Larian Studios Forums Divinity - Original Sin Divinity - Original Sin - General Battlemage stuffs

I decided to make a battlemage with
One handed
Man at arms
Fire
Air
Witchcraft

but now the attributes. how should i distribute those?

Depends... but presumably since you've taken 3 schools of magic you're going to be slightly more magic heavy. I'd take 8 int and 7 strength.

im already doing that for starting stats :P just wondering what ill go with the rest of the game. like how much str do i need minimum to have the best one handed sword. and how much int if not dump the rest of the points in there.

One handed is awful currently. Skip putting points in 1h or 2h though since you'll eventually just put those in Tenebrium which covers both. You'll do enough damage without points in either using a decent 2h weapon, trust me.

I would not split stats early on, you'll just kind of suck at both and you'll run into issues meeting stat requirements for armor/weapons. With high strength you can use higher level armors which makes you much more tanky, as well as being able to use high level weapons which do come with higher AP cost but you can use dust devil/battering ram for no AP increase and just obliterate things. I one or two shot most basic mobs in the early game using a weapon that's above my level and I don't even worry about the cost. Sometimes even a battering ram will take out everything it touches. (and yes I'm on hard difficulty)

So I'd start as pure warrior OR pure mage(put all attributes into strength or intelligence in the beginning) and develop into the other as you get to around level 7+ when you have more stats to spare splitting between them. You can stock up on good +intelligence gear on your way there too.

For talents I'd suggest lone wolf (w/leech to start) and then pick up glass cannon @ level 5. It's a matter of preference perhaps but I find it makes for much better hybrids due to the extra ability points plus the high AP/turn letting you really use that versatility.

But if you want to use one-handed, it's fine. Not optimal damagewise, but it means you can use a shield which will also have +stats making your build easier to manage.

Also the game is easy enough you shouldn't have issues really. And if you know how to make +str rings you can make a couple of those to help with the strength requirement side of things. I would suggest getting to 7 base speed at some point, but maybe earlier on str or int requirements are going to be more of an issue. You could use know-it-all/bigger and better talents to help (again, they aren't optimal, but personally the aim of the game for me is to build my characters the way they want and then see how they handle tough situations, far too easy to make godlike characters if you choose to).

Just play the way you would like =). Let us know how you get along =).

Yeah i prefer not using lonewolf because i want both madora and jahan in my team :P thanks for the tips tho both of you ^^

I actually consider Str/Int to be the best of the hybrids, but it's mostly due to Shields. Shields offer a strong defense against attacks regardless of whether you're in weapon-mode or caster-mode, and thus multitask extremely well; attacks are also kind of your weak spot, considering Weather the Storm and plate armour are going to make you extremely resilient against spell damage. With these strong ability-based defenses, you don't mind the attribute spread (specifically, the Con loss) from going hybrid nearly as much.

The issue is that incorporating shields into your game plan means you don't really have room to do 3 schools of magic properly.

Personally, I'd recommend...
Man-At-Arms 5 (for Weather the Storm and Picture of Health)
Aerotheurge 5 (for Lightning Rod very useful on melee, you can ignore static clouds and electrified liquid)
Shield Specialist 4
Pyrotechnic 3 (for Explode, you should be able to get your Fire resistance to the point that it heals you, like an AoE Vampiric Touch)
Tenebrium 3 (only moderate investment because it's useless when you're casting spells)
Total points: 52 (49 for level 20 + one ability book)

I'd go drop a point or two from Tenebrium/Shield, and get 1-2 points in Hydro/Witchcraft/Geo. Bless (Geomancer) and Oath of Desecration (Witchcraft) are especially good for hybrid mage/warrior builds.

Yeah im definitely taking 2 points in witchcraft for those buffs they kick ass. Jahan is going to be my geo/water mage so he can buff me right? apart from that im definitely maxing man-at-arms and aerotheurge for the talents and will just have to balance the rest of the skills depending on how many pyro skills im getting.

I'm not that huge a fan of Bless, mostly because I am a fan of Melee/Ranged Precision Stance. You'd need to make 3 attacks under Bless to really break even, 4 to actually benefit. Situations where your chance to hit is less than 70% are somewhat rare, with the exception of long-distance ranged.

Oath of Desecration, however, is a pretty good buff. It is tempting for the hybrid, but in my estimation, not quite worth it, because it doesn't stack. Whoever is getting it, Jahan can give it.

Really late edit: Also, the Stances work with special skills (ex: Whirlwind, Arrow Spray) without spending any AP at all.

Something that I was just asked and can't check because my gaming system is in the shop: is skill rank 4 in a magic school sufficient to learn the highest level spells of that school without taking an AP penalty when casting them? Better yet, does anyone happen to have a quick list of what spell levels are available without an AP penalty at each skill rank?

Does that not depend on the skill level? at least thats what i understood from looking at this page the top table "ability level 4 maximum skill level 16"

Yes, it's dependent on skill level, but I wasn't sure how the skill level vs spell level played out. Let's have a look at that table...

I haven't build one myself, but my idea (in my head) is to make a BM with 8 int, as I will mostly use buffs/debuffs, and I want the 100% hitchance.

From there I will take STR as a primary stat and spd/con as secondary.

If youre using Jahan then just use blessed earth later on (blesses everyone). Useful if you have a lot of summons. Personally, I just CC everything (except from bosses) so I have 100% hit chance with my lone wolf rogue (and summons) anyway - but that is the way the party is designed, he's the only one that actually does damage.

Blessed Earth (as opposed to Bless) is indeed very good. You only need 5 Precisions *as a group* to break even, and as you pointed out, summons can't get Precision Stance, so it's much more useful for them (without the usual "I used a buff on a summon, feels suboptimal" syndrome).

But that requires several points in Geomancer; you can't just splash it.