Is it recommended that ALL classes dump all points into Sta?

[Flash]

Bards get a -40% exp penalty?

Exactly what class levels faster than a Halfling Warrior?

[Kika Maslyaka]

bards, rangers, sks and paladins all at 40% penalty
combine that with troll or iksar and it gets even worse [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

funny thing that such uber op class like necro gets off at 10% penalty

I really wish stats meant more in this game from the start. This is how 5 years later we end up with items that have +50 to everything on it, and yet the only thing worthwhile would be +hp. Vanilla WoW handled this aspect a lot better.

[Bouncerr]

Putting dex points on a ogre war though helps a shit ton, some classes/races just dont benefit that much, others do.

[webrunner5]

Originally Posted by Tecmos Deception [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

You're just being lazy imo, web. There are plenty of ways around the weight limit apart from putting starting points in strength and buying tink bags. Like hunting in zones that have merchants, buying gems with excess gold, silver, and copper (or even platinum) for resale later, hunting in zones that have banks, hunting mobs that drop items of value apart from 100+ coins and fine steel weapons every kill, etc.

Your funny. So I guess zones like Seb, CoM, KC, MM, Unrest etc are out. Nice idea. Oh wait, I have to run 4 zones away to sell. BRB.

[aresprophet]

Originally Posted by Arrisard [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

None of them will make or break your character if you analyze each individual stat. You could put 25 points into WIS and no one would ever be the wiser unless you told someone. I've already given my opinion on which of the three offer the most benefit and when, so I'll just leave it there.

Your advice holds for a bard

It is no way true for most casters (shamans possibly excepted)

Gear choices in the Kunark era heavily favor defensive stats, but you need a minimum level of mana to operate under all but the most extreme raiding conditions. Running out of mana won't kill you... but it could kill your group. Gearing up to the 200 soft cap is a wise move.

Consider a druid: you could choose as your rings a Djarn's a a 5/55 ring or a Golem Tear ring and a 6 WIS ring. One combo gives you 130 mana (under the softcap) the other gives you 135 hp. That 130 mana is worth 13 WIS; that 135 HP is worth something like 40 STA. If you can take the HP rings you're getting way more bang for your buck. This persist across multiple slots for druids: your ears are almost always going to be non-WIS pieces, your head slot is a valuable resist/hp slot as is your neck slot, and so on. In few slots (boots and wrists mostly) are WIS pieces the best option hands down, but that's for lack of good defensive ones. In short, taking WIS as a starting stat frees up several choices for good defensive gear that won't leave you at risk of running OOM.

Necromancers have an even more difficult time justifying STA. Yes they need HP. Yes it converts to mana. But the return on STA is only 2.4HP at 60, and their hp-to-mana conversion only happens over time, unlike a shaman who can do so quickly. 25 STA on a necro is a whopping 60 HP, which equates to about 40 mana. 25 INT on a properly-geared necro is 250 mana. Dump points into INT, and you free yourself up to gear for HP and resists. The rate at which necros can gain back life makes 60 HP a truly trivial amount. 25 INT gives you an extra cast of Deflux with mana to spare, for 330 HP. Anecdotally, the number of times I've had to bail on a fight or died because I ran OOM grossly outweighs the number of times I've bailed on a fight or died because I was 60HP from victory.

This persists for most casters throughout Kunark especially with the terrible returns on each point of STA. Velious, things change a bit. In Velious you get more pieces of gear that offer not only +15 or +20 of your primary stat, but also a bunch of +hp, +mana, and +resists. There's rarely such a thing as a truly BIS item for every slot for a given class in Kunark, so much of what you need is situational. Velious has many, many more unequivocally-BIS items. You can get to 255 INT/WIS without sacrificing a thing defensively. It's sort of boring.

[1203jjt]

Well I made a d/e shadowknight yesterday...and I maxed out his strength with the points. My rationale was, their starting strength is so low, that they need some help so they can wear the heavier armor and carrier a couple of weapons.