skill books

[Nyrue]

i finally got off of the island and am now able to respec my characters, but i am at the moment lacking the skills i need to make my desired changes, so i ask you this, are skill difficult to procure in this game, or will i soon have more skill books than i know what to do with?

[TheJakal]

nah you can buy them from most vendors. First village, drifwood, after you get off the boat there are a bumch of merchants selling skill books in the square.

[Nyrue]

that was actaully going to be my second question, should i buy them or will i find them lying aroudn and as loot drops?

[TheJakal]

You will find very few looting and just lying around. There is a way to craft skills just haven't found it myself yet.
Also the ones you buy seems to be more powerful than the few you find lying around.

[Shard of Manus]

Originally posted by Nyrue:

that was actaully going to be my second question, should i buy them or will i find them lying aroudn and as loot drops?

They're very rare loot drops (VERY RARE).

Certain skill books can be found out in the wilds, but these tend to be specifically placed ones, as opposed to loot drops. You're absolute best source of skills is to just buy them from vendors, though at beginning of Act 2, it's quite a big investment (because they're about 300-500 gold each) and you tend to only have about 6000-7000 gold at this point (depending on your approach to money, thievery and looting in Act 1) - and some really great gear can be purchased from certain vendors.

I like to always keep a float of 40% maximum gold held at a single time, so if I have 8000, I'll never go below 3200. If I go above 8000, say to 10000, I'll never go below 4000. -- The purpose of this is so that you always have enough for an 'emergency' buy, such as an extremely powerful item on sale for a high price. I recommend an approach like this to your gold.

By late Act 2 all the way to Act 4, the amount of loot you'll horde will mean you'll never be short on gold.

Originally posted by TheJakal:

You will find very few looting and just lying around. There is a way to craft skills just haven't found it myself yet.
Also the ones you buy seems to be more powerful than the few you find lying around.

Crafting skills requires Blank Skill Books and Scrolls of the particular skill. Scrolls of skills can also be crafted.

Blank Books can sometimes be found on bookshelves, and will also be sold by vendors (for cheaper than actual Skills).

Scrolls can be found quite commonly, and can be crafted fairly easily also.

There are certain Skill Books that are even more scarcely found, but can be crafted by combining two types of Skill Books together (One of an Element, Fire, Air, Water, Earth; and one of the Combat types, Warfare, Necro, Scoundrel, Huntsman, Summoner, Poly). Combine one of each to craft new skills.

A source book of either an Element, or Combat skill (only one needed, not both) will craft a different but usually similar Skill (a Source Skill). For example : Necro + Hydro makes Blood Rain, but Necro (Source) + Hydro OR Necro + Hydro (Source) will make Blood Storm.

[Nyrue]

i like when an RPG puts an emphasis on Bartering, too often you never really need to buy anything, and find yourself with more gold than you could ever hope to spend

[Shard of Manus]

Oh, you will still end up with too much gold, no worries about that. Adventuring apparently pays VERY well.