Wow, really? Given his stated philosophy on everything else contained in his unofficial patch, I'm surprised that he did not make this optional.

Hm. I wasn't sure if I had installed the patch correctly, but with the encounters that totally rip me to shreds I now know I did.

Ok a bit of a rant here....I think my experiences with Toee are playing into this. Toee was my favorite game but I quit aobut 3/4 in because of the bugs and clitches and freezes and other annoying stuff. .


So I just got the blood curse but had moved along in th game and saved not realizing I had it. What a joke. I think my non-autosave is too far back to repeat that much content. And these quests are a bit fed-ex. The crawl in the sewer was a bit fun..but i can see it getting old as the combat system is lame.

That I had been cursed was not obvious to me in anyway, the text is tiney though with the resolutoin mod or whatever so I been skipping it as it hurts my eyes. Tried to get the larger text but it bugged out for whatever reason. So the social/story aspect of the game is pretty screwed. I much mcuh like the higher resolution movement (still tedius with low perception, and the map doesn't scroll right, just jumps aorund, very annoying...

I think I will delete this game and try planescape soon. Extremely tedius.

Troika didn't sell this game well because its half-cooked. Like Toee (never tried vampire) its like a really really good turkey, but pulling it out of the oven while the meat is still half raw...yes we can see wherey ou were going and it would ahve been great but....fail. Not even edible.

Any game that annoys you into quitting before getting anywhere near the end is a fail. at 5 or 6 bucks though it was worth the gander, I would have never paid retial or promoted anyone ever paying retail for something like that though.

What annoys me in this game is the fact that trying to find merchants that will actually buy all the loot you have, is a task so utterly difficult that finding Atlantis and flying to the moon without the aid of a rocket is a hundred times easier.

I suppose you could always get Expert in Haggling for that. Then anybody who buys will buy anything.
It's actually quite handy, but it costs a few points. I'm reasonably certain characters with no Haggling bonus will need 12 Willpower to pick up that last point for Expert prerequisites, too, so it's sort of a mage skill.

Well junk dealers buy most everything (except things that are actually useless except in certain tech schematics) and it makes sense mostly in my mind which vendors buy/sell what. It is annoying to have to find each different shop though because they are almost always so spaced out.

I pretty much always go to a junk dealer when I have stuff to sell. Easier that way.

Junk dealers' prices are bad. As a caster, I go to the blacksmith in Stillwater (Richard Leeks). He pays good coin for most pricey stuff, magical or technical, and doesn't ban mages from shops. As a techie, I make do with whoever's in town because I hate wasting in-game time.

The 20 intelligence bonus only increases a skills effectiveness, I don't think it actually makes the skill point value higher. So that wouldn't help get to the needed points in haggle to get trained as an expert.

That might explain a few things.
Aw well! We'll see if that altar can make the difference between high Apprentice and low Expert. Possibly not, but it'll be interesting to try. If not? Eh, I'll spend another point on it at some juncture. But if it works, it might be a helpful strategy to those who wish to sell to anybody but want to spend the minimum points to get there.

The altar is the Altar of Bolo, right? In the northern part of the map, over the mountains? Well, I guess if you are going to metagame for the skill points you can force Hardin's Pass too.

Kerlin's. Bolo's altar is near Caladon. The altar and the ring of influence only amount to +1.75 skill levels. 2.75 might be enough to get Expert training.

Ah, that's the one. I haven't done the Gods' quest in so long I forget which are which.

That's the question, isn't it! If not, well, it's unfortunately a manner in which that altar proves not especially useful.
Thought it might be worth seeing if a Background, or playing a Gnome, puts it over. I imagine there will inevitably be at least one point spent on this, or its equivalent in stat penalties from a Background, or what-have-you, but my curiosity compels me.
What are the conversion ratios, anyway? One website I found lists the deific benefits in +4s and +12s and such, some armors provide unnamed bonuses or Prowling +2, and then there's throwing skill points at it.