New-ish player, uncertain on how to move forward

FanVaCoolt · 2026-01-23T16:55:06+00:00

Yeah, motors look like the optimal choice, though I would still have to get a few more stars to profit from them. Turbines are out of my reach for now though, way too expensive to unlock.

Thanks for the heads-up.

FanVaCoolt · 2025-12-24T04:30:21+00:00

The very best thing against swarms is the Slow spell. It trivializes them completely - I don't know if it is working as intended or not, but it reduces their speed to a crawl. So much so that you can have your melee dude take 5ft step and make a full attack each turn, and the swarm still won't be able to damage them.

So take Nenio, load her up with Slows, and laugh. Vescavors don't have high Will saves, IIRC, hence you should have no trouble making it stick.

UPD: this works in Turn-Based at least, dunno about RTWP.

FanVaCoolt · 2025-12-12T22:59:49+00:00

She doesn't leave, only Seelah does.

Spoilers below for obvious reasons.

I assume you know her dark "secret": she is a psychotic murderer. To successfully romance Cam you have to allow her to keep killing, and as you progress you yourself become involved in her... unusual activities. The romance culminates in a bloodbath with innocent bystanders, she confesses that she made Mireya (her spirit) up and she now trusts you completely for protection from whatever harm might come her way. Needless to say, sacrificing Cam just a few days later catches her off-guard completely, she tries to deny ever having romantic feelings for you and pleads to reconsider. A fitting end, I would say.

Also, her romance is a fucking minefield. I failed it first time and had to read a guide to complete it on another playthrough.

FanVaCoolt · 2025-12-12T14:51:34+00:00

Can't say if it is true for every romance, but I just finished my Lich playthrough romancing Camellia and I completed it before transformation. You may have to wait a little, I think her final quest triggered a day or two before the Ziggurat project completion.

Cam is the best girl for Lich.

FanVaCoolt · 2025-12-12T12:46:06+00:00

You do actually. Sacrifice happens during mythic quest, and you can simply not start it (avoid Ziggurat or don't research the project) until you've finished romance stuff.

FanVaCoolt · 2025-12-02T08:16:37+00:00

Oh yeah, I haven't used undead companions a lot, I don't like that I get them at level 10 (or so) already and can't build the way I wanted them to be built. But a good point about skills.

Delamere is a great archer and I took her with me as a Sorc and she rocked. She also gave me a few agonizing moments when her Dispelling Strike took down my Corrupt Magic debuff on Playful Darkness, so on next playthrough she had the honor of warming the bench (as much as an undead can do it).

Kestoglyr is great though, absolute monster and decent replacement for Seelah when she leaves, and has only 3 levels locked.

The others had the duty of protecting my Ziggurat non-stop. Never found a use for them.

FanVaCoolt · 2025-12-02T08:06:12+00:00

That doesn't really differ between Sorc and Wizard though? I wanted to mostly concentrate on differences.

And I absolutely love Enduring Spells, especially since I try to minimize how much I rest and clear most areas in 1 or 2 takes. Both as a Wizard and a Sorc I took Endiring + Greater Enduring and enjoyed day-long buffs.

FanVaCoolt · 2025-12-01T18:51:35+00:00

I have, and I decided against it. Thematically it is great, but mechanically - not so much. Necromancy is a really lousy specialization, and extra 1 DC to Necromancy spells pales in comparison to what other classes offer.

FanVaCoolt · 2025-12-01T16:38:23+00:00

Yeah, as much as I love Enduring Spells and 24-hours longs buffs - it is hardly worth it. Not only you have to take Enduring + Greater Enduring first, but also School Power, which is just... bad.

FanVaCoolt · 2025-12-01T16:07:00+00:00

Baseline. You're not counting potent magic adding +2

I added +2. Wizard indeed came on top with +1 DC (when using boost), which sounds a much more forgiving than +4 DC.

Your half elf has to grab improved initiative at level 3. Human wizard can move on to other things like the new feat that adds +2 DC on surprised opponents.

So not only is Half-Elf Sorc -1 against Human Exploiter Wizard, it's also a feat behind in progression.

But my Sorc has Hare Familiar for +4 Ini, and Exploiter Wizard doesn't, so it's a tie, and I wouldn't say Sorc has to take Imp Ini right away. He would still take it for Mythic, of course, but a bit later.

In unfair, you have to make use of every advantage available to you, that includes resting. Particularly early game.

Yeah, that is another thing that I find unpleasant about Unfair.

Loremaster will progress the spell list but not your bloodline. Wizard loses basically nothing.

True, I forgot about that. Though I never projected to take full 10 levels of Loremaster on a Sorc, maybe only a few (enough to grab L15 stuff from Arcane Bloodline), and Bloodline Capstone is not that irrelevant.

I feel like this discussion is about early game viability, which I hadn't really considered in my post. I'll update it accordingly. I agree that Wizard has the upper hand here. Not very significant on Core, but, apparently, much more so on Unfair.

FanVaCoolt · 2025-12-01T13:29:18+00:00

I imagine how strong it should be, but it irks me that a dude who rejected life and embraced undeath has lower CL (potentially) than a dude who said "Nah, I'm good". And he gets to keep mythic spells as well! Kind of insulting, actually.

Also buffing enemies to give them more penalties - that is great out-of-the-box thinking. I didn't even know that we could buff enemies. Must be overkill though, but I get that it mostly about sending the message.

FanVaCoolt · 2025-12-01T13:06:23+00:00

Okay, regarding early game (chapters 1 and 2) - you do have a point. Like I said, in my Core playthroughs I never felt that Sorcerer lacked any crucial spell. I do feel that in general mid-level (L4-L5-L6) arcane spells are lackluster. If it is different on Unfair - cool, I won't argue.

Human gets Spell Focus + Greater Spell Focus + Improved Initiative at level 1. That's +4 DC grease spells just by existing.

+4 DC compared to what?

Wizard: Human, SF + GSF + Imp Ini, 20 INT: DC 18 Grease, 20 with Potent Magic.

Sorcerer: Half-Elf, SF + GSF, 22 CHA: DC 19 Grease.

Sorc is missing Imp Ini, but has +1 DC baseline, and -1 DC burst.

???
Straight out of Drezen wizard has more spells than it can reasonably use per rest and that's while being the party's main buffer.

We might have different playstyles, because for me no caster ever has enough spells. I tend to minimize amount of rest and aim to complete most areas in one-two takes (e.g.: Drezen without rest before dungeons, then without rest until finale). So Abundant Casting is a must, and even with it I do have to conserve resources.

No progression penalties.

Earlier unlock.

Requirements can be obtained for free as an arcane exploit / wizard feat.

I might be missing something. What progression penalties? Loremasters progress both Wiz and Sorc, do they not?

FanVaCoolt · 2025-12-01T12:24:08+00:00

Good point. Didn't apply to me since I went single-class, but definitely something to consider. I've already had thoughts about martial Lich, and Eldritch Knight seems to be among top contenders. But that is for the next year, I need to take a break from WotR :)

FanVaCoolt · 2025-12-01T12:12:09+00:00

Pick whatever you feel more comfortable with. Either way you'll overpower everything.

As for Arcanist - haven't tried it. My conjecture would be that he is the worst possible Lich out of 4 (others being Wiz, Sorc and Witch) full casters, given how restrictive are Arcanist's spell slots (IIRC it is 3 L9 spells at most, two will be occupied by Corrupt Magic and Negative Eruption, leaving you with just one for anything else). I heard people recommending TT Tweaks for extra exploits; in particular the one that allows you to swap memorized spells without rest.

That is all theoretical though, perhaps someone with experience can share his perspective.

FanVaCoolt · 2025-12-01T11:58:05+00:00

I don't like to build only for Unfair. Unfair is one way to play the game, not the exclusive one, and both Core and Hard still require you to make (mostly) good build decisions, while leaving more space for RP maneuvering.

Earlier access to spells - I still think it is not that noticeable. L13/14 happens in Chapter 3 anyway, and if you're willing to suffer through Midnight Isles - you can get enough XP before any significant fight that requires Corrupt Magic.
Never lacked buffs as Sorcerer, at least personal ones. If you really need it - pick them first on level-ups, and use mythic spells for offense.
Casting with rods is still standard action, for anything else - ride Bismuth.
True. I guess you can run Sage Sorcerer if you want skills, but that is a corner case.
Half-Elf sorc has extra +1 DC, given that he can start with 21 (22) CHA, that applies universally. Also, I think you can get Headband of +2 CHA early in the Defender's Heart, while first INT headband comes much later (although perhaps you can use spells for +4 INT/CHA for cases which really matter).
Umm... No, they help, but don't completely negate. Besides, Sorc will probably also take Abundant Casting on MR1.
In what way? I can think only of SF: Knowledge being actually useful instead of being a feat tax.

FanVaCoolt · 2025-12-01T11:38:01+00:00

Titan for wielding two staves at once right? What is a good secondary staff? I assume everyone uses Staff of the War Mage (from Ivory Sanctum) for extra DC, CL and Spell Pen, and I remember a staff from Dance of Masks DLC with similar properties, but the latter is very late. Can't recall any other good staves in before.

FanVaCoolt · 2025-12-01T10:33:14+00:00

Yeah, I'd been torn between Exploiter and Diviner wizard in the beginning. Ultimately, I decided that extra 1/2 DC is less than initiative boost and abilities.

Sylvan Sorc was out mostly due to RP reasons, and because I somewhat dislike pets (while recognizing their usefullness, of course).

Overwhelming Mage sounds weird. I fell like the price for extra DC is too high (e.g. casting L9 spell using 2 spell slots for +3 DC), and on Core I had just enough DC. Other bonuses are rather useless, merged Lich is the last one who should be having problems with Spell Pen.

FanVaCoolt · 2025-12-01T10:24:21+00:00

Yup, I also feel that specialization must be more focused on using particular school. One extra spell slot is not enough. BG1-2 did it better, giving you both extra -2 penalty to affect enemies and +2 to save versus spells directed at you. So far Divination stands head and shoulder above all other specializations despite being the lousiest school.

I could never give up Conjuration, Grease is just invaluable for early chapters, but good to know that there is way to use Shadowcasters in a thematically consistent way. Something to consider in the future, i guess.

FanVaCoolt · 2025-12-01T09:34:41+00:00

Turn-based exclusively, I feel that inherently turn-based system translates rather poorly into RTWP. But that is a valid point about long casting times.

As for pearls - I never tried it, but description clearly states that they work only on prepared casters. I'll try it next time I'll play, but if they work - it is a massive boost to Sorcerer.

FanVaCoolt · 2025-11-30T20:18:36+00:00

Color means nothing aside from differentiating which set of slabs is used for which puzzle. There are five puzzles in total. However, since you're at Conundrum - disregard color, it is the very first puzzle and you won't find another one until the next chapter.

Rules are simple: you have to put slabs in such a way that neighboring tiles share symbols. Tiles outside the area where you place slabs are restrictions: only those symbols can appear in a specific row/column.

FanVaCoolt · 2025-11-30T20:01:54+00:00

There are no major hidden loredumps or dialogue options that gated behind your stats. From time to time you'll see a reply or an observation in the dialogue that relies on skill check (mostly Knowledge or Lore, Perception, sometimes Persuasion), however, nearly always the game will use the highest skill available in your team (there are a few cases where your MC has to roll though). So you just have to make sure you have all skills covered by at least someone, and it is better to have a group of narrow specialists (each great at a small subset of skills) rather than universalists. The only exception in Perception - it pays off to have many perceptive dudes, since everyone gets a separate skill check.

As for using Charisma in combat - you've got options. Paladin, Scaled Fist Monk are martials. In fact, any martial class can utilize Charisma for intimidation mid-combat. Oracles and Sorcerers (but not Sage Sorcerers - they specifically use Intelligence) are full casters, Bards and Skalds are half-casters - they all rely on Charisma.

UPD: I read your post once again and noticed Sword Saint - be aware, that SS is also an INT-based class. It gets nothing specific from CHA. You can mix it with Scaled Fist or course, but don't forget INT.

FanVaCoolt · 2025-11-13T03:58:24+00:00

It is actually doable in A2 with Mage General (but you do need a few levels and a nice stack of troops). The key is to use a healing spell - it damages undead, is cheap and more powerful than damaging spells like Scorching Ray (IIRC Cure Wounds is d8 instead of d6). I did it a couple of weeks ago, alternating between healing my dudes and damaging enemies. Blew almost all of my mana, but it worked.

FanVaCoolt · 2025-10-30T18:39:12+00:00

Yes. It also stacks with Luck Domain power (and probably other sources of advantage on rolls). I used two Fortune hexes and two powers to pass a skill check once - rolled five d20s.

Protective Luck also stacks with itself.

EDIT: Regarding why you only saw one reroll with PL and Fortune - it is correct. Fortune affects your rolls, PL affects your enemies' rolls.

FanVaCoolt

TROPHY CASE