Dark Sun Series

[oklenny]

good game :/

anyone here know anything about the character creation process? i have no idea what to make
not familiar with dark sun's classes at all besides what i've played on that one textmud, armageddon (which hasn't helped me)

 

[Jaesun]

Did you read the manual?

 

[Admiral jimbob]

Give everyone at least two classes, three if you can be bothered; if the latter, making everyone a fighter cross is a good idea. At least two psionics is a good idea, mass dominate is ludicrously powerful.

 

[oklenny]

oh ye the manual. i'll go dl that. forgot about it

and yeah, already have the fighter cross down. what's the difference between the cleric spheres? i'm guessing water - healing

 

[oklenny]

oh ye the manual. i'll go dl that. forgot about it

so it seems all the class/sphere info isn't actually in the manual

 

[Excidium]

Get the manual from here: http://www.oldgames.sk/en/game/dark-sun-shattered-lands/

 

[Erebus]

There's some useful info to be found in other threads (the beginning of the LP, for instance).

My party had a half-giant fighter/psionicist, a dwarven fighter/thief/psionicist, an elven fighter/mage/psionicist and a thri-kreen fighter/druid/psionicist. It worked very well. By the end of the game, they had reached level 8 or 9 (the maximum) in each class.

As the Admiral says, Mass Dominate is extremely powerful. Ego Whip is also pretty nice.

I believe it's better to take a Druid rather than a Priest because they get access to higher-level healing spells.

 

[oklenny]

awesome manual link. for some reason the one i was using didn't have jack except for spoilers

There's some useful info to be found in other threads (the beginning of the LP, for instance).

My party had a half-giant fighter/psionicist, a dwarven fighter/thief/psionicist, an elven fighter/mage/psionicist and a thri-kreen fighter/druid/psionicist. It worked very well. By the end of the game, they had reached level 8 or 9 (the maximum) in each class.

As the Admiral says, Mass Dominate is extremely powerful. Ego Whip is also pretty nice.

I believe it's better to take a Druid rather than a Priest because they get access to higher-level healing spells.

ye, i'm using a druid for my party leader. charisma based spellpower is gud, especially since it seems to actually play a role in NPC convos

so going with a pure class isn't that beneficial? my thri-keen is a pure ranger and seems to be pretty buff

 

[Elwro]

you'll hit the level cap soon. With multi classing you can keep gaining levels until the end of the game.

Use a psionic, it fits well with the setting and not many games allow you to play one. It's a powerful class, too.

 

[Xor]

You'll need the manual, too. The game has one of those old-school piracy checks that asks you a question out of the manual after an hour or so of gameplay. If you can't answer it you can't continue with the game.

 

[Sceptic]

i'm guessing water - healing

Nope, Cosmos sphere is for healing. Clerics only gain Cosmos spells through 3rd level. Therefore clerics suck donkey balls.

Fighter/Druid and Fighter/Preserver are kinda essential. Pick a race with high wisdom (halfling or thri-kreen) for first, and one with high INT (elf) for second. Multiclassing your Druid and Preserver with a Fighter is absolutely essential to eliminate the weapon and armor restrictions these classes have. You can play around with the other slots, but as mentioned Psionics are ridiculously powerful and there's a large number of psionic bracelets (which act like mage scrolls - you use them to learn new psionic powers) throughout the game. Thieves are not essential, but they offer you the occasional extra way to solve a problem (as do psionicists), access to an otherwise inaccessible area early on (with one of the first magic weapons - though it's not anywhere near the best), and once you figure out how backstabbing works your thief will be your main melee damage dealer. In addition to the F/D and F/P you can take a Fighter/Psionicist and a Fighter/Thief, or a Gladiator and a Fighter/Psionicist/Thief, or drop the thief and take a Gladiator and a Fighter/Psionicist. All are viable combinations.

You can probably replace the Fighter part in most multiclasses with a Ranger. Not sure how much difference it makes on the long run. Probably not much since the game is capped at level 9, so your rangers won't really be casting any spells.

Best elemental sphere is probably Fire, as it'll give your druids a few extra offensive spells in a pinch. The other spheres kinda suck.

 

[Elwro]

For your first party, it may be safe to have everyone as Fighter / something. Although the game is generally easy...

 

[oklenny]

thanks sceptic, that party template works pretty gud

so far my experience with druids/clerics is pretty lame. casted entagle and it made one round take a near whole 30 mins :/

 

[Admiral jimbob]

That's where you stand back and spam arrows. Shattered Dongs sometimes plays a bit... wonky with area of effect spells like that, though, you sometimes have to circle completely around the area to the enemy side for your character to be able to hit them.

 

[kmonster]

Playing double class characters is a waste since you can easily get triple class characters to the level limit. It's only worth taking double class for half-giants who can't triple class.
But the game can be beaten with weaker parties too.

 

[oklenny]

this is my party set up so far:

elf preserver/fighter/thief
dwarf fighter/cleric
mantis ranger/psionicist
halfing gladiator

probably not the best temp, but i'm slaughtering everything with it

 

[oklenny]

this is my party set up so far:

elf preserver/fighter/thief
dwarf fighter/cleric
mantis ranger/psionicist
halfing gladiator

probably not the best temp, but i'm slaughtering everything with it

i did have a half giant glad that could wreck shit
but he permadied during one of the matches

how the hell does that happen?

 

[SerratedBiz]

Goddamn it, I hate these threads where you suck out the fun marrow of games by going "what's the optimest party"? Darksun is a pretty fun game you should just experience by diving in and playing it.

If you do the (admittedly thought-requiring) right thing and get your characters high stats for their professions, you're bound to win the game anyway. Maybe even be challenged by it, dunno.

 

[oklenny]

woa guys don't mess yourself

no one's powergaming here

 

[SkeleTony]

.

EDIT: What is this charisma casting bullshit? It's second edition. FYI psionic abilities are primarily based on Wis/Con with a little Int thrown in. Helps immensely when making a full Psionicist.

LOL! I was going to say that I think someone has gotten Dark Sun mixed up with IWD2 or BG2 or NWN or some shit.

 

[kmonster]

this is my party set up so far:

elf preserver/fighter/thief
dwarf fighter/cleric
mantis ranger/psionicist
halfing gladiator

probably not the best temp, but i'm slaughtering everything with it

i did have a half giant glad that could wreck shit
but he permadied during one of the matches

how the hell does that happen?

You're surprised that you can die in the arena ???
If one of your characters takes enough damage to get hitpoints far below zero he'll die instead of falling unconscious.

But the mighty "Powerword: Reload" spell will cure everything.

If you're playing ironman the level 5 druid spell "raise dead" can fix it, but your character will loose 1 con permanently, you don't have a druid in your party and just creating new characters to replace the fallen is a smart idea. You might find a place where even death can be cured without drawback later.

As long as your party is powerful enough to handle everything there's no need to change it, so just have fun.


One advice to avoid screwing up your game:

In a desert area you'll meet a lizardwoman searching for a new tribe. If you help her and she starts leaving the area don't leave the area or save before she left the map.

Sell the stuff you don't need, you don't need nonmagical spare weapons or armor or one use scrolls in your inventory for example. Too many items on a map might lead to a bug which lets items disappear.

 

[Pablosdog]

The Thrikeen inclusion is basically an "I win" button in terms of party building.

 

[Excidium]

But you can't skip the chance of having a giant bug your party, how many RPGs let you do that?

 

[oklenny]

In a desert area you'll meet a lizardwoman searching for a new tribe. If you help her and she starts leaving the area don't leave the area or save before she left the map.

wow

too late
is this gamebreaking or something?

 

[Elwro]

I finished the game twice without paying any attention to this. Play on.