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Having read a recent thread that started on the topic, I'm curious. Can someone who knows the game better post information on what the options are at the end of SoA, and what the rewards are?

Something along the lines of:

1. Test One - "PRIDE"
- choose evil, kill the dragon, get 10% magic resistance
- choose good, spare the dragon, get +2 Wisdom...

I'd heaps appreciate it! Thanks!

Ookkay

Pride test
- evil, kill the dragon, get 200000EXP (to protagonist), dragon's loot: Robe of Evil Archmagi, Ring of Prot +2, 20 Arrows of Dispelling, 3 9th level mage scrolls, dragon's worth 22000EXP
- good, don't fight the creature, get +20% fire, cold and electricity resistance


Fear Test
-evil, take the cloak, get +2 Constitution and (naturally) the Cloak of Bravery (fear immunity)
-good, don't take the cloak, get immunity to +1 and lesser weapons

Note: How you handle this after the dialogue doesn't affect the alignment of the deed. No need to fight those Elder Orbs, whatever you choose


Selfishness test
-good, left branch, lose 1 Dexterity, 2 MAX HP and 50000EXP, get +10% magic resistance
-evil, right branch, sacrifice a party member (unresurrectable on core rules & harder), gain -2 AC Bonus


Greed test
-good, give the sword to the genie (or pickpocket the tear off him, just DON'T KILL him), get +2 to all saving throws
-evil, kill the genie, get +15 HP

Note: If you either kill or pickpocket, you'll end up keeping Blackrazor +3, a superb long sword


Wrath test
-good, do not give up to the taint, get +1 Wisdom & Charisma
-evil, let the rage overcome you, get +2 Strength

Note: The strength bonus stacks over existing Boni (like Belts of Giant Strength)

If you take any of the evil options available, your alignment changes to Neutral Evil

Mine didn't

Thanks for the info, it was exactly what I was looking for (Sound of gears whirring as brain goes into full min-maxing mode)

Question:

What happens in the Selfishness Test if you get to the end as a Solo Protagonist?

Do they line up Imoen for the chop? Or does it resolve itself some other way?

Thanks again!

The Demon just bring in a peasant in place of the party member.

In the Selfishness Test, a party member is picked. If he/she dies, you can simply raise/resurrect. If you're solo, an anonymous peasant is chosen. He will be chunked and cannot be resurrected! ( Oops... )

I fought Sarevok, but received the damn +1 Wisdom/Charisma bonus! Had all the Baldurdash fixes installed...

You know what, after all this... I think I'm going to chose the GOOD path each time anyway..

Even minmaxing it, I can't see a lot of strengths in the EVIL powers you get.

1) Pride: Items are largely irrelevant by this stage of the game, so it comes down to 222K xp OR 20% ResistFire, 20% ResistCold, AND 20% ResistElectric. Since the Resists are cumulative with items, rings, spells etc. These powers are not to be sneezed at, *and* You can get XP anywhere, but you only get these godly powers once in your career.

So its actually a queston of:

• Evil: 220K xp

or

• Good: 3 x 20% Unique Resist

I choose GOOD.

2) Fear: Ignoring the cloak (see note above about items being not relevant). At this stage of the game, at a best case scenario, +2CON = +20hp. What possible effect is an extra 20hp going to make in any decent fight? And you can get extra HP from so many other ways (lots of spells and potions buff you with pure extra HP).

Whereas being immune to normal and +1 weapons will give you an edge in a *lot* of fights where a flurry of missile weapons are used against you... Or where you are swamped with low level creatures. It also allows you to ignore a large chunk of the creatures summoned by enemy summoning spells, which is a big bonus.

So its down to:

• Evil: 20hp

OR

• Good: Resist Normal/+1, and complete immunity to most low level summoned creatures.

So, err.. thats GOOD for me again there.

3. Selfish: I was a bit torn in two by this one. The extra AC is attractive, but not as attractive as 10% MR. The only ***** of it is the "pain" you pay to get the good side. The -2HP is ignorable at this level, as is the loss of 50K xp. That *hurts* knowing what you went through to earn it, but you're about to complete the game, so you will get it back...

So ditching the unimportant bits, this test comes down to:

• Good: -1DEX, +10% MR

or

• Evil: -2AC

If you can live with dex loss (because you either don't lose any bonuses), the MR is better than the AC, I think. I could see why a Rogue or a Fighter class would choose otherwise, especially with the 50% MR Fighter feat, or suffering the loss of some thieves skills... But as a spellcaster, I have to choose GOOD, again.

4. Greed: Setting aside the sword itself, which isn't really meteoric in stats, and the XP you get from toasting the Genie (satisfying as it is), this comes down to:

• Evil: 15hp

or

• Good: +2 to all saves

Thats me good again, dammit. The 15hp is a laughable amount at this level!

..and finally:

5. Wrath: Sarevok is annoying at the best and worst of times, but this test comes down to a simple class based choice. The Charisma bonus isn't even worth mentioning, since 99% of people play the game with the "Ring of Cheaper Items, oh and Human Influence" on their protagonist.

So, this comes down to - if you're any part Cleric, the +1WIS is worth a lot to you in the form of extra spell(s) depending on your current WIS. If you're not, or if you don't give a toss about spells anymore, you'll probably take the strength.

As there are so many girdles and bracers and items that give bonus strength, theres not as much of a requirement to get that +2 str as it is.. (Crom Faeyr comes to mind).

So this comes down to:

• Evil: +2 STR

or

• Good: +1 WIS/CHR

I choose GOOD again, dammit.

So thats it.. all this research to find out what my ostensibly Neutral character would most benefit from, and it turns out I'll be choosing good again for all 5 quests anyway.

Thats it, next time through... I'm playing a Fighter/Priest-of-Talos I think, starting out evil, staying evil

Thanks for the info....!

Ah... Good min/maxing. Allow me to donate my $0.02 (purely from a powergaming standpoint).

Pride

• Evil: You get to kill another Dragon, which has undeniable appeal, and the Ring of Protection and the scrolls are always nice. The XP stinks, especially since you're probably capped already anyway.
• Good: 20% lame resistances don't really float my boat. Elemental damage usually comes in very little amounts already, and the difference between 4 or 5 fire damage doesn't exactly make me all warm inside.

Not much either way.

Fear

• Evil: The cloak is worthless. The Con bonus looks nice on the character sheet, and is useful to warriors. Totally useless to non-warriors.
• Good: A very useful immunity (for one, Sarevok's Wraith can't touch you). Fun combo with Protection from Magical Weapons.

Good looks better.

Selfishness

• Evil: The party member can be missed for just the final battle, and will (I guess?) be back in ToB anyway. -2 AC means beign hit 10% less, which really makes a difference if your AC is already very low.
• Good: -1 Dex stinks! The Hit Points and XP are hardly noticed. 10% magic resistance means 10% less deaths due to Hold, Charm, petrification, Maze (when solo) and a whole slew of other nasty effects.

Both great. I'd take 10% magic resistance over -2 AC any time, but the point of Dex really adds up for almost every class. Not sure here.

Greed

• Evil: 15 HP is about 10% of what you have and therefore quite nice. Blackrazor is also quite nice, even in ToB. It's only +3, but its abilities will make a monster out of you.
• Good: +2 saving throws is not as nice as the 10% magic resistance from the Selfishness test, but still spares you 10% of deaths due to paralyzation, petrification and such.

Both nice, none smashing great. I'd go for the saves, unless I'd somehow feel that my character was born to wield Blackrazor.

Wrath

• Evil: Unless you're a (non-solo!) mage or you're sure you'll wield Crom Faeyr for the rest of your life, the +2 Strength is awesome! Of course, there's also the added benefit of getting to kick Sarevok's butt once more.
• Good: +1 Wisdom gets you a nice bonus spell if you're a priest, but absolutely nothing (except maybe 10 Lore... Yay!) if you're not. The point of Charisma is just about good for aesthetic purposes only.

If there's no Crom, I'll take the Strength any day.

All in all

Doesn't really matter that much any which way you go. Depends more on character type and player preference than anything else, as it should.

[ 09-27-2001: Message edited by: Xyx ]

Are you people not seeing what I'm saying?

The strength bonus from the Wrath test stacks with Girdles. You can have 24 STR with the Girdle of Fire Giant Strength.

You can have both the Blackrazor (which does rock) and the +2 to saves, if you pickpocket the genie.

My choices:

Pride:
If solo, GOOD, because the resistances will be useful, if not, EVIL, mostly because the mage scrolls.

Fear:
GOOD every time

Selfishness:
Xyx, I'm pretty sure you can't resurrect here on harder difficulties. This choice is the hardest and depends of protagonist's class. I'm almost saying: Kensai (dualled to anything but thief) takes -2C, others take the MR. But just almost...

Greed: Pickpocket the tear and keep the sword, if possible. Otherwise, give the sword away. The +2 saves is too nice

Wrath:
I agree with Xyx here.

What's the big deal if you can't resurrect in the Selfishness test? You can solo Irenicus, so you should certainly be able to kick his Slayer butt with a party of "only" five...

Pick-pocketing the Tear from the Djinni is rather difficult if you're soloing a non-Thief/Bard...

Yo every1! u guys got some great research here. I'd just like to suggest one thing. In the selfishness test, you can just change the difficulty for a few minutes and make the dead person ressurectable. If you think it's unbalanced, it could be balanced out by the fact that letting a member die and be ressurected resets their AI, so if they are your lover, they wil no longer like you cos ur a big meany

Hope this helps u guys

gosh ppl.. i didnt even NOTICE all these stuff.. i feel so dumb.. i mean.. i completed SoA like.. 5 times already not realising all these consequences.. although it was kinda of a shock for me when i checked out my protagonists' stats to see all the "added" stats!!! haha

Originally posted by Xyx:
<STRONG>What's the big deal if you can't resurrect in the Selfishness test? You can solo Irenicus, so you should certainly be able to kick his Slayer butt with a party of "only" five...

Pick-pocketing the Tear from the Djinni is rather difficult if you're soloing a non-Thief/Bard...</STRONG>

Yes, Jon is easy enough to win with any party combo, but you'll want to keep your whole party in ToB, right?

In fear test and not soloing, someone in the party is usually able to pickpoctet. Soloing, I see the following possibilities:

1) Thief of Bard type can pickpocket
2) Someone who can't use the sword or doesn't wan't to can give it away
3) A fighter/mage type can use a familiar for pickpocketing
4) Warrior types are left emptyhanded

Originally posted by tram:
<STRONG>Jon is easy enough to win with any party combo, but you'll want to keep your whole party in ToB, right?</STRONG>

Here I was thinking... (Yes, that happens to me sometimes ) Once you make it to ToB, you get to call/resurrect any NPC from the Abyssal Fortress, right? Does that include the unresurrectable "accidents"?

I haven't been able to call any dead people there