Help from powergamer? Revenge

[modesty]

So, I have a really old pure wizard in Revenge, Nawiel Weno'del. If I take all nwn worlds I ever played in, she is the poor woman that has died most often. She is level 5 now but has been higher in levels from time to time. But raise dead in Revenge drains a lot of xp and I can't pay the bishop for raising a level 5-7 character. So she has been left "on hold" for several years by now.

After visiting Epic again, I realize that level up a wizard isn't really as hard as I presumed, if there is no Item Level Restriction. In Revenge it's worse. But it should be possible. Nawiel is an elf and I know that the restperiods are far much longer i Revenge than Epic so I gave her a longbow,
Point Blank Shot annd Rapid shot to give her some kind of edge. In melee she is utterly useless.

One key fact is that she must have at least AC 20 to withstand the arrows and bolts from kobolds and goblins. So here are my stats:

Wizard With no magic AC 10
Dex 17, with boots 18 give +4 dodge
Natural 0
Shield 0
Dodge (+1 dex soft leather boots for dex 18)
Armor +1 bracers of armor
Deflection +2 from green belt
potion of barkskin +3 extra natural (lasts 6 minutes rl time)
Total: 20

5 more minutes spells:
Magical armor +1 (barricade only)
Cats grace +1 - +2 dex

Total 22 - 23

I can take
2 rings +1 dex = ac +1
or the same in int for more spells.

What else to do?

Speed potions +4 extra dodge
shield spell +4 extra dodge

Total 30 - 31 for a couple of seconds

The big problem is that after 5 minutes, when most of the magic runs off, it still takes 5 hour until next restperiod in Revenge. (10 or 25 minutes real life time? I'm not sure.) During these hours, all I can do is sniping aroud. Since an orc/kobold/goblin give 3 xp in Revenge but 10 xp in Epic, it does take a long time that I have to be extremely careful. With just 20 hit points, one hit from an orc axe is lethal. All monster do double damage in Revenge and 40-50 p of damage is not uncommon. The fact that the xp is so low in Revenge and the xp loss so high makes it even more challengig trying to survive.

One thing I've done is to have attack spells only, and 1-2 dancing blade spells. I try to cast different clouds, killing whats caught inside, but some enemies are always getting through, making it a bit too exciting to see if I manage to shoot them before they reach me.

So, what can I do to survive that I don't do just now? A Brock is too expensive and use to die at the bridge in Benzor River Valley anyway.

//Maria

[Xillie]

To be honest revenge is very much not my taste, so you can easily ignore this "advice" I'm giving you.

crafted dmg resistance robes stacked with ghostly visage.
Except that the revenge mod hasnt been updated I assume and misses many usefull crafts?
Monsters doing double damage is cheating; perhaps you can countercheat?:)

If you want advice from a "powergamer", take epic nordock running in 2016 as a chance to dive into the lvl25+ "epic" content of the module without having to spend years grinding one character to higher level. Does revenge know the epic areas anyway?

As you see, I give little for the concept of revenge, with all respect to SH.
So once again, if you are a real fan of revenge, ignore my advice.
On the other hand, if you want to "quickly taste" from epic content, feel free to ask for "powergaming" advice for higher levels on epic.

cheers,

Xillie

[Lliira]

The Revenge server discussion is here, not that many really post there: http://nordock.net/forums/viewforum.php?f=19. The only thing that we can offer here is advise.

My advise would be to catch FooLing on, and ask for help with crafted gear. Revenge uses the old ATS crafting, so does not have the new robes included. But perhaps someone who plays more often might have an old mage robe on hand. Brock will increase your survivability. Monsters do hit at least twice as hard. Yes, there is ILR, but in case Xillie has forgotten, EPIC will have ILR turned back on when the old modules are resurrected.

[FooLing]

Would be happy to help when on in game sometime, though the time-zone differences might make this most likely to happen on the weekend (I'm on pacific time - daylight saving at the moment), if you are just looking for someone to make you stuff or to party with.

Yes, the Revenge mod is fun for the challenge and the nostalgia of some older maps. But it can be especially hard on the solo adventurer. And at one point in the not too distant past, it was the only Nordock of the Richterm Retreat variety available to play in, so I developed a few characters there to get my fix in.

One thing to be aware of on Revenge is that as a mage, if your familiar dies, you lose xp (I don't remember the exact amount, but I want to say it is 100 to 200 times your character or caster level) - talk about harsh... though perhaps the familiars prefer not being mistreated disposable cannon fodder this way *imagines a pixie starting the Revenge Familiars' Union*.

Note, this doesn't seem to apply to animal companions (ranger/druid).

Best not to use the familiar for this reason, unless it is to cast something like improved invis or such before a fight, or to help you try and pick a pickable lock or trap (the kind that doesn't require the nordock thieves' tool - of which there are only a few places).

Brock is pretty indispensable for leveling up at early levels. He's free at level one, and cheaper before a level up. I think the last level you can get one at is level 8. The loot drops on Revenge are a little different than those of Epic, so chances are you can get enough gold to purchase one. If starting out fresh, it's probably worth it to do quests for Argyle until level 4.... however, that can be tedious, and he can send you into dangerous areas (for low levels) so not a foolproof plan either.

ILR is on, so you can't toss on your yellow crafted robes (even if crafted robes were available, which they are not).

I personally like the defensive minded approach myself - not at all the "unleash gobs of power on my foes" and that's partly for the pvp setting for spells I suppose, but hey as there are fewer times to be in a party these days, offensive is not necessarily a bad way to go, I just don't have a lot of tips in that regard.

Defensive minded approach is have lots of invisibility for one and don't fight things that can cast see invis or true see or that have it innately, not at least until you get some traction. Buff up Brock, or your summons and let them go. As a wizard, you can scribe scrolls, so once you get flame weapon, you can scribe that and it will last a long long time (equivalent to level 17) so very useful on a Brock. Yes, it costs a little gold and xp, but it's just one method. I like to scribe when I have "excess" xp - when I'm not near a trainer when I get a level and I've gone over the limit getting back to one - might as well use it for something is my thinking.

Shelgarn's persistant blade is surprisingly resilient against certain foes (not so much others). But it doesn't last super long either, especially at lower levels.

Brewing is another option for a mage that you can get relatively early. This is quite a bit more expensive than scribing, but you can give a potion of ghostly visage to Brock for example to increase his odds (though ghostly visage is one of the more expensive things to brew in particular).

Save the full plate you find (if you don't craft) for Brock or Abigail. Abigail is not a bad option either if you buy (or find) her a shield and you want to melee. You can get some healing off of her.

Buy your Brock (or Abigail) some potions of cure serious wounds. While the cost can add up while you are trying to scrounge together your own purse, they will down them in combat when they get low on hps (as they get down to a quarter remaining I think). This also increases their odds of survivability. Of course, not letting them fight a horde of bugbear heros all at once can also improve their odds.

There is a player that runs there fairly regularly that seems to enjoy equipping various mercenaries with crafted items for others to use. If you happen to see one of these, I'd say feel free to use them (even though it isn't me who does this).

If you do take up crafting, would suggest the Black Hills for doing this if you are a surfacer. Usually a low risk place to mine (as long as some other player hasn't done something silly). Mining is different on Revenge from the newer versions of the mod, and the deposits are different too. I'd start in Black Hills, both from the accessibility and safety standpoint, though there are fewer things to skin here if you are working armor.

[modesty]

Thanks for the advices.

Yes, I have died twice from having my familiar being killed in battle, so I have learned the hard way to never bring forth a familiar in Revenge. It's just far too hard too handle and too easy to get killed by.

Shelgarn's persistant blade is useless in fog since it become affected even though it's a construct. I assume it's a bug.

I have started to take a better look on Brock and trying to find/craft gear to max him out, but its hard. This day, we were hunting ogres in West Brosna Hills and he took two crits in a row, landed him om just 3 hp. And that's from critters giving 12 xp each.

A defensive approach just don't work in Revenge. I need to bring in as much pain as possible in a minimum of time because the excessive amount of damage the critter give in there. Brewing potions and scroll scribing demands extra feats but might be a way to go that I haven't considered.

[raradra]

Your best bet is to post in the revenge forum or catch someone online or as mentioned PM Foo. Revenge players are generally very helpful, you just have to catch them online