Help choosing stats

[Elegant Caveman]

Just started playing, went with 2/2/2/2, but now I'm having second thoughts.

I'm not very far at all, still just around the starting village, so it's not a big deal restarting, but now would be the time to do it.

I know I want at least 2 Charisma (for 1 companion) and at least 2 Intellect (for access to magic), but beyond that, I'm not sure.

I'm leaning towards 2/2 in Strength/Agility (and just continue the game I've started) or doing 3 strength/agi and 1 in the other.

I could theoretically drop those lower and put more points in Charisma or Intellect, or drop Charisma and rely on the +1 companion from the Merchants quest, but that doesn't sound like something I'd be interested in (not interested in really high Charisma or Intellect, and I think I'd like having 2 companions, one from the merchants).

And yes, I do intend to go with warriors/mages/monastery/merchants.

Mostly, I'd like to hear pros & cons of heavy armor and 2-handed weapons vs. ranged combat and dual daggers. I don't care about dodging.

I'm pretty sure I want at least 1 in Strength and Agility (for 1-handed weapons and sprinting), but I could theoretically be convinced away from that, so if you feel like sharing experiences outside of what I outlined above, do feel free.

Like a 4 Charisma, 3 Intellect summoner/companion build, for example. Potentially interesting, but I think I'd rather have something more balanced.

In other games with similar options/general open world adventuring (I'm thinking Skyrim), my playstyle tends to favor ranged attacks and stealth, with a bit of magic for support/buffing.

From what little I've experienced of the combat in this game, though, I can't say archery seems great, but it's something I'd still like to have as an option... unless maybe aggressive spellcasting could replace my need/desire for ranged combat?

Anyway, sorry for the rant... just looking to hear of people's experiences with various playstyles, especially for things that stand out as especially good or bad (for example, if 2H weapons suck or are OP, if there aren't enough good bows, if certain abilities for certain things are especially good, etc.).

[Elegant Caveman]

Ended up going with 3 Strength, 1 Agility, 2 Intellect, and 2 Charisma, so I guess the "issue" is "resolved" for now. Doubt I'd restart again any time soon.

Ranged combat is rather underwhelming, and I didn't like the idea of being cut off entirely from a whole class of armor and weapon. The bit of health regen's a nice bonus, I guess.

Feel free to post your thoughts on the subject if you want, it might help somebody else (or me in the future, if/when I start over), but I've made my decision for now.

[Sishiya]

I would have personally dumped both int points and pumped them into agility to be able to dodge, or gone to 4 strength so that you can kill things faster before they can cause too many problems and rely on a companion to do healing/buffing. Or dump the charisma points to do the same thing, but now you rely on alchemy/magic for your healing needs.

This game, while it definitely can be beaten with just about any build and patience, does not favor jack of all trade builds much. For a first playthrough, I would decide on a damage dealing role (melee, ranged, magic, followers) and go all in on it in terms of getting to 4 in the respective stat. The leftover stats can be allocated depending on whether you want one or two companions, whether you want to be nimble/stealthy/use ranged weapon to pull, whether you want to be able to craft/use magic to supplement your role, or engage in melee when all else fails.

The thing about the various guilds is that their respective rewards pretty much only benefit the sort of role that would want to join them. Joining the Mages, for example, will require you to have invested heavily into the Arcane tree (since you need Blink to complete a couple of the quests) and a bit into the Elemental tree for a couple of quests (that will require access to all 4 classic elements). The ultimate reward for completing all the Mage guild quests is the ability to buy some good cloth armor and staff weapons that only benefit Elemental damage (since there isn't any Arcane damage).

I suppose you could abuse potions of oblivion to do all the quests for the guilds you plan to join, but aside from being able to say that you did it, I'm not sure you'll get much benefit out of it.

[MrSean]

1) Charisma is useless because companions are dumb as rocks and fragile like tissue paper in the end game.
2) Increasing rage quickly to execute the special move that restores 15% of your health is the easiest way to beat end game bosses. There is also a bug/feature that enables blood spikes to generate rage. IE: use blood spikes, it hits the monster 10 times instantly - generating rage as if you had hit the monster 10 times.
3) Going with 3 str, 3 int, 2 agi enables you to play as a strong warrior that can swap to a strong mage if you aren't sure where you're heading.

[Elegant Caveman]

Originally posted by Sishiya:

I would have personally dumped both int points and pumped them into agility to be able to dodge, or gone to 4 strength so that you can kill things faster before they can cause too many problems and rely on a companion to do healing/buffing. Or dump the charisma points to do the same thing, but now you rely on alchemy/magic for your healing needs.

Dumping Charisma's almost tempting, but definitely not Intelligence. I'm not interested in dodging.

I'd like to have higher Dexterity for slightly higher ranged damage and possibly dual-wielding daggers (I'd have to try that out to see if I like it), but I definitely want access to magic, and I always hate dodging in any game. I probably wouldn't use it even if I had a higher Dexterity.

Originally posted by Sishiya:

This game, while it definitely can be beaten with just about any build and patience, does not favor jack of all trade builds much. For a first playthrough, I would decide on a damage dealing role (melee, ranged, magic, followers) and go all in on it in terms of getting to 4 in the respective stat. The leftover stats can be allocated depending on whether you want one or two companions, whether you want to be nimble/stealthy/use ranged weapon to pull, whether you want to be able to craft/use magic to supplement your role, or engage in melee when all else fails.

Interesting. Thanks for the input.

Do you really feel that there's that much of a difference between 3 and 4 in a skill?

I'd love 4 of Strength, for example (melee seems like the "safest"/most straightforward damage-dealing path in this game), but I can't help but feel that I'd rather have 3 of Strength and 2 more points elsewhere.

Originally posted by Sishiya:

The thing about the various guilds is that their respective rewards pretty much only benefit the sort of role that would want to join them. Joining the Mages, for example, will require you to have invested heavily into the Arcane tree (since you need Blink to complete a couple of the quests) and a bit into the Elemental tree for a couple of quests (that will require access to all 4 classic elements). The ultimate reward for completing all the Mage guild quests is the ability to buy some good cloth armor and staff weapons that only benefit Elemental damage (since there isn't any Arcane damage).

I suppose you could abuse potions of oblivion to do all the quests for the guilds you plan to join, but aside from being able to say that you did it, I'm not sure you'll get much benefit out of it.

Good to know, thanks.

Doing them simply for the sake of doing them (more content) is certainly part of it, but I also wanted to specify which I was aiming for in the sense that joining certain factions block you off from other ones, and warrior/mage/monastery/merchant seems more my speed, at least for my first time playing.

I obviously don't know what all the gear does, exactly, but I know I don't want to side with bandits or necromancers, and I like the +1 companions from merchants, so that kind of makes my choices easier.

If nothing else, the fact that you get 4 factions with that grouping (as opposed to only 2 for the other two groups) is enough to sell me on that.

Originally posted by MrSean:

1) Charisma is useless because companions are dumb as rocks and fragile like tissue paper in the end game.
2) Increasing rage quickly to execute the special move that restores 15% of your health is the easiest way to beat end game bosses. There is also a bug/feature that enables blood spikes to generate rage. IE: use blood spikes, it hits the monster 10 times instantly - generating rage as if you had hit the monster 10 times.
3) Going with 3 str, 3 int, 2 agi enables you to play as a strong warrior that can swap to a strong mage if you aren't sure where you're heading.

I'm almost tempted to start again and do that...

I've taken a better look at the various skills, and I can certainly see myself leaning more towards magic later on, with a more "hands-on" (i.e. melee) approach earlier on.

That said, I definitely want to be able to have at least one companion at some point...

At first I thought I could just do the merchant quest, but I actually decided to take a break from writing this to try the quest out in my present save.

Seems that the +1 companion from merchants is only when you wear the outfit you get from finishing the quest?! That's definitely not an option.

Is there no other way to get an extra companion as an "ability" (without having to use specific equipment)?

If not, I guess I'll be sticking with my present game.

What does the epic quest give? That requires level 40, but if that gives an extra companion slot, I guess if I knew I could have my dog friend with me at the end, that might be acceptable...