[Baal Eron]

Hello friends,

I've recently decided to replay the Gothic series and am currently on the first game. Got it in version 1.08 from GOG, installed the 'mod enabler', 'system patch' and 'community patch' in version 0.4 (yes, I know there's a lot newer version but it has additional features, like shields etc. that I didn't want so installed an older version. No graphics upgrades as well, I want it to feel vanilla - like I remember it).

I've played the heck out of this game as a teenager but can't remember certain things. Tried googling and searching the forum for this particular thing but found nothing.

I remember that the stats cap is set at 100 but only for tutors/trainers. Does that include Horatio? I.e. if I'm at 100 STR and do his quest will I have 105 or does it count as tutoring and I should use it before I get to the cap? The latter seems logical but I can't be sure and I don't have enough skill points at the moment to test it myself.

Thanks in advance and I have to say, I love the community already!

[Xerxes]

Welcome!

You can NOT reach 105 strength with the method you discribed but it makes also no much sense to wait that long time.
I recommend to use the bonus as soon as possible.

If you want to test things you can use the marvin mode, if you want help/descriptions for this testmode feel free to ask your questions here.

edit: thx Tentarr, you're right.

Hab nachgeschaut.

[Tentarr]

Welcome!

You can reach 105 strength with the method you discribed but it makes no much sense to wait that long time to reach 105 strength.
I recommend to use the bonus as soon as possible.

Bist du dir da sicher? Ich meinte es zählt zu den normalen 100. Anderseits spiele ich Gothic auch immer mit Welt der Verdammten, kann sein, dass es da angepasst wurde.

[hagalaz]

Welcome Baal Eron

The horatio quest have a bug. If you have more than 96 strength i. e. 105 you will reseted to 100 strength. So, make this quest very early in the game to avoid bug.
You are be able to raise strength over 100 with potions and items like rings.

[Baal Eron]

Thanks everyone for your answers, they didn't seem conclusive so I spent some time in the forests killing everything that moved (well, almost everything - can't handle the shadow beasts yet) to test it out.

[TLDR]: Yup, do the quest as soon as possible, the bonus does not get applied in full if you have more than 95 STR even through artifacts.


The findings are quite interesting.

1st scenario. Have 95 STR and no STR artifacts for a total of 95 STR:

- Talking to Horatio results in a message "Strength +5" and the hero gets to 100 STR. Bonus in full. All works well.

2nd scenario. Have 96 STR and no STR artifacts for a total of 96 STR:

- Talking to Horatio results in a message "Strength: 100" and the hero gets to 100 STR. So the bonus is reduced from +5 to +4. It's reduced to +3, +2 and ultimately just +1 if you tried at 97, 98 and 99 STR respectively.

3rd scenario. Have 100 STR and no STR artifacts for a total of 100 STR:

- Talking to Horatio results in a message "Strength: 100" and the hero stays at 100 STR. The bonus is lost entirely.

4th scenario. Have 100 STR and +5 STR artifact for a total of 105 STR:

Talking to Horatio results in a message "No increase over maximum 100!" and the hero stays at 105 STR (100 STR after taking off the artifact). The bonus is lost entirely just like in the previous scenario but the message is different.

5th scenario. Have 95 STR and +5 STR artifact for a total of 100 STR:

Talking to Horatio results in a message "Strength: 100" and the hero stays at 100 STR (95 STR after taking off the artifact). The bonus is lost entirely despite the hero technically being at just 95 STR.

6th scenario. Have 91 STR and a +5 STR artifact for a total of 96 STR:

Talking to Horatio results in the message "Strength: 100" and the hero gets 100 STR (95 STR after taking off the artifact). So the bonus is reduced from +5 to +4. It's reduced to +3, +2 and ultimately just +1 if you tried at 92, 93 and 94 STR respectively. Again this is despite being over the cap just because of jewelry.

So yeah, watch out what you're wearing ;-)