Spells, Skill Levels, Vitality & Intellengence Questions

[PyroDrew]

This forum is more busy than the Official Forums so...

I read somewhere that some of spells do not work, but are still in the game.
Although the Bloodlust spell doesn't display on the character screen, I do see the graphic image & notice higher damage in battle. However, Poisonous Touch never shows any graphic, no change on the character screen & I see no difference in battle... so I presume this one is broken.
1>Just so I don't waste gold or time what are all the spells (Arcane, Nether, Rune, Celestial) that do not work in 1.4 but can still be found/bought/made?

2>From the Banshee Game Guide...
a.There is no reason to take Athletics beyond level 4.
b.There is no reason to take Light or Medium Dual Weapons past level 1.
c.There is no reason to take Pick Locks past level 1 (or past 0?).

Does all the above still hold true in 1.4?
Are there any other skills that are useless except for class requirements?

3>I've read that points in Vitality increase the difficulty (life?damage?) of monsters... is that true?

4>Finally, because of how Intelligence impacts skill costs, what Intelligence do players usually end the game with? Simply meeting the class requirements or is the game so big & skill costs so high later that many players raise it to 100+?
I'm L9 in Fargrove now, what level do players usually end the game? ~L20? ~L100?

Thanks in advance.

[George_K]

If your thief skills are too low, you're SOL, especially the pick, inspect, and disarm. Pickpocket works in a strange way. When you bash an enemy, they drop more loot the higher your pickpocket skill.

At the start of every game, I get the personal stats as high as possible while not forgetting to increase thief skills. You want to be careful about vitality because it directly affects your life stat. When your life approaches 100 or goes over, enemies also get quite a bit stronger and more resistant.

Try to keep vitality in the low 20's. I know, that seems stupid but at least you don't have to stand all day beating and bashing an enemy before you win out. You just have to load up on potions. If you have to resort to using the R key, you lose all your advance points.

[PyroDrew]

I'm familiar with the dreaded 'R' key.

So GameBanshee's Game Guide is wrong/outdated & the PickLock skill does work above level 1?

I haven't had any trouble opening chests with only 1point in Inspect, PickLock & Disarm so far, even L4 chests I can get open. I just bought Celestial Time Spell, which worked wonders disarming/opening chests in the demo (haven't tried it in the game yet). But I did break that one locked door in the beginning... I just don't want to dump points in PickLock if it's not going to do anything.

I'm planning on a Shaolin Battlemage, which I don't think gets the Pickpocket skill. A character planner shows Shaolin Samurai is impossible.

I'm also keen on getting the personal stats as high as possible first. This is also why I asked about Intellegence since right now it will cost me about 35k points to raise my Intellegence from 40 to 45. A Shaolin Battlemage only needs 35 Intelligence, but I wonder if by spending those 35k points now I can make my total skill costs 35k+ cheaper in the long run. So I'm wondering if I should just stay at 40 or if it's not unreasonable to raise it to 70? 100?

I have found over 300 health potions so my character is loaded.
I've seen games tie monster difficulty to character level, but I'm surprised they would tie monster life (damage?) to a character stat that the player can spend points on.

[swcarter]

Originally Posted by PyroDrew

So GameBanshee's Game Guide is wrong/outdated & the PickLock skill does work above level 1?

We never said it didn't work. We said if you're not playing the CE, then there isn't any reason to advance it. The pick locks skill only helps you open locks that aren't trapped, and if you're not playing the CE, then there are only a couple like that, and they both have keys available.

SWC

[Strategy]

I use disarm 5 pick 1 inspect 5, even without slow time a level 7 chest can have 90% disarm with magic pics and 70% with level 2 pics
I have over 100 hp and its not that much harder
I have 45+ int and im only level 12, if you ask me when it said that it lowers the cost of everything, I think its a must have?
I have athletics 4 I think if you go higher it just makes you a little faster?
any skill is good to raise, it makes you better after all

[meuric]

Where is it located?

[Strategy]

Walkthrough: http://www.gamebanshee.com/dungeonlords/walkthrough.php