First time player (whooha you are late man!)

[arachna]

Hi to all. i want to start my first game with a pure-melee-fighter char. i want to use only 2HSwords. which perks and skills do you advice?

and how many skill points (SPECIAL) did you get while playing? and if you remember in which encounters will i get those points?

thanks

[DragonPaladin]

Hi there

Alright - firstly we need to have a look at some basic things before jumping into weapon-specific stuff. Also this will contain some minor spoilers.

As you know, you can import your character along with with everything minus the inventory into new games, thus buliding him/her up as much as you want. The character cap is Level 70. Having said that, you'll want to gain as much skill points per level as possible, and this depends on your intelligence attribute. Therefore, those quests and items that add to your intelligence and skill points gained per level, are the ones you want to look for first. There are quests that reward you with an additional point to an attribute, but only some do so everytime you start a new game. For example, there is a Stargazer Perk that grants you +1 Perception when you are doing a quest for Leonardo DaVinci - However if you do the same quest again in a new game, it won't give you another Stargazer perk. On the other hand, there is another quest that invloves an Ifreet/Genie who grants you one wish - you can wish to be stronger, faster or smarter - this quest always grant you these rewards no matter how many times you do it and because of such quests as this, you can increase some of your attributes to the max and even over, the downside is that you have to play a new game everytime - but be patient, it is very much worth it - to conlude this point, the attributes that you will be able to max through quests (by playing new games) are your Strength, Intelligence, Agility and Luck. As for the other three attribute, the quests only reward you once. However, Endurance and Charisma are not big investments in my opinion, so you only need to watch your Perception. Getting back to the skill points issue, I would advise becoming an Inquisitor until you cap at Level 70, despite what you really want to go for, simply because one of the bonuses that you are rewarded with is gaining an additional skill point per level. This only remains if you remain an Inquisitor - however, this is a real strain not being able to play any other faction until you cap, which is a long time, so if 1 extra point is not all impressing then by all means forget the Inquisition, but again, and this is from experience, it is well worth the wait.

Alright, let's have a look at character build. My build started off like so: ST-7, PE-6, EN-5, CH-6, IN-7, AG-5, LK-5. I play a heavy melee and archer character with a good deal in the Divine magic also - so I wanted my strength at a good level as well as my intelligence for skill points. Yes, these attributes can maxed through quests, but a character with ST-5 and IN-5 is going to have much difficulty in the early game which is the best time frame for building some serious character foundation, especally when it comes to intelligence. Think of it, you will be able to add to your intelligence through some quest rewards, but you have to get to those quests first which are not early-game quests - it will take a while to get to them, and the meantime you will have already gained a few levels at a low intelligence granting you only some skill points. And even then, when you do reach the quest, complete it, and gain an additional 1 to INT, you now have to start a new game, and do everything over again to do that quest - That is why I put 7 into INT, to compensate a little for this and also for the fact that in the early-to-mid game I would already have equipment that adds to my intelligence and is enough to take it to 10, which is the game's max. PE-6, You don't need to invest to much here, even if you are going for the Sniper perk. 6 will get you through and is not as crucial early-game - it is a good basic entry level for finding traps and opening up perks, plus you will be able to up this attribute anyway. Endurance and Charisma are in my opinion not that big a deal. As for Agility and Luck, they are not so crucial either to the early-game and these you can max anyway. For you, who is playing a PURE melee-fighter, I would focus on ST, AG - However, ALL characters should also focus on INT.

I would like to advise you on your intentions with your character. You want to build a PURE two-handed sword melee-fighter. There are some flaws with this. Firstly, it is 2-handed, meaning you won't have all the advantages of a shield - this means, no extra magic auras, modifiers or extra AC which I think is vital, espcially for defense. All you are gaining is soome extra damage. I would advise playing a one-handed melee-fighter - your character needs all the help he can get, especially early-game, and in my experience, 2-handed fighters die more quickly especially when facing enemy archers or magicians, because of their ranged attack. Think of it like this, your character has to first walk over to the enemy archer or magician to hit them, all the while getting hit - by the time he gets there, he's already dead or very much near it. Now take a one-handed fighter with the same scenario - he will have a better chance at surviving because he has extra AC (For defense) and magic from his shield. This brings me to my next point - I would not focus my character into one Fighting discipline - after all, you are able to select 3 Tag skills. A Pure One-handed and even two-handed melee fighter are good, but still have a hard time against ranged enemies, even with a shield. Which is why I invested in a PURE Melee-Ranged Character - this is why I selected One-Handed and Ranged for my tag skills - Tag skills halve the spending needed in skills - For example, normally you would spend 6 skill point to up a skill by 1 if the skill is in the range of 176-225, but if it's a tagged skill, it will only cost half of that, which is 3. A tag skill, coupled with a good amount of skill-points-per-level, ensures that I end off my character with really high skills. That is why, it is so important that you acquire as much skill-points as possible. Because of this strategy that I employed, my character ended off with One-Handed-252 and Ranged-252. The game's max is 300 and I definitely could have maxed both, but I thought it was pointless since the increase in damage at this level would be minimal and I would have wasted so many skill points. Instead I used those extra skill points and invested them in other skills - Evasion-215 and Divine Magic-170. Also, one last point, if you are going to select any perks that add a good deal to your skill (e.g Divine Priviledge +15 to Divine Favor branch), do so as soon as possible. These "perk-points" act the same as skill points, meaning they will only buy as much as the same amount of skill points would buy you at higher levels - e.g: If you have Divine Favor at 180 and take the Divine Priviledge Perk, it will only add 7 (15/2 rounded down), not 15 since at that level you skill requires 2 points to go up by 1. Thus, use these type of perks early, because the skill points you would have spent can now be used later when they are really needed.

To be continued...

[DragonPaladin]

Continued....

Now to the perks. I think that Inherited Resistance is a decent perk - 10% to Poison and Desease resistances and 2 to their Threshhold. This perk is the obvious first choice if you plan on taking it, since it is only available if your character is level 2 or lower. The next to take is Educated - plus 2 skill points per level - it's obvious why this should be taken sooner rather than later. The next to take as soon as it is available is the Dark Majesty Perk, yet another skill point per level. Another perk worth looking at is the Superior Senses, +1 PE and 15 to Lockpick - not bad, but not necessary unless you need it. Another perk which I really think all characters should have is the Damage Resistance - you get to select this twice, each time adding 8% to Slashing, Crushing and Piercing damage - we're all going to run into damage sooner or later. That's all for a basic build. Other great perks are the 'Gain Attribute' Perks, but these should only be taken if you've exhausted all possibilities of raising an attribute and need to raise it higher, perhaps to qualify for another perk. Now, since you are playing a 2-handed fighter the perks to go for are: Two-Handed Weapon Finesse, Two-Handed Weapon Specialization. But for all melee-fighters the following perks should also be taken: Retribution, Master of Arms, Weapon Handling, and More Criticals (all three ranks). And that's it for perks. It is up to you what other perks you would like to take and depends on your character build. If you're an archer, you'll take perks for archers, it's not rocket-science - just make sure you select wisely, you can only take so much perks. Perks that you should NEVER take are the Here and Now, Swift Learner and Fortune Finder perks. Here and Now - You gained a level, congratulations, you have just wasted a perk and would have gained a level anyway. Swift Learner - again, you level up faster, but it's not like you would never get there without this perk. Fortune Finder - major waster - trust me, you will make plenty of money from selling all the items you won't use. Patience is the name of game here.

One more aspect to look at is Traits. I would go with Nasty Disposition and Renaissance Man - they cancel each other out with the increases and decrease in fighting disciplines - after all that, the net effect is +1 Intelligence, -10 ranged, -3AC. -3 AC is not a big deal, it will hardly do wonders for your character. As for the -10 Ranged, also, not a train smash, It's just 10 points and besides you are not playing ranged, but even if you were and are really worried about this, the extra point in Intelligence will up your skill points per level and this will compensate when you put points into Ranged. And if your Ranged is a tagged skill, well then there's absolute no cause for concern. Remember tagged skills halve the spending. So if you tag your ranged, it will go up faster, because you spend half of what you would normally to increase the skill.

Lastly, there are your Tagged skills - I have explained this and therefore it should be straight forward - they are your strengths, your 'easy', 'quick' skills. Here you tag whatever skills your character is going to use most. You are a 2-handed melee-fighter, so you will tag the 2-handed fighting discipline. With me, I tagged, one-handed, ranged and divine magic. You can choose 3, and this is why your character doesn't have to be PURE melee. That's why I advise you to focus on a little more. You already know why I chose one-handed and ranged for my character, but the reason why I also chose to invest in Divine magic is for support - My character is really good with fighting, but should the time come where I need an extra boost, I can always turn to my Divine Magic to add some Strength, Endurance, Perception or even some points in my finding skill. I prefer the Divine magic discipline over the others, simply because it offers support to my character and can bolster his performance when needed. The other magic disciplines are more offensive than supportive, and what's the use in investing in offensive magic if I already have a character that's got really high ranged damage - but this is purely my opinion. Normally in most cases, if you add some variety to your character, you end up thinning them out, weakening them - but in Lionheart, you can still have an extremely strong character with some variety.

Well that's all I can offer. I thought it best to let you know some basics and some of the mechanics involved and especially the do's and don'ts to help you plan better before you actually start playing. My apologies if I did not get very specific with the whole 2-handed weapon melee fighter, but there's not much to it - just focus a little more on that than everything else, make sure your perks support this and spend them wisely, and remember to invest in skill points too. And one last thing - BE PATIENT - Patience is the most important ingredient and will pay off handsomely.