MM2 Secondary Skills add capabilities to your party and there are 15 skills to find and purchase. Each of your 30 characters can have up to 2 secondary skills. Some skills benefit the character and some skills benefit the party as a whole.
All secondary skills are purchased in towns from individual trainers for a fee and you must pay the fee for each character that you want to train. In Middlegate, there is a cerebral detoxification specialist that will clear current secondary skills for a fee. All hirelings can also learn secondary skills and some are found with one.
Expand for benefits and locations
| Name | Benefit | Location | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arms Master | Boost ACY+5 for character | Vulcania 15,3 | 500g |
| Athlete | Boost SPD+5 for character | Atlantium 6,2 | 500g |
| Cartographer | Enables auto-mapping feature | Middlegate 0,15 | 10g |
| Crusader | At least 1 required in party to speak with Lords and get quests from Castles | Tundara 2,14 | 250g |
| Diplomat | Boost PER+5 for character | Sandsobar 3,4 | 500g |
| Gambler | Boost LUC+5 for character | Sandsobar 3,0 | 200g |
| Gladiator | Boost MGT+5 for character | Vulcania | 500g |
| Hero/Heroine | Boost All Stats+1 for character, at least 1 required for some quests | Atlantium 9,2 | 1000g |
| Linquist | Boost INT+5 for character, also required for the character to collect some loot | Atlantium 8,4 | 500g |
| Merchant | Favorable prices when buying and selling gear | Tundara 5,13 | 1000g |
| Mountaineer | At least 2 required in party to allow traversal of mountain tiles | Middlegate 3,12 | 2000g |
| Pathfinder | At least 2 required in party to allow traversal of dense forest tiles | Middlegate 1,9 | 2000g |
| Navigator | At least 1 required in party to keep from becoming lost in large open spaces | Tundara 8,13 | 750g |
| Pickpocket | Boost Thievery+15 for character | Sandsobar 0,5 | 300g |
| Soldier | Boost END+5 for character | Vulcania 0,3 | 500g |
| Cerebral Detox Specialist | Remove all Secondary Skills | Middlegate 12,10 | 100g |
MM2 Secondary Skill Strategies
Crusader is required to complete the game and also required to repeat Lord Hoardall or Lord Slayer’s quest lines; however, you only need to have the Skill when you are actively talking to the Lords. You can train it on a Hireling and make sure to bring them along when going to a Castle.
Cartographer is cheap but it takes up a slot so it is mostly avoidable. The auto-mapping is nice but it is not necessary to complete the game. If you are doing your own mapping, using WhereAreWe, or using online Maps then you really don’t need this.
Navigator is not hard-required but it certainly makes travelling in wide-open spaces much easier. Try to walk through the open Tundra in B-1 without this skill and you will understand the pain.
Merchant is the most exploitable mechanic because of the purchasable items that cast spells. A character with the merchant skill can buy and sell items for the same price. Shop owners will pay the same price for charge based items no matter how many charges they have. Do you see the exploit?
Reveal the Merchant Exploit
Let’s say you buy a Skill Potion for 500g, which grants temporary +5 Levels. It will come with 5 charges which you can confirm by casting Detect Magic. Use the Potion 4 times on the same character for +20 Levels and now there is 1 charge left on the Skill Potion. Your merchant can Sell the Skill Potion with 1 charge back to the vendor for 500g and buy another one with 5 charges for 500g.
This works for all items with more than 1 charge that you can buy at a vendor and these are the most useful ones to consider starting up a racket:
Magic Herbs (Cast: First Aid, 3 charges)
Herbal Patch (Cast: Cure Wounds, 2 charges)
Antidote Ale (Cast: Cure Poison, 8 charges)
Dove’s Blood (Cast: Cure Disease, 8 charges)
CureALL Wand (Cast: Remove Condition, 20 charges)
Instant Keep (Cast: Shelter, 35 charges)
Lava Grenade (Cast: Fire Ball, 5 charges)
Witch Broom (Cast: Fly, 20 charges)
Force Potion (MGT+10, 3 charges)
Skill Potion (+5 Levels, 5 charges)
Teleport Orb (Cast: Teleport, 25 charges)
Just don’t use up all the charges or the item poofs.. use Detect Magic to query the current charges. You can also cast Recharge Item to restore the charges but that is a Level 6 sorcerer spell. The Merchant exploit you can get going very early in the game and exploit the heck out of Teleport Orb way before you get the Teleport spell.
Attribution
How to obtain a copy of this game:
eBay link – PC version (1988)
GOG link – Digital PC version (includes games 1-6)