text doesn't alow me to suggest it to him again.) Also - as a complete beginner in RPG: What does the shutting off of skills in the training-panel of my heroes mean, as soon as I go below 8 skillpoints? What are the concequences of doing that? It would be the only possibility to give a (weak) slow-spell-ability to my priest. Any tipps for me, please? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zummi Posted May 1, 2008 Share Posted May 1, 2008 Don't forget to get the additional allies that can be found throughout the area (the rat and the soldier), they'll have more HP than you'll ever have, so they're a great plus. Always, always have your spellcasters on the back and your warrior toe-to-toe. And if this fail, turn down the difficulty. It's really handy that Jeff made it so that you can tone down the difficulty at any point in the game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tcheedchee Posted May 1, 2008 Author Share Posted May 1, 2008 Wow, that was fast! Thanks for this first reply, Azuma. Trouble is, that this is not my 1st attempt to get at Lysstak. The ratfriend disappeared, and as I explained in my previous post, Varrick (the warrior, whom you free on the way to Lysstak) doesn't join in the fight anymore, since I had to flee from the fight with Lysstak the first time. And, frankly speaking, I have solved quite a few quests afterwards, so that I don't really want to reset back to this 1st fight. (Also I don't know, if I still can, because I save quite often, and I might have written over it already.) From browsing through the forum, I get the impression, that my warriors seem to lack battle-discipline-abilities, too.So I can't use bladeshield on Lysstak, as recommendend in the forum. My slith-pole-fighter seems quite okay. But he can only use them up to "focus mind" (or so). My human-barbarian is so "clumsy" he doesn't get beyond "break shield". So when I try keeping them together, they are just slaughtered within one round, as soon as the three Lysstaks are present… I was more successful keeping them appart so Lysstak couldn't hit them both at once and had to decide to split himself up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madrigan Posted May 1, 2008 Share Posted May 1, 2008 Before Lysstak can see you, cast every blessing and shielding spell you've got and haste everyone in the party. Slow the enemy and spray acid on him. If you have a summoning spell, use it for extra help. You probably have some energy potions if this takes all your spell points. Did you complete all the quests prior to this chapter? The default characters are pretty balanced out unless you spend your skill points very unwisely or skip too many opportunities. Sometimes, you can pin the enemy in a corner or against some object, or lure him out of the room to a less advantageous position, like just outside a doorway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randomizer Posted May 1, 2008 Share Posted May 1, 2008 Since you have limited battle disciplines be sure to use shield breaker on Lysstak to increase the damage that you do. If you are playing on normal difficulty than leg sweep will reduce their chances of hitting you. Slow and terror wands don't always work. Summon up creatures to help in the fight and replace them since they will take at least one attack away from you. Concentrate on taking out one Lysstak at a time with the spell casters and keep away from Lysstak since they will probably die unless you use an invulnerability potion to reduce damage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tcheedchee Posted May 1, 2008 Author Share Posted May 1, 2008 Hi Madrigan, Randomizer, okay, thanx, I'll try your advice… One thing Madrigan mentions has been on my mind since the Northern Isles… I do not really gain so many points at all, that I could distribute them generously, not even to think of wisely. I trained my slith-fighter - strength 4 - dexterity 7 - intelligence 2 - endurance 5 - melee weapons 2 - pole 6 - bows 5 - Thrown Missiles 3 - Quick Action 4 - no mage/priest spells - arcane lore 2 - spellcraft 1 - hardiness 4 - defense 3 - tool use 9 (here I messed up, as U will see later in the list… It took me a while to understand, that one person with excellent tool use is enough. Later in the game I even got confused once! ) - Nature Lore 4 - First Aid 3 - Luck 1 Specials: - sharpshooter 4 Furthermore I had read somewhere, that it would be a good idea to train the strength of the warrior/soldier/fighter: - strength 7 - dexterity 5 - intelligence 3 - endurance 7 (as the game kept recommending training endurance…) - melee weapons – a poor 5 - pole 0 - Bows 1 - Thrown Missiles 3 - Quick Action 4 - no mage/priest spells - arcane lore 2 - spellcraft 1 - hardiness 4 - defense 3 - tool use 4 - Nature Lore 4 - First Aid 4 - Luck 1 Specials: - parry 1 - gymnastics 1 - riposte 1 Accordingly my priest: - strength 2 - dexterity 2 - intelligence 7 - endurance 6 - melee weapons 3 - no pole or Bows - Thrown Missiles 3 - Quick Action 1 - mage spells 3 - priest spells 7 - arcane lore 1 - spellcraft 6 - hardiness 3 - defense 2 - tool use 10 (yeah, I know… - messed that one up) - Nature Lore 3 - First Aid 4 - Luck 1 Specials: - magical efficiency 1 my mage got - strength 2 - dexterity 2 - intelligence 8 - endurance 5 - melee weapons 1 - no pole, nor bows - Thrown Missiles 3 - Quick Action 3 - mage spells 6 - priest spells 4 - arcane lore 3 - spellcraft 7 - hardiness 3 - defense 1 - tool use 2 - Nature Lore 2 - First Aid 2 - Luck 2 Specials: - magery 0 (as it showed up on my list just recently) - magical efficiency 2 Apart from wasting skillpoints on Tool Use, because I didn't catch in the beginning, that it would be enough to have just one Lock-pick-expert, and also, because between New Harston and Shanker's Tower, I started being really frustrated by a lot of locked doors and boxes, I tried to distribute skills as wisely as I could imagine. But that's just it. Maybe I didn't understand some major feature of the game here yet? So, what would you say? Did I get too far in the game with these mediocre skills? How do I find out, if I skipped important quests? I checked off all of the quest boards up to now, and they are empty. The walkthrough, which I refer to, when desperation gets too great, doesn't contain any quests which I didn't solve or mess up so far. I didn' take Gladwell's geaze though, and after having solved Shanker's first quest (and having received the 2nd) I told her, that the empire knows of her whereabouts, so that she's not helping anymore. Where's best to check if all important quests were solved? Should I train my party differently? Oh, and should I keep all the magical tools I receive by solving the quests? Some are just bulky items, it seems, some just don't seem suitable… (I stored a few in the static field's rooms, but I might also have sold one or two by accident…) Thanks for your answers… Tcheedchee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spidweb Posted May 1, 2008 Share Posted May 1, 2008 1. Don't rely too much on Slow. It works poorly against major bosses. 2. Summon creatures to help you. 3. Focus all your fire on one copy to kill it as quickly as possible. 4. Don't be ashamed about turning the game difficulty down in the game settings. - Jeff Vogel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueRivets Posted May 1, 2008 Share Posted May 1, 2008 I don't really know how to save your characters, I think it would be hard-pressed for anyone else to. So my suggestion is for you to restart, and have ONE guy with tool use, along with bow skill for your second fighter. Then you first character, the melee slith shouldn't have so much dex, not that useful for melee. And as a general rule all your characters should focus more on skills other then General skills. Your Mage and preist should especially focus on learning new spells, just about all of you money should go here, plus getting up the preist and mage spell stats. Everyone should also have decent Stregth, including spellcasters, so that you can carry decent Items. But remember that your mage can't carry too much bulky items, natural mage trait helps here. Edit: Even if you can beat Lysstak you are going to have a hell of a time trying to get through Tranquility. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randomizer Posted May 1, 2008 Share Posted May 1, 2008 You can salvage your party with a little work. For the fighters you need to get parry (6 dexterity and 6 defense) to decrease getting hit. This is why you get the trait elite warrior for the free parry. It starts out slow, but with a few levels you won't be hit as much. Get battle disciplines . The combat skills needed give 1 point for each melee and pole weapon skill and 1/2 point for each bow and missle weapon skill. There is a trainer in Tranquility so you will be able to buy some to help out. Bladeshield is essential for fighters to avoid swarm damage. For the priest get priest spells and soon so you can get magery special skill. Then increase spellcraft and magery as well to increase the damage and healing from priest spells. For the mage it's the same except increase mage spells. You need the higher level spells as soon as possible to get through the game. You are on track for endurance so you can wait until leaving Tranquility to increase it some more. Jeff made this essential. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walter Posted May 2, 2008 Share Posted May 2, 2008 Yeah, focus your weapons skills a bit more. You don't need characters with points in all types of weapons skills simultaneously (though you need 6 in both pole and mellee to get blademaster trainable, but get one of them to 6 before starting the other.) You do want to put enough points to get your fighters the better battle disciplines, but that shouldn't be too hard (6 in one, plus 8 in the other to unlock another special skill, plus a few in either bows or thrown (but probably not both), should get you most of them. When assigning traits, don't be afraid of getting the ones with high experience penalties. Due to experience scaling with level, you will only be a few levels behind even with a slith with divinely touched and elite warrior (and the skills you get from those traits will be equal to the points from a lot more levels than that). Try to on at least a few skills put off training any points until you can buy 3 points from a trainer. You can save a lot of skill points this way (though it might be slightly more difficult until you get to the trainer and get enough money.) As for all the items you get, sell them if it seems very unlikely you'd ever want to use it. However, storing certain things might pay off. For instance, using expendable items can be very handy in a difficult fight. Using certain scrolls wands and potions can make a difference between a fight being winnable or not. And as for tool use, there is no reason whatsover to give any points to two different characters. There are two items in the game that will add a total of 3 to your skill, and the highest difficulty door in the game that can't be opened with a quest reward is 18, so you shouldn't get over 15 (there are a couple 20 difficulty doors you can only enter as an Anama member, but the loot behind them isn't worth spending extra points). Also the higher difficulty ones aren't till later in the game, so you can put off putting all the points in it for a while (it will be quite a while before you encounter a door harder than 12.) You might want to do what I do and give more knowledge brews and wisdom crystals to your tool user to balance out their power. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Student of Trinity Posted May 2, 2008 Share Posted May 2, 2008 A lot of the above is good advice for next game, but you shouldn't have to start over. Try the things you can still do now, and drop the difficulty level. It's enough of an added handicap to play the game without prior experience in how to optimize your characters, so there's no shame in playing on Easy setting. If that's not enough, activate the character editor and fix things up a bit. You can go the purist route next time if you want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tcheedchee Posted May 2, 2008 Author Share Posted May 2, 2008 Hey, thanx, you guys! That's really a lot of good advise. Now I think I have a lot of possibilities to try to improve my gaming/training strategy. Happy greetings from Tcheedchee! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tcheedchee Posted May 3, 2008 Author Share Posted May 3, 2008 YipiieeeH, I did it. Got him! Tried a strategy on the line of Jeff Vogel's advice. I'm so happy, I'm really having a hard time, not to post a spoiler now. Anyway. It worked. – And I even am in normal game mode still. Without the reassurance of your advice I wouldn't have managed though. So now I'll go make a few reports, and then go for Tranquility or Kora-Vhyss. Tcheechee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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