Gameplay Tips – Pool of Radiance

This section of our Pool of Radiance walkthrough will share some general gameplay tips aimed at making your playthrough a fun and enjoyable one.

This walkthrough was written using the version of Pool of Radiance included in the Forgotten Realms Archives (if there’s an actual version number listed anywhere, we didn’t see it). Characters were rolled normally and no cheats were used.

If you need more money at the start of the game, there are a couple things you can do. You can create new characters, add them to your party, take their money, remove them, and then repeat. You can also save and load at taverns, and gamble there until you make a profit.

Later in the game, you’ll probably find way more money than you can ever use, and since money can weigh your characters down, you should stop picking it up.

Magic items look just like regular items until you identify them. So if you fight a tough battle and find one object unlike the others (like a flail among ten long swords and ten studded leather armors), you should hang onto it and check to see if it’s anything special.

There isn’t a time limit in the game, so feel free to always have “search” mode active.

Equipment in the game only affects how much characters can move during combat. It doesn’t decrease the chance to cast spells or reduce the dexterity bonus.

Since the only way to load a game is to quit and save your game first, you should designate one of your save slots (like “j”) for such a situation.