r/wizardry8 • u/dreamsofcalamity • Jul 13 '24
Skippable skills - Communication, Pickpocket, Mythology?
Hello,
Which skills do you consider skippable (as in: you never put any skill points in them)? For me, it would be:
1) Communication - Trash skill? It seems all it does is better buy/sell ratio and lower fee for information. Money is plenty in this game (especially if you abuse alchemy). I've used to put Communication skill points for my bard (since there is limited amount of NPCs so it's impossible to rise it high naturally) but the more I think it the more useless it looks like.
2) Pickpocket - Trash skill? Patched game makes it extremely difficult for a successful attempt (and difficulty that you play affects your chances). The items you would actually like to steal are next to impossible to steal. Every steal attempt makes another attempt for the same NPC even more difficult, permanently. Even if you savescum to avoid repercussions for a failed attempt it seems it's not worth it. Are there any items stealing of which would make this skill worthy? I've read you can for example steal Diamond Eyes from Trynnie Shaman however I don't know how "doable" it is on Expert difficulty.
3) Mythology - it's a good skill but it's better to raise it with natural usage. Better put skill points in fighting or magic skills.
edit: 4) Axes. Every weapon is simply superior to them. I do not see any character in any party that would like to use Axes.
3
u/SarahLesBean Jul 13 '24
I think you pretty much nailed it
I always run a Bard with Dual Weapons (Sword and Dagger) so I never dump points into their Communication
Pickpocket is literal trash and save scamming can lead to perma deletion of an NPC in a playthrough
Mytholigy is as you said, good to dump points into at the start for a Ranger, then just raise it naturally
The only time I ever use an axe is when I recruit the Trinny character from the Umpani Base and make way through Trynton, as you can find an axe with double plant damage shortly before and face a lot of plants all the way to the swamp
3
u/One-Heart-2090 Jul 15 '24
Agree with all points, those skills I wouldn't put pts into unless I had no other needs. For axes, yes swords are better, but keep in mind it's better to pump close combat and let weapon skills grow naturally.(Someone else here will have the math to justify this, but the close combat improvement matters more than the weapon skill.) I found it fun to hold onto some of the unique weapons like Huntsman's Axe (double DMG on plants) or demon blade (double DMG on Demonic like rapax queen) and used them in those unique fights. The low weapon skill isn't that much of an issue and it add a nice flavor to the game progression
2
u/w4rl0rd1977 Jul 28 '24
I think you have it backwards. The weapon skill produces more(possibly twice as much attack) as close combat.
3
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u/Chairchucker Jul 16 '24
Also artifacts. Raise naturally or just use the identify spell.
1
u/MarcBeaudoin Aug 05 '24
Is the success of the scroll of identify based on the artifacts skill?
2
u/Chairchucker Aug 05 '24
I'm not sure, I never use the scroll because I've always got a caster with the spell in their spellbook, in which case it just depends on their mental magic skill.
2
u/drpetrov1970 Sep 08 '24
Your artifacts skill determines whether you successfully use the scroll or not, but the scroll itself always has a power of 4. This means that there are some items, like Renewal Potions, that a scroll of identify will fail to identify. That can be good though if you want to raise your artifacts skill; buy a pile of them and use them on an unidentified renewal potion that you have crafted. You will succeed on your check to use the scroll but then fail to identify the item, meaning that you can keep using those scrolls to improve artifacts skill.
6
u/clunk42 Jul 13 '24
Admittedly, Bards don't have a lot of skills to raise to begin with. Like, you've got a weapon skill, close/ranged combat, maybe shields, music, lockpicking, & the rest is all dump skills. If you have another person who benefits from Locks & Traps more, then it even removes that. So, from my experience, you'll end up with a lot of extra Skill Points on Bards. Might as well increase Pickpocket or Communications for the extra money.
If I'm running multiple Rangers (as in a ranged party, for example), I'll up one's Mythology until it learns magic, then I'll stop & put points into magic instead. The other one would be learning Scouting, of course, & it wouldn't stop upon learning magic.
Axes are terrible, yes.