So I've been thinking of doing a play-through as an evil gnome with half-ogre servants. My problem is that in the many many play-throughs of arcanum that I've done I've only managed to get Chukka once or twice. I remember looking up his requirements and getting my character ready and bam nothing happened, pissed me off every time. Is there some trick to getting chukka in your party? will he even join if you're evil? My other question is: Is there a way to keep Murgo indefinetly? does he get mad if you don't finish the rebuild the shrine quest? or preferably, is there a way to keep him after finishing said quest? I'll probably also get Gar, as he is a slave, and we know how much gnomes like slaves Edit: Well, so much for that plan, Gar wont join if my alignment is less than -10 and I hear chukka is good aligned as well :/ well that puts a dampener on my idea.
You need 12 charisma and a free follower slot for Gilbert Bates to offer Chukka's support when you're supposed to go to the Isle of Despair. Other than permanent mind control, there is no way. He won't talk with you after the quest (other than giving a floating line). He will also permanently leave your party during the quest if you stay too long in virtually any location other than Vooriden and Torin Quarry. Annoying when one would like to take care of some provisions in Tarant on his way to and from the Quarry. The both won't normally join you if you're evil, yes. They will, however, join you is you have persuasion mastery. You will also need 20 charisma for their reaction to not drop when you perform evil deeds. Don't forget about Sogg. Available from the start, requires nothing more than 9 charisma to join and doesn't care about your alignment.
You can also keep Murgo when you return the stone to Edwin Wallows and end the dialog when you're about to say your goodbyes (achieved by clicking on one of your hotkey items). However, the usefulness of this is rather limited. While the functions when clicking Murgo's portrait remain intact, you can never again speak to him directly as then he'll leave your group. Still, you won't need to spend 5 points in Meta magicks (although somewhere in the game there might be some scrolls of Reflection Shield available). EDIT: If you're using any unoffical patches like mentioned by the poster below, you might still be able to trigger this for what it's worth. Instead of interrupting the dialog with the hotkey bar, place an item that deals fatigue damage on Wallows. When he becomes unconscious at the same instant as I named before, it'll have the same effect and you'll keep Murgo that way I guess.
No need for Reflection Shield. As far as Dominate Will is considered, Dweomer Shield works for the permanency trick just as well and every Mage's Staff comes charged with that. Note that dialogue interrupting has been fixed and is no longer possible in the latest Unofficial Arcanum Patch. Also, spell permanency for summoned/controlled beings doesn't work in any UAP, unless it's the modified UAP within A:WIP or if you modify the meta spell effects in the game files yourself after applying the patch. Or let me do it for you.
I wasn't aware of the Mage staff's abilities. For my own play-through I'd still be in need of at least one scroll of Reflection Shield. The Meta master in Tula hasn't gotten any. If anyone knows were to come by one please let me know.
Scrolls of Reflection Shield cannot be bought in any shop, that's for sure. As far as I know, there are no such scrolls placed anywhere in the game either. The good news is, the Magick Ring from the Uncharted Cave is charged with 10 uses of Reflection Shield, so it effectively works as 10 scrolls of short-lived Reflection Shield. Short-lived, because if the spell is maintained for longer than 10 seconds, it uses up another use and does so every next 10 seconds.
