The mule or a ranged fighter?

fable · Post by **fable** » Sat Aug 27, 2005 9:48 pm

Decisions, decisions. I'm on mercenary level, with a combat mage PC specializing in lightning, and the NPC nature mage (name forgotten) whom I'm training in ice magic. I've acquired the dire wolf, which leaves one slot. Should I stick with the mule, or move to a ranged fighter, when one eventually shows up? Thoughts?

swcarter · Post by **swcarter** » Sun Aug 28, 2005 12:09 am

I've been playing with pets in the Veteran difficulty level, but I haven't tried the mule yet. Does it do much (or anything?) in combat? Since you can teleport back to town at any time, mules don't seem a great choice to use in the field. If you're still plugging along in Act 1, then a ranged character named Vix should be coming up, and I'd go with him.

SWC

fable · Post by **fable** » Sun Aug 28, 2005 7:10 am

The mule has quite a kick, long before it gets its Staggering Kick power. I've yet to see if the wolf's bite is as good as the mule's kick. If it is, I suspect the mule will go.

The mule also acquires one additional inventory page per growth level, for a total, apparently, of five--though this doesn't interest me very much, since you can always cast a Summon Teleport spell to sell things. (I like to keep some some extra items around, but I haven't reached a point where I've found so much excellent stuff that I've run out of space.)

There's also the advantage that gained experience is moved from pets to the rest of your party.

To the other side, a party NPC can switch out items and spells, take individual paths of growth, and frequently comes with a special quest. I suppose the poorly written dialog and conversation could be considered a negative, but I'll let that slide.

swcarter · Post by **swcarter** » Sun Aug 28, 2005 1:01 pm

The dire wolf's bite starts out at 180-300 and then grows a little from there. My wolf is almost mature, and I think its bite is around 200-320 now.

SWC

Hegi · Post by **Hegi** » Sun Aug 28, 2005 3:39 pm

I used Dark Naiad (or something like that, little fairy). It has fine beam attack which depends on intelligence, and has moderate damage. And has also cool healing spell

fable · Post by **fable** » Sun Aug 28, 2005 3:56 pm

Not when I'm looking for, Hegi. I want opinions about going with either the pack mule, or a ranged NPC.

fable · Post by **fable** » Mon Aug 29, 2005 5:01 pm

I've decided to go with Vix. The damage he does even with a really good bow doesn't seem to come near my combat mage or nature mage (the latter focused on ice), but Aimed Shot is a great power. I expect he'll get better as his weapons do, while we level.