I need leveling advice.

[Heshynver]

I wanted to create a Cleric/Paladin type character in TOoD which I'd later use in SoP but I keep getting confused with levels and attributes allocation and I'm not sure if I'll be able to achieve my planned build.
I'm not the brightest and I could use some help from more advanced players.
My plan was to reach maximum player level and get level 20 in Heavy Combat Arts (Blunt or Blade Weapons, not sure which one would be better and Heavy Armor) as well as level 13 in White Magic (all three, Life, Nature and Boons) so that I could get the best armor and weapons as well as some good spells.
According to my calculations it seems that it would to make this work and I would have just about enough attribute points to level up my abbilities but I'm still not 100% sure. I'd be very greatful if someone could tell me wheter this is a good idea and if it'll work numbers-wise.

Also, just a general question, how many attribute points do I get when reaching level 30 and level 50?

[Jay]

I dunno if I ever got to reach to max some melee skills when building a paladin, but, somehow, I think was able to level up at least one of the melee or armor skills to a good level on advanced maps of the SotP after maxing all white magic skills.

[Heshynver]

Originally posted by Jay:

I dunno if I ever got to reach to max some melee skills when building a paladin, but, somehow, I think was able to level up at least one of the melee or armor skills to a good level on advanced maps of the SotP after maxing all white magic skills.

How would you build a Paladin to make it workable and somewhat enjoyable?

[Paladin]

I think I tried something like this once, but I stopped...playing fairly (i.e. I resorted to ArtMoney for more attribute points) when I did the math.

From my calculations at the time, I would get level 12 Heavy Combat Arts and level 6 White Magic at level 30. And level 20 Heavy Combat Arts and Level 12 White Magic at level 50. And this was ONLY achievable by using the absolute minimum of the required attribute points to level up the abilities.

And both skills was so underwhelming due to the minimum of attribute points, the character would fit the theme, but be otherwise almost useless. My melee hits did little damage due to low Strength, and my healing did not heal me much due to low Charisma.

[Heshynver]

Originally posted by Paladin:

I think I tried something like this once, but I stopped...playing fairly (i.e. I resorted to ArtMoney for more attribute points) when I did the math.

From my calculations at the time, I would get level 12 Heavy Combat Arts and level 6 White Magic at level 30. And level 20 Heavy Combat Arts and Level 12 White Magic at level 50. And this was ONLY achievable by using the absolute minimum of the required attribute points to level up the abilities.

And both skills was so underwhelming due to the minimum of attribute points, the character would fit the theme, but be otherwise almost useless. My melee hits did little damage due to low Strength, and my healing did not heal me much due to low Charisma.

Huh, even if it's not a great way to play the game, it's good to know that this is possible at least. Thanks.

[Rae88]

Hi, I'll try to answer you questions here.
Firts of all - to calculate number of attribute points (AP) at given level you can use this fromula:

AP = 30 + (lvl-1)*5
for example at lvl 30 you have 30+29*5 = 175.

Now let's talk about how many attribute points you need per lvl of given ability. I highly recommend using this website from spellforce wiki (https://spellforce.fandom.com/wiki/Stats_of_Ability_Tree).
As you see to reach Heavy Combat Arts (HCA) 20 you need STR 112 STA 112 and for White Magic (WM) 13 WIS 74 CHA 64

Let's check if we have enough attribute points to make this build.
At 50 lvl you have 30+49*5 = 275 AP.
112 + 112 + 74 + 64 - 25*4 = 262 AP.
So this build will work!


From my point of view paladin build (WM+HCA) is not the best way to play this game. You can finish the game, sure, but it is not the most optimal way to play it.

HCA needs very high STR/STA (112 both) which means that you will lack DEX. Your hit rate will be low. You'll miss 50% of your melee hits. To compensate this, you will have to use WM Boons aura which is unusable while you command an army because you'll ran out of mana. You will miss a lot of very good spells because every time you will be using aura of dexterity or aura of eternity. I'll recommend doing one of those 3 things I'll describe below:

1) Give up WM and instead take Light Combat Arts (LCA). Instead of taking WIS/CHA you'll be getting DEX/AGI which is WAY more useful. Moreover in SotP LCA gets so many good gear that it will compensate for the loss of WM Boons.

2) Give up HCA and play pure WM (Boons+Life+Nature). For this build take WIS 102, CHA 92 and STR 138. You will have max STR which will result in very high melee damage and the rest will be compensated from aura of eternity.

3) If you really want to combine WM+HCA then you should level HCA to 15. At HCA 15 you get Hirinstaff which is arguably the best weapon in the game. You don't need to get to lvl 20 HCA. This way you'll save a bunch of AP that can be used for WM

[Heshynver]

Originally posted by Rae88:

Hi, I'll try to answer you questions here.
Firts of all - to calculate number of attribute points (AP) at given level you can use this fromula:

AP = 30 + (lvl-1)*5
for example at lvl 30 you have 30+29*5 = 175.

Now let's talk about how many attribute points you need per lvl of given ability. I highly recommend using this website from spellforce wiki (https://spellforce.fandom.com/wiki/Stats_of_Ability_Tree).
As you see to reach Heavy Combat Arts (HCA) 20 you need STR 112 STA 112 and for White Magic (WM) 13 WIS 74 CHA 64

Let's check if we have enough attribute points to make this build.
At 50 lvl you have 30+49*5 = 275 AP.
112 + 112 + 74 + 64 - 25*4 = 262 AP.
So this build will work!


From my point of view paladin build (WM+HCA) is not the best way to play this game. You can finish the game, sure, but it is not the most optimal way to play it.

HCA needs very high STR/STA (112 both) which means that you will lack DEX. Your hit rate will be low. You'll miss 50% of your melee hits. To compensate this, you will have to use WM Boons aura which is unusable while you command an army because you'll ran out of mana. You will miss a lot of very good spells because every time you will be using aura of dexterity or aura of eternity. I'll recommend doing one of those 3 things I'll describe below:

1) Give up WM and instead take Light Combat Arts (LCA). Instead of taking WIS/CHA you'll be getting DEX/AGI which is WAY more useful. Moreover in SotP LCA gets so many good gear that it will compensate for the loss of WM Boons.

2) Give up HCA and play pure WM (Boons+Life+Nature). For this build take WIS 102, CHA 92 and STR 138. You will have max STR which will result in very high melee damage and the rest will be compensated from aura of eternity.

3) If you really want to combine WM+HCA then you should level HCA to 15. At HCA 15 you get Hirinstaff which is arguably the best weapon in the game. You don't need to get to lvl 20 HCA. This way you'll save a bunch of AP that can be used for WM

Thank you very much for all the detailed explenations and direct answer to my question. As foe the changes to the build, I think I'll still try it because the HC+LC combo is a bit too boring for me and I've already played a lot of pure White Mage, but I may consider the third option with changinf the level amounts. Thanks again.

[GodfatherPlunger]

With a craftable quest item in SoP you can create one of the strongest builds with Heavy Combat 15 Heavy Armor 15 (or more) and WM for auras.

There may be stronger builds, like the mind + ranged combat were you can get a crossbow with elemental effects from the second campaign, create infinite copies of yourself and while they don't deal damage, they trigger the weapon effect and thus cc and deal damage over time.
Another great combination was Elemental + Mind as Mind isn't that strong, but has MASSIVE stat buffs for casters and really good mana generation, which made it possible to cast nearly infintely and I could keep like 15+ golems up.

Heavy Combat + White Magic is definitely very strong though, much stronger than pure Combat (with that one weapon). But even before you find that weapon I never felt weak and after that you will be insanely strong. Only problem is that you want the auras to buff YOU and thus I actually felt weaker in groups as you don't have that much mana.
While you can only have one aura active, you can switch between them and the buff lasts a moment, thus you can buff yourself with things like fighting aura, dexterity, eternity in parallel. I also put 2 points in Light Combat, to get Berserk and Boons for more dps and another heal.

I could solo the arena of the gods with around lvl 40 against lvl 50 endgame enemies.
I have played full heavy and heavy+light before and with the combination of heavy armor 20 + white boon 13 for buffs and 2 in light combat for berserk and boon + the quest staff, I was far stronger than those pure builds.