Anyone else finding Gaulen useless?

[Gormash]

Of my six partymembers Gaulen is the only one with only standard attack as an offensive move.
He's only level 7 so far, but compared to my other characters he's just immensely dull and lackluster, and the skill selection is rather meagre. Sure, he can pick herbs, but that's not really an interresting action.

Also, why does he HAVE to be named "Gaulen". Would it be that difficult letting the player choose the name and store it in a string variable, then call to that string in conversations where the name show up?
Perhaps the developers love that name, but I'd rather have that as a default suggestion and be able to change it to my liking.

[Zeo]

Gaulen is just the weird guy of the party. He goes around preaching about gods and his divine mission picking shrooms and fancy flowers.. While rest of the crew is like fyeaa lets burn some witches, pillage everything and raid crypts and get rich! Maybe Gaulen is just high on his shrooms dunno, but he does get Envenomed Strike at lvl10 which is pretty nice, if you can afford it.

[Lagomorfo]

Once he gets the poison attack he gets pretty cool like zeo said. I also spend most of my herbs and skill increases on him, right now he's one of my main hitters and more than a match for other characters. I don't know if this is better than spreading them around the party but I'm doing ok so far.

[Woofy]

I like Gaulen and I think some of the videos mention him by name, so it's hard to change his name.. He IS kind of skill needy, andI think that axes are weak. He might be better with a sword.

[Silt]

At level 23, he's doing good in my game. Upping his axe skill most levels along with envenomed strike he's doing nice damage. I got lucky and found some lightweight armor early on (15 weight, 44 armor) which has really helped him on the frontline. I've spent a ton on bonus skill points, so that's helped him stay viable, but now skill points are really starting to cost a lot so that may have to slow down. He gets decent HP per level, so that is nice. I equip him with a combo of stat and xp boosting items and once I max out herb picking then I'll finally start gathering herbs and give him some nice boosts.

[ChopShop]

I'm still early in the game but, yes, I do. I have been upping his ax skill every level but he never hits anything, that being said, I find most classes useless. Not sure why they even bothered making a Paladin or Thief class. They both suck. Paladins heals are worthless, they don't hit anything in combat, have low hit points and damage, and can only use maces and staves. Same as Cleric as far as I can tell. You'd be better off with another Cleric. And thief doesn't do anything , sure he's fast so he might actually get 1 hit in before you party is permastunned by mushrooms, but with a bow skill of 3 he still only hits for 6 damage and occasionally wounds enemies, but I can't tell what wounds could possible do to enemies. Might as well get another Mage.

[Gormash]

My party consist of a Soldier, Arcane Warrior (or whatever they are called), Mage, Cleric and Divine Summoner... And then there's Gaulen. Mediocre Gaulen that for some unfathomable reason is supposed to save us all. With the exception of Gaulen I have a decent damage and healing output.

[Doctor Billygoat]

Originally posted by jmurdock75:

I'm still early in the game but, yes, I do. I have been upping his ax skill every level but he never hits anything, that being said, I find most classes useless. Not sure why they even bothered making a Paladin or Thief class. They both suck. Paladins heals are worthless, they don't hit anything in combat, have low hit points and damage, and can only use maces and staves. Same as Cleric as far as I can tell. You'd be better off with another Cleric. And thief doesn't do anything , sure he's fast so he might actually get 1 hit in before you party is permastunned by mushrooms, but with a bow skill of 3 he still only hits for 6 damage and occasionally wounds enemies, but I can't tell what wounds could possible do to enemies. Might as well get another Mage.

If your thief has a bow you're building him wrong - bows are literally the weakest weapon in the game. If you cant figure out how to maximize effectiveness you should consider reading one of the class guides, because Paladin and Thiefs are actually obscenely strong party members. But you need to build them right and they have a kind weak early game.


@OP - Just Max Envenomed Strike out as early as you can and the poison will carry his otherwise crappy damage.

[Silt]

Originally posted by Doctor Billygoat:

If your thief has a bow you're building him wrong - bows are literally the weakest weapon in the game. If you cant figure out how to maximize effectiveness you should consider reading one of the class guides, because Paladin and Thiefs are actually obscenely strong party members. But you need to build them right and they have a kind weak early game.


@OP - Just Max Envenomed Strike out as early as you can and the poison will carry his otherwise crappy damage.

Very true, bows are bad. My frontline thief now has maxed out swords and almost maxed out shurikens, with many levels in fast strike...he's a monster. Shuriken damage alone is about the same as my barbarian's crit damage then you have the added bleed that is insane. Couple his shuriken bleeds with Gaulen's envenomed strikes...and mobs aren't lasting many rounds.

[Welcome to Idiocracy 2023]

Gaulen is more a tank/support character in the early-mid game he will shine later on.
In the endgame your summoner will become useless while Gaulen will become a really good fighter as good as your other frontline warriors, His poison strike hits hard and stacks beautifully with bleeding skills.
The summoner in endgame is useless. I took him in my first party. He just summons two minions and then he just attacks with his default attack which is totally worthless. Yes, you can use items with him. But why should I take a goldburner in my group when their are much better backline choices?

[hairyscotsman]

Give him a 2 handed axe (and stats and stat boosting items to make it so).
His skills are mostly party utility, they're still useful.

[Cygwyn]

Gaulen is my front-line meat shield and ultility person. I just pump CON/SPD into him. And I level up:

Knowledge of Herbs
Knowledge of Terrain
Camouflage
Object Identification
Exploration
Mercantilism

[Woofy]

For Gaulen do poeple invest points in Axes or Swords?

Early on, swords seem better, but not everything bleeds, so I don't know....
Thanks!

[Welcome to Idiocracy 2023]

Gaulen always get axes because all my other frontline fighters are mace or sword focused.
Pretty balanced and no more problems about distributing the loot because everyone has his own weaponskill.

[Woofy]

Yeah, that's what I was doing. It just seemed like there were more swords in the game.

[InsideOut]

Gaulen is fine when you give him axes. I also let him sip from all the magical waters, so his stats are generally higher than his companions. This advantage is slightly mitigated by him wearing the Amulet of Golot.