So I'm finally going to play Arcanum. I have heard so many good things about it, and it's been on my list of games to play for years. I just never seemed to get to it somehow. But before I begin I had a few questions, I read the full 180 page manual but some things were not too clear.

Are Character Points really rare or what? Looking through the skills and tech tree I see a lot of neat stuff that I would like. In looking for answers I found all sorts of warnings that you can only max out one or maybe two stats/skills, but everything else would suffer if you do. If the level cap is 50 I would imagine that equates to 50 CP for the whole game. Is that not a lot of CP? Or is it that reaching level 50 would takes an insanely long time?

Is having low Beauty, like 2, really detrimental? I was eyeing the Hit by an Ugly Stick background but that -6 Beauty just sounds bad. Having a +1 to Dodge, Melee and Throwing right away sounds awfully tempting though. Especially because I was planning to put my first few points in these skills anyway.

I looked at the tech trees and that is definitely the way I want to go. But again I see the warnings; "don't waste CP on X because you can get follower Y who has that skill". I haven't really paid close attention because I don't want any spoilers. It does make me wonder though, what with all the talk about followers, if this game can be played solo or is it designed around group mechanics?

I normally don't over analyze this much in games, but I know these older RPGs had a bad habit of punishing the player for specializing too much, or not enough. I'd hate to get to the end of the game and find that some item/skill/option that I really wanted is now unattainable because I foolishly "wasted" a point to try out Gambling at level 3.

They're not that rare. You get a total of 64: five at the start, one every level, and a bonus one every 5th level. And there is a level cap remover, though that's IMO more to give you a reason to keep doing side quests; you'll already have enough points for a very powerful build. Low beauty is a hindrance (people tend to attack you on sight, for example) so I wouldn't play it the first time through. And the so-called +1 is a misnomer; it's actually +1/4 of a rank. No big deal, unless you're playing a very specific type of build. (Fractions of a rank count as a full rank for purposes of acquiring apprenticeship, expertise and mastery in a skill.) I play solo all the time; in fact, I prefer it. But on your first playthrough, I strongly recommend you take Virgil with you; his commentary will illuminate much of what's going on as you go through the game.

Your follower limit is determined by your Charisma; the more you have, the larger your potential entourage. Followers can fight for you, heal you, and build things for you; but their attacks are worth only a portion of the XP you'd get from doing it all yourself.

The big thing when playing tech is to not waste your points: if you want item A, you can temporarily 'hire' a follower, get them to make it (you have to supply the components, of course) and then dismiss them. Compared to magic, tech is much tougher to pull off: for one thing, healing becomes more of a concern, since spells and potions tend to fail the less magical you are. My advice is to plan ahead: if you want to be a gunfighter, invest in Perception and Firearms; leave gun smithy for when you have the points to spare (by which point you may have found a better gun anyway). That's the beauty of this game: nearly any build can be made to work, and options present themselves based on how you play. You can be a tank, a mage, a gunslinger, a craftsman, a thief, a scoundrel, a talker, the pacifist head of a violent gang — or just about any combination thereby. And then do it again another way, and see what happens then.

Thanks for the advice. It has given me a few more things to think about These are the phrases that keep scaring me. I don't mind doing a bit of micromanagement in building my character but I`d rather not have to stress it my first time playing. Maybe I'll use the level cap remover after all. Another of my pet peeves is when I run out of character before I run out of game.

TwoHandedSword has covered the basics pretty well, here is a little advice that I hope helps:
- Magic is, compared to the majority of tech builds, extremely OP. It requires less micromanaging, and has far more potent results at lower levels. As a prefered tech player even I admit this fact. So if you are looking for an easier first time through, go for magic. It can spoil you though, and later non magic builds might feel lacking
- Tech is wonderful, guns are not. Sadly unless you find a mod that makes this statement false, the simple fact is that guns are disturbingly underpowered, require a massive amount of bullets, and generally just take up bag space until you get the gun recipe drops late in the game. Once you can craft those, they are actually quite powerful
- If you do decide to go tech, I cannot stress enough to make a melee build until you get a feel for tech. It makes life considerably easier, and you can always branch out into guns as a backup weapon once you can keep yourself alive better. Just be certain that no matter what, you get at least 2 points into Electric for the charged rings, and 1 rank into Herbology for the healing salves. These items are invaluable to tech, as the rings grant Dex (imho the single most important stat in game for any build/character) and the salves grant you the ability to heal long after your tech aptitude makes you effectivel "immune" to Virgil's. This is due to the fact as your tech aptitude goes up, Virgil's healing will work less and less until he stops healing you because it simply won't work. At least he still heals your other party members.
- Virgil is indeed wonderful, he is the only "caster" style party member with reasonable spell AI in my experience. Most tend to waste their fatigue casting spells at the worst possible times. As for the other followers, any of the "builders" such as Magnus in Tarant can only learn 4 recipes max from their respective crafting colleges so if you want the best crafted stuff you will need to do it yourself. They can't even learn the schematics that drop, and those are almost always the best things to craft. I would also suggest grabbing Dog in Ashbury. He counts as a "free" party member if you save him (he doesn't count towards the follower limit, but does give you a VERY powerful frontliner to help you)

I'm not trying to scare you; as Xyravos points out (and as I've been griping about in another thread) going tech is a lot harder than going magic. But your options aren't limited to firearms: techies can build explosives, repair arms and armor, and craft weapons from flaming axes to compound bows.

There are two kinds of tech items in the game: those you have to learn via CPs, and those you can learn from a (found or bought) schematic. The schematic-based ones are almost always better, but may require a college-taught item* as a component, or a level of expertise** you haven't achieved yet.

Protip: there are eight tech colleges, with seven ranks per; four of your potential followers can each learn up to the first four ranks from two of them. (Magnus, for example, can do Mechanical and Smithy; Jayna, Herbology and Therapeutics.)

Guns require bullets, which can be found, bought and/or made; other tech devices may require fuel or batteries to operate. These things have weight and take up room, all of which have to be managed between you and your followers.

And besides healing spells, potions and salves, there's a tech-neutral healing option: the Heal skill, which does require a supply of bandages — and like gunfighting, is nearly useless until you pump a bunch of points into it (and pay for apprenticeship, expertise and mastery).

Apprenticeship, etc. is an adjunct to learning a skill: doing so grants extra benefits above and beyond a better chance at success. In general, you find and pay someone to teach you; though some masters require you to complete a quest on their behalf. And a few of the mastery quests — like the ones for Melee and Dodge — are interrelated, and best done together.

And this should be enough to make your head spin. One final bit of advice: if you decide to try explosives, invest in Throwing, so your grenades end up where you intended them to. Good luck.

*Some of which can be found in the game already crafted, if you know where to look. Which on your first go-through, admittedly you probably won't.

**Even this is covered; there's a place in the educational center of the continent's main city where you can buy manuals that grant you expertise in proportion to your intelligence. They're heavy and expensive, though; so they're best saved for the mid-game at least.

Do not be scared of tech! It's harder than magic because magic is really easy. If you're interested in guns, though, be warned that they're not as powerful as you might think, especially early on. It's worth getting one point of explosives to go with them so you can make your own bullets (that's a schematic you can buy, which requires one point in Explosives) and make molotov cocktails, which are learned automatically by putting one point in Explosives. Those things are really useful.

But there are also plenty of easier tech builds. Going all-in on Explosives is really easy, especially once you realize that there's no friendly fire from grenades, so you can just throw one right at your feet and blow all the nearby enemies away. A tech-focused melee fighter is also really easy (actually all melee fighters are really easy), and can build cool tech armor and weapons, for themselves and for followers. Electrical and Mechanical offer some cool stuff too... Electrical can build some nice stat-boosting items and fight with tesla rods and such, while Mechanical lets you build robotic allies (and traps too, I think?).

My advice is to just make a character that sounds cool. Don't worry too much about points... you'll have plenty, and it's actually fairly obvious where to spend them because there are lots of prerequisites. You need more INT to get higher level tech disciplines, DEX for better combat skills, etc. Also be sure to actually roleplay your character! Arcanum does a fantastic job of responding to different playstyles and choices, and you'll be surprised at how different two playthroughs can be.

Speaking of multiple playthroughs, definitely try them! If your character isn't as fun as you thought, start over with a new one, and try some different stuff.

The problem, I feel, with magic is that developers always want to make it "balanced" so that a pure mage can do everything a non mage can. The problem is that there are so many non magic specialties. A non mage has to make some tough decisions. Having the biggest weapon and heaviest armor makes you a great tank, but you have to ignore stealth and social skills. Likewise neither a thief/assassin or a charismatic socialite can ever hope to inflict or withstand anywhere near the damage that the warrior can. There just isn't enough room for advancement to allow one character to do everything, unless they are using magic. With invisibility and open lock spells they can match most thieves, the same character can also get powerful shield and attack spells along with charm spells and several different buffs. All for much cheaper than the non mage trying to achieve the abilities through skills alone. On top of this a high level magic user can get spells, like teleportation, that have no non magic equivalent. I almost never use magic in RPGs, it somehow feels like cheating. This is part of why I have been wanting to play Arcanum. Not only can I ignore magic as a player, but in doing so my character gets to ignore it in the game world.

Well maybe I went too far saying I was scared. I prefer to advance my character using a general concept rather than a rigid, mathematical formula for the perfect distribution of advancement. In the case of my first play through I was thinking of a hardened treasure hunter. Someone who feels more at home at the bottom of a deep dark dungeon gathering trinkets and avoiding traps than they do walking around a city full of people. Armed with a sword, pistol (and probably a healthy supply of molotovs because they sound like fun) and sense of adventure he gladly seeks out new places and dangers. Fortunately most of the tech items I'm wanting are in the first 2-3 tiers of their schools. Although there are a few high level items that are tempting, like the elephant gun. I still haven't decided on race, though I'm leaning towards Dwarf. And I'm still pondering the background options, there just doesn't seem to be one that really suits my concept. Does anyone have thoughts on the various Phobia backgrounds?

Also is the Auto Skeleton Key an alternative to the Lock Pick skill or would I still need to boost that skill to use the key?

That sounds like fun! I think you've already started to grasp the spirit of this game.

Being a Dwarf gives you an early bonus to TA (technical aptitude); not that you'll need it, since you'll be putting points into tech disciplines anyway. Just keep in mind that as a small race, their armor options are a bit limited. (Although [minor spoiler] if you follow a certain side quest to its conclusion, the best tech armor in the game is also small-sized.)

As for the various phobias, they're kind of underwhelming in my opinion. Agoraphobia is a decent mix, boosting your IN in cities and your ST in open areas, but at a substantial penalty to your DX (which can translate into one fewer attack per turn). Hydrophobia almost never comes up; whereas you'll spend too much time in dungeons to justify Afraid of the Dark.

Dwarves can't be Technophobes. And of them all, Magick Allergy is the absolute worst: as a treasure hunter, you won't even be able to gather all the magical goodies you find to sell them off for cash* (or use them to equip any magical followers).

Dark Sight might work for you; you'll get a PE targeting bonus underground and at night, in exchange for a similar penalty during the day. You might also like Beat With an Ugly Stick: a substantial bonus to strength and speed, in exchange for shoppers overcharging you on purchases (and random strangers potentially attacking you on sight).

The auto-skeleton key gives you a substantial bonus to Pick Locks, but doesn't replace it; you'll still have to invest in the skill.

*Another protip: except for (most) daggers, the majority of the magical items you find are worth more once they've been identified; which you can pay any of the gypsy women 100 coins per item to do for you. (Identification reveals any curses or penalties, and unlocks an item's full bonuses, should you or one of your followers decide to equip it.)

Warning - Long and detailed description ahead :P

It may sound a bit odd, but I personally like the Mad Doctor background for my tech characters, here is the description:
Mad Doctor (all races) +2 Intelligence & Perception, +20% electrical & poison resists, +4 (one full rank) Heal skill, -1 Beauty & Charisma, -2 Dexterity, -3 Constitution

Int and Per are both useful in tech builds, Int for obvious reasons, and Per if you ever want to delve into guns or Spot/Disable trap skills. 20% electrical and poison resist might not sound that impressive, but poison is quite common especially later on, and electrical is quite damaging so even a minor reduction can save your life. +4 to Heal skill is actually pretty nice as well, grants self healing and lets you mend your own Scars (please note that this is also the only background that grants a full rank in any skill, others need to be matched with racial bonuses to get the same benefit, for example dwarves with Apprenticed to Blacksmith for 1 full rank of Repair etc) -1 Beauty & Cha laughable penalty, there are quests that grant you a permaboost +1 to both stats. -2 Dex again laughable penalty easily remedied with a single Charged ring. -3 Con, ok this one might be somewhat painful, but after 2-3 level ups the fatigue loss stops being an issue, and if nothing else Herbology line has a fatigue restoration schematic at rank 2 (and poison cure at rank 3, both are actually kind of nice to learn on top of the healing salve)

I would advise against any of the phobia backgrounds, I find them unreliable at best, a flat out detriment at worst. As for Dark Sight there are tons of ways to increase light to counter darkness penalties (torches, light bulbs, heck there is a miners helm you can get later on that has really nice armor boost and permanent light aura), but if this is reversed then you won't be able to counter it (that I know of) and since you spend a lot of time above ground during the day, this would not be good. Beat with an Ugly Stick has wonderful combat bonuses, but I personally found having to save every time I wanted to talk because a wrong word would make them attack annoying and tedious (sadly, a lot of the times I found the chat options given due to this background left me no choice but to be offensive, meaning everytime I talked to an npc there was a roughly 40% chance they were going to attack. Gets rather old) One consideration, if you should choose to go Half-Orc, is Factory Escapee. It grants a +1 Str boost in exchange for starting with less money, and you will probably have earned the gold back before you leave Shrouded Hills. Another consideration is Raised by Monks, another loss of start gold but +1 Per and any race can take it. Avoid any backgrounds that give you a Dialogue penalty, especially for first time through. This will prevent so many quests it's not funny, and also keeps you from doing anything that requires the persuasion skill (this includes a lot of the Fate point granting quests, as well as unlocking 2 of the 3 most powerful melee companions excluding Dog. To be specific Thorvald and Loghaire, at least Chukka should still be available). Should also avoid anything that grants items, since you will gain a lot better and the penalties are not worth an item you will only be using for a couple levels anyways

Fyi - When you pick your start skills consider Lockpicking grants you a free set up lockpicks (must have item for any non-mage, also a prereq for the auto lockpick crafted item) and Heal grants you a free pack of bandages (very useful as Mad Doctor since placing 1 point on top of the free rank will give you 2 full ranks of Heal making them able to heal a decent amount right off the bat. Sadly the free rank from Mad Docter doesn't grant you the pack, still have to place a point in the skill to get free bandages) You only gain the chance at the free items during character creation but I find they are worth the 2 points

Thanks for the input, it is very much aappreciated.

I had looked at Dark Sight briefly. It reminded me of the Night Person trait from Fallout 1, which was not really that great of an option. Also in Fallout there was a mechanic where dropping lit flares would negate the perception penalty for shooting in the dark. I know that Arcanum is a different game, but I wouldn't put it past the developers to add a similar light bonus to molotovs.

The advice on Mad Scientist aslo has me taking a second look at Sickly and Miracle Operation. Drawing again on my experience with the Fallout games I'm wondering just how important Constitution is for a ranged fighter. I think that getting a half dozen or so points in Perception and Intelligence might be worth a minor hit to Constitution and Dexterity. Especially if I'm just going to be boosting Dex anyway. Or I may just use the level cap remover and then go with something a bit more inert, such as Inheritance or Army Training.

Not quite; Molotovs don't last long enough. (The fire obstruction grenade might work like that, though; I haven't yet stuck with Explosives long enough to try it.)

Instead, there are lanterns and the Electric Light learned schematic (which interfere with the use of rifles and other two-handed weapons) as well as some lighted helmets you might be able to find, buy or build. It'd be nice if the developers had thought of adding flares, though.

I would recommend this FAQ to new players:

http://www.gamefaqs.com/pc/914155-arcanum-of-steamworks-and-magick-obscura/faqs/63974

While that might apply to some games, it certainly doesn't with Arcanum. Case in point: my current build is a halfling, who started out with crappy combat skills and high persuasion. Naturally, he got to bypass a lot of the combat-heavy quests. However, he is the current Melee Master, his weaknesses supplanted by a combination of magic and stat-boosting equipment. Once he gets behind a target, he can kill it in one blow. Anything he doesn't kill gets mopped up by the small army following him, all but the token mage wielding tech weaponry.