I started a new game in tactiction mode with 2 lone wolfs - a rogue and a fighter. Had never tried a rogue, just got into Cyseal and loved the backstab mechanic with the 3 fights before I got there. Key to this build though, is also the use of grenades - especially the smoke grenade, as at the start of battle I can throw one at our feet and the ranged enemies are forced to come within melee distance as they can't shoot us - which is perfect for both my fighter and dual dagger weilding rogue. I did one thing different with my fighter that I normally wouldn't do - I added 1 point in Geomancy so he could summon a spider from the start.

So my questions:

1. How does one craft a smoke grenade? I know "empty canister" is one ingredient but can't figure out the other.

2. Since I'm dual-wielding, is that standalone for my weapon strength or do I need "single-handed" as well?

3. What's the most important for vendor prices - barter, charisma, or reputation?

3. What is the most important stat for rogues? I read that DEX didn't help much other than requirements to wield later game weapons, but not sure about this. I know high INT for wizards makes their spells recharge faster, and for warriors high STR increases their man-at-arms skill damage, is a high DEX for rogues similar to the high STR for warriors? As in, it would increase the scoundrel skills damage (the ones that do damage).

4. At what number of points do the abilities max out at? 6 for weapons and 5 for everything else?

5. Tenebrium. Should the crafter have 5 (or 6 since its under weapons?) and no one else needs more than 2?

6. Since neither class has healing (man-at-arms does, but doesn't refresh fast enough - like hydrosophist does - in battle so I went with a different skill) I'll be relying food and potions in battle. I've read the Talent leech can be good - worth it?

7. Speaking of talents - I know my rogue would benefit from the "avoid opportunist" attacks talent, "pinpoint" for grenade throws, but not so much "gorilla" - as good as it sounds, I rarely use sneak and instead use invisibility. Unless the bonus counts for invisibility too?

8. Are pickpocket, sneak, and lockpick really worth it? I've heard pickpocket wasn't very good, sneak (in battle) costs 5 AP now with the EE no matter your sneak level, and lockpick you can usually just find a key or use blunt force and repair the weapon. Plus there are items that can increase these if you really need them. Maybe sneak would be worth it since the "haste" skill only costs 2 AP, and late game when I figured out exactly what attributes to raise to have a ton of AP. But that leads into the question about "best attributes for a rogue". Is Speed the best?

9. This is an open-type question - strategy of character growth. I am having my fighter handle the crafting and blacksmithing duties and leadership, and my rogue is handling barter, charisma, lucky charm, and lockpicking. Telekinesis is not important to waste any points on as the only place you really need it is for that roped off chest in Cyseal on the docks, and it only takes 3 points to move them which can be gained with 2 rings and an amulet. I know not to put very many points in these, as you can craft or find items that will bring each up to 5 when you need them, and you can focus on weapon and defense with points, then start trading in points for attribute points which is more important (I think from that imp demon at the end of time if I remember correctly). Am I correct in thinking this way?


Wow, sorry, I didn't intend on so many questions when I started this.

Questions 1 and 3 are the most important to me, as 1 is going to be my primary strategy, I figured out all of the grenade recipes except smoke on my last play, and cannot find it anywhere on an internet search. And 3 - this is my 3rd restart on this build combo after realizing I had wasted points on unnecessary abilities, and really want to get the vendor thing right this time.


Thanks for your time, this is an awesome upgrade to this game!

Stupid internet ... I just lost a big thanks reply with points made on each question .... I'll be brief now

Noticed after I posted that barter is like the weapon abilities where there is a description telling you what the next point would do - and it does, according to that, lower buying and raises selling values. Apparently it maxes at 6 for 100% values.

My last play smoke grenades were useless in my strategies so I didn't care to try to figure it out ... if I figure it out I'll post it on the forum as I can't find it anywhere on the net.

Talents for healing - I'm already planning on 5 star diner for my fighter as I recently found out about a hidden 3rd option for finishing one of the very first quests, and it seems the most beneficial option to go for. I love how it is a hidden way to finish the quest ;) Also, I've decided on "zombie" for both members of my party as its easy enough to poison food, I can make toxic grenades as important in my battle strategies as I can smokes, and my crafter can just whip up a bunch of earth scrolls to use at 4AP a pop to help out too. I don't think its possible to poison healing potions, but the full ones I can sell for decent profit.

Tenebrium (for the crafter) ... are you sure its 3? I would think 5 would add more damage to weapons than at 3, but if not I don't want to waste ANY points so I can trade them for attribute points. I suppose I can test that out, just hoping to save some time.

Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions, I really appreciate it. I love this game.

Ah ok, now that I think about it it seems crafting level and character level would be the main factors in determining the damage amount when adding tenebrium, or any element. Just like adding "tormented soul" to a weapon - with 5 crafting and being low level, it only adds +1 STR and +1 DEX, but at level (? 12? 15?) it adds +2 to both, and if you make it to level 22 it adds +3 to both.

So Tenebrium level (even for the crafter) is just needed so they can wield weapons that require a certain level that a particular weapon requires, and weapon requirements top off at 3 then?

This actually reminds me of a question I originally had in the long post that the internet screwed up posting ... about the max level of other abilities, most only give a brief description of what the ability does, as opposed to the categories under weapons and barter which show what another point would do ... I'm about certain "crafting" tops at 5 since I've played the game many times and once at 5 you never get the "potential combination but crafting level too low" message when expirimenting, but what about "blacksmithing"? I can test this easily at a level up once i have equipment that puts me at 5, throw another point in after a quicksave and see if a weapons damage increases anymore at a whetstone wheel.


Thanks again for your responses and a great game

While Charisma doesn't make much difference to vendor prices - it only helps by way of increasing their disposition a bit, and you can do that other ways - it's worth improving for the benefit to rock-paper-scissors and the fact that there are a few places where a dialogue option will only appear if you have at least a certain amount.

Yeah I noticed it does factor a bit in their disposition, because of the trait choices I needed to make, my rogue (also my barter character) had 5 less rep than my fighter, but now thats gone the other way around. Or maybe thats the effect of my barter skill - unsure.At this point it doesn't really matter anyways ...

I assume you're referring to a charm spell as "other ways", but my characters aren't going to have that (other than a charm grenade, but I don't want to lob one at a vendor and start a fight lol).

I never put points in either in previous plays so I'm trying something completely fresh this time. I'm already getting way better prices than I ever had before, and I'm barely where I want them to be.

And yeah, the rock paper scissors game was in my mind when I decided to go "charisma" on a character, as I spent a TON of reload time trying to beat it when mine was 1 or 2 points to their 5 every time.

Thanks, this play is a lot of fun and working well - makes me want to try rogue/witch lone wolfs next play ;)