Starting Stats to Maximize dialogue choices?

[Mr Suitcase]

Hi. I never got far in the original, but I fully intend to make it through this time around.

What starting stats are best to maximize the dialogue choices?

[Vichan]

Wisdom is the most important stat, followed by intelligence and then charisma. I'd max out WIS to 18, put intelligence at 16 and charisma at 13, the spare point can be used on dexterity.

[SunsetAmethyst]

1) You will want 18 Wis, and you *will* want to boost it constantly. End of story. There's a +2 Wis tattoo, and it's always a good thing to wear, so get yourself to 23 Wis and use that until your natural Wis reaches 25 and you can ditch the tattoo.

2) If you start with 17 Int and plan on being a Mage (Mages are awesome), then you can safely *not* increase it at all during level-ups. Seriously. Level 7 as a Mage gets you +1 Int, Level 12 gets you +2 Int and +1 Wis, and the Level 12 Mage tattoo gives you +3 Int. And then there's the normal +2 Int one. That's +8. 17 + 8 = 25.

3) With 18 Wis and 17 Int, that allows you to have 13 Cha right from the start, which gets you a little extra money from some quests. Boosting Cha from level-ups after you've taken Wis as far as you want to is a good idea. I mean, your party members can fight in melee for you. It's not a big deal.


So in other words: 17 Int, 18 Wis, 13 Cha.

[strekalalex84]

As others have said, and has always been the case in this game, the key stat to max is Wisdom, followed by Int, and then a little love to Charisma. Further, playing as a mage in this game maximizes experience and oppurtunities as well. Continue to boost those stats over levels ups, with tattoos helping along the way.

Plus, if you account for the free stat boosts throughout the game, there's a cutoff point where you really won't need to invest more points in Wis or Int, and you can safely start paying attention to physical stats like Constitution or Dexterity. Having high Con is nice because it eventually lets you auto-regenerate.

It seems kind of weird, but this is pretty much the universally optimal way to develop a character in the game.

[Mr Suitcase]

Thanks for the guidance folks. Starting my run very shortly!

[Vitowns]

Damn i need to restart lol thanks for the stats guide!

[Ray tracing is faster]

Originally posted by Vichan:

Wisdom is the most important stat, followed by intelligence and then charisma. I'd max out WIS to 18, put intelligence at 16 and charisma at 13, the spare point can be used on dexterity.

You'll get your ass kicked in combat though, with stats like this. At least until you can become a mage.

[strekalalex84]

That's true, though not a huge deal as long as combat means little more than Hive thugs, aside from the fact that you can use Morte or Dakkon to tank for you.

There are other somewhat more balanced builds one could go with if one doesn't intend on becoming a Mage. It's hard to argue with the importance of Wis and at least a little love to Int as far as optimization in this game though. That's why typical optimization suggestions say to max Wis and at least start with moderate Int, like 14 or 15.

I also personally tend to jump right to becoming a Mage as soon as I get out of the Mortuary, even though I have to meta-game to do it. A related route is to be sure to get your weapon proficiencies up as a Fighter first (particularly in Edged weapons), then jump into Mage for the rest of the game. The weapon skills are permanent and apply to the edged weapons a Mage can use and it makes for a Mage that can at least sometimes be decent in melee.

[Battlekruse]

Thanks a lot, there is much valid intel in this thread.

[Queegon]

Mage powergaming stats are INT 15, WIS 18, CHA 13, rest to CON for example

You'll get a tattoo for +2 INT and have natural 19 without spending any points on it with natural progression as a mage at lv 12, if you take the opportunities presented.

You'll never need INT higher than 19 throughout the whole game except for one check at 21 during second half of the game, don't go overboard.

Same for CHA, there's exactly 2 places where you might want to have higher CHA than 18 and you can easily get it with casting Friends as a mage, or a fighter/thief who switches to mage and back. It also stacks. You'll get +3 free CHA early on too, with a tattoo that is 18 total. No need to spend a single point.

Spend your early levels upping wisdom to 20-21, get a tattoo +2. You'll get +2 wisdom early on for free, with additional conditional +3 at a point of around half the game. +1 at level 12 as a mage. Any point over 25 is lost, count with that.