Merudo
Level: Roachling
Rank Points: 10
Registered: 12-27-2013
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I'm trying to decide which skill I should get for my rogue: Animal Ken vs Herbalism.

As far as I can see, Herbalism is extremely hard to train and only gives Health, Mana & Stamina potions. It seems like a very lackluster skill.

On the other hand I'm quite unsure which benefits Animal Ken gives, and if they can be replicated by other skills.

v_k
Level: Roachling
Rank Points: 10
Registered: 12-27-2013
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I picked Animal Ken for the Sorceress and for her it was completely useless. Not sure about Rogue though.

Merudo
Level: Roachling
Rank Points: 10
Registered: 12-27-2013
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Was your Herbalism skill useful?

v_k
Level: Roachling
Rank Points: 10
Registered: 12-27-2013
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Well, on the sorceress playthrough there are certain unavoidable fights, and having some extra potions for them can be lifesaving. Brewing these potion is pretty damn hard, though, and on default difficulty generally not worth the fuss. On harder difficulties it may become vital however. But - for the rogue it may be possible to avoid combat altogether (though I don't know that for sure), which may invalidate Herbalism's usefulness even on hard.
Animal Ken, on the other hand, I haven't used even once and can't imagine a scenario in which it'd become vital. From what I gather on a warior playthrough it can be used to solve some puzzles but mainly is just to get food - but there's enough free food in the game to not bother. So I'd go with Herbalism.

Merudo
Level: Roachling
Rank Points: 10
Registered: 12-27-2013
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I'm curious though, does Animal Ken helps with pacifying the various dogs/pets that sometime guard places you could otherwise break-in at night?

I counted 4 such pets so far.

Honza
Level: Roachling
Rank Points: 10
Registered: 12-31-2013
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Merudo wrote:
I'm curious though, does Animal Ken helps with pacifying the various dogs/pets that sometime guard places you could otherwise break-in at night?

I counted 4 such pets so far.

Apparently not, got Animal Ken 100 and the pets' reactions don't change. It only helps with taking the fox.

bjorn
Level: Roachling
Rank Points: 10
Registered: 12-29-2013
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They shouldn't, because the game is not optimised for cross-class skills. You can have them, but don't expect them to be usefull in your class quests. Anyway, there are means of dealing with them in a smart way.

v_k
Level: Roachling
Rank Points: 10
Registered: 12-27-2013
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bjorn wrote: They shouldn't, because the game is not optimised for cross-class skills. You can have them, but don't expect them to be usefull in your class quests.

It's not that bad really. Most skills work quite fine in a cross-class fashion and give you some benefits (for example it's a ton easier to climb over a certain barrier than to disrupt it). The only exception is Thievery, which is severely nerfed for non-rogues.
The problem with Animal Ken is that it's a skill given to warriors to compensate for their lack of some other skills. And if you have those, it's always more optimal to do stuff with them than with Animal Ken.

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[Last edited by v_k at 01-01-2014 01:59 PM]

Honza
Level: Roachling
Rank Points: 10
Registered: 12-31-2013
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So what's the smart way of getting rid of the animals? I mean especially the brown one in the big city, since it starts guarding before nightfall and leaves after the guard comes, so there's no way to avoid it. Has anyone figured it out?

Aquillion
Level: Roachling
Rank Points: 10
Registered: 01-12-2014
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v_k wrote: The only exception is Thievery, which is severely nerfed for non-rogues.

It's not that it's nerfed, it's that you need to take both Stealth and Thievery to get most of the uses out of it (specifically, I don't think you can pick pockets unless you have both.)

With both of them it's extremely valuable; picking pockets can net you huge amounts of valuable stuff, and can even bypass some quests or get you certain useful quest rewards much earlier than you would otherwise.

Lunda
Level: Roachling
Rank Points: 10
Registered: 02-08-2014
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Herbalsim hard to train?

Not at all.







In addition to the early extra food and cheaper potions it has the advantage of fast Endurance and Willpower training early in the game. Which means you can train both magic and physical skills faster.

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[Last edited by Lunda at 02-12-2014 02:53 PM]

Merudo
Level: Roachling
Rank Points: 10
Registered: 12-27-2013
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Extra food? You mean the 2 roots you get at the start of the game?

Lunda
Level: Roachling
Rank Points: 10
Registered: 02-08-2014
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Merudo wrote:
Extra food? You mean the 2 roots you get at the start of the game?

Yes, it may not seem much, but it does mean two extra days of training up your fighting prowess, which can mean quite the difference.

Dhraiden
Level: Roachling
Rank Points: 10
Registered: 07-16-2014
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Personally, I found Animal Ken as a Sorceress VERY useful:



____________________________
"You're the one with the skull still stuffed with brains- use them!"

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[Last edited by Dhraiden at 07-17-2014 07:33 PM]

elnwood
Level: Roachling
Rank Points: 10
Registered: 05-02-2015
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Animal Ken also increases your health points. Normally for a Rogue, your health is maxed-out at 80, but if you have Animal Ken, you can max out at 100.