Like the title says! They are:

- Does Loremaster actually show enemy info? (All I ever see is ??? in the stats.)
- Does Lone Wolf actually make you not have party members? (I'm still able to invite Madora and Jahan to my party)
- Best way to make a pet summoner? (I'm thinking Witch with all the elementals for different creatures, but focusing mainly on Witchcraft to support.)

If I think of any more I'll post them. Thanks!

Yes, it depends on the level of Loremaster, and the opponents. Start a new game and learn Lormaster; in the first fight level 1 will show you the base hit points and action points of opponents; level 2 also shows the maximum hit points.

If one main character has Lone Wolf, you should not be able to have both Madora and Jahan in your party. If both do, they neither should join.

Witchcraft should go well with summons. I think you can only have one summon active at a time, though.

To be clear, its one per member not one per group.

Right, one summon per summoner.

As for Lone Wolf.. I started off with it, and I'm able to allow Madora to join. I'm pretty sure I invited Johan too a while back. Bug maybe?

Actually, I think I figured out Lone Wolf.

Only one of my main characters has Lone Wolf, so now I can only have 1 extra companion for a total of 3 party members. If my second main character had Lone Wolf as well then I wouldn't be able to have any companions, for total of 2 party members.

That's how it works I think.

That is correct. You can dismiss a companion and hire another (or a henchman), but only have one in your party at a time, if one main character has Lone Wolf.

When you re-hire someone they will be brought up to the experience point level of the character hiring them, so you can swap characters around without worrying about infrequently used ones becoming obsolete, or your usual one missing out.

I played so much and feel not to have scratched the surface yet :)

In The End of Time a new portal became active with swords for hire, but they are all level 1 in the preview. Would they scale up to my level (8)?

No an enchanter is ok for summoning but not any better than say a wizard... good intel will help a lot.

Yes a knight could take spells, lockpicks or summon a spider… of course he wouldn't have as much strength as other knights so probably be crap at melee fighting.

The spells are somewhat random but my ranger got charm around level 4… he has dex and speed so charisma has not been something I noticed. It is perhaps worth noting that charm also comes on arrows.

Define tank? I like Madora for her str because that allows her to deal out melee damage and use the heaviest armour… don't see any reason a rogue couldn't equip a shield and pump dex to tank but the damage she puts out would be way down without backstabs.

New party advise; Don't spread yourself too thin, Madora can tank and Jahan already has the points to fix armour and weapons… A dab of everything looks good to start with but quickly becomes outgunned by other characters that specialise in only two things.

No, Lone Wolf is not retroactive (benefits or penalty).

The starting presets are just that, and any can be customized and builds changed as you level. The only place the starting classes are shown is during character customization.

For the default enchanter, Teleportation is certainly handy to have, and slow/cold are good, especially combined with rain, but you'd probably want to switch them out for a summoner build (change Hydrosphist for Geomancer, for the spider summon). For talents, I'd probably at least switch Escapist for Far Out Man; Elemental Affinity is good for witchcraft and water/ice at the start (certainly not essential, if you wanted to switch it to Pet Pal, or something). Oath of Desecration is a good witchcraft support spell. I'd leave Telekinesis (or have one character that knows it, anyway).

There is a charm spell. I don't know if Charisma effects it (don't think so).

For a tank you'll need some strength for equipment... I'd guess speed would be more important that perception (though in general it helps to have one character in the party, at least, with a high perception), but I have not tried a tank build.

A crossbow does more damage, but requires more action points.

Mind you, Loremaster only works for the character who has the loremaster skill.

Thanks for all the replies guys.

- I'd still like to know more about the charming spell though. Is it Witchcraft? What's the description?

- Also, is sneaking worth investing in? I got a ranger companion from the hall of heroes, and they had a point invested in that.
I sort of found out the answer to this last one. Sneaking is good for stealing stuff that is "red" when you hover over it. As long as someone isn't looking at you, you can steal things from their home. That makes it pretty neat. It has some use in combat, since some abilities do things like double the damage from sneaking. I think I'll invest in it.

- Any reason to keep legendary items you can't use?

IME The point of Sneaking is the backstab attack… invisible is far more reliable for nicking stuff.

Picture the scene… it’s a lovely sunny day and our courageous hunters (Mike & Tabby) are out for a romantic picnic when up pops an undead mage villain to make unwanted advances towards Mike!

T1, Mike buffs Tabby with immune to burning.
T1, Tabby uses Tactical retreat to teleport behind the undead mage but miss judges the landing and can't backstab… she has sneaking skill so uses 1 more action point to get into alignment for the backstab attack. Without any points in sneaking Tabby would risk being attacked if she moved inside the mages reaction zone.

BTW my ranger has minor charm & that gets buffed by dex because it is a marksman skill.

Ha, nice story.

Well sneaking seems neat, and I love ambushing with my ranger and doing double damage from the ranger skill, but I wonder if it's really worth it still. Seems like Action Points that can be used on some other attack. I guess it's a survival mechanism too, since I'm sure at higher levels they don't see you easily. I'll continue to test it out.

And yeah, I just got the charm Marksman skill too. It's great. Charisma has nothing to do with it though.

Another question:
- Any good tactics to use on the battlefield with Rangers? Sneaking, sure but I'm confused about smokescreen arrows. You can shoot out of the smoke I think, but not into them?

I'm not sure if I'm the best person to ask but I can perhaps point out some of the game mechanics.

Attributes:
Main = Strength, Dexterity & Intelligence;
All scoundrel and marksmen skills get better with dexterity, spells need intel and str is for warriors.
Secondary = Speed, Perception and Constitution;
I maintain that speed (i.e. extra action points in combat) is better for a rogue than perception but I also prefer to jump over a trap with tactical retreat to reach the disarming lever | treasure than to disarm the trap but my mage has perception and is my party spotter.

The four Elements: Earth, Fire, Water & Air;
The four mage party starts with an oil slick from the earth then the fire mage sets it on fire which explodes… now the water mage puts the fire out with a rain spell and since everyone is wet the air mage fires a lightning spell into the mix and stuns everyone.

The value of stealth;
I'm sure you know how to nick stuff.
IME sneaking lets me pick the range at which the typical fight begins…
Tabby (Ranger) goes invisible and scouts ahead to figure out what we are going to be fighting. All characters can sneak regardless of putting points into the skill but the average villains hideout will have candles everywhere and Tabby turns these off before my party arrives… with the lights off my party can normally get up next to the mage without alerting his guards.
Btw that’s one use for the smoke arrows… lob them onto the ground in front of the enemy mage and use the smoke to sneak up on him.

Terrain & line of sight;
Lightning (all arrows) travels in a straight line and on paper looks more powerful than a fire spell but if the target you want to hit is behind something like a chair then it will be blocked whereas the less powerful fire spell will lob over (around) the obstacle and still hit the target.