Newbie takes on D2 for the first time

[haphazard1]

Some useful items there, Boro. Better than just about anything I have at the moment, except maybe the belt -- have one with some fire resistance and replenish life.

On the +max stamina item, how important do people consider stamina? It has only been an issue once or twice, but maybe I am not making good use of running.

[superdeath]

there is a trick you can do with stamina potions iirc.. if you need to run for a long time. Drink 20 or so, have stamina for weeks.

[T-hawk]

Stamina is useless. It goes up with your vitality stat, so you should have more stamina than you'll ever deplete by level 20 or so.

BTW, that reminds me to give the standard advice for how to allocate stat points. Enough strength to use a decent selection of items (60 is common since that's what the biggest kind of belt needs) and everything else to vitality. I mean everything. 300 vitality is common and you'll need that 600 life later. Don't invest in energy, even as a sorceress; it's easier to get bigger quantities of +mana from items and just buy mana potions.

[Boro]

potion duration stacking is what I did for Andariel too, and plan to do against duriel.

[haphazard1]

"Potion duration stacking" -- this sounds like something I need to know more about.

Stats...well, there is that respec waiting. Both D1 and D2 are non-intuitive on where to allocate your stat points for newbies.

[haphazard1]

Completed the Forgotten Tower quest. This one was easier than I expected; nothing in the tower or its cellars really threatened my sorceress. In fact, I came through a door on the 5th cellar level into a fight with some goat men, and accidentally killed the Countess without realizing she was there. Ooops, sorry Countess, no respect for you.

She dropped the first rune I have seen, an Ith rune. I do not yet have the required clvl to even use it. A question: when the rune (or any object) has a property for 'X% of damage taken goes to mana" this means the given percentage of damage I receive is subtracted from my mana orb and not my life orb? Or am I misundertstanding this?

I have explored the Tamoe Highlands and the optional areas like the Hole, so I guess the monastery is next.

[Boro]

the given percentage is added to your mana orb.

Yes monastery is next.

So potion duration stacking in a nutshell. An antidote, stamina, or thawing potion lasts a given time (30seconds for antidote and thawing), and when you drink another potion of the same type, the duration is added to the current one. So you drink ten antidotes in a quick succession? You get 5 minutes of 50% poison resistance, which is 10x half minute added together.

[T-hawk]

Suppose X is 10%. You take 50 damage. You gain 5 mana. The 50 damage doesn't change.

It is a confusingly worded modifier, and not very useful, particularly because it only works for physical damage taken.

[haphazard1]

Thanks, Boro and T-hawk. That wording is confusing. So essentially this is the mana equivalent of leech, sounds like, except that it is the damage I am receiving rather than the damage I am inflicting. Not very intuitive. Still, additional mana is not a bad thing. I would not rate this property very highly, compared to other options. I would prefer not to be taking damage, if possible.

Interesting info on potion stacking. I had not realized that was possible. The anti-poison aspect could be very useful for a certain upcoming battle, if I understand the dangers correctly. And there are situations where the thawing could be very helpful. I ran into a cold enchanted archer boss a while ago, and that was a huge pain. Getting repeatedly frozen from a distance was trouble.

[Boro]

Yes, Ith runes are not the best for mana. What Ith runes are good for... is being cubed (crafted, 3 of them) into a Tal rune. A Tal and an Eth spelled out in a 2 socketed chest armor spells TalEth, Stealth, and that alone has a nice chunk of bonus mana regeneration, AND movemen speed.

Cold resistance is useful for someone sorcies usually struggle against... https://www.realmsbeyond.net/forums/show...#pid611920