Which stronghold is the most profitable?
Rik_Kirtaniya
Member Posts: 1,742
Before you answer this question, please read on. We are to consider:
1. The profits, both in terms of money as well as other loot, and specially unique items that can be gained from that stronghold and its quest.
2. And then again, its only that part of the profit which can be gained by a protagonist having a class specific to the stronghold. What I mean by this is that we are not to consider any items which are gained by a protagonist of a different class by playing any quests related to the same stronghold area. As an example, the Carsomyr, though related to the Paladin stronghold quests, can be gained by any protagonist killing Firkraag, so it is not considered as part of the profit. However, things like the Staff of Power or the Moon Dog Figurine are exclusive items gained by the protagonist only if they belong to the respective class, and so they are considered.
3. Experience gains. Again, only that part which is exclusively gained by the protagonist having the specific class.
4. Anything else worth considering.
1. The profits, both in terms of money as well as other loot, and specially unique items that can be gained from that stronghold and its quest.
2. And then again, its only that part of the profit which can be gained by a protagonist having a class specific to the stronghold. What I mean by this is that we are not to consider any items which are gained by a protagonist of a different class by playing any quests related to the same stronghold area. As an example, the Carsomyr, though related to the Paladin stronghold quests, can be gained by any protagonist killing Firkraag, so it is not considered as part of the profit. However, things like the Staff of Power or the Moon Dog Figurine are exclusive items gained by the protagonist only if they belong to the respective class, and so they are considered.
3. Experience gains. Again, only that part which is exclusively gained by the protagonist having the specific class.
4. Anything else worth considering.
- Which stronghold is the most profitable?28 votes
- Fighter35.71%
- Paladin0.00%
- Ranger28.57%
- Thief10.71%
- Mage10.71%
- Cleric0.00%
- Druid7.14%
- Bard7.14%
3
Comments
Personally, I find narrative to be more "profitable" in terms of enjoyment over anything else. For this reason I vote for the Ranger stronghold. Its a lot of fun protecting the small town, and its really fleshes the place out as well. The moon dog figurine you get for finishing is pretty great too.
1. Thief easily makes the most money, but takes time and effort to maintain. IIRC the calculations would be an average of a bit more than 2,000 per week, but you might eat losses if your thieves get caught and you have to bail them out. It's not guaranteed pay.
2. Bard stronghold makes more than Fighter. Also, don't take the 10,000 investment option in the beginning, it's not worth it the way it is calculated in the end. Depending on your initial investment, actions through the quest series, and end performance, you make as much as 1800 your first week, and then it is reduced by 100 every week until you're at 500/week (which is where the fighter keep is). 10,000 is 5000 more than the 5,000 option but only nets you another 100/week (so an additional 100/week for 18 weeks for 1800), so you're losing money. I'm not even sure the 5,000 investment is worth it. Also, if you do do Bard, be an 18 Cha Bard.
3. Fighter, but you wind up losing money every week doing the quests the right way, so it's a long time before you break even. Bard stronghold is like this too, but not EVERY week.
Thief has a lot of work every week, the other two just automatically dump it for you to pick up.
Bard stronghold is VERY LONG as _Nightfall_ suggests.
Fighter one is easy and relatively short but doesn't pay as well if you don't want to be run out of the keep.
In terms of items: Why not? There already is the option to sell a literally infinite number of stolen items for infinite gold. I favor the Ranger one for the moon dog figurine.
I, too, favor narrative. I also allow the option to take all the strongholds to do all the quests although I have NEVER done the Cleric one though, and I rarely do more than 3-4 (usually Fighter, Ranger, and sometimes Thief or Bard). Some strongholds can plausibly be done by any class, some are logically restricted (Cleric, Mage, Thief, Druid IIRC) by dint of inherent characteristics of the class.
Largest boost to character power - Ranger
Most creative - Mage
Most tied to in game lore - Fighter
Most gold (but also biggest nuisance) - Thief
Honorable mention to the cleric stronghold, which doesn't take very long to complete and has some entertaining dialogue options along the way.
-Root of the problem club
-Golden Lion figurine
-Cleric staff +3
-Ring of protection +2
-10000 gold
The figurine and the ring of protection are very useful loot, and you can sell the other two items for even more gold assuming you can’t make use of them.
Also rather than getting chunks of XP that get divided between each party member, the stronghold quests grant quest experience points to each member individually. This means with a 6 person party, the druid stronghold may actually net the most XP. I suppose though if you have a smaller/solo party, it may not be as much.
I like the fighter one best because it fits nicely into the lore. It does take a long time to complete however.
And I find the bard one to be the most interesting.
That being said my favorite is mage. The stuff you get for keeping your apprentices alive isn't really useful but I like the flow of the quests and the graduation ceremony and it does give you some insight into the lore that the Cowled Wizards in Spellhold might be in a bit of a disarray at the moment in the end.
Neither of those quests is frequently visiting your wallet either which is nice IMO. I'd rate fighter as good as mage otherwise.
Tell that to the avenger when they are blasting their enemies with chromatic orbs, lightning bolts, and chain lightnings before laying down thick webs and leaping into sword spider form to tear those sorry fools' posteriors to shreds
early horrid wilting for mage is very nice tho
fighter:
IF nalia is in your team when she gives you the keep you get a 10000 gold bonus ( 10650 ) if she isn't in your team at the time she will only give you 650 ( although this might not matter what class you are ) from what i remember there are 10 "stronghold" quests, and lots of them require paying money, upwards to around..... 12000? something like that, so if you keep it at 500 gold a week ( like a do ) it will take 24 weeks to break even on the gold spent to keep the place going, plus the final fight at the end, has some magical items, but altogether they will probably only fetch around 4000-5000 gold, so not bad i suppose EVENTUALLY, although the XP is pretty decent though, i believe its 15000 for the first 9 quests completed successfully and the last one brings in 50000, so rich in XP
paladin:
no start up cost which is nice, with 3 major quests ( firkraag being #4, but based on the poll we will do the first 3 ) and when it comes to treasure its not all that great, first fight has some gems and piles of 100 gold, second fight just has a few chums with not much for memorable goodies, and the 3rd quest is the same, perhaps altogether 3000 gold?
ranger:
how man its been so long since i've done this one, pre EE infact, from what i can remember you get the cabin in the umar hills and the town just stock piles it full of ammunition, and then theres that battle with the dudes in the forest looking for the mithral or something? from what i remember not much gold to be made there, but also no start up
thief:
problem with this one is if you accept the thief guild you lose the 10500 gold AND short sword of backstabbing reward for finishing renal's quest, so thats around 13000 gold right there, next when it comes to thief quest stuff, i think there is.... 3 of them? from what i remember, and from what i can recall none of them bringing in sweet spoils, but you do have those 5 (?) thieves that you send out on to missions to collect you money BUT you also have to pay renal a fee every week as well, so realistically you are only profiting 500-600 gold a week and thats IF your thieves dont get caught, so realistically i find it too much of a hassle to do this quest, and if im not mistaken you have to redo your thief mission thing EVERY time they come back, yeck, pass
mage:
probably out of all the quests this one at least brings in some killer items, also you can get a golden girdle ( which is spectacular but still kind of neat ) and then you can get a ring of wizardry ( hell yes ) and if you are lucky a staff of power, which is incredibly powerful, but in practicality i just use the staff of the magi anyway, plus there are a couple stronghold quests ( 3 i believe ? ) bringing in mediocre items and what not, but the one dude at the end if he survived the schooling makes you potions apparently ever week, so whatever that equals ( dont know if you have to buy them or not, never really used them to be honest so i dont remember )
cleric:
holy crap, it has been a LONG time since i've done this one, i remember getting some decent items, like the ring of holiness (snice!), and necklace that gives you a bonus to save vs death, and the armor of faith which is kind of a cool suit of armor that gives you a saving throw bonus, although from what i can remember there are no battles just helping other fellow clerics out which i believe gave you 20000 XP each? so other than those 3 cool items, i think that is it
druid:
ah druid, i think i've only done this one once, maybe twice, again a million years ago, i recall some sylvan chain +2 and perhaps a ring of protection +2 ? plus someone else said you also get another 10000 gold( wowzers, people from the forest, what do they need all that money for? ) so actually based off of that, the druid one is probably the most profitable, no start up cost and all that cool stuff
bard:
never played the bard stronghold actually, i remember i had a blade that got the rights to the play house and then i never played that save game ever again, i was getting so bored with playing a blade i just couldn't handle it anymore, perhaps one of these days i will try it out, but we will see
Those cleric things (at least the ring and the armor) are choises for a reward for the Sir Sarles quest. You can only pick them if you are a cleric but they aren't strictly tied to you stronghold which you get after the unseen eye quest.
Druid also gets you the lion figurine and I think the root of the problem club which is some extra cash unless you plan on using them. Ranger gets that lovely moondog figurine that you should definitly think about using. Bards get Azlaer's harp which isn't terribly useful. I don't think the other's get any unique items but I might be forgetting something.
Infinite money is worth exactly nothing, even in theory. That's because the number of things with any use that are for sale is very limited, and there is more than enough money in the game to buy it all (even without steal/reselling shenanigans). Gaining any money after that has zero impact on your character.
So I voted for the stronghold with the most appealing flavor to me, and it is the Nalia Keep. Although I'm glad that at least someone voted Bard.