Special Abilities

[Jason Leonard]

I'm still amazed that a message board for this game is so active! But I'm glad. As poor as this game did in the market, it's great to see it sold enough to warrant a "collector's edition" and to get this kind of attention from computer RPG'ers. I think it is a greatly underated game. I am just now playing it (after having it for a year) because I've let myself get sidetracked in playing some of the many other great games I have. (My collection of games+emulators/roms is insane). That plus I had a hard time figuring out how to get started on 200 gp/person before. (I didn't want to THINK).


But to see so many other people getting into it is great! I even feel good because I have enough knowledge of the game to be able to help most people on this message board, whose questions usually deal with stuff prior to Brinloch Roon.

Anyhow, ON TO MY TOPIC...I was wondering what some of the special abilities do? The only character of mine that has any is my Rogue/Ninja/Assassin. He has Shadow Cloak and Evil Eye. I don't even remember how he got Shadow Cloak, and I'm not sure why none of my other characters have any abilities at this point in the game (I am just starting Brinloch Roon). But is anybody able to shed some light? And what other kind of special abilities can I expect to get and for which characters? I've seen very little mention of these in the FAQ's.

[Anka]

Hi!
It's true that the traits system is not obvious... Some traits are transparent, and are used implicitely. The others, ones that you actually use manually, are located on the button under the use/give button(I think) where it says Dragon Fire. You click on the button to cycle the abilites, and target them like a spell. I think that those abilites include Evil Eye and Shadow Cloak

[Jazzid]

Hi Jason!
I suppose that you've already found out how to switch between the special abilities (the dragon button).

Shadow Cloak is aquired when you ascend to ninja. It's quite similar to the hide in shadows trait the thieves in BG has. But you'll have to CTRL-click on the player character to activate it. If you are an assassin and cloaks you will backstab the enemies, dealing up to x3 damage. Some enemies will still be able to detect you though and attack, but I believe that they can still be backstabbed.

Using the Evil Eye trait you make a gaze attack, quite similar to the force of mind spirit spell.

Other special abilities are Vampire bite. I'd think twice before letting a vampire bite you (you'll meet vampire NPCs in Shurugeon Castle, and in the Skull Castle), because being a vampire means that you'll constantly be on the look out for blood, otherwise you'll lose HP. Also, the normal heal spells won't work!!!

A fourth special ability is Dragon Breath which works like the burning haze spell, or the gusts of flames that Erathsmeador breathes on you when exploring west of Ishad N'ha.

That's about all I can come to think of right now.

Cheers // Jazzid

[Jason Leonard]

So as I see it...

Evil Eye is pointless. Those types of spells are a waste to me. I still haven't figured out what the monsters are supposed to do once I make them all insane with the Dementia spell. They still attack me. And half the monsters I do try to use mind spells on, like Enfeeble and some of the MANY others - they usually seem to be unaffected.

Vampire Bite is cool if I decide to be a vampire. I turned down the horny vampire in Shurugeon castle 'cause I wasn't sure yet if I was ready for it. If I DO get another chance at Skull Castle, I might go for it with my Warrior/Samurai (I'm assuming I can still wear all the armor and cast all the spells I could before?). I essentially want all of my characters to have at least 3 classes. By the time I get the special roles, most of them will. It helps me enjoy ALL aspects of the different classes and still keeps my characters balanced and not too difficult to maintain with increasing skills.

Shadow Cloak sounds AWESOME. That with Lethal Fist...

Dragon Breath is like the Suncraft spell.

It was the CTRL-Click to activate that I didn't realize. I tried moving the mouse over my characters and got the nil symbol instead of the target so I figured my powers weren't anything to target at my characters (but I see I was wrong). And the others are targets for monsters...cool! Thanks!