Grimoire gameplay and hints thread

[Lady_Error]

Same with feyfolk wizard and blinding flash, which is almost always resisted even by the lowest brigands.

The brigands are actually kind of a higher-end challenge for a beginner low level party. You also need to figure out which spells or instruments what monsters are susceptible to. They have different resistances.

 

[Ludwig von Eisenthal]

Same with feyfolk wizard and blinding flash, which is almost always resisted even by the lowest brigands.

The brigands are actually kind of a higher-end challenge for a beginner low level party. You also need to figure out which spells or instruments what monsters are susceptible to. They have different resistances.

Yeah, these Green Hand fuckers handed my ass over to me again and again at the beginning. Until I tried something different, sent them to sleep and poisoned them to death. It's a game that encourages experimentation, that's another thing I love about it.

 

[Piotrovitz]

Are lockpicking and inspection linked to each other and should be raised by the same char?

If so then I fucked this up a bit.

 

[Lady_Error]

Yeah, you need both. Or you can just run into a door twice and if you have two strong characters break it open. Or you have the Knock Knock spell.

 

[Piotrovitz]

Goddamn.

Does knock knock takes care of trapped chests as well?

Party is still at lvls 3-4, so I can just suck it up and start raising inspection on my lockpicker.

 

[Piotrovitz]

Ok, I think I got the gist of the basics and already cleared couple of areas/dungeons without any problems.
Game seems to get easier once you leave Crowl and get couple of CC/AoE DD spells.

My chronic restart OCD is kicking in and I'm rerolling the party again. I need you friendly people to give me some advise on multiclassing:

1. Which lvl is ok for first class changes? I understand that for melees it can be done on 4th-5th, and for casters a bit later, once they get some higher tier spells?
2. For melees I assume the best route is to cycle through warrior/berserker/ranger and then to finally settle on pirate/assassin? How many lvls should I stay on each class while doing such cycling?
Fighting skills go up pretty fast, so the main benefit is not skill points, but rather HP/VIT boost.
3. After allocating attribute points left after char creation, to boost some combat/magic stats and make beginning easier, is it preferable to leave all the other points from each level up unused and stockpile them for another class change? On my current run I was using all the points on each lvl up, but noticed that aiming for pirate/assassin later on may be problematic, since their high requirements, comparing to i.e warrior.
4. Casters I understand should basically cycle through classes until they get spells from each school, but what's the final one they should settle on?

Here's my party and planned multiclassing path:

- Saurian berserker > warrior > ranger > assasin
- Saurian berserker > warrior > pirate - should I throw in something more here?
- Drake metalsmith > warrior > berserker > pirate
- Naga assassin - for this one I don't have a clue. Perhaps assassin > berserker > pirate? Is starting as an assassin even a good idea?
- Wolfin ranger > thief > assassin/pirate
- Wolfin cleric > bard > sage > thaumaturge > necro? No idea.
- Aeorb sage > wizard > no idea, probably few caster classes and end on necro?
- Burrower thaumaturge > wizard > sage > necro?

Am I overthinking this too much and should just go with the flow, without planning shit on excel spreadsheets?

Also, question on stealth/backstabbing - is it worth to raise those on assassin, or should I just stick to lethal blow?

 

[Thunar]

Keep your assassin assassins, your pirate pirates and your jester jesters. Once you've got a premium class, don't start goofing around.

I usually like to class change after 8 levels, after I'm close to level 9 so I don't spend too long gaining my first level in the new class.
The first 5-8 levels, I'd just invest in attributes to survive at the beginning of the game. After the first class change though, just save them all and save scum to get 5-6 bonus points if necessary.

As for where you want to settle with your casters, it's going to based on the magic skill they are the most competent at. So like Thaumaturge use alchemistry, sage wizard and nec use sorcery, cleric and I think templars use another skill.
So you're more likely to settle on a class that uses sorcery, meaning that you want to get that skill to a 100 before/during your final class change. Though, you could just as well choose to settle on an alchemistry caster and get it up there, etc, but that's not really a good idea since you've got limited skill points and if your wizards aren't high enough in their magic skill (which is more likely to be sorcery), they'll whif and backfire for a while.
You still have a lot of freedom in deciding what caster you end up with, and by that time in the game, it won't matter that much, it's more about getting the mana points. Though necro get the best spells, so it's not a bad choice to settle on them.

Lethal blow is probably the best thing in the game, I haven't used backstabbing once, it takes too long to set up. But hey, I haven't finished the game yet, so who knows, maybe backstabbing becomes worth it.

I just went with the flow and managed to make two pirates, one of which I switched for an assassin npc. I didn't quite understand the multi-classing paths very well and wasn't really able to do much more though I had the points for it, but it's not like I regret it at all. The game isn't that hard after a certain point combat-wise, it just finds new ways to challenge you.

EDIT: Don't worry too much about optimizing your party. The game's much more fun when you're going for a sub-optimal build. Like, technically, you could probably make a party of jester wolfins of mass destruction and have a piss easy time with the game, but it's not going to be very fun.
You can't really make any sort of game breaking character progression decision if you just follow the rules you already seem to know, half of the fun is in exploring the strange worlds of hyperborea and its masterful dungeons.

 

[Lady_Error]

1. Which lvl is ok for first class changes? I understand that for melees it can be done on 4th-5th, and for casters a bit later, once they get some higher tier spells?
2. For melees I assume the best route is to cycle through warrior/berserker/ranger and then to finally settle on pirate/assassin? How many lvls should I stay on each class while doing such cycling?
Fighting skills go up pretty fast, so the main benefit is not skill points, but rather HP/VIT boost.
3. After allocating attribute points left after char creation, to boost some combat/magic stats and make beginning easier, is it preferable to leave all the other points from each level up unused and stockpile them for another class change? On my current run I was using all the points on each lvl up, but noticed that aiming for pirate/assassin later on may be problematic, since their high requirements, comparing to i.e warrior.
4. Casters I understand should basically cycle through classes until they get spells from each school, but what's the final one they should settle on?

1. I usually changed around level 6-8 because after that it takes a long time to level up again.
2. Exactly, the HP and Mana boosts are the main benefit of multiclassing. To end on a pirate/assassin, you need to plan ahead to have enough attribute points saved up from the level ups.
3. Yes, to end up on a prestige class you usually need to multiclass a few times before and save up the attribute points.
4. There is no should in this, it is up to you which one you like most.

You probably already saw this, but there is a good guide on the easiest multiclassing careers (and what races multiclass the easiest), especially if you want to end up on a prestige class:
http://grimoire.wiki/index.php/Classes#Multiclassing_Careers_by_Race

 

[Gunnar]

RAN-THI-BAR-CLE-TEM is a good divine caster build
RAN-THI-BAR-SAG-THAU is a good alchemistry build
Necromancers should single class to reach their high level spells
Sages can also be single classed and do well because you need all their spells asap
Assassins should be naga and use unarmed, build them through a WAR-THI-RAN-ASS path
Pirates have high XP requirements and aren't that great, better to end up on a warrior or thief after class changing

 

[Lady_Error]

Necromancers should single class to reach their high level spells

Either this or you can have the Necromancer at the end of multiclassing to buff him up a bit.

 

[Dorateen]

I'm a fan of backstabbing, used it with a thief/bard (who doesnt get the lethal blow skill) and later a pirate, who was able to inflict massive amounts of damage with it.

But it does take time to build up the stealth skill first, which is necessary to hide in shadows in the first round, and then launch a successful attack in subsequent rounds. I found this most useful late game, facing enemies with a lot of health and difficult to penetrate. Some battles do stretch on for a while, and once you've got a character in the shadows, every attack thereafter will use the backstab skill. It really comes down to play style, if you like this sort of micro management. For me it was worth it.

 

[Piotrovitz]

Awesomeness, thank you kind people

QQ about lethal blow - does it works with unarmed, or the ninjitsu is the equivalent of it for HtH?
Also, does ninjitsu works only with powerstrike type of attack? If so, what's the base dmg of powerstrike for i.e naga?

 

[Gunnar]

When Assassins and Jesters are fighting open hands now (HAND2HAND skill) if they have LETHAL BLOW above or equal to 75 they begin to attempt to do a lethal blow upon penetration. This only applies to Assassins and Jesters, no other classes can do Lethal Blows to opponents with open hand combat. IRON HANDS still applies to double/triple/quandruple damage upon penetration.

 

[Piotrovitz]

So unarmed assassins have iron hands, ninjitsu, AND lethal blow - now this is some heavy shit.

 

[Monkey Baron]

Is there a way to split stacks? I merged a bunch of throwing knives together to save having to re-equip them every now and again and now nobody except my two tanks can wield them without being over-encumbered.

 

[Piotrovitz]

Weird thing - one of my zerks seem to have multiple conditions, including paralysis, and I don't have a clue where he got them and how to get rid of them.

Cure paralysis potions doesn't seem to help, resting neither.
Should I backtrack to some healing fountain somewhere?

 

[Lady_Error]

Disease creates multiple conditions over time if not cured.

 

[Piotrovitz]

Not sure if I'm screwed now.

Can't cure disease, because I don't have the spell and he can't eat galen apples, since he's paralyzed.
Can't cure paralysis either, because again, I don't have the spell. Got two potions that I used on him, but they don't seem to help much.

Best way would be to kill him and resurrect in clean state, but I'm not sure how to pull this off.

 

[Dorateen]

There are curative fountains that will remedy these conditions. Not the fountains that restore just health or vitality, but specific to curing afflictions.

Do you have access to the Shrine of the Raptor? (This might be blocked off depending on different starting locations.) If so, there is a subterranean sanctuary that has a healing square, which should fix those characters.

 

[Piotrovitz]

Don't have access to shrine of the raptor subterranean area - I started at sanctuary.
There are two fountains at the shrine, but they just replenish health and stamina.

The only way out of this now that I can think of is to grind a level, get cure paralysis on my sage, and then eat galen apples as soon as zerk will be able to move.
Either this, or somehow kill him and resurrect afterwards.

I fucked this up by not taking any cure-type spells.
Before rerolling, my party had a cleric, but since he was the most useless member, I restarted and took feyfolk wizard instead, focusing on offensive spells.

 

[Lady_Error]

You can simply wait until you get the cure paralysis, though he will be probably an easy target in fights (place him in the back row). Or get one of the NPC's to join you and pick him up later at the Shrine when you have the spell.

 

[Piotrovitz]

Pheew, I've barely managed to find a way out of this.

Realized I had a woundwort, so I could create couple of cure paralysis potions.
Once he gulped a few and could start to move again, I ate all three galen apples I had - those were barely enough to fully get rid of disease. Holy fuck.

Anyway, the mechanics that uncured disease fucks you up more and more over time is awesome.

 

[Piotrovitz]

Does aeorb's special ability tend to ever land at all?

I assume it targets mental resistance, but then again the psionic blast spell does as well, and it does hit mobs like brigands sometimes
The gaze ability OTOH I have never seen working.

 

[Thunar]

Yeah, I've never seen any special ability work except rage. Not even sure that's a special ability.

 

[Monkey Baron]

Why can't I scribe eldritch spells? I have the book unlocked, and two of my characters have 100 scribe. Do I need more arcanum?

EDIT: Just got it, probably attempted a hundred or so times. I'm guessing it was Arcanum that was holding me back because my character now has 100 arcanum.