ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

Okay, so, I have quite a lot of questions I have failed to find a response on the forums, so I've decided to ask them all in one place. Please either answer me, direct to an answer, or alternatively direct to a place in the source code where I can get more information:

1. Why is there damage range present for a weapon, why is not the range a single variable as implied by the wiki? Moreover, does the weapon Base Power include anything other than the raw damage this weapon would do if stripped of all special effects, and not including player stats? (I assumei t does, but just want to make sure)

2. How can I increase mana regeneration of my mage?

3. How can I survive as a Skeleton Brawler, or any other class which does not have regeneration skills? I know skeletons get reassembly on 12th level, but it requires quite a lot of survivalementnes.

4. I assume that resistances are the way to go. I had a human bulwark who would survive anything besides elemental attacks, and multi-hued drakes were his worst enemies. I've repeatedly ignored much better equipment only because it would reduce my resistances. (Although looking through equipment was a breeze). Is there some specific trick other than hoarding as much resistance-granting equipment and ignoring any other properties?

5. Does Berserker have any penalties for wearing heavy armour?

I think that would be all for now, I'll ask more when time comes. Generally I have to say I'm really enjoying this game as a long-time roguelike fan (I've started with Zangband on Amiga, twelve or so years ago) and the fact that there is very little grinding for items leveraged by the infusions. So far my best character as 28-or-so level Bulwark, but I have got some progress with Brawler and Archmage also!

1. Damage range multiplies the damage by a random amount, from the base to a higher number (usually 1.4). This is not calculated into armour, the character sheet, or many other things though.

2. Wear mana-regen equipment, or use manasurge runes. Disruption shield can also help.

3. Pre-emptivly shield before taking damage.

4. I usually go for HP/healingmod/life regen, myself, but resistances can work well in the end-game.

5. No, other than higher fatigue, and thus Stamina costs. They should wear heavy or massive armour.

Thank you very much for answers! Some expansions to existing:

1. Then at which statistics is it best to look in weapons? If, for example, I had two weapons to chose from:
Great Sword 20-30 or Great Sword 15-25, +5 Nature damage on hit
Would they have the same average damage per hit? Or would the first be better pumped up by stats?

2. In my latest playthrough I've got two pretty decent manasurge runes, and it seems to be enough. I've never been able to find any equipment which gives decent mana regen, the best was +0.15. Am I just unlucky?

And new ones:

6. Are the archmage shields worth anything?
- Disruption Shield is useless until you are very low on mana, and then it doesn't really explain how much damage it prevents (so I am kinda puzzled here).
- Phantasmal Shield is even more useless since it does not prevent damage at all.
- Displacement Shield is kind of cool, but even on 5th talent level I only have around 70% chance of the damage being transferred, so not that very great.
- Time Shield seems the best, but the last time I used it, but I am still damaged a little bit after the shield ends, and it's a pretty serious downside, because I've already died many times because of that.

7. What does the Command Staff do?

8. Do items in shop ever change?

9. When playing as an Archmage, does the staff's Base Power influence in any way the damage output of the spells?

10. I can fight in melee as an Archmage, but is it really wise to?

1. The +5 nature damage on hit is completely separate and is not multiplied by any stats, target's armour or anything else. You can look at your character sheet to see how much each weapon does at the low end, and then factor in the +5 nature damage yourself.

2. Yeah, you won't find a lot of mana regen in the game.

6. Disruption Shield works until you hit maximum mana. At 1 point it's pretty good as a way to recover mana quickly, especially since it's instant cast, so you can set it to auto-cast. You can base your entire build around disruption shield as well, trying to stay at low mana all the time.

Phantasmal Shield isn't a shield, so you shouldn't say it's useless just because it doesn't block damage. It gives decent damage when hit for practically no mana, so it's effective for melee archmages. Not that I've ever played one.

Displacement Shield is nice if you're being swarmed, or any other situation where you're expecting a lot of small hits. It's also an offensive tool, so it's not quite as effective as a shield

Time Shield is nice because it spaces damage out, giving you more time to heal, and converts all damage to temporal damage, letting you stack temporal resistance.

7. Command Staff changes your staff. Use it, and then look at your staff.

8. A few set story events change shops. Killing the Master is the first one.

9. Staff's weapon power does not influence spells.

10. That's more of an alchemist thing, but I'm sure there's a valid build that does it.

On number 9...a staff's base power does not directly influence spells cast (outside of Channel Staff), but the +damage% is set equal to the staff's power.