Larian Studios Forums Divine Divinity (English) General Automatic skill increases?

If somebody has asked this before, I apologise, but are there skills that are automatically increased for certain characters? My male warrior seemed to automatically increase his sword mastery skill, even though i never selected it. Is that normal? And if so, which characters increase which skill, because that would help a lot with choosing what weapon or whatever I'm planning to use.

I cant remember that happened to me, but i last played a long, long time ago.

And for the apologize stuff, you dont need to apologize for such things here, we are an open forum <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

welcome to the forum mate <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hug.gif" alt="" />

achak, you know that there are different start skills of the different "hero" types.

Some (only a few) skills were increased as a reward for quests.

With one skill point in Sword Expertise or Augment Damage, saving and reloading the game will automatically boost the skills up to level 2. These are the starting skills of the male warrior, but this will also work for any other character, they just have to put the first skill point in themselves.

The most plentiful and powerful weapons in the game tend to be swords. There are lots of axes in the beginning catacombs, but few after that, so stash any you might want to use later (you'll have to stash them anyway, until you find merchants with enough gold to buy them).
As of the latest patch, True Shot and the damage portion of Crossbow Expertise are broke. However, archery is still very effective, especially combined with the Poison Weapon skill.


differences between classes (minor spoilers)

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

Free skills, and spell books you can buy (Spoilers)


Welcome to the forum. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wave.gif" alt="" />

Is there any way of avoiding this save reload thing? I'm planning on going with a spear-throwing type (spears rock so hard, that (insert some lame reason why spears rock your socks off right here)). I might even combine it with a summoning mage-type (Druids/shamans rock even harder). Well, I'll see what happens. Thanks for the help though... Maybe I'll even post something useful from time to time <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/silly.gif" alt="" />

I don't think you can avoid the skill boost on reloading, though you could try getting both skills up to level 2 yourself before reloading the game (character level 7).

Not using a sword isn't going to hurt you any. Warriors tend to have lots of spare skill points, so a boost to one you are not going to use will hardly be noticed. If you try to boost mage skills with found or purchased books, or are selective in which summoning skills you learn, you should still have skill points to spare.

Well, I'll see what I'll do then. I didn't know what the maximum level of the game was, so I thought the starting skill points made a huge difference (they do in the beginning anyway).

Well, I'm gonna give it a roll then, see ya later guys. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wave.gif" alt="" />

The ending character level of the game is generally in the range from the mid forties to low fifties.

Okay, now I'm playing a spear-trowing survivor and have wasted the first catacombs (Never thought a skeletal summoning lord could be easy, he gave my sword warrior quite a bit of trouble <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/puppyeyes.gif" alt="" />). Haven't had this strange skill invcrease yet.

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/offtopic.gif" alt="" /> Is the embrace shadows skill worth it? I mean, I like being a guerilla warrior and all <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/evilgrin1.gif" alt="" />, but how do I know hiding actually works? Is it based on distance? Or the type of monster, or something else completely?

If you put one skill point into Augment Damage (though it will only boost melee attacks), you should get the second skill level the next time you reload the game. You can randomly get either a level Augment Damage or Augment Defense from a quest in the Dark Forest.


I never tried Embrace Shadows, but I believe it is based more on the ambient light than the type of enemies in the area (getting near a light source, opening a door or running out of stamina will reveal your character). When hiding it is possible some opponents may notice you more easily than others, but I don't recall anyone mentioning that, so it is probably not a significant factor. You could try saving the game, then put a point or two into the skill and try it out. If it doesn't seem helpful, simply reload.
Alternately, try out the survivors special skill, Sneak, which does basically the same thing (though there are a couple exploits with Embrace Shadows: <span class='standouttext'>Spoiler : </span><span class='spoiler'>cast the spell on an NPC or opponent to turn invisible and steal indiscriminately [as long as you stay in the dark, so put out any candles, etc first], or attack without triggering a counterattack</span>: highlight the text to read). Those exploits could make the game too easy, so use at your own risk.