The warning: "Don´t enter the Alarian Vaults, if you haven´t got the royal permission!" may be ignored. This permission is normally granted by Tinius, after the party has killed Miras Athran. Nevertheless, you may use the Altar before that. Olaf just placed this warning at the entrance of the Catacombs, to prevent that the party goes too early to the Altar. Because for getting some rewards from the Altar, you need some increased values in your Battle-Statistics - otherwise it would end up in desperation.
When a Partymember steps in front of the Altar for the first time, then he gets entirely healed and his "Died-Statistic" is set to zero. This is a pretty useful feature, because if a character died too often, he will leave the party. But before he leaves he´ll give you a warning, so that you have the chance to stop him.
A character may die about 15 times, before he starts to complain. And when he does, the "Died-Statistic" is set to "Much too often!". If the character dies one more time after that, and gets resurrected, he´ll relentlessly leave the party.
Back to the Altar now. With every further advance to the Altar, the character´s Battle-Statistics are checked again. And if the character has reached some predefined values, he will get some rewards.
The sort of rewards and how the values from the Battle-Statistics are combined, will be explained here.
At the "Alarian Altair", the characters may rise in 4 categories. Based on the 4 classes in "Dungeon Master" (known to almost every RPG-Player), they are labeled as:
- "Way of the Warrior"
- "Way of the Ninja"
- "Way of the Mage"
- "Way of the Priest"
Every value from the Battle-Statistics, has an effect on one of these categories. But only the numbers of "common hits" are (partially) added to each category. This means, that for 32 "common hits", you´ll get 1 point added to each category. These "common hits" are increased for practically every hit a character makes, whether with a weapon, an item or an attack-spell.
In this category, the "Attacks" have a multiplicator of 1 and "Tricks" a multiplicator of 8. As formula:
Points = [ Hits / 32 ] + [ Attacks ] + [ Tricks * 8]
"Attacks" are increased for every opponent who is killed by a weapon or by a "Grope". Each "Trick" is a successful "Dupe".
The reward for each gained rise is:
+ 4 Permissions for new abilities
+ 1 Point to Strength
+ 3 Points to the Invulnerability sphere
The thresholds:
1. Rise: 150
2. Rise: 245
3. Rise: 387
4. Rise: 600
5. Rise: 920
6. Rise: 1400
7. Rise: 2120
8. Rise: 3200
9. Rise: 4820
10. Rise: 7250
11. Rise: 10895
12. Rise: 16362
13. Rise: 24563
14. Rise: 36864
15. Rise: 55316
The fastest way to increase the value for "Attacks", is to use a good "Melee-Weapon" or a "Greater Melee-Weapon". With this method, you can gain the first rises easily.
But to gain the higher levels, you´ll need the "Tricks". Especially if you plan to raise more than just one character in this category. A character should have sufficient intelligence to successfully "Dupe" an opponent. Alternatively, you may also cast the Elementary spell "Time (long)". As long as the time stands still, each character is able to "Dupe" every opponent. In the later game, you don´t need this spell anymore to "Dupe" an opponent.
In this category, the "Shoots" and "Throws" have a multiplicator of 1 and "Steals" and "Hides" have a multiplicator of 4. As formula:
Points = [ Hits / 32 ] + [ ( Steals + Hides ) * 4 ] + [ Shoots ] + [ Throws ]
Whereby the "Shoots" and the "Throws" only effect the Battle-Statistics, if the opponent dies by this attack. A "Steal" must be successful too. But in doing so, a character doesn´t have to catch some coins - only the attempt has to be successful. And "Hide" during a battle, should be self-explaining.
The reward for each gained rise is:
+ 4 Permissions for new abilities
+ 1 Point to Skill
+ 3 Points to the Anti-shot sphere
+ 2 Points to the Invulnerability sphere
The thresholds:
1. Rise: 160
2. Rise: 250
3. Rise: 385
4. Rise: 587
5. Rise: 890
6. Rise: 1345
7. Rise: 2027
8. Rise: 3050
9. Rise: 4585
10. Rise: 6887
11. Rise: 10340
12. Rise: 15520
The first 4 rises should be easy to gain for the most characters. Thereafter it gets slowly harder.
The "Shoots" should only be practised by an archer, because he can attack two times per round. For all other classes is the shooting rather unsuited.
Throwing is more easy then. But a character needs a good weapon for that - and this weapon should preferably return. All weapons (even shields) can be thrown. And with a skill of 25, a character should be able to constantly hit the opponents.
To gain higher levels too, you´ll need "Hides" and "Steals", because they are multiplied with 4. Hiding is a one-time action during a battle, but it´s still better than just doing nothing.
Basically you can use "Steal" on every opponent. A rat surely hasn´t a single coin with it, but a successful attempt is enough, to effect the Battle-Statistics. Perhaps the Elementary spell "Time (long)" or the Banshee-Spell "Madness" may be helpful.
In this category, the "Magic hits" have a multiplicator of 1 and "Gropes" a multiplicator of 8. As formula:
Points = [ Hits / 32 ] + [ Magic ] + [ Gropes * 8 ]
A character gets "Magic hits" for every opponent who is killed by a spell or a summoned demon ("Evoking").
A "Grope" is successful if any effect is made (a little damage is just enough).
The reward for each gained rise is:
+ 2 Permissions for new abilities
+ 3 Permissions for new spells (only Mages)
+ 1 Point to Intelligence
+ 3 Points to Magic Power
+ 2 Points to the Anti-stone sphere
The thresholds:
1. Rise: 110
2. Rise: 185
3. Rise: 297
4. Rise: 465
5. Rise: 717
6. Rise: 1094
7. Rise: 1660
8. Rise: 2510
9. Rise: 3786
10. Rise: 5550
11. Rise: 8545
12. Rise: 12805
13. Rise: 19305
14. Rise: 28940
15. Rise: 43440
16. Rise: 65250
Although the formula above is right, there are some small differences on the thresholds, which lead to the fact, that a character always needs some points less to rise.
To collect "Magical hits", almost every Mage-class has an adequate spell from the beginning. Even the Magician spell "JabFist" or the Sorcerer spell "Stonefall" are suitable for that. The Warlock spell "Firewall", is surely one of the most effective spells. And if you want to mess with the more stronger opponents, the Archmage spells "Poison!" and especially "EvilHammer" are the best choices. A good place to cast spells is nearby the "Fountain of Healing" in the wilderness.
No Magepoints, but some crystals are needed by a character for "Evoking". Every opponent who is killed by a demon, results in one "Magical hit". Each successful "Grope" of a demon, adds 1 point to "common Hits" - no matter what happens with the opponent. Strangely enough, adds just the summoning of a demon 5 points to "Magical Hits".
To "Grope" is the only chance for Fighter-classes to get points for the "Way of the Mage". They don´t get permissions for new spells, but the other rewards are worth the effort.
The first rises can easily be gained with just some "Gropes". And "Grope" is also a good choice to gain higher levels - even for Battle-Mages. The multiplicator of 8 shouldn´t be underestimated.
Every successful "Grope" adds 1 point to "common Hits". If an opponent is killed by a "Grope", an additional point is added to "Attack".
The first 5-6 rises are easy to gain for almost every mage. And these rises grant them 15-18 new Spells - nearly 2 new Spell-Classes.
In this category, the "Effect hits", "Item Hits" and "Enchants" have a multiplicator of 1. As formula:
Points = [ Hits / 32 ] + [ Effects ] + [ Items ] + [ Enchants ]
The reward for each gained rise is:
+ 3 Permissions for new abilities
+ 2 Permissions for new spells (only Mages)
+ 1 Point to Wisdom
+ 2 Points to Magical Power
+ 3 Points to the Anti-magic sphere
The thresholds:
1. Rise: 160
2. Rise: 270
3. Rise: 435
4. Rise: 682
5. Rise: 1053
6. Rise: 1609
7. Rise: 2443
8. Rise: 3694
9. Rise: 5571
10. Rise: 8386
11. Rise: 12609
12. Rise: 18943
13. Rise: 28444
14. Rise: 42696
The "Item-Hits" are pretty self-explaining. Every opponent who gets killed by an item, results in one "Item-Hit". The Jaggalak is the ultimate item for that. He inflicts massive damage, hits all opponents and is undestroyable.
Every enchanted opponent means one point to "Enchants". And because of the fact that the opponents just can´t get enough of it, you may enchant them again and again and again.
There are many ways to collect "Effect-Hits". The best choice is to cast "Effect-Spells", which mean no harm to the opponents nor incapacitate them in any way. For example the Druid spell "Silence" or the Fairy/Nymph spells "Calm x". Also the Witch spell "Faint!" and the Banshee spell "Unprotect" meet the requirements. All these, and similiar spells, are resulting in 2 "Effect-Hits". With that, a character can obtain a lot of "Effect-Hits" in an extremely short time.
Spells that incapacitate the opponent, like the Alchemist spells "Itch x" or the Druid spell "Passout", resulting in one "Effect-Hit" per opponent.
Spells which have effect and damage, like the monk spell "Slimefist", the Valkyre spell "WeakSphere", the Banshee spell "Madness" or the Master spell "Mindwarp" resulting in one "Effect-Hit" per opponent - and if the damage is enough to kill the opponent, there is an additional point for "Magic-Hits" added.
The Archmage spell "Poison!" and the Wizard spell "Poison" are just worth "Magic-Hits".
The "Warcry" is another way to get "Effect-Hits" - but for that, you have to kill the opponent with it. If the opponent just becomes scared, you´ll only get a "Common-Hit".
With "Mock" you can get "Effect-Hits" too. And it´s the same as with "Enchant": The opponents just can´t get enough of it.
There is no way to get "Effect-Hits" with "Evoking" - no matter what a demon is doing.