how do you build your characters

[grobblewobble]

In SP, I tried different mixes, but I found the "intended" builds (purely ranged for the starting character, purely combat magic for T'Vril, and a minion of course) the most enjoyable.

But how about MP? So far I have only played MP solo (hint, hint, I would love to play with others!) The first thing I tried was a Valkyrie, and she was a blast for the first 80 levels or so, but after that she kind of ran out of steam.. the problem is that RoF is just too tough for her, as she has no choice but to engage him in close combat. Also, while her melee attack is powerful indeed, a mage of the same level can still dish out more damage.

So now I'm trying something different, an "armored mage". I have been levelling a Fire Elemental Witch up to level 80 in melee, to build up her strength. After that she started building her magic. Now she is 80 melee / 123 CM, with enough modified strength to wear any armor (except the ones that require very high int ). With a staff of war, she has enough mana for the top-level spells, too. And with a natural high strength, the life-drain effect of spells is much less of a worry.

Enough bragging, how do you guys build your characters?

[Kilarin]

nice characters!

I build my characters a bit unusually usually. I like building my hero as almost pure human nature mage, which is DARN hard to do at the beginning, but pays off when you finally pick up nature spells later in the game.

WHY do I do it this way? It's just fun to do it the hard way.

And I run T'vrill as a mage as well, CM

I'll use bows occasionally, but other than that, I play the game almost exclusively as magic. It's tough in the beginning, but the characters are very very VERY powerful near the end.

It's been a while since I played LOH through. When work calms down, I should play through again. I'm trying to switch to linux (Ubuntu) and I haven't tried to make DS run under linux yet...

[Liantedan]

In SP, I usually go for the advised method, too. The Human mainly on Ranged, T'Vril a pure CM. Of course, I try to have my main char a bit more versatile by allowing her to cast the occasional spell, which can sometimes be fun when you briefly need a decoy-minion.

In MP, I've played many different builds. I think I have (had) over 80 different characters, though only 10 ever made it over level 50, and only 5 or 6 got over level 100.
Currently, my favourite characters are my Valk and my Dark Elf.

My Valk, Wen En'Otha, started out using mainly magic, which was a challenge in it's own right, up to the point she had high enough Intelligence to get the Live Oak Shield. After that, she went mainly on melee. Currently, she's over level 140, and a real killer. She can cast the deadliest spells fairly easily (though not constantly), while blasting though everything with her Soulsword. The small loss in health (due to lower str than a pure melee valk) is no loss at all, when compared to the bonuses of the Live Oak Shield on top of the buffs she can cast on herself. In melee, she can make excellent use of Mana Shield, for example. And being able to cast a high-level heal is a huge benefit as well.
Wen uses bows mainly to lure opponents. Not that she can't take down the large groups, but sometimes it's just not wise to get huge groups of strong monsters involved when you have more fragile casters around. Monsters sometimes go stray and end up being bad.

My Dark Elf, Lady Liantinya, is mainly a CM mage, though she has a high level in NM too. No need for melee or ranged skills when she can whipe the floor with anyone at any time. She's the one doing those fast Lactri-runs, too. (And she's waiting for someone to try to beat her time.)

(As to your hint, I'm interested.)


Offtopic to Kilarin : Ubuntu is nice. I've been toying around with it, too. It's on one of my elder desktops right now, in dual-boot with the old winMe. I haven't tried to get DS running on it either, but if you give it a try before I do, let me know the results please.

[grobblewobble]

(As to your hint, I'm interested.)

Great! So when do you have time?