May I have some advice please?

kakashi59 · Post by **kakashi59** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 3:08 am

Well, Lionheart's a bit of a guessing game... and for a while I've been guessing the 'wrong' things. I've tried out various combinations of skills, but I always seem to pick up the 'wrong' ones, which results in me getting hammered and not being able to get very far at all in the game.

Can someone please suggest a character build that might result in me staying alive until the later portions of the game? (and not dying *quite* so often at any rate)

Ravager · Post by **Ravager** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 4:23 am

Well, partly it's going to depend on your style of combat, whether you prefer to use weapons or magic. I usually go for weapon skills and support that with bits of magic, Fortitude for example.
Continually putting points in the skill for the weapon type you manily use is important so you'll be able to continue hitting and doing sufficient damage to enemies.
The Fortitude skill is also very useful as you'll be able to heal your wounds rather than waiting for them to heal naturally or being forced to use a finite supply of potions.
Putting points into Ranged is invaluable at the end of the game, simply due to the type of encounters found there.
I often put points into the Smite and Divine Favour branches too, Combining those spells helps a Fighter type of character a lot too.
However, it is your choice and you should choose the kind of things that appeal to you, jut remember to keep a weapon skill stocked up with lots of points.

Fljotsdale · Post by **Fljotsdale** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 4:49 am

I agree with all that Ravager has said.

I would like to mention some other things, too. Race, for one. If you want a high magic character, Sylvant is the best option - plus, a Sylvant has some natural protections against disease and poison right from the start.

If you want a pure fighter, go for a Feralkin.

Human and Demokin are both very versatile - and a Demokin with the Forked Tongue racial trait can sweet-talk her/his way through some otherwise problematic encounters - provided you keep Diplomacy nicely topped up.

Which Faction you join also makes a difference. They give you bonuses to skills or other factors that are very helpful.
Also talk to the order of Saladin, outside the gates of Barcelona; you should get a helpful amulet that will also be VERY useful later on. If you take their quests, you will also recieve benefits.

Talk to Leonardo Da Vinci about the factions, especially the smaller factions. You should get useful information about a faction or Mages you can join. And the place where they are found is also very useful for obtaining a number of things, as well as quests.

Character Attributes are VERY IMPORTANT. The MOST inportant is AGILITY, because it affects a lot of skills. You should have the highest AGI score you can manage. MIGHT also counts for a lot in combat, especially if you prefer Melee combat. It is less important for Ranged combat.
INTELLIGENCE affects the number of skill points you get to spend when you level up, so don't have it too low. You get a basic 10 points, plus whatever your intelligence attribute is - so, if your INT is 6, you get 16 skill points to spend.
If you are tired of getting killed - make sure your ENDURANCE is at least 5.
And PERCEPTION helps you find traps and secret doors. 7 is fine.

One thing before I go... you ARE using your skill points every time you level up, aren't you? I once saw a question on another forum where the person didn't know how to do it, so didn't.

kakashi59 · Post by **kakashi59** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 9:53 pm

Thanks a lot. Between the two of you I have a great idea of how to build up my character. The problem I have with RPGs is that there are so many options to create characters that I feel like I absolutely have to try them all... so inevitably I end up restarting any particular game several times to try different classes/skill sets and in this case ways of building up the character so that I don't die too often. (of course, this lengthy experimentation is part of the fun, too ^^) So thanks for helping me narrow it down.

As an aside, I must compliment you two on your activity in this forum - your posts seem to be everywhere. Keep it up, it's actually quite inspiring, not to mention helpful.

kakashi59 · Post by **kakashi59** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 10:26 pm

So let's see,
Demokin : Forked Tongue
Divine Spirit
Tagged Skills: One-handed, Fortitude, Lockpick

S:4
P:7
E:5
C:5
I:6
A:9 (10)
L:5

Ascetic, Small Frame

Fighting: One-Handed - 27 (tagged)
Ranged - 22
Thieving/Diplomacy: Lockpick - 32 (tagged)
Diplomacy - 16
Divine: Fortitude - 11 (tagged)

So this is a basic summary of the character. My only worry is that his carry weight is a mear 75 lb. In addition to this, the combination of being visibly Tainted and Ascetic means that it'll take me awhile to amass the gold required to get into either the Knights Templar or the Inquisition, but I figure the bonus to speech and the extra 10 skill points are worth it.

Fljotsdale · Post by **Fljotsdale** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 7:52 am

Small frame IS very good for adding to AGI, and yes, lowering carryweight is an awkward penalty. However, you should be able to find or buy Boots of Loadbearing quite early in the game, which will help with that.

Ascetic is good for the one-off starting bonus of 10 to skill points. I almost always use it. (My other favourite Traits are Studious Tinkerer and Good Natured, depending mostly on what type I am playing).

Demokin will not affect prices TOO much. And only a couple of unimportant merchants with poor and highly priced goods will be difficult. I always ignore 'em and stick with Eduardo, Alvaro at the Crossroads, Weng Choi, and the Herbalist that Da Vinci mentions. There are also a couple in the Sewers, but they don't have much - a few potions, maybe, and cheap weapons, but ok to sell to.

I like your Tagged Skills. However - and I know Ravager won't agree with me! :laugh: - I would be inclined to stick with adding points to just ONE weapons skill so as to become excellent with it as rapidly as possible - and with your STR at just 4 you will need expertise as quickly as you can get it. Look out for Gauntlets of Heroic Strength, since they give +1 to STR .

Personally, with 4 STR I would have opted to Tag Ranged. Ranged becomes pretty much essential at one point..... though my current char has virtually no ranged skill at all because I am determined to go through the whole game with just fists.

(I'm building up SNEAK instead!)

Good luck!

Oh... and you could join the Wielders instead of Templars or Inquisition. You don't need gold to join. Just guts.

Ravager · Post by **Ravager** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 3:26 pm

[QUOTE=kakashi59]As an aside, I must compliment you two on your activity in this forum - your posts seem to be everywhere. Keep it up, it's actually quite inspiring, not to mention helpful.[/QUOTE]
Thanks, it's nice to know that our posts have that effect.

As for your character, personally I have my stats around the 5-7 mark usually, nothing as low as 4, certainly not Strength as I'm the kind of pack rat who can't leave good stuff behind.

Generally I don't Tag Thievery Skills as they can be enhanced with items found easily throughout the game and you can probably get away with 100 points in Find Traps and Pick Locks if you find enough good enhancement items/potions.

It should be relatively easy to amass the price for joining the Knights or Inquisition, there are lots of side-quests and you should find at least a few powerful items you won't ever need, so you can sell them.

Actually, I agree with specialising in one weapon type, I generally do that myself, only adding the odd point into another weapon until around halfway through the game. I'm not sure if I'd take it to the extent of putting all your skill points gained into that skill though. Fortitude and possibly Find Traps/ Pick Locks are very valuable too.
Using the Divine spells such as Weaken Enemies and Divine Favour (I think it's called that), can help a lot in fighting enemies you cannot hit much.
There are also items that provide +2 STR in the game, though those are rarer and more expensive.

The Wielders are a good faction to join (and you could also access the Dark Wielders faction if you join the Wielders). Talking to Da Vinci about the smaller city factions should get you started on that route.

kakashi59 · Post by **kakashi59** » Sun Jan 08, 2006 9:09 am

Yup, I always take Ascetic, and either Small Frame or Studious Tinkerer. I went with small frame this time to keep Agility high and to have a moderately high perception.

I've found that the speech skill comes in particularly handy, so I'm putting a few more points into diplomacy to try and keep it topped up.

I thought it might be tricky with just a strength of 4, but my agility of 10 gives a startlingly fast attack rate, so that makes up for an extra point of damage here and there. I'm more of a brawly kinda RPer, so I almost never use ranged weapons if I can help it... I'm saving daVinci's crossbow for later in the game though, unless anything better comes along.

Now that I think about it, tagging lockpick probably wasn't necessary, but I hate leaving behind a sea of 'too complex's. I just have to know what's inside!

I opted to join the Wielders (though I'm still in the process of getting the Darkwood T_T0), I also downloaded the bonus content so there's a delicious-looking (horrendously expensive) sword that I want to buy... I'll need all the gold I can get to afford it... >.<

Now that my Divine Fortitude is at a nice level I'm adding extra points into the other two branches, which makes for a nice series of buffs (and de-buffs for the enemies) I picked the 'educated' perk to help me round out these skills.

Fljotsdale · Post by **Fljotsdale** » Sun Jan 08, 2006 2:23 pm

Agility rocks! :laugh:

The Da Vinci crossbow is best early in the game, imo. You get better stuff quite soon.

Fortitude is good, isn't it? Ravager put me onto it. I always used Divine Smite (which is excellent!), but Fortitude has such great protective spells.

Educated is a good Perk.

I always take it.

Another good one, which I only just found out, is More Criticals. My crit chance jumped up 5 points from 9 to 14. And you can take it 3 times according to the manual. Gotta be good! Unfortunately, I took it for the first time at level 44, so I doubt I will get the chance to get it again.

kakashi59 · Post by **kakashi59** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 7:54 am

ah i see. it would be nice to have more critical hits. one of my most memorable lionheart moments involved one of those lesser brimstone reapers. i was totally out of healing potions and my mana was totally depleted so I couldn't use Heal. My health was disappearing rapidly. Just as the reaper lifted its bloodred limb to eject me back to my quick-save, my sword lashed across its groin, did 125% damage, and knocked it back allowing me to kill it. ahh, lionheart... one of the only games i know where you can smash a mace or slice a sword through the groin of an enemy. (although i'm surprised they can still stand up let alone fight after such a genital catastrophe)

Fljotsdale · Post by **Fljotsdale** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 5:59 pm

ROFL!! I have to agree!:laugh:

And even more amazing is that wasps appear to have groins as well, as do skeletons.

kakashi59 · Post by **kakashi59** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 5:09 am

lol!
what also amazes me is when you get a head strike on a daeva... how'd you do it? they're about twice as tall as you are!