Favorite Stat

[Synthesis]

Age. I wish time in Arm passed twice as slowly.

If time passed more slowly, Bynners would be jumping down that hole intentionally by high sun on Ocandra.

[hyzhenhok]

I wanted to say wisdom. My longest lived, most skilled warrior was a half-elf with Very Good strength with prioritized wisdom. As nice as the wisdom was, the struggle of wearing decent gear, staying under penalizing encumbrance levels while still being able to actually carry anything around was a huge pain in the ass. On low strength sneaky characters, too, the frustration of trying to avoid encumbrance penalties is really annoying.

So while my heart is with Wisdom, I voted Strength.

[Kalai]

Characters with decent wisdom are the ones I stick with longer. Other stats might provide to take on more challenges out the gate, but I play fairly haphazardly and like to experience getting better during that time.

[Majikal]

Strength, the benefits are too great for most pc's. Even as a merchant, low strength can drive you up a wall.

It's nearly as bad as low HG agility. Almost.

[solera]

Agility. In all games, my combat characters are agility. It seems cooler.

[Chettaman]

Wisdom.

One of my favorite characters was a warrior with exceptional wisdom, below average strength, very good agility and extremely good endurance.
He accomplished a whole bunch of killing with his below average strength. ... a whole bunch. It was pretty impressive, really. Only one person ever learned his weakness and exploited it. xD That's what friends are for, I guess.

But totally wisdom for a whole bunch of reasons.

[IAmJacksOpinion]

It's a toss up between wisdom and agi for me. I voted agi b/c I think it's more useful for a variety of skills.

However, I believe wisdom is pretty underrated. In a game where you're far more likely to die than to branch a combat skill, wisdom can be all the difference.

[X-D]

Play enough dwarves and HGs and then play a human and you will be like OMG...WIS!!!!!

[Chettaman]

Play enough dwarves and HGs and then play a human and you will be like OMG...WIS!!!!!

*daps up X-D
You know what I'm sayin', dawg!?

Elves?! Oh my Gawd... tell this dood about elves, my nig.

[Revenant]

If guild warrior: agi str end wis
If any other guild, excluding magickers and merchants: str agi end wis
If merchant: agi wis str end
If magicker: wis agi str end

Just how I do it. HP rolls seem completely random to me so far. Done a lot of rerolls and reroll undos in an attempt to feel it out. Agi helps craft skills, skills like disa and parry. Warriors are naturally strong, so if you prioritize agi and str second, you're likely to get a rather strong score. I used to play Ancient Anguish. Everyone in the game ran around naked most of the time because encumbrance severely affected defense. What I learned from that, was, damage negation is greater than damage absorbtion. Among the best tank were rogues, with their massive boost to parrying from alert combat. There was some debate as to whether orcs or elves were better tanks, orcs getting a good mixture of dex, str, end, but elves got more int and dex, which boosted their rogue abilities and the effects of alert combat. They may be squishy, but good luck hitting them. And, an elven rogue with maxxed two handed swords, elvenheart, and a good secondary weapon was near unstoppable, however, one shouldn't rely on a unique item to make their build work.

I usually played AA solo because everyone else was demanding of fast gains, and, I think I was doing pretty good. Could have done better, but, was just playing to enjoy the game and testing out differing combinations of builds and equipment. Took down some nasty NPCs solo and that was good enough for me.

EDIT: And what chettaman said, holy CHRIST, elves!

[Riev]

I've advocated for an AA-like "spellaim" mechanic for years now, but I don't know how they do it. Also I really wish there were more "secret" areas like the Rogue zone.


As far as the best stat though, you are correct. Negation is better than mitigation in these games, because even if you have high mitigation, you are now taking consistent damage without a consistent source of healing. Its better to take 20 damage once in a while, than a consistent 1-2 damage (and our mitigation isn't NEARLY that good unless you're a half-giant warrior with like boulders for shin guards anyways)

[Revenant]

I've advocated for an AA-like "spellaim" mechanic for years now, but I don't know how they do it. Also I really wish there were more "secret" areas like the Rogue zone.


As far as the best stat though, you are correct. Negation is better than mitigation in these games, because even if you have high mitigation, you are now taking consistent damage without a consistent source of healing. Its better to take 20 damage once in a while, than a consistent 1-2 damage (and our mitigation isn't NEARLY that good unless you're a half-giant warrior with like boulders for shin guards anyways)

Yeah, like, on Diablo 2 for example, the teleport skill turned the sorc into a fucking monster, I'd usually get to hell difficulty wearing some crappy, low-grade piece of armor sporting the "stealth" runeword that I'd never change out of, a "rhyme" buckler, shop-cheese a killer two-socket staff, then put "leaf" in it (+3 Firewall +3 Warmth +3 fire mastery ftw) and keep it on switch, Maybe a transferred spirit crystal sword. For fire immunes, frozen orb, for cold immunes, firewall, for fire and cold immunes, static field then lock on and spam TK until minion kills them. Only put 1 point in one point wonders, such as teleport, static field, TK, cold mastery (though later may want to jack that shit up to 10). Act 2 cold merc with insight polearm. Max firewall, max warmth, max fire mastery. Roast or freeze everything.

[KankWhisperer]

I still choose con. It makes me live a long time. Then I get minions to have stats I don't. Or get enough minions to swarm your superior agility into submission.

[Revenant]

I still choose con. It makes me live a long time. Then I get minions to have stats I don't. Or get enough minions to swarm your superior agility into submission.

I get minions that keep filthy tainted knives, leap from the shadows and stab you on a quiet midnight stroll, and mostly avoid others with minions unless they piss me off... at which point I'm probably already bribing a minion or two to tell me your whereabouts at all times.

[Clearsighted]

I'm happy with any minion that stays alive and can keep him or herself entertained if I'm not around. Everything else is secondary.

[Pale Horse]

Wisdom.

Then agility.

I don't play many combat types.  Killing you with coin or from range/the shadows/magic is my preferred methods.

I'm not so good with poison.  I always manage to fumble it with the few characters I've had who've used it; mostly to their fatal end.

[The Silence of the Erdlus]

I tend not to play thieves or combatants, so agility doesn't really feel like a 'thing' to me. I usually prioritize wisdom and leave everything else to chance.

[IAmJacksOpinion]

If guild warrior: agi str end wis
If any other guild, excluding magickers and merchants: str agi end wis

Eh? I dunno about this one. I'm cool with agile warriors, but rangers and assassins get more use out of agi than a warrior does. It probably doesn't seem that way because strength is massively over-powered in the Arm combat system.

[Revenant]

If guild warrior: agi str end wis
If any other guild, excluding magickers and merchants: str agi end wis

Eh? I dunno about this one. I'm cool with agile warriors, but rangers and assassins get more use out of agi than a warrior does. It probably doesn't seem that way because strength is massively over-powered in the Arm combat system.

Yeah, but encumbrance is a Really Big Deal for some of those skills. Those guilds will generally get shit for strength rolls, if you get real lucky, you might get a damn good roll.

[IAmJacksOpinion]

Fair point. Nothing ruins a ranger quite like bad strength.

I'd really like to see strength nerfed a bit. Or at least make agility useful enough that a light-armored fighter becomes feasible. Either that or change armor code so that heavy armor negatively effects your chance to straight up dodge damage - apart from your end result encumbrance.

If Tyrion's (second) trial by combat took place in Armageddon, Oberyn would've had to have at least 10 days played over The Mountain.

[Revenant]

Having played more time than I'd care to admit as an elf with a poor strength roll, I have to say, encumbrance levels can be absolutely crippling. Used to be, I ALWAYS prioritized agi, but having realized that "light" gear isn't as light as it needs to be, and knowing that even with a reroll I could still get shafted on my str score, I've come to appreciate being able to Carry More Stuff. Seriously, just the act of wearing clothes on all available slots was too much weight, it was frustrating and annoying. I resolved NEVER to do that again... although, a magicker could get away with it and still be playable. Help files say wish up or send in a request if your low str score impacts playability too much, or if you feel your character's activities would have contributed to more str, but, from experience, I have to say, not gonna happen.

[Eyeball]

I'd really like to see strength nerfed a bit.

Hopefully all you mean here is to not hit as hard. Nerfing strength's contribution to encumbrance limits would be very painful.

Or at least make agility useful enough that a light-armored fighter becomes feasible.

A lightly-armored fighter is already very feasible. There are defenses other than armor.

Either that or change armor code so that heavy armor negatively effects your chance to straight up dodge damage - apart from your end result encumbrance.

Armor isn't as useful as people generally seem to think, except perhaps at the very high end (available to half-giants and ripped dwarves). It's more important to not be hit to begin with.

[Synthesis]

It's kind of amazing to me that endurance is coming out as the dump stat, BY FAR.

[The Silence of the Erdlus]

Everyone loves sinkholes and wants to be buried at their bottom.

[Eyeball]

It's kind of amazing to me that endurance is coming out as the dump stat, BY FAR.

As opposed to what, though? Most of my characters are poor or below average in at least one stat. Below average strength sucks. Below average agility sucks. Below average wisdom sucks, even for warriors (despite what people think). With endurance, at least it's possible to compensate for some of the issues of being below average. E.g. bandaging if wounded. Riding instead of using stamina through walking. Armor to reduce damage. Skills to prevent being hit.