Strannik said:
SkeleTony, thank you so much for your detailed answers! In the total lack of info for this very interesting game your help is invaluable.
Few more questions, if I may:
1. What is affected by stats Dexterity, Willpower, Charisma?
IIRC, Dex affects weapon skills, physical skills that rely on accuracy/hand-eye coordination(i.e. lockpicking, dodging, etc.). Willpower affects MPs(again IF I REMEMBER CORRECTLY!) and is the primary factor in how resistant one is to mental/emotional attacks such as charm spells, confusion etc.
Charisma is primarily about prices you get from merchants IIRC(it either affects your 'trading'/merchant skill(whatever that skill is called) or that skill further influences the prices you get.). There MAY be some other minor effect on things like mental attack spells(charm etc.) but I cannot say this is definitely true and even if it IS true the effect is minor as far as I can tell.
2. How exactly skills Blacksmith, Scribing, Alchemy work? Should I be buying all blank scrolls and empty potions?
Yes, "empty potions" is a bit of 'engrish' in the game to describe potion vials that do not yet have any potion-ingredients within them. "Empty scrolls" are the same for the "Scribing" skill IIRC. To use Alchemy I think you, with the character who will use the skill active, hit 'SHIFT + 'A' '(if this is wrong then the actual keypress will be listed in the help file in game).
To use 'Blacksmithing', have the character with the highest blacksmith skill WITH the 'broken' item in his inventory and hit 'SHIFT + B '. The screen will then shift to that character's inventory and you can then select the item you want to repair.
I will look up the keypresses for these skills when I log off of here and then edit this post with any corrections/additions.
3. Do Magic and Prayer skills affect only success chance of casting spells, or do they increase spell's power as well?
In a sense BOTH. Because by pressing the '.' key from within the spellcasting menu you can increase the power of the spell being cast(i.e. a healing spell will heal 'X' x the 'power' of the spell(as per it's description. So if your particular heal spell heals for '1-8' HP but you increase it's power by one, it will then heal for 2-16 HP).
To decrease the power level of a spell(i.e. to get it back to it's base cost and effect) use the ',' key from within the spellcasting menu.
Increasing a spell's power results in a penalty to the chance of successfully casting that spell so, for example if your prayer skill is such that you normally have a 98% chance to cast "summon minor animal", if you increase the power by one you may have like a 70% chance but you will summon TWO animals. You will of course lose the MPs by casting(and cost of MPs is multiplied by the power you cast the spell at) whether you succeed or not so increasing the power CAN be a risky proposal sometimes.
4. How does 2 weapon combat skill work? Is it affected by left/right/even - handedness of the character?
People have reported that handedness matters and I just assumed this to be true(I always put primary weapons in the 'Right' hand for right-handed PCs and left hand for left handed). Your skill in "Two Weapon Fighting"(or whatever that skill is called) determines your chance of getting a second strike/attack with the second weapon. So if you have two swords and your skill with 'two weapon fighting' is well over 100 then you will probably always get two swings. But your chance to hit the target is still dependent on the weapon skill in question(i.e. sword skill when using swords) and this chance is, IIRC decreased when using two weapons(not positive about this though).
I think the 'off hand' weapon has a slight decrease to the skill/chance to hit.
5. Is there any way to affect moves/turn your PCs get? (I think the default is 4 for everybody except golems that have 2)
Quickness items and 'Haste' spells. Most are always tempted to give their Quickness items(such as a +2 Ring of Quickness, which would grant +3 to the Move Value of the PC(Quickness = +1 while additional plusses increase this).) to their Golem PCs for obvious reasons.
I do not do this though and here is why:
One MELEE attack = ALL remaining Movement points. So if your golem has 9 MV, uses 3 to reach the target and then swings at him...his turn is still over with 5 MV wasted.
One ARCHERY attack = 4 Movement points(may be 6 or 8 for crossbows). So if your archer has 8 MV he can attack TWICE each turn.
Bard Songs = 4 Movement pts.(if I remember correctly).
So in my mind(and many others' minds who probably figured this stuff out before I did) giving your archers your Quickness items would be the priority, Bards(if you have one) secondary and melees tertiary.
I do not remember if or how casting may be affected by quickness/haste but I am thinking that casting a spell ends your turn just as melee attacks do.
6. Does PC's Alignment play any role in this game?
No. Never got implemented.
7. Say my Mage has scribed some damage spell on the blank scroll. Does it matter who will read this scroll? (both for damage purposes as well as for success chances)
I honestly do not remember if there is any skill associated with being able to read scrolls? I know that I always give scrolls to my 'smarter' PCs, just out of habit and I know that golems cannot read them at all but as far as I know trolls can. I believe scrolls are automatically successful but they are always of the 'basic' power level.
8. What will happen if I give char a weapon (bow for example) that he has no skill for? Will he suck horribly with it or not? Is it a good idea to give ranged weapon to all chars, so they would always have something to do at any turn in battle and would learn exps each turn?
Not really. Your casters, for example should only be carrying '+x (preferably eternium) weapons of Mana(for increased MPs) or resistances or what have you and only for the magical benefits. They should not be attacking anything except in desperate situations(usually in the early game) when they have few MPs and can literally do nothing else BUT firing a few arrows after MPs are gone.
I have never seen a character with NO SKILL ever hit anything with a weapon which he has no skill in.
9. Does distance to target affect the chances to hit for missile weapons and spells?
As far as I know, yes. Of course it is impossible to actually test this in any real way but I do remember Antti saying that penalties for range in ranged combat were implemented. However I do not think range affects chances to cast spells successfully. I.e. a fire bolt cast on an imp 20 tiles away has the same chance to hit as one cast at an imp two tiles away.
10. How valuable Lockpicking skill in this game and how high should player train it? I only have elven bard capable of Lockpicking, and his skill in it is about 7. Is it going to be a problem?
It depends on your POV. In reality you can get through the game with NO lockpicking skill by having your golem 'K'ick open all chests(saving before attempt and reloading save if items inside break). I remember one instance where I found a chest full of great potions and every single time I kicked it open, at least two of the potions were smashed, no matter how many re-loads I did. So from then on I always had someone put points into lockpicking, until it was at least over 150(because there are some tougher chests/doors later in the game IIRC).
Also note that the above episode with the chest full of potions may have been something random for all I know.
11. It looks like mages are unaffected by wearing heavy armor in this game. Is it correct?
They do not suffer penalties to casting based on armor or encumbrance as far as I remember(or if they do then it will show up on your 'Stats' screen as a '-xx' which will disappear when you remove the encumbering pieces). My mages and priests are always fairies so they never have anything heavier than leather but that is just me.
12. Status effects like "Wounded", "Bleeding" - how do they work and how dangerous are they in battle?
"Wounded" just means you have taken some damage.
"Bleeding" means that the PC is losing a few HPs per round and should be cured or bandaged ASAP.
13. It looks like there are several degrees of visibility for each char depending on the distance to the target (represented by increasingly darkened tiles) and char's ability to see in the dark. Does this visibility affect chances to hit for missile attacks and/or spells?
Only in that one cannot target what one cannot see(unless he memorizes the space that a monster is at and attacks that space 'blind' on his turn, which has the same penalties as attacking an invisible enemy AFAIR). This is what makes Orcs so valuable as Shamans in the game. They can summon and drop tons of little monsters into the laps of enemy casters/archers all day long and can target those annoying imps with firebolts and such.
I am not sure if there is a penalty to hit targets in partially obscure tiles.
14. "Tactics" settings only affect melee attacks of your characters, not their missile attacks and spells, correct? And also - does your DB (including points you get from "Defensive Tactics") only affect melee attacks against your characters, or does it also help to dodge incoming missiles and spells?
Thanks a lot!
I am not sure about this but I THINK that ALL attacks are affected by the tactics settings you choose and I know that DB bonuses/penalties apply normally, affecting all attacks.