GameBanshee Forums

How is XP distributed throughout the party, and among those who are at camp? Will people at camp auto level up, or will they wait forever for me to choose their new stats and skills?

What happens with XP if I play solo? Do I get more?

I'm going to see how far I can get on Nightmare as a solo Arcane Warrior / Blood Mage. I'll only use other party members if needed by quests, and I might abuse other party members for their crafting skills.

Once I get stuck, I'll drop the difficulty down to Hard, or, god forbid, Normal.

Mister Bean wrote:How is XP distributed throughout the party, and among those who are at camp? Will people at camp auto level up, or will they wait forever for me to choose their new stats and skills?

Same system as that first used in KotoR: if you leave party members behind, they auto-level as soon as you add them back into your party, and you get to distribute points, etc.

Spoilerish


Maybe you know already but the Urn of Sacred Ashes quest which is central to the plot needs a full party

fable wrote:Same system as that first used in KotoR: if you leave party members behind, they auto-level as soon as you add them back into your party, and you get to distribute points, etc.

Can you manually level them at Camp? I'd really like to leave them behind for most of the game, but retain control over their skill progression.

@jklinders: yes, and for a few other quests, too. I will be as solo as I can be, but I'll probably make an exception for crafting.

Mister Bean wrote:Can you manually level them at Camp? I'd really like to leave them behind for most of the game, but retain control over their skill progression.

Yes, just as in KotoR. You go to camp, and will find all your party members, there. When you decide to leave, you'll get the chance to figure whom you want to take with you. They will not level while in camp, only when you add them to the party and exit the camp module, back into the "real world" of the game.

Bear in mind that the game is considerably more difficult than the BG series, or the incredibly inept AI of KotoR. Going solo could prove trying.

In some locations you can change your party whilst not at the camp, such as in Redcliffe Village. So you can swap party members in a safe place, level them up, then swap back to your original members and continue playing without having to switch areas.

Ah, good. I'm looking forward to the challenge, impossible or not.

As for my character, he's Level 5 and he just finished his Joining. He has Blizzard, Stone Fist, and Arcane Shield. I think my next spells will be the Glyph series, which I will achieve at L9. Then I can learn Animate Dead at L13, and Blood Control at L16 (using one Tome at L14). For my last line of spells... ???

You'll note I completely left out Fire and Lightning. Eek. Should I choose Lightning or Fireball instead of Animate Dead?

Stats are:
(Str Dex Wil Mag Cun Con)
10 10 16 34 11 10
If I were to add the quest-related boni that I'll go grab asap:
14 14 20 36 16 12
At level 20:
14 14 30 66 16 20

Or should that be
14 14 35 51 16 30 ?
Is it a waste to give Con to a solo Arcane Warrior?

Regarding Willpower, I will be chugging homebrew Lyrium potions like there's no tomorrow. So I need enough Mana to support Rock Armor and Arcane Shield, plus enough to cycle through my offensive spells before hitting the bottle.

Obviously, I'm still at Ostagar, so the soloing has not yet begun, but I'm enjoying my character's awesome power already. My previous magi have been less focused on their goals.

One thing about the companions is that they will level to one below the PC's current level. For instance, if your PC is level 8 and most of the NPCs are level 7, and your PC levels up to level 9, then upon returning to your camp or swapping the level 7 NPCs out, ALL of them will automatically level up to level 8.

As for the "auto-level" (auto-distribution of stats), that is entirely your choice.

As for spells, the Cold Primal line is definitely a must, but the Force Field/Crushing Prison line can also be used and abused for some good crowd control in fights with elites/bosses. I also personally like Affliction Hex (makes your damage spells more effective) and the entire Horror/Sleep line for crowd control, especially for ranged enemies.