Larian Studios Forums Beyond Divinity (English) Help/Tips/Tricks Character Build help...

Hello All,
I just signed up on the forums and was looking for some guidance. I have played DD and enjoyed it quite well. I had a spellcaster who summoned alot and it looked wicked when he was follwed by skellies...Heh. Well, I dusted off my copy of BD and have seen that the evil star thingie has been delt with. Loaded up the game and just stared at the character build screen. Any tips on what kind of builds the community used? Any favorites you would like to share? I did do some searching on the forums, but could not find anything. Could be my searching parameters, don't know at this pint. Any pointing in the right direction would be most appreciative.

Thanks,
Raed

Hello and welcome! I've used three different combinations. From least to most effective:

1) Hero - Mage; Deathknight - Warrior. This was my default choice, as I always choose a mage as my character and a melee companion seemed the perfect complement. This is an easy configuration to manage: you lead with your mage and can set the warrior to 'aggressive' meaning he'll automatically attack nearby enemies. This frees you up to switch spells and maneuver your mage out of harm's way (since he's leading, enemies will be drawn to him first). The mage gets some powerful spells eventually (like the shaman's hammer and thunderstorm); when an enemy comes on screen, you cast the spell as the DK runs in with weapon in hand to finish the job. Beautiful.

2) Hero - Warrior; Deathknight - Mage. Basically the reverse of the first configuration. I chose this one because of the way the DK's armor upgrades. In option 1, you have to pass up a lot of the cool armor because your strength won't be high enough as a mage, and the DK can't wear much in the way of armor. With this option, though, your hero gets all the high powered gear while you don't have to worry about equipping your (weaker) DK, as his armor will take care of itself. This is a tougher duo. The downside is, the secondary char won't cast spells if he is put in 'aggressive' mode - he'll just run in and bash away with his wand. Meaning, you have to 'lead' with your DK since he's the spellcaster and not the hero. Probably not a big deal for some, and of course you may prefer to manage each character equally rather than have one lead and the other on auto-pilot.

3) Hero - Warrior; Deathknight - Survivor (Archer). By far the most powerful duo. I lead with the hero, who handles a sword or axe (I always go for slashing style), and the DK automatically fires his bow from behind. This team is very tough, many times the DK kills enemies before my hero has a chance to land a hit. But thank goodness you can increase/decrease the difficulty to compensate during a game!

As far as stat points at the character creation screen: the easiest thing to do is choose the "be like" options and pick a class. As far as stats in-game, generally just go with the proportions that are already in place with whatever build you pick. You can also get the Beyond Divinity Guide at the Locus Inn to see what stats and skills you may want to invest in.

With BD's stat system, there is a great deal of flexibility in creating viable character builds. Some people have played using two melee warriors the entire game, but one warrior and one archer or mage is probably more common. I don't recall anyone trying two mages or a mage and archer.

The math appendix in the Strategy Guide (which Flixerflax gave a link to) describes (among other things) the stat effects, and gives some general advice on stat point distribution.


For the majority of the first act there are lots of skeletons around, which are more vulnerable to crushing damage. Until I reached the citadel (late in the first act) I had my hero use crushing weapons (a club or 2 handed walking stick) most of the time and a bow for tougher fights, then I switched to archery full time. My DK continued to use slashing damage (1 or 2 handed swords).

The DK worked fine as a melee character, but I would do it differently playing again. Since his armour class goes up with his character level, he will not need as much strength for armour requirements, and can concentrate more on intelligence (for a mage) or agility (for a bow archer). Having the DK use a strength based weapon negates this. Since the human will need to meet strength requirements for better armour anyway, this character is slightly better suited to be a melee warrior. This is a relatively minor difference, though, so a human mage / DK warrior combination is just as feasible.


I would say just be a little conservative with your skill points, and you will have a fair bit of flexibility in developing your characters. You can also unlearn skills, at a cost in gold proportional to the square of your character level.
Just starting off you will probably need to go melee/melee most of the time. I have not played a mage, though, so am not sure how effective they are at the start of the game just using magic. Much more powerful and mana efficient spells start to become available starting in act 2 (particularly Shaman magic, as Flixerflax mentioned). Until then, a bow could be a handy backup weapon.

Most weapon skills you can get a good effect with just a skill point or two. For my archer I maxed Reload Time (which gives a direct Speed boost), but for the rest I just put a point in damage and a couple in accuracy.


Welcome to the forum.

Being a spellcaster in act 1 is tough. You're physically weak, and if you beef up the spells too quickly they'll drain your mana in two or three casts. Luckily you can get by with a club or wand as backup attack, for a little while. It's always good to know what damage types the enemies are resistant and vulnerable to and adjust accordingly, if you can.

Two mages...now that's just masochistic...maybe I'll go try it.