Dark Sun: Shattered Lands

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Upgrading a psionic power should increase its success chance by 5 percent. That's not much but improving a spell which is used often is surely better than picking psionic spells I'll never use.

The bracelets might be a reason to go gl8/ps8/pr9 instead of gl8/ps9/pr9 but there'll be another psionicist in the party to use them.


I tried to solve the psionic mystery, that's how I think it works in the game:

- Every level 1 character with at least 15 con, int and wis - no matter if psionicist or not - starts with 2*(wis-5) + (con-15) + (int-15) PP
- For reaching an even level (2,4,6,...) the psionicist gains (wis-5) PP and may learn 1 psionic spell
- For reaching an uneven level (3,5,7,...) the psionicist gets (wis-5) PP and may learn 2 psionic spells
- Non-psionicists don't gain PP for levelling up, but they increase their PP by about 4 PP per level during the game for unknown reasons. Psionicists sometimes too, but when they gain a psionicist level the PP are increased a little less so that the formula (level+1)*(wis-5) + (con-15) + (int-15) is correct again.


I think I'll play the following party

half-giant ranger/cleric(fire)
thri-kreen fighter/psionicist/druid(earth)
half-elf ranger(air)/thief/preserver
human gladiator 8/psionicist 9/preserver 9

Will my half-elf be able to use all weapons or are rangers restricted like clerics and druids ?

EDIT: I just found out that multi- or dualclass characters can use any weapon or armor at least one of the classes can use without restrictions, so the element choices will only have an effect on spellcasting since I won't have a pure class cleric. Weapons and armor are useable like described in the manual, not like in BG as I assumed.

 

I was writing a long and involved reply yesterday and lost everything

I didn't even remember that there was a chance of psionic powers failing until you mentioned. I think the chance also depends on one of the stats (Wis?), so I never encountered it as I tend to max attributes in this game (you really need to do that to play on the hardest difficulty!).

I hadn't realised you were taking another Psionicist with you. In this case why bother with the human? Just make him a Gladiator8/preserver9. I don't think psionics are useful enough to warrant two of them, and this way you get the preserver spells much more quickly, not to mention all the bracelets can go to the Thri-Kreen.

I think your formulas for psionics make sense (1/even and 2/odd is definitely true). I didn't know only Wis affects PP/level, as I had only noticed that Con, Int and Wis all affect PP on level 1 and never bothered to test it further. In this case the Thri-Kreen becomes a great character to give both psionics and druid levels. I would still take a Halfling instead though, as the lack or armour can become a real problem towards the end.

The manual is correct, all class restrictions on weapons and armour fade as soon as you multi-class (and dual-class, I think). That's also the reason fighter/preserver multiclasses can wear any armour and use any weapon. I'm not sure, but I think this is how the Dark Sun setting works, not just in the computer games.

 

Psionic powers look quite appealing to me. Protection with "biofeedback", buffing with "enhanced strength", healing with "cell adjustment", disabling enemies with "ego whip", "id insinuation" and "mass domination", ...

I'll definitely double dual class my human, it's a special feature I can't use in another game and I'll get a lot of benefits for little XP, 5 cleric levels cost only 13,000 XP and grant 14 spells thanks to 20 wis, first aid and aid allow for healing 12-96 HP and there are still 2 level 3 spells to cast, 5 psionicist levels (16,500 XP) grant extra PP, allow to choose the 6 favorite psionics and to use bracelets, for 1250 thief XP you get backstab*2 and for 10000 XP backstab*3, ...
Since 8 fighter + 9 preserver levels together only cost 260,000 XP (less than 9 ranger levels) there should be lots of XP to spare for the second class.

So I'll definitely double dualclass my human, the question is only what the second class will be and how many levels I'll take.
My main concern is that resting places are rare and it might be very time consuming to search one, so extra healing spells could save a lot time.
Taking psionicist levels will allow to heal 2 HP with 5 PP and cell adjustment and offer buff, protection and disabling options, PP also regenerate slowly without resting.
Taking cleric or druid levels will grant a lot of bonus spells thanks to 20 wis and allow much healing.
About thieves I don't know much. Can they backstab with all 4 attacks, with any armor and are some enemies immune to it ?

I don't see why I should get preserver levels fast, there's another preserver in the party, they don't get many spells per day and those spells don't seem to be earthshaking. Level 1 spells are crap, strength and stoneskin are quite nice buffs, haste lets the characters age and the offensive spells don't look much better than attacking 4 times per round with a high strength bonus to damage.


How important is healing ?

I once was loosing a battle, 3 characters were out cold and the 4th ran out of sight, I enabled computer combat, no one did do anything, rounds passed fast and everyone regenerated. Is there a similar way to regenerate HP outside combat ?

I'm not so sure about my half-giant yet. As level 9 ranger/cleric he'll have 104-216 HP and cleric spells, as level 9 gladiator 126-234 HP and +1 extra AC. I'm also considering to choose the water element for being able to use the 2 level 4 spells for healing 2-12 damage each.


I'll keep the thri-kreen for roleplaying reasons. Everything she can't use can be used by the other characters and I'll see if 7th+8th best ring and 4th best of the other stuff would be much better than the +5 AC and other racial benefits she gets.

 

Psionics are great fun and I love going through the game with one. However some of them are not as useful as you might think. Cell Adjustment is one. It's great for healing outside combat, but when you consider it heals a pitiful 2 HP (and that it never gets better if you raises it level) it's really not optimal during pitched battle.

I'm not sure what to suggest for the other dual. You could add yet another druid or cleric (you've covered all the elements except Water, so why not a Water druid?). This way you'll never need to worry about healing between rest points. Frankly you don't need to worry about it anyway, I get along just fine with only one druid and one pscionicist. There are very few areas in the game where you can't rest at all (in some cases the rest point becomes active after a specific action).

Fighter/thieves can backstab regardless of armour (not sure about single-class thieves). Just like Preservers and Druids all the armour restrictions fade away on multiclassing. Backstab by the way is VERY potent, but it takes a bit of tactical planning to pull off frequently (it works just like in the Gold Box games). I think every attack they pull off when the conditions are right counts as a backstab, so you can theoretically do 4 in a row, but it won't matter much because by level 9 you will be killing with a single backstab. Anything that isn't immune, that is (most of the stranger fauna and flora are).

Offensive mage spells are very useful because some of the fights will take place over a very large area. In fact it's not the offensive spells so much as some of the other disabling ones (Solid Fog, Web and so on) that are essential in the tougher fights, especially in the end. These spells have a very long reach and you want to prevent all the Elites from getting to you at the same time, because they hit very hard and can overwhelm your party quickly.

 

I examined the strange regeneration and found out that a character with 20-22 con regenerates 1 HP every 6 combat rounds, while characters with less than 20 ((half-)elves, halflings) don't regenerate.
Time seems to pass far faster during combat, outside combat high con characters have to wait several minutes for regenerating a single hit point, so slow that I'll rather look for resting places.

Thanks for explaining the backstab, moving with the keyboard makes it easier, the exact placement is harder as in the gold box games, but my thief managed to do a few backstabs for double damage.

The human starts as true neutral gladiator, I'll decide later when I know the game mechanics better if he'll take 5 thief, 7-9 psionicist or 7-8 fire druid levels in the second class.
I've chosen water as the element for the half-giant, the level 4 fire or air spells look don't look very good and healing 2-12 damage is better than nothing. Will I regret not being able to cast protection from fire ?

I've created the following party:

half-giant ranger/cleric(water)
thri-kreen fighter/psionicist/druid(earth)
half-elf ranger(air)/thief/preserver
human gladiator 8/???/preserver 9

They'll spend some time exploring the game mechanics (the multiclass hitpoint distribution at level up is a strange mystery to solve) in the arena before leaving for the real world and starting the game.

 

The regeneration makes sense, the effect of each value of a stat follows AD&D 2nd edition to the letter. It's just that the Dark Sun setting allows much higher starting values. I don't think CON can go higher than 22 in any race, and at 1 HP per 6 rounds don't count on it to be very useful during pitched battle.

There's only one point in the game where I remember Protection From Fire being used to finish a quest. That quest has another way to complete it though, and the other way is actually the optimal. I don't think you'll miss it that much. If you really want to have all the spheres, just go for a fire Druid as your human's 2nd class.

I don't remember how the multiclassing HP gains worked, but I do remember they didn't work the way I expected them to. Either I'd made error in my calculation or there's some hidden way things work. Also I think that HP gains from high CON is not retroactive in this game, so if you find an item that gives a CON bonus equip it straight away to get the extra hit point next time you level up.

 

I still have the disks, but I don't have a floppy drive anymore

 

Nothing's been done about it unfortunately. The latest version of the game (1.1) still has it. I have some theories about what causes it to happen, based on games where it happened and those where it didn't, but I've not had the courage to start new playthroughs to test them.

 

I never had problems with the patched game.

 

I've finished the game now.

It surprised me that there weren't as many bugs as I feared. I was careful and saved often in different slots like recommended, there were a few things but the game (version 1.1) never crashed or made a save corrupt.

The roleplaying depth also surprised me. The background, the high character stats and the arena fights at the start let me suspect powergaming hack and and slash, but often violence can be avoided, there is so much freedom of choice, at least 4 ways to get past the fire in Dagolar's lair and even more options to escape from the slave pens for example.
I was sceptical about the strange dark sun setting at first, but got deeper involved than in the forgotten realms mass products using the infinity engine.


I maxed the stats at character creation and reloaded for maximum hitpoints at level up.
Here's the maximum number of HP the multiclass characters could get in case someone is interested:
Half-giant ranger/cleric with 22 con: 14/10
Half-elf ranger/thief/preserver with 19 con: 6/4/1
Thri-kreen fighter/druid/psionic with 20 con: 6/4/2

Since fighting in the arena was fun and I was a little afraid of starting the real game my party entered the slave pens only after the half-elf reached preserver level 9, each character had over 600,000 XP when the party started the escape from the slave pens.

With the powerful party fighting was no problem, it wouldn't have been hard to get to the final battle without casting any spells at all, ranged combat wasn't needed either.

When I first entered the final battles I thought it was a bad bad joke, 15 monsters of the highest difficulty , including 3 rampagers who can easily corrode wapons and armor.
And this was only supposed to be an obstacle to be passed in order to get to the real battlefield.

Needless to say the simple "crush everything" tactic didn't work. Since every party member wanted an El's Drinker sword asking the genie for help to avoid this battle wasn't an option, preparation was needed. With the proper spells cast before the battles could be won, even without an ally dying.

 

Hah, no wonder you found the game easy! Let's just say it's NOT balanced for STARTING with a level 9 party

I love the multiple solutions for many of the encounters in the game. There are usually multiple nonviolent solutions to a particular problem, depending on which classes you're using. The nonviolent ways will usually net your more XP, although you miss out on some of the loot.

The first final battle is one I never bothered doing. I always ask the genie for his help (I wonder... do you get a different ending if you don't? my ending clearly mentions the undead army that the genie brings to help the village). I'm rather impressed you managed to go through it and still had enough reserves to fight both subsequent battles. Well done!

 

Of course it is deeper kmonster, Dark Sun is a setting that is extreme, where the Realms is so braod-based, with a little something of everything. I really enjoyed the Dark Sun games, makes me wish they would of put out a few more using different game engines, like the infinity engine. The setting is excellent. Plus, there's Half-Giants!

 

The additional arena fighting made the first areas easier but made the party rather weaker than stronger on the long run for 2 reasons:

1) Each party member earned over 1,000,000 XP after escaping the slave pens, enough even to get even a triple class ranger to level 9.
2) The metal steadfast ring. You get more hitpoints at level up while wearing it. With 19-22 natural con +3 extra con should only grant an extra hitpoint per level, but you get far more. The ranger/thief/preserver got got 2-6 hitpoints for ranger level 3-8, but for the 9th ranger level she got 12-15 hitpoints while wearing the ring.

So in order to get the most powerful party during the game, it's important to bring the two lizards together fast in order to benefit as often as possible from wearing the ring at level up.

My r/t/p could have lots of extra hitpoints if I had played differently, 45 alone from five ranger level ups, I don't know how many extra HP she'd have gotten at level ups as preserver or thief and how many extra HP the other characters would have gotten (testing reavealed that a human 20+3 con gladiator can get at least 19 HP per level up with this ring).


I didn't regret having a thri-kreen in the party.
Thri-kreen get a big offensive bonus, without weapons they get 5 attacks per round, armed they get still the same attacks with weapons as other races and an extra bite attack per round which can paralyse even monsters which are immune to non-magical attacks like rampagers. The extra movement helps too.
The 5 extra AC is superior to the armor you find early in the game, you don't have to bother about corroded or destroyed armor and even at the final battle what's left after equipping the other party members doesn't grant more than 5 extra AC. The 4th best arm, leg and chest armor together grant only 5 AC and more than 6 good rings or 2 magical helms aren't in the game. In the final battle she used the flesh armor psionic spell which grants 9 AC at level 9, more than the 3rd best armor combination.

Early on the half-elf was the weak point since she didn't have con based regeneration, but the steadfast ring fixed this.

With con based regeneration a good way to heal in the secret temple before starting the final battles is going to the northwest until Xorns spawn. Since they stop 2 squares in front of you and guard in order to get the first attacks you can just press g for guarding in combat until everyone is at full hitpoints. If someone's con is too low you can use the cell adjustment psionic for healing, PP do regenerate too.