The Witcher FAQ/Character

This FAQ is intended for the fans who have enjoyed, played and finished at least once, and are now wondering what quests, and other goodies they may have missed. In short, the FAQ is written for those that want to get more out of the game!
Note: I am assuming you more or less know how the game works, i.e. you learned the basics from playing . If you want to be informed of things that go beyond "just winning the game", keep reading.
The FAQ makes extensive use of The Witcher Wiki, mainly highlighting things of note. Should you miss specific details, feel free to check with the wiki, it is quite content complete.
== Character Building ==
=== Character Interaction ===
Be sure to look into the Character interaction related to gameplay icons. These are quite significant during dialogues.
 Character development
=== On how to spend Talents? ===
It is advisable to carefully read the skill tooltips before spending your limited number of Talent points on them. After some reflection you may find that certain skills conductive to your playing style. Even though you can spend quite a few Talents playing through the complete game there are not enough to spend on all skills, so concentrate on those that are most useful to your style of playing. (E-ahmet)
* Generally if you prefer a Mage or Battle Mage character build, it is very advisable to invest in Intelligence, and also in Stamina to increase your Endurance (used by Signs!).
* Since Igni (red) so dominates the game towards the end, investing talents here really helps fend off all those foe masses.
* Since Aard (blue) is also very useful to stun powerful foes, to finish them off with a Coups de grâce, invest in it as well.
=== Storage opportunities ===
Alas, Geralt cannot cleanup his inventory by storing items he presently does not need by either simply dropping them on the floor somewhere in the game or by placing them in some random chest or other container.
 There is one exception, see Safe Item Storage Location? Q&A, but this only temporarily works in Chapter III.
 The proper gameplay mechanism to store items is to make use of special NPCs in the game, usually Innkeepers found at inns and taverns. Anything you give them for safekeeping can be retrieved for free from any other NPC in the game that also provides storage. And that across the whole game!
Storage opportunities:
* Prologue, none.
* Chapter I, the innkeeper Olaf at the Outskirts Inn.
* Chapter II & III, the innkeeper at The Hairy Bear inn (Temple Quarter).
* Chapter III, the innkeeper at The New Narakort inn (Trade Quarter).
* Chapter IV, the innkeeper (male) at Country inn in Murky Waters.
* Chapter V, Dandelion on the Dike is your only access to storage before you enter Old Vizima!
* Epilogue, only at the very beginning will Dandelion grant storage access.Note: This is your very last chance to access your storage in the game!
Tip: As you can see, accessing the items you stored away can become quite tricky towards the end of the game. So be sure you have the items you need in your inventory beforehand. A look into the chapter-based Shopping List will help make better decisions.
=== Advanced Looting? ===
Tips on how to get more orens () out of the game:
* Obviously search every barrel, chest, wardrobe, dresser, tomb, etc. for loot, to then sell it to the appropriate merchant.
* Also play as many quests as possible. You will not only earn orens, but at times also quite valuable items.
* When looting, your Inventory will often be full, meaning you cannot pick up e.g. a weapon. Open the map (-key), then (, marking the location as a reminder for later looting. Up to three such custom markers can be placed per map.
* Differing from other games the Merchants' buy/sell prices for loot are always the same! So you can sell "junk" to anyone who will pay for it.
** There is one exception, the alchemist Kalkstein will pay twice as much for ingredients and a few other goods, if you helped him in Chapter I.
** Another exception: The Order armourer actually pays twice as much for herbs as the Herbalist (e.g. Mistletoe 2 vs 4 ).Tip: Offer (1 ) food on the Altar of Melitele at St. Lebioda's Hospital, this yields Mistletoe, sell it for 4 to the Order armourer, to make a bit of cash from "junk".
* You will run into the Gardener near the hospital in Chapter II. He will also give Geralt red, yellow or white roses in exchange for food, just talk about his war-time past. This has potential for some money making: Give the Gardener "junk" food that you would normally sell for 1 , then sell the roses for 6 .
* When fighting against Salamandra or other human foes, be very picky about what weapons you actually take with you. You only have one short and one heavy (large) weapon slot in your Inventory (upto the end of Chapter V). So pick up the most valuable short/heavy weapons. The reason for this is game-engine related: Anything dropped on the floor (Remains) is removed from the game if you leave the area/building (load screen), so you cannot go back and forth collecting / selling loot, alas.Tip: Either keep notes on what the merchants pay for weapons or take a closer look at the weapon price list, the sell prices. In the beginning you should favour the Torch selling for a significant 40 , compared to the quite common but almost worthless 10 Temerian steel dagger.
* When playing the Order path, after the bank robbery, quite a few Scoia'tael will be lying dead on the floor in the connecting corridors. You can pick up their weapons, and bring them into the safe main rooms in the Elven ruins (anything you drop here stays in the game), to then bit by bit sell them off using the teleporter.
For more tips on how to stash away orens, read the extensive The Witcher Cheapskate's Guide.
=== What items should I keep? ===
Most of the items in the game can be sold away for that extra bit of coin, but there are quite a few items you will need to get for NPCs, as part of a quest, so it can be quite time saving to know about these items, and to collect them early on in the game, to set them aside for later.
See the extensive chapter-based The Witcher Shopping List for details.
=== Boost the Sword stats? ===
The best way to enhance the stats of your swords is to reforge them with the help of a Blacksmith, yielding permanent boosts:
* For steel swords use a combination of three Meteorites: 
** 
* For silver swords use a combination of three Runes: 
** 
:Note:
:* You cannot mix meteorites and runes.
:* Meteorites only work for the steel sword and runes only work for the silver sword.
:* The effects of a previous forging are reset when you reforge it, so it is not possible to stack meteorite or rune effects, alas.
Additionally you can boost the stats of your swords temporarily by the following means:
* Add a temporary "poisonous" blade coating using Oils. 
* Add a magic temporary "enhancement" using Temporary Runes. 
* Or sharpen the blades temporarily using Diamond dust, Grindstone, or Whetstone. 
*: Per sword you will only be able to apply one such temporary boost, they do not stack! Such temporary boosts do stack on top of the permanent "forged" stats of the swords, though.
*: The Swordsmith in the Trade Quarter will only forge swords if you give him a precious stone first. As it turns out that does make the resulting swords any better or cheaper. You actually get ripped off. You should prefer the Blacksmiths in the Temple Quarter instead.
*:
=== Meteorite Ore for Steel swords? ===
Even though at the beginning of the game the meteorite ore seems to have much potential (valuable and rare), the forged swords are a bit of a letdown (and expensive), since you will find or receive better swords if you play the game systematically.
: Use three meteorite ore of the same kind to gain additional bonuses for your sword.
:For a complete list of meteorite locations and weapon stats for the resulting Meteorite swords (10 combinations possible) visit the wiki.
=== Runes for Silver swords? ===
Again, the runes are a quite interesting and valuable items to collect, but they are so rare that only towards the end of the game will you have enough of the same kind to create an interesting sword. And then you may actually receive one for free with even better stats.
 Use three runes of the same kind to gain additional bonuses for your sword.
 Although most custom silver swords are indeed sub-par, there is one instance worth mentioning: You can collect three runes (two Earth rune and one Sun rune), from Memory of a Blade, the fistfight with Andrew Gablodda and one purchased from Thaler. They will be available for forging (for 1000 ; damage +30%) at the beginning of Chapter III and can last you until the end of chapter IV, when you may receive Aerondight. (Pigrum)
For a complete list of weapon stats for the resulting Rune swords (10 combinations possible) visit the wiki.
=== Items to definitely pick up? ===
:Apart from powerful and rare swords, usually received by solving quests, there are a few items you definitely will want to get:
* In Chapter II, the Order merchant or the dwarven Trader in the Blacksmith's house, will sell the Excellent Leather Jacket for 5000 . Save your money and ensure your armour stats significantly improve.Tip: Before you buy the armour upgrade, sell your old Studded Leather Jacket for 500 to the Order armourer. In theory you could also sell this jacket to the blacksmith in Murky Waters.
* In the very north of the Swamp, be sure to visit the Wyvern Island, there you will find a Messenger's corpse with the very powerful steel sword, Harvall.
== Characters ==
=== Characters easily missed? ===
Some characters will only appear at certain times in the day/night, so chances are good to completely overlook them:
Traveler (at night, near inn, Outskirts)
* Remembers having hired Geralt, pays 100 .
Beggar (old woman, Farming village, Outskirts)
* Will ask for White Gull, yields the Reverend's Eternal Fire signet ring.
Wraith (near Cemetery entrance, Trade Quarter, Chapter II).
*Wandering the streets at night you may walk into a mumbling peaceful wraith. It is part of the a quest Hildegard Zollstock triggers. You will find here around noon, also near the cemetery gates.
Distressed nurse (outside of St. Lebioda's Hospital, Trade Quarter, Chapter III)
* Gives you the Medic in Distress quest. She can only be found near the hospital (where the Gardener usually can be found) by day from 12:00 to about 13:30.
Townsman (near John Natalis Square, Trade Quarter).
* He hands Geralt the book on monsters, Physiologus. You should find him by day, and look into the streets leading to the square when it is raining.
Noblewoman these two noblewomen are mutually exclusive!
* One woman can be found on the square in front of Triss' house near the Jester in the Trade Quarter. She yields a Romance card but only appears around midday (12:00).
* The other woman roams around the Town Hall building in the Trade Quarter, all in white, yielding a Romance card. Again you will find her around noon.
Con artist (exit of Sewers in Trade Quarter).
*You will only stumble into this shady guy at daybreak, provides quest Finders Keepers.
=== Dialogues easily missed? ===
Persistence with NPC dialogues may at times yield quite unexpected rewards. Such opportunities are difficult to spot, since you may not know about a key, or get brushed off with "there is not much more to say", but there actually is more to say.
Old Woman (Farming village, Outskirts, Chapter I)
* In a random encounter these old women will impart information about nine plants, plus two monsters (tales), so talk to them again and again after an area change (load screen). Saves buying expensive books, plus you learn about plants early on in the game.
Gossip (near detective Raymond's place, Temple Quarter, Chapter II)
* To get her Romance card talk to her about "... news of a witcher in town", following up with "fancies women", but only if Geralt says "it's hard to live up to a legend" will the Gossip ask for a gift as proof. The other two random dialogue options will not work, so you may have to ask several times.
Bootblack (near detective Raymond's place, Temple Quarter, Chapter II)
* Will react to you presenting him with the book Shadow People, or the story of His Majesty's Secret Service, that you may have won from Thaler in a drinking contest, yields Prophet Lebioda's signet ring to get you past the Grandma at Shani's apartment.
Brickmaker (woman, in one of the huts in Brickmakers' village, Swamp, Chapter II)
* This random dialogue may be difficult to trigger, keep trying to talk to all the brickmaker women in the huts. She will tell you about swamp plants (beggartick, fool's parsley, and crow's eye) for either 50 or honey.
Lumberjack (Lumberjacks' glade, Swamp, Chapter II)
* One of the lumberjacks has to sell some things for 200 : Sodden mead, a red meteorite, silver ring, and the formula for Wives' Tears.
Innkeeper (of The New Narakort inn, Trade Quarter, Chapter III)
* You may have bribed the innkeeper once with a hefty 233 , but it is possible to do so more often:
** The password for the fisstech lab in the sewers. Though you can guess at it too.
** Get the The Book of the Kiss and Curses and the Cursed (cheaper than buying them).
** Bomb recipe, Dragon's Dream.
** Additional bribes are just gossip.
Waitress (at The New Narakort inn, Chapter III)
* Differing from other NPCs, each time you talk to the waitress she uses another dialogue reply, so you can just keep on talking to her again and again without having to leave/return the area (load screen).
* She mentions spilling white sauce, you can help her with either red gloves or 100 for two potions of Wives' Tears.
* Keep talking to her, and she will mention her grandmother, this yields a recipe for the Devil's Puffball bomb.
* Apparently she will also tell you the recipe for Wives' Tears, should you not know it already.
Old Peasant Woman (village, Murky Waters, Chapter IV)
* She will tell of three herbs.
Fisher King (Lakeside, Chapter IV)
* After killing Dagon (the peaceful conflict resolution) talk to the Fisher King again, be persistent, to actually get him to talk!
=== Foes easily missed? ===
Some foes in will only spawn after certain other prerequisites have been met. Or are dependent on the time of day. E.g. some foes only appear at night. This can make it very easy to miss them, since the foes are often spawned in areas you will quite probably already have explored (by day). For those looking for more XP and orens, some pointers:
Swamp, Chapter III:
* Large wolf, Voref, in quest White Fang.Tip: Look for Voref near the Collapsed tower in the northern part of the swamp.
=== Annoyed NPCs? Come back later? ===
Sometimes Geralt may anger a NPC, who will forthwith refuse to talk to him. Or when a NPC tells you to "come back later" requiring time to create something, then the "later" just means you should leave the building or exit the area (load screen). You can then return immediately to end the "wait". And after returning annoyed NPCs should talk to Geralt again.
=== Activate Merchants/Dice Players? ===
Most merchants or poker dice players will show gameplay dialogue icons making it clear that you can interact with them. Note you will need to talk to a few NPCs for a while to unlock these icons.
=== Selling to Blacksmiths? ===
Normally you will not be able to sell to the blacksmiths that provide a Weapon Enhancement gameplay icon. They will only accept Runes and Meteorites for sword upgrades.
The Order armourer in the Temple Quarter is an early exception (the blacksmith in Murky Waters is the other one). He actually also buys many things. Especially of interest are:
* Geralt's "old" Studded Leather Jacket for 500 !
* Fisstech for 20 .
* Weapons, food, alcohol, and even some ingredients.
 The dwarven Blacksmith on the other hand will not buy any of these wares! So you may want to be on the Order's good side, at least for a short while.
=== Dealing with Fisstech? ===
 Fighting the Salamandra will often let you collect fisstech. Trouble is that most merchants will, for obvious reasons, not buy the drug. Here the NPCs that will let you sell off fisstech for 20 per box:
* Coleman at the Hairy Bear inn, should he still be alive in Chapter II.
* The Order armourer in the Temple Quarter, if you are on the pro-Order path at the time in Chapter II and III.
* The Blacksmith in Murky Waters, in Chapter IV.
 It is actually possible to "brew" your own fisstech using Alchemy!
=== Sell Salamandra badges? ===
 When fighting the Salamandra you will almost always find a Salamandra badge on their bodies, but can these be sold? Yes, to two NPCs actually:
* During the Wanted quest in Chapter II it is possible to sell them to the Messenger at the Hairy Bear inn for 10 each (careful, you sell all badges in your inventory!).
* And also to Declan Leuvaarden, who requires three of them (for 600 total) as proof that Geralt is indeed fighting Salamandra before he will reveal any information in Chapter II.
=== Convince Workshop Alchemist? ===
Visiting the Workshop in the Trade Quarter of Vizima in Chapter III will lead to an interesting scholastic discussion with the Alchemist. He thinks that Kalkstein is a complete quack, so it is up the to Geralt to convince him otherwise.
You will need to have read about and remember Kalkstein's theories to be able to convince the Alchemist of their validity. If all else fails, try these dialogue options:
* "denies ... co-dependent"
* "secondary ... of themselves"
* "attach and detatch"
* "golem" or the funnier "impress ladies"
The thus educated Alchemist will give you the Samum scroll and the book Secrets of the Southern Masters.
=== Ice Field encounters? ===
In the Epilogue Geralt traverses the ice fields, a figment of the Grandmaster's imagination. Depending on the path Geralt took, and whom he saved, these NPCs will reappear:
* Abigail: Should she have been saved by Geralt will give him five Swallow and five Tawny Owl potions. These are special since they do not increase Toxicity!
* White Rayla: Will either accompany Geralt for a short distance helping fight the skullheads ("dying in battle") or offer a temporary special magic shield ("tumultuous relationship"). Only if Geralt supported the Order.
* Adda: If saved will fight alongside Geralt in her striga form, for a short while.
See the phases in Frozen Reflections for all the other "appearances" dependent on path and whom you saved/killed.Category:Subpages