Bard and Gadgeteer Duo?

[John_Tesh]

So for fun I thought i'd try to do a Bard and Gadgeteer duo. So I started with a hobbit bard and i'm planning on maxing strength and speed first, so he can be my quasi-tank. The gadgeteer is a dwarf so he could have some damage resistance. I'm maxing senses and intelligence first so he can do the ranged stuff late in the game. first question is 'am i maxing these in the right order?'

Secondly, I am still in the monastary, but the upper monastary monster are too difficult for the most part. My duo is at level 7 right now, but Pestilent rats and metallic slimes are too difficult for my characters. They desperately need experience attacking stuff over time so I can get their weapon and combat skills up. They miss 70% of the time on < 7 leve monsters. I tried going back down to the lower monastary, but I can't find any monsters. Any ideas on how to get them to respawn?

Also, is there anything i can do about stamina at this point in time? I have a few potions, but gadgets and instruments suck up so much, I can barely get off two instuments and maybe 7 swings before my bard passes out. I haven't gotten the lightning rod yet, but i can only imagine that my gadgeteer will be joining the bard in sleepyville at the same rate.

Last, am i crazy for trying a 2 person party with no magic skills?

[the_young_one]

Good of you to be adventurous and play a two player game - I'm just about done taking a fighter and a bishop through under hard. To answer your second question, you have to plan more and be more selective in your tactics. Some thoughts:

1. Pestilent rats are a real nightmare and my characters kept getting diseased. I tried to place one character in front so that only one of them would get diseased and could be cured with one cure disease potion, but I ended up meeting lots of pesty rats, and I would still get surrounded. Ended up running from them whenver they were in sight - they follow for about three rounds, but at least they scatter, then save game immediately, reenter combat and use range weapons for a couple of rounds. If got diseased, reload game.

2. To recover stamina, use defend during combat - advisable to have that character with decent shield skill to boost AC. If one of opponents is paralysed, safest to defend and use the paralysed creature as a blocker. Also, make your stamina of one of your characters is sufficient for you to make a mad dash retreat in case you have to run away for three or so rounds without falling unconscious.

3. Lower monastery is an excellent training area. I stayed there until my two characters were level 11, by which time I could take care of pestilent rats. My favourite tactic is to use the room at the bottom of the stairs to upper monastery (the one where you met the king crab, besides the ramp). You can rest quite safely (make sure the door and the grille are both closed) and when you wake up, go through the grille, take left towards the slimy room and follow the loop right so that you return to the safe room. I almost always find creatures to bash up. If you have a bard and gadgeteer, sounds like you'll get your close and range combat skills up very fast! If in trouble, run back to your room and close the door. If monsters are still following, you can run all the way to the water - once you are in the water, the monsters cannot attack and you can go down the waterfall and re-enter lower monastery.

4. Other tips are to not level up above level 5 so that the creatures you meet are not so tough. Also you can make it easier if you can pick up stealth (rogue, monk or ninja) so that you won't get hit so often.

You will meet other challenges playing this way, but I don't want to spoil the surprise. Put up a note if you need more help

[Holywhippet]

Since Gadgeteers and Bard live and die by their special items I'd suggest going and getting said items pronto. There's no point in levelling them up otherwise since they aren't inherently good fighters.

I wouldn't say they have no magic skills either, they might not use mana but their special items are equivalent to magical spells.

Either way I suspect you are crazy to try this. Even at higher levels you still won't be able to use your items many times before running out of stamina, especially with the more powerful items. Stamina recovery items will help, a little. I had a bard who I switched over to fighter (for stamina regeneration) and I had about +6 worth of stamina recovery items. Even still he took a several rounds to get back to full stamina.

There is a bard instrument that can cast restoration which recovers stamina but you won't get that or be able to use it for a long time. I had a bard and a gadgeteer as part of my party last game and they were handy but my front line fighters did the bulk of the killing. Some of the really important defensive spells aren't available as instruments/gadgets either which means you are going to take a huge whupping in some locations.

Finally you are going to be in a lot of trouble when you start running into enemies with large amounts of magical resistance and areas where magic doesn't work or is reduced in effectiveness. I can think of a couple of areas and fights offhand where the odds will be extremely against you. The underwater sections mean no fire spells and the various sprites living with the Trynnie's will eye for an eye your spells back at you.

[Psycho]

I played a bard-gadgy duo once... even a solo bard... no problem.

* keep your level as low as possible... this prevents running into the more difficult monsters.

* For my solo games, I start off with the char I want, switch to a rogue on level 2 (stealth + backstabbing, double damage), and stayed like this until reaching Arnika. You need your stealth if you want to get to Arnika alive... you'll need to defend during fights to get your stamina back up.

* To defeat Gregor at lvl2... buy all the long range ammo you can, get in the door until Gregor starts moving and back up leaving a small gap to the room. Gregor will come over, but gets stuck in the opening... fire away.
If you get low on stamina, defend for 2 rounds-fire-defend for 2 rounds-... if you fall unconcious or defend for more then 3 rounds Gregor will leave.
Make sure you do this on expert difficulty.This way you can raise your ranged combat,bow/trowing/modern weapon skill up to 30 easily in just one fight.

* On Arnika Road, you might have to run past some enemies... you don't want to lvl up, because your weapons are to weak to take on high lvl mobs.
Once you reach Arnika, get a decent weapon, change back to your class and use some lvl ups... spare some. The random monsters lvls are set when you enter an area... lvl up after entering, not before.

These tips should make the first part of the game a bit easier... it's still hard, but you won't have to reload 200x before reaching Arnika.

Good luck...

Signed,
One sick Psycho

[ 12-21-2002, 08:33 AM: Message edited by: Psycho ]