Arcanum noob questions...

DaC-Sniper · Post by **DaC-Sniper** » Sat May 12, 2007 6:25 pm

Hi i decided to replay Arcanum after i gave up, the game was too difficult and i think i have messed up my character, too, so anyways, questions:

1. Why do i have lower beauty? I found out that alcohol is one of the reasons but what else? Is this Arkabash or hows that men in the beginning called who lives in a house, his wife killed, her son, too. etc. He blessed me once with magic, so does he fucked me up or what? I think i am going back to kill him. How can i get back my beauty?

2. I feel like i dont have good clothes/good nothing and killing monsters brings me almost nothing, no coins, no armor, no shit. Whats the best way to make some cash, is it really the thief way or is there a friendlier way?

3. I wanna play a guy with little bit magic and with a bow and also i want to be a little bit thief-like, i like to be in a great distance from the enemy, because the monsters are very strong, i found out. Is this all possible or should i focus?

More i dont need to know at this moment, maybe later.
please help me DaC

Thor Kaufman · Post by **Thor Kaufman** » Sat May 12, 2007 7:07 pm

1. you might be scarred, get a big healing from a magic healer to cure it
2. Selling stuff, upping your haggle skill and beauty helps, too. Stealing is very useful for that, open the vendors' chests, steal their stuff and sell it back to them

3. the lightning tree is pretty gut for fighter chars, get the speed spell, the first spell of that tree gives great additional protection depending on magic attitude.
Also get the dog from the far east city, he can kill everything.
The lockpick skill increases your tech skill level, hence lowering your magic, also it's only really useful at master level. Unlocking cantrip is easier to use for most situations, albeit rather loud, needs high magic aptitude as well to function properly. Getting lockpicks is ok for fighter/bow chars, though, I think, since you're going for high DX anyway.

The best solution probably is to get the PyroBow, to keep a tech/magic level of about 0 by investing into lightning tree till the third spell and into lockpick

DaC-Sniper · Post by **DaC-Sniper** » Sat May 12, 2007 7:37 pm

1. yes i am double scared, now i know to fix it.
2. k i`ll do that
3.

thanks

okay three minor questions have arrived...

4-When i concentrate fully on magic or concentrate fully on tech... does that make me stronger in any way?

5-What stats are in Arcanum high? Like i have intelligence 9, in Fallout Intelligence is already super high at 9, so whats the deal?

6-there is a skill called backstab, which increases the chance for critical damage, is that for melee only or also for bow/magic etc.?

Pretty complex game so far, i must say, when Ubisoft would have published this game, you would be able to shoot the lightbulbs. Stealth o`meter including.

dun dun.. didi dun dun.. music is hardcore, btw.

Urizen · Post by **Urizen** » Sat May 12, 2007 8:28 pm

4 - depends how you look at it. a mage is strong against another mage, but poor against a technologist. however, the techologist is equally poor against the mage, and equally strong against other technologists.

5 - 9 is okay for stats you don't use much, but you can eventually make important stats reach 20 or more (end-game).

6 - i think it's just for melee, and just for certain weapons (daggers, etc), at least in the beginning

Koki · Post by **Koki** » Sat May 12, 2007 9:55 pm

Urizen wrote:4 - depends how you look at it. a mage is strong against another mage, but poor against a technologist. however, the techologist is equally poor against the mage, and equally strong against other technologists.

Ya, in theory. In practice, magic = wtfpwn in Arcanum.

5-What stats are in Arcanum high? Like i have intelligence 9, in Fallout Intelligence is already super high at 9, so whats the deal?

The stats max is 20, mang. So you're not even smart yet. Also note racial penalties - dwarves have -2(IIRC) to Dex, so their max Dex is 18! Also also, whenever a stat reaches 20, you get a really big fat bonus. I don't remember exact ones, but they're worth it. Just look around(I recommend gamebanshee).

Urizen · Post by **Urizen** » Sat May 12, 2007 11:57 pm

4 - nope, magic is not overpowered, except maybe in the beginning.

5 - 20 is not max

Koki · Post by **Koki** » Sun May 13, 2007 6:28 am

So you say that it isn't, and every other fucking living person on Earth who played Arcanum says it is. I guess I'll let DAC-Sniper decide by himself then.

And I'm pretty sure 20 is the max. If it isn't, it doesn't really matter since there's no sesnse going over that.

Blargh · Post by **Blargh** » Sun May 13, 2007 7:02 am

I played a half ogre half potted plant with an intelligence of 24. Once.

Spazmo · Post by **Spazmo** » Sun May 13, 2007 7:05 am

I'm not sure, but I think much as races with stat penalties have a lower max, races with stat bonuses will have a higher max.

Thor Kaufman · Post by **Thor Kaufman** » Sun May 13, 2007 7:50 am

Spazmo is right, Elves for instance can have 21DX and 21BE. Also, every race can have 20 points in any stat if they use items that up the stat or gain blessings or something. Dwarves can easily have +10DX for instance by using certain gloves, rings and a certain blessing

High tech is needed to get certain stat bonuses from a few tech items and to decrease the possibility of a critical failure with a tech item. You want to keep the critical failure rate low probably, so you don't slash your own face off.
High magic gives tremendous bonuses to everything magic-related. Better working of skills and bonuses from items.
If your magic or tech is very high you might not be able to buy stuff from some dealers.

Intelligence is only needed for techers, dialogue and keeping spells working simultaneously, 10 is sufficient for all dialogue options. The techtree requires certain intelligence.
IN can be increased by using a magic potion, so it's pointless to put many points into it if you are technician.
If you are a mage and want to keep up protection spell, third speed spell and the fifth speed spell for example or multiple monsters/mind controls, putting many points into IN is useful. You'll also need high Endurance as well to keep the spells up or quaff many fatigue potions.

Backstab allows for bigger weapons at master level iirc. You better have Invisibility spell at hand or that one skill that makes you invisible.

Also you can actually shoot the lightbulbs to become sneakier, you might need to use a silent weapon and press CTRL or some other shortcut for full affect.

Magic is really the most powerful stuff in Arcanum. Just think of the speed spells, the protection spell or Disintegrate. Mind control (abuse), teleport and other stuff are quite nifty, too.
Tech can't really compare or does it have an instakill spell? Tech-fighters are pretty good when used with speed spells, though. Also, they can teleport (only with a certain item). But other than that, they are not that good imo.

DaC-Sniper · Post by **DaC-Sniper** » Sun May 13, 2007 10:19 am

Okay thanks for your answers

My first move was to get healed and to get my beauty back, only to have less beatuy again, so i need to again heal myself, only to... etc....

Then i killed some gnome shoopkeeper, i stayed in the house and moved the time forward, to picklock the barrel, but it doesnt worked out, so my Ogre friend killed this small gnome shopkeeper. And then Vigril and this Ogre friend punched the shit out of the barrel. Its funny to watch somehow, before they punch the barrel i unequip the weapons of them. Now i am little bit richer, i plan to kill one gnome shopkeeper in every town now.

Good to know, that its possible to shot lightbulbs, every game should have that, its a revolution in game design.

I am making
Picklocking: Expert
Persuade: Expert
Bow: Expert (maybe)

Magic:
Summoning or Evil Necromancy or something like that to Maximum
+ Healing (to level 3 probably is enough)

The bonus is everything over 20, it stands in my manual, but it doesnt look like its worthy, dexterty 20 maybe for my character.

Last questions, i think:

How much points do i gain per Level? At the beginning its only +1,
The last time i got +2 at Level 5 or something, i`m not sure.

Should i go for Summoning magic or Evil Necromancy magic?

Thor Kaufman · Post by **Thor Kaufman** » Sun May 13, 2007 11:38 am

the first spell of evil necromancy is quite the killer spell in arcanum with high magic aptitude, with low magic aptitude it's not as good.
Thus, if you go for low to medium magic aptitude better go for the lightning school, the first spell, disintegrate (also superior to the fifth evil necro spell) and lightning are some of the dopest spells around.

Summoning is not bad, but you don't get as much exp when your critters kill stuff instead of you. Also, if you have too many minions around, the game tends to get laggy and more unstable.

You get 1 point per level up, 2 points every 5 levelups

DaC-Sniper · Post by **DaC-Sniper** » Sun May 13, 2007 12:21 pm

Thank you. You have been most generous.

Urizen · Post by **Urizen** » Sun May 13, 2007 2:24 pm

the amount of excperience gained when npc's fight for you relates to the distance between you and the npc, i think. so try to stay close to your npc's when they fight, don't just hang back and throw spells at them. i've never excperienced any lagging or lack of stability when i've had large parties (6-8 npc's), so don't let that keep you back from gaining npc's, unnless you encounter any problems.

Thor Kaufman · Post by **Thor Kaufman** » Sun May 13, 2007 3:19 pm

Ja, 6-8 party members should be alright. Shit started when I abused mind control and had a giant robot army, though :/

Mandalorian FaLLouT GoD · Tue May 15, 2007 12:59 am

Urizen wrote:4 - nope, magic is not overpowered, except maybe in the beginning.

The game isn't much fun after you can harm kill 20 people just as they enter the screen....

jetbaby · Post by **jetbaby** » Tue May 15, 2007 1:18 am

Mandalorian FaLLouT GoD wrote:
Urizen wrote:4 - nope, magic is not overpowered, except maybe in the beginning.

The game isn't much fun after you can harm kill 20 people just as they enter the screen....

THANK YOU

DaC-Sniper · Post by **DaC-Sniper** » Tue May 15, 2007 5:47 pm

i dont know, whats wrong with me, but i kind of can`t play it longer then 1 - 2 hours, before hitting the exit button, sometimes its just 10 minutes or so. I mean talking with NPCs is definitely the good part and all that other RPG features, but when seeing those walking animations or fighting some stuff in combat mode i feel like Starcraft. Turnbased mode isn`t fun either, very bad implemented. I think i am getting old

or getting NEXT GEN

Koki · Post by **Koki** » Tue May 15, 2007 6:20 pm

Shut the fuck up, pussy. TB is same as in Fallout. So eat it.

And if you play real time, it's your own damn fault.

DaC-Sniper · Post by **DaC-Sniper** » Tue May 15, 2007 6:58 pm

I try to pretend that the combat is like in Fallout, but the truth is, it isnt. That makes me cry

It feels so different.