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DarklandsNon-Spoily Character Creation Advice(22 posts)(22 posts)
(22 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted October 19, 2011
This may seem fairly obvious but I'm assuming, since formulas are learned per individual and are not shared among the party, but if my current alchemist dies will my new alchemist need to regather all those formulas?

Also, if a character dies or retires will I be able to make a new character or will the game generate default characters for me to choose from. I know the manual mentioned that characters I made at start are stored in a character pool until a death or retirement but I was just so eager to play I took the starting party and just rolled with it.

Is it really such a bad thing having an 'older' character in the party? I read it is better not to advance past 3 occupations but one of the characters in my party (the starting Healer) is already 41 and time doesn't seem to go as quickly as I thought it would so I get the feeling he'll be with me for a while. If I keep him until he's 60 then I would have had him for 20 years and that seems like a pretty long time. Is the drop in stats that significant that it really is better to keep your characters young?

Last question: My main source of income is from selling alchemical potions, but it feels like a waste of a whole day mixing them when I could be out questing. Do later quests generate more funds or am I just better off making and selling potions. Oh, and is there any other way to get ingredients besides buying them? Is it possible to find them in the wild?
Posted October 19, 2011
"if my current alchemist dies will my new alchemist need to regather all those formulas?"
Yes, you'll need to get them all again for the new alchemist.

"if a character dies or retires will I be able to make a new character"
You can make more characters at an inn if you have less than four. This is done using the normal character creation system, the game doesn't randomly generate them.

"Do later quests generate more funds or am I just better off making and selling potions."
Making potions is the best way to get very rich, while questing helps increase some skills and is of course more fun. iirc rewards do get better, though Darklands is a bit blurry when it comes to progression..

"any other way to get ingredients besides buying them? Is it possible to find them in the wild?"
iirc sometimes you may find some as treasure or whatever, but nothing that is a replacement for buying most of them.
Posted October 19, 2011
Whenever I find a raubritter quest from a town, I tend to go around and make sure I get as many commissions for that particular raubritter, including any from town leaders. I tend to get about 60-80 florins from the various bankers and even though the cluebook says that town leaders don't give you anything but fame, you actually get a huge purse of about 60-90 florins from that leader alone. I'd say it's competitive with potion-making.

One thing I've always been curious about for the fifteen years or so that I've played Darklands though: When you talk to an alchemist in a town and trade for a potion formula, what dictates who gets it? It's always gone to the first member of my party, even if that person isn't the leader.
Posted October 19, 2011
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korokoro: When you talk to an alchemist in a town and trade for a potion formula, what dictates who gets it? It's always gone to the first member of my party, even if that person isn't the leader.
In my current game I had it go to my leader (rather than my alchemist) the first time so I've always made sure to set my alchemist to leader before I trade and they seem to all go to her now. I think she's the only person in my party who knows any formulas so no-one else should be able to trade.

On that topic: is the alchemist telling you to leave a random occurrence, or does it suggest that he has nothing to offer? Some alchemists that I've received a formula from already seem to always throw me out when I go back.
Posted October 19, 2011
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korokoro: When you talk to an alchemist in a town and trade for a potion formula, what dictates who gets it? It's always gone to the first member of my party, even if that person isn't the leader.
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DaveMongoose: In my current game I had it go to my leader (rather than my alchemist) the first time so I've always made sure to set my alchemist to leader before I trade and they seem to all go to her now. I think she's the only person in my party who knows any formulas so no-one else should be able to trade.

On that topic: is the alchemist telling you to leave a random occurrence, or does it suggest that he has nothing to offer? Some alchemists that I've received a formula from already seem to always throw me out when I go back.
I suspect this is random. The game mentions that those particular alchemists are very temperamental and I've had this happen to me a lot. I got so frustrated that I saved before talking to them and kept reloading until he got that stick out of his bum and traded with me.
Posted November 10, 2011
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Sfon: I'll avoid getting into detailed game mechanics here. These are just some tips to help you get started making a decent party of custom characters.
--Edit-- Corrected/clarified some things.
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Strength/Endurance: Used to avoid getting eaten, which is very important for everyone. I recommend Str being a few points higher than End, with the average of the two being at least 30. Newbies may want to start with Str five points higher than End, then trying smaller Str-End gaps after becoming more comfortable with the game.

Agility: Influences many things in and out of combat, but not as important as Str/End. I recommend 24 or higher for everyone, 20 minimum.

Perception: Influences Latin speaking, artifice, and some other things. I recommend 25 or higher for whoever will lead in hostile areas, 20 or higher for whoever else might need it.

Intelligence: Important for alchemists and useful for Latin speakers. Would not surprise me if it does more. I recommend 30 or higher for alchemists, 20 or higher for whoever else might need it.

Charisma: Mainly influences speaking with others and prices. Less significant when interacting with universities as they are used to eccentrics, but don't assume the same is true for other intellectuals. I recommend 25 or higher for the party's main spokesman, 20 or higher for whoever else might need it.

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Some skills are much harder to raise after character creation than others. Skills in the first (weapon) box are very easy to raise, the middle box moderate, and the bottom box hard.

The major exceptions are virtue in the middle and artifice in the the bottom box. Virtue is very hard and should be considered a bottom-box skill, while artifice is moderately easy and should be considered a middle-box skill.

Most skills only one person really needs, but some are useful for everybody. Stealth and horse riding are the most notable, as actions involving them often involve the whole party.

For skilled players who want to do everything with their starting four, young characters with many points put into the hardest skills and none into weapons works well. But this makes the beginning very hard and is not recommended for newbies.
Fame and reputations are so powerfull in this game, that it almost makes some stats obsolete. Also agility drains quickly with damage and armor so don't bother to get it too high.

The manual says the average ability is 25, think of this as average ablity for heroes! 20 is fine for non prime abilties.

Your primary goal is to make sure that the strength and endurance = 60 or more, 70 or more for you fighters.Try to have the strength and endurance within 5 skills points of one another, this is because if your strength ability is too far less than endurance, death and not just passing out, is far more likely.

Charisma is only important for your speak common person. Everyone else is far better off relying on fame and reputation. You get better results and faster this way without sacrificing more important abilities than charisma. That said going below 20 is not a good idea for any speaking role.

Agility, meh do not bother getting higher than 29, unless a career choice puts it that way. At normal load even a 40 in agility will be treated as 20 something anyway!!!!!

I personly do not like any ability below 20 but that is more due to me being neurotic about it than need heh. Wel that and you also start getting negative modifiers at this point I believe.
Posted April 05, 2012
I'm convinced intelligence affects a character's ability to learn from tutoring sessions. I just had my ~40 INT alchemist raise alchemy five times over a week, while my ~10 INT heavy raised Artifice only twice. Out of curiosity, I reloaded and trained both characters in Artifice simultaneously several times in a row to see the alchemist gain 5-6 skill compared to the heavy's 2 skill each try. Note that both characters had Artifice in the low teens before tutoring began. Too bad - I wanted to use the heavy with his 29 PER to open locks. No idea if INT affects skill increases that occur after real world experiences. It definitely does not affect weapon skills.

In short, INT seems like a big deal even aside from Alchemy.
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DarklandsNon-Spoily Character Creation Advice(22 posts)(22 posts)
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