Started a fresh character

Well, I hadn't played Arcanum in quite some time.. So I decided to start a fresh new character.

At first I tried a gun-wielding dwarf - I played up til about level 16, but then decided there wasn't much change in gameplay, it was all hard fights with only Virgil at my side because my lack of charisma points.

I then tried a mage, I enjoyed it, got it to about level 12, but then decided it was very easy to play and I didn't like playing without a challenge..

So I started a third character. Rather similar to my old character, a "gentleman" melee fighter. This time I went with a twist though, I decided to make the character into a bandit/thief

His current stats are as follows:
Level: 19
Background: Raised by monks
Strength: 8
Intelligence: 8
Constitution: 8
Willpower: 8
Dexterity: 15
Perception: 9
Beauty: 12 (10+2)
Charisma: 15 (14+1)

Skills:
Melee |#### | Expert
Backstab |### | Apprentice
Spot Trap | | Apprentice (Trained while wearing Oiled T. Leather)
Persuasion: |#### | Expert

Blessings:
Returned Arbalah's artifact - + Reaction
Helped Madam Toussaude - +1 Charisma
Retrieved statuette in stillwater - +1 Beauty

Equipment:
Light-fingered Gauntlets
Filament Sword
Fated Ring
Medallion of Beauty
Oiled Thieves Leather (Smoking Jacket in towns)
Shield Of Force
Elven Boots
About 36,000 gold. But that doesn't limit me. I'll be honest, I abuse Ristezze's chest a bit ;D

Companions:
Virgil - Level 19
Sogg - Level 18
Magnus - Level 19
Vollinger - Level 17
Dog - Level 17

Main quest progress:
- Need to search black mountain mines (Putting this off because it's a pain un-equipping everyone so we can fight the ore golems.. Unless of course I just take Dog down with me)

So, any suggestions where I should head with this character? Any better equipment I could get my hands on? Where I should be questing right now? Etc etc. My previous character only got to level 25, and that took me quite a while, in a couple days I've got this character to 19, got into the boil and done various other things my previous character didn't (Probably because of my companions), and I'm enjoying it much more

Thanks in advance

-Matt

 

Thanks for the tips. I'm wondering whether or not I *should* do prowling. I was planning on taking it, but I hear not only yours, but the equipment of your followers has an effect on your prowling? In which case given that I have 5 followers, a couple of which have pretty heavy equipment.. D:

As far as strength goes, sounds like a good idea, I nearly forgot about strength.. I'm going to max melee + backstab out first I think though.

Weapon-wise I was wondering if I should stick with my filament sword or perhaps get a dagger of speed? I have a Shield Of Force as you know, are there any negatives to equipping a shield?

What about other skills?
Lockpicking - Not going to get this up since I use magickal objects and plan on getting a couple of spells.
Prowling - As said, not sure about this
Pickpocket - Maybe a good idea, but to be honest I'm a "save, try, reload" person. And I can't see it helping that much.
Haggle - Maybe, but is it worth the cp? It'd be nice to be able to master haggle, but only if it's worth it at the end of the day.
Dodge - This goes hand in hand with melee, I haven't put any points in yet but I reckon it might be a good move after maxing melee, backstab + strength, right?

How about spells? I was thinking:

Mental:
Charm, Stun

Temporal:
Magelock, Congeal, Hasten

And possibly, if I have enough CP for all of this:

Phantasm:
Illuminate, Flash, Blur Sight


-Matt

 

Everyone uses nouns in place of verbs. It's the mark of utter awesome.

Heh I'm trying to be good alignment right now, the idea being that I do good, help the needy. But when someone crosses me, say goodbye to the niceties.

-Matt

 

I don't know if you finished the game or not, but don't forget to finish the elder Joachim quest that starts in the SH inn. I'm not going to place the relevant spoiler here, but if you don't know what I'm talking about, take my advice and finish it before you get too far into the endgame.

If you want to go thief and are going to go all out with WP, I'd go for invisibility. As for unlock cantrip, it'll help you get places, but it might be hard to be a real thief this way. Plus, invisibility is good if you aren't going to prowling yourself.