The Beginner's Reference - about 20 pages

[Wereboar]

Originally posted by Wereboar: IIRC both increase your resistance by 10% per spell level (more with powercast).

My mistake. I know that my fighters have ~80% resistance bonus in all realms with magic sceen on. But i forgot the fact that they have equipement with resistance bonus. When taking this into accont, its only 35%+, or 5% per level.

In my experience, magic screen is enough for most battles, except mountain wildernesse, Rapax areas, and the temple fight. But since i want to have mage spells available for to missile shield, i also have elemental shield. And since i want priest spells (or an instrument) for magic screen, i also have soul shield available. So i use them when i think i need the additional protection.

A word to the battle with deathstings: I used up ~12 ressurrection powders in both battles. I was unable to run away, and my group of 4 hybrids wasn't able to kill them in time. I assume somewhere in your long post is the hint to buy as many of these powders as possible early in the game.

[ScottG]

No prob. - to err is to be Human, or so the saying goes (and I must be VERY Human).

I too use multiple meathods of increasing resistance, but if you go back and read what I wrote I think you will find that what I was describing was a bare minimum.

Also think about your encounters a little more (various: "mares", sprites, sharks, empaths, one huge unnamed entity, etc.), the rapax and the Mountain Wilderness region are just part of the picture.

With the "forumla" I've describe you shouldn't have that problem (with or without missile shield) unless your facing more than one group of Deathstings - then things can get difficult.

(mon graci for the edit!)

it's great that scottg took the time to write down recommendations for new players. and it's also great that so many people are contributing corrections and suggestions.

probably the hardest thing to edit, with regard to this document, is those things that are errors or omissions vs those things that are style choices. magic resistance built from items and magic screen vs. from shield spells is clearly one of these. another would be armour class vs. damage resistance.

perhaps the best thing to keep in mind, whether you are a new player or an experienced player, is that this is one person's recommendations on how to develop a survivable party. it works.

it's only once players get past the survivability issue, then experimenting with style can begin in earnest. i'd like to see more people recommend their own style tweaks to scottg's post.

perhaps we need a "style" thread, where we can compile such variations as EEW's all magic parties, CT's hybrid-magic parties, my all-speed (and no speed!) parties, etc. by including party development recommendations, it could be a veritable encyclopedia for players just getting past the newbie stage looking for ideas and recommendations.

[ScottG]

All said better than I could have Sultan, and all quite true. Sultan - you have an EXCELLENT idea there..styles of play (and parties that match those styles).

To all:

This reference is nothing more than my opinion shaped by some of my experiences - experiences often shared by others as seen in the "tips" section.

I encourage everyone to point out flaws in my logic, but understand this editorial is geared to a beginner and specifically creates a model starting from the most basic observations. The model simply concludes with what I percieve as an optimal method of gameplay (or the easiest game you could play).

If your basis for my flaw in logic is rooted in "hard numbers" - please test to make sure those numbers you are relying on are at least close to being factual.

Thanks again.

[ 08-22-2003, 04:46 AM: Message edited by: ScottG ]

[Target]

A really really great post ScottG!! I'm still trying to compleat my first run through wis 8, but I'm already looking forward to using a lot of your ideas for me next game!!!
Great post!!

[Bungleau]

*Bump*

This was about to scroll off the back page... and I feel it's worthy of sticking around [img]smile.gif[/img]

[dplax]

Originally posted by Bungleau: *Bump* This was about to scroll off the back page... and I feel it's worthy of sticking around [img]smile.gif[/img]

then one of the moderators could be asked to stick this topic up at the top of the page, as the tips are

[Cataephract]

One little note, and a little spoily space:
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You suggest the use of flash powders to aid in running away. I would recommend against this, as flash+sneeze powder=pandemonium powder, and the profits from that can be enormous. Arguably, the equipment and books that can be purchased from the proceeds can be better than the powder itself, and these powders can be hard to acquire. So flash spells yes, they will work more often and are "free", but I would say no to the powders.

[ 09-28-2003, 04:01 AM: Message edited by: Cataephract ]

[dplax]

up for the beginner's sake

[dplax]

this was about to scroll off the last page again...