The days are cruising by, and I am now about half way through my first 30 days. Many systems in this game are extremely intuitive in my opinion and yet some still seem very obscure (for instance, I still can't figure out the syntax for "gobbling mana bread in one bite" haha!).
I've made it to 11th level and love healing people. I do have to admit that I also enjoy being able to get out and fight mobs. I have switched my spells so I have 1111, 111, and 202...exactly doubled in spells. Some things I've noticed - 1110 isn't that great yet, because most of the mobs I would use it on seem to be able to resist the warding check easily. 111 is great, but my max mana is 58 so I get 6 casts of it per hunt maximum. Not very efficient when it takes two to generally get a kill. 1106 is easily the go-to spell. My CS is 73. I'm doing well as long as I'm hunting mobs under my level which I don't mind too terribly. I dropped my weapon skills because even with 1109 and 211, I just didn't like swinging that much. It felt slow paced. I have enough mana to fry in one hunt generally.
My training is essentially:
2x PF - I'm stopping this at max health to pick up my 8 armor ranks and then I'll pick it up again and eventually get caught back up to fully 2x I think. Then again, I may drop to singling just to save the points. I can safely go either way.
2x First aid. Skinning and herb eating makes this skill a "must have" for me.
2x harness power - One day I may be ok singling this, but right now without it I'd only have 47 total mana. Having the total 58 improves my regen as well as the base amount of mana I have which feel too critical to lower at this point.
2x spell aiming - I could easily drop this, but I did participate in the white haven hunt the other night and after I ran out of mana (which was very quickly) I pulled out all of my slender blue wands and went to town. Couldn't have done that without spell aiming. Otherwise, my CS is too low to use 1110 and my mana is too low to hunt with 111 yet and I could drop it for extra points.
1x magic item use - slender blue wands. Cheap and effective. Any other wands that are effective and cheap?
1x arcane symbols - I do have a scroll that casts 406 but I haven't used it yet, otherwise I feel I could probably drop these points.
2x spells, but only 1x empath. If anything, I'd love to improve this, but really with the pushdown of TD when using 1106, I'm not sure it's necessary.
1x spiritual mana control - not impressed with this at all. If I dropped this and arcane symbols (at least for now) I could pick up some extra empath training every couple of levels. Not sure if it's really worth it, but like I said - not impressed so far that this skill really does much of anything of substance for me.
1x mental mana control - anything that makes 1106 stronger is welcome, not to mention as I consider it my primary mana control, the extra regen is welcome.
1x spiritual lore summoning - I don't think this is important now, but eventually the ranks will add up.
1x mental lore telepathy - I started with this to be able to get 2 extra warding attempts at 20 ranks and then switching to transformation. The other option I could do would be to go back to transformation after 5 ranks in telepathy, then back to telepathy to have 20 ranks by 35 or so.
1x trading - I really like this skill even though I know some people love it while most hate it. Honestly though, it saves me a lot of money (10-15%) when having my boxes picked by the local locksmith which I do about 99.9% of the time, gives me more money selling my gems, gives me more money when I pawn items, and saves me money when I buy wands from the pawnshop. It also saves me money when I buy herbs, although instead of saving me a percentage it's only saving me 12 or 13 silvers instead of 12 or 13% like most other shops. I think that's a typo in the code, but I'm not sure.
What do I think? Well, I think overall I'm pretty happy. I wish I could fight better at my level, but it just depends on the critter. For instance, I can kill rabid guard dogs very easily although wall guardians burn through my mana. I hope that my training regimen won't make me weak as I level, but rather make me better and more efficient in combat.
Does everything look copecetic to you? Any glaring problems you see coming at me that I might not be able to predict due to lack of experience? I'll be getting some climbing and swimming after 20 or so and I'll start getting some perception about the same time. Other than that, I haven't planned anymore out. Thanks!
SAXMAN
OM1E5GA
Re: Update and check
07/03/2012 11:17 PM CDT
<for instance, I still can't figure out the syntax for "gobbling mana bread in one bite" haha!>
GOBBLE BREAD... the last bite will give that message.
<2x First aid. Skinning and herb eating makes this skill a "must have" for me.>
FA only helps with the reduction of RT incurred when eating herbs. By all means, keep it if you plan in doing a lot of skinning, but once you get all your healing spells you most likely won't be eating many herbs at all.
<2x harness power - One day I may be ok singling this, but right now without it I'd only have 47 total mana. Having the total 58 improves my regen as well as the base amount of mana I have which feel too critical to lower at this point.>
The amount of mana you get back each pulse is a percentage determined by your Mana Control training and whether or not your on a node. For empaths, both Mental Mana Control and Spirit Mana Control count towards this. For the best mana regen rate, 1x in both MMC and SMC until you have a BONUS of 101 in both (I believe that happens at 24 ranks), then you can pick one to single in for life and stop training in the other.
<Any other wands that are effective and cheap?>
aquamarine wands (water), golden wands (fire), crystal wands (acid), metal wands (cold) and coral wands (steam) are all good and relatively easy to find. Different ones work better with different critters. Don't waste your time or silvers with iron or silver wands (both are shock damage), unless you're hunting rats they're just about useless.
<2x spell aiming - I could easily drop this,>
You'll end up regretting it if you do. Pure casters can't rely on just CS spells all the time, 1106 only works on critters that have bones (and there are a lot that don't have them) and 1115 will be too expensive to use regularly until much later on. Train in Spell Aiming and Spirit Summoning and you won't be disappointed with 111, the younger of my two empaths has been using it since he was level 15 even more then 1106 (he also uses a lot of wands, mind you).
<1x trading - I really like this skill even though I know some people love it while most hate it.>
If you like it, by all means keep it. But if you're running short on TPs this should be the first thing you cut back on or drop. BTW, you can avoid paying the NPC locksmith all together if you find a rogue to pick your boxes for you (East tower in the Landing and the Town Commons in River's Rest are where they can usually be found in those two towns.... not so sure about most other towns)
My only other comment is that you'll want 5 ranks or so in both Swimming and Climbing by the time you hit level 30 or so, then you can ignore them until your older (if you're planning on hunting in RR in your 30's you'll want a minimum of 15 ranks in one or the other to get across the bay though). Eventually you'll want 40 or so ranks of each, but that's not till well down the line.
Starchitin
A severed gnomish hand crawls in on its fingertips and makes a rude gesture before quickly decaying and rotting into dust. A gust of wind quickly scatters the dust.
GOBBLE BREAD... the last bite will give that message.
<2x First aid. Skinning and herb eating makes this skill a "must have" for me.>
FA only helps with the reduction of RT incurred when eating herbs. By all means, keep it if you plan in doing a lot of skinning, but once you get all your healing spells you most likely won't be eating many herbs at all.
<2x harness power - One day I may be ok singling this, but right now without it I'd only have 47 total mana. Having the total 58 improves my regen as well as the base amount of mana I have which feel too critical to lower at this point.>
The amount of mana you get back each pulse is a percentage determined by your Mana Control training and whether or not your on a node. For empaths, both Mental Mana Control and Spirit Mana Control count towards this. For the best mana regen rate, 1x in both MMC and SMC until you have a BONUS of 101 in both (I believe that happens at 24 ranks), then you can pick one to single in for life and stop training in the other.
<Any other wands that are effective and cheap?>
aquamarine wands (water), golden wands (fire), crystal wands (acid), metal wands (cold) and coral wands (steam) are all good and relatively easy to find. Different ones work better with different critters. Don't waste your time or silvers with iron or silver wands (both are shock damage), unless you're hunting rats they're just about useless.
<2x spell aiming - I could easily drop this,>
You'll end up regretting it if you do. Pure casters can't rely on just CS spells all the time, 1106 only works on critters that have bones (and there are a lot that don't have them) and 1115 will be too expensive to use regularly until much later on. Train in Spell Aiming and Spirit Summoning and you won't be disappointed with 111, the younger of my two empaths has been using it since he was level 15 even more then 1106 (he also uses a lot of wands, mind you).
<1x trading - I really like this skill even though I know some people love it while most hate it.>
If you like it, by all means keep it. But if you're running short on TPs this should be the first thing you cut back on or drop. BTW, you can avoid paying the NPC locksmith all together if you find a rogue to pick your boxes for you (East tower in the Landing and the Town Commons in River's Rest are where they can usually be found in those two towns.... not so sure about most other towns)
My only other comment is that you'll want 5 ranks or so in both Swimming and Climbing by the time you hit level 30 or so, then you can ignore them until your older (if you're planning on hunting in RR in your 30's you'll want a minimum of 15 ranks in one or the other to get across the bay though). Eventually you'll want 40 or so ranks of each, but that's not till well down the line.
Starchitin
A severed gnomish hand crawls in on its fingertips and makes a rude gesture before quickly decaying and rotting into dust. A gust of wind quickly scatters the dust.
SKUPEC1
Re: Update and check
07/04/2012 05:27 AM CDT
>> The amount of mana you get back each pulse is a percentage determined by your Mana Control training and whether or not your on a node. For empaths, both Mental Mana Control and Spirit Mana Control count towards this. For the best mana regen rate, 1x in both MMC and SMC until you have a BONUS of 101 in both (I believe that happens at 24 ranks), then you can pick one to single in for life and stop training in the other.
You regen mana at 25% of your max on node, 15% of your max off node regardless of mana controls. Mana controls then add additional mana points to that. For empaths, that rate is 1 per 10 ranks in the higher of SMC and MMC and 1 per 20 ranks in the lower. (E.g. if you have 30 MMC and 20 SMC, you get a flat +4 mana/pulse in addition to the percentage regen.)
You regen mana at 25% of your max on node, 15% of your max off node regardless of mana controls. Mana controls then add additional mana points to that. For empaths, that rate is 1 per 10 ranks in the higher of SMC and MMC and 1 per 20 ranks in the lower. (E.g. if you have 30 MMC and 20 SMC, you get a flat +4 mana/pulse in addition to the percentage regen.)
NAIKITA
Re: Update and check
07/04/2012 11:55 AM CDT
>> <Any other wands that are effective and cheap?>
>> aquamarine wands (water),
Another thing you can do is find a friendly local cleric to cast bless on aquamarine wands, which gives them a powerful flare against undead. You can also try to get slender ivory wands either from a player shop, someone you know who does alchemy, or you can get involved in alchemy yourself and make them. They are 1106 in wand form, and very effective.
>> <2x spell aiming - I could easily drop this,>
Definitely don't want to do this. Along with what Starchitin had to say this dictates your AS for 1110, 118, and wands. While 1110 may not seem like much at this point, later on with some lore training it becomes a powerful alternative spell, and 118 (Web) has a lot of utilitarian uses.
Glad you're having fun, looks like you're on the right track!
~Niadja
>> aquamarine wands (water),
Another thing you can do is find a friendly local cleric to cast bless on aquamarine wands, which gives them a powerful flare against undead. You can also try to get slender ivory wands either from a player shop, someone you know who does alchemy, or you can get involved in alchemy yourself and make them. They are 1106 in wand form, and very effective.
>> <2x spell aiming - I could easily drop this,>
Definitely don't want to do this. Along with what Starchitin had to say this dictates your AS for 1110, 118, and wands. While 1110 may not seem like much at this point, later on with some lore training it becomes a powerful alternative spell, and 118 (Web) has a lot of utilitarian uses.
Glad you're having fun, looks like you're on the right track!
~Niadja
SAXMAN
Re: Update and check
07/04/2012 03:39 PM CDT
Well, I don't consider the aqua wands too cheap at the moment. They're about 2.4k each and I'm still working on saving up for some 4x double leather since I'm not wearing any armor at all at the moment. Once I get my armor taken care of, I won't be as concerned about money and will be able to stock up better on wands. Also, I think I'm going to look into alchemy. Being able to make my own boneshatter wands sounds fantastic.
I'm feeling good at the moment with my training plans then since no one seemed to jump at anything as being catastrophic (woohoo!).
I'm feeling good at the moment with my training plans then since no one seemed to jump at anything as being catastrophic (woohoo!).
RATHBONER
Re: Update and check
07/04/2012 07:10 PM CDT
You have to be a giant to be able to gobble down your mana bread in one bite. Smaller races will take multiple gobbles to get through it.
Some critters are susceptible enough to bolts that 1110 is worth it even without much CS based damage from it. You will not have much use for it at low level though.
You'll do better skinning if you pick up a bit of survival eventually. Its skill based, so 40 ranks FA plus 10 ranks survival is worth 90 ranks FA with no survival.
The return on trading drops off because its skill based too, plus the early ranks allow you to count INF bonus too for even more effect. You should start being able to get information out of appraise on things you are holding now, though you'll need rather more ranks before you can reliably get the value first time. I find it useful for working out whether the jewellry the gemshop won't buy is worth 100k (pawn) or 2M (find bard to see why its worth 2M). Also for tracking skin quality. I don't think its worth 1x forever, but 10, 20, 30, 40 ranks of it have their uses.
If you do take up alchemy, don't skimp on your mana control training. Otherwise I don't think there is a lot of point going past 20 in SMC when you are 1x in MMC.
You won't be able to get out of silverbacks into ogres without some climbing and you will probably want to do that a few levels before 20. There is nothing in Icemule that needs swimming before the Rift.
Green coral are my favorite wands. Its more to do with the crit messaging than the price though. There are quite a few critters around icemule that get healed if you wave a blue wand at them, so you definitely should carry fire based ones as well.
Animals are always suckers for CS attacks. Its the +25 CvA you get against them.
Alchemy requires serious dedication. Get to level 40 (many would say 100) and then think about it unless you really fancy yourself as an alchemist rather than just want to make wands for yourself.
Some critters are susceptible enough to bolts that 1110 is worth it even without much CS based damage from it. You will not have much use for it at low level though.
You'll do better skinning if you pick up a bit of survival eventually. Its skill based, so 40 ranks FA plus 10 ranks survival is worth 90 ranks FA with no survival.
The return on trading drops off because its skill based too, plus the early ranks allow you to count INF bonus too for even more effect. You should start being able to get information out of appraise on things you are holding now, though you'll need rather more ranks before you can reliably get the value first time. I find it useful for working out whether the jewellry the gemshop won't buy is worth 100k (pawn) or 2M (find bard to see why its worth 2M). Also for tracking skin quality. I don't think its worth 1x forever, but 10, 20, 30, 40 ranks of it have their uses.
If you do take up alchemy, don't skimp on your mana control training. Otherwise I don't think there is a lot of point going past 20 in SMC when you are 1x in MMC.
You won't be able to get out of silverbacks into ogres without some climbing and you will probably want to do that a few levels before 20. There is nothing in Icemule that needs swimming before the Rift.
Green coral are my favorite wands. Its more to do with the crit messaging than the price though. There are quite a few critters around icemule that get healed if you wave a blue wand at them, so you definitely should carry fire based ones as well.
Animals are always suckers for CS attacks. Its the +25 CvA you get against them.
Alchemy requires serious dedication. Get to level 40 (many would say 100) and then think about it unless you really fancy yourself as an alchemist rather than just want to make wands for yourself.
THROGG
Re: Update and check
07/05/2012 03:32 PM CDT
>>, it saves me a lot of money (10-15%) when having my boxes picked by the local locksmith which I do about 99.9% of the time,<<
Just wanted to point out that boxes that are not mithril, not enruned and don't have a glyph trap can be blown up with 1125. You lose 1/2 the silvers (it becomes a silver slab, which you can sell at the gem shop) but the rest of the contents are more or less intact (scrolls become charred).
The bells of Hell
go ting-a-ling-a-ling
for you but not for me
Just wanted to point out that boxes that are not mithril, not enruned and don't have a glyph trap can be blown up with 1125. You lose 1/2 the silvers (it becomes a silver slab, which you can sell at the gem shop) but the rest of the contents are more or less intact (scrolls become charred).
The bells of Hell
go ting-a-ling-a-ling
for you but not for me
THROGG
Re: Update and check
07/05/2012 03:42 PM CDT
>>Its skill based, so 40 ranks FA plus 10 ranks survival is worth 90 ranks FA with no survival.<<
Umm, where did you get that info? As far as I know FA and survival are equal as far as skinning results. Mind you, I am not saying that getting some survival skill is bad, but I believe they are equal. I.E., 80 ranks of FA is the same as 40 ranks of FA plus 40 ranks survival skill as far as skinning results go. And since FA is dirt cheap for empaths (and affects the RT from using herbs!), I'd recommend getting FA skill over survival for the non-Ice Mule based young empath.
The bells of Hell
go ting-a-ling-a-ling
for you but not for me
Umm, where did you get that info? As far as I know FA and survival are equal as far as skinning results. Mind you, I am not saying that getting some survival skill is bad, but I believe they are equal. I.E., 80 ranks of FA is the same as 40 ranks of FA plus 40 ranks survival skill as far as skinning results go. And since FA is dirt cheap for empaths (and affects the RT from using herbs!), I'd recommend getting FA skill over survival for the non-Ice Mule based young empath.
The bells of Hell
go ting-a-ling-a-ling
for you but not for me
ETANNIDOMHNAILL
Re: Update and check
07/05/2012 05:13 PM CDT
Since your training regimen is very similar to mine, I'll obviously approve of the plan for the most part. I'll just offer some comments here and there to help you get your footing.
Just because you have a spell doesn't mean it will be viable to hunt with immediately. Empathic assault became the go-to for hunting in my late 20's when I rained murder on the dobrems outside Solhaven and the moor hounds of River's Rest. Fire spirit also has too high a mana cost for it to be viable to hunt with. They will become much more important and useful as you gain levels and mana. At your level, I'd expect you primarily to hunt with wands and bone shatter. Sorcerer wands (thanot, bone, twisted, glass, etc.) are still useful to you. At lower levels, your sorcerer CS will be high enough to make them worthwhile, but that will fade with levels. Wizard wands, however, will always be useful so long as you train in spell aiming.
Creatures are highly susceptible to bone shatter now because their defenses are pushed down at your level. That pushdown will decrease as you gain levels, so keeping or even improving with your empath spell training will be important, and you may find yourself casting the spell more often. Keep an eye on your mana usage to see if you need to tweak your harness power.
<<2x PF - I'm stopping this at max health to pick up my 8 armor ranks and then I'll pick it up again and eventually get caught back up to fully 2x I think. Then again, I may drop to singling just to save the points. I can safely go either way.>>
Speaking from experience, most of your deaths are going to come from creature maneuvers rather than an AS/DS check, if your hunting tactics are sound. Physical fitness is a major component in the defense against maneuvers, so keeping that as high as possible, without sacrificing other needed skills, would only benefit you.
<<2x spell aiming - I could easily drop this, but I did participate in the white haven hunt the other night and after I ran out of mana (which was very quickly) I pulled out all of my slender blue wands and went to town. Couldn't have done that without spell aiming. Otherwise, my CS is too low to use 1110 and my mana is too low to hunt with 111 yet and I could drop it for extra points.>>
Spell aiming right now will benefit you mostly with wizard wands. When you begin to accrue enough mana from your harness power to hunt using your bolt spells, you'll also have the CS to make the rest of empathic assault useful.
<<1x magic item use - slender blue wands. Cheap and effective. Any other wands that are effective and cheap?>>
Anything you can get your hands on, but my favorite bolt wands are blue, gold, crystal, coral and metal. Since you're up in Icemule, keep an eye out for gold wands on the pawnshop tables. Haunt the playershops to see if anyone's selling wands you like. Find a ranger to make wands and rods that can be imbedded with bolt spells by wizards and sorcerers. Make friends with a wizard who can duplicate the critter-found and shop-bought wands to make them last longer.
<<1x arcane symbols - I do have a scroll that casts 406 but I haven't used it yet, otherwise I feel I could probably drop these points.>>
Your choice. I use scrolls on a regular basis to help my defenses when I'm going against something new or difficult, since casters aren't always around for spellups. Arcane symbols will also help to determine how many spells others have cast on you that you can safely keep in certain higher level hunting areas without asploding, known as spellburst.
<<1x spiritual mana control - not impressed with this at all. If I dropped this and arcane symbols (at least for now) I could pick up some extra empath training every couple of levels. Not sure if it's really worth it, but like I said - not impressed so far that this skill really does much of anything of substance for me.>>
Another skill that's your choice. Spirit mana control allows you to transfer mana to or from other people with the skill, which can prove invaluable if you find yourself coming up short. It's another that figures into spellburst later on.
<<1x mental lore telepathy - I started with this to be able to get 2 extra warding attempts at 20 ranks and then switching to transformation. The other option I could do would be to go back to transformation after 5 ranks in telepathy, then back to telepathy to have 20 ranks by 35 or so.>>
I'd advocate for the 20 ranks coming sooner, rather than later. As I mentioned, I was hunting dobrems in the tower in the Outlands near Solhaven in my 20's, and they were simple for their level. A starting cast of bone shatter to stun them and they were easy prey for empathic assault. Keeping the telepathy lore let me do more damage per cast, and saved me a ton of mana.
Trading is another skill that you have to decide on. As mentioned later in the thread, the benefit you gain will decrease over time, so keep an eye on things to see if you'd want to continue.
Overall, the training plan is solid and in time will continue to improve. Just keep watching and observing things, playing with your spells against creatures to see what the best fit might be, and you'll be fine. I'd also suggest staying open to moving to different cities, as the best creature to hunt may not be near Icemule at certain levels.
<<Also, I think I'm going to look into alchemy. Being able to make my own boneshatter wands sounds fantastic.>>
If you're looking at alchemy as a potential means to save money, you'll be gravely disappointed. I'm mastered in all alchemy skills and it cost me multiple millions to get there, even with saving up whatever ingredients I found and people dumping them on me when they found them. Your best bet would be to find an empath who can make bone shatter wands and seeing if they'll make them for you. Several would make them for free if you'd only provide the ingredients.
<<You'll do better skinning if you pick up a bit of survival eventually. Its skill based, so 40 ranks FA plus 10 ranks survival is worth 90 ranks FA with no survival.>>
Not sure where you're getting this. It's been stated by a GM in the past that skinning is rank-based, so a rank of first aid counts the same as a rank of survival, regardless of how many of each the person already has.
Gretchen
Meeting Nilandia: http://www.gsguide.net/index.php?title=Nilandia
Nilandia's GS4 Info Repository: http://www.nilandia.com
AIM: Lady Nilandia
Just because you have a spell doesn't mean it will be viable to hunt with immediately. Empathic assault became the go-to for hunting in my late 20's when I rained murder on the dobrems outside Solhaven and the moor hounds of River's Rest. Fire spirit also has too high a mana cost for it to be viable to hunt with. They will become much more important and useful as you gain levels and mana. At your level, I'd expect you primarily to hunt with wands and bone shatter. Sorcerer wands (thanot, bone, twisted, glass, etc.) are still useful to you. At lower levels, your sorcerer CS will be high enough to make them worthwhile, but that will fade with levels. Wizard wands, however, will always be useful so long as you train in spell aiming.
Creatures are highly susceptible to bone shatter now because their defenses are pushed down at your level. That pushdown will decrease as you gain levels, so keeping or even improving with your empath spell training will be important, and you may find yourself casting the spell more often. Keep an eye on your mana usage to see if you need to tweak your harness power.
<<2x PF - I'm stopping this at max health to pick up my 8 armor ranks and then I'll pick it up again and eventually get caught back up to fully 2x I think. Then again, I may drop to singling just to save the points. I can safely go either way.>>
Speaking from experience, most of your deaths are going to come from creature maneuvers rather than an AS/DS check, if your hunting tactics are sound. Physical fitness is a major component in the defense against maneuvers, so keeping that as high as possible, without sacrificing other needed skills, would only benefit you.
<<2x spell aiming - I could easily drop this, but I did participate in the white haven hunt the other night and after I ran out of mana (which was very quickly) I pulled out all of my slender blue wands and went to town. Couldn't have done that without spell aiming. Otherwise, my CS is too low to use 1110 and my mana is too low to hunt with 111 yet and I could drop it for extra points.>>
Spell aiming right now will benefit you mostly with wizard wands. When you begin to accrue enough mana from your harness power to hunt using your bolt spells, you'll also have the CS to make the rest of empathic assault useful.
<<1x magic item use - slender blue wands. Cheap and effective. Any other wands that are effective and cheap?>>
Anything you can get your hands on, but my favorite bolt wands are blue, gold, crystal, coral and metal. Since you're up in Icemule, keep an eye out for gold wands on the pawnshop tables. Haunt the playershops to see if anyone's selling wands you like. Find a ranger to make wands and rods that can be imbedded with bolt spells by wizards and sorcerers. Make friends with a wizard who can duplicate the critter-found and shop-bought wands to make them last longer.
<<1x arcane symbols - I do have a scroll that casts 406 but I haven't used it yet, otherwise I feel I could probably drop these points.>>
Your choice. I use scrolls on a regular basis to help my defenses when I'm going against something new or difficult, since casters aren't always around for spellups. Arcane symbols will also help to determine how many spells others have cast on you that you can safely keep in certain higher level hunting areas without asploding, known as spellburst.
<<1x spiritual mana control - not impressed with this at all. If I dropped this and arcane symbols (at least for now) I could pick up some extra empath training every couple of levels. Not sure if it's really worth it, but like I said - not impressed so far that this skill really does much of anything of substance for me.>>
Another skill that's your choice. Spirit mana control allows you to transfer mana to or from other people with the skill, which can prove invaluable if you find yourself coming up short. It's another that figures into spellburst later on.
<<1x mental lore telepathy - I started with this to be able to get 2 extra warding attempts at 20 ranks and then switching to transformation. The other option I could do would be to go back to transformation after 5 ranks in telepathy, then back to telepathy to have 20 ranks by 35 or so.>>
I'd advocate for the 20 ranks coming sooner, rather than later. As I mentioned, I was hunting dobrems in the tower in the Outlands near Solhaven in my 20's, and they were simple for their level. A starting cast of bone shatter to stun them and they were easy prey for empathic assault. Keeping the telepathy lore let me do more damage per cast, and saved me a ton of mana.
Trading is another skill that you have to decide on. As mentioned later in the thread, the benefit you gain will decrease over time, so keep an eye on things to see if you'd want to continue.
Overall, the training plan is solid and in time will continue to improve. Just keep watching and observing things, playing with your spells against creatures to see what the best fit might be, and you'll be fine. I'd also suggest staying open to moving to different cities, as the best creature to hunt may not be near Icemule at certain levels.
<<Also, I think I'm going to look into alchemy. Being able to make my own boneshatter wands sounds fantastic.>>
If you're looking at alchemy as a potential means to save money, you'll be gravely disappointed. I'm mastered in all alchemy skills and it cost me multiple millions to get there, even with saving up whatever ingredients I found and people dumping them on me when they found them. Your best bet would be to find an empath who can make bone shatter wands and seeing if they'll make them for you. Several would make them for free if you'd only provide the ingredients.
<<You'll do better skinning if you pick up a bit of survival eventually. Its skill based, so 40 ranks FA plus 10 ranks survival is worth 90 ranks FA with no survival.>>
Not sure where you're getting this. It's been stated by a GM in the past that skinning is rank-based, so a rank of first aid counts the same as a rank of survival, regardless of how many of each the person already has.
Gretchen
Meeting Nilandia: http://www.gsguide.net/index.php?title=Nilandia
Nilandia's GS4 Info Repository: http://www.nilandia.com
AIM: Lady Nilandia
THROGG
Re: Update and check
07/05/2012 05:41 PM CDT
shatter dem bones!
>
A scarred krolvin brigand stumps in!
> incant 1106
You focus your thoughts while chanting the mystical phrase for Bone Shatter...
Your spell is ready.
You channel at a scarred krolvin brigand.
You concentrate intently on a scarred krolvin brigand, and a pulse of pearlescent energy ripples toward him!
CS: +457 - TD: +309 + CvA: +8 + d100: +52 == +208
Warding failed!
The krolvin brigand shudders with severe convulsions as pearlescent ripples envelop his body.
The krolvin brigand is crushed for 50 points of damage!
... 30 points of damage!
Hard strike to left arm breaking tendons and bone!
The krolvin brigand is stunned!
... 20 points of damage!
Good blow to left arm!
The brigand's black buckler falls to the ground.
Cast Roundtime 3 Seconds.
Roundtime: 3 sec.
(Forcing stance down to guarded)
R> incant 1106
You focus your thoughts while chanting the mystical phrase for Bone Shatter...
Your spell is ready.
You channel at a scarred krolvin brigand.
You concentrate intently on a scarred krolvin brigand, and a pulse of pearlescent energy ripples toward him!
CS: +457 - TD: +309 + CvA: +8 + d100: +69 == +225
Warding failed!
The krolvin brigand shudders with severe convulsions as pearlescent ripples envelop his body.
The krolvin brigand is crushed for 50 points of damage!
... 35 points of damage!
Hard blow to chest breaking ribs!
Hard to breathe!
... 35 points of damage!
Massive blow removes the krolvin brigand's right foot!
The krolvin brigand glances down at his mangled right leg and falls over!
Cast Roundtime 3 Seconds.
Roundtime: 3 sec.
R>
A scarred krolvin brigand stumps in!
R> incant 1106
You focus your thoughts while chanting the mystical phrase for Bone Shatter...
Your spell is ready.
You channel at a scarred krolvin brigand.
You concentrate intently on a scarred krolvin brigand, and a pulse of pearlescent energy ripples toward him!
CS: +457 - TD: +309 + CvA: +8 + d100: +23 == +179
Warding failed!
The krolvin brigand shudders with sporadic convulsions as pearlescent ripples envelop his body.
The krolvin brigand is crushed for 50 points of damage!
... 35 points of damage!
Massive blow to right hand crushing it to pulp!
The brigand's vultite short sword falls to the ground.
... 25 points of damage!
Strong blow to left hand!
Cast Roundtime 3 Seconds.
Roundtime: 3 sec.
A scarred krolvin brigand swings a sharp dark blue talon sword at you!
AS: +467 vs DS: +457 with AvD: +34 + d100 roll: +42 = +86
A clean miss.
> loot
Could not find a valid target to loot.
> incant 1106
You focus your thoughts while chanting the mystical phrase for Bone Shatter...
Your spell is ready.
You channel at a scarred krolvin brigand.
You concentrate intently on a scarred krolvin brigand, and a pulse of pearlescent energy ripples toward him!
CS: +457 - TD: +309 + CvA: +8 + d100: +51 == +207
Warding failed!
The internal skeletal structure of a scarred krolvin brigand implodes inward upon itself, leaving behind no support for his body or life. The krolvin brigand falls to the ground in a lifeless mass of flesh and fractured bones.
Cast Roundtime 3 Seconds.
Roundtime: 3 sec.<<
Stinking blue skinned beggers!
Ahem; ok one of my gals is a half-krol, but she still doesn't like the invaders.
The bells of Hell
go ting-a-ling-a-ling
for you but not for me
>
A scarred krolvin brigand stumps in!
> incant 1106
You focus your thoughts while chanting the mystical phrase for Bone Shatter...
Your spell is ready.
You channel at a scarred krolvin brigand.
You concentrate intently on a scarred krolvin brigand, and a pulse of pearlescent energy ripples toward him!
CS: +457 - TD: +309 + CvA: +8 + d100: +52 == +208
Warding failed!
The krolvin brigand shudders with severe convulsions as pearlescent ripples envelop his body.
The krolvin brigand is crushed for 50 points of damage!
... 30 points of damage!
Hard strike to left arm breaking tendons and bone!
The krolvin brigand is stunned!
... 20 points of damage!
Good blow to left arm!
The brigand's black buckler falls to the ground.
Cast Roundtime 3 Seconds.
Roundtime: 3 sec.
(Forcing stance down to guarded)
R> incant 1106
You focus your thoughts while chanting the mystical phrase for Bone Shatter...
Your spell is ready.
You channel at a scarred krolvin brigand.
You concentrate intently on a scarred krolvin brigand, and a pulse of pearlescent energy ripples toward him!
CS: +457 - TD: +309 + CvA: +8 + d100: +69 == +225
Warding failed!
The krolvin brigand shudders with severe convulsions as pearlescent ripples envelop his body.
The krolvin brigand is crushed for 50 points of damage!
... 35 points of damage!
Hard blow to chest breaking ribs!
Hard to breathe!
... 35 points of damage!
Massive blow removes the krolvin brigand's right foot!
The krolvin brigand glances down at his mangled right leg and falls over!
Cast Roundtime 3 Seconds.
Roundtime: 3 sec.
R>
A scarred krolvin brigand stumps in!
R> incant 1106
You focus your thoughts while chanting the mystical phrase for Bone Shatter...
Your spell is ready.
You channel at a scarred krolvin brigand.
You concentrate intently on a scarred krolvin brigand, and a pulse of pearlescent energy ripples toward him!
CS: +457 - TD: +309 + CvA: +8 + d100: +23 == +179
Warding failed!
The krolvin brigand shudders with sporadic convulsions as pearlescent ripples envelop his body.
The krolvin brigand is crushed for 50 points of damage!
... 35 points of damage!
Massive blow to right hand crushing it to pulp!
The brigand's vultite short sword falls to the ground.
... 25 points of damage!
Strong blow to left hand!
Cast Roundtime 3 Seconds.
Roundtime: 3 sec.
A scarred krolvin brigand swings a sharp dark blue talon sword at you!
AS: +467 vs DS: +457 with AvD: +34 + d100 roll: +42 = +86
A clean miss.
> loot
Could not find a valid target to loot.
> incant 1106
You focus your thoughts while chanting the mystical phrase for Bone Shatter...
Your spell is ready.
You channel at a scarred krolvin brigand.
You concentrate intently on a scarred krolvin brigand, and a pulse of pearlescent energy ripples toward him!
CS: +457 - TD: +309 + CvA: +8 + d100: +51 == +207
Warding failed!
The internal skeletal structure of a scarred krolvin brigand implodes inward upon itself, leaving behind no support for his body or life. The krolvin brigand falls to the ground in a lifeless mass of flesh and fractured bones.
Cast Roundtime 3 Seconds.
Roundtime: 3 sec.<<
Stinking blue skinned beggers!
Ahem; ok one of my gals is a half-krol, but she still doesn't like the invaders.
The bells of Hell
go ting-a-ling-a-ling
for you but not for me
SAXMAN
Re: Update and check
07/05/2012 07:05 PM CDT
Ok, lots of good information in the thread. I do love Icemule and I wish I could spend some points on survival to help with the cold attacks, but I haven't quite found them yet.
I think I'll stop training trading at either 30 or 40 ranks due to diminishing returns as well as the inconsistencies between it's value in the shops.
Spiritual mana control, at this time, may be on the chopping block. I could use the points I'd get back from it and it just seems like it requires a ton of TPs for fairly minimal effects. I am still going to be training mental mana control once per level, so will I only be able to share mana with people who also train mental mana control? Or does any mana control contribute to your ability to share mana?
I'll work on adding in a few earlier trainings of survival and climbing.
How important is it to be trained in the 8 ranks of armor use? I finally got some armor and put it on and to my amazement, I can't tell why I actually need any armor training at all. I made sure that I am actually wearing double leather and I am as far as I can tell it says it's soft leather that covers the torso, arms, legs, neck, and head.
Thanks for all your help everyone!
I think I'll stop training trading at either 30 or 40 ranks due to diminishing returns as well as the inconsistencies between it's value in the shops.
Spiritual mana control, at this time, may be on the chopping block. I could use the points I'd get back from it and it just seems like it requires a ton of TPs for fairly minimal effects. I am still going to be training mental mana control once per level, so will I only be able to share mana with people who also train mental mana control? Or does any mana control contribute to your ability to share mana?
I'll work on adding in a few earlier trainings of survival and climbing.
How important is it to be trained in the 8 ranks of armor use? I finally got some armor and put it on and to my amazement, I can't tell why I actually need any armor training at all. I made sure that I am actually wearing double leather and I am as far as I can tell it says it's soft leather that covers the torso, arms, legs, neck, and head.
Thanks for all your help everyone!
GS4-AULIS
Re: Update and check
07/05/2012 07:37 PM CDT
Double leather is soft leather armor that covers from head to toe (torso, arms, legs, neck, and head). This link can be helpful in explaining a fair amount and the differences they have: http://www.play.net/gs4/info/armory/armor.asp
~Aulis
Forums Manager
QC'er
~Aulis
Forums Manager
QC'er
ETANNIDOMHNAILL
Re: Update and check
07/05/2012 08:17 PM CDT
<<Spiritual mana control, at this time, may be on the chopping block. I could use the points I'd get back from it and it just seems like it requires a ton of TPs for fairly minimal effects. I am still going to be training mental mana control once per level, so will I only be able to share mana with people who also train mental mana control? Or does any mana control contribute to your ability to share mana?>>
If you're trained only in one type of mana control, you can only share with people with the same type. Mental to mental, spiritual to spiritual, elemental to elemental. If you're trained in mental and the other person has spiritual or elemental, no mana would transfer.
<<How important is it to be trained in the 8 ranks of armor use? I finally got some armor and put it on and to my amazement, I can't tell why I actually need any armor training at all. I made sure that I am actually wearing double leather and I am as far as I can tell it says it's soft leather that covers the torso, arms, legs, neck, and head.>>
You're wearing double leathers, yes. Double leather will have no spell hindrance when casting your spells, but it does have what's termed an action penalty. The 8 armor ranks will remove that penalty. The armor page lists this information about the action penalty:
>The action penalty is a percentile subtracted from your chance to perform a maneuver roll.
>A maneuver may include anything from dodging elemental wave (often referred to as ewave) and boil earth attacks, to something as mundane as standing up.
Gretchen
Meeting Nilandia: http://www.gsguide.net/index.php?title=Nilandia
Nilandia's GS4 Info Repository: http://www.nilandia.com
AIM: Lady Nilandia
If you're trained only in one type of mana control, you can only share with people with the same type. Mental to mental, spiritual to spiritual, elemental to elemental. If you're trained in mental and the other person has spiritual or elemental, no mana would transfer.
<<How important is it to be trained in the 8 ranks of armor use? I finally got some armor and put it on and to my amazement, I can't tell why I actually need any armor training at all. I made sure that I am actually wearing double leather and I am as far as I can tell it says it's soft leather that covers the torso, arms, legs, neck, and head.>>
You're wearing double leathers, yes. Double leather will have no spell hindrance when casting your spells, but it does have what's termed an action penalty. The 8 armor ranks will remove that penalty. The armor page lists this information about the action penalty:
>The action penalty is a percentile subtracted from your chance to perform a maneuver roll.
>A maneuver may include anything from dodging elemental wave (often referred to as ewave) and boil earth attacks, to something as mundane as standing up.
Gretchen
Meeting Nilandia: http://www.gsguide.net/index.php?title=Nilandia
Nilandia's GS4 Info Repository: http://www.nilandia.com
AIM: Lady Nilandia
SPYRIDONM1
Re: Update and check
07/05/2012 09:48 PM CDT
| You're wearing double leathers, yes. Double leather will have no spell hindrance when casting your spells, but it does have what's termed an action penalty. The 8 armor ranks will remove that penalty. The armor page lists this information about the action penalty: |
| >The action penalty is a percentile subtracted from your chance to perform a maneuver roll. |
| >A maneuver may include anything from dodging elemental wave (often referred to as ewave) and boil earth attacks, to something as mundane as standing up. |
| Gretchen |
Each armor sub-group above AsG 6 (full leather) has a minimum action penalty that cannot be trained away. Armor Use skill can only reduce it to its minimum.
You only need 6 ranks of training, while wearing double leather, to remove the penalty for virtually all game mechanics that have an armor undertraining penalty. The formula for removing the penalty is (RT Adder * 20) - 10 = Skill. Double leather has an RT Adder of 2, so, the skill requirement is (2 * 20) - 10 = 30 or 6 ranks. It is believed, by many players, that there may be some legitimate reason to train the additional two ranks but no one, AFAIK, has been able to show with empirical data the need for those additional ranks.
As an example, if you are undertrained for your armor and attempt to stand from a sitting or prone position (most evident in stance DEF) you will fail or have increased roundtime more often than if you have trained off the RT adder penalty. This action uses the standard maneuver roll. There is no measureable difference when performing this action in double leather with 6 or 8 ranks. I've personally tested this wearing several different AsGs with a minimum of 600 to 1000 attempts for each sub-group. I rolled a character specifically for this testing so that I could control the effect that stats (notably DEX and AGI bonuses) may have had on the results.
Other examples include actions such as magic item and scroll activation, enchant potion pouring, spell hindrance, weapon RT etc.; all of these game systems only require 6 ranks to be fully trained.
Mark
RATHBONER
Re: Update and check
07/06/2012 12:55 PM CDT
>Umm, where did you get that info? As far as I know FA and survival are equal as far as skinning results.
Tracking skin quality.
Skill in both counts equally, but you get more skill for the early ranks than the later ranks.
10 ranks FA + 50 ranks survival is the same as 10 ranks survival +50 ranks FA. Both give 200 skill. However 60 ranks survival or 60 ranks FA only give 160 skill.
THROGG
Re: Update and check
07/06/2012 01:18 PM CDT
Ah, I get the point; early ranks of a skill get you more return. Still, 10 ranks of FA will net you the same skinning results as 10 ranks survival and costs fewer TPs. But I do see where you are coming from advising 10 ranks of survival later on. An interesting concept. Does it actually increase skin values? With 210 ranks of FA I can skin critters with a runestaff, but that's not great for skin value.
The bells of Hell
go ting-a-ling-a-ling
for you but not for me
The bells of Hell
go ting-a-ling-a-ling
for you but not for me
RATHBONER
Re: Update and check
07/06/2012 10:27 PM CDT
There's a limit beyond which you can't improve. If your skill is such that you get magnificent quality on anything but a fumble, additional skill doesn't help.
Appraise a few of your bundles and see what the quality is. If you are seeing 9 or 10 out of 10 magnificent quality then extra skill won't help. If you aren't, it will.
Appraise a few of your bundles and see what the quality is. If you are seeing 9 or 10 out of 10 magnificent quality then extra skill won't help. If you aren't, it will.
