WTB Arcanum Character Creation Advice...

[Kogorn]

Hey guys! The first character I created for Arcanum wound up sucking due to my poor stat-raising decisions. I was wondering if someone could give me some advice on what stats to start out with if I want a mage-type character and suggest the order in which to improve stats/get abilities. Gamefaqs didn't offer much help Thanks!

Kogorn

 

[Murk]

max dex and watch as you get to act 4 times as much as any other character

 

[Helton]

Don't go all over the map, for starters. If you're a mage pick a few schools and specialize. Do you want followers? A decent charisma early is needed if you want Drog. He'll make life much easier. Harm also helps a lot making combat easier.

Otherwise I think you'd need to be more specific on what you want and what you feel you did badly with your last character.

 

[Murk]

Drog? You mean Sodd Meadmug?

 

[Helton]

Yeah, my bad.

 

[Murk]

That's kinda interesting, at first glance it didn't seem wrong to me either.

 

[Black]

No, no, make a tech character with 16 dex, make a shitload of charged rings and pyro axe, ???, profit!

 

[Kogorn]

My problem was that, as a mage, I felt I didn't have to put anything into attack. However, magic drains your fatigue quickly at the beginning of the game, and I wound up having my character pass out often. My objective is to find a way to make a mage but I want to be able to hold my own at the beginning of the game when I have low fatigue.

Should I start out by putting a point in attack? Or should I just learn to let followers do most of the fighting at the beginning?

 

[Murk]

putting a single point in melee is not at all a bad idea, and you can invest in fatigue directly to give you a bigger pool to draw from.

Also - if you plan on having allies, use them as meatshields as they won't be competent magi no matter what.

Virgil, worthless mutt, and Sodd are great allies to have, magnus... i guess he's alright but i'm totally racist towards the short races so i never use 'em.

 

[Kz3r0]

My problem was that, as a mage, I felt I didn't have to put anything into attack. However, magic drains your fatigue quickly at the beginning of the game, and I wound up having my character pass out often. My objective is to find a way to make a mage but I want to be able to hold my own at the beginning of the game when I have low fatigue.

Should I start out by putting a point in attack? Or should I just learn to let followers do most of the fighting at the beginning?

It's up to you, if you don't have specific preferences or dislikes choose an half-orc female harm spell and specialize in the summon college, investing your spare points in constituion.
Instead, if you want do all the combat by yourself choose the temporal college and invest in dodge and melee, disarm can come in handy too.
For a classical mage choose harm spell and the projectile spells, like stonethrow, from fire,water, air and earth college.

 

[RK47]

Classic mage should stick with Fire (Agility of Fire & Fireflash is exccellent) & Necromancy School (Pick Harm for damage & Conjure Spirit for Roleplaying, ignore the rest)

I suspect the Fatigue problem is caused by your unfamiliarity with the system.

Early game you can only rely on blue potions for mana. But when you reach Tarant or other big cities with Magic Shop, look for a Mage Staff for sale around 2-3k cost that grants a 50 Fatigue buffer for casting spells. All spells cast while wielding this staff will drain this Staff's mana pool, not yours! By late game I had no fatigue problems since I had decent followers to mop up and took the 2nd Mental Magic spell (Stun) for tough foes. Shield for tanking NPC or yourself.

So priority of Stats for Classic Mage is probably
Willpower 12 = unlocks 3rd tier magic
Dex 9 = 3 spells per round
Con 9 = Stamina regen for spells upkeep

The rest goes to spells you probably want such as Unlocking cantrips etc. Invest in Charisma for some Roleplaying fun. And remember, the higher your magic affinity, the higher the damage and less likely enemy will resist your spells.

 

[Kogorn]

So i should save the force school for lategame?

 

[Kz3r0]

So i should save the force school for lategame?

No, but disintegrate can deplete your mana pool by half, even with the greatest of the constitutions, erasing your loot how added benefit.

 

[avatar_58]

My problem was that, as a mage, I felt I didn't have to put anything into attack. However, magic drains your fatigue quickly at the beginning of the game, and I wound up having my character pass out often. My objective is to find a way to make a mage but I want to be able to hold my own at the beginning of the game when I have low fatigue.

Should I start out by putting a point in attack? Or should I just learn to let followers do most of the fighting at the beginning?

I basically used harm and protection. Before the enemy gets a turn - use disarm and get rid of their weapons. It makes fights much easier. If you are dying too much - get out of there and wander the map to get stronger.

I found in the beginning I kept passing out due to not having much fatigue, but once you get the money for tons of potions it makes things easier. Then comes a point where you are using more magic and less potions due to Harm's increasing stength. Then you get yourself a Staff with magic points to make things even easier.

If you want a cheap way of doing things - kill a shopkeer (or steal his stuff) for some quick cash. Then keep returning to a wise woman until she has a mage's staff. (The staves mention NOTHING about the magic points, equip them and check the lower left corner to see the icon)

 

[spiwak]

Drog? You mean Sodd Meadmug?

Sodd? You mean Sogg Mead Mug?

I'm working in the summoning school (up to Hell Demon at this point). Would the mage staff also help counteract the constant fatigue? I like to just summon a creature at the start of whatever dungeon I'm going into, but I've found I can only keep a hell demon up for a few minutes before I pass out.

 

[Redeye]

...t I've found I can only keep a hell demon up for a few minutes before I pass out.

Endurance potions?


*gulp*

Maybe I'm wrong, but I think I remember those.

Plus don't forget to use a haste potion on the demon.

And abuse turn based- keep re-entering combat and traverse the dungeon in combat mode. That will make the haste last much longer.

 

[avatar_58]

I'm working in the summoning school (up to Hell Demon at this point). Would the mage staff also help counteract the constant fatigue? I like to just summon a creature at the start of whatever dungeon I'm going into, but I've found I can only keep a hell demon up for a few minutes before I pass out.

Well the staff just gives more mana. The staff I had (arcane staff I believe) had +80. Which meant I could cast till my eyes were red and not worry about fatigue.

 

[Kz3r0]

...t I've found I can only keep a hell demon up for a few minutes before I pass out.

Endurance potions?


*gulp*

Maybe I'm wrong, but I think I remember those.

Fatigue slower potions.

 

[RGE]

Dex 9 = 3 spells per round

Sure, but at an extra cost of 2 fatigue per round due to spending 12 action points while only having 9 action points.

I think Harm works all right as a damage spell in the early levels, and in order to get a better damage/fatigue ratio, it's probably a good idea to put the rest of the points in various other 1st and 2nd tier spells just to bump magickal aptitude by 5 per spell. Still got to watch the fatigue drain though, and have potions ready. Buy a Dark Helm from a wise woman to get extra 20 magickal aptitude early on, and maybe use some kind of mage background to get a similar boost. Then you could have 100 magickal aptitude by level 7 or so, and do 40 damage with each Harm.

Should I start out by putting a point in attack? Or should I just learn to let followers do most of the fighting at the beginning?

My half-ogre mage only got three levels in Melee because he's an Educator and needed to teach his followers to become Melee Apprentices for the extra weapon speed boost. Sure, he's killing most opponents by casting Stun and then whacking them with Torian Kel's Axe of Lost Time, so he's getting some good use out of his Melee skill, but he could just as easily cast Harm instead and drink more potions. So I wouldn't say that a mage needs to put anything into attack. And if you play in turn based mode, it's real easy to not click too often and fall unconscious due to zero fatigue.

Not so in real time mode though, so then you might have to rely on followers to mop up any survivors after you've unloaded on them. I (ab)used real time mode in the dragon dungeon due to them dragons being a lot slower in real time mode than they are in turn based mode. They don't have a run animation, only one for walking, which means that while they may have plenty of action points in turn based mode, they move slowly in real time, making them easy pickings for a Harm clickfest... that can easily put a mage on the ground.

 

[Murk]

Sodd? You mean Sogg Mead Mug?

I'm working in the summoning school (up to Hell Demon at this point). Would the mage staff also help counteract the constant fatigue? I like to just summon a creature at the start of whatever dungeon I'm going into, but I've found I can only keep a hell demon up for a few minutes before I pass out.

Hah, double-mistake. I thought it was funny not that he got the name wrong but that he said DROG, the guy who was making the patch.

 

[Texas Red]

Drog is an ogre in Stillwater who kidnaps a mage. You think, cool I can chat with an ogre, but no... only combat.

 

[Murk]

Wow, yeah, i totally forgot about him... in the cave, with random loot on the ground.

So today at work i was talking to a coworker about some of the hobos that drift around the intersection we work at...

... i think i'm going to play a hobo character that won't purchase items ever, only uses things he finds, can't use magic (so technologist/melee) has piss poor charisma and beauty, and probably speaks like an idiot (so maybe take the idiot savant background)

this should be fun!

 

[cardtrick]

My most interesting playthrough of Arcanum was with a mage.

The character was evil -- totally evil. I concentrated on Necromantic (Black) and Summoning. Harm is ludicrously overpowered, especially in the early to mid game, and has by far the best cost/damage ratio of any spell in the game. But the real fun of playing an evil mage in Arcanum is that you can have a meaningful roleplaying experience even as a truly murderous psychopath -- "shoot first and ask questions later" is totally viable, since the second (or third?) level Necromantic (Black) spell lets you raise the ghosts of people you've killed, and actually talk to them, allowing you to progress the plot in a cohesive way even after killing essential characters. Awesome.

 

[jagged-jimmy]

Holy crap.. I was totally against magic and spells and pwned people with my pyro axe, but hearing this, i might risk a magic character on 2nd playthrough.

 

[Murk]

Okay the hobo thing is coming along weird - i think i'm going to seriously have to gimp myself and play a half-orc as well.

The troll offspring thing works, but giving myself crazy tech skills really ruins it, so i think i'm going to skip on blacksmithy and focus on fist-fighting until i come across a decent axe or mace, also, i'll be wearing nothing but the pilgrim's robes (not even the blazing jacket while in town).

any other neat suggestions for retarded but possibly fun character types?