Planescape: Torment - unused proficiency slots

[Elwro]

Thanks to Rosh and his simple yet effective advice I got rid of the scrolling bug. But:
-I'm now standing at the entrance to the Lower District of Sigil
-I've just trained myself to be a Warrior again by talking to Korur, the guy who stands there
-I've been a Mage until that time; as a Mage I have trained myself to be proficient with Axes (one '+')
-I have 2 unused proficiency slots
-I'm wielding an enchanted axe
-when I look at my character sheet, it says "Thac0 16" "To hit bonus: +3" "Damage bonus: +1"
BUT
-when I train 2 times and have '+++' proficiences with Axes, I look at my character sheet and all of the abovementioned characteristics stay the same! It also happens when I train only once.
What's more, the "to hit bonus" comes from one tattoo, weapon enchantment and strength. The damage bonus comes from strength.

So it appears my training didn't raise my skill in any way. That's odd; I played BG and I'm pretty sure I could see the difference right after buying a proficiency.

The manual is a very small booklet and does not cover proficiences in detail. The BG manual says that I should get +3 to hit and +3 to damage from the +++ proficiency. I should also have 3/2 attacks per round, and I have only one.

So am I missing something here, or are weapon proficiences useless in this game?
(I'm playing the latest, patched version).

 

[Rosh]

The tattoos I think help to a point, but don't stack all the time.

 

[Elwro]

My problem is that I don't see ANY impact of proficiences on my combat characteristics - no matter how proficient with Axes I am, I still have "+3 to hit, +1 to damage" bonus with my axe. Imo that's weird.

 

[Spazmo]

I never noticed anything like this because I never paid attention to my statistics. Melee combat isn't very important in PS:T. Just make sure your mages have enough powerful spells to blow things up and you'll be alright.

 

[Elwro]

I decided to switch from Mage to Warrior when they took Morte from me... I was (and am) not sure if Dak'kon and Anna could handle melee fights themselves. Now (I played a few hours more) I think I liked playing as a dark Mage better. Now I think it's really probable I'll have Ignus in my party. That's one thing I detest - when the game gives me an undesired spoiler. After I went to some inn, "Ignus" appeared on the PC list in the journal. So if he joins me later, it won't be a surprise. I even have the idea how to make it happen.

I finally discovered the solution to my problem - I had to drop the axe, save the game, load the game and wield the axe again. Then I could see my new stats. Pretty weird and buggy-like imo. I of course tried dropping and wielding again first.
Anyway, thanks for your help. I'd also like to ask the following:

Is giving all Anna's thieving skill points to pick-pocket worth the effort? I mean, will she have a reasonable chance of stealing the more expensive magical items from the shops without being noticed?

 

[Walks with the Snails]

Ignus pretty much sucks IMO. If you want heavy magic, you're going to want to stay a mage, as Dak'kon and Ignus are the only mages, and there's only one priest NPC you can pick up. All the others are single-classed fighters other than Annah. I've never had a problem with a fighter Nameless One, though, other than his crappy AC from not being able to wear armor. You might be interested to know, you can only get 4 and 5 stars in weapons if you stick with Fighter for the class stat bonus levels (I think 7th and 13th), too. I think the game is easier as a mage, though, since mental stats are important for dialogue, and it's hard to focus on them as well as the physical ones.

 

[Spazmo]

It's best to have the Nameless One as a mage, since it's then very easy to boost your intelligence, wisdom, and charisma and still be useful. Plus, mages are simply more powerful than fighters.

 

[Elwro]

I think the game is easier as a mage, though, since mental stats are important for dialogue, and it's hard to focus on them as well as the physical ones.

Well, I started the game with Str, Dex and Int at 16. As far as I can see, my Int score gave me some very interesting dialogue options.

I boosted those 3 stats once and now I intend to give the points I gain in the future to Wisdom. If I was to begin the game again (which I will surely do someday) I would exchange Strength for Wisdom. It seems that Wisdom somehow determines if I can recollect some of my memories, right? But sometimes, when trying to recollect, I pass serious trials of the mind (at least they sound serious), so it must be because of my Intelligence. Or the game is made that way that even a complete dumbass could do that and it only says that it's difficult.

So: are both of the mental stats important for dialogue? E.g., are there options you would get only if you had 16 wisdom, regardless of your INT? Or should I just develop one attribute and forget about the other? (well, I'm sure I won't do that, but I'm just asking).

 

[Spazmo]

Wisdom is VERY important in PS:T. It's definitely something you'll want to get fairly high.

 

[Walks with the Snails]

Wisdom is the most important stat IMO. I start at 18 and then shoot straight for 20. Not only does it help with lost memories and dialogue options, it gives you an experience bonus. You can talk with O to boost it a point when you're still in the Hive. Don't raise it past 21, though, because you get several chances to raise it permanently later in the game, and tattoos work fine up until then. I think you can't complete the game without at least a 20 wisdom, though I've never tried.

Charisma is also good to raise to about 13, though again you get plenty of chances to raise it permanently so don't go overboard. I think with 20 or so you get the best prices in stores, but friends works fine for that. Intelligence I like to cap out at 19 or so, haven't noticed much difference past that, though it does give you plenty of dialogue options up until then.

Edit: Yeah, it was talking to O, just remembered.

 

[Spazmo]

In the Burning Corpse bar, you meet O, who raises your wisdom by one.

 

[Jarinor]

I also only got this once, but a female Godsman in the Great Forge can also raise it by one...she was too pissed off with me about pointing the finger at her brother though.

I personally play through the game as a mage, with a high edged weapons proficiency, as mages can really only use daggers, and the Godsmen have a nice one up for grabs. I also like a high Int and Wisdom, because it's really, really good to have high stats in those.

 

[Elwro]

In the Burning Corpse bar, you meet O, who raises your wisdom by one.

Yup, I did that already, thx. Now I just performed a quest for Sebastion who raised my Charisma by 2 points. So I won't perhaps use my character points for it. But it's very interesting what you say about the experience bonus; I have some vague PnP memories that it depends on the most important stat for a given class: e.g. Dex for Thieves, Int for Mages. But you say that it's Wis for all - interesting. The game manual says nothing about that, it just covers the spells per level / knowledge bonus. So thanks for the info.

Anyway, please don't tell me any thing about the locations in which I can permanently raise my stats. I want to find them all myself

 

[Spazmo]

It's in PS:T that they add an XP bonus for wisdom. In the PnP game, if you have more than sixteen in one of your prime requisites (strength for fighter, dexterity for thieves, intelligence for wizards, etc.), you get a 10% XP bonus. If you have multiple prime requisites, you divide the 10% between the requisites, and if you ahve one of two, you get 5%, if you have one of three, 3%, etc.