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):
Originally Posted by kiya

Rune colours and their meanings:

Uru (green), weak effect
Ser (light blue or cyan), minor effect
Min (red), medium effect
Pag (silver/grey), large effect
Yit (gold), very large effect

Type of boni:

Ydra - strength
Joph - dexterity
Koor - intelligence
Vorr - constitution
Umn - vitality
Iceri - mana
Zand - lightning resistance
Oor - fire resistance
Ustr - poison resistance
Isos - spiritual resistance


The 1st rune syllable gives you the effect value, the 2nd one the bonus type: Yit-Iceri gives you therefore a very high mana bonus

strength/dexterity/intelligence/constitution
Uru-Ydra/Joph/Koor/Vorr = +2
Ser-Ydra/Joph/Koor/Vorr = +4
Min-Ydra/Joph/Koor/Vorr = +6
Pag-Ydra/Joph/Koor/Vorr = +8
Yit-Ydra/Joph/Koor/Vorr = +10

vitality(HP)/mana
Uru-Umn/Iceri = +20
Ser-Umn/Iceri = +40
Min-Umn/Iceri = +60
Pag-Umn/Iceri = +80
Yit-Umn/Iceri = +100

resistances: lightning, fire, poison, spirit
Uru-Zand/Oor/Ustr/Isos = +5
Ser-Zand/Oor/Ustr/Isos = +10
Min-Zand/Oor/Ustr/Isos = +15
Pag-Zand/Oor/Ustr/Isos = +20
Yit-Zand/Oor/Ustr/Isos = +40

Kiya