AgentElrond

Steam just updated with version 1.0.3.0530. I confirmed that the door now works in the Raedric's Keep dungeon and I imagine all the other similar doors are also fixed. Thanks for the quick fix!

Two notes about that, you can do the blacksmith quest 100% combat free (just sneak in the northwest side of camp when the guard moves, should work even with stealth 2). Also, you can kill both spiders for their legs in blackmeadow 100% combat free (just pull the right spider to the stag, who will then seem to charge into the woods and kill the other spider as well). You can help him finish the spiders off if you want a chance at XP. The downside of course is you get less XP and a little less gear without killing everything but that's not a showstopper. I still managed to get to level 4 with the figurine before the temple, without killing any NPCs. I might be able to get the blunting belt if Obsidian hotfixes the bugged doors so I can sneak into the bottom of Raedric's Keep and try to kill one or two enemies to rescue the guy there. However, blunting belt isn't my problem since I've been failing to kill the phantom at the end of the temple with two fan of flames scrolls trying to follow that youtube video. I may stop my barbarian attempt if I ever get lucky and get past temple + maerwald, since the person I'm imitating just mentioned today that the final fight(s) in the game seem impossible without using a bug.

Be aware that cheats might be manipulating things so it's not exactly the same as my game. With the stats and skill order I mentioned, I couldn't 1v1 either that guy or the raedric's roof guard unless I burned potions, got lucky, or purchased expensive armor. I just tried a few failures at the temple with the figurine. I fail to see how the player on youtube hit the phantom with 2 fan of flames spells in a row, let alone hitting 5 enemies at once. 76 reflex means the phantom dodges those spells easily, and once the phantom touches you, you're guaranteed dead -- I even tried the battle from the other side with gaun's share and still died once a phantom touched me. The frost cloak, level 4, 11+ freeze DR, nothing helped. Maybe the youtube run was extremely lucky, but that means 1.5-2 hours spent every single time just to attempt that battle, on path of iron. I'll probably try a few other attack positions tomorrow just in case I get lucky.

What's your statline? 15/12/16/11/16/8, frenzy -> accurate carnage -> savage defiance -> stalwart defiance. I used beer + spirit shield potion + accuracy potion and finally defeated the Raedric's guard, allowing me to loot enough gold in the keep for the figurine. I'll give the temple a few tries with the figurine.

You had the 1v1 build, and more endurance at level 3 than my level 4 barbarian has. I am guessing that helped. There's a 250 gold "breastplate" that's the closest cheap thing to platemail. That's what I was referring to.

I experimented and failed the temple a couple more times even at level 4. The double fan of flames WOULD probably kill the phantom...but the phantom has 71 reflex. I tried a tanglefoot scroll to make it easier to hit, but of course that scroll failed against the 71 reflex as well. Only hitting one fan of flames wasn't enough in the doorway -- the phantom came through after other enemies died, and stunlocked me until death.

That's what I was doing, mace level 3 versus that guy. I think I managed to take him down if I bought plate mail or blunting belt first, but that sort of defeated the purpose. I understand that with different stats it's possible (your character is much more tanky and better 1v1 than mine for example), but I suspect that stats similar to these are needed later in the game per the youtube videos. No offense, just trying to explain the differences. At level 4 I still lose with mace + breastplate + ring of protection + ring of deflection to the raedric's keep guard, and with stealth 4 I'm coming just short of hitting the door, so I guess I have to finish the temple after all.

Interesting, you went with a lot more CON and a lot less INT than me. I figured INT was very important for barbarians to increase the carnage splash. You didn't get frenzy, accurate carnage, OR savage defiance? The person on youtube said they were key, at least savage defiance, so let me know how it goes. I'm 5 XP away from level 4 now...I don't know if it's at all reliable, but I burned a bunch of items to max out the wolf and xaurip XP, and managed to talk to Ranga. I think I can get the remaining 5 XP from the entrance of Raedric's dungeon, and we'll see if level 4 gets me anywhere.

I'm guessing the NPC you are referring to is Theal, the one to the right of the tree? He has DR 12, so even with the mace I only got him to "badly injured" before dying through triple moonlike healing and savage defiance. That doesn't exactly seem "free" platemail. All attempts to hit the phantom in the temple using fan of flames without the figurine have failed, and I know of no method to stealth through or beat the Caed Nua hallway without the figurine. I'd love to know if there are possible ways, but I'm saying with the build I'm using, trying to follow the videos I have, I just don't see the possibilities yet.

I'd consider it, but I honestly don't know which NPC you're talking about who has the platemail. If I spend 1500-3000 gold on fine mail and/or blunting belt, that means I might kill the wolves, but I still don't get to level 4 and now will be 4000 gold behind the figurine. If I don't buy platemail and blunting belt, I have about 4000 gold after selling most everything good and disposable besides ingredients. 5599 XP.

At what level can you kill the bear though? Moonlike barbarian as well I assume. Which NPC is that? I tried armored plate just now, and had basically the same result I've had every time. Killed all the small wolves, died to the big wolf which was only "badly injured", using a mace no shield. Part of it might be that I'm using frenzy before fighting the big wolf, but I feel like using frenzy then would just make me get knocked down more often.

Don't think that's possible with level 3 barbarian. You take 40-50 or more slash damage crits from a single one of them (let alone 3), through 9 slash DR. Did you get the platemail from the backer NPC? Nope, I've been trying to avoid murdering NPCs to see if there's any way around it. I'll buy some platemail if the blacksmith has it and see if that makes any difference as a test.

I'd love to find a way to get to level 4 and try it. I feel like the game would have a lot of possibilities past Maerwald with barbarian. I found some extra XP and gold I missed in Valewood, but I still can't reliably kill the wolves in the bottom right corner. I've tried using a fine dagger, no shield. I've also tried using a mace, no shield. In both cases I used frenzy, savage defiance, and with the dagger even burned two endurance potions. I chokepoint the wolves so I fight one or two at a time. Even with all that, I always end up dying, usually shortly after fighting the big wolf. I don't know of any way to only pull one wolf, either.

Don't think that's possible with level 3 barbarian. You take 40-50 or more slash damage crits from a single one of them (let alone 3), through 9 slash DR.

You don't get any XP for killing NPCs. I just tried attacking Nonton, and then attacking the rogue in the house waiting for him. Got no XP, only the ring. No side quest, no failed quest, nothing.

Same here, with 7000+ gold by 1.5 hours in. When I asked they said the only NPCs they killed were the Nonton couple (which I haven't been able to kill in my attempts with the same or similar build, so I must be screwing something up). They are using the preorder item for the 1500 gold which helps a lot though.

Sorry, I can't see video links on this forum (probably because I haven't updated chrome in forever). If you go to youtube, you can paste "Ut5iYk6WqqI" as the video ID to see the strategy I was trying to follow. Also I just got confirmation from someone else that the preorder item sells for 1500 gold at the start of the game which could explain how one or two people are getting the horn early enough. Playing without the preorder item, 1024 gold seems to be pretty close to the maximum I can get without killing NPCs.

If you use fewer than 4 party members, path of the dead should be quite difficult. Also, try using a mix of classes. If you use 4-5 of anything, it's probably going to be very strong. Ninjerk, you're right that carnage attacks splash, but ultimately (as seen in the youtube video I linked) the trouble comes if RNG decides that the phantom gets to you before it's dead.

Yeah, but a full party on easy/hard is not really challenging at all. And its not like the story "changes" once you beat the game.. There are a variety of endings and a variety of optional stories with companions, guilds, factions, etc. You may personally dislike the stories or feel there isn't ENOUGH change, but I think that puts you a bit in the minority. Also, this discussion and bringing up Skyrim is pretty far afield from discussing specific tactics in this game, so we should probably end it. If you want 100% reliable, this probably just isn't the game for you -- it's FILLED with dice rolls. Any given enemy could theoretically crit you 10 times in a row. Will it happen? Probably not, but it's not 100% guaranteed as far as I know. Anything you come up with, in a dice-roll DND-ish game, is going to be a probability and not a guarantee. Thanks, I apologize since I didn't realize you could do 4 with lockpicks. I might try making it to the doorway and see if I can tank through the stuns. I'm afraid that once I hit permastun, I won't even be able to use my only regen potions, however, since it seems to be up to luck whether you get a window to use them (every 5-10 seconds a possibility of an attack/item usage).

I would suggest both the gameplay and story are good if you're playing on hard or easier difficulty. Attempting an optional, insane challenge a developer has implied may be impossible is not a good way to judge a game.

I'm confused. Are you talking about barbarian? Because the barbarian build only has 2 stealth (you need 5 mechanics to get in there at all). Are you also talking about the phantom fight with the large black ooze? Because the entire path on the right side of the pool is filled with small black oozes, a large black ooze, a phantom, some shadow(s), etc. There's no room to stealth whatsoever. If you go up the right stairwell, there are skuldr king(s) and so forth. I can post a screenshot if needed. The person I'm trying to imitate with the barbarian build mentioned they killed Nonton and the woman. I don't want to kill NPCs, but the funny thing is at level 3 I can't even kill them. I've died 2-3 times even attempting to kill Nonton with mace and leather armor, or mace and scale armor. Using a potion, using frenzy, using savage defiance, none of it helps. His endurance regen just tanks anything I do. I must be doing something extremely wrong. You don't need 5 mechanics, you can have 3 and 5 lockpicks or 4 if you stay in laborer's rest at the Black Hound (gives +1 Per, +1 Mechanics). You need enough to stealth to allow you a couple steps towards that corner, and when combat starts just start spam clicking into the next room no matter how many disengagement attacks you get. Either that or range pull something from that group and bring them all the way back to the locked door. Why get into the next room though? You'll still have to fight all the enemies, but you'll have taken a bunch of disengage crits by that point. Are you sure we're talking about the same end-of-temple room? I mean this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Ut5iYk6WqqI#t=432 The door into that area of the temple also requires 5 mechanics to unlock, not 4.

I'm confused. Are you talking about barbarian? Because the barbarian build only has 2 stealth (you need 5 mechanics to get in there at all). Are you also talking about the phantom fight with the large black ooze? Because the entire path on the right side of the pool is filled with small black oozes, a large black ooze, a phantom, some shadow(s), etc. There's no room to stealth whatsoever. If you go up the right stairwell, there are skuldr king(s) and so forth. I can post a screenshot if needed. The person I'm trying to imitate with the barbarian build mentioned they killed Nonton and the woman. I don't want to kill NPCs, but the funny thing is at level 3 I can't even kill them. I've died 2-3 times even attempting to kill Nonton with mace and leather armor, or mace and scale armor. Using a potion, using frenzy, using savage defiance, none of it helps. His endurance regen just tanks anything I do. I must be doing something extremely wrong.

Right, but even if you had a way to run into that room past 6+ enemies and a stunlock phantom, there's no way to end combat. Thus I don't see any way around killing the entire group to finish the temple.

My build: http://abload.de/img/barbariankqqpw.png I have 2443 gold about 1.5 hours in with this at level 3. And I'm not having problems with the 1v1 shadow fights in the temple necessarily (there's one section where 2-3 shadows will pull simultaneously, and one of them sometimes randomly blocks the path in and out, but I think that can be manipulated by going up and down the stairs before running the whole floor). I'm having problems with the end fight with the stunlock phantom specifically, since I don't have the figurine.

I'm still trying to find a way, with moon godlike barbarian, to either get level 4 or get 5000 gold for the horn. I don't want to kill tons of NPCs, but I can't find anything else I can reliably do. Can't get in Raedric's fortress yet, can't do the temple without getting extremely lucky (I need to hit a phantom with two fan of flames scrolls, and I haven't managed to hit it ONCE with fan of flames yet), can't get even close to Ranga reliably, etc. I did find that you can get two spider legs by leading a spider to the stag in black meadow. The stag will kill both spiders so you lose out on XP if you don't get lucky with the last hit, but it seems like it might be worth it to get the scrolls safely and reliably.