Your Account
    Log into your account here:
       Forgot Password

    Not registered? Sign Up for free
    Registration allows you to keep track of all your content and comments, save bookmarks, and post in all our forums.

Character Guide

by Matt P

Divine Divinity Character Development FAQ

By Matt P

Email: [email protected]


Purpose of this FAQ:  There are a lot of options in Divine Divinity and 
these options can be overwhelming for a starting playing (even for advanced 
players trying something new).  The game provides you with several options 
for several of them 


Table of Contents:
1) Character types
2) Statistics 
3) Skills
4) Equipment
===========================================================
1) Character Types
There are six effective classes of character in the game- Warrior, 
Survivor, and Mage, both male and female. In spite of these options, these 
characters may take any of the skills available to other classes, thus you 
can build a magic-using warrior with ease, or a greatsword-wielding wizard.  
Differences are outlined in the following sections.
===========================================================
2) Statistics

Luckily, the benefits of statistics for all characters are fairly easy to 
summarize.
 
Strength affects damage done:
    Warriors          0.4 /point
    Survivors         0.14 /point
    Wizards           0.1 /point
  Amount you can carry (20 more units per point)
  Items you can use (70 is max needed).
 
Agility affects offence and defense:
    Warriors          0.8 OFF/point, 0.7 DEF /point -1
    Survivors         0.7 OFF /point -1, 0.8 DEF/point
    Wizards           0.7 OFF /point -1, 0.7 DEF /point -1
  Items you can use (~70 is max needed).
  For a proper fighter, aim for enough agility to hit ~90% of the time, and 
get hit < 25% of the time.  94% and 19% are the limits here.

Intelligence affects MP:
    Warriors          3 /point
    Survivors         4 /point
    Wizards           6 /point
This can be ignored for fighters, generally speaking.  You will find charms 
that directly provide bonuses to MP, and do so with significantly more 
bonus than adding to intelligence does.

Constitution affects HP:
    Warriors          6 /point
    Survivors         5 /point
    Wizards           4 /point
  Amount of Stamina: 300 per point
This can be ignored for wizards, generally speaking, though not as much as 
ignoring MP for fighters.  You will find charms that directly provide 
bonuses to HP, and do so with significantly more bonus than adding to 
constitution does.  However, adding to stamina doesn't hurt.

These notes are in part from the Larian message boards.

Additionally, a few items and events will change your stats.
  Being bitten by the vampire decrease all stats by 1.
  Activating the shrine near Glenborus may increase a random stat by 5, or 
decrease it equivalently.
  Holding Finnegan's lockpicks in your inventory gives 20 agility.
  Giving 1000 gold to the wishing well gets you 5 points, giving 10000 gold 
gets you 10 points (it's probably best to go for either the 10 points, or 
for a level up.
  Charms add to stats:
  Color    Bonus to Stats  Bonus to HP/MP  Bonus to resists
  Green        +2               +20              +5
  Blue         +4               +40              +10
  Red          +6               +60              +15
  Gray         +8               +80              +20 
  Tan          +10              +100             +40(!)

At the beginning of the game, I recommend investing in strength and agility 
for all characters so that you can use the best armor.  Once you've reached 
35-40 points in each of these two, invest in other stats as you like.

===========================================================
3) Skills
   Skills determine the abilities of your character, from spells to the 
strength of your sword.  These skills make up the most interesting part of 
the game.  There are three groups of skills (mage, survivor, warrior), with 
four groups per set of skills.  One set of survivor skills are not 
available to you until the final chapter of the game.
   A bonus to any skill can be found on armor / weapons / jewelry.  These 
bonuses are in effect for as long as you equip the item, and also affect 
the level requirements for skills.  So if you find an item that augments a 
skill you like and you want to buy another point, unequip the item then buy 
the point, then reequip it (so long as you have less than 5 points 
invested).  Items that provide skill bonuses usually sell for a premium, 
but are a decent way to spend the cash you find.  I'd recommend buying 
items that augment useful skills, especially rings and belts that increase 
thievery skills and telekinesis. 

BOOKS:
   Most wizard spells can be learned from books.  These books average 
5,000-10,000 each, so they can be costly.  People who regularly sell books 
include Kistandalius and Blake of Riverton, and Corinna and Mpenzak of 
Verdistis.  Of these, Kistandalius and Corinna are the most reliable.  
Kroxy near the end game also sells a fair number of spell books.  
   If you want to be cheesy and obtain lots of books, save your game before 
running your mouse over one of these people.  Then talk to them, and check 
out their inventory.  If they don't have a spell book of interest to you, 
reload and try again.  If you've already talked with them, then their 
inventory is set for about 1 game day.  Just wait for the next day and try 
again.  Mages can get several spell books with some diligence.  Note that 
spell books ignore level requirements and hence are a quick and easy way of 
increasing spell strength.
  Similarly, there's a chance of finding spell books for free on 
bookshelves.  Save before you place your mouse over a bookshelf, then check 
it.  If there isn't a book you can reload until there is one.  This is much 
more tedious.  I'd recommend only doing this in regions with lots of 
bookshelves.
  I have not found spell books for sale that increase Skeletal Wall, 
Seeking Flame, Elemental Bolt, Elemental Strike, Withering Curse, Summon 
Vermin, Master Summoner, Transfer Powers, or Summon Demonic Aide.  Thus do 
not depend on this method to get you points in these skills.  Nonetheless, 
I'd recommend not investing more than 3 points in the other skills, as that 
way you won't get upset if you encounter a book later in the game.

Key:
Skill name    Worth it?    Free points available

Here "Free" point means available in each and every game, possibly for a 
price, but doesn't cost skill points.  Spell books may be found anywhere, 
but ones denoted here are guaranteed.

Skill overview:
     Way of the Mage skills:
  Powers of Matter
Hellspikes              
Energy Cage            
Limbs of Lead         
Telekinesis           
Deadly Discs          
Polymorph                     Book somewhere?
Skeletal Wall         
Seeking Flame         

  Elemental Powers
Meteor Strike                 Book near Glenborus
Lightning              
Freeze                   
Burning Wall          
Elemental Bolt 
Poisonous Cloud               Book in chest near Vittorio's 
                               Cave?
Elemental Hail         
Elemental Strike              Assemble dragon armor, then 
                               wear it.

  Powers of Body and Spirit
Wizard Sight           
Bless                         Complete Dark Cave Quest for 
                               Sir Markham.
Restoration                   1)Goemoe will give you a
                               point if you heal both 
                               soldiers, 2)Mardaneus will 
                               give you a point if you find 
                               out who killed George, and  
                               3)you'll get a point if you 
                               solve the statue's riddle in 
                               Nericon's garden.  4) Also, 
                               there's one book in Riverton 
                               Sewers, though it requires a 
                               point in telekinesis to get.
Withering Curse               Book in Iona's dungeon if you 
                               escape the madhouse (called 
                               "Fear")
Aura of Guarding
Magical Might
Spell Shield                  A book in Riverton Sewers (S)
Fade from Sight


  Powers of Summoning
Summon Vermin          
Summon Skeleton               A book in Riverton Sewers (N)
Life Leech            
Master Summoner        
Banish                        Retrieve all Corinna's 
                               ingredients, including a 
                               branch from the talking tree
                               (nothing else works here).
Resurrection          
Transfer Powers       
Summon Demonic Aide   


     Path of the Survivor Skills:
  Way of the Thief
Assassin's Kiss
Lockpick                      1)Rob will train you in either 
                               lockpick, pickpocketing, or 
                               evade traps when you join 
                               thieves guild.  2) If you 
                               fail the lockpicking 
                               challenge in the thieves 
                               guild, Rodgar will train you 
                               with in lockpicking.
Pickpocketing                 Rob will train you in either 
                               lockpick, pickpocketing, or 
                               evade traps when you join 
                               thieves guild.
Evade Traps                   Rob will train you in either 
                               lockpick, pickpocketing, or 
                               evade traps when you join  
                               thieves guild.
Deadly Gift             
Elven Stamina
Embrace Shadows
Poison Weapon

  Path of the Talents
Traders Tongue                1)Buy the ~six overpriced 
                               junk items from El'Gammon at 
                               the Blue Boar Inn to be 
                               trained here, and 2) Read 
                               three books in the library 
                               of merchant's guild to get 
                               another point.  Two of the 
                               three books are well hidden, 
                               so be sure to check every 
                               nook and cranny.
Ranger's Sight
Wisdom
Charm
Magic Barrier
Aura of Command               Side with the Bees when 
                               pursuing the Imp council 
                               member.
Heaven's Gift
Survivor's Instinct
 
  Path of Lore
Identify                      Finish Marcus' quest in 
                               Riverton.
Alchemy                       Complete Medicus' quest.
Know Creature
True Sight
Blind
Skin of Poison
Curse
Necroshift

  Path of the Divine
Translocate
Divine Death
Spirit Form                   One free point if you offer 
                               to teach the dragon 
                               Patriarch this skill.
Scorch
Heaven's Blessing
Divine Eye
Temporal Storm
Lightning Cascade

     Way of the Warrior Skills:
  Path of the Specialist
Sword
Mace
Axe
Hammer
Spear
Bow 
Crossbow
Shield

  Path of Warrior's Lore
Augment Damage                Beat warrior in guild in 
                               combat. Or Augment Defense.
Repair
Stun 
Augment Defense               Beat warrior in guild in 
                               combat. Or Augment Damage.
Poison Damage
Fire Damage
Lightning Damage
Repel Damage

  Path of the Ranger
Elven Sight
True Shot
Splitting Arrows
Poison Arrows
Spirit Arrows
Elemental Arrows
Evade Arrows
Explosive Arrows

  Path of the Warrior Gods
Enchant Weapon
Feign Death
Boomerang                     Join the Fighter's Guild
Shadow Warrior
Spirit Damage
Reflect Missiles
Death Strike
Flash Attack

===========================================================
Skill Discussion: 
  Way of the Wizard:

  Powers of Matter
Hellspikes: A nice, physical damage spell that can be increased fairly 
easily with spell books.  This spell does physical damage.  This spell is 
initially unimpressive until you get to the highly resistant enemies, like 
the imps.  For non-wizards, I don't recommend putting points here as you'll 
find enough spell books to get this spell on your own.

Energy Cage: Freezes enemies who have low resistance.  Meh, freeze is a bit 
better since you can attack them in the meantime.  I don't recommend 
putting points here.

Limbs of Lead: Slows enemies for a specific amount of time.  A good spell 
to use on bosses and heavy-hitting enemies.  Well worth investing a point 
in or two, though spell books are great as well.  No enemy can resist this, 
and it lasts for a decent while.  Get it from books.

Telekinesis: Allows you to interact with items from a distance.  This spell 
is useful and versatile.  Even non-mages will want this one.  Put 2 points 
in it for maximum effect, or buy it from books.  You will need at least 
this to grab some of the stuff in the Riverton sewers.

Deadly Discs:  The spell book for this skill is "elemental strike," which 
is no doubt a bug.  

Polymorph: Turns your enemy permanently to a weak animal (rabbit).  Good to 
use on tougher enemies that have low resistances.
 
Skeletal Wall: Better than most of the summoning spells, this spell summons 
a nice group of skeletons to fight on your behalf.  This skill is a much 
better distraction than rats.  It's less effective as you increase levels 
though.
 
Seeking Flame: An elemental bolt follows your enemies.  Kind of similar to 
elemental bolt, in fact...

  Elemental Powers
Meteor Strike: The staple of mages, this spell does consistent damage to 
most enemies.  It allows mages to take on single enemies early that other 
characters run from.  You will find one book of this spell for free if you 
explore the game thoroughly, and may find a book or two for sale.  If you 
have a wizard, invest at least 2 more points here for maximum effect.

Lightning: Does lightning damage to enemies.  Wizards will want this spell 
to use on steel enemies or fire-users.  Quite nice, but a fairly common 
spell book, in my experience.

Freeze: Stops enemies in their tracks by freezing them.  One of the best 
stopping-spells, you can attack the enemy while stopped.  Wizards will want 
several points, but this spell can be found from spell books.

Burning Wall: A pinkish wall of flame follows you as you run.  Enemies that 
chase after you take some damage from it.  Still kind of weak, you're 
better off with direct-damage spells.

Elemental Bolt: Sends a powerful bolt of fire/lightning at your enemies.  
It seeks them out, which is cool.  Not too bad.

Poisonous Cloud: Shoots enemies with a bolt of poison.  This is not a bad 
way of poisoning enemies, but the survivor skill "poison weapon" is still 
by far superior.

Elemental Hail:  A nice omni-attack that does lightning and fire damage.  
Use on enemies that swarm you if you're a mage.  Skip it if not.  Its spell 
book is called "Spark."

Elemental Strike: Massive elemental strike on your enemies.  Kind of 
expensive and I never remembered to use this spell.

  Powers of Body and Spirit

Wizard Sight: Allows you to look around places.  Don't buy this lame spell.

Bless: Increases your stats by a few for a short amount of time.  Not bad, 
though there are better spells.

Restoration: The game's healing spell, all characters will appreciate it.  
Don't invest any skill points in it as you will get 4 points through your 
adventures, and will probably find at least one book with it.  Necessary 
for everyone.

Withering Curse: Decreases an enemy's resistance and stats if they have low 
spiritual resistance. Don't bother, curse (survivor's skill) is superior.
         
Aura of Guarding: Absorbs physical damage received from attacks.  Pretty 
good early on, not as good later.

Magical Might: Increases your strength for a short amount of time.  I don't 
bother putting points here, but don't mind getting books (though I think 
they're termed "heaven's blessing").  If you have enough points here, you 
can sell off all of your strength potions.

Spell Shield: Absorbs magical damage from attacks.  Pretty good early on, 
not as good later.

Fade from Sight: Mages probably won't want to bother with this, but 
survivors will find this spell invaluable.  

  Powers of Summoning
Summon Vermin:  Summons a rat to help you fight.  The rats don't fight and 
only serve as distractions.  Don't bother.

Summon Skeleton: Summons a mid-level skeleton to fight with you.  Better 
than rats, at least, but still very weak.    

Life Leech: Drains the HP of your enemies.  Really good to use on bosses.  
One of the recommended summoning spells.

Master Summoner: Increases the level of your summons.  If you like to 
summon things, this doesn't hurt.

Banish: Does damage to summoned creatures, potentially destroying them 
instantly.  It costs a lot of MP, and doesn't always work (have to get them 
right after being summoned?).  Pretty useless.                     

Resurrection: Brings back dead enemies to fight with you.  Not too great.  
Also allows you to cheat by resurrecting a bunch of enemies in a cave or 
sewer, then exiting the cave/sewer and reentering, only to find all the 
resurrected foes are now hostile again, potentially allowing a lot of 
experience.  

Transfer Powers: Summoned creatures gain some of your passive powers.  Not 
bad, but doesn't do much.

Summon Demonic Aide: Summons a demon knight to fight by your side.  Steel 
scorpions are better...


     Path of the Survivor Skills:

  Way of the Thief
Assassin's Kiss: For characters who use daggers and short swords, this 
skill is sweet.  You get a significant chance to do double damage with this 
skill (notified by the term "backstab"). Dagger users will want this spell.

Lockpick: A great and versatile spell.  Not every door and chest has a key, 
so you'll want this spell.  You can get two points for free, and I'd 
recommend taking them both.  Add 1-3 points in the early game and very 
little will be closed to you.  Some items have this skill, so you may be 
able to get by with only a 1-2 point investment.

Pickpocketing: You will want 1 point in this skill, and can probably get 
that from an item if you're diligent in your shopping.  Otherwise, add a 
point in it in order to finish all the game's quests and to have the option 
to get two more skill points for free.  You can get one point in this skill 
for free, but I wouldn't recommend it.  If you're interested in lots of 
free loot, go ahead and invest in this skill, otherwise leave it at 1.  
Note that at 2 points, you can steal the curing potion from a victim of the 
plague and heal all 3.  

Evade Traps: Traps aren't too deadly in this game (other than a polymorph 
trap or two), so it's probably not worth investing points here.  Spend them 
elsewhere.

Deadly Gift: Allows you to set traps.  This skill is way too powerful for 
its own good, as scorpions will slay your enemies with ease.  Trail bombs 
and spider mines are pretty weak and you can avoid them.

Elven Stamina: Decreases the amount of stamina you use while running.  If 
you find running to be a problem, go ahead and get this skill.  Chances are 
you won't, and can skip it completely.

Embrace Shadows: Allows you to disappear for stamina points.  The 
survivor's skill is essentially the same, and other classes will have 
access to fade from sight.  Skip it.

Poison Weapon: Coats your weapon with poison.  Poison strength depends on 
what you use (minor, regular, strong poison).  This skill is the best way 
to do poison damage in the game.  Bows can be poisoned with this skill.  
This skill is also the best way to kill orc drummers (the really tough red 
guys) early in the game.  Get a bow, cast this spell, then shoot the 
drummer.  It will die with 1-2 shots.  This skill is a great boss-killing 
skill.

  Path of the Talents
Traders Tongue: Decreases the cost of items and the amount you receive for 
items.  Get the two free points and leave it at that (although one of those 
two points is kind of painful- dealing with El'Gammon, it is more than 
worthwhile over the long run of the game.  You will be trading much more 
than 50,000 coins, and hence it's worth the 5% bonus).

Ranger's Sight: Elven sight is better.  Skip it.

Wisdom: Increases experience gained by 2% per level.  I finished at level 
51 with a warrior with no points here and at level 52 with a wizard with 5 
points here.  Skip it.

Charm: Makes enemies who have low resistances join you.  Myeh, kill them 
instead.  Skip it.

Magic Barrier: Increases resistances by 5% per level.  Well worth 
maximizing it.  

Aura of Command: Makes summoned creatures join you permanently, including 
scorpions summoned by deadly gift.  Very cool, and fairly useful.  Somewhat 
game-breaking if exploited though.

Heaven's Gift: Summons a random, low level item for you.  Not really worth 
investing in, though you can pull in a few thousand gold per batch of items 
you summon.  Cool to try for a bit.

Survivor's Instinct: Restores vitality with time.  Use a health potion 
instead, this skill is way to slow to make a difference.  Skip it.
 
  Path of Lore
Identify: Buy 2 points ASAP.  You'll then be able to identify 90% of the 
items in the game.  Get another point for free for 95% items IDed.  Add one 
more for 98%, and another for all items.  I'd recommend not adding more 
than 3 points to this skill, then getting a point for free, then finding an 
item to equip as necessary.  This skill is mainly a time saver, though it 
does help for a lot of things, including maximizing your equipment.

Alchemy: Allows you to mix potions (level 1), make potions from herbs and 
mushrooms (2-4), and use augmentors (5).  I'd recommend buying 1-3 points, 
and getting one for free.  Having 5 isn't that big a deal, since augmentor 
herbs are rare and only boost potions one size up.  Potions you can make 
include: restoration (heal + magic), elixirs (stamina + restoration), 
shadows (magic + stamina), and strength (stamina + health).  Make potions 
by dragging empty flasks over herbs.  The color details what you'll get 
(red-healing, blue-magic, yellow-stamina, white/green-poison).

Know Creature: Identifies HP, level, resistances, sight, and armor class of 
opponents.  Pretty useful for wizards, so that they can maximize the damage 
done with spells.  This skill is especially useful for first-time players.

True Sight: Very few enemies go invisible on you.  Skip it.

Blind: Either go all the way (5 points) or don't bother.  Reducing an 
enemy's vision doesn't seem to have that big of an effect.  However, 
blinding them completely works great.

Skin of Poison: Poisons enemies that hit you.  I prefer killing enemies 
before they hit me.  Skip it.

Curse: An excellent skill for mages, this spell reduces resistance of your 
enemies substantially.  Don't bother if you like to hit things with swords.

Necroshift: Allows you to take over the body of a slain foe.  Myeh.

  Path of the Divine
Translocate: A teleport skill.  Not quite so very useful anymore.  

Divine Death: A nice spell for casters, invest one point here and you'll be 
able to kill all the non-magic-using imps with one blast.  This includes 
chieftains, which is quite nice.  More than one point has very little 
benefit.

Spirit Form: Necessary to complete the game, this spell turns you into a 
ghost.  Get your free point and leave it at that, as the skill is otherwise 
worthless.

Scorch: Never tried it, saw no reason to.

Heaven's Blessing: Gives a huge bonus to resistances and stats.  Lasts a 
long time, to boot.  Probably the best divine skill.

Divine Eye: You honestly don't need to spy on others any more.  Skip it.

Temporal Storm:  Casts a slow spell on everyone around you for a few time 
units.  Mediocre.

Lightning Cascade:


     Way of the Warrior Skills:
  Path of the Specialist
Sword: Like swords?  Then get this skill.  Swords are probably the best 
weapon in the game.

Mace: Like maces? Then this skill is for you.  In the middle of the game, 
maces are a bit better than swords and others, as they are easier to use.

Axe: The skill for axe users, this skill makes killing things easy.  There 
are some good end-game axes available.

Hammer: Hammers and mauls benefit from this skill.  There are few good 
hammers, so you won't want to maximize this skill.

Staff: Spears and staves benefit from this skill, but frankly, there aren't 
enough good ones to make it overly worthwhile.

Bow: Decreases the recuperation time of bows.  Nice if you use bows. 

Crossbow: Note that the damage bonus isn't included into actual 
calculations, so skip this unless you really, really, really like 
crossbows.

Shield: Gives you some extra damage when you fight with a weapon and a 
shield.  Not too bad if you use shields.

  Path of Warrior's Lore
Augment Damage: Increases the damage done on successive hits.  Good for 
warriors, skip it for everyone else.

Repair: Everyone should aim for one point in this skill, so that they can 
repair completely or nearly destroyed items.  Also, a few items are found 
nearly destroyed, but fairly hard to repair (100 plus repair units).  This 
skill will save you a fortune.  Max this skill out and you won't have to 
worry about items breaking on you again (and you'll make a fortune selling 
fully repaired items).

Stun: Gives a chance to stun enemies on hit.  Not bad, though there are 
other, better skills available to you.  
 
Augment Defense: Increases the defense of your armor.  A pretty good way to 
reduce the damage you take.

Poison Damage: Your melee attacks get a few poison damage.  Go for poison 
weapon instead.

Fire Damage: Melee attacks receive fire damage.  Myeh.

Lightning Damage: Melee attacks do lightning damage.  Myeh.

Repel Damage: Reflect a small portion of the damage done to you back on the 
enemy.  OK, but you're points are probably better spent elsewhere.

  Path of the Ranger
Elven Sight: The best way to increase your range of sight.  Go for this 
rather than Ranger's sight (survivor).

True Shot:  Doesn't work. Skip it.

Splitting Arrows: Sends 5 or so arrows flying at the enemy.  Not too bad, 
if you like bows.

Poison Arrows: Your next arrow does minor poison damage.  Poison weapon is 
by far better.

Spirit Arrows:  Your arrows do spirit damage.  Myeh.

Elemental Arrows:  Your arrows do fire/lightning damage.  Myeh.

Evade Arrows: Gives you a chance to avoid some damage from missiles.  By 
the time this one becomes available, there are fewer missile using enemies.  
Mediocre at best.

Explosive Arrows

  Path of the Warrior Gods
Enchant Weapon: All characters should add to this skill with time.  You 
will find some 5 charm items, and this is quite a nice skill to have maxed 
out.  In order to place charms onto an item, equip it, then left click on 
it.  Then choose the charm you want and move it onto the slot.  You can 
only add as many charms as you have devoted skill points to this skill.

Feign Death: Makes you pretend that you're dead.  Bleh.

Boomerang: Thrown items return to your hand.  I don't like to throw items, 
so I'd say to skip it.
    
Shadow Warrior: I couldn't get this one to work, oddly enough.  There are 
better summons available, anyway.

Spirit Damage: Adds spirit damage to your melee attacks.  

Reflect Missiles: Enemies missile attacks (including some spells) return to 
do some damage to them.  Maybe get one point to get a bit of revenge.

Death Strike:  Gives you a chance to instantly kill enemies.  Frankly, the 
enemies it has a chance to kill will die in 1-2 hits anyway, but oh well.

Flash Attack: Teleports you next to an enemy so that you can attack.  Costs 
all of your stamina.  Although you may have some tactical reasons for going 
for this skill, you're probably best off skipping it.


SUMMARY: Skills everyone should have:
Restore (1 point + 4 free points)
Lockpick (3 points + 2 free points)
Pickpocket (1 point)
Magic Barrier (5 points)
Identify (3-4 points +1 free point)
Alchemy (1-3 points + 1 free point)
Repair (1 point)
Enchant Weapon (5 points).

This is a total of 20-23 points.  You will get ~62 points over the normal 
course of play, so feel free to experiment with other skills.  I'd 
recommend augment defense, though you can get by without it.

Skills that are too powerful for their own good include poison weapon, 
deadly gift, and aura of command.  These skills enable you avoid raising 
your hand in combat.  Only play with these if you're looking for a very 
easy game.

Melee fighters will want skills that enhance their damage- a weapon skill 
or two, augment damage, and stun / poison / fire / lightning / spiritual / 
deathblow increases.

Wizards are well-suited to having meteor strike, freeze, lightning, 
hellspikes (good through the end game), and a few others.

Survivors or bow-users will want poison weapon, assassin's kiss (for 
dagger-melee), and deadly gift.

===========================================================
4) Equipment

Equipment can make or break your character, especially early in the game.  
Equipment has magical strength levels that correspond to non-magical 
(white) to highly magical (gold).  The scale roughly goes like:

            White-gray-blue-green-yellow-gold

To identify gray items you need 1 in Identify skill, blue are 2 in 
Identify, green are three, yellow are 4, and gold are 5.  Gold items are 
among the most powerful in the game, and usually their location is set.  I 
would recommend knowing where the key items are located, and saving before 
acquiring them, then reloading if you're not happy with the item's stats.  
You can get really lame items if you're unlucky.

Magical items provide bonuses to stats, to resistances, to sight and 
hearing, to skills, and charm slots.  Of these, I would say that the number 
of charm slots should be your deciding factor.  An item with five slots can 
increase your mana by 500, your strength by 50, or your resistances by 200  
near the end of the game, which is much higher than any regular item bonus.

I divide items into two batches: early game items, and late game items.  
Early game items are those items that you may put low to middle level 
charms on and be safe.  Enemies will drop enough charms to make it so that 
you can place charms on items without regretting it later.   I'd avoid 
adding any resistance bonus items for these, as there are few enemies that 
cast dangerous spells in the early game.

Late game items are those that you should only put very large charms on (or 
large if you're impatient).  You should probably also focus primarily on 
vitality/mana increasing charms, though it doesn't hurt to add stat 
increasing charms, or resistance charms if you have a resistance that is 
less than 100.  If you don't mind being cheesy, I'd also recommend to 
save/reload before claiming any of these items.  

Be especially careful about the rings- Rings with charm slots are extremely 
rare, and you probably won't find more than the two listed under late game 
items.  Don't load them up with blue charms!

Early Game Items 
Armor: The armor you get from George's display case has a few charm slots 
and is adequate for the early game.  Later replace as you have weight 
capacity.

Shield: Anything will work, but keep it light if you're using a 2-handed 
weapon. 

Weapon: Dagger- check Kistandalius's back room (give 10 gp to the poet then 
while Kistandalius is occupied, explore his room).  Sword- get in a fight 
with the knight near Stormfist Castle, or grab the singing blade from 
Tingalf's thief contact in the sewers.  Axe- several found in crypts under 
Aleroth.  Spear/staff- harpoon acquired after fighting Shrimpo works pretty 
well.  Bow/crossbow- check Glenborus mayor's house.

Ring 1 & 2: Whatever works, probably a ring without charm slots.

Amulet: Amulet of Glory (found in catacombs under Aleroth), Mardec Amulet 
(found in cursed abbey basement near engineer) 

Boots: Shoes of the Scorpion (found in catacombs under Aleroth in a crypt).

Pants: Anything goes here, there aren't many good pants, sadly.

Belt: Something with a nice bonus, perhaps to lockpicking, identify, or 
pickpocketing..

Late Game Items 
Armor: Either breastplate of the dragon with heart of the dragon, or the 
armor of larian.  Both involve lots of questing.  Check another FAQ for 
details.

Shield: Shield of the Dragon.  Found in Stormfist castle.
 
Weapon: Sword of the gods, Axe of the crusades, bow of hilfen, and a few 
others.  All are pretty dang cool.

Ring 1: Ruby Ring. Found in abandoned house nearby Haunted Abbey (you have 
to go into the basement to get it).

Ring 2: Sapphire Ring.  Received if you healed Verlat in Aleroth at the 
beginning of the game.  He'll stop you in Verdistis and give you this.

Amulet: Amulet of the nobleman.  Part of the holy items sacrifice set.  Get 
sword from Iona's dungeon, dagger from thieves' guild, and amulet from 
elven ruins, then go to near the church in Riverton (where the boy peed in 
the wine chest), and search for a cave in the trees to the east.  Go 
downstairs, immediately save your game, and step on the circle.  Sacrifice 
the sword and dagger, and you'll get an amulet.  I'd recommend trying to 
get one with five charm slots. 

Boots: Boots of the vampire found in the dark cave.  Try to get one with 3-
4 slots.

Pants: There are no good consistent drops for good pants, as far as I can 
tell.  However, I did find some to the east of the dragon rider who has the 
heart of the dragon which had 4 charm slots.  That's not so bad, but 
whether those appear in other games I've yet to determine.

Belt: Belt of the Dragon.  Found in Verdistis where sister recruits you to 
scare off other sister.  Side with sister who doesn't hire you and then 
grab key from tree stump, open door, grab key from shelf on wall, then go 
down the stairs.  Move boxes till you can reach chest.  Save, then open 
chest and inspect belt.  If unhappy, reload as necessary.