Obtaining glory points (XP) | Strategy guide Risen 3 Guide
Last update: 11 May 2016
To a large extent, character development in Risen 3 is based on gathering and spending Glory Points. You dispose of them just like of currency, which you spend on raising statistics in eight main categories - melee, ranged, cunning, influence, toughness, dexterity, magic and spirit. Only after you have reached a sufficiently high level, in a given category, you will be able to train the skills that you want to, for gold, with trainers. This is why, it is a good idea to make sure that you have enough glory points on you, at any time.
A prudent solution which I recommend, is to go to the Fog Island, to its South-Eastern part. There, you will find one of the legendary items - Freddy's Shackles. This item ensures you with a bonus, of 10%, to the Glory Points that you obtain. If obtained at the beginning of the game, where there still are lots of monsters and side quests, provides you with a huge bonus to character development. A detailed description of how to find the item can be found in the chapter entitled Legendary Items - Fog Island.
The most obvious way to be awarded Glory Points is completing quests that you receive from NPCs. Talk to them. Nearly all of them have some job for you. After you have completed a quest, remember to return to the questgiver - apart from gold, or some other reward, you will sometimes also receive Glory Points. Eliminate all beasts that you run into - apart from quests, this is the basic source of Glory Points. Also, you receive some, after you visit an island for the first time.
There is a separate screen to spend Glory points on. Thanks to the convenient system, you can raise the value of each statistic by 5 points, where each successive progression costs you more. In the bottom-right corner of the screen, you can see the ratio of all the Glory Points available to spend, to the price to progress for the next time in the currently selected category. Categories marked in gold are available to be raised, whereas the ones that are grayed-out are too expensive for you, as of now. If you consume herbs that raise a statistic by 2 points, try not to exceed thresholds of the next level. For example, your progress with values of 55 and 59 are just as costly. Always consume herbs and potions that increase statistics, after you progress, not before. This way, you will pay less for them.
I recommend against spending all glory points all at once. It is a good idea to have some spare points. While exploring the game world, you will encounter many trainers and some of the more unique skills can be learned only from a handful of them. After it turns out that you are several, e.g. dexterity, points short to buy a skill, you will be able to use up the Glory Points that you have saved up to make up for that.