I have standard 8.10 installed. I have 5 pcs level 1 and Furnok with me. I cannot do ANYTHING without being crushed. WHen I go to the moathouse, 90% of the time I rest I get swarmed by rats (which are OP for being rats) or giant crabs. I cannot get to the moathouse because of huge frogs in mass numbers. How the HELL does anyone even play this game? Also, the price of getting healed is 200+ for ONE character. Holy crap! What did I do wrong? I started the game in 'normal' mode NOT ironman.
Welcome PoT. Do you have any gaming experience? Do you walk around the town getting to know the citizens and asking if they have minor tasks you can help them with? There are plenty of easy ways to gain 2nd and even 3rd level with a party of 6 before heading to the moat house.
Avoid resting in yellow areas whenever possible, especially at low levels, and super especially at level 1, as they will often bring encounters. Usually it's better to risk the trip home and rest at the Inn. This page has most of what you need to learn about the game, but it also contains spoilers and can be a bit overwhelming to read thru all at once. I wish there was a short page to give just a short summary of the top things new players should know to survive. Here are some off the top of my head. - Have a balanced party, but a bit heavier on the combat guys. 2 melee fighters, rogue/archer type, cleric, and a sorcerer is usually a good starting point. - Maximize the Armor Class of each character. I personally think this is the key to the game early on, and could write 3 pages on this. Every point you add is critical. For example: Buffing a Monk with Mage Armor at the start of each area, giving your archers bucklers, keeping unencumbered so you don't lose your DEX bonus to AC, etc. - Flank as often as possible to get +2 to hit. - Don't charge into combat. Try to stay together in most encounters and let them come to you, which will help you avoid being flanked and avoid getting one guy ganged up on. - Buff and protection spells are critical at low levels (Mage Armor, Shield, Bless, etc.) - Set up any archer with the right feats (Point Blank Shot, Precise Sot), and avoid firing thru cover which gives a -4 penalty. - As sonofliberty hinted, you should be able to role-play your way through Hommlet without any combat to get everyone to 2nd level. Which leads to the next point... - Make sure one of you characters has high ranks in Diplomacy and Intimidate, and also Bluff, Gather Information, and Sense Motive. And that THAT character does all the talking. - Give you spellcasters Scribe Scroll at 1st level so you can always have spells if your memory runs out. (healing, sleep, magic missile, charm person, etc.) I know I forgot really important stuff and rambled ungracefully in haste, and I could add about 50 things to this list, but I haven't the time. Also, this list reflects my personal style, and someone else could come up with a totally different one. What your going thru is part of the fun of the game, and what makes it infinitely re-playable. It doesn't play like a first person shooter game where you can wrist your way thru the encounters. It's all about the number behind the scenes, which can be frustrating to figure out at first, but worth it if you stick with it. Btw, Ironman has nothing to do with how difficult the encounters and quests will be, it simply means you cannot save and load the game along the way as you die or want to redo an encounter. It just has one main save to pick up where you left off. Also, Furnok isn't the best npc to go with. Elmo should get you a little further, or marry that spinster girl in the north-east part of town (Fruella). Good luck!
Okay I'll take your advice and go about politicking in the town. Elmo asked for 200 GP and I refused does that mean he won't join my company now? My party has 1 Paladin, 1 Barb, 1 Cleric, 1 Wizard, 1 Rogue.
He'll be available at any time, no matter how many times you refuse him. Your party looks fine, but could use the pure fighter (Elmo) as a boost. Make sure your player with the high social skills is in the first slot at the bottom, and initiates all conversations. If you don't have someone with a high Diplomacy, you can buy the Black Dress from the Tailor which boosts you Diplomacy score by 2, and helps get thru the role-playing quests. Most of the quests require one of your social skills be a certain value like 4, 5 or 6. Usually it's Diplomacy or Intimidate, but sometimes one of the other three. The best place to start combat and get xp's is at Welkwood Bog, which the Co8 team put together as a good starting quest involving combat. Talk to the blacksmith and ask him more questions, then ask "I'm looking for something different." The quest should progress from there.
You can also get "easy" xp by killing the undead in emery meadows, just stay away from the lower left corner of the map until ready to deal with a fairly major(for low level characters) threat. Also do the deklo quest. If your wizard chose the right spell, he can win that fight for you easily.
Are you fighting the normal skeletons? They should only have 12 hp at most. Remember to use blunt weapons against them, though. They have DR 5 against slashing/piercing.
Doing most of the Hommlett quests + Welkwood Bog can get your characters to level 2 easily (and maybe even 3rd level if you're lucky) before trying the Moat House. Definitely pick up Elmo if this is your first time playing this game- it will be the best 200 gold you've spent. Visit Terjon and take a look at his bookcase- just make sure your cleric and wizard have Read Magic memorized . And as for healing there are a lot of potions to be found in this game (which is why one of the first things I always craft is a Helm of Reading Magic- a great way to ID potions) but if you don't have a lot on hand then just rest- if you've helped the inn keeper you have a free room to stay in and there's no time limit on how long you have to finish this game, so if you have to rest for a week to recover your health, then that's just like real life to a degree... Good luck...
Guys i think i found the problem. The game is spawning OP enemies. Very few enemies with health less than 24 HP spawn in the meadows. Also I don't know anything abotu crafting.
Zombies and gnoll skeletons will have that many hit points, but are only found in one place on the map.
Talk to the Blacksmith and get to Welkwood Bog as your first combat quest. There are lots of simple enemies most of which have single digit hit points with no special attacks or confusing tactics. Emridy Meadows can be a tough one at first level, even 2nd level: - The trip back and forth to heal is a long one, and you can run into random encounters as you are limping home wounded. - The undead all have Damage Reduction 5, which means the first 5 damage you do on every attack will be ignored. Skeletons need to be hit with bludgeoning weapon to overcome this, and zombies need to be hit with slashing weapons to overcome it. To get thru them, you'll need to have a bludgeoning weapon AND a slashing weapon, and switch back and forth during combat depending on which enemy you are facing that turn. So arrows are practically useless against both zombies and skeletons as they are piercing and will always lose 5 points of daamge per attack. - Wandering into the wrong part of the Meadows will be certain death before getting to 3rd level or higher. - Here's a hint/spoiler for fighting zombies: If you attack and then... (spoiler start) Spoiler five-foot step away from a zombie they'll never attack you unless they surround you in a mob, since they can't attack and move on the same turn. (spoiler end).
When your cleric and wizard get to high enough level you can pick crafting skills for them- it allows you to make various items that will enhance various stats or items that have magical effects like crafting wands of fireballs, potions of healing, etc.
