skull extractor?

[chainlink]

Where does one find this, and can it be used without other skills? I want to work my way up alchemy with bone powder.

Thanks!

[Karamasha]

toolcrafters can make multipurpose knifes and they're selling them at the stalls in serbule keep for like 900 councils

[INXS]

NPC in Rahu and NPC in Kur tower sell skull extractor tools.

[urgatorb8]

toolcrafters can make multipurpose knifes and they're selling them at the stalls in serbule keep for like 900 councils

Question: does the multipurpose tool allow one to "skin" and "butcher". In other words does it allow me to save a space in my inventory currently occupied by my skinning knife and butchering knife? Does it also replace any other tools I might have?

Currently, I have a bunch of my very precious and limited inventory space taken up by the following:

Knife for skinning
Knife for butchering
Shovel for digging
Saw for harvesting wood
Several food items (meal and snack)
First Aid Kit
Armor Repair Kit
HealthPotion
Power Potion

Lord knows what other implements I may need to carry with me as I progress.

I've only been playing PG for about 5 days but the inventory systems are my single biggest frustrations with the game so far. Loving most everything else but dang, the unnecessary challenges and frustration due to the inventory system are having me pull my hair out (and I don't have much to begin with). I'm a pack rat by nature so this conflicts me. Thanks in advance for the answer about the multipurpose tool - also if there are any other systems or tricks that can be used to calm my OCD pack rat nature :)

I know some storage space increases with Favor but the different places needed to access it, the limited sizes, and the restrictions on what can be stored in them seems like a frustrating game mechanic rather than a challenging one to me.

Happy hunting...

[Crissa]

Yes, the multipurpose knife allows skinning and butchering, but does not have a skill bonus so you're less likely to get organs or trophy skins.

There's specific knives for different purposes; I bank my multipurpose knife and carry an Amazing Skinning and an Organ Knife. I have about a dozen other things, too. It's an inventory pain ^-^

But you may get better results as a newbie by focusing on one skill at a time.

[preechr]

Knife for skinning ---------------------Get an Amazing Skinning Knife from a player stall for 500-700 councils and sell skins for easy money (or Tanning)
Knife for butchering -------------------Meat is great for favor for some NPCs and also cooking
Shovel for digging ---------------------Everyone needs to bury the things they kill so we can all have an easier time of it
Saw for harvesting wood --------------Forage everything you see... you might be surprised at how much oak and seeds sell for, and fruit (or salad) is great favor
Several food items (meal and snack) -Well, yeah... you gotta have these
First Aid Kit-----------------------------Use during every fight to level up
Armor Repair Kit ----------------------Use during every fight to level up
HealthPotion -------I don't personally ever carry these
Power Potion -------I don't personally ever carry these


You should also be carrying at least an Autopsy Kit, but you should upgrade that to a Forensic Kit

These all make you serious money, and are must-have items to carry around with you and USE at every opportunity!

[urgatorb8]

Thanks, all. Yes, I do also carry an autopsy kit. Thanks for bringing up the bonuses. I REALLY need a butchering knife with bonuses for organs as I really want to complete the quest for 5 stomachs so I can start cheese making. I've slaughtered a bajillion appropriate animals and only have 2 so far. Can these "Amazing" type tools be used by anyone at any level or are they restricted? Also is there an NPC who sells these or do I have to find a player selling one? I'm guessing they aren't cheap. Being 5 days into PG, I'm not exactly loaded LOL. Maybe there are lesser ones but still better than what I have now. I'll check the vendors once I log in.

Thanks.

[Crissa]

It takes a long time before butchering consistently nets you organs. That's a high-level thing.

[preechr]

Honestly, I'd suggest you hold off on cheesemaking just yet... Stock up on stomaches you find in your travels and maybe focus on regular cooking and gardening

You can get butter pretty easily, which is useful in some cooking, but making cheese, brewing and farming mushrooms are among the crafting skills usually considered "advanced," meaning expensive and requiring some rare ingredients and input from other crafting skills

Anyone can use the higher level tools, and player stalls usually sell them for less than you'd find them going for in NPC used tabs

[urgatorb8]

Thanks, guys. Last night I bought a Organ Knife for 700 council from a vendor stall. I went to Serbule Hills to do quests and slaughtered quite a few animals and ended up getting two more stomachs. One more to go. I've already been leveling cooking and gardening but thought cheese making would be a nice addition. Maybe I'll slow my roll on that front but I would like to be able to make butter. I have a quest to deliver a butter and also see it is used in some recipes. I think it's a level 4 recipe but I can't get it until I get Comfortable with that one lady and she needs 5 stomachs to do so unless I give her a bunch of favor items which, as you may have guessed, are cheese/dairy related. I should get there soon.

As for non-combat related skills, I've been working on Cooking, Gardening, Fishing, Harvesting, Butchering mostly. But I really need to begin figuring out Alchemy because I desire to use Battle Chemistry at some point and figured it might be a good idea to begin the drive to level 50 Alchemy which I understand is a prerequisite. Alchemy seems confusing compared to Cooking. The recipe acquisition seems funky but maybe I'm missing something.

Enjoying the game so far :)

[preechr]

Man, you sound like me early on...

Unfortunately, getting Alchemy to 50 is a HUGE slog... It's very much just like the crafting that I hate in most other games: Make 1000 things nobody needs to get to where you can make stuff you want, or in my case, qualify to learn BC

Just one more thing to think about while you are planning what to do next

After a while, I set long term goals and learned to work on whatever I felt like for as long as I felt like it, often stopping what I was doing to go off and do something else, and it really helped me love the game much more than I already had since I was able to drop my old habit of griiiinnnnndddding on stuff I really wasn't enjoying

[preechr]

PS - Not all crafting is like that

[Crissa]

Yeah, Alchemy is weird that way. The potions you can make are great, but I don't go through them fast enough to justify making more ^-^ A little resistance here and there, tho, use that up!

[urgatorb8]

Good info and advice. Thanks. Yeah, I was starting to sense that Alchemy would not only be a grind but also making stuff that I really don't care to use. I'm not a fan of hot-barring potions (heals, power, cures, etc.) in games. I know they can be helpful - and dare I say essential, but I hate the concept of them. Hey big bad monster I'm fighting, I am almost dead from the wounds you have inflicted on me but I'm going to stop slashing you with my sword for a moment and drink this magical elixir so I won't die and can continue attacking you. Ugh!

I digress....

I have soooooo much still to learn in PG as I am only 6 days in :) True noob here. I just know some things I may want to focus on later will require huge time sinks and I would rather start sooner than later. As for my desire for Battle Chemistry mentioned in an earlier post, I *think* I want to go this route for the following reasons:

Today I am running Sword and Psychology (pretty typical I suppose for someone just starting out). I don't think I have any AoE skills at the moment and I hate the fact that when I have adds I have to literally kill one and then the next rather than at least having *some* AoE I can drop in the rotation. I hear BC has nice AoE.

Second case for BC, someone gave me an hour long buff in Serbule the other night called something like "Extra Toe"(?). Holy crap what an amazing movement speed buff. I want that!

Sorry I've derailed the thread, it wasn't my intention but the conversation has been good and you guys all seem very helpful and knowledgeable. Thanks again.

[Raviollius]

hey big bad monster I'm fighting, I am almost dead from the wounds you have inflicted on me but I'm going to stop slashing you with my sword for a moment and drink this magical elixir so I won't die and can continue attacking you. Ugh!
Some give you resistances. So it becomes "Hey, these monsters do a lot of X damage, I will drink a resistance potion so I wont die to them".

Alchemy is a slog, yes. I suggest you get every bone/skull you find and make the bone meal recipe with alchemy. It's a negligible amount of exp, but if you are going to level gardening, you will need a LOT of bone meal anyway. Your other option are speed potions. Don't expect to get BC anytime soon - it's an advanced skill for a reason. It's very unlikely it will be the first combat skill you get to 50, so I suggest you to have it as a more mid-long term goal. That said, yeah extra toes is really nice. I don't even use my BC other than for running around and it's at 41 from killing mobs while traveling.

Now, Cheesemaking is a long-long term goal. You can start early, but it is both time and money-intensive. I wouldn't try to level it this early, but if all you need is butter you should be okay.

[urgatorb8]

Thanks. Yes, I have no vision of becoming BC any time soon. But I might as well start doing what I can now towards that goal :)

I finally got the favor the other night with Theresse (I think) to make Bone Meal from any bone. It's nice as I am hunting and get bone items, instead of them taking up space in my inventory, I convert them all to Bone Dust and only use 1 slot. It's real nice.

On the bad RNG side.... I must have killed 200 animal mobs last night and did not get a single stomach using my Organ Knife. I got two doing the same thing the night before last. Still no favor with Braignon to get the butter skill. I'll be back at it again tonight. Just need one more.

On the good side of things, I finally got Ivyn to Close Friends and now have access to his 32 storage slots (any item type). OMG this will be a huge plus for me. I can't wait to reorganize my goods later. Next goal is to focus on that Charles guy in the tent outside Serbule Keep so I can gain his favor and access his Alchemy item storage. I didn't see an option to Hang Out with him - maybe it just wasn't up the time I spoke with him - but it seems like winning his favor might be a grind. I think he only likes Combat Potions and other less easy to get items or something like that. If anyone knows a cheap and fairly easy way to up his favor, I'm all ears and would appreciate hearing about it. Thanks in advance.

[preechr]

The storage in Serbule Hills and Eltibule can be super helpful as well

I store stuff for and from surveying in Serb Hills and Farming, Textile and Cheesemaking stuff in Eltibule

[Tagamogi]

This may be the thread to ask something I've been wondering about for a while: If I have a butchering knife with an increased chance to get organs and a second butchering knife with an increase to the butchering skill, do their bonuses stack or is only one knife used? I figure they most likely stack, but does anyone know for sure?


Next goal is to focus on that Charles guy in the tent outside Serbule Keep so I can gain his favor and access his Alchemy item storage. I didn't see an option to Hang Out with him - maybe it just wasn't up the time I spoke with him - but it seems like winning his favor might be a grind. I think he only likes Combat Potions and other less easy to get items or something like that. If anyone knows a cheap and fairly easy way to up his favor, I'm all ears and would appreciate hearing about it. Thanks in advance.

Well, he likes battle chemistry beakers and flasks which have a higher chance of dropping if you are using the battle chemistry skill... Sorry, I know it's a bit of a chicken and egg problem. I'm not sure what else he likes. I have mostly not been using his storage much - I think it only works for completed potions?

As far as leveling alchemy goes: Sun Vale has a work order board that will occasionally ask for potions. Whether it's necessarily cost-effective to collect the potion ingredients varies by work order, but it can be a fun way to break up the skulls to bone meal routine. After I maxed alchemy, I also found myself using a lot of mushroom suspensions for mushroom farming ( which requires very high level mycology to learn). So, if you are willing to wait a long time to start on alchemy, leveling via suspensions could also be a possibility. Cheese making also uses suspensions but I agree with other comments that you are probably better off waiting on doing full-scale cheesemaking. Butter is a good skill to have but anything that uses stomachs is a bit expensive. In other long term possibilities, you can pick up quite a few alchemy bonus levels from transmutation and augmentation. Alchemy is one of those skills that seems to become much easier at higher levels.

Oh, on Braigon favor: Iirc, the stomach quest gives you 50 favor for 5 stomachs worth about 5000 council total. So, the odds are pretty good that you can find some presents for him that will get you the same amount of favor for cheaper. I've never done much with Braigon; I think I've mostly been feeding him oils (hatred oil, fear oil, crossing oil, etc.) which isn't a lot of favor but cheaper than doing the stomach quest. E.g. if you find a hatred oil, it's worth 100 councils to sell and around 8 favor with Braigon. So, if you give him 7, that's 56 favor for 700 councils - much better than the stomachs. I don't know if anyone has a better way to butter Braigon up.

[urgatorb8]

Oh, on Braigon favor: Iirc, the stomach quest gives you 50 favor for 5 stomachs worth about 5000 council total. So, the odds are pretty good that you can find some presents for him that will get you the same amount of favor for cheaper. I've never done much with Braigon; I think I've mostly been feeding him oils (hatred oil, fear oil, crossing oil, etc.) which isn't a lot of favor but cheaper than doing the stomach quest. E.g. if you find a hatred oil, it's worth 100 councils to sell and around 8 favor with Braigon. So, if you give him 7, that's 56 favor for 700 councils - much better than the stomachs. I don't know if anyone has a better way to butter Braigon up.

Wow, this is very smart. I hadn't thought about it this way. I may go this route instead of a straight turn in of stomachs.

If someone can confirm if Charles in the tent's storage slots only store completed potions or if it can also store items that are used in Alchemy, that would be very helpful to me. With a 64 slot max capacity, I would assume you can store ingredients as well. Otherwise, who would need to store 64 different stacks of potions. Maybe I don't know yet what I don't know but.... If you can only store completed potions then I won't be in any hurry to gain his favor. It sounded attractive to me right now as I begin to level Alchemy and I can store ingredients for later need.

[preechr]

Wiki says:

Items that are allowed in this storage:

Items that can be crafted using alchemy.
.......Exceptions: Mushroom Suspensions, Inks, Drugs (Cranium Powders, Pineal Juices)
Decoctions and Memory Enhancers, but not most other potions

Sooo.... Yeah, I have no idea

I never favored him up because I felt like it was way too limited sounding

[dymarr]

Wow, this is very smart. I hadn't thought about it this way. I may go this route instead of a straight turn in of stomachs.

If someone can confirm if Charles in the tent's storage slots only store completed potions or if it can also store items that are used in Alchemy, that would be very helpful to me. With a 64 slot max capacity, I would assume you can store ingredients as well. Otherwise, who would need to store 64 different stacks of potions. Maybe I don't know yet what I don't know but.... If you can only store completed potions then I won't be in any hurry to gain his favor. It sounded attractive to me right now as I begin to level Alchemy and I can store ingredients for later need.

I do a lot of gardening while I am watching movies or doing chores around the house. As such my gardening and cooking are pretty high, I think gardening was the first skill i pushed over 50 (because i swapped both combat skills at around 48). This might make me an outlier but Braigon (and most vendors that enjoy food gifts) go ABSOLUTELY NUTS for broccoli florets which are pretty easy to get, the main bottleneck (despite the skill levels required) is acquiring the butter. However just grabbing the 4 bottles of milk in Serbule when you log on and when you log off is usually enough to keep me overflowing in butter. I haven't NEEDED butter in a long time, but I am also pretty diligent about pulling on cow teats whenever I can.

For an easier meal that provides slightly less rep you could use baked beets. Literally everything required for them can be bought in Serbule; seeds, water, salt, oil.

These 2 dishes do nothing for people who enjoy meat based meals though (LOOKING AT YOU UKORGA!)

[urgatorb8]

I'm not exactly sure how the items that are excluded are involved in executing Alchemy recipes yet. Are the exclusion items considered finished products or are they sub items that are typically used for other advanced Alchemy recipes? Basically, for me to want to expend the effort to unlock him, I would want to be able to store mushrooms and most of the other items (ingredients) that are flagged as being used in an Alchemy recipe. It sounds like the Wiki explanation above might indicate that is so but who knows.

[Tagamogi]

I just ran a quick trial on Charles Thompson's storage.

What I was NOT able to put in: parasol mushroom, blusher mushroom, fire dust, sulfur, nightmare flesh, empty bottle, bottle of water, expert volatile ink, healing potion omega, armor potion omega, power potion omega, strange dirt

What I was able to put in: rage to heat potion, fire resistance potion, ferocity juice, deadly poisoned knife, Snapley's Venom Mk3 (NPC poison), myconian resistance lager, auk gur-horta, coldbite potion, weak acidic cleanser

So, rather than "alchemy items", I'd describe his storage as most potions and poisons, regardless of whether they were made by a player alchemy recipe or not. Sadly, it doesn't look like he wants to store alchemy ingredients at all.

Well, at least there's a reason I filled up less than a quarter of his storage...

[urgatorb8]

I just ran a quick trial on Charles Thompson's storage.

What I was NOT able to put in: parasol mushroom, blusher mushroom, fire dust, sulfur, nightmare flesh, empty bottle, bottle of water, expert volatile ink, healing potion omega, armor potion omega, power potion omega, strange dirt

What I was able to put in: rage to heat potion, fire resistance potion, ferocity juice, deadly poisoned knife, Snapley's Venom Mk3 (NPC poison), myconian resistance lager, auk gur-horta, coldbite potion, weak acidic cleanser

So, rather than "alchemy items", I'd describe his storage as most potions and poisons, regardless of whether they were made by a player alchemy recipe or not. Sadly, it doesn't look like he wants to store alchemy ingredients at all.

Well, at least there's a reason I filled up less than a quarter of his storage...

Thank you for this post - it's immensely helpful as it tells me not to bother with favoring him up. I have almost zero potions right now but was interested in stashing the ingredients I'll need later when I begin (in earnest) leveling up Alchemy.

To the previous poster who suggested turning in oils instead of stomachs for Braignon favor. I did just that. I got the 5th stomach but instead I bought 15 or so crossing oils off of NPCs, and then farmed a few cave cheeses off rats in Eltibule. That seemed about enough to get the other 50 favor. Of course now I relize that even though I got the Butter recipe. To make it I need cloth item that is made using textile. The recipe for that is gated behind some minor favor with some other guy nearby so I need to schmooze him now. The inter-dependencies in this game is what makes it frustrating, yet endearing at the same time. Ugh!

Anyone know a good place to farm Cotton? I've got about 10 over a few nights running around Eltibule but it seems real rare. I need a bunch more - any tips?

[preechr]

Once your gardening skill increases to 35 (?) you can turn those 10 into 10,000 with enough fertilizer and time, but until then, you're stuck with what you can find growing out of the ground, which is not much as you have noticed

[dymarr]

Thank you for this post - it's immensely helpful as it tells me not to bother with favoring him up. I have almost zero potions right now but was interested in stashing the ingredients I'll need later when I begin (in earnest) leveling up Alchemy.

To the previous poster who suggested turning in oils instead of stomachs for Braignon favor. I did just that. I got the 5th stomach but instead I bought 15 or so crossing oils off of NPCs, and then farmed a few cave cheeses off rats in Eltibule. That seemed about enough to get the other 50 favor. Of course now I relize that even though I got the Butter recipe. To make it I need cloth item that is made using textile. The recipe for that is gated behind some minor favor with some other guy nearby so I need to schmooze him now. The inter-dependencies in this game is what makes it frustrating, yet endearing at the same time. Ugh!

Anyone know a good place to farm Cotton? I've got about 10 over a few nights running around Eltibule but it seems real rare. I need a bunch more - any tips?

Gardening is by far the easiest way to get lots of cotton but since you just need it for the butter muslin I would suggest just buying some from another player. Its a low tier item for textile creation, it stacks above 50 (I'm carrying a stack of 68 I think) and it gets consumed 10% of the time you make butter. You could probably get a 10-stack for a few hundred councils and that will last you quite a while

[Crissa]

I usually trade cotton for butter muslin, since it's not /that/ low a textile skill.

[Eachna]

Thanks, guys. Last night I bought a Organ Knife for 700 council from a vendor stall. I went to Serbule Hills to do quests and slaughtered quite a few animals and ended up getting two more stomachs. One more to go. I've already been leveling cooking and gardening but thought cheese making would be a nice addition. Maybe I'll slow my roll on that front but I would like to be able to make butter.

Congrats on the progress. Nothing wrong with unlocking cheesemaking now, just to have it off the personal "things to do" list.