questions about items and leveling up

[e☆zy t@rget]

i found a "nimble chain" which gives +1 to gymnastics: what are gymnastics good for?

and i found a yellow "wisdom crystal" which gains knowledge. should i spare that one for later use or should someone use it now? what is it good for?

about leveling up: should i spend points in endurance for my frontline fighters or should i only bring them up in strength?

what about the spells haste or slow, are they worth spending money for them or should i not bother and only go for AoE spells?

and what about the tool use skill? to be honest, it sometimes bothers me standing in front of a closed door not able to open it... is it worth spending points for that for getting good items i would otherwise miss? or does it not really matter since i can get enough good stuff without lockpicking?

how can i dig for caches?

thanks! :-)

[Ishbane]

As long as you are playing on normal difficulty you shouldn't worry too much about wasting skill points or items.

Every round in battle gymnastics can grant you increased action points, barely noticeable until higher levels and usually only useful for archers.

Wisdom crystals increase the users xp. Once again, unless you're playing on higher difficulties, feel free to use them.

5 additional points of endurance suffice regardless of difficulty. Don't forget that you'll gain an additional point every 4 levels anyway.

Haste may grant you an additional action each turn, Slow makes enemies skip turns randomly. Both are pretty much mandatory for all spiderweb games. Same goes for the priest's Shield Chant and Battle Frenzy, always buff your party with the whole package before entering a battle.
Of course you'll need AoE as well, Icy Rain will remain useful troughout the entire game. As long as your mage/priest isn't targetting a creature directly (the targetted square is empty), you may even cast AoE regardless of line of sight. All casters could be in the next room behind a wall while your tank is spotting targets.

The highest tool use you'll ever need is 14 (although 11 will suffice for, like, 99%), you may spread those points across your party. You will come across a pair of gloves granting you +1 TU, so make that 10 you'll need. On that topic, you will also need arcane lore. It will help you read hidden tomes increasing the level of spells to a total of 3, otherwise unattainable through teachers. A level 3 minor healing f.e. has a chance of buffing the healed character with regeneration while an L3 icy rain can immobilize enemies, you really want those. The highest arcane lore need is 12. Each character with the trait Sage Lore reduces the amount needed by 3 so if every character picks it, you don't have to invest any points at al but if you do, you don't have to focus it on one character, the party total counts.

Caches can be dug up through knowledge of cave lore. Total party counts, max needed is 12. Vermeers in Formello can teach this skill to every character twice for a price of 900 gold per lesson. If you'd sell everything you're going to dig up, you'd still turn a profit (you'll most likely keep lots of it though). AFTER everyone has been trained, you can get 2 free points for your lead char at Mertis (turn in loads of herbs) and at a pond western of Kyass (NW avernum, by boat). Invest one more point for a total of 11 and you can dig up the First Expedition ring (+2 luck, +3 first aid and +2 cave lore) for the required max total. High CL also allows you to avoid encounters on the world map, if you wish to do so.

Also: Every class profits from +HP traits. Giving every char the Negotiator trait bumps the selling value of items from 20% to 28%, that's a 40% increase in profit! You might want to hold onto items until lvl 8 to sell them, but don't feel bad about things you've already sold, it's still early in the game.

Have fun!

Further reading[homepages.uni-regensburg.de]

[e☆zy t@rget]

vielen dank für die ausführliche antwort! :-) sie ist auf jeden fall angekommen und du hast sie nicht umsonst geschrieben. hab bloß ein bißchen pausiert mit dem game, mache jetzt aber wieder weiter! danke nochmal! :-)

[Berahlen]

I think the only things in the game that take more than 11 tool use are like, treasury chests in big important towns that promptly get you attacked by guards or exploded by a trap for trying to steal from them, and some of the side rooms during the final quest that don't have anything notable anyway nor is there any more use for loot by then.

[Ishbane]

Originally posted by e☆zy t@rget:

vielen dank für die ausführliche antwort! :-) sie ist auf jeden fall angekommen und du hast sie nicht umsonst geschrieben. hab bloß ein bißchen pausiert mit dem game, mache jetzt aber wieder weiter! danke nochmal! :-)

Schön, dass ich helfen konnte! Hab auch eine Auszeit genommen, da auf Torment jeder Kampf anstrengend ist und das Spiel sich ziemlich hinziehen kann.

[e☆zy t@rget]

thanks Waypoint, you´re also a friendly helper concerning questions! :-)

ich spiel auf schwer und mir ist noch nicht ganz klar, welche gegenden ich angehen kann und welche ich eher (noch) vermeiden sollte. ist so ein bissl trial and error. und ja, das spielt zieht sich ziemlich. vor allem wenn ich kämpfe mehrmals bestreiten muss, weil ich draufgehe...