FAQ: Questions about whether/how talents interact

[loimprevisto]

I've been tinkering with adventurers lately and had a few questions come up... I figure I can't be the only one! Does anyone know the answers to these?

Do poisons work with gestures? What about mindhand weapons or the dream hammer?
Are you locked out from arcane talents/gear if you pick up the AM tree with a category point rather than completing the quest?
Will you get healed from your thoughtform's feedback (from the third talent in the tree) if you don't have the feedback tree yourself?

[Theyleon]

I've been tinkering with adventurers lately and had a few questions come up... I figure I can't be the only one! Does anyone know the answers to these?

Do poisons work with gestures? What about mindhand weapons or the dream hammer?
Are you locked out from arcane talents/gear if you pick up the AM tree with a category point rather than completing the quest?
Will you get healed from your thoughtform's feedback (from the third talent in the tree) if you don't have the feedback tree yourself?

Don't know for the first two, but for the third, the healing is not an inherent part of feedback, it comes from the first skill on the feedback tree. So I very much doubt you'd get any healing without that skill.

[SageAcrin]

Gestures basically replace your normal "attack" skill with a mindpower based talent, so no.

Mindweapons...I believe these execute an automated normal attack with special stat changes. I think they work with poisons.

Dream Hammer simply poofs your weapon for a moment, generates a hammer, hits the enemy with it, then poofs your weapon back. Since it's a normal melee weapon for that tiny period of time, it works fine with poisons, I think.

I...don't know, on Antimagic. Seeing as how I haven't seen enemies jammed by possessing both Antimagic tree talents-including Resolve-and arcane talents...I would guess you've found a little hole in the game's logic that should probably be plugged. Check to be sure, obviously.

(Not that it really matters much; Antimagic is kinda bad alone, for an Adventurer; There's better defensive generic options.)

You can actually test that last question without Adventurer, just on a Solipsist. I believe the answer is no.

Oh, and no, Channel Staff doesn't work with Arcane Combat.

[loimprevisto]

What talent or category do you need to take to see glove/gauntlet brawling damage with an adventurer? What about shield meele damage?

[Theyleon]

I believe the brawler glove thing is a hidden innate talent (I believe it will show up on the 'c'haracter sheet for a brawler), not something you can get from a tree. Not sure about shields though, maybe the shield pummel/counterstrike/etc tree?

[skein]

If you pay for the anti-magic tree you can use it with magic. This also happens to be useful since resolve lowers equilibrium and does so early. (both fungus and swallow are equally as good but come late). The slime tree and antimagic trees work really well to start off an adventurer while still allowing for magic later. Note that anti magic equipment still sucks though.

You do not get to see the brawler bonouses but to get them all you need to do is have empty hands.

Additional hints- Psifighting gives you the extra weapon slot. Speed control gives you the free weapon swap.

[minmay]

Additional hints- Psifighting gives you the extra weapon slot.

Actually, getting any of the mindslayer trees (Absorption, Augmented mobility, Focus, Finer energy manipulations, Projection, Psi-fighting, Voracity, Mental discipline, Grip) gives you the slot.
You know, in case you needed another reason to get Absorption on every adventurer ever...
Also, if you get Arcane Combat, get Reaving Combat too; they can still trigger each other, although Corrupted Strength is now limited to once per turn, so you can't get a stack overflow anymore.

[Sianist]

Also, if you get Arcane Combat, get Reaving Combat too; they can still trigger each other, although Corrupted Strength is now limited to once per turn, so you can't get a stack overflow anymore.

even when Corrupted Strength specificly says that it only triggers when you cast a spell that aren't instant?

That said ... if you get Reaving Combat its worthwhile to consider Technique / Duel Wielding ... it takes the better of Corrupted Strength and Dual Weapon Training when it figures out how much your offhand damages for

[minmay]

Also, if you get Arcane Combat, get Reaving Combat too; they can still trigger each other, although Corrupted Strength is now limited to once per turn, so you can't get a stack overflow anymore.

even when Corrupted Strength specificly says that it only triggers when you cast a spell that aren't instant?

It won't trigger on spells that have no_energy set to true. However, Arcane Combat doesn't give the spell talents no_energy; instead, it uses forceUseTalent with ignore_energy=true. This causes the talent to be used instantly but is not functionally equivalent to no_energy, as this example shows.

[loimprevisto]

Does Forge Shield interact at all with the Shield Offense and Shield Defense trees?

[SageAcrin]

I...think Riposte might actually impact counter attacks for partially blocked Forge Shield hits?

I'm not sure, though. It's sorta a weird bit of code, so I can't tell for sure at a glance.

Shield Expertise and various other shield skills should ignore it, though. It doesn't generate a real shield.