How are Character Points awarded during level ups?

When I initially created my character I was shocked to see a meager 5 Character Points with which to start (given the large selection of stuff to choose from). But I made peace with that and moved on, only to be shocked again to find that you only receive one character point per level.

Then I experimented with another character that had a significantly higher Intelligence, to see if that makes any difference (like it does in the Fallout series), but I can't see that it does.

I guess that's OK, since I'm sure by the time I reach the level cap I will have had enough points to build a good character. But I'm just wondering: How does the game determine how many Character Points to award to a player per level. Does every character receive the same amount?

Just as an aside:
I created a Gnome and picked the 'Sickly' background option to raise his intelligence, and I'm kinda intrigued by this option; but it effectively lowers my Constitution to 2 (I think). Will such a low Constitution really be catastrophically detrimantal to my character if I plan on playing as a Dilomatic kinda Mage character?
I do notice that I suffer somewhat in both Health and Fatigue levels, but I think I'm willing to live with that. Are there any cool items I might want to go for that will give my weak Constitution a little boost?

All characters get 1 point per level up, except every 5 levels when you get 2 (so at level 5: 2 point, level 10: 2 points, and so on). It does take a bit of getting used to if you've been playing Fallout for a while, but I think the system works out well actually.

Constitution is kind of important. It determines base amount of health and fatigue that your character has (and maybe how much you get those increased on each level up too, I forget). So if you're playing a mage, particularly one that is going to be doing heavy spell casting a really low (like, lower than 6 or 7) is going to be a problem. Now, it isn't something you can't work around though, so if you want to play that way, that is cool (Arcanum allows you a ton of different character styles).

In terms of intelligence: it isn't actually all that helpful for mages in Arcanum. It is useful if you are going to be doing a lot of long-term spells that you cast and then have to maintain (like stat buffs, or elemental shields, etc). Your intelligence determines the maximum number of long-term spells you can hold (with 20 intelligence it is 5 - so you can summon 5 fire elementals at once). But other than that it isn't too useful for mages. Willpower directly impacts the level of spells you can put points into and so is much more of a 'mage stat'.

Hope that all helps!

The primary motivation for the higher Intelligence score is in order to get more / better dialogue options, since that's quite important to me.

I don't really plan on casting sustained spells that require maintenance, nor will I really be casting a great variety of spells. I'll only be focusing on a small handful (that's the idea, anyway).

Yeah, unfortunately I noticed the lack of Fatigue when casting spells. My character tires very easily : ) I just hope that I'll be able to cope, because I really want to try out this character build. I am secretly hoping that eventually the Fatigue gained from level-ups will boost me enough to see me through.

EDIT:
There's also, of course, the fact that Willpower also raises Fatigue. But I have seen that it doesn't make such a large contribution to it as does Constitution.

Well I'm glad you're trying out interesting characters right off the bat in Arcanum, I don't remember being that bold when I first played. haha

And in terms of intelligence for dialogue options, I think you only need 12 to get the maximum amount of dialogue options - but I really could be totally wrong. I'm remembering one specific point in the game where I believe 12 is the check for it and I can't remember right now if there is another, higher check, later on in the game. But if your character is going to be using a lot of skills then you might want 20 intelligence to get the +10% to the success rate of those skills.

Good luck with the game!

The end-game dialogue is interesting and tricky. I recollect you need very high intelligence and charisma.

Well, I have to say combat is rather difficult at the moment. Can't really cast too many spells before running out of fatigue. lol. If it becomes too much of a problem then I suppose I might have to spend a few points on raising my ridiculously low Constitution score.

Q: is there a nice little item I can go for that can raise my Con a little bit, perhaps?

I have just enetered Tarant. I first tried going to Delnholm in order to complete the Bessy Toone mine quest in Shrouded Hills, and from there went to Black Root on a quest for the king; but the enemies I encounter are far too strong for me, so I gave up and went to Tarant instead. I'm guessing I was trying to go about things a little ass-backward?

Well, certainly the enemies south of Shrouded Hills are unusually deadly compared to the tame lands around Tarant. I suppose it probably has to do with the level and kind of technological involvement in the area, or perhaps the efficacy of guns in taking out the local wildlife.
But yes, it's nastier around Dernholm. Might still be worth your bother once you've nailed down the ideal attack spell for yourself, or have grabbed a decent meat-shield as a party member, though.

There is a Ring of Virility that raises your constitution by 2 , it is worn by Mr Franklin in Tarant, his house is near the Gentleman Club. You have to pickpocket him for the ring.

Aw shucks, I will certainly be useless as all hell when it comes to pickpocketing. If I recruit a thief party member, can I get him to steal the ring for me, by any chance?

Try using your fate point for critical success at pickpocket

Apparently the unofficial patch affects the "world map" encounters, making them more random. This means you can encounter very tough enemies at low levels, and so you will have to save often and re-load occasionally if the monsters are too tough. The base game, on the other hand, scales encounters to your level I believe.

Unfortunately this aspect of the unofficial patch can't be tweaked, but I would say that the other fixes in the patch make it worth it.

Aha! The Fate Point sounds like a right swell idea.

By the way, I've been running the unofficial patch from the beginning, but how do I know that it's actually installed? Not that I had any problems during installation, but how do I *know*? lol. The game doesn't seem to give any version information anywhere. I tried pressing the 'V' key as suggested on the Reference Card, but I can't see that it actually does anything...

I just googled to attempt to find a changelog for the UAP. Here is a thread with a changelog posted a couple of posts down. I think it is a slightly older version than the most updated/last UAP release though.
http://www.gamebanshee.com/forums/arcanum-27/fixpack-drog-black-tooths-unofficial-arcanum-patch-98402.html

Edit: Though, let me be clear: there are spoilers in there, so read at some risk. Actually, I'll just find something that is non-spoilerish that hopefully is an easy way to check.

Edit2: Ok, so (and I just checked this in my game) "Fixed Virgil's dialogue so he now recognizes the crash site and tells PC about it when asked."

That is an easy thing to check - just start a new game really quick, get Virgil in your party and ask him about the Crash Site.

Another way to check if you have the UAP or not is, when you are in Tarant go to the Bates factory and lockpick or bash the locked cabinet. Inside you will find the Schreck's Multi Barreled Gun schematic, if you can use it like the other schematics than you have UAP. Before UAP that schematic was like a quest item that you can't actually use. Also, save your game before attempting this just to be safe.

Thanks much, guys.

OK, I've checked out the UAP thing by starting a new game and asking Virgil about the current location, and he did talk about the mountains / hills of the crash site etc. So I guess its all good.

@ sheva78: I got the ring you mentioned, which at least helps a little. I also noticed that by using the Vitality Of Air (I think) spell, I can raise my Con a little more. While wearing the ring, this means I can reach all the way up to 8 (lol), which raises my healing rate to 3 (as opposed to 1). It does seem a little counter intuitive since it takes 1 just to maintain the spell, but that still means I get 2, which is still better than one, I guess.