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Hey Folks,

So, played some of KotC and I'm utterly rubbish at it. I keep getting nailed by the Orcs.

Yep, pretty much the first battle, save for the elementals who also give a good kicking but I can take them.

Managed to get a plenty further on a demo build but only because Blue Salamander was sitting next to me telling me what to do.

So, why can I only cast a couple of spells with my wizard before he becomes utterly useless? Why do my fighters just die all the time? What do I do about the bloody web thing?

Any ideas? My DnD knowledge isn't totally encyclopedic.

In the first battle, try letting the guards go first..

Ta. I will try that tonight. It's quite interesting how tricky this game is, considering I normally romp through main stream "RPGs" without breaking a sweat. Think I'm up to speed with the various feats and skills etc... It's a good game, I like it.

Some bonus spells like Bless might help you as well.

Couple of thoughts I hope you find helpful. I'm no encyclopedia or guru either, but I have been playing D&D and turn based crpgs for a while and I love them.

- your mage runs out of spells so quickly because he's only 1st level, it will get better as he levels up. Also, make sure you've got as high an ability score in his Intelligence (Int) as possible, as this may also give you bonus spells (at least it does in some versions of D&D, I haven't read the OGL rules KotC is based on to verify). And while it may not help in that very first couple of battles, give your mage a crossbow and buy some bolts, and later wands and scrolls (which if you take certain feats, he can make himself) so that he can do something when he has no spells to cast. You may want to consider making sure your mage's Dexterity (Dex) score is also fairly high, as any bonuses will help not only with ranged combat attack, but also his armor class, making him slightly harder to hit than a slab of meat with a burlap sack on it.

- your fighters will get tougher as they level up, they should be getting 8-12 hp per level. Make sure they have fairly high Constitution scores (Con), like 16+. Again, won't help for the first battle, but you will soon get better armor for them. As for that first battle, as others have said, let the guards go first. Also, don't rush outside the gate, try to set up a sort of defensive position on your side of the gate, and make the enemy come to you. Keep your mage well away from the gate or he'll get peppered by arrows and taken down quickly.

- in general, try to flank whenever possible. this means getting 2 of your characters on opposite sides of an enemy (you'll notice the enemy does it to you *all the time* - also try not to let them do it to you!) for attack bonuses. Using the 5 foot step prior to attacking is useful here - don't just click to move, as this may provoke an Attack of Opportunity. You need to use the actual Move 5 Foot Step command or whatever the action is called.

- try to use the 5 foot step with your cleric and mage whenever you need to cast in battle if there is an enemy next to them, as casting may provoke an attack of opportunity, and if they fail concentration check, they will lose the spell. Taking the Superior Concentration feat and having high Constitution will help with casting in battle (it will happen, no matter how careful you are in your positioning).

- This game is probably the first I've played of its type that makes all of the "secondary" or tactical feats and spells actually useful. I say "secondary" because in most other computer versions of D&D, either the feats and spells aren't included or are half-baked implementations, or else they are usually a waste because the game lacks tactical complexity and it only really matters how high your AC is and how high your attack bonus and strength modifier is. Not so here. Positioning, saving throws (plus enhancements like Iron Will), and tactical abilities like Combat Reflexes, Prayer, Silence, darkness, blindfighting, etc all are very useful here.

- Oh if you're not using it already, make good use of the Ready on Approach/Ready on Spellcast actions to set up your positions. Don't just rush all your characters off to various enemies, try to think of the battlefield as a chessboard where you need to think about where you are, where you want to be, and if you can't get there in one turn, move part way and then ready your character. That way you get to exert some control over how the battle progresses instead of just being reactive.

Hope that helps!

Good man. I'll try again tonight, implementing some of these ideas, nice one.

Will let you know how it goes!

Well, I had an idea about how to start that involves a human party selecting all the crafting feats and never buying a shop item. (since its turned that way for me anyway.)

Give your party members the crafting feats at creation. Try to spread them out.

knight - forge weapons
cleric - craft (enchant) weapons, craft wonderous items
cleric - craft wand, scribe scroll
wizard, craft wand, craft ring

At the start, before the orcs battle, help the summoner kill the elementals and use the xp gained there, along with the campfire, to prepare. You wont have much to work with yet, but you can make a couple of basic items, like some crossbows.

For the battle: throw an entangle out there and let the guards do most the work. Only go melee when you have to and keep that wizard in a corner with his mates protecting him. Enlarge person is also a wicked spell to cast on your knight.

To deal with web: use craft wonderous item to make Spider Cloaks. (though i'd mostly use displacement vs melee and +5 resist vs a heavy caster threat.)

Enchant spellresist:13 on everyones armor as soon as you can.

Also, the wizard should use mithril leather with SR:19 and dex bracers with a resist/displacement cloak as opposed to a SR:21 cloak /w armor bracers. Roll him with high dex, he should be awesome.

I could go on, believe me... xD

Have you actually tried this? Because, I could be wrong, but I believe most of the more powerful crafting feats are only available at higher character levels. Level 5 for craft magic wand, etc. Don't think you can take them all at character creation. The only ones available I think are Scribe Scroll for Clerics and Wizards, and Forge (not Enchant/Craft) Weapons and Armor for all classes.

Can you make mithril leather armor? Mithril is a metal.

Yeah I think mithral leather is allowed. Just imagine thin mithral layers set under a normal leather armor.

No, i haven't tried it. Its just an idea for how to start that should teach you a bit about the game while you look at what i'm talking about.

But, yeah... You should be able to make some crossbows, which was the idea. Then use them with Entangle. You should find most units avoid entering the field. If you have knights make composite bows.

Also, yeah, I do get a little ahead of myself here.... Spider cloaks are while off and, yes, most the good stuff needs a level requirement.

mith. leather, yeah, it can be done. Its a good way to get some extra resists going on and keep his crowbow skills high with his high dex.

Rememeber - you can craft slaying arrows that can do 10,000 damage vs their target. My knight has a stack of 20 sleep arrows and 3 giant slaying left. Firing off 4 arrows is a better start to the round than 1 charge attack, i reckon. Take out a wizard or something. =)