New player needs some stat advice.

[Wuumaster]

So, I've been spending a lot of time crafting lately, but I'd like to get to the adventure soon.

Now, I'm somewhat of a min/max player, I like having a well equiped character whenever I can (which partially explains all the crafting), but this leads me into a problem...

I'm not really sure what benefits each stat & skill gives me. The character screen has a quick outline when you mouse over them, but they don't really provide me with much.

To cut to the point somewhat, I have a druid that is planning on poking around with being a Spiritist at some point on the way to becoming a Shaman. Which skills & stats should I be focusing on, with regards to both equipment bonuses & training points? The information I have been able to get suggests that Focus will be really important, but should I be getting as much of it as I can?

• How does the Focus stat compare to the Nature/Spirit/Blight skill, does it add more or less damage to a Lightning Bolt?
• Does Power give me any bonuses at all? The description states that it increases spell damage, but the Wiki (as well as other sources) say that the Nature & Spirit skills don't benefit from it (Blight is 5% focus, 5% power).
• Should I be looking at other stats/skills? Would it be beneficial to get some Dex or Strength? Some increased skill in Life?

[Sigi]

I can't give a specific answer but I can say you can can play with it, change it around and see what works for you.
It's not that a training point spend can't change. You can put your points in power and see what that does, than "buy them back" and put them on something else to compare.

[Deth]

There's a very old post floating around here some here that talks about what skills an stats do and how they are weighted and such that was done by a dev. The basics are.

Skill adds To both accuracy and damage for an attack. Skills increase healing.
Stat break down are.
STR/Power add to damage of melee/spells
Dex/Focus Add to accuracy of Melee/spells.
Focus also increase healing.

Stats also increase skills. So the post about "(Blight is 5% focus, 5% power)." means that as well increasing the damage of Blight attacks 5% of your power is added to your Blight skill. So with stats you get a bit of a double dip.

[The Traveller]

http://community.istaria.com/forum/showthread.php?t=545
here is the post, i think Deth was talking about

[Wuumaster]

Thanks for the responses so far

So after reading and re-reading that post, I've come to the following.

• If all I want is more damage out of my spells, Power is the way to go.
• If I'm looking to miss less, look for boosts to the spell's primary attribute (with the side benefit of boosting the damage, and in the case of Life, increasing healing too).
• If I want a combination of missing a little less, hitting a bit harder, and slightly better heals, Focus rocks.
• Dex & Strength don't really help, other than adding a bit to my spell skills, but that makes sense anyway.

This seems to make Focus a much weaker stat than I thought it was. The good news is I have a ton of buy back points to spend, and now I have a better idea of what to do with them. That said, there's still the chance I'm confused - I implore anyone who knows better to set me straight.

Now, onto another (related) topic - How much value does Armor have to a caster? In other games I've been conditioned to ignore the Armor stat, instead just wearing whatever boosts the rights stats by the highest value (even if it does irk me, Paladin wearing cloth just looks funny). Is Armor something I should be considering when choosing gear, or is it going to be irrelevant (I'll either kill them too quickly to get hit, or it's just not going to reduce the incoming damage significantly enough to matter)?

[Deth]

Here you custom build your armour unless it is blighted equipment. So the use the best armour you can have crafted for you that you can have wear.

[StalePopcorn]

I agree - definitely get the best armour you can at all times. Monks/Disciples get evasion boosts to compensate them running around in pyjamas, but everyone else should be wearing the best they possibly can.

My 60 CLR / 60 SPR / 58 RVR went out to play with lvl 40 Desert Wolfs. Usually I monster them, but yesterday I got smacked silly. I then realised I had my cloth crafting armour on, not my nice set of Plate You need that armour!

[Mairynn Nalnair]

So, I've been spending a lot of time crafting lately, but I'd like to get to the adventure soon.

Now, I'm somewhat of a min/max player, I like having a well equiped character whenever I can (which partially explains all the crafting), but this leads me into a problem...

I'm not really sure what benefits each stat & skill gives me. The character screen has a quick outline when you mouse over them, but they don't really provide me with much.




To cut to the point somewhat, I have a druid that is planning on poking around with being a Spiritist at some point on the way to becoming a Shaman. Which skills & stats should I be focusing on, with regards to both equipment bonuses & training points? The information I have been able to get suggests that Focus will be really important, but should I be getting as much of it as I can?

• How does the Focus stat compare to the Nature/Spirit/Blight skill, does it add more or less damage to a Lightning Bolt?
• Does Power give me any bonuses at all? The description states that it increases spell damage, but the Wiki (as well as other sources) say that the Nature & Spirit skills don't benefit from it (Blight is 5% focus, 5% power).
• Should I be looking at other stats/skills? Would it be beneficial to get some Dex or Strength? Some increased skill in Life?

Think this explains some off it
skill bonus matrix http://community.istaria.com/forum/s...ad.php?t=19909
Craft school matrix http://community.istaria.com/forum/s...ad.php?t=19953
adventure school matrix http://community.istaria.com/forum/s...ad.php?t=19944