Gnomes should also receive the same benefit to their wands, staves and spells saving throws as dwarves have. They also should get a +1 to hit against goblins, hobgoblins and orcs and ogres, trolls and giants should have a -4 to hit them. Elves and half-elves should also have a better chance of finding hidden objects.ĭwarves should get a bonus of up to +5 to their saving throws against wands, staves and spells and poison, based on their Constitution. Elves should also have 90% resistance to sleep and charm spells. Elves get a +1 to hit with short and long swords and bows. Finally, multi-classes halve the HP they receive when they level up, so a level 2 fighter/thief can have a maximum of 16HP as opposed to 20HP for a single class fighter.Īll non-human races should have benefits, unfortunately it is often difficult to tell whether they were implemented in the game. They also must adhere to certain restrictions of each class. However, multi-class characters have to split their experience between their classes, even if they can no longer progress in one of them, so your characters will gain levels more slowly than a single class character. Thieves have no level limits regardless of class, so a fighter/thief is a more justifiable choice than other multi-class characters. If you want to get through the whole tetralogy, you will want single-class characters to avoid level limits. Multi-class characters are a defensible choice if all you want to do is beat Pool of Radiance, but you will level up a bit more slowly. There is a fair amount of tedium in Pool of Radiance, buying and selling, resting and healing and turn based battles with tons of foes Fighters can start with up to 200gp, clerics 180gp, thieves 120gp and magic-users 80gp. You cannot maximize their starting gold, so you should reroll until you get a good result.

You cannot do this after your start a game, and you will need all the advantages you can get to survive the low levels. It will not be a walkthrough or give specifics of how to defeat this encounter or what items to keep from that encounter.įor each character you create, you can and should consider maximize their ability scores and hit points. As I continue to play the game, I hope to be able to expand this blog entry. So I will try to discuss strategies for getting through the game in this post. Of course, not everyone will be able to just simply pick up the game and those that do can be easily frustrated. As I am have been playing through Pool of Radiance, I have really come to appreciate its tactical combat and the simple yet intricrate mechanics of a system using the AD&D 1st Edition rules.

Pools of radiance