This is for new players who do not want their exploration to be spoiled, but still want to understand how to make a working character build.

By working I mean succeeding on the most skill checks. What you actually decide to do is completely up to you.

1. Necromancer's Tale is a narrative driven roleplaying game where 80% of the content is interaction with other characters in the game.

2. 20% is about actual combat. And your main job as a Necromancer (not a spoiler as the game is literally called Necromancer's Tale) is to make other characters do the fighting for you.
Either because you have managed to recruit or pay another NPC to fight with/for you, or because you have learned to use necromancy to create your own undead followers.

3. Interactions within the game are mostly narratively driven, where factors like:
- Relationship level to the individual.
- Relationship level of the group (or groups) the individual is a part of.
- Knowledge you have discovered (or knowledge you are supposed to know represented by a knowledge skill)
- Dialogue choices made (this is an RPG where you are NOT SUPPOSED TO CLICK EVERY OPTION)
- and more

are setups towards one type of skillcheck or another.

In every chapter you are given 6,5 or 4 (based on difficulty) free skillpoints that can be added on top of a skillcheck if your base skillpoints are not enough to succeed by themselves.

Every chapter resets your free skill point pool. Excess skillpoints do not carry over to a new chapter. This make free skill point management pr chapter the KEY thing to master in order to enjoy the game.

Free skillpoint usage will manifest in the following way:
1. Spend X amount of skillpoint to SUCCEED with #skill (example: Impress) character Y with #A tale of awesome capability.
2. Spend 0 amount of skillpoint to FAIL #skill (example: Impress) character Y to fail with #A tale of contemptous cowardice.

If the skillevel you need to succeed is a 4 in Impress, but your character is ugly (1 in impress) you can FORCE a success by spending 3 of your free points for that chapter to succeed anyway.

But if your Impress is 4, and the skill check is 4 or less, you can choose to succeed without spending any points at all.

A common dilemma is what if you spend those free points on getting a point of information that you already know, or can get easily by talking to another character, you have wasted one or more points for that chapter.

And then when the main objective of the chapter throws a skillcheck at you, and you are out of them and fail a crucial story point? That can be fun or not dependent on your own personal story.

Which ties back into what I mean with having a character that have a skill mix that allow you to succeed.

A good character is a character that allow you to succeed outright on most skillchecks in the game (allowing you to choose to fail a check due to roleplaying reason, not because you are out of skillpoints), have a low cost on other crucial checks ( you have 3 in Impress, and need to spend only 1 skillpoint to succeed an important check) and thus enabling you to save the free points for the crucial checks.

Another road to success is to know when to spend your points, and to make sure that all are spent before a chapter ends.

There are a lot of important side content that are for all practical purposes available in all chapters, and have fairly high skill checks (oftentimes several different skillchecks in a row) that unlock something that is made actually available in later chapters.

If you have a character that are effective in succeeding without using free points in the 80% of the game category (Mental and Social skill checks), you can use excess skillpoints in a chapter to for example remove rubble (Physical Strength check) after succeeding on an Investigation (Mental: Investigation) to see that there is something interesting.

On the flip side, a character that have to spend 1 or 2 free points in "normal" (for the game) interactions (mostly Mental or Social), will be constantly skill starved and end up in having to fail again and again.

This is an excellent guide on the character creation prologue:
https://psteamcommunity.yuanyoumao.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3530553880



Before you start: Rule number 1 in roleplaying games is to create a story that you enjoy.

Failure does not equal failing to create an interesting and good story.

Failure means that you have to succeed in a different way, and you have to play out the consequences of that failure in a particular skill check.

That can and WILL actually make the game more interesting.

Minor spoiler example: When you are looking for the job as a Teacher (one of three available options) in chapter 2, you will encounter the kids that you will teach. For them to fetch the School master, they will ask you for some food. You can use a skill to force them to get the school master for you immediately, or you can choose (roleplay choice) to go to the market and buy food. In the market you can use another skill to get the food merchant to give you the food for free, or you can just buy it. This is an interaction that would be unavailable to you if you either forced a success, or just automatically succeeded due to high skill in relevant skill. The kicker here is that the additional interaction can sometimes build up your reputation with the factions. Thus "failing" is not a failure, it is a roleplaying choice that only matter with regards to what type of character you wish to play.

With that said here is the specific guide for stats:

Stat Abbreviation Legend

STR – Strength - 0-1

There are VERY few relevant skillchecks for Strength. It have an impact on melee damage in combat, but as a rule you should let other characters fight for you. The one or two skillchecks there are in this category for side content, can be invested in for success if your character build succeed on everything else you wish to do in a chapter.

In the graveyard area outside the town and behind the cremation and chapel, there is a ruin that you need to use strength to clear. You must first succeed on an investigation check. Do the strength check with remainder of free points before ending one of the early chapters,

AGI – Agility - 0-2

There are some agility checks that are useful to be able to pass, and it determines your action point pool in combat (and accuracy with firearms I think). 1 is generally sufficient.


CON – Constitution 2-4.

As a necromancer you will subject yourself to the forces of magic during the main quests several times. Failing these often result in stat loss. There is also an option to increase a very important stat through alchemy three times with more and more stringent constitution skill checks

Detailed spoiler Are you sure? You can come back to this when you are in the game later..... You can buy a book at the Alchemist that details a potion that can be brewed with cave mushrooms and fire root. You can breathe in the fumes three times, increasing your Mana stat by 4, 6 and then 10 points.But the last skillcheck require 7 constitution to succeed. With 4 in CON you will succeed automatically on the first check, with 1 free point in the second, and with three points in the last. You will also be able to use an event after a storm to trade 2 constitution (or another skill) for a significant buff to one or more other skills. Through skillful play you will be absolutely able to defeat the enemies that gate the three mushrooms before this point and have this boost done before trading away 2 Con (going from 4 to 2. sufficient for all successive CON skill check with use of free skillpoints) and significantly buff another crucial skill for your character)

ACU – Acuity 2-4
This is a skillcheck that if less than 4, will constantly eat up your free points pool if you choose to succeed on these checks. It comes up surprisingly often in conversation when trying to understand WHY people want to do something

KNO – Knowledge 4

Knowledge is power. Unless you want to play as an ignorant person (totally legit) having knowledge at 4 will help with many important skillchecks.

A general tip is to seek out knowledge and then HOARD IT. Especially regarding the particular scroll you can get from the seer during the early quest to get access to the restricted books in the Academy. As an alternative you can give Ibrahim the Astrolabe from the storeroom in your home

INV – Investigate 3-4
The goodies that make your life easier, are found behind Investigation checks.

ANA – Analyse 2-3

IMP – Impress 3-4

CONV – Convince 3-4

The social skills are the bread and butter. But a good amount of the checks can either be bypassed or made easier through gaining knowledge.

Caveat: There may be hidden checks that I am unaware of that only occur if you have a particularly high stat for that particular check.

Character careers have a significant impact on the stories. This includes fluency in languages and other hidden interactions that will come up during the game.

A final tip. After the prologue where you set up your backstory, you will be able to adjust your skillpoints. This will enable you to "optimize" skill point aquisition (but be aware that career choices matter in ways that are not immediately obvious) and then adjust as you wish.

I believe 24 skillpoints is the maximum available in the prologue.