How does Bash work?

[newb365]

Anyone know how the game determines if you successfully Bash a chest open? I know it's based on the character's Strength, but does the level of the Trap/Lock matter?

I just finished the game with a Ranger Lord who could pick or disarm any chest he found. I want to play again without the thief skills, but I don't know if Bash is a reliable way to open chests.

Anyone played through the game using Bash only?

[Scottg]

Anyone know how the game determines if you successfully Bash a chest open? I know it's based on the character's Strength, but does the level of the Trap/Lock matter?

I just finished the game with a Ranger Lord who could pick or disarm any chest he found. I want to play again without the thief skills, but I don't know if Bash is a reliable way to open chests.

Anyone played through the game using Bash only?

Its the ONLY way I play.. but you could of course use crystal's of time to pick and disarm without thief skills.

Yes, the level of the chest makes it more difficult. IF you register a 30% chance or more for any chest then you can "bash" it.. it make take a while and you'll end up taking damage from the trap. Unless you have a *really* low health/vitality score then most chests will never present the problem of killing your character while trying to bash a chest.. UNLESS you are not up to full health (..and its like this throughout the game).

If you have armor on some of the damage will be reduced by wearing armor and/or if you have an immunity to that type of damage. On the other hand weaker armor (light armor in particular) will take some heavy damage and need repairs quickly.

Basic formula:

1. Up character strength almost continuously throughout the game (..it should be your dominant attribute both early-on and later as well.)

2. Your secondary attribute early-on should be Vitality (..perhaps a 2 strength to one vitality apportionment).

3. A strength of 35 should be able to open any chest in the sewers AND theater - well at least after a few tries. (..though I always avoid opening ANY chests in the sewers and theater in an effort to leave that area as quickly as possible.)

4. Always have full health when attempting to bash a chest.

5. Always have at least 3 heal potions or heal spells before attempting to bash a chest (..just in case your first or second attempt fails). Carry a LOT of healing spells or potions at all times if possible.

6. If you are wearing armor that might take high levels of damage and need serious repair (like light armor) then consider stripping down before you attempt to bash a chest. If its armor you don't care about then consider using just that armor for chest bashing (i.e change clothing). If you are using heavy armor or excellent medium armor then don't worry about it - and note that your armor will "soak" up a lot of damage. *IF* you want to open a level 12 chest then you will need excellent medium armor or better (and/or a enchanted items that protect against that type of damage). (..note - don't know if a fire protection spell will work against a fire protection trap.)

7. If the percentage register's about 32% success rate or better then figure that you can open it.. BUT it might take several tries (..more than 3). A figure in the 50's and above usually only takes a maximum of 3 tries before bashing success.

[darkpark]

I have never played the game and only used bashing for opening chests/doors. I have tried bashing a few times and out of those few times I had to make multiple attempts. Each time I took some damage, of course. I personally, wouldn't attempt to play through the game with bashing only since some of the more difficult chests have lethal (or lethal sounding from its name) traps. There is so much experience points to be had that you might as well invest them into locking picking and trap disarming. It's also nice that you find tons of lock picks which improve your chances of disarming a trap.

Of course, if you attempt to play through the game with bashing only than we'd be interested to hear about it.

[LupusArgentum]

You don't need to bash, and you don't need to spend adv points on picking... you can open ANY chest in the game with a crystal of time, regardless of your level of ability... it'll say you only have a 1% chance, but it's easy as hell when you warp time, especially if you're used to picking the chests normally with only a 35% chance.

[file read error]

My last Urgoth always used bash on chests, even those with 99% chance to disarm. The traps just don't do enough damage to stop a high-vitality Urgoth decked out in plate armor, and bashing is less tedious than waiting forever for that slooooooooooooooooooooooooooow marker to finally move to the next icon when defusing a trap. I tell you, if I try to disarm a 99% trap then I often fall asleep and forget to click the correct icon! So that urgoth was bash all the way. I think traps should have been made a lot more dangerous. For example, the "Death's Gaze" trap should play a sound file saying "Avada Kedavra!" if it goes off, and fire off a green beam that instantly kills the character. Now THAT would make disarming skills meaningful.

However, my Wylvan had level 6 disarm trap and enough different kinds of lockpicks so he could up his disarm chance to 75% or 50% for most chests, so I didn't have to wait forever because most high-level chests were less than 99% chance but I didn't have to resort to Bash except for that one level 12 chest in Khad's domain.