are these skills useless?

[mortification]

Pickpocket - unless it's needed for a quest, what's the point? If it's a monster, kill them. If not, you can usually talk them out of it. The role-playing aspect of it is nice, though.

Leadership - What does this really do? What effect beyond LVL 1?

Athletics - What effect beyond LVL 1?

Scout - What is the point of knowing that monsters are coming? Just kill them anyway! Does something cool happen beyond LVL 1?

Any melee weapon other than Sword or Dagger - Unless you can dual-wield something other than dagger/sword...

Bow and Thrown - I just wish that there was a really super-powered bow that you could get about halfway through, and make the Ranger a really neat character. Rangers are cool...but not so good in this game. I also really like the role-playing aspect of an elephant flinging darts at 6 per round at the enemy. Maybe he could snorkel them all up into his trunk and then spray them out, kind of like the D&D Druid "thorns" spell. About 20 darts per round, -4 to hit, and reloading takes 2 rounds plus peanut sauce...shotgun style. A weapon jam with poison-tipped darts would be hell, though. Better have a Priest handy.

[Radek]

Leadership: no experience
Athletics: necessary - and drag it sky high! It lowers falling damage, increases time you can spend underwater significantly, and improves jumping ability (do not forget that W&W is Prince of Persia often!). Recommendation: Athletics 12, all characters.
Scout: According to my experience, the higher level the bigger radius it affects, i.e., you get warnings sooner, but... But you do not get any warning about some creatures (Amazoni Mantraps and Jungle Lilies, for example) and about any quest creatures (Mon the Sculz, etc.), no matter how high your Scout skill is. Scout 12 does not help.

[Ryanamur]

Good morning Mortification,

You might find these interesting combinations to use

Pickpocket - The point of this is really simple. Use it in conjunction with Binding Force or Hands of time... the guy just stands there and you can steal all you want from him. One thing you'll learn, when you kill someone, he doesn't always drop ALL his stuff.

Leadership - This, used in conjuction with with prowless and gallantry can make your guy very deadly. Leadership prevents hits and damage, prowless and gallantry increases your hits and damages to ennemies. In a solo game, it's a must. Think about it, so what if your Ninja gets targetted more often, who else will they attack

Athletics: the higher the level, the less your damages when you fall. Very important.

Any melee weapons other than Swords and Daggers. I would say that one is up to you. It's true that most other weapons are almost rendered useless. Once in a while you'll get a good bow, axe or hammer (BTW the stout king's one is a very nice one).

Bow and Throw: In this game, you don't want the super powered bow, you want the super powered arrows. Good one's can be found at guilds pass Ishad'Nha. Bless them and they will be VERY deadly.

Hope this helps and have fun.

[mammawlin]

LOL Man, I like that idea about the elephant snorkeling up poison darts and shooting them out his trunk! You got some good advice from the others. The only thing I would add is that a Ranger gets to learn spells, that's a real plus I think! and when you are needing shells, that "There has been a Crab of the Sea here" comes in real handy too! God speed.
Mammawlin

[mortification]

I'm curious if anyone knows the numerical formula for leadership. How much does it reduce your chance tobe hit? Also it is kinda wierd that it both makes you less likely to be hit and more at the same time. One of the strong points of this game IMHO is the double-effect of various things, which deviates from the traditional RPG norms. For example, the best magic-user race also has one of the highest strengths (and it's an elephant, tres cool).

Not sure that I understand about Athletics still - are there places where you must fall intentionally (other than the stupid *&*$$*! ladders...don't get me started)? For swimming, can't you just use the air-purification spell? And why is there no feather-fall spell (probably should be a Moon spell)?

Finally I can't beleive that the SnorkelDart skill was omitted. A staple of all good GRPGs. This is a must include for the next game. Usable by Oompahs, Guorks, Ratlings, and Human characters named Jamie Farr or Opus the Penguin.

Also, if anybody is going to get warcry, shouldn't it be the Oompahs? The sound of their angry trumpeting should be enough to scare the hair off of a Worgur.

Special bonus if you are an Oompah bard - you get to juggle 1 extra item per round using your trunk. If you choose to juggle axes, there is an 1 in 10 chance that your trunk is amputated. This removes both SnorkelDart and Warcry for the rest of the game, but increases your presence by +1. Better have that priest handy again.

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[Wyvern]

Scout skill will also prove useful when you get west of Brimloch Roon and need to start finding shells. I've always been glad to have a high level scout skill!

Wyv

[Wyvern]

Forgot - Pickpocket is useful - killing a monster doesn't always result in the same booty that you get if you can pickpocket (I know that is weird but it is true). Pickpocket also comes in handy when trying to get shells (shells again!)

Wyv

[Ryanamur]

Shells, good thinking, never used that one since I always played solo.

[Malthaussen]

As for dual-wielding weapons, katanas and wakashakis were made for it. Or a Sword of Argus blessed about 10 times and a wakashaki. Pretty cool, especially when a guy who used to be a barbarian uses them and gets a "fury" hit -- can do oh, 80-odd HP with one attack....

Samuri, Ninjas, Assassins, and Paladins (!) can all use the Katana/Wakashaki suite.

Nice thing about wakashakis, too -- they use "sword" skill, so you don't have to bother with upping your dagger ability.

--Mal.

[Traute]

>But you do not get any warning about some creatures (Amazoni Mantraps and Jungle Lilies, for example) and about any quest creatures (Mon the Sculz, etc.), no matter how high your Scout skill is. Scout 12 does not help. <


My scouts give warnings about Mantraps or Jungle Lilies, though the very first time one of them did, I thought she was kidding >g<.

Traute