Build me an Arcanum character because I'm a filthy casual and too stupid to do it myself.

[Verylittlefishes]

Laying low and giving Arcanum another go, huh Chris?

 

[Lilura]

Like in Planescape Torment you'd roll a high int/cha character to access the most content.

Arcanum isn't shallow like PS:T.

 

[thesheeep]

I have had a lot of fun playing Arcanum as an idiot who insults anyone who is mean to him, and will do anything suggested to him regardless of how heinous the act might be.

Arcanum does a good job of not locking you out of content because you're stupid, it's much better than FO1 or FO2 in that regard where you pretty much need mentats of foreknowledge to finish the game as a simpleton.

Probably not appropriate for a first playthrough but I still recommend it.

Yeah, the stupid playthrough is an absolute must, and no game ever got close to that (not sure if any game other than F1/2 even tried).
But don't do it for your first run - it's much funnier if you have some more knowledge about the story already.

 

[NJClaw]

The best build to experience the game is the one that allows you to go through combat encounters as fast as possible, otherwise you might get bored and drop it forever.

Start as a charlatan's protege and invest everything in Charisma, Intelligence and Willpower. Put your first points into Persuasion and unlock Harm. Done.

 

[Lilura]

Codex overrates Harm so much lol

 

[Incendax]

Take Int and Cha.
Recruit Sogg and Chukka.
Have them beat the crap out of everyone for you.
Take the Heal spell if you are feeling cheeky.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Roll a barbarian

 

[Luckmann]

For a game that's supposed to offer a high variety of builds, it's a disappointment that everyone goes with the same necromancy blast spell build.

It does offer a high variety of builds, but unpolished and flawed as it is despite it's many merits, it is simple to answer what the most powerful build is. I don't think most veterans would actually recommend the necromancy blast build for a fun playthrough. It's actually quite boring.

 

[Verylittlefishes]

For a game that's supposed to offer a high variety of builds, it's a disappointment that everyone goes with the same necromancy blast spell build.

It does offer a high variety of builds, but unpolished and flawed as it is despite it's many merits, it is simple to answer what the most powerful build is. I don't think most veterans would actually recommend the necromancy blast build for a fun playthrough. It's actually quite boring.

But the OP asked exactly about "build for a fun playthtough" aka "The best character to experience the most content, quests, dialog, etc."

 

[Shadenuat]

was searching for some reference/inspiration and found arcanum architecture sprites all in one neat place

https://www.spriters-resource.com/pc_computer/arcanum/sheet/63420/

and then some retard shipped gamein 640 480

 

[Shadenuat]

(dies from kawai)

 

[Luckmann]

For a game that's supposed to offer a high variety of builds, it's a disappointment that everyone goes with the same necromancy blast spell build.

It does offer a high variety of builds, but unpolished and flawed as it is despite it's many merits, it is simple to answer what the most powerful build is. I don't think most veterans would actually recommend the necromancy blast build for a fun playthrough. It's actually quite boring.

But the OP asked exactly about "build for a fun playthtough" aka "The best character to experience the most content, quests, dialog, etc."

Yes, which is a high-int/high-cha character, like I said. The rest doesn't really matter nearly as much.

 

[Fedora Master]

Harm is great for getting through the first parts of the game. The early game simply sucks.

 

[Erebus]

Codex overrates Harm so much lol

The fact that it never misses is pretty nice.

But my favorite combat spell is Summon Ogre. The ogres it summons are killing machines that will carve through anything during the first half of the game and remain extremely powerful in the second half.

 

[Phinx]

Roll an evil character, go tech (engineering), save as much money as you can till late game when you have the schematics for Automatons. Amass an army of automatons (can build as many as you want as long as you have the gold for it but game will lag at around 10-13), join Kerghan. Then unleash your army of Automatons on the world.

This is the game that made me roll an evil character in every game that allowed it since, and none came close to the experience I got from start to finish in Arcanum

 

[Bester]

What's the benefits of evil character? Some dialogue options?

 

[Phinx]

What's the benefits of evil character? Some dialogue options?

One of your party members will show his true colors with a complete 180 in personality, as well as change his accent.

Spoiler

Vergil is really evil but is trying to change his ways, Joachim will act tough and try to stop both of you's and you get to put him in his place. Heaps of events like this makes it a unique experience.

Different quests, and a really cool branching end questline with a unique ending. It's been a very long time since I played, but I remember feeling that they put a ton of consideration for players that went evil, and really made you feel like you were a monster with the way people treated you.

Spoiler

You can join the last boss Kerghan to wipe out cities, the whole world, then he tries to back stab you, you kill him and the ending shows you on top of a hill as the last survivor on the planet.

The pinnacle of technology!

 

[Cryomancer]

An elf with harm...

 

[Zerth]

Any build that doesn't go the dedicated techie artisan path, in order to craft your own spiders,automatons etc.

I can't tell how many times I've reloaded my save for those damn steam engines.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

An elf with harm...

Dies just as quick, I've found.

 

[Cryomancer]

An elf with harm...

Dies just as quick, I've found.

Why this hate towards mages? Did an mage casted reverse gravity and now your barbarian tribe is a bunch of corpses in the space? Did Thoth-Amon enslaved all woman of your barbarian tribe?

 

[FriendlyMerchant]

I like miracle operation. So here's a build I like. There are some metagaming tricks you can do to get the best weapon for this character, but I won't talk about this here. I'll just talk about the start

Do Female Half-Elf: Miracle Operation.
2 into Firearms
1 into Pe
2 into DX

Not too worried about starting equipment. I think you get a pistol anyways. Either get more ammo or keep the gold.
First thing you do after starting the game. Go find virgil. He should be east (down i think from the crash). Next you want to clear the starting area. Do not go to the part south of the stone. Not for your character yet. Just the part around the blimp and in the nearby cave. There's a quest you can pick up. Do what you want with that. After getting all the loot you and virgil can carry. You might level once or twice. You should put points into

2 Strength
3 Strength
4 Firearms
5 DX and Firearms

Every fifth level you get an extra skill point. After killing everything (except wolves; go back later for more experience), go to the town Virgil points out. In the tavern/inn talk to the big half-troll or whatever he was. Recruit him into your party. Take good care of him. One of the best companions in the game. You need STR to get it to wield some pistols. In particular, a nice pistol you get as quest reward from helping the doctor. It's been a long time, but I think what I put above should let you wield it. This will be a hard start, but you should have fun with it.

Your goal here is to be the fastest gun in the west. Your most important stats are going to be Perception, Intelligence, Gunsmithing, Throwing, Firearms, Dexterity, and the stat that lets you make grenades (forgot which one). You should put about two points into Electrical to get the charged rings (best rings you could get, makes it so you don't need to put too much into dx). You also should put some points into STR as you find you'll need more STR to meet the requirements to wield certain firearms. However, you certainly don't need to use an elephant gun. Probably not a machine gun either. I'd just stick to pistols like the hand cannon and specific gun that you find later in the story (or you get the recipe for really early if you know where to look). You can also put a little bit of points into cha for more companions as well and perhaps some points into persuasion. What matters first is that as fast as possible, you want to get a hand cannon, two charged rings, and to push your Dx up to 16 (+4 from charge rings is 20), Pe up to 20, and Firearms up to 5.

 

[jungl]

Why this hate towards mages? Did an mage casted reverse gravity and now your barbarian tribe is a bunch of corpses in the space? Did Thoth-Amon enslaved all woman of your barbarian tribe?

Its cause mages are based especially Stygian demon worshiping mages. It was LOL funny in age of conan to turn into demon and breath fire on another player and trigger the burning fatality. Nothing more satisfying in mmorpy history then a strong barbarian babe bitch screaming on fire and doing a little dance for you before collapsing.

 

[NJClaw]

Codex overrates Harm so much lol

It lets you click on enemies to skip a good chunk of combat encounters, so I don't think it's possible to overrate it.

 

[jackofshadows]

Don't listen to harm-cultists, the spell is next to useless outside of a proper magic build. So either go full magic: harm>fireball>desintegration>teleportation>whatever (you need 100 magic aptitude) and add to this persuation/simply pump some more mana/personal preference. Or forget about magic all together and go full firearms + technology but in order to embrace more content you'll have to max persuasion as well so start with charlatan protege and raise skills gradually.