Blacksmithing/Crafting

[M€M3!N$]

Any reason to take either of these past 5? I know you can go higher but is there a reason? I sharpen stuff at lvl 5 then lvl 7 and its the same.

[rn_archl0rd]

Both skills max out at 5 but your character's level does make a difference. There are aditional bonuses to weapons, shields and armor crafted when your character hits level 10 (lvl 12 for daggers). You can make a powrful voodoo dol at lvl 10 & crafting 5 or a Shambling Oak death wand as well as better amulets and rings for example. Taking the two skills past level 5 does not add any additional benefit. Some do not bother with crafting and some do not maximize the skills; it depends on your playstyle and if you like to craft your gear or not. Also the better the item crafted the more it sells for.

[FrauBlake]

No reason at all to have them higher than 5 unless you play with a mod that supports recipes that require higher crafting/blacksmithing levels.

For item improvements like sharpening weapons, only the blacksmithing level and the item level are important, not the crafter's level.

Example: A tormented soul boost is internally set up as a boost of +2 for each STR and DEX. To the outside though, it will be +1 from level 1 through 13, +2 from level 14 through 22, +3 from level 22 on, ... (There's a formula and rounding involved.)
So if you keep a weapon several levels, it makes no sense to put a tormented soul on it on every character levelup because the boost will never get bigger since it's the item's level that determines the outcome not the crafter's level.
The same goes for sharpening weapons of course, it's the item's level that determines the outcome - and the blacksmithing level of course because the boost with BS5 is higher than the one with BS2. The crafter's level does not matter, you will getthe same damage increase for an item level 5 weapon no matter what character level your crafter has.

The crafter's level only comes into play, when new items are created, armor or weapons because those are created with the crafter's character level as their item level.
Other items are always created with the same level since they do not really have an item level at all. In those cases, the crafting or blacksmithing level only determines if you can create the items or not.

[M€M3!N$]

K, thx for the info. OT I thought max lvl was 20...?

[FrauBlake]

Level 20 is max level for drops, crafted items can be created with higher levels, always with the crafter's level.

[M€M3!N$]

ah, k thx!

[Adeptus Stark]

I was level 21 on lonewolf with both characters at the end. I still had some minor unfinished quests, but I don't think they would have got me to 22.

[rn_archl0rd]

I was level 21 facing the dragon and finished at level 22.

[FrauBlake]

Nice, but it does not change the fact that crafted items are always the crafter's level while normal drops can not have levels beyond 20.

[M€M3!N$]

out of curiosity, is it worth it to get any ability past five?

[FrauBlake]

You means the skill abilities like Aerotheurge, Hydrosophist and so on ?
Not worth it and there is no gear with those abilities on them so they cannot be boosted above 5 anyway.

For other abilities, you can look at the Divinity Wiki[divinity.wikia.com] and judge yourself.

One - subjective - example: I do NOT consider it worth to bring Bow even above level 3 because I find 4 and then 5 points too expensive for a damage increase that can be already 'eaten away' by weapon damage ranges, i.e. when weapons have X-Y damage.

[Myobi]

Don't max them, get them to level 2 or 3, you can achieve 5 with a couple pieces of gear, traits and perks. You should also let the STR based characters be the ones leveling it, with pack a mule you can carry every single crafting item =P

[M€M3!N$]

hehe ya. Seems going past 3 is almost useless , not worth the points that can be better spent elswhere.

[FrauBlake]

For crafting and blacksmithing, you can get +1 on bracers and belts, you can have +1 on both from the Scientist talent and players can have +1 crafting from the Pragmatic trait.
So a player needs to invest 4 points, 1 in crafting and 3 in blacksmithing to bring both to 5.
(Companions need to invest 2 more in crafting because they can not have traits.)

[M€M3!N$]

Found that bringing up charisma does help, made
2 rings a neck, and a belt, so im at 7, gets me 9 bubbles on 1 win of rps. plus helps with selling stuff, each point raises there attitude by 5