Grimrock

Greetings, all!

I was inspired by Mage 201 to make my very first ever party all Mages because magic is conceptually and usually mechanically awesome! However, I'm a total newbie to Legend of Grimrock and the farthest I've gotten before today is saving my game on the very first tile after making a party and watching the intro sequence.

I chose Hard difficulty, because if I'm gonna only play this game once, I may as well really play it! (I played through Dragon Age: Origins on Nightmare my first time through. Again, a party of as many Mages as I could.) Since this is my first time, please don't spoil things for me! If there's a good reason to say, ignore Willpower, just tell me that. I may ask why if it seems unreasonable, but "wait and see" is a valid answer.

ONE THING I MUST KNOW: I don't know Evasion fully works. Higher Evasion is better, yes, but is each point of Evasion a 1% chance to avoid something? How important are DEX and the Evasive trait for a party of Mages?

My planned party is:

Stonewall, Minotaur Earth Mage - Default Front Liner
60 HP
60 EP
0 Evasion

STR: 15 (0 points)
DEX: 6 (0 points)
VIT: 20 (6 points)
WIL: 14 (4 points)

TRAITS:
Skilled
Strong Mind

SKILLS:
Earth Magic 2
Spellcraft 2

NOTES:
Stonewall is the party's VIT-based tank and Earth Mage. He'll be able to cast something come level 2.

I maxed VIT since he's the HP tank and put the rest into WIL since he's a Mage. His default STR is enough. I'm not sure about his DEX since I don't know Evasion fully works. Higher Evasion is better, yes, but is each point of Evasion a 1% chance to avoid something?

Wispy, Lizardman Air Mage - Default Front Liner
35 HP
65 EP
14 Evasion

STR: 10 (0 points)
DEX: 18 (6 points)
VIT: 10 (0 points)
WIL: 16 (4 points)

TRAITS:
Skilled
Strong Mind

SKILLS:
Air Magic 4
Spellcraft 2

NOTES:
Wispy is the party's DEX-based dodge tank and Air Mage.

I maxed DEX since he's the dodge tank (Evasion-heavy) and put the rest into WIL since he's a Mage. I hear Air Magic has the most expensive spells and want to ensure I have enough EP.

Crimson Gregor, Human Fire Mage - Default Back Liner
60 HP
60 EP
0 Evasion

STR: 10 (0 points)
DEX: 10 (0 points)
VIT: 14 (4 points)
WIL: 17 (6 points)

TRAITS:
Skilled
Strong Mind

SKILLS:
Fire Magic 2
Spellcraft 5

NOTES:
Crimson Gregor starts with enough Fire Magic to cast his first Fire spell and enough Spellcraft to cast the thematic Light and Darkness spells. They'll be handy to have eventually.

I maxed WIL because Fire spells are seemingly expensive and I want to cast more before running out. Also, I put the rest into VIT since more HP helps.

Tundric, Insectoid Ice Mage - Default Back Liner
40 HP
82 EP
0 Evasion

STR: 8 (0 points)
DEX: 11 (0 points)
VIT: 12 (4 points)
WIL: 23 (6 points)

TRAITS:
Skilled
Strong Mind

SKILLS:
Ice Magic 4
Spellcraft 2

NOTES:
Tundric is a glass cannon specializing in Ice Magic. Lay the smack down without getting hurt. Win rocket tag. Chill out when needed.

I maxed WIL because he's an offense-focused Mage. I put the rest of the points into VIT because he may get hurt.

Starting out with four mages is a challenge. As a LoG freshman on Hard .. well .. good luck, you will need it!
Why i say so? Re-read Mage 201's 3rd and 5th paragraph.

Endarire wrote:ONE THING I MUST KNOW: I don't know Evasion fully works. Higher Evasion is better, yes, but is each point of Evasion a 1% chance to avoid something? How important are DEX and the Evasive trait for a party of Mages?

Protection and Evasion are for reducing/evading incoming physical damage in melee. They do zilch vs. ranged and magic attacks.
Protection and Evasion are NOT percentage based! Resistances are the only percentage based values in the game.
When mages can get Evasion for free they take it yet the best Evasion there is is a player with good reflexes.

Endarire wrote:Stonewall is the party's VIT-based tank and Earth Mage.

Endarire wrote:Wispy is the party's DEX-based dodge tank and Air Mage.

Simply forget the term "tank" when talking mages. All mages are glass cannons especialy on their first play-thru.

I've reached floor 2 with my proposed party makeup, and at least so far, the biggest difficulties were getting used to the controls and game mechanics. Perhaps things will get bloody difficult soon. Mind you, I've played through Dark Souls and FTL (and many NES games) so hard games aren't new to me.

Time will tell what happens.

I completed floor 2 and found the frogs. They taught me to click faster.

Also, I try to get everyone to hurt a foe before killing it, thus netting me full XP for everyone. Stonewall's poison does nothing against skeletons (no spoilers; skels are in the trailer) so against 1 skel at a time, dagger 'em to damage. Then blow 'em up.

Against packs of enemies where I'm frantic to survive, ignore the full XP rule and just blow 'em up.

The most trouble I've had is with the TeleSkel puzzle on 2F. I knew the gist, but actually doing it took more effort than anticipated. Just felt too random.

Enjoying things so far.

Is there a significant point in saving just about every mundane item I come across?

The spiders on floor 3 hurt, but I was ready for them. The freakiest thing was when I beat one spider, then was attacked from my back by another spider I couldn't see. I screamed and cussed in surprise, confusion, and anxiety. I'm not sure how that spider actually attacked me, since it seemed to be through a wall.

Also founding Evasion to be of dubious merit. HP would've helped more. (My Lizard Wizard should've been a back row blaster Insectoid.)

It did not literally come "through a wall" but walls may open and give way.

About Evasion's merit: to benefit from any skill you need to build it up. Those initial 14 Evasion gave your air mage a headstart but without further improvement this advantage falls flat pretty soon.