note: I play in german, so I am not sure how things are called in the english version

Gothic 1:
You get enough points to get everything with one exception:
You have to choose if you want to master 2-hand-swords or magic.

I learned everything except magic first while having enough str and dex to use the best weapon you have.
Than I tried to learn magic, but in the end I had not enough points to learn level6 magic.
And I almost never used magic at all (except "destroy undead")
I was able to beat the game without problems, but it would have been better to put more points in str and dex than to learn magic.

question: When fighting weak enemies, every hit damages them. Medium enemies take sometimes damage and sometimes not. Strong enemies take damage only at a critical hit.
What determins if normal hits do damage or not?
Your strengh or dex vealue?
I think this is only true for melee combat.
On the other hand, you can damage skelletons with critical ranged attacs, but not with normal ones.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------

Gothic 2

I started a new game and thought about this char
1. - Increase your 1-hand melee skill to 34
2. - Increase your strengh to 34 (so you do some damage with your attacs)
3. - Increase bow skill and dex to 34
4. - While doing 1 - 3, learn thieving skills and and getting skins from enemies as soon as you can
5. - Increase bow and dex to 64
6. - start to use stat boosting things and learn language of the ancients and potions
7. - Use your points to boost bow to 100 and dex as high as possible

final stats: 1 hand: 60+ skill, bow 100, dex as high as possible, use master rapier and best bow
tactic: join mercenaries on Onars farm (long time ago I finished the game as paladin), use melee for weak enemies (not wasting ammo) and use bows against hard enemies.

questions:
- does this sound like a good build?
- Do you need to learn weaker potions in order to learn potions that raise stats permanently?

Right now I have 1h and str 34 and know skins and sneaking. I try to explore, kill and do quests as much as possible before joining a group.

I love Gothic 1+2 (+ Risen 1) because only your skill in killing enemies determins where you can go and where not. No invisible walls and no level scaling (shame on you, Oblivion). There are very little games were you really feel how you get stronger. In the beginning a wolf is a deadly threat and in the end you beat an army of orcs without starting to sweat.

Edit: I also love that it is one big world without loading screens. The Elder Scrolls (I have played morrowind,
oblivion and skyrim) have also big worlds, but you load every house/cave/dungeon you enter. The loading screen reminds you that it is a game and disturbes the immersion.

Weapon damage calculation depends on the weapon type and also varies between games; refer to WernerTWC's formulas for the specifics.

Playing as a pure magician in pretty fun in these games. Sounds like you haven't tried that yet. Especially in G2 and Risen there are lots of additional missions in order to join the monastaries.

The only problem with being a magician in G2 is that the Claw of Beliar turns into spell runes instead of a sword, and the runes are very disappointing.

Ok, I must admit that I like fighters more than mages.
Somehow I am afraid that that I get out of mana during a fight and I have to fight an orc with a wooden stick.
My first char is almost always something fighter like.

exceptions: - in arcanum I played somebody with 100% magic to spam harm and firelash. But she could also use a sword because I don´t want to stand around forever until my stamina recovers.
- After several playthroughs I started baldurs gate 1+2 (as BGT) as gnome fighter/illusionist. This is the first time my main char was something arcane. But I stopped playing halfway BG2. I know almost every quest and monster of this game and BGT makes it even easier.

Of course, in a game with a party I have a mage with me because they are very useful.

Back to gothic1+2 and risen1: In these games you have to kill a lot of enemies without magic before you can learn any magic at all. So playing a mage there must feel like dual classing in BG.

Right now I have 34 str, dex and 1hand plus all thieving skills and I want to raise bow next. I have not joined a guild yet and there are still some quest and monsters to do before I must join something. Maybe its not to late to be a mage. But why? You do lots of ranged damage with good bow+dex and you can always use scrolls if needed.

In gothic1 I never felt the need to use magic (except destroy undead). From chapter4 onwards I killed everything with a crossbow before it came close to me. If there were several enemies, shoot until they come close, then run away until they do not follow you anamore and shoot again. With magic it would be same I guess. Drawing a sword takes so long when a group of orcs charges at you.

Edit: I have read somewhere that your cost of learning weapons increases if you become a mage in gothic2.
Is this true? If not I may become a mage, but stay a ranger and use magic only if something gives me problems when using a bow. Its always good to have another option.

most importand: I play with night of the raven.

Edit2: When playing a mage in gothic2, do I have to learn all magic to progress in the game?
I have read you need many LP to learn all circles and runes, but there are not many spells you actually use.

By the way: I completely ignored the claw of beliar in my first playthrough and I had no problems at all.

Sort of. You have to complete a bunch of different quests before you're allowed to learn magic, but these quests are pretty good. Especially in Risen, the Monestary quests are some of the best ones in the game. The challenge is to save up lots of Learning Points for when you finally get access to good runes, so how much you want to spend on other skills is up to you. With the best runes (Fire Rain, for example) you can wipe out large groups of enemies all at once. Yes I believe that's true, so you'll want to train that skill as high as you dare before you join the Monestary, but once you're a magician you train mana for half the cost of other factions, so you'll want to save LPs to dump into mana after you join. No, you can pick the best runes and skip the others. Yes, the Claw is not necessary. For a magician it's probably best just to destroy it for the experience. You can't use it as a weapon because it turns into really disappointing runes.

Than it might be to late to become a mage.
I am level 11, have 34 str, dex and 1h, 18 bow and all thieving skills.
It would be very hard to get dex+bow up to 64 and learn all magic things before
becoming a mage. I have beaten most easy enemies already and only a few quests left.
Even if the higher costs start only when becoming a full mage and not by becoming a novice (I read this but I am not sure)

If I play it again I could skip melee and strengh completely, start with dex and bow and have more points for magic later. But this would give me an extremely hard start in this game. And the beginning is the hardest part of this game already.
I also killed most enemies with melee. If I have to kill them with a bow I need to buy lots of arrows.

I thought a lot and came to a conclusion:

Gothic 2:
A guide for g2 said that mage+bow fighter is good because high dex gives you lots of items+exp via pickpocket and ranged weapons always do max damage.
But magic is also high ranged damage.

So it would be better to combine melee (either 1h or 2h, as you like) and magic.
This way you kill easy enemies with your sword and hard ones with magic.
It is relatively easy to decide which spells you want to learn.
So your only hard choice is how to split your LP between melee/str and mana points.

Now I have spent points in all fighting (1h, str, dex, bow) so I will stay a warrior.

But when I play risen 1 I will try a mage (with swords as weapon for the start).
Right now I play the g1,g2, risen1 "trilogy".

I finished gothic3 once. The world is huge, but it feels boring compared to the other 3.
There is very little story in g3. You come to the continent, make quests until one fraction likes you a lot and then you get the final task.

That sounds right. You can play pure magician, but I think it's quite difficult. I've never done it.

Bow and magic is a little redundant, because bow is a ranged attack, and magic also gives you ranged attacks. I just finished playing Risen a few weeks ago. That inspired me to play Gothic 1 and 2 again. I played Gothic 3 after that, but I agree with you, it's boring. I got through most of it, but quit before the end.

Of all the games, Risen is the best one to play a magician, so your plan sounds like a good one.

Playing a magician in Gothic or Gothic II is quite hard, especially if you are playing the second title with the Add-on.
I played them both many times and tried every faction, every combination of weapons and skills, but magic is the fun way to go, although I would recommend to play the games as a warrior the first time, since it is an absolute requirement to spend your skill points the right way, otherwise your magician will be defeated by a goblin (I have seen it happen).

I have seen in a list for gothic 2, that good spells need tons of mana.
Does it mean a mage goes like that:

There is a powerful monster:
option 1: you cast 1 or 2 spells and the monster is dead. Than you have to eat or sleep to cast again.
option 2: you cast 1 or 2 spells and something is still alive and you are out of mana.
this leads to 2a: you know how to use a sword and finish it off
or 2b: run

example: destroy undead: g1 5mana, g2 150 mana
Looks like you need to spend all of your LP into circles, spells and mana to be a good mage in g2.

Yes, if you intend to play as a pure magician, you will have to spend all points into mana, runes, alchemy and circles. The few points left can be used for dexterity and thief stuff, but that is it.
You will not wield a heavy sword or anything.
This makes it hard at the beginning, especially for first-timers, but at the end of the game you will crush your enemies like cockroaches.
But hey, of course you can use melee first, it will not hurt. And there is enough mana in order to fight, running away will become less and less a problem.

This is true, especially the part about the kakkerlakken.

The trick some people use in G2NotR is to acquire a Transform into Dragon Snapper scroll (there's one near the city somewhere - I can't remember the exact location), use it, and go nuts killing things all over the island until you gain a few levels.

Also, if you stick to quests and let NPCs guide you places, you can quite easily get to level 6 (or even higher) without ever having to fight.

UPDATE:
I am still playing g2.
I was lv 14 at the end of chapter 1 and lv 37 at the end of chapter2.
I killed all enemies (except dragons and the undead that appear when you open the center chest in the crypt near Onars farm) during chapter 2. I also finished the complete NotR part this way.
Now I seek all seekers and re visit all merchants before talking to some importand people.

Hm, it seems you are having fun :).
Arrgh, now I feel the urge to play it even once again too :D.