Is this a good character?

[Ravager]

Originally Posted by BallOfFire

What does Unarmed chance to hit and damage depend on? I know that Perception and Agility affect the starting skill level, and Strength affects the damage, at least at the beginning, but what in all is involved in determining damage and chance to hit for Unarmed? Do they increase per level, or merely when you put points in the skill?

Though I can't say definitively, I'd say it was mostly connected to the amount of points you put in the skill. Of course, there are also items that provide bonuses to the Unarmed skill and Unarmed damage in the game too.

Originally Posted by BallOfFire

Also, I think I'm going to get some of the Divine skills, as well as maybe Nature's Fury for Nature's Balance, and I'm wondering if the affects of the spells on me and on the enemies will stack, and if I'm likely to have enough mana for casting them all with my character.

Well, I know that some spells do stack. Some spells cast by enemies do, I know that. Weaken Enemies does, for example.
I'll have to check those Nature spells later on.

Originally Posted by BallOfFire

I'll probably pump points in Unarmed, much of the Divine branch, Diplomacy, and maybe Nature's Fury. Would I be better off spell-wise by just focusing on Smite and ignoring the others?

Well, Divine Favour works very well in combination with Smite and Unarmed, so I think you should points into all of those and Fortitude for the healing benefits too.
The character looks good, though the low perception may be troublesome at the beginning.

[BallOfFire]

Thanks. What I meant to ask about stacking was if multiple spells that make you stronger or enemies weaker can be in effect at the same time.

Edit: It turns out there is a derived attribute of strength called "melee damage" that actually means BONUS melee damage for unarmed beyond that from skill points in the unarmed skill.

Edit again: Has anyone tried using stealth as a tagged skill? I'm curious as to whether you could actually play through the game as a stealthy character. I wonder if you could just sneak past most of the enemies. I'm wondering though because backstab is really appealing since I'm unarmed and have a ridiculous amount of starting damage.

[Fljotsdale]

Originally Posted by BallOfFire

Thanks. What I meant to ask about stacking was if multiple spells that make you stronger or enemies weaker can be in effect at the same time.

It depends. Some spells stack, I think, but most specifically SAY they do not. Just read the description when you highlight the spell (not in the quick slot, but on the skills page)

Originally Posted by BallOfFire

Edit: It turns out there is a derived attribute of strength called "melee damage" that actually means BONUS melee damage for unarmed beyond that from skill points in the unarmed skill.

How do you find this stuff out?

Originally Posted by BallOfFire

Edit again: Has anyone tried using stealth as a tagged skill? I'm curious as to whether you could actually play through the game as a stealthy character. I wonder if you could just sneak past most of the enemies. I'm wondering though because backstab is really appealing since I'm unarmed and have a ridiculous amount of starting damage.

I have, though I didn't complete that game because I decided there were better things to Tag. You CAN sneak past without being seen, and you get around 75% of the XP you would if you killed 'em if you wait for the count to drop to 1 before going out of range. I should think backstab would work, even with Unarmed (which my char of the game wasn't).

[BallOfFire]

Hopefully I got the quote thing to work right finally...

Originally Posted by Fljotsdale

How do you find this stuff out?

I decided to create two characters, one with high strength and one with low strength. I gave them each 15 points in unarmed after the opening scene, and compared how much damage I did to the guards outside. The one with 8 strength did 3 or 4 points more damage than the one with 2 strength. When I went back to the create character screen, I clicked on the tab that brings up the character attributes, and noticed one of the values was labelled "melee damage." I never knew what exactly it was, but the value was the exact amount of damage my high strength character did minus the amount my low strength character did. So apparently that is extra unarmed damage, separate from the unarmed skill level. I'm very thorough when it comes to making sure I have a perfect character.

[BallOfFire]

Question: What is a critical hit? I thought they were when you get knockbacks and the like, but I have a -27% chance of getting critical hits and I still knockback enemies all the time. Is this just a glitch or something?

[Ravager]

Another number you found through experimentation?

On one of the in-game screens (the one that shows resistances that you have), is a statistic labelled Critical Chance, the higher this is, the greater a chance you have of scoring a critical hit. Knockback is one of the possible effects garnered from such a hit.
I believe Critical Hits show up as yellow where details on the hit and damage rate appear.

[BallOfFire]

Then I guess it's a glitch. The attribute screen and the character generation screen both say/said it is -27% because I chose Heavy Handed, yet I get the softspot knockbacks ALL the time. I gotta wonder if they screwed up and made negatives be read as positives somehow... or something.

My character is like level 9 now (I'm slow...) and is killing things ridiculously well. Though I haven't been using my tagged Divine Favor. Was it a mistake to tag it, or will it get good once I put points in it? I'm really doubting my choice in tagging it over Smite at the moment.

[Fljotsdale]

Divine Favour isn't one of my favourite branches, but it has some quite nice spells in it. Divine Might increses melee damage, and later on, it increses strength. Blessed Aim improves accuracy. Divine Power increases strength, and, later, endurance as well - which is good!. And I guess a Knight to assist you is good. Greater Sight... meh.

[BallOfFire]

I put some points in Divine Favor and now I'm loving it. The first spell alone now gives me plus 20% crushing damage, so I love it. I've made it to level 13 but now I am unfortunately stuck. I did pretty much every quest other than the faction quests, so I joined the Wielders and then switched to the Dark Wielders. Now I'm supposed to get the Scepter of Bones, but I can't find it. I know the general area it is in from the GameBanshee walkthrough but I can't get into that room. Do I need really high Find Traps or something? It's at 60.

[Ravager]

No, there's a special trick to getting to that area that doesn't involve any skills. Everything you need is in Da Vinci's Workshop.

[BallOfFire]

I already clicked everything, including random background stuff that I couldn't interact with, about 50 times, with no result. ><

[Ravager]

Okay, following spoiler...
There is a statue in the workshop of a horse that had the name Cecca. There is also an organista (the piano). Clicking on the organista and asking to play should give you the option to play several keys. Play C, E, C, C and A, that will transport you to the secret area.
Took me a while to find that one out too...

[BallOfFire]

Wow you're a genius lol. I thought it had something to do with that, but I couldn't figure it out. Thanks.

[Ravager]

Oh, I had to look into the walkthrough to figure it out originally. I didn't even know there was a hidden area until I got the task to get that Sceptre...

[Fljotsdale]

Originally Posted by Ravager

Oh, I had to look into the walkthrough to figure it out originally. I didn't even know there was a hidden area until I got the task to get that Sceptre...

Really? Gosh. I just KNEW there had to be something with that machine, and that the clue had to be in Da Vinci's workroom. I just looked and found it.
Guess I'm just smart.