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Displayed name	steelytan
Member number	10364
Title	Apprentice
Postcount	1
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Registered	Saturday, September 8 2007 07:00

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Queer Parry results in Avernum 4
steelytan Apprentice Member # 10364	written Saturday, September 8 2007 20:28 Profile #4 I have a question about reducing the damage my Nephil Archer is taking on Torment mode. I started out ramping up Dex, Bow, and then sharpshooter. By the end of the intro (Motrax Caves) I was pretty happy with the damage he was dealing out; what hits he took I could heal without difficulty. I knew that life was going to get tougher in the Chitrach warrens, so I started investing SP in strength and then gymnastics in the hopes that I would be able to somehow dodge Chitrach attacks. The idea was to be able to use light armor--the Mercuric Leather at one point, the sniper's vest later on. The problem was that I didn't seem to be able to do much to keep Chitrachs from hitting me (I know, it's torment mode, they'll hit more often), and then I was taking huge amounts of damage from poison. More than a couple of Chitrachs could get me into trouble. And while I invested SP in Gymnastics (and a few in hardness), I wasn't boosting sharpshooter, so he was becoming less effective as a fighter. (Meanwhile, my mage was dealing out huge amounts of damage with firebolt and lightning, and my priest was dealing huge damage with smite). Once I got to the great cave, I put on the sniper's vest. This came in handy for the battle with the vahatani in the basalt caverns: I was doing good damage to the crawlers in the basement, and I think that Gymnasics might have kept me alive when the vahatani mage delivered a lightning bolt spell that took out my elite warrior (who had plenty of parry ranks). But again, when I started fighting the wyrmkin in the Scree caves, my archer was getting hit every time and taking upwards of 50 pts of magical damage with each shot. Yes, he was wearing the sniper's vest, so I'm not that surprised, but I was hoping that with 5 or 6 ranks in gymnastics that he would have a chance of dodging at least some of those attacks. (My 4 points in hardness didn't seem to make a difference with the magical damage; I've read some posts that council against investing too much in this area, though). I was looking for a way of buffing his defensive capabilities that didn't require swords and shields because I like having him be able to use the Chronos spear. With fast on feet, he usually gets another action point, and 2-3 arrows per round are nice to have. I'm going to try starting again from the end of the intro section and instead boost dex and luck in the hopes of increasing my dodge chances. I wonder how two points of SP in luck plus Bragg's clover boots will help out versus the Chitrachs. I'm hoping that a smaller investment (compared to investing in gymnastics) in dex and luck will allow me to put more SP than before into bows and sharpshooter. Sure, I know that I probably can't get away from having a glass canon, especially if I'm eschewing shields, but I was wondering if people had any thoughts on whether gymnastics was more useful than dex + luck. I've seen people recommend gymnastics over parry, but I'm pretty happy with what parry has done for my elite warrior who, with his 90+ armor rating, only faces threats from magical attacks. Maybe I'll just have to reconcile myself to balancing out the character a bit by dropping the sniper's vest and equipping a massive breastplate once I get to the great cave. But--did anyone do some concrete tests comparing gymnastics with high dex? Cheers, Posts: 1 \| Registered: Saturday, September 8 2007 07:00

Author

Recent posts

Queer Parry results in Avernum 4

steelytan

Apprentice

Member # 10364

written Saturday, September 8 2007 20:28 Profile #4

I have a question about reducing the damage my Nephil Archer is taking on Torment mode.

I started out ramping up Dex, Bow, and then sharpshooter. By the end of the intro (Motrax Caves) I was pretty happy with the damage he was dealing out; what hits he took I could heal without difficulty.

I knew that life was going to get tougher in the Chitrach warrens, so I started investing SP in strength and then gymnastics in the hopes that I would be able to somehow dodge Chitrach attacks. The idea was to be able to use light armor--the Mercuric Leather at one point, the sniper's vest later on.

The problem was that I didn't seem to be able to do much to keep Chitrachs from hitting me (I know, it's torment mode, they'll hit more often), and then I was taking huge amounts of damage from poison. More than a couple of Chitrachs could get me into trouble. And while I invested SP in Gymnastics (and a few in hardness), I wasn't boosting sharpshooter, so he was becoming less effective as a fighter. (Meanwhile, my mage was dealing out huge amounts of damage with firebolt and lightning, and my priest was dealing huge damage with smite).

Once I got to the great cave, I put on the sniper's vest. This came in handy for the battle with the vahatani in the basalt caverns: I was doing good damage to the crawlers in the basement, and I think that Gymnasics might have kept me alive when the vahatani mage delivered a lightning bolt spell that took out my elite warrior (who had plenty of parry ranks).

But again, when I started fighting the wyrmkin in the Scree caves, my archer was getting hit every time and taking upwards of 50 pts of magical damage with each shot. Yes, he was wearing the sniper's vest, so I'm not that surprised, but I was hoping that with 5 or 6 ranks in gymnastics that he would have a chance of dodging at least some of those attacks. (My 4 points in hardness didn't seem to make a difference with the magical damage; I've read some posts that council against investing too much in this area, though).

I was looking for a way of buffing his defensive capabilities that didn't require swords and shields because I like having him be able to use the Chronos spear. With fast on feet, he usually gets another action point, and 2-3 arrows per round are nice to have.

I'm going to try starting again from the end of the intro section and instead boost dex and luck in the hopes of increasing my dodge chances. I wonder how two points of SP in luck plus Bragg's clover boots will help out versus the Chitrachs. I'm hoping that a smaller investment (compared to investing in gymnastics) in dex and luck will allow me to put more SP than before into bows and sharpshooter.

Sure, I know that I probably can't get away from having a glass canon, especially if I'm eschewing shields, but I was wondering if people had any thoughts on whether gymnastics was more useful than dex + luck. I've seen people recommend gymnastics over parry, but I'm pretty happy with what parry has done for my elite warrior who, with his 90+ armor rating, only faces threats from magical attacks.

Maybe I'll just have to reconcile myself to balancing out the character a bit by dropping the sniper's vest and equipping a massive breastplate once I get to the great cave. But--did anyone do some concrete tests comparing gymnastics with high dex?

Cheers,

Posts: 1 | Registered: Saturday, September 8 2007 07:00