The Dark Eye Return to Realms of Arkania

[Desiderius]

Is there a trick to using Dance skill? Not showing up in Acrobat/Instrument menu.

 

[V_K]

Might simply not be implemented in BoD. The manual doesn't mention it among Tavern options either. Would be weird, but there are other weird things in the first game.

 

[Dick]

Would like some advice on how people figure out what’s magical without blowing all your AP. My default in Blade is just assuming pretty much everything isn’t.

Of course if we neglect the option to look up a walktrogh (which I would not recommend anyway since it destroys much of the fun), there isn´t really much to tell, other than maybe to look for "suspicious" weapons around, but that is very vague :D. Other than that, you can have your favorite weapon blessed at the Rondra/Ingerimm temples, for a price, which makes them basically magical.

 

[Desiderius]

cRPG Addict’s playthrough of this is painful. Constantly blaming the game for his failure to read the manual/cover his skills. Didn’t even use ranged combat(!)

He may actually be worse than BING. As a general principle if you're missing a lot, you're almost certainly missing a lot, and the figuring things out is the fun, so if you don't have time for that maybe another hobby is for you.

Explains a lot re: his politics. Both cases.

 

[Desiderius]

Would like some advice on how people figure out what’s magical without blowing all your AP. My default in Blade is just assuming pretty much everything isn’t.

Of course if we neglect the option to look up a walktrogh (which I would not recommend anyway since it destroys much of the fun), there isn´t really much to tell, other than maybe to look for "suspicious" weapons around, but that is very vague :D. Other than that, you can have your favorite weapon blessed at the Rondra/Ingerimm temples, for a price, which makes them basically magical.

How much donation are we talking here? I do remember wearing out a mouse button on those way back when before you could “look up” a walkthrough.

So what’s the procedure for casting the Detect Magic/Identify/Evaluate skill? Do you cast it when you open a chest? Does the Skill improve the Eye button?

Does every character need their own rope or is the Mage Wand enough? Climbing skill? I thought I brought enough to repair a bridge but it told me I didn’t have the tools.

 

[Dick]

There isn´t really an exact number, only the chances of the specific wonder happening which rises up as you spend money. Really don´t know, never looked that deep into it, but something like 100 golds should be enough at first. You get more than enough money during your quest. And a magical weapon isn´t that urgent during the early parts of the game anyway (if I remember correctly, not too sure about this).

 

[Desiderius]

Dropped 100D with Phex and my Phex Druid praying and got +1 Thieving Skills, temporary DEX boost, and +1 Merchant Skills all in about 15 clicks.

Noice.

 

[Desiderius]

Found an expensive Mengilbar for sale in Upper Orcam with a blue star. Does that mean magical? Tables say it’s -2 -3 so would have to be pretty magical to overcome that.

Odem says not magical. Any idea on blue star?

 

[Wulfric Pinewood]

Anyone has remake of Startrail Steam? How it is? I have original 3 games and remake of part 1 , after many patches it is good game i wonder what about remake of Startrail?

 

[DaveO]

I bought the Steam remake. I was planning on playing eventually, but I could be convinced by other means...
Now onto the weapons list for Desiderius.

Thrown weapons
Cutting tooth Dam 5-10 Attack 0 Parry 0 Wt 50
Francesca Dam 4-9 Attack -1 Parry -3 Wt 120
Throwing axe Dam 4-9 Attack -1 Parry -4 Wt 120
Throwing stac(sp?) Dam 2-7 Attack 0 Parry 0 Wt 15
Throwing knife Dam 1-6 Attack -3 Parry -4 Wt 10
Sling Dam 1-6(?) Attack 0 Parry 0 Wt 10


Pointed, cutting, and my more weapons list are the biggest sections so I'll save them for a bit later.

 

[Desiderius]

Looking like I’m giving it a go after finishing this if for no other reason than to compare the two, but also hopefully they got to the unfinished stuff too.

Witch’s Spit, despite what’s advertised, is implemented as just another Balm rather than curing Disease. Treat Disease doesn’t help with Treat Wound fumbles because that puts you in the Skill cool down period. Was hoping to use the spell to get around that but doesn’t look like it was implemented.

We’ll find out if it made it in for Star Trail.

 

[Fenris 2.0]

Found an expensive Mengilbar for sale in Upper Orcam with a blue star. Does that mean magical? Tables say it’s -2 -3 so would have to be pretty magical to overcome that.

Odem says not magical. Any idea on blue star?

A Mengbillar is not a magic Weapon, it is a hollow Dagger wich can be filled with Poison. I guess the Star is a Vial. I have no Idea how the Weapon works in the Videogames, since it is easy to poison normal Weapons.

Edit: After a Google Search I found a Threat about that in the HD-Edition Forums. There is claimed that if you poison a normal Weapon the Poison works for 3 Hits, if you use a Mengbillar it works for 10 Hits; unfortunatly a Parry counts as Hit.

 

[Desiderius]

That’s why you poison a stack of Throwing Stars instead. Been getting 3-5 hits, but they’re doing the bulk of my damage.

Helps to have 14 AT with Elf chipping in with Accuracy buff as well. No way to get close to that on melee.

Jester OP

 

[Desiderius]

Any idea on the mechanics that make some spells auto fail but others with same or lower rank succeed? Any idea what blindness does? Does Encumbrance give your AT/Casting a malus?

 

[moleman]

Any idea on the mechanics that make some spells auto fail but others with same or lower rank succeed? Any idea what blindness does? Does Encumbrance give your AT/Casting a malus?

Some spells are just not implemented in the game and will do nothing.

For example: Conjure Spirits under Demonology

Edit:

Here is a list of spells in Blade of Destiny that will not work. Source crystals-dsa-foren.de.
It's in German but maybe it helps. And no guarantee of correctness or completeness.

Spoiler

Antimagie (1/5)

Destructibo

Beherrschung (3/12)

Grosse Gier
Magischer Raub
Respondami

Dämonologie (4/6)

Furor Blut
Geister Bannen
Geister Rufen
Heptagon

Elemente (3/3)

Elementare
Nihilatio
Solidirid

Bewegung (3/6)

Motoricus
Spurlos
Über Eis

Hellsicht (1/7)

Sensibar

Illusion (1/4)

Harmlos

Verständigung (2/2)

Hexenblick
Nekrophatia

Veränderung (3/16)

Adler Wolf und Hammerhai
Mutabili
See und Fluss

Veränderung (6/10)

Abvenenum
Aeolitus
Claudibus
Erstarre
Schmelze
Sturmgebrüll

 

[Parsimonious cook]

I love how the devs simply ported the PnP rule set into the game without any regard to what will be relevant in the adventures they created. The player can easily waste XP and money on stuff that doesn’t work or simply doesn’t come into play because having it in game makes sense from the lore standpoint. Shadows over Riva takes it the furthest I guess, since you can spend tons of money to buy warm clothing and all the camping supplies and tools at the market for your party, even though there is no map travel/camping. Of course it makes sense that a market at a major city would sell all this stuff, but...

 

[Desiderius]

There are other spells like Visibili where the manual says it gets rid of wandering monsters for a long time when the in game implementation is Invis for one character for a few rounds.

I’m talking more about spells that do work but one spell with 2 ranks seems to work way more often than another with 6.

 

[V_K]

I’m talking more about spells that do work but one spell with 2 ranks seems to work way more often than another with 6.

It's because of the way skillchecks work in TDE. Each spell has 3 associated attributes (different from spell to spell) that you have to roll against individually, and then can spend skill points to improve failed rolls (or, if the skill level is negative, you have to adjust successful rolls). Which means that as soon as your skill rank is over 0, having high associated attributes becomes way more important for success than skill ranks. So, for example, if you have good Wisdom and Intuition, but shit Courage and Charisma, then spells that rely on the former two will succeed more often even with lower spell ranks than those that rely on the latter two.

 

[Desiderius]

Yes, it’s my fascination with discovering those mechanics that has spurred this playthrough. Unfortunately there looks to be something else at work since I specifically built these characters to have 13s (or more with Transformation buffs) on those stats and I’m still getting constant Spell Failed! while buffs and Lightning usually succeed. Also blinded has no discernible effect yet.

My guess would be some malus on Domination.

 

[CryptRat]

while buffs and Lightning usually succeed.

I remember reading here that there's some saving throw for some spells but not for lightning, or something like that, which is why this spell always works while most other spells always fail. Take this with a grain of salt though'.

 

[V_K]

I’m still getting constant Spell Failed! while buffs and Lightning usually succeed. Also blinded has no discernible effect yet.

My guess would be some malus on Domination.

I'm not sure about Lightning, but the obvious difference between buffs and Domination spells is that the latter are affected by target's magic resistance while the former are not. IIRC magic resistance is subtracted from your spell rank, and if that brings you into negatives, you're fucked because at least in modern editions, negative ranks are applied to every roll.
Besides, 13 isn't very high considering you need to roll under it on a d20 three times. Having all relevant attributes at 13, spell rank at 0 and no magic resistance on target, means your chance of success is a meager 65%^3 = 28%.

 

[Desiderius]

These spells have ranks from 4 to 6 so far. I’d have to think about that math but my guess is that resists are coming into play with higher mind resist than element, so lightning works better.

Stat buffs gave good duration so will need to try those.

 

[V_K]

There are no elemental resistances, at least in this edition of TDE, only overall magic resistance. Besides, the way rules describe it, it's not a real lightning but a hallucination. It might be that Lightning in BoD just ignores MR because it's not terribly effective at lower ranks (lowers AT+PA pool by spell's rank or something like that), so it's not a save or die kind of situation like with Dance.

 

[Desiderius]

So we hit level three after some relatively fruitless random exploring of the S and SE. Tried to take the pass over the Northern Mountains after following up the Felitsyn lead but turned back with full bags.

Really need EXP right now more than cash since my only meaningful threat is the Jester’s Poison Stars. Eventually get there with Elf xbow and Druid bow but takes literally forever.

So headed to Temple of the Nameless and ate a bunch of xbow traps (anyone know the secret to avoiding those? Not smashing statues?) Finally hit level three and looking forward to landing some spells.

Also considering restart now that I have a better idea of what I want to accomplish.

Do other casters need DEX and Arcane Lore or is that only Magicians?

Does everyone need Tactics? Physical Control? Would like to hear from some PnP pros.

 

[DaveO]

Here is the remaining portion of my weapons list:

Cutting
Goupillon Dam 6-21 Attack -3 Parry -4 Wt 240 This is the highest damage weapon on my whole list but also the heaviest
Bec De Corbin Dam 5-10 Attack -1 Parry -3 Wt 90
Warhammer Dam 5-15 Attack -2 Parry -4 Wt 150
Brabak Billy Dam 6-11 Attack -1 Parry -2 Wt 120
Kunchomer Dam 5-10 Attack 0 Parry -1 Wt 70
Sabre Dam 4-9 Attack 0 Parry 0 Wt 60
Morning star Dam 6-11 Attack -1 Parry -3 Wt 120
Mace Dam 5-10 Attack 0 Parry -2 Wt 110
Cutlass Dam 4-9 Attack 0 Parry -1 Wt 70
Scythe Dam 4-9 Attack -3 Parry -4 Wt 100
Whip Dam 1-6 Attack 0 Parry -6 Wt 60 This is the worst parry penalty weapon
Sickle Dam 3-8 Attack -3 Parry -4 Wt 30
Grain flail Dam 3-8 Attack -2 Parry -3 Wt 100
Cudgel Dam 2-7 Attack -1 Parry -3 Wt 60
Skraja Dam 4-9 Attack 0 Parry -2 Wt 90

Pointed
Catchogre Dam 3-8 Attack -2 Parry -3 Wt 30
Rapier Dam 4-9 Attack 0 Parry -1 Wt 35
Epee Same as above
Pike Dam 4-9 Attack -1 Parry -4 Wt 150
Foil Dam 4-9 Attack -0 Parry -1 Wt 30
Trident Dam 4-9 Attack 0 Parry -3 Wt 90
Heavy dagger Dam 3-8 Attack -1 Parry -2 Wt 30
B. Tongue Dam 2-7 Attack -2 Parry -3 Wt 25
Dagger Dam 2-7 Attack -2 Parry -3 Wt 20
Knife Dam 1-6 Attack -3 Parry -4 Wt 10
O. Dagger Dam 1-6 Attack -2 Parry -3 Wt 30

More weapons
Double Fleurs(cut) Dam 4-9 Attack -1 Parry -1 Wt 80
Mengbilar (pointed) Dam 2-7 Attack -3 Parry -3 Wt 20
Tuzukian (2 handed sword) Dam 7-12 Attack -2 Parry -2 Wt 135
Double Kunchomer (Cut) Dam 7-12 Attack -1 Parry -3 Wt 120
Seal slayer (Cut) Dam 4-9 Attack 0 Parry 0 Wt 60
Wolf knife (pointed) Dam 4-9 Attack 0 Parry -1 Wt 50
Kukris Mengbilar (Pointed) Dam 2-7 Attack -3 Parry -4 Wt 50
Spear2 (Polearm) Dam 4-9 Attack +1 Parry +1 Wt 80
Sword2 Dam 5-10 Attack +2 Parry 0 Wt 80
2 hand sword2 Dam 6-16 Attack -3 Parry -4 Wt 160
Short sword2 Dam 3-8 Attack +2 Parry -1 Wt 40
Grimring (Sword) Dam 5-10 Attack +2 Parry +2 Wt 80
Silver mace Dam 5-10 Attack 0 Parry -2 Wt 110
Sabre2 Dam 4-9 Attack 0 Parry 0 Wt 110
Bastard sword2 Dam 6-11 Attack -2 Parry -3 Wt 50
Kukris dagger Dam 2-7 Attack -2 Parry -3 Wt 20


As you can see from my list there are very few weapons without penalties and even fewer that provide bonuses. Whether some weapons are worth the penalties is entirely up to you.