Is there and point to the BLACK CAT other than the free sommon skill?

[Angry Baseball]

Is there and point to the BLACK CAT other than the free sommon skill?

[rn_archl0rd]

None

[IlluminaZero]

Cat might be worthwhile if it didn't take up a memory slot...

[Neks]

Originally posted by player:

Well the cat is a free if short-range teleport, can be helpful at the start. What other point do you want? That's one the most unique rewards for a quest in the game.

In Larian's games unique often is a synonym of useless.
Funny but useless. Cat is that case too

[Cyseal]

Originally posted by Neks:

Originally posted by player:

Well the cat is a free if short-range teleport, can be helpful at the start. What other point do you want? That's one the most unique rewards for a quest in the game.

In Larian's games unique often is a synonym of useless.
Funny but useless. Cat is that case too

Tell me how the cat-summon is useless..?

[Serendipitous]

Because even for teleports it's just better to actually prepare som teleportation skill (game has it in abundance even at low levels). Cat is useless as a summon meaning that in combat it will take place of your summon that could actually pull it's weight and trying to use it's ability to switch place is less AP efficient and more tactically complicated than just usin actual teleportation ability.

So yeah, both Cat and Griff are useless pieces of ... uniqueness.

[Cyseal]

Oh so that's why the cat has saved my ass three times so far. Yea, I have teleport, but I can't teleport myself away from danger, now can I? The summon works as a meatshield for, say, crippling blow and other CC spells which would be used on me (from time to time) and it's not like I can easily run away from enemies that get attack of opportunity, the cat saves my ass from that as well with the teleport-swap.

It's all about using skills with thought, not just spamming them wherever. If I don't have anything crucial to take for my memory slots, the cat summon is a wonderful addition to my skillbar.

"Tactically complicated", yea I suppose that's true; it requires thought.

[BarbieGirl]

I love the cat in the game. It is just so unexpected. When you use the swap is the cat teleported into danger?

[Serendipitous]

Yea, I have teleport, but I can't teleport myself away from danger, now can I?

If you mean specifically spell Teleport, then yes, you can't. There are though PLENTY of other spells that you can use to escape from danger (tactical retreat and cloak and dagger comes to mind). All of them ignore opportunity attacks.

"Tactically complicated", yea I suppose that's true; it requires thought.

Oh, mate, do you really wanna go there? Because from what i can grasp about your tactics from your post, tactician you ain't.

Complicated mean that it requires unnecessary actions and costs which makes it a less viable option. Spells that i mentioned earlier cost 1 AP and ignore opportunity which allows you to move out of the danger and THEN also cast some aoe spell to mess with the group of guys who came close to you (hitting them with slow or any other CC that you have available without worrying about getting hit byt hat also). Summons act rigth AFTER you in the round you summon them and in next rounds they act depending on their Wits (which is mostly low for all summons). Summoning cat requires 2 AP and it will act right after you, so in many cases you can't just hit all the enemies that got close to you with aoe spell without worrying about getting hit yourself, so you will have less options to do something. It's more limiting and more costly option than other teleportation spells.

[Cyseal]

So let's say I've gotten into a fight. My round is first, so I use Tactical Retreat to get high ground to get more damage, I use, say, Ricochet on three guys and cast Haste on a friend or Encourage.

After that round, I was the first one to act, the enemies swarm over me with their own utility/movement skills, such as Backslash or Polymorph Fly or Phoenix Dive. Now I'm in the middle of them, three guys and my Tactical Retreat is on cooldown and I'm about to die the next turn. I'm not a Summoner so I can't summon a minion to help me out, my friend is fighting enemies somewhere further. I can teleport one of them away, but that still leaves two to deal with. Not an optimal situation.

So I Fortify myself or Frost armor myself or some other buff OR simply damage them, summon the cat, BOOM! It's the cats turn right after mine. I jump to another platform that is high ground with the cat, swap myself with it, the cat is now surrounded and the enemy doesn't have anymore movement skills/spells and I'm highground and get my bonus damage.

Now, I could keep that summon-cat in my spellbook OR I could swap it to some other buff or damage dealing ability or whatever, but since I don't have any "must have" skills/spells, what's the point? The cat saved my life and with what, two AP worth of actions..? Wow. That's too much. That's highly complicated, I know.


And that's just one situation. Sure, if I would have known where the enemies spawn, I wouldn't have needed to use the Tactical Retreat early on to get out of the their burst-damage, but if I'm running my first run, I can't know.

Could you please, -please- elaborate to me once again how useless the cat-summon is, because frankly, I'm not getting it.

Oh and I actually am quite the tactician, hence I wouldn't be playing with 3 man group on Honour-mode, but hey, it's good to know you know how I play the game based on a hypotetical situation that many might run into when playing the game. I thank, thee, oh Divine One, for showing me that there indeed is telepathy and psykinetic powers among as humans.

[BarbieGirl]

Originally posted by Mikaelion:

So let's say I've gotten into a fight. My round is first, so I use Tactical Retreat to get high ground to get more damage, I use, say, Ricochet on three guys and cast Haste on a friend or Encourage.

After that round, I was the first one to act, the enemies swarm over me with their own utility/movement skills, such as Backslash or Polymorph Fly or Phoenix Dive. Now I'm in the middle of them, three guys and my Tactical Retreat is on cooldown and I'm about to die the next turn. I'm not a Summoner so I can't summon a minion to help me out, my friend is fighting enemies somewhere further. I can teleport one of them away, but that still leaves two to deal with. Not an optimal situation.

So I Fortify myself or Frost armor myself or some other buff OR simply damage them, summon the cat, BOOM! It's the cats turn right after mine. I jump to another platform that is high ground with the cat, swap myself with it, the cat is now surrounded and the enemy doesn't have anymore movement skills/spells and I'm highground and get my bonus damage.

Now, I could keep that summon-cat in my spellbook OR I could swap it to some other buff or damage dealing ability or whatever, but since I don't have any "must have" skills/spells, what's the point? The cat saved my life and with what, two AP worth of actions..? Wow. That's too much. That's highly complicated, I know.


And that's just one situation. Sure, if I would have known where the enemies spawn, I wouldn't have needed to use the Tactical Retreat early on to get out of the their burst-damage, but if I'm running my first run, I can't know.

Could you please, -please- elaborate to me once again how useless the cat-summon is, because frankly, I'm not getting it.

Oh and I actually am quite the tactician, hence I wouldn't be playing with 3 man group on Honour-mode, but hey, it's good to know you know how I play the game based on a hypotetical situation that many might run into when playing the game. I thank, thee, oh Divine One, for showing me that there indeed is telepathy and psykinetic powers among as humans.

So having swapped with the cat does the cat now get killed by the enemies?

[Cyseal]

Well most of the times the cat takes some of the aggro, guess the enemies don't like animals, I dunno. Usually the cat dies, but that's more than enough if it saves my ass. Rarely the fights drag out for more than 4-5 rounds so it's fine for me.

The thing is; I'm further from the enemies, in a much safer spot AND the enemies usually use some skills to hit the cat with, so it makes them weaker due to cooldowns. Win-win.

[BarbieGirl]

Originally posted by Mikaelion:

Well most of the times the cat takes some of the aggro, guess the enemies don't like animals, I dunno. Usually the cat dies, but that's more than enough if it saves my ass. Rarely the fights drag out for more than 4-5 rounds so it's fine for me.

The thing is; I'm further from the enemies, in a much safer spot AND the enemies usually use some skills to hit the cat with, so it makes them weaker due to cooldowns. Win-win.

Well I don't like that at all. I have protected that cat all the way through Ft. Joy just to swap with him and let him die? No I don't think so.

[Cyseal]

I see where you're coming from, Barbie, but you can re-summon the cat after the cooldown. So it's not like the cat is lost forever. It's a skill you get when you rescue it.

[BarbieGirl]

Originally posted by Mikaelion:

I see where you're coming from, Barbie, but you can re-summon the cat after the cooldown. So it's not like the cat is lost forever. It's a skill you get when you rescue it.

Ohhh ok that makes a big difference!

[Abjuration]

Originally posted by Neks:

Originally posted by player:

Well the cat is a free if short-range teleport, can be helpful at the start. What other point do you want? That's one the most unique rewards for a quest in the game.

In Larian's games unique often is a synonym of useless.
Funny but useless. Cat is that case too

Cat proved a lot useful in the second part of Fort Joy island for me. The game has a lot of possibilities, there are no useless skills if you use combine them with other skills which can "stack" or combo the effects. It depends on your creativity :) Cat is surely useless in middle to late game, 2 action points + a memory slot for it isn't really good. But in the first island, it is good.