Free Ability Points - Character Creation

[Paranitis]

I haven't been on these forums for about a year and a half now and I am back because of Lionheart.

I am wanting to create a character who is kind of a cross between a bard (for speech things), a rogue (for sneaking around, picking locks, etc) and a monk (mostly for the HTH combat since I like the idea of punching the crap out of stuff rather than swording it to death.

I looked through the perks on here (also in the readme on the CD) and it seems I need 8 Strength, 8 Agility, 200 Unarmed skill, and to be level 33 for Slayer. Anyway that's really not the point and I dunno why I mentioned it...

What I wanted to know..without reading through the entire read me scanning for certain things like when I have the possibility of gaining a free stat point (such as +1 Perception from the Stargazer telescope thingie)..does someone have it written down how many of these free points I can get from places so I don't end up spending too many points on character creation so they they end up being wasted in the end?

Say I give my character 10 Perception off the bat as a Pureblood (I don't want the non-humans because of other people not liking me..I think that kinda sucks)..not saying I will, but just an example. Then I get the +1 from the stargazer perk..but then there are even more +1 Perception free points throughout the game where at some point I can't get it because it's too high..

Basically..is there a minimum number I should shoot for on each attribute at character creation to get the Slayer perk, be good with sneaking around, and be good at talking with people? I don't care about magic or using weapons or anything like that.

If I have to though I guess I can just read the entire walkthrough to check the stuff, but I may pay TOO much attention and have the whole story spoiled for me. I want to have the story in the game not be spoiled..but don't want to waste points I could have used elsewhere.

[Paranitis]

Oh, one more thing..about Skills in the game..

Are there any MAXIMUM numbers for the skills that I don't need to go higher than? Like the sneak skill, do I need it higher than 200 or some number to sneak through everything? Or am I wasting points if I have it suddenly at 205 on sneaking. Same with lock picking and speech, etc. Is there just certain numbers I don't need to go higher than?

[Fljotsdale]

Oh, gosh. I'm sorry. It's been an age since I played it last and I really don't remember stuff like that... I don't think I ever went into so much detail! And I no longer have my notes...

I can say that non-pureblood races suffer VERY little disadvantage in dealings with other people: I rarely played purebloods myself, since I prefered Demokin, and Demokin can have the Forked Tongue racial trait which gives excellent Speech skill.

However...

The Slayer Perk is not as as advertised in the Manual, so it's as well to check out the requirements on the CD.
All I can really say is to make sure you have the attributes and basic skills needed for the Perks you want. The Maual is mostly correct about those, but some are wrong.
The Guild(s) you join give you extra points, too: for example, I remember that joining Knights Templar give an immediate +5 Health and +4 to Ranged and Melee weapons.
There are a number of books in the game. Some are Quest items, but a few others give an attribute point - but I don't remember what they are...

Let me, as a sort of example of highest skill stats you might want, give you the final stats of one of my characters:

Level 48
HP 298
AC 77 (215 item enhanced)
STR 8
Per 6
END 5
CHA 6
INT 9 (10)
AGI 8
Luck 5 (6)

(you get a basic 41 points, my char has 47, so I gained 6 Attribute points during the game - but I don't know for sure which ones - except INT, STR, Luck)

Main Skills:

Fight:
Unarmed (259)
Evasion (81)

Thief:
Traps/Doors 105
Locks (136)
Sneak (182)
Diplomacy 91 (Speech 132, Bargaining 92)

Magic (Divine)
Fortify (149)
Smite (124)

Magic (Thought)

Ice (56)

Magic (Tribal)

Necromancy 26
Nature's Fury 76
Numbers in () are item enhanced

You will see I put a lot of points in various Magic schools, and since you are not interested in Magic, you will be able to feed more points into Fight and Thief skills. But I do recommend that you give some points to Divine Magic, Fortitude branch, so you can heal and protect yourself.

And it is good policy to take certain Perks very early on: Inherited Resistance (Need to take on first level-up because not available later: +10 to poison and disease resistance; disease/poison damage Thresholds +2)), Swift Learner (2 levels:+5 % bonus to experience points each time you take it), Educated (adds 2 extra skill points each level-up).

[Paranitis]

Yeah, I scanned through the entire walkthrough just for numbers and stuff..so with perks I know I want these ones (not sure in which order)

*Swift Learner x2
*Educated
*Bonus HTH Damage x3 (not sure since the cd readme says it lowered extra damage from 2 to 1..which is kinda a bad thing, so I might not take it)
*Ghost x2
*Pugilist
*Slayer

But Inherited Resistance would be a good one too I guess. Just need to work out my stuff so I could get Slayer at level 33 and not later.

Thought about More Criticals but I thought since Slayer says it turns all attacks into criticals on a good luck roll..then it'd be pointless.

I will get +1 Perception in Barcelona, +1 Endurance from the Knight's Templar, a +1 Luck potion from the Beggars, +1 Intelligence from Order of Saladin, and a +1 Luck potion from some Dryad.

[Fljotsdale]

More Criticals is ok, but there are better Perks. Like Observant & Master Thief! Adreneline Rush can be useful, too, in difficult fights.

Erm... SPOILER

You are going to wish you had Ranged skill towards the end of the game. I suggest you feed some points into it and pick up a decent bow. I suggest taking Ranged Perks: Bonus Ranged Damage (lvl 5) and Bonus Rate of Fire (lvl 14)
You CAN manage without, but it is easier with!

[Paranitis]

Well yeah..apparently people say the best build is all ranged since it's overpowered or something.

I'd rather just ignore it completely.

[Paranitis]

Bah, tried with the unarmed thing..I thought I could hit with both hands rather than just punching with one arm the whole time. And sneaking doesn't seem to matter too much either.

Maybe I can go with a 2H power build with speech and lockpicking rather than unarmed, speech, and sneaking.

[Fljotsdale]

I quite liked H2H. Vey powerful - but you do need decent STR.

Anyway, yeah, ranged is good. I don't think it is overpowered, myself, and I'm NOT into powergaming!

Anyway, I know it's perfectly possible to play without it because I've done it; it's just a bit harder. But it helped a lot that I had Ranged MAGIC! Ice or Electrical are best, if you want to go that way...

Speech is VERY useful! If your diplomacy is high you can talk your way out of some very difficult fights - which can be a very good thing indeed! Especially if your character isn't very strong.