The Power Of NPC'S

[Mulligan]

Female Human Fighter lvl 3
Alignment : True Neutral
Recruit at HOMLET
Will lvl up as Fighter to F10

STR 14, DEX 16, CON 16, INT 13, WIS 14, CHA 16

starts with IMPROVED TRIP, WPN FOCUS BATTLE AXE and COMBAT EXPERTISE, adds POWER ATTACK lvl4, CLEAVE lvl6, DODGE lvl8 and GREAT CLEAVE lvl10

skills: INTIMIDATE 0 to 7, LISTEN 3 to 6.5, SEARCH 2.5 to 3.5, SPOT 1 to 6.5 and TUMBLE 2.5 to 3

She's very good on stats and makes a decent Fighter if she gets enough HP. She has a GREAT CLEAVER, only 3 of theese in the game, btw it reads as a HAND AXE ( Two wpn combo,anyone?)

Hope this is of use

[Greywulf]

Hope you don't mind me jumping in on your post...

BTW - great post - very informative - seems like you're playing all the NPCs up to maximum level just to see how they advance in levels - wow - and I thought I loved this game!




Anyway, just a crazy aside:

We all know how the NPCs loot and get to barter before we do (as if we are 2nd class citizens or something), but here's the worst insult of all: I had my dead (-10 hp) "wife," Fruella, with me, and guess what: the merchants will actually barter with her before my PC party members!

Good lord, man - she's dead!

Just too horrible to be believed - and I had been using her to tote gems and jewelry, so I had to buy it all back.

[Mulligan]

Not at all, i had hoped others would contibute to the thread

Check out Co8's latest patch, it totally fixes looting issues.

Strang that about Fruella though, but you can drag all items from a dead Npc to a Pc, thats how i got both Fragarach & Scather.

When i play Fruella i give her all items of one sort, i.e black leather gloves & boots or all gems and visit the corresponding merchant. The highest Apr-score in the party is used for bartering and afterwards i simply drag all her coins into MY inventory.

This speeds up bartering quite a bit and since she's my wife it's only fair that i control her money, hmm ?

Let's give a moment of praise to the Co8 team.

[Greywulf]

I've always had version 2.0 - having read your other post on looting just now, I guess the patch only alleviates some looting, but doesn't stop it entirely - and my Fruella thing still happened.

No biggie, really.

[Mulligan]

Oh...

Imagine what i've gone through, filling my npc's inventory with all kinds of junk to prevent looting. Ugh, me feel like stupid orc.

I got the C08 patch ver 1 early but didn't think to check for updates until now , aaarghh, anyway, now the explorations of the npc's can truly begin.

Whats to say, guess it's hard to be a Pc-gamer theese days...

BTW, greatly inspired by your 4 Ftr's/1 Wiz party i'm running through with a 5 clerics build now. Haven't had to heal yet, level 7 and mopping up Temple lvl 3. Very entertaining opening locked chests with a cleric.

Onwards, for Glory !

[Mulligan]

Here are the game stats for SCORPP

Male giant fighter 7
Alignment : Chaotic Evil
Recruit at : Temple lvl 3
Will lvl up as fighter for F 10
Start HP : 176 : random

STR 25, DEX 8, CON 19, INT 8, WIS 11, CHA 17

Skills : HEAL 0 to 1.5, SPOT 2, TUMBLE 0 to 1.5

Feats : NO FEATS, adds POWER ATTACK at lvl8 and CLEAVE at lvl10

One of the strongest Npc's in the game but problems with looting!
Plus you can only barter with Mother Screng & Calmert

[Mulligan]

Statistics for OOHLGRIST the TROLL BARBARIAN

Male Troll lvl 1 Barbarian
Alignment : Chaotic Evil
Recruit at Temple lvl 2 - Intimidate or Suggestion
Start HP : 115 !!!
Will lvl up as Barbarian for Brb 10

STR 23, DEX 16, CON 23, INT 6, WIS 11, CHA 6

Skills : LISTEN 5 and SPOT 2.5, dont improve skills

Feats : ALERTNESS & IRON WILL, dont add feats

Strongest fighter npc in the game, regenerates !!! HP at lvl 10 easily over 250, max over 300 !!!

Pproblems with looting! Plus you can only barter with Mother Screng & Calmert.

[Mulligan]

Here are the game stats for OTIS

Human Male Fighter 10
Alignment : Neutral Good, of the Old Faith
Recruit in NULB
Start HP : 103 random
Brother of ELMO, will join & leave party 2 times.

Stats:
STR 18, DEX 17, CON 18, INT 15, WIS 15, CHA 13

Skills :
HIDE 2.5, LISTEN 5.5, MOVE SILENTLY 2.5, SEARCH 5.5, SPOT 6.5 and TUMBLE 2.5

Feats:
ACROBATICS, ALERTNESS, CLEAVE, GREAT CLEAVE, IMPROVED INITIATIVE, POWER ATTACK, TOUGHNESS & COMBAT REFLEXES

Equipment:
Chainmail Gloves/Boots/Armor/Helmet, L.sword, S.sword, Battle Axe, Dagger, L.Hammer, Long Bow, 20 Arrows, 1CP, 7SP, 6GP.
In his anvil is hidden his secret stash: 2 Blue Sapphire, 5 Amber, a Longsword +2 and a Chain Mail +2. If he joins, he'll take his sword +2 and armor +2 along.

He's great for helping out a weak party early on, but will loot, and leave the party twice, after that he won't join again. Best let him be a merchant !

He can be made a permanent NPC after he's left the party for good with the Suggestion Spell, let him die in battle, loot him and raise him. Then he won't loot anymore.

Hope this helps

[Mulligan]

Here's the stats for WONNILON

Male Gnome Ftr3/Rog3
Alignment : True Neutral
Recruit at Temple lvl 1
Start HP : 53 (random)
Will lvl up as Ftr/Rog for Ftr6/Rog4

STR 15, DEX 17, CON 18, INT 12, WIS 9, CHA 10

Feats: CLEAVE, IMPROVED INITIATIVE, POWER ATTACK, adds DODGE at F4 and MOBILITY at F6

Skills:
DISABLE DEVICE 4 improve to 6.5
HIDE 7
LISTEN 6 improve to 6.5
MOVE SILENTLY 7
OPEN LOCK 6
SLEIGHT OF HAND 7
SEARCH 6
SPOT 6 improve to 6.5

After patching (CO8) he won't loot + he's a decent Figher & a decent enough Rouge.

Hope this helps out

[Greywulf]

ZAXIS

Starts as CN 5th level half-elven bard
with +1 leather armor and a rapier
20 hp and AC 16
(he ended up with 60 hp for me)

Takes all subsequent levels as fighter

As a 5/5 bard fighter he ends up like this:

STR 15, INT 12, WIS 12,
DEX 15, CON 15, CHA 15
(I based these scores on the ability modifiers, hence I can't be sure what they are exactly - how do you figure it out, Mulligan?)

He'll end up having taken the following skill points:
heal 5, hide 8, listen 8, move silently 8, perform 8, spot 2.5, tumble 8, use device 8 (these get modified by his ability scores, of course) - he only took heal and spot skills as a fighter - everything else started at 8 and stayed at 8

He'll start with the follwing feats:
armor prof light, shield prof, simple weap prof, dodge, impr init, lightning refl, bard music, bard knowledge, and bard weap prof

And as he takes his fighter levels, he'll get:
med and heavy armor, martial weap prof, power attack, cleave, and great cleave

The spells he'll be able to cast are:
3 @ 0 level: daze, detect mgc, flare, read mgc, resistance
4 @ 1st level: cause fear, charm, cure light, sleep, tasha's laugh
2 @ 2nd level: blind/deaf, cure moderate, eagle's splendor, invisibility

Though irritating to some, he is kinda funny - some of his funniest sung lines occur when you enter an area with him for the first time - he is at his best in marshy environments:

Moathouse: "How nice/We are visiting a swamp"
Imeryd's Run: "This is a river/It looks like a swamp"
Nulb: "Hmm - This village seems to be built on top of a swamp/Lo-ve-ly"

Psst:

Hey, Mull - how'd I do?

[Mulligan]

VERY GOOD, GREYWULF

Very good indeed, thank you so much for helping out.

You couldn't have known, but right now i was travelling between Nulb & Homlet looking for Zaxis, you have saved me (and hopefully others) great time and trouble. I passed on his offer last time i saw him, my party was full.

I had him & Wonnilon to lvl 10 my first time through but i couldn't remember his skills & spells, but you have got them right.

Also, you are a good typist ! Upon starting this thread i wrote longer description based on how i liked the NPC's, but then i thought it took to much time and that players would be more interested in just stats.

But for new players personal descriptions can be very helpful, especially with both pos. & neg. entries. So i'll revert to that again and hopefully keep the debate going.

I liked Zaxis the first time, he's one of the few NPC's Atari put some effort into! (singing all the time & unusual muticlass) and taking Fruella from place to place is just hilarious.

As for how i read NPC's stats: just like you do, based on their scores. It took some time before i noticed that NO Npc increase their stats as they level. How extreemely dissapointing!

Now i only enter even numbers becasue of Meleny the Druid. She has a Wis of 14 at lvl 1 and 14 at lvl 10 because she CAN'T cast lvl 5 spell. Horrible programming, that one.

I'm hoping that a future patch will include fixes to this problem.

But, again thanks for supplying Zaxis. Only one thing though, i'm sure he was a half-elf, not elf. He doesn't start with the mart. wpn. prof. Elf does he ?

As for now i'm ready with Pintark & Tuelk and i'll hope to post a Complete Guide to Animal Summoning soon.


I love New York

[Greywulf]

D'oh!

Okay - I double checked Zaxis' race - it says, "elf human male humanoid" - what the hell is that? Is that how they describe a half-elf?
Sheesh. How about, "half-elven"?

Anyway, I changed it in the post - thanks for catching it.

I was having my party gain xp for enchanting and thought, "gee, why don't I just grab an NPC and level 'em up like Mulligan does," and when I traveled, I randomly encountered Zaxis (who I usually just killed - especially if he stumbled upon me while I was hungry for xp) - checking your post, I saw he was as yet uncovered, so I figured, "why not?"

I'm gonna do Wicked next.

See ya later, dude!

[Greywulf]

WICKED

Starts as a 2nd level TN human rogue AC 13 HP 11

STR 12 INT 13 WIS 12
DEX 14 CON 16 CHA 10

Feats: light armor, dodge, simple and rogue weap profs, weap finesse, evasion, sneak attack, and trapfinding

Skills: disable 5, hide 1, listen 5, move silently 5, open lock 0, search 5, spot 5

He levels up in rogue and ends up with...

Additional feats: uncanny dodge and improved uncanny dodge and skillmastery

Skills: disable and search at 5; hide, listen, move silently, open, and spot at 7

He ended up with 64 HP for me at 10th level

Wicked can be found in the cell next to Princess Tallahi (sp?) on the second floor of the temple dungeon. Unidentified, he is labeled as "brigand prisoner."



I'm working on Meleny next - she is, after all, my wife...

[Greywulf]

MELENY

Starts off as a LN human druid AC 11 HP 9
She ended up with 62 hp for me

STR 8 INT 10 WIS 14
DEX 12 CON 10 CHA 17

Starting feats: alertness; simple, druid, scimitar, and longspear proficiencies; shield and druid armor profs; nature sense, animal companion

Later will have: spell penetration, trackless step, resist nature's lure, wild shape, and venom immunity

Starting skills: 4 in concentration, spellcraft, and survival, 2 in heal and spot

Ends up with 7's in the aforementioned except for a 2 in spot

Encumbers VERY easily - starts with a rusty dagger, farmer garb, and padded boots

* Important BTW coutesy of Mulligan: Meleny cannot cast 5th level spells in the post-patch versions we play. Just so you know.


Meanwhile...
Meleny tends to make naive comments like, "This is Deklo Grove, where I like to play - I hope we don't run into any ochre jellies" - and how old is my wife, exactly?

You can ask her to leave the party through talk option and she will wait for you if you leave her in Hommlet - so you can go back and get her later (if you want to hear things like, "Good-bye little pine cone - I hope you have a fun adventure," or "Look at all those bones! This place is scary... let's not stay here").

Oddity (or maybe I'm missing something) - you can initiate a dialogue with her as follows:
PC: Now that we're married, what's the truth about Roddy?
Mel: Roddy's no replacement for mama. He tries hard and has been a real help to daddy."

Who the heck is Roddy?




Anyway... next up: Morgan (yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum)...

[Greywulf]

MORGAN

He's the "sailor prisoner" found in the cell just north and west of where you enter the temple dungeon (1st level) if you took the western stairs down. There are no enemies between you and him if you're burning with the desire to free him and have him in your party, but the door to his cell is locked. He shares his cell with some other "free-able" (is that a word?) prisoners.

CG 1st level human fighter with 12 AC and 8 HP to start
No items in initial inventory
He ended up with 39 (yes, 39) HP for me

STR 12 INT 11 WIS 9
DEX 14 CON 11 CHA 11

Feats: all armors, shield, martial/simple weapons, improved init, combat reflexes

Will eventually take: blind-fight, dodge, mobility, exotic weapon: gnome hooked hammer (why that, of all things?), and exotic weapon: spiked chain (what's the thought process here, with two exotic weapon feats?)

Starts with 2 pts each in listen, search, and spot - ends up with 6.5 in listen and search, 2 in spot, and 4.5 in tumble.

I'm a bit bored with ole' Morg - he is not great as a fighter (look at his STR and CON figures) and doesn't offer anything really cool other than saying, "aye, matey," all the time.