New Party (again)

[Kylospylon]

Well I'm back, starting again from scratch, this time with 4.

Felpurr Samurai
Dwarven Ranger
Dracon Gadgeteer
Rawulf Psionic

Made it to Arnika, feeling very weak and vulnerable, until I turned my Sam into a monster -> wielding bloodlust and a poison dagger, mwahahaha! I decided not to go dual swords this time because eventually I want to wield a stilletto in the offhand for the greater chance of crits. So far he's been lite-striking like crazy, sometimes 2-3 times a battle.

My ranger's my pseudo-tank, would've taken a Lord but I wanted the Alchemy Spell book more. He'll wield dual maces when I find that elusive hammer, (Antone's being difficult again). He doesn't do much ranged fighting. Looks like I'll be summoning some elementals later on to make up for the lack of tank characters. I won't do any cheesey stealth training, I shouldn't have to, since I'll have Vi tag along until I get the Lazurite Stone.

Issues so far:

The only problem so far has been stamina. Doh, I forgot that Psionics couldn't learn that spell. My Ranger is just beginning to cast it, but it'll be a while until until he's any good at it. Double Doh, I should've made my Gadgeteer female. Not having Magic Screen could be a pain, I'll just have to make do with scrolls once Vi leaves.

Speaking of Vi, her stats seem too high, compared with an average human of the same level? I'll have to check those again to be sure.

[Archonte]

Samurai can't use stiletto!

[Gadgeteer Tom]

One of the handiest daggers is the one obtained as Rapax Templar Initiates starts with a "C" , the Ranger and Gadgeteer can use stilettos though.

[Scatter]

Samurai does better with two swords because once the Sword Bonus goes over 100 it starts ameliorating the malus inherent in dualling. Besides, Enchanted Wakizashi beats Canezou, except only maybe for the Dex bonus.

[Target]

If you want magic screen you could take Saxx with you when you find the right instrument and he'll cover that for you.

[Flamestryke]

Magic Screen is available from an item usable by every one. The Amulet Pro Magic. Magic Screen 4 with up to 7 charges. It can of course be recharged.

[Krull]

Lana

At the risk of sounding a crawler, can I add my congratulations on an excellent website?

I'm with Wolfie, how come you haven't visited before or have you just been lurking?

Anyway, I've very rarely got the Amulet you mention unless I've been unlucky so far. This would be very useful for my 3 Gadgeteer party.

[Flamestryke]

When I run parties of this nature who have no means to magically protect themselves I make it a point to get this handy little Trinket in Trynton. Either in the Pagoda Armory safe chests or the Rattkin Tree.

I have reentered the Rat Tree to refresh the chest it loads in many a game. Its a little easier than getting rid of the Oaks since I generally make a bee line there right from the Monastery and hold the party level low, 5 or under, in order to avoid magical beings whilst in the trees.

Invariably, these same parties hit the Peak and wind up with a slew of the things from the Wood Spirits there. I am just not willing to wait quite that long to get the first one.

[Scatter]

Though it's not a very long bit of game to repeat, but at only 2% it can get a little wearying. It's really kinda sad you can't buy the Scrolls. In any case, i've finished several times without ever having Magic Screen on my party. Not a vast problem if you do have Soul/Element Shields, even less so if you have Iron Will--which you can max out faster than any other skill. There are also numerous devices that protect vs the Realms. There are also tactics to prevent too much mayhem when you're Insane or otherwise affected.

[Kylospylon]

Cheerz you guys for the info. I'm a bit bummed that the Samurai can't use a stiletto, so much for my crit-master. I also found out that a Samurai can't use a main gauche, or a poignard. I knew the ninja couldn't, but why allow the Samurai to learn dagger skill if he can only use the puny regular dagger and the Canezou, what's the point? At least the ninja gets to use a sai, IF you can find one.

I suppose there's the poison dagger, but I'd prefer an enchanted Whakkawhozit. Which leads to my problem...

I like the Samurai, but the Enchanted Wackydohicky isn't worth all the effort it takes to build up dual wield IMO. The Lord makes a better dual wielder, so I usually only go Sam if I want the Mage spellbook. And if I want spells then the Sam usually doesn't dual wield, since so much effort has to go into making him a decent caster, that if I do decide to dual wield, I end up not being able to hit the side of a barn door. I thought if I could find a good enough offhand weapon, I could bear him being a poor combatant for most of the game.

At least I'm getting a steady stream of lightning strikes, but at the moment with bloodlust and the poison dagger he usually strikes 6-7 times and doesn't hit once, which makes it all pointless anyway. To top it off, he constantly needs stamina, which my Psionic can't supply.

Arrggghh... I'm gonna cann this party and try something else.

It's not a total loss however, I did manage to find the secret of Lightning strikes.