You usually get a skill point for every 12 experience points (more or less) you earn. This number goes up or down depending on how many Advantages and Disadvantages you have.
Increasing someone’s Dexterity makes him or her act faster in combat. It also improves accuracy with weapons.
Romans: Be sure to buy lots of Roman Training skill. Your superior skill with weapons is your chief advantage.
Celts: Be sure to get lots of Druidic skills. Your ability to use magic is your chief advantage.
Some doors are magically locked. Celts can use the Pass Portal spell to unlock them. Romans will have to find a magical lockpick to pick these locks.
Some passages are blocked by magical barriers. You can walk through some of these (taking damage as you do). Some of them are impassable. Some magic items can destroy these, as can the Break Barrier skill.
There are many hidden places outdoors where you can find potion-making ingredients. If you also find a recipe, you can use Make Potion button when you’re in town to make potions. They come in handy on long adventures.
Celts can easily use slings. Romans like javelins. Both missile weapons can cause lots of damage in combat.
The First Aid skill helps you heal yourselves. Use the Use First Aid skill in the Actions menu. You need a First Aid Kit (or similar item) for this. This can be a Roman’s best source for healing.
Don’t rest too often when in a hostile town. It gives your foes a chance to build up reinforcements.
Remember: Nethergate and coffee. Two greater things that are even greaterer together.
Have a tip, bug report, question, or comment? Send it to SpidWeb@spidweb.com.
Item Lore skill makes items become identified when you pick them up. Very useful. Buying levels of Druidism, Tool Use, and Faerie Lore makes this skill increase.
Some items are cursed. They’re harder to identify, can’t be removed, and make your life difficult. You need to find a healer or cast Remove Curse to get rid of a cursed item.
There are healers in some places. They can remove poison, destone characters, remove cursed items, and even raise your warriors from the dead.
Try to get to the village of Vanarium as soon as possible. It’s at the west edge of Shadowvale. There’s lots of good stuff for sale there, and you can get other adventurers to join your party.
There are certain incredibly rare, powerful spells called Nether Arts spells. You can only find these in remote, dangerous areas, and you need a lot of skill to cast them. You can’t find out what they do until you get them.
If you can’t kill something, try lots of missile weapons or Quicksilver Feet and Lance of Fire spells.
Early on, the spells Battle Rage and Shielding can be very useful. Cast several of each on your strongest fighter, and send him or her into the thick of the battle.
Buying more Intelligence makes your spells more effective. Also, the higher your skill in a spell circle, the stronger your spells in that circle will be.
If you can’t win a battle, try other tactics. Instead of rushing into the fray, back away and let them come to you, or see if there is a way to avoid the fight altogether.
Practically every village, town, and dungeon has people (or creatures) who need something done for them. Doing these missions can really help you out. Talk to everyone!
Some battles outdoors are extremely difficult. Don’t feel the need to fight everything you come across.
Like another adventure? Try out the hit, award-winning Exile series. Find demos at http://www.spidweb.com.
When you kill a monster in a dungeon, it almost always stays dead. If a group of monsters is too tough, kill a few of them, flee the dungeon and return later. The ones you killed will still be gone.
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Having trouble reaching somewhere? Walk into the walls/barriers/trees/whatever is in your way. Some things have secret doors or entrances.
Casting repeated blesses multiplies the effect. Two bless spells on somebody are more than twice as powerful as one.
Want more adventures? Go to www.spidweb.com, and download a new Blades of Exile scenario!
It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye.
To play a customized scenario, copy it into your Blades of Exile Scenarios folder, run the game, and click Custom Scenario on the title screen. You can find new scenarios at www.spidweb.com.
Some scenarios have horses in them. Buy some, if possible. Traveling outdoors is slow, and you'll use up a lot less food when you don’t travel on foot.
Items need to be identified before you can sell them. In the first scenario, Axel (in Sweetgrove) will identify items cheaply. Also, there are people in plenty of other towns who will perform this service.
Move Mountains and Dispel Barrier are very useful spells. Haste will save your party from many a nasty fight.
Can't cast a mage spell you've learned? Make sure your Mage Spells skill is up to at least the level of the spell. Then make sure you're not dumbfounded (Restore Mind cures this). Then make sure you have enough spell points.
The Blades of Exile Editor can help you out in a lot of nasty situations, even when it's unregistered. Take a look!
Someone important not there? The friendly people in the town suddenly mad at you and you're not sure why? You may have clipped them with Mass Charm or Shockwave. Visit a few other towns and return, and you'll have been forgiven.
Low on gold? Look around for side adventurers. For example, Valley of Dying Things has several other dungeons.
Trapped in a scenario? You can often leave it by returning to the town you started in. If you’re trapped, run the Blades of Exile character editor. It can pull you out of a scenario (even when unregistered).
Be sure to talk to everyone in town. This is often your only route to important tips. For example, in Valley of Dying Things, Avizo, in the first town, knows something very important. You just have to find out what to ask him.
Have a tip, bug report, question, or comment? Send it to SpidWeb@spidweb.com.
Make sure everyone has a strength of at least 3. Make sure mages have plenty of intelligence. Make sure everyone who does a lot of melee combat has a high dexterity.
Some dungeon trips are long, and require lots of healing and endurance. It is at these times that potion making can be very useful.
If you get lost, be sure to use the automap. It can tell you where you have and haven’t been.
If you need a hint, look in the online documentation. There’s a full hint guide for Valley of Dying Things. When you register, you get a full hint book for Blades of Exile.
To cast spells quickly, click on his/her name on the upper right, and select the spell from the Mage Spells or Priest Spells menu.
To make a character active (and see its inventory) quickly, type '1'-'6'.
Sometimes you'll find a place where you know there's a dungeon, but you can't see or enter it. That's because someone somewhere else needs to tell you where it is. Go talk to people in towns.
One nice shortcut: typing capital 'M' has whoever cast your last mage spell cast it again. 'P' works the same way for priest spells.
Beware when using the Long Rest feature in dungeons. Monsters are taking advantage of those pauses to get reinforcements.
Game too slow? Look in the Preferences menu. There are several options to speed things up.
Have to go through a dungeon, but you keep getting killed? Stock up on potions. Buy scrolls. Learn potion making. Go in, kill a bunch of monsters, and leave to rest (if you can).
One nice shortcut: typing capital 'M' has whoever cast your last mage spell cast it again. 'P' works the same way for priest spells.
Beware when using the Long Rest feature in dungeons. Monsters are taking advantage of those pauses to get reinforcements.
When launching Exile III, you can hold the space bar down to do a limited launch. This eliminates the opening fades and music, and sometimes makes the game go faster.
Select whether you want to play Romans or Celts (by clicking on a graphic above). The two adventures are very different, and things that seem mysterious when playing one side are often made clear when you play the other.
You are a small band of Roman soldiers, sent to Shadowvale to complete a mysterious mission. Being Romans, your military training and weapons skills are first rate, but you will have great difficulty drawing from the magical energies of the Vale.
You are a band of young Celtic warriors, told by your chief to go to the village of Nethergate for mysterious reasons. Your battle skill and equipment aren’t as good as the Romans, but you will be able to draw from the magical power of the Vale.
