Hi! So early game question. Xardas told me not to tell anyone about him sending me to Lord Hagen (spelling?) at the onset of the game. But I've encountered a "Ring of Water" mage I like, and I seem to be able to tell him my mission. I trust him in doing this, and want to do it for both RP and gameplay purposes. I won't reveal that Xardas sent me to anyone else, but this guy seems "legit."

Can I do this without violating Xardas' trust? Is there a compelling reason I shouldn't tell Vatras that Xardas sent me? Thanks in advance!

Also, if I DO join the Ring of Water, does that preclude me from joining the Militia / Paladins? Or is that sort of a "bonus" faction / alignment? Would love any answers! (Except for "Just tell Vatras what you want and take the consequences, that's what the game is about Ix!" ;) )

Ritualisto you are quite right about words you used. :) For the first guild tiers it's City Guard in Khorinis, Fire Circle Mages and Mercenaries from Onar's estate. ;)

And for the Ixamyakxim:
1) You won't betray Xardas this way, and Vatras will know anyways. ;)
2) Like said above - it's a bonus faction, you won't get any changes in 'faction' on your character screen. There is also another one, kinda, but you must find it on your own. :D

Oh yeah! ;)

Thank you so much you two, these were great replies! Some of the sub fora can be dead so it's nice to know people like you are here to give a quick helping hand to us Gothic newbies!

I might bump this for another question or two if something comes to me over the next few days and I don't think it warrants a new thread.

So, my intention is to be an archer and join the paladins. Does this thread mean I can join the ring of water also?

I've read that I should do the mage and mercenary quests for the xp, even if I want to join the militia and eventually be a paladin. Honestly I'm a little confused by that because it's not possible to be in more than one, right?

In context: My toon is 11th lvl, has 53 dex, 34 bow, 24 str, lockpicking, pickpocketing, and skin animals. Haven't joined anything yet except the thieves guild, mostly quested and hunted freelance.

Forgive the hijack. Thank you from another relative G2 noob.

Joining the ring of water is a bonus faction which is part of the addon. You need to do it to progress in the story of the addon. It has nothing to do with the base game factions.You have to join the mages, the paldadins or the mercenaries to progress in main game.
So yes you can/have to join the ring of water also if you have the main game + addon (e.g. gold edition). They ask you to do the questlines for joining the mages and the mercenaries to their end. But don't join them if you are ask if you want. So you get all the exp from the quest and you are able to join one of the 3 factions.

I believe you made a mistake - you can join only one of the three base game factions (and you did mention not saying "yes" when asked to joins the two you don't want to join so I know you didn't mean it :) ).

Ok cool, so I can join the Ring of Water, do the quests for the paladins, mercs, and mages but only say yes to joining the paladins.
Also, does joining the militia have anything to do with the above? I have the weed from the warehouse and I know where Peck is, so it would be nice to get those out of the way if it doesn't limit my ability to do other things (including thieves guild activities).
I appreciate the input.

Joining the militia is requiered to become a paladin later. Two steps for each faction:
militia - paladin
novice - mage
mercenary - dragon hunter
+ member of the Ring of water (with the addon).
There are more than one way to get in touch with the thief guild (I don't want to spoiler too much ;) ).

Bummer I left a lot of EXP on the table by not doing this :(

That's not that important. You will save the world without this exp too.... hopfully *insert evil smile here*
;)

Well... Don't worry. Jarkendar <that's how it spelled in english?> has quite some experience. And, sadly, you can't become omnipotent in everything in G2 with Night of the Raven. To be honest - with addon the game is pretty hard.