Hammer

Heh..Heh... Enjoyed your literature....Candyman?? Heh heh. The candyman can cause he mixes it with love.........Yuk! :D I noticed the same thing and my two cents is that it's a screen refresh issue. The mastery is there until you do something in the game to remove it. I constantly have the same issue with Security on some doors. I have a level 30 Security, yet on some doors, the skill isn't an available option to even select. No biggie, I either bash it or use a team member. Failing that, I reload a save and low and behold, the skill is available again to be used on the SAME door. Go figure. Same story with Masteries as you outlined. If you turn on the game rolls, its pretty clear that the modifiers are still present. I had to do a deed to get them to change. Even influence drops were'nt enough to change mastery in most cases unless a DS/LS drop went with the influence change. Like force Choking Disciple....heh heh. He liked it though....the sicko. The candyman can....the candyman can cause.....oh enough already. Hammer.

Ginny: Excellent Questions and EXACTLY the same ones I was asking a week ago when the game came out....let's just say I couldn't wait to play! The good news is that I have some answers for you. I can give opinions on others. Here's my two cents: Attributes--In most cases where checks are being made concerning the ability to equip an item...say an implant for example...K2 requires that you have the points in the attribute and not have the attribute boosted by item, force mastery or force power. Example: Placing an attribute points into CON to reach 18--good, Getting CON to 18 via items, force mastery or force powers--bad. The max CON you need to equip any implant in the game is 18. I usually start the game with 14 CON and add 4 attribute points from the Level ups so that by the time I'm level 24, I have a CON of 18. This allows for attribute boosts by party members, depending on whether one plays as a bad, good or neutral party, etc. INT is very important as you've summized if you want to be a skillful player. I started with an INT of 16 and added 2 more during my Level 4 & Level 8 attribute increase. This gave me an extra skill point to use during level ups--- +4 vs +3, etc. In case you are interested, I played as a Jedi Sentinal/Jedi Weapon Master. This allowed me to be skillful, while fighting melee with sabers. It also gave me excellent bonus feats. My STR started at 12 with my DEX at 10, but I boosted STR once past Level 24. This only works using the EXP bug on Korriban or other EXP bugs as I desired to reach Level 50 so as to max out this build. My starting stats were: STR 12 DEX 10 CON 14 INT 16 WIS 12 CHR 12 I found that this got me through the game. DEX was low, but I seemed to get hit reguardless of my Defense and I think Defense may be a bit buggy in the game as to how its calculated. I didn't want to take Finese as a feat...etc. The more I looked at a DEX based Jedi, the less I liked it. If you take this character to Level 50, you'll have 20 STR outright, so with item, etc that was strong enough. DEX also get boosted with item, but again with bugs I didn't really notice much. I did not play as a stealthy character, so I can't answer that part. Also, WIS and CHR were a bit low as a force user, but I found that using force power that either buffed (easy as a light sider) or granted damage even if resisted worked well. Force Storm was one of the best, even light-side. It just does so much damage, especially when you are at a higher character level. Skills--Like yourself, I wanted an independent character that can "do it all." Your character's TREAT INJURY and REPAIR are used when breaking down items reguardless of who does it and Level 20 does break down all items at the 100% level. The only reason for a higher than 20 skill level is to make items personally. I found that Level 20 security open everything and that Level 12 Demolition let me defuse every mine, while Level 20 let me collect every mine. Again, going higher than 20 is simply to make stuff, as far as I can tell. I could see everything with Level 20 awareness. It is critcal to take a couple of feats that allow you to treat cross class skills as class skills and to do so EARLY. This will save you a lot of points. For me, I added only REPAIR, because when I went prestige, Demolition becomes a class skill. While I lost SECURITY & COMPUTERS & STEALTH, I had security and computers both at 15+ and didn't care about STEALTH, so it was just a matter of adding SECURITY and COMPUTERS as feats, which as a Weapon Master were no problem to add. Not a problem for you if you stay in Prestige class and just add DEMOLITION early when a Sentinal. I ended up saving 15 ranks so that when I went prestige, I could instantly add it to DEMOLITION and used Atton as a fill in until then. As to character bonus attribute points: If you go Level 50....then you get 12 attribute points to increase your stats with, plus whatever you can get from your party. T3/M4 gives 1 point to WIS if you help improve him. Hanharr you stated correctly. That's all the increases to attributes that I know of directly in K2. As to Feats---I typically Mastered Two Weapon Fighting, Flurry, Toughness, Class Skills, Lightsaber, Conditioning, Dual Strike and any Weapon Master Fighting specializations, like Superior Weapon Focus: Two Weapon Fighting, etc. I generally have more feats than I really need, especially in the 40s. As to Powers---I use Stun Droid line (Light & Dark)--it really make all droid easy to deal with, including the pesty HK's, so I make it an early priority to obtain. The Speed Line (Absolutely one of the best buffs) Get it early and love it. Cure Line (Light and Dark) again--allows you to ditch the medpacks. With Regen....I don't use it much, but its there, so force drain isn't an issue. Force Shock Line (Light & Dark) Multi Enemy killer--perhaps best in game, period. Spam 3-4 of these, ;Nuff said. Valor, Stun, Battle Meditation Lines (if Light). Horror, Choke, Drain Life Lines (if Dark) Pickem (if Neutral) Affect Mind (Light & Dark) Dominate Mind (Dark Only) its SO cool to Force Choke! Force Push Line (Light & Dark) Force Barrier, Force Resistance, Energy Resistance all good. Stay away from Aura---the Def on it is bug, so its just a + to saves. Thats it.....hope it helps Hammer.

That's correct. In addition, your feat and force power obtainment start over at the new prestige class standard. For example, let's say you reached level 15, got a feat and power at that level up and then talked to Kreia and become prestige class Level 1, at that level up you would get a new feat, force power, etc or whatever corresponds with being a level 1 in you new Prestige class. Had you remained your old class (Level 16 let's say) you probably would not have gotten a new feat. This works exactly like it did in KOTOR1, so its important to note that you are OVERALL a Level 16 Character (15 +1 =16), so the XP required to now go up another level (Prestige Class Level 2 or Character Level 17) would reflect that amount of additional XP, which is greater than the XP normally required to advance from Character Level 1 to Character 2. Its also important to note that you DO NOT have to accept a prestige class...just make sure you never reach the proper alignment and/or influence with Kreia. Hammer.

Question for the Forum: In KOTOR2, does the primary character (your player) get at least one force power every level up? I haven't made it into the upper levels and am curious... Thanks, Hammer

Question for the Forum: I would like to play Pure Lightside and also have the Force Storm Force Power. Besides the higher casting cost due to alignment, which can be somewhat offset by a high Charisma...are there any other "penalties" for using Force Storm as a lightsider...like a negative hit to influence or alignment, for example. Thanks, Hammer.

Oh---I can ANSWER this one----and I think you'll like it. You see, there's a little known truth that all Force Sensitive creatures have certain traits that come along with their metachlorian capabilities. Some, for example, have Force Sensitivity, others Battle Meditation, and others yet something else. You get the general idea. Well, according to secret Jedi documentation, all force sensitive creatures have a capability that isn't really labeled per se but is known as Force Flush. It allows your body to flush itself of all harmful toxins, etc. The cruder creatures of the galaxy know this as Force Crap. This ability is shared by any non-force sensitive creatures travelling with the force sensitive creature. The radius of this ability is thousands of light years, magnified by the number of bugs found in newly released software, so since there are sufficient numbers of force sensitive creatures and well more than a fair share of bugs.....well, there's no need for a bathroom in a ship. But later on, when there's just Luke, this becomes a serious problem bugs or no bugs...hence the RETURN OF THE TOILETS..... Ummm...Sorry....wrong title.....must have had a disconnect there somewhere. SPACEBALLS anyone???? Hammer.