                 Arena:TES, Gems of Enlightenment for Bards

The following gems were provided by Susi  . Schneider and OS (Old Smaug)
(Lawrence G. Szydlowski), two of the most pre-eminent tellers of tails and
(thought) provocator extraordinares in CRPG. First, Susi.

"Just thought I'd share some of my experiences. As I was waiting for v
1.05, I leisurely decided to get as many experience points (and money) as
possible. So I went to an abandoned inn (suggested by a kind Arena player
here on this forum!) outside Portneu View, rushed up and down stairs and
collected incredible amounts of money, magic items and experience. Noble
quests I had read were hazardous, so I went for the artifact quests that I
could equip: first, of course, to get the Oghma Infinium (these extra
points sure helped), later for the Skeleton Key which may come in handy
eventually, then for the Ring of Khajiti and, finally, for the
Necromancer's Amulet. Somewhere along the way I had acquired a Ring of
Force Bolt which made killing even difficult monsters quite easy: the ring
paralzyses them and then one simply strikes away."

"I believe (however, my mind may be changed by monsters beyond my current
abilities) that these artifacts combined with a number of good spells,
could probably carry me for the rest of the game: I activate the Ring of
Khajiti which makes me invisible, non-target and a lot of other good
functions; then I activate the Amulet which regenerates; the baddies that
can see through me anyway, get a taste of the force bolt and Bob's your
uncle. I save often and save in different slots. That means I know when an
artifact is about to disappear on me: so I reload a saved game where it's
still active, get the h**l out of wherever I am and get me to a repair
shop. While waiting for the repairs to be finished, I do some traveling in
neighboring provinces."

"I also don't keep any marks, torcs, bracers, belts etc. other than the
ones I am currently using - I do change them only if I happen to find a
better one; then I sell the old one."

"BTW, I have become quite adept at stealing, especially at Mage's Guilds;
somehow, I believe the mage expects me to steal in any case: he never
changes his facial expression..."

"I think Bards are nice because they can do so  many different things -
meaning, they have to be inventive about getting through the game which
makes it less of a "hack and slash" method. (I do enjoy hacking and
slashing to a degree but it's nicer to use different spells)."

From OS:

       "Spells to SpellMake; we have "low" Magic Points, (so) I followed some
advice that another gamer posted once and made (for example) a Passwall spell
that only dissolves one wall. It is less Magic to cast it, and I usually only
want to dissolve one wall anyway."

       "Also, you can re-make many spells into better versions by
emphasizing the bonus-per-level. For example, a Fireball that does 1 Hit
damage, plus 5 Hits per level is probably less magic and more damage than
the one that you can buy, especially at higher levels. You can experiment
by making a spell and seeing what it costs to cast it... you can always
Exit instead of having to buy it."

Thanks to Susi and Old Smaug for their suggestions. Many of these are
usable by other classes as well. Happy Gaming to all of you,

gsv
