How to get the character to 20th level

[HousePet]

You can stop in the alternate sandworm lair if you are in one of the pockets. You just have to wait a bit for another worm to dig you out.

[Coldbringer]

Did you know you can auto-explore on the world map, not just in dungeons? With the 'z' key.
Makes finding those extra side areas tucked away a lot easier. Just watch out for patrols.

Getting all the way to the Master, that's about halfway through the game, sounds like you are making progress. The graveyard, you need Cold and Darkness resist for the boss fight.

"* gear with +20% or so immunities, particularly when paired with similar items, really do rock. I would shrug off majority of spells and these which affected me I break after three or four turns. Cool!"

Definitely should stack immunities to get to 100% for the important ones. Thing to remember is the game checks once when the attack is used against you, immunity will not reduce the duration of a status effect once it takes hold. You either resist it entirely or don't.

There are passive skills in the General section that give a chance to shrug off certain status effects each turn (Vitality and Unflinching Resolve) http://te4.org/wiki/Conditioning_%28category%29 and are well worth investing in 3 or 4 points

[dukereg]

Speaking of alternate zones, beware the alternate Maze' boss who is much more dangerous than the normal boss.

You don't need to do the Last Hope graveyard at all if you don't want to. If you feel even slightly in danger there you should probably leave it until later and save your lives for unexpected future challenges.

As for the Master... even if you don't abuse the game to keep him lower level than you, you should be able to get to level 30ish by doing other content and just take him down. He's a tough boss, but he's not too hard at that level.

[grouchy]

Alright, I think I can now consistently get my characters -- provided I know how to play, basic-wise, given class -- to late teens/early 20s. Good.

I have some further questions, though, I hope you don't mind:

As for the Master... even if you don't abuse the game to keep him lower level than you, you should be able to get to level 30ish by doing other content and just take him down. He's a tough boss, but he's not too hard at that level.

Is it possible to get your character to 30-ish making only side-quests? I cleaned most of the map last night and was on 22nd, or something, before entering Dreadfell, where I dieded, of course, but that's another kettle of fish. How would I advance to 30 without advancing in the main plot?

Thing to remember is the game checks once when the attack is used against you, immunity will not reduce the duration of a status effect once it takes hold. You either resist it entirely or don't.

And what about saves? According to wiki (http://te4.org/wiki/Saves#Power_and_saves):

Physical saving throw increases your chance to shrug off physically-induced effects. Also reduces duration of detrimental physical effects by up to 5% per point, depending on the power of the opponent's effect.

Is it viable to invest in saving throws, then? When escorting, for example, I would always select the reward granting me +4 save to spells, when playing a melee class i.e. I assume my phiscal save throws are high enough to shrug off most of corresponding de-buffs.

Also: paying summoner feels like cheating.

[HousePet]

You can easily get to level 30 before entering Dreadfell if you want to.

[Micbran]

Using farportals and doing all the "little" dungeons. Also, depends on your race (obviously).

Saves are... Okay. They're great and all, but unless you get ALOT of them, you won't block status effects from what's really important: Bosses/Rares. Status cleanse and immunities are much more worthwhile.

[grouchy]

You can easily get to level 30 before entering Dreadfell if you want to.

Well, I do want to.

[Coldbringer]

"Is it possible to get your character to 30-ish making only side-quests? I cleaned most of the map last night and was on 22nd, or something, before entering Dreadfell, where I dieded, of course, but that's another kettle of fish. How would I advance to 30 without advancing in the main plot?"

Have to explore all the nooks and crannies of the map for extra dungeons. Also there are a few mods that force potential dungeons to always spawn (certain ones may or may not appear on the map each game), and give you access to other races (dwarves and yeeks) starting areas you normally couldn't get to. Also, you may get lucky with DarkGod granting everyone online a special themed dungeon or two. So play online if you can.

As for saves, other stats are more important. They've got limited usefulness, in that you have to stack them really high for them to be worthwhile, and even then they can still fail quite regularly.

[dukereg]

It's easier with Cornac due to other races' XP penalty.
You do it by clearing everything except higher level things like Mark of the Spellblaze, Ancient Elven Ruins and Last Hope Graveyard before you take on The Master. Dreadfell can be good XP on its own. You might have to open vaults to get that high? Not sure.

[Atarlost]

Don't open dreadfell vaults until you return from the East, and even then it's probably a bad idea in some cases. There's one oval one full of spiders that you can probably open when you first do dreadfell, but that's it.

[grouchy]

One thing I learnt yesterday: never play when soused, for it can have dire consequences. For your characters, of course.

[bpat]

You can easily get to level 30 before entering Dreadfell if you want to.

Well, I do want to.

There isn't much merit to doing this, since enemies scale with your level. Farming needlessly just gives you more chances to die. To succeed in Dreadfell, take a stun removal or get 100% stun resistance and make sure you have a Movement Infusion to flee and reposition. If you're melee and especially scare of The Master, you can dig zigzag tunnels around the ninth floor, aggro The Master, kite him into the tunnels, then wreck his face.

[HousePet]

There also isn't much merit to doing Dreadfell early. I just do some zones before Dreadfell while others do them after.

[bpat]

There also isn't much merit to doing Dreadfell early. I just do some zones before Dreadfell while others do them after.

I do all zones in the West before Dreadfell aside from Spellblaze Scar, Ancient Elven Ruins, and Sludgenest. I also never end up level 30 before starting it and that's on Insane (I actually hit level 30 on the ninth floor on my current run). On Normal it is completely reasonable to enter around level 18-22 if playing a race with a high experience penalty and you shouldn't have any trouble if you use your Inscription slots wisely (unless you're Undead, but the solution to that problem is not playing Undead). If you find you're dying too quickly, a mental trick that'll help you play safer is to never Rush to a tile that you don't have vision around. So many needless deaths are due to abuse of Rush and other gap-closing talents. Instead, use a Movement Infusion (and if you don't have one, buy one from Last Hope) to engage and you will find yourself dying much less. Casters shouldn't ever be in any real danger compared to melee classes in Dreadfell as long as you run stun removal (Physical Wild Infusion) and some sort of mobility like Phase Door (controlled), Dimensional Step, or Movement Infusion (really I recommend this on every class except perhaps Archmage).

[Atarlost]

I tried doing it at level 15 once and the loot was no better than the Sandworm Lair or the Maze (not counting broken maze floor chests). The dungeons I delayed in favor of early Dreadfell did not pick up the slack because of their lower level caps. Early Dreadfell is easier, but you get a lot fewer tier 4 drops before going East, which is going to tend to make that harder. Dreadfell is about as long as the Elf Ruins and Reknor combined so you're looking at giving up a lot of loot.

Unless drop calculation has changed you probably shouldn't do Dreadfell early unless you're at a wall that you think getting Anorthil or Sun Paladin unlocked will get you past.