Most powerfull solo: Bard

[Psycho]

I,ve played quite a few solo chars... fairy ninja, elf bishop, human samurai, gnome alchemist and now a human bard. I must say this bard took less time/work to develop than the others and with the low XP req and Attribute boosting items she's unbelievable.

The only problem with solo chars has been reaching Arnika safely, and without countless reloads.
After some strugling in the monastery I gave it some thought...
No matter what solo-char you want to play, the real game starts after reaching Arnika the first time.

So, I started again with a female human fighter-> boost in close/ranged combat, sword and shield.
on lvl 2 I switched to rogue-> boost in L&T,stealth and dual weapons.
I went all the way to Arnika with this lvl2 rogue maxing out stealth in the monastery.
With the backstab double damage and stealth fights get a lot easier.
Because of the low attribute requirements, I think I should be able to use this at least for all non-magic solo's.

When I reached arnika I levelled up to a bard lvl 9 and got her bloodlust. I practised music on He'li till it got to 75, and went on...
I saved upon reaching Arnika with the rogue... I guess I'll start from that point to try other solo's. That way they start with great combat skills, a couple of levels to distribute pts and maxed stealth and decent L&T.

I'm lvl 32 now and on my way to AP with the spheres, so I guess I'll end up in the high 30's.
I changed my bard to a fighter on lvl 28, after maxing music. I had to let go of those great bard-only armor and items sometime, and with the close combat bonus I've got my three attacks/round.

I'm off to AP to play with some monsters...

Signed,
One sick Psycho

[otter]

i've never thought to try a solo without Portal, how do you get around the whole thing of getting into AP and having the DD without insanity?

[Krull]

What has always intrigued me with solo characters is how do you cope with enemy magic casters (unless you solo a bishop)? Unless you do solo as a Bishop, how can you use protective spells such as Magic Screen, Soul Shield, Element Shield etc?

Psycho, I can see where a bard can be a good idea because they can get instruments which give these enchantments, eg Soulful Sax (if you can get it from whatshisname).

For example, How can a faerie Ninja cope with the Ryjin with their mental attacks if they don't have Soul Shield? Just curious.

These are the reasons it has always stopped me trying to go solo.

[Psycho]

When running a solo you have to make sure you do a couple of things in the right order... like killing crock before getting the idol.
You can do all quests... become a templar with a single female, get the DD with helm of serenity, get peace,e.a.
After getting the DD, just put it in a chest until you need it, so you can free a slot and wear a better helmet.

If you have been trough the game before, you have a good idea about the monster lvls in all area's... I mean the fixed monsters.
Because a solo levels up much faster than a big party, your level will be higher than the monsters (most of the time). The higher your level compared to the monsters, the lower the impact of spells + there are plenty of items, necklaces, rings to boost your resistances.

In my solo bard game I had magic screen and soul shield... I never used soul shield and often forgot to use magic screen... even without those I survived without problem. Actually, those rynjin are not that hard, because they never come in really large groups and have pretty low HP, the rapax are a lot harder to beat. A fairy ninja will wipe a group of rynjin in a couple of rounds with the CoC. A bard needs a few more rounds, but had the dulcimer to heal if necessary.
With a solo, being insane is not that severe... and turncoat just stops the fight (you're not fighting yourself). Of course there are some really though fights... but running a solo really makes you look for the best tactic, approach to a fight.

Everybody should try a solo if they want a real challenge... and a bard seems to be the easiest char to solo with... especially if you go through the rogue level to get to Arnika and get stealth up.

Signed,
One sick psycho

[Eric]

especially if you go through the rogue level to get to Arnika and get stealth up.

How do you boost your stealth ?

[otter]

i always have my characters spend one of the first 3 levels as a Monk, Rogue or Ninja, so they can practise being hard to hit. They stand (combat mode: Defend) at one end of the big central room upstairs in Lower Monastery and let the 6 small spiders miss them from the other end of it. I go to bed while they do this, maybe 5000 combat rounds later they all have +10 extra AC. Get some shields if you're doing this with Rogues; Shield and Stealth develop independently of each other, so you get both without any sacrifice. You'll find that Seekers almost never hit you at their max range once your stealth is over 50 (and you've been to Burz for some quiltage...) They make for a shorter time to max out Stealth because there's usually more of them (drag the bunch from the garden to Phoony's chapel so they can spread out
and all miss you every round) and they don't pass out as much as the spiders. Don't do this on IronMode

[ 06-04-2002, 02:04 AM: Message edited by: otter ]

[Eric]

It is possible to do with a party of 6 members ? (not just solo)

[Psycho]

You can train stealth with any number of party members... it just takes x times longer. I'm running an iron man party of four (fairy ninja/felpurr monk/human samurai/rawulf valkyrie).

On iron man you don't want to risk losing a char, so it's not a good idea to train stealth at a low level. I left the roaches in the upper monastery alone, and came back to them after Arnika (all chars level 9). Three of them had heal spell and all 60+ HP, combined with the 9-2= 7level difference there is no risk here. I checked every 10min or so and healed if necessary. Since your spellpoints restore in time, I never ran out of them. You can practice some magic spells in the meantime. After about 3,5hrs (real-time) my samurai had 100, ninja and monk 80+ (no need to raise higher now because monk and ninja can continue to raise stealth). I didn't raise stealth for my valkyrie because I want her to take the hits, with the high HP and cheat death you won't kill her that easy, and with all other chars having high stealth, the monsters will attack my valkyrie 80% of the time.

Signed,
One sick Psycho

[MasterPooBaa]

i found those crabs on the start beach fun.
either as an imported party who started at 5th level or run away to return later.
just plonk your characters with stealth in the front row, sit back and watch them vainly attack. plus the crabs never seem to get scared [img]smile.gif[/img]
just tired

[otter]

Yah, that's good if you're only doing one or two; if you want them all to get it faster it's better to get shot at. If you stay at their max range, spiders, slimes, and seekers all miss a lot. Standing half behind something makes them miss more, too. Chars in the back rows get shot at just as much as those in front, so if anyone in your group is not learning stealth, they should have good armor on while you do this.
I really don't think there's any reason to have anyone not get the 10 extra AC. I think the Valk is getting hit more mostly because she can get hit, not because she's drawing fire. When everyone is stealthy, and you get the Cloaks from Bela and the Healing Amulets from Crock, (total 9 more AC each) a little Dex and even with Flack Jackets your AC is over 30. Almost nothing can hit you very often. I snuck a group of 5 at L10 this last time into the waterfall to get the Staff, and the Golem hit only once, punching my Monk for only 7.
None of the snakes could hit me, the only thing that was close was 2 of the Scorchers that do 20's with fire even through El Shield. I dragged them into a corner where they had to be in short range and only fit one at a time, but they still got a few breaths in, almost killed the Faerie. But they clawed (and missed) enough to lower their stamina & reduce the damage.