ToME 4

I considered starting a rogue, then my brain went "TOO MANY CLASS TREES ERROR ERROR ERROR" and kind of overloaded.

I'll play one eventually, but for right now I'm sticking with Alchemist and Bulwark. Both quite simple and fun to play.

^ If it's any consolation, it's pretty easy to pare things down once you realize which class trees are completely useless. (Stealth unless minmaxed, traps even if minmaxed, dual weapons beyond maxing the first talent and putting a few points into the second talent . . .)

Problem is that if you don't use traps and stealth as rogue then you're basically playing a gimped shadowblade, since those are 2 main stuff rogues should use...

And the problem with stealth need lots of points so you're gimped in the damage department thing...

edited 23rd Feb '12 8:14:43 PM by onyhow

^ Come to think of it, is shadowblade any good? I've been avoiding all the classes that have Multiple Ability Dependency, but I've heard that at the very least, it doesn't hurt temporal wardens.

edited 23rd Feb '12 10:16:48 PM by feotakahari

TW has Strength of Purpose and Quantum feed to raise Str and Mag...in terms of MAD Brawlers had it much worse...

I really ought to unlock the Chronomancy classes.

I'm on my way, though! I've beaten the maze, and I'm going through the sandworm tunnels!

Protip: For the sandworm tunnels, make absolutely sure you have some escape route. Teleportation rune, phase door rune, gem portal, whatever. Just as long as you can get out of a collapsing tunnel.

A new version has been released! (Download link)

Changes to the Hate resource and Cursed, nerfs for Temporal Wardens, a new UI, and more!

Saves don't carry over, I think, but if you have an online profile your unlocks do. I recently ate the Master with an antimagic Wyrmic, so I'm going to keep going in b37 for a bit.

I'm gonna wait until my current Bulwark dies.

He's level 19 now, and going through Dai.

The changes that really jump out at me:

• Hopefully fixing invis/stealth not properly protecting the actor from some talents
• Precognition no longer kills the player if he dies during a vision
• Power is Money provides somewhat less huge benefits
• Reduced the effectiveness of Golem Power and Golem Resilience.

And, of course, the above-mentioned huge debuffs to TW and buffs to classes that use Hate.

edited 26th Feb '12 7:06:05 PM by feotakahari

:<

Oh well, gives me a reason to use other races now.

It's still like +35 to all saves when it's maxed. The Thalore save talent is +25 to only two of the saves and it's worth putting points into.

Problem is if you're trying to take advantage of Power is Money then you can't get a powerful randart from the Merchant in 2nd half...that is unless you don't care about that...

edited 26th Feb '12 8:27:03 PM by onyhow

Oh. Well, I guess that's still pretty good.

+50 to all saves was a little ridiculous, I suppose.

edited 26th Feb '12 8:26:57 PM by Deathonabun

YES!

I don't know what it is, but this new release speeds up my game immensely!

Now I can actually play at a decent speed. I am appeased.

^ That's funny—mine actually got slower.

(Also, when I dig with a pickaxe, the completion message is now "lore learned" instead of "wall turned into floor." Something to fix in version 39, I suppose.)

It might be because this new version has the option to disable a lot of shit that just makes the game drag.

For example, the weather effects! God, those things slowed me down so much...

Eh isn't the weather effect can be disable before this version?

I am now attempting to make halfway decent Wyrmics/Cursed.

Only time will tell if I succeed.

Wyrmics and Cursed are hard, especially for the first few levels. They're heavy melee characters that start with light armor and poor accuracy.

For Wyrmics, the first Fire Drake skill confuses a bunch of enemies and is useful to keep yourself alive. Once you get to level 4, take Icy Skin and max it out ASAP; for a while you'll do more damage getting attacked than attacking yourself. Swallow is good for equilibrium management and, later on, healing in big fights. Sand Breath is the best breath because blind is a pretty sweet status effect, but it's worth it to have more than one you can cycle through. Your generics go into Armor Training, Combat Accuracy, and the healing talent for the first few levels. Wyrmics probably make the best antimagic characters, since they don't have much important stuff to spend generics on, they want to pump Willpower anyway, and Resolve helps them manage their equilibrium in boss fights.

For Cursed, you have a million things that demand your generics. Unnatural Body is not as important as it used to be, but it is still very good. When you find a weapon, the game will prompt you about whether you want to release your hate or deny it: it's worth it to release, since it gives you the Cursed Aura tree which becomes quite nice once you put enough generics in it. Relentless is also amazing. (75% immunity to four status effects, including two of the most dangerous ones in the game!) As for class points, Dominate and Stalk are good for helping with your accuracy problems, I like the Gloom tree a lot but other people don't as much, and as for the tree-toppers Surge is a lot better than the other two options.

edited 28th Feb '12 2:42:17 PM by Glidergun

I've been adding quite a bit of points into defense and accuracy for the first few levels. So lots of points into dex and con, but I imagine I'll be switching my point focus towards strength, willpower, and con.

And Lightning Speed has totally been saving my ass. Move 500% faster for two turns? Yes please!

I'm currently on my first character who's survived all the low-level dungeons without a single death. It's a Shadowblade this time, with two spells and an infusion for teleporting away when in danger (and just enough strength to wear mail armor.) My biggest problems are that a): Flurry seems to be my only way of handling bosses that can resist stunning, and b): I have no option other than Teleport if a mage-type boss has high enough HP to survive a Rush, two stunning attacks, all the resulting Backstab criticals, and a Flurry. (In particular, I'm afraid to go up against the boss of the Old Forest, whose ice spell two-shotted all my previous builds, and who has very good physical saves.)

edited 28th Feb '12 3:22:00 PM by feotakahari

Collect all the ice resist equipment you can find?

And while you're at it, lightning resist. It'll come in handy.

edited 28th Feb '12 4:31:20 PM by Deathonabun

First, raise some Heath (con and equipment that raise HP) and get some shield rune...second as shadow blade raise knife mastery to raise physical power...third get stun resist gear...fourth if possible get ice resist gear...

I'm gonna max Swallow.

It is way too much fun omnomnoming on people.

And as long as their Physical Resist isn't too high, it works!

I think the stuns the Shadowblade has available (Dirty Fighting and ?Twin Strike? - the first talent in the Dual Weapon Techniques tree) test accuracy vs. physical save. So pumping your acc will do more for making your stuns reliable than pumping your p.power will.