Farmer... what am I missing

[Gizmo]

So I risked it and a made a group with a farmer.

The farmer is at least two levels less than the rest of the gorup and it seems to be getting worse.
Did I miss something?

Or are farmers just useless?

[Austellus]

They're a joke class. What did you expect a farmer to do with a group of adventurers?

In seriousness though, stuff them full of food, even if they're already full. The farmer can easily end up ahead of the group by a decent margin. Level them up in something which doesn't take many points to do well in, either throwing or missile weapon are ideal.

Debate rages as to whether they're any good even once you do that though. I argue they're not due to terrible stat growth and perpetually being two stat points behind everyone else.

[B0Tzerker]

Sounds like you're only feeding your farmer when hungry and stop feeding when full. You'll need to feed your farmer even if stuffed.

My second playthrough party is made up of a minotaur farmer and three ratling alchemists with double classes. The party is around level six in xp. Even with my minotaurs 25% faster food consumption and each of my ratlings taking endurance (slower food consumption), my farmer was falling behind the rest. Since then I've been keeping the farmer at the same level as the rest of the party by feeding the farmer so his xp stays balanced with the rest of the party.

Once my party is ready for the Herders Den (a location in the Bogs dungeon) I plan to "farm" the monsters that spawn for at least an hour, feeding most of the food to my farmer.

[Gizmo]

Yeah I've been feeding the farmer what I don't need to keep for the group.

I've also been looking for respawn mods that drop food, but they do not seem to spawn at a higher rate than the food consumed by the party.

I minimize sleep to reduce food use.

I've picked the lakes dry of fish.

Is there some place where food abounds that I have not found?
I'm assuming head back to the horders den?

[B0Tzerker]

Yes if you didn't kill the spawn generators (stationary plant monsters) in the Herders Den, otherwise I don't think enough monsters will respawn.

[Aged Swine]

Joke class?.. Useless?.. Are you kidding me?? My farmer was 4 or 5 levels ahead of the rest of the party by the end of the game! Definitely a must have class for any party, as you can develop him/her into basically anything you need much easier (mine was thrower + air mage, for instance). There are LOTS of food in LOG2, with all the endless respawn of turtles, wargs and other edible monsters. Perhaps it would be hard to play with 2 or more farmers, but having 1 works just great.

[Aged Swine]

BTW, if only I had found the spirit mirror amulet earlier in the game, she'd be much more than 5 levels ahead of everyone else... Eating any food already provides MASSIVE experience, and with that kind of bonus, stacked together with human's perks... And it's also super convenient, because with farmer you only need to wear the amulet while eating, then you can give it back to another character so that he levels up faster too.

[Austellus]

And with that huge level gain, the farmer might finally crawl back onto par with the other classes. They're perpetually two skill points down and have the worst stat growths in the game. They need a higher level to equal the others, not exceed them.

[Aged Swine]

Not really. If you take the skilled trait, you are just 1 skill point behind the others. Well, 2 points behind if the others are skilled too, but how's that a problem if you have like +5 levels? I'm telling you, my farmer was super-useful and a joy to play with. I just had to feed her well. :)

Yes, she did have a bit slower start, but "crawling back onto par" didn't take that much time, and after that, she quickly surpassed everyone else.

[Gizmo]

Yeah, I found that amulet too. And make sure the farmer wears it when eating.
However I'm still 2 level behind with her. And I have 9 bits of food saved at all times.
All other food goes to the farmer.
So there maust be something I am doing VERY wrong?!?!

Yes I killed the spawners for the mushrooms :(
Wish I could find a seed to grow one now!

Kirinyale, you said you had your farmer doing magic?
I made a solo farmer as a party as I was toying with the idea to try and solo one and let them eat all the food I find.
However as a test on first level I gave the famer the fire magic skill. But still there was no way to access the spell casting rune control user interface.
Did I miss something here?

[Aged Swine]

You need a magic wand or orb to cast spells with a non-magic class. I've had a lot of spare ones, so I just gave her a couple. Still, she were much more useful as a thrower than a mage, 'cause my primary battle mage was powerful enough as well and there was no point in duplicating him).

As for the levels... I don't even know what to say. I recall my farmer getting throwing to 5 in twigroot forest already,, and she was the first in the party to maximize a skill. And I only found the amulet when she was around level 12-13, if I recall correctly. When I checked once near the beginning, every bit of food gave her 800-900 XP, which is certainly a lot, and it only got higher. I also remember raising her a level which costed 50000 XP by eating just about 10 times in a row at the Hamlet. I was playing at hard difficulty, btw (not sure if that changed anything).

Perhaps you just save too much food? I never kept as much as you say - usually max 4-5 bits, the rest goes to farmer. It's too easy too go back hunt for more if it gets scarce, and you can't die from starvation anyway. Also there's another amulet - the neck chain, which lets you not feed one of your party members at all. And I never farmed herders on purpose!

The fish was also a big help, because there's hell of a lot of it, and while being not very nutritious, it still provides heaps of XP to the farmer. Earlier you said that you "picked the lakes dry of fish", so I'm really at a loss about why your farmer's still doing so bad, because fish alone should have given you a few levels, which are not nearly as easy to get by killing monsters.

What race/traits does your farmer have, by the way? Mine was a skilled human.

[Gizmo]

Same as you.
Skilled human and throwing.

I've only ever once gone back to farm food, I think that must be the key....

[Frosty the Pyro]

huh, i figured ratmen would be the best farmer, what with mutation and tones of extra levels for stat points

[Greumch]

For my second run, I created a party with only a farmer and a battlemage (2 slots empty). The farmer can grow very fast at the begining.

The tip is probably to spend 2 to 3 hours in herders den with one or two roots still living, since living shrooms are easy to kill and bring food.

But at a point, you need to much food to get a level, and all the game can provide you is dungeon, with just enough food to rest without starving. My game ends up with the farmer being 18 and the battlemage being 15 after defeating the boss in trickster lair. Since farmer starts with 2 less skillpoints, I'd say it wont bring much benefit at the end.... but hell it was so fun to be level 10 when you reach the river zone !

[Dworfkin]

Originally posted by Gizmo:

So I risked it and a made a group with a farmer.

The farmer is at least two levels less than the rest of the gorup and it seems to be getting worse.
Did I miss something?

Or are farmers just useless?

There is no exp reward mechanic for playing with group less then 4. So the only chance to make Juck Norris is to play farmer solo. When i got on the other side of the river - i had 10 lvl already.

[Honelith]

Reminds me of Etrian Odyssey III on the NDS, it had an almost useless class called Farmer, you could pull a large haul of gathered resources, but near useless for combat, it had an ability called Slap Awake which would revive a party member. :D

Awesome games!