Larian Studios Forums Divine Divinity (English) Help/Tips/Tricks skills that don't work

I'm looking for a list of ALL the skills that don't work.

Also, I noticed that patch 1.34 is for the dvd-version of the game only. I'm not sure which version I have, the game is on 3 different discs, but to install the game you have to click on 'dvd setup'.

In the updated CD/DVD version, True Shot and the damage portion of Crossbow Expertise do not work.

The 1.34 patch is just required for older CD releases. The DVD release (1 disk) has already been updated, as will be any of the newer CD re-releases (3 disks).
Check the version number shown in the bottom right corner of the main menu in the game; the latest is 1.0034A, so you would only need to install the patch if the version is lower than that (ie the original English release was 1.0029A).

Ok, is there also a list that states ALL bugs for this version?

There is nothing current for a buglist. Many of the things mentioned in the old topic QUESTBREAKERS AND MAKING DIV LIFE DIFFICULT were fixed in the latest patch/update.

There were some suggestions for bugfixes in the topic Divine Divinity new version coming up, as well.

Is there a list that evaluates ALL of the skills? I'd like to know which skills are valuable and which not. I saw a list with descriptions of all skills, but not how valuable they are. The character I have has more strength and agility than intelligence and constitution, but it does not differ much.

Also I read that "poison weapon" skill, like freeze weapon, is too strong and shouldn't be used. Is it too strong for really tough enemies too (defeated in a few strikes)?

I don't think there is a comprehensive skill list, and opinion differs on some skills, depending on playstyle, etc. The topics below probably cover the majority of skills. You can always save before learning a skill, and reload if you don't care for it.

Poison Weapon is quite effective, but not nearly as overpowered as Frost on a weapon. I didn't use it, so am not sure if it would make things too easy, or not.


ARIC'S WARRIOR GUIDE

Archery as a warrior - my thoughts

The topic sorta new, got a quick question contains some information on playing survivors.

Kaan's Mage Guide

Playing a mage character...

Chasing Josie... techniques for defeating Josephine (spoilers)

There is a character guide archived on GameFAQS that has one users opinion on all the skills, if you find that helpful.

Character Guide

I read that you can use multiple charms on equipment by clicking on the equipment again. I tried it but it didn't work?

That exploit would work in the unpatched original release of the game. If you have installed the patch or have an already updated re-release version, then you can not open more than one charm pane.

You can use DAD's item editor to add a bonus to equipment directly, though, or iZakaroN's SaveEditor (also on Kiya's site, with description) to give your character more stat, skill or experience points.

Ok, too bad. I don't want to use editor's for that though. I'm looking for some spells that are more useable for strong units, so what are the most strongest magic spells? And does the strength of a spell depend on the intellegence level, or does it only indicate the amount of spells you can perform?

Blind + Hell Spikes is quite effective. Even without Blind, Hell Spikes can be cast repeatedly fairly quickly (though not as fast as Meteorstrike), but needs to be level 4 or 5 for best effect.

The Survivor's Curse spell can be cast repeatedly on a target (so even level 1 of the spell works well) to be followed by any elemental or poison attack.

The techniques in the topic Chasing Josie... will work for any strong opponent.


The strength of a spell is only determined by its level. Intelligence determines how much base mana you have (before equipment bonuses, etc). See:

differences between classes (minor spoilers)

Early Starter Tips (NON-Spoiler Version) (contains much of the information in the above topic)

Some of the skills don't work if the boss has a large resistance level. Is there a list of spells that always work, on all enemies?

Hell Spikes does physical damages, and the Survivor's Curse spell can not be resisted (so it is much, much better that the mage's Withering Curse); Kiya liked using Curse + Polymorph on bosses.
Other than that I didn't use many spells, so don't know anything that wasn't already mentioned in the mage guides or other links above. Below is the full skill list, if you want to check which spells can be resisted.

RPG Vault - Divine Divinity Skills XI (links to other skill sets at bottom of page)

About the dark cave mission, is there any way to keep the stat points if you want to save the boy? I tried potions and +stat equipment but it doesn't work.

Also I told george's murderer in the dark cave that I recognized him, he said that he doesn't know george. After the cave quest is completed, I went back to mardaneus, but I can't tell him about the murderer and the quest is still in the quest log. Or should I search elsewhere for the murderer (no spoilers please)?

That's not the right vampire the one you're looking for hide in Verdistis (you get the quest with the Watch).

There is no way to keep the stat points and save the boy. There are several stat/level bonuses in the game, though, so it is not a huge loss.

About charms: which ones can be used to increase attack damage and increase armor level? I suppose "strength charm" increases attack damage, any other charms?

There are no direct charm bonuses for attack damage or armour level. Strength would help with damage, depending on the character class, and Agility would help with defense. There are charms to boost your resistances, but magic/poison damage isn't that big of a deal (IMO you'd be better off buying a few Spell Shield spellbooks, to use for the few areas where there are traps or opponents that use poison; I maxed Spell Shield and Aura of Guarding with purchased or found spellbooks).

differences between classes (minor spoilers)

Early Starter Tips (NON-Spoiler Version) (contains much of the information in the above topic)


From an old topic (broken image link removed):

I noticed something strange in the Merchants Guild cellar, I'm quite sure that it's not supposed to be like this. There are many books/manuscripts/books in bookcases. When I click on a book it shows a recipe for example, but when I click on other books, almost all of them show the exact same recipe! Also the books in bookcases all have the same content and are positioned at the same location. Reloading did not fix this, just some other books and content.

It's some kind of strange thing where the dev team recycled references to the same object, instead of giving them all unique id's.

Like Stabbey said, there are some bookcases (and chests, etc) that are basically duplicates. In the merchants' guild the only books you need are the set of 3 that can teach you a level of Trader's Tongue.

connected containers?

Ok so it's no problem getting all the items from these chests/bookcase?

No, there shouldn't be a problem getting items from these chests or bookcases. A couple people used such pairs of containers to have stuff readily available at their base and at a merchant, etc.

How does "blind" skill work? I used maximum points "blind" skill on a large monster. The monster stopped attacking but when hit, the monster started attacking and chasing again. Also is "curse" skill very usefull? I used it a lot of times on a monster, then without using it and I noticed that it wasn't any more difficult to defeat the monster.

The Blind Skill reduces the monsters sight radius by 20% per point, so even if you have 4 points in, the monster can still see you if you close to melee range. I don't know why the enemy is attacking you if you're using Rank 5 Blind. Rank 5 blind certainly works on the player! Alternatively, use it on (ranged) enemy A, and go attack enemy B instead.

The Curse Skill lowers an enemies resistances by 5% per point. It's best maxed out and used with a mage who can take advantage of that resistance lowering to do extra damage. Just one point isn't going to do much. When combined with a certain skill later in the game, Curse can become an excellent way to take out enemies with 2000+ HP in one shot.

ok, when did (or does) Divinity 2 (beyond Divinity) come out in america?
Oh, and i used this combo on one of the black ring in the lake dungeon-
Withering Curse
Freeze
Elemental Bolt
it did enormous damage to them.
(i did not have divine death learned yet. stupid me)
what is the maximum possible level in Divine divinity?

Beyond Divinity was released in 2004. Divinity 2: Ego Draconis was released in the US on January 5th, 2010 (an add-on is expected about September).


Withering Curse can be resisted, unlike the Survivor's Curse spell. I know even level 1 of Curse can be cast repeatedly on a target fairly quickly (to be followed by elemental or poison damage); I'm not sure if the effect for Withering Curse stacks.

The average ending level is around the mid forties to the low fifties; without cheating it would be very difficult to get much above level 53.

Yeah, Withering Curse is inferior because it only works if the enemy's spiritual resistance is below a certain amount, and in the endgame, most enemies have 100 spiritual resistance. The Survivor skill Curse always works regardless of resistances.

In my recent play-through, I did every quest in the game and killed every enemy and finished at level 53, so getting much higher is not likely.

Ok so "curse" skill is only effective if you use poison damage / magic spell as well?

The Curse spell lowers resistances, so is most effective if followed by elemental / poison damage, or something like Divine Death or Polymorph (which would otherwise be resisted by many higher level opponents). If you are just using a weapon, or Hell Spikes, which does physical damage, then lowering an opponent's resistances is not going to help.

what if you killed every living thing. Like farmers and citizens and guards, etc? about level 55?
EDIT: I killed the group of orcs in the catacombs. the ones who wanted slasher. MAJOR Exp for a level three warrior(started a new game) Then i bought strength potions and waited for the healers to get more. i bought them, etc. I used all of them and got my strength up to the high five hundreds. then i killed seth for about fifty-thousand points. rep didn't go down, but brightblade is awesome. it has a four charm quality, and gives me a +3 to strength, +2 to constitution, it does poison damage, and does about ten or fifteen damage more than a bastard sword(or a long sword, whichever it is) Havent even ran into the dragonrider and i am at level twelve.

Oh, and if you have a lightning resistance, kill othos pigs(both of them)and he will attack you. I survived, and killed otho! he doesn't fight back, and he gives you crap for exp, but it will be interesting to see if they respawn him at the blue boar inn or not.

If you resurrect a group of opponents (or one strong one) then run or teleport away, they will turn hostile and you can return to kill them again for more experience and/or loot. This can get boring fast, though, unless you just resurrect and leave them for the next time you happen by (say with groups of lizard men in the Dark Forest, who have a small chance of dropping gold charms). I played with this a bit in Iona's dungeon, with a guardian by the teleporter pad (that always dropped something half decent when killed). Mostly I just used this technique to make sure I went up a level before getting a level bonus (there are a couple in the game), to maximize the experience points received. I maxed Resurrect with purchased spell books.

The Wisdom skill will also give you a bit of extra experience (though not enough to get over level 53 by normal means): Wisdom - is it worth the skill points?
As described in that link, the experience required for each level goes up by the cube of the level, so even killing NPCs you would not be likely to get to level 54 or 55.

Completing quests gives more experience at higher character levels, so within reason you may wish to explore and clear opponents first, before finishing quests. You don't want to forget about main plot quests, though, or end up with so many open quests you don't know where to start.

Opponents give more experience if they are at a higher level, and less if they are lower. This can be used to level faster, but when you do get back to taking out the weaker opponents, you may get little or no experience.
Without leaving Aleroth, you can reach level 4 before you enter the catacombs.

If you want to kill NPCs, you can do so (if they are unprotected) easily by casting an area effect spell that doesn't need a target (ie Poison Cloud) near them but not directly on them. That way you do damage, but they don't turn hostile and you don't loose any reputation.
When I tried killing Otho's pigs (after saving) he attacked quite quickly and effectively (no lightning resistance to speak of). In any case, do not kill Joram (if that is possible), since you need either Joram or Otho for a main plot quest later. The latest patch, or an already-updated re-release version, should have most or all of the essential NPCs protected, though getting your reputation low enough that no one will talk to you would probably cause problems, as well.

Well, i started as a warrior and killed jake with a short sword, albeit it was suped up with effects. Plus ten strength potions.

Can the lockpick skill be used in stormfist castle?

Yes, but only in the cellar of the building in the north west corner of the complex (the hatch is in the northern room in the guard's quarters), where there is no anti-magic shield. You can also toss chests out the front gate, or place them on the wall to get later from the outside.

You may want to put any excess loot you have in a chest to toss out the front gate, to make room in your inventory for what happens after you leave the castle (you will not have your teleporter stones for a while).

When you get kicked out of stormfist castle, is it possible to get into the castle back again?

Yes. You can toss a teleporter stone past the guards at the gate to get past them. Alternately, you can simply run in; after the guards stop you, pause the game immediately after the conversation ends, and then click inside the castle again. They will not be fast enough to stop you a second time.
WARNING: do not enter the castle this way before you have entered by invitation. If you get in early, talk to the duke and get a quest to find a cat, that quest will be broken when you do enter by invitation, and you will not be able to proceed. The only recourse for this would be reloading a save from before you entered the castle the first time.