Just bought eschalon book 1. Have heard some good reviews about it and also watched an introductory gameplay video. Must say its a great classic old school style rpg. Think i'll buy book 2 next week. Anyways I'm thinking of starting off with a strong battlemage character (gotta love 'em :P). I know the game has stats, skills and stuff but am confused about what all will be required to build the said character. So can anyone help me out with this?

Stats fully explained

More links than you can shake a stick at (some of those links lead to spoilers)

Casters want high Perception more than anything. You should start with 31 in Per and pump it up to 40 ASAP. Start with 14 Int also. Druid is the best axiom for casters. Later, raise int to 20. Since you're already a caster, it's no bother to raise wis to 20 and master divine magic as well.

Perception is the main stat for mana, Endurance for health. I'd start with a 14 End, and because I'm a pack rat, boost your Str after all your other stats are fixed just to increase carrying capacity.

Meditation is a weak skill and I wouldn't get it. Druid will help you far more.

Lastly, if you know you're going to get book 2, you might want to get it during their current sale. You might want to consider their Open Worlds bundle, good for the next 11 hours:

http://www.gog.com/promo/rpg_open_worlds

Hmm that was very useful.Thanks! Will keep those in mind. Also is alchemy any useful as a skill. Cause I want my char to be a little alchemy oriented and create my own potions and stuff.
Also the current sale that GOG's doing is great. The pack u suggested is nice but I already own the other games listed there.. So I'll go with just book 2 and maybe some other rpg, I guess witcher 2 cause I think GOG's fully updated version with bonus stuff is better than a retail version which I'll be required to update..

Yup. My caster had it as a matter of course, and while I didn't use it all the time, I did use it on occasion. I'll give a mini-spoiler and tell you that some potions come in grades (health 1, health 2, health 3). Stronger potions cost more, so a high enough alchemy skill can let you make them more cheaply than buying them. How often you use potions depends on your playstyle.

Can't comment on Witcher as I've never played them.

If you already own games in the pack, you can buy the remaining ones and still get the maximum discount (provided you own them all on GOG, not somewhere else). So even if you're only getting Book 2 you could still save a lot.

As for the Witcher, GOG provides a free backup copy of The Witcher or The Witcher 2 on GOG to anyone who has a valid CD key for them, so if you prefer a physical copy you can buy that, activate it on GOG, and then just download everything from GOG while still getting a physical manual etc. Alternatively just get it from GOG if you don't care about the physical stuff.

Thanks for that info :)...didn't know about that. I do have a witcher retail copy from way back but its the first regular version, not the enhanced edition with director's cut. So thought i'd just buy it here as it was on sale..

I think that might be good enough to get the backup GOG copy, which is the full Enhanced edition. Worth a try anyway:

http://www.gog.com/witcher/backup

Ah..thanks for the link :). I already bought witcher enhanced and have it in my account but after ur last post, started wondering how i'd get a backup copy...so thanks.