Larian Studios Forums Beyond Divinity (English) Help/Tips/Tricks Questions about game mechanics and Act I

Hi everyone. Finally got the game, patched it and am having a blast playing. Wanted to ask a few questions that have been bugging me <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

1) It seems that the Poison Creatures book is "read" when clicked on and I'm now missing it. Would it be possible to re-create it using the item dupe trick? I'm thinkinh of starting a new game, getting the book and then taking the inventory file from the new game and subbing it into my main game (after dropping all the items on the ground in the main game of course).

2) Locked barrels are a real pain. Maybe it's the game I'm playing but I've already found six and I'm not even out of the Barracks! For something from Act I not even Lockpicking 10 (I'm patched) works on them! I'm guessing Locked Barrels are just a bug through and through?

3) My Death Knight is a 'Mage' who's using a club that does Spiritual damage. Is there any proficiency (like Warrior Single Slashing) that I can use to increase accuracy/damage for my Death Knight?

4) I'm having fun with the Battlefields, but I thought they would be repopulated with monsters and items each time I visited them?? Also, I finished the first "dungeon" (first portal you encounter down to third level) where I killed Eddie and the guy who has Red Gloves Rags of Punching. However I still have two active quests and there were two empty rooms on that level. Should I revisit or are the Spider Egg and other quest in another "dungeon"?

5) Since I'm on the Barracks level I killed all the DK patrols. Is there any drawback to killing all the guards after completing their quests?

6) If your doll dies, does it still keep all its items on it or do they drop to the ground?


Apologies for all the text, but just a few things that have been bothering me. Hopefully someone will be kind enough to respond in the meantime. I'll be banging my head against stuff like Deathblow (hint: it really blows) and the like for now :o

The poison creatures book is read when clicked on, but should not disappear. If you dragged and dropped it into your hero's inventory (or onto the character portrait), the book should remain, otherwise it should still be in the left cell in the arena.

If you picked the book up, but can not find it, you should be able to use the procedure in the Lost Items topic to replace it (you don't need to drop all your stuff first, since you will be backing up and restoring your original inventory files).

Also, if you picked it up, check your inventory for the book. Occasionally if you find a quest item before getting the quest, the game sometimes has trouble recognizing it. In this case, if you drop the book on the ground, have your hero pick it up again and talk to the medic, you should be able to give it to him.


Do all the barrels you have found require more than level 10 Lockpick? I know some get a higher level than you'd expect for the area of the game they are in (a couple people have mentioned storing barrels they couldn't open in the BF for later, but I haven't played much since the patch that fixed Lockpick). Playing again, I'd be tempted to cheat (by hex editing - changing skills is described in a reply to the original post) and give myself level 20 to start with, though there isn't really anything of value stored in barrels.
I liked the locked barrels and vases in DD, that you could just smash open.


Weapons that do spiritual damage get a damage bonus based on intelligence, but have no weapon specialities (possibly because they are primarily a mage's weapon, and the weapon specialities are under the warrior, melee skill section).


Monsters do not respawn, in the main game or BF.
BF quest items and monsters are placed randomly on the third levels of the dungeons, so it is possible for any particular dungeon to have none, one or multiple items or boss monsters. Your remaining quests should be solvable in the second or third dungeon.


Once you are done with the barracks and are ready to head to the next act, feel free to replace your citadel guard armour (so everyone turns hostile after they see you) and kill whoever you want. You can not get back to the first act after you leave, so this will not effect the rest of the game. Depending on the method you use to leave the act (listen to the cutscenes as you approach the smith's door in the citadel...), you could be doing them a favour by killing them.
<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/evilgrin1.gif" alt="" />


Summoning dolls do not drop anything when killed, so feel free to load them with loot. If they are not over-loaded, you can also run them around to trigger area effect traps (they can not open trapped containers for you).
Incidentally, the act 1 summoning doll is the only one that can use a ranged weapon (crossbow). If kept out of the way of opponents (summoning dolls are not particularly tough), it can provide support for the more difficult fights.


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

Thank you for the info and the welcome, Raze!

Turns out that the Poison Creatures book being a book didn't automatically pick up when I clicked on it. It was lying there all along so I grabbed it and finished the quest. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ouch.gif" alt="" />

BTW, how do I force-attack NPCs? For example, what would I do if I wanted to kill the Kitchen Imp on the first level?

Also, every time I leave and re-enter the BF the trading NPCs have new stocks of gold (good) but very rarely or very slowly update their stock of items (bad!). Is there any way I can force the traders to cycle items more or faster?

Thank you <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I never tried killing friendly NPCs in BD. If clicking on one with weapons drawn doesn't give you the option of attacking, you could try the swirl attack nearby (not sure if it will hit friendly NPCs, though). An area effect spell that doesn't need a target may do damage, but I don't know of any available in act 1 ('elemental attack, spread/circle, missile/instant' spells are available starting in act 2). With 2 main characters and optional summoning dolls, though, area effect spells may have been designed to only effect hostile creatures, so mage's couldn't catch teammates in their attacks.
If you have any bottles of poison you can try tossing them at the NPC's feet.


BF merchant items should be regenerated each time you enter. They can hold on to stuff you sell them, though, which stays at the top of their inventory list. Other than that, the inventories should change somewhat (the type, number and quality of items should stay roughly similar for each merchant within each act).

Sounds good.

By the way, I downloaded your file that has 6 Holy Waters. Should I use the iteam duplication medit, hex editing or your Lost Items guide in order to take advantage of them?

Thank you!

The 'lost items' procedure is the only way to use the holy water inventory files.

The duplication method is similar, but assumes you are using inventory files from two successive saves made in the same game. Keeping inventory files from a different save will cause problems, so the 'lost items' procedure describes how to backup and restore your original files, just using the downloaded ones long enough to get the required item(s).

AFAIK nobody has figured out how to add specified items to the inventory files by hex editing. If you don't mind hex editing, though, you would get the same effect of making permanent potions by giving yourself extra stat points.

Thank you for your help Raze!

I'm now cruising towards the end of Act I. All I really have to do is mop up the Citadel Guards on the Barracks/Living Quarter Levels, finish the third BF dungeon and blow up the joint.

Talking about making stuff go boom - currently when I move the Salt over the Coal both items dissapear!! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/sad.gif" alt="" /> I've listened to the Smith warn the Imp about the lava flow... do I have to listen to someone else before I can craft the bomb?

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/offtopic.gif" alt="" /> Sometimes I want to kick whoever player-tested BD in the shins. Currently when I put any item in the trade window (without selecting anything as a form of payment back to me) and just hit Enter the NPC merchant gets my item for free! The message window warning about an unequal transaction pops up but then dissapears just as quickly... What a laugh. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/sad.gif" alt="" />

When you drag the salt over the coal, both items should disappear, with a new item (the mixture) going into the hero's inventory. If you are mixing them in the DK's inventory, try moving them to your hero (mixing should work with the DK, aside from the result being given to the hero).
Also, make sure you are combining these items in the main game, and not in the BF.


Not that there shouldn't be a confirmation when hitting Enter to accept a transaction, but AFAIR you are the first to discover/mentioned this.
You can safely cancel a trade by hitting Esc, right clicking the window or clicking the cancel (X) button.