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First of all, sorry for the necro. I figured out more details about summon mechanics which I believe is not covered here so I figured I might post it for future modders to reference. 1. Summon creatures intrinsic level is actually "creature base level+level scaling". For example, Priest's spiritual ally has base level of 9. If you summon spiritual ally in an area where +4 level scaling is active, it will scale to level 13 REGARDLESS of caster's level. If level 11 caster summon spiritual ally in an area with +4 scaling, summoned ally will be level 13. Scaling pushed it higher caster's level. If level 15 caster summon spiritual ally in an area with +4 scaling, summoned ally will be level 15.(spiritual ally obtain level 13 due to scaling then +2 level scaling to match caster's level) 2. "Summoned" vs "NotSummoned" It is known that summon creatures tagged as "NotSummoned' doesn't count towards summon limit. However, there is a disadvantage to use "NotSummoned" type. - "NotSummoned" creature doesn't scale to caster's level. In unmodded game, I believe the only ability related summon tagged as "NotSummoned" is Chanter's phrase "Many lives...". The summoned skeleton doesn't scale to match caster's level. BPM modded conjure familiars to " "NotSummoned" which unfortunately also cause them to stay at level 1. - However, if you play with level scaling on, they do get max +4 scaling which I explained above. Btw, the above apply to all summons including figurines. I did do testing on the above data however my game is heavily and messily modded by myself so if I happen to get it wrong, please forgive me.

To an extent:

It was basically the same experience as the second shot for me, which was like having the flu for one day, and the next day pretty much all better. And @Hurlshot was right about my nieces - no reaction at all to the second shot, they were perfectly fine.

[Heard at the top of Bekarna’s Observatory, one moonless night] Concelhaut – At last, I shall put an end to the perambulations of Archibald Troubafist! Time to “punch” your ticket, Watcher (hehehe). This might hurt a bit… Archibald Troubafist – You fool! Pain only makes me stronger! I shall fist you ‘til you die, then sing songs about it! Concelhaut – I… Wait, what?! Archibald Troubafist – Yallaaah! [Fist, Fist, Invocation, Fist, Fist, Fist, Invocation…] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Class: Troubadour/Forbidden Fist Concept: Somewhat counter-intuitive, self-sufficient Melee/Caster hybrid who punches hard, floods the battlefield with skellies and animated weapons to distract enemies, occasionally uses offensive invocations… and he can do that all day long thanks to never-ending renewable resources. Game Version: RTwP. Works with latest updates and DLCs as of v5.0.00040. I recommend the Full Community Patch and the No Forced Rests mod (otherwise just metagame around them, it’s fully viable but just a bit annoying). I think this is also a good build to play in Eric’s BPM. (?) PotD Solo Viable: Yes, tested on all Upscaled. Megabosses (except Auranic) need to be cheesed somehow. Of note, this is a Solo build that is also very compatible with party play – it will be the MVP of the team. Companion: Nope. -----WHAT IS INTERESTING ABOUT THIS BUILD?------ At first, I crafted this build to be counter-intuitively synergistic: creating a Solo MC Chanter/Monk who dumps Intelligence, who doesn’t take any summons invocations, and who chooses Her Tears instead of Eld Nary while being powerful enough to dominate on Upscaled PotD, AND running mostly on AI sounded like a very fun challenge. It worked totally as planned, being unstoppable and just going on and on forever against any opposition until there is no opposition… until I hit end-game content in the DLCs, where I realized that I needed to make a minor adjustment and still pick the Instruments of Death to tweak the odds in my favor on very serious fights. Animated Weapons is yet again here a cornerstone ability. From there, the build became even more powerful, even if a little less unique. (Again, this is due to Upscaled PotD. On any lower difficulty including PotD, this toon just steamrolls everything even without Animated Weapons.) The Troubadour side brings us healing in the beginning, nice AoE damage with Her Revenge, Her Tears or Eld Nary (Empowered with Sasha’s Scimitar as usual). It most importantly brings survivability at high level with Many Lives and Called To His Bidding: creating distractions that for the latter can also do damage, so that you spread out a bit the deadly incoming offense that Upscaled PotD throws at you. The Forbidden Fist side brings us very solid single target damage and healing, acceptable defenses with Tuotilo’s, Crucible of Suffering… and most importantly with max Resolve and hostile effect duration reduction from Enlightened Agony, it brings incredible resilience due to the inversion system in Deadfire’s calculations. Basically, no hostile effect can last longer than a few seconds at the very worst, and will heal us which is amazing… as long as we’re not the sole focus of attention of critical enemy parties (hence the Troubadour half for distraction). This build maximizes the use of the Forbidden Fist ability on AI thanks to optimized action speed vs. curse duration: at the top of our game, which is all the time, we have a Forbidden Fist ability total cycle time of 1.9s while the Curse lasts 1.7s. Perfect! To help with the automation of the FF fisting part, we pick Swift Flurry (of course) and Enlightened Agony, which isn’t very useful for the INT buff since we have Turning Wheel and max wounds… but helps with AI scripting (condition on NOT having INT inspiration). So the buffing and single target damage part is on autopilot, and we have the hand on using Phrases for Invocations (summons, Eld nary, Her revenge or Her tears which is absolutely devastating when surrounded). -----SPECS------ Race: Human for the 35 RES here, doesn’t really matter if you build up RES otherwise Background: Aedyr – Hunter FINAL STATS WITH ALL PERMABUFFS AND NO-REST BUFFS AS OF 5.0 (without combat buffs): MIG 26 (17 Base +1 Human +2 Berath +1 Gift from Machine +1 Rabyuna’s Boon +2 Alchemic Brawn +2 Hot Razor Skewers) CON 15 (8 Base +2 Berath +2 Alchemic Brawn +3 Girdle of Eoten CON) DEX 20 (12 Base +1 Rabyuna +2 Berath +2 Alchemic Guile +2 Amira’s Blessing +1 Boots of the Stone) PER 24 (18 Base +2 Berath +1 Effigy: Sagani +2 Alchemic Guile +1 Savage Cunning) INT 7 (3 Base +2 Berath +2 Alchemic Wits) RES 35 (17 Base +1 Human +1 Aedyr +2 Berath +2 Alchemic Wits +2 Nature’s Resolve +2 Rikuhu’s Blessing +2 Rabyuna +1 Cauldron’s Brew +2 Eviee Pet +2 Token of Faith +1 Boots of Stone) ADDITIONAL PERMABUFFS: Food: Hot Razor Skewers Adratic Glow All Trainings Dawnstar Blessing Luminous Adra Potion Nature’s Resolve (Accuracy) Savage Cunning (Survival) Galawain’s Gift Magran’s Blessing Immunity to all Sigils Infamous Captain, Bonus Skills, Champion Stats, Port Maje vendor, Fully discovered Map, Bonus Money… invested all 105 Berath’s Blessing Points SKILLS I just spent between Mechanics and Athletics, then a bit of Diplomacy/Survival but end game dump all in History. ----- ABILITIES ------ ACTIVES Chanter: Thrice Was She Wronged; And Hel Hyraf…; Not Felled By the Axe…; Her Revenge; …Nor Flame; So Singt thy Biting; Called To his Bidding. (Optional vs. So Singt thy Biting = Her Tears is devastating when you let the enemy surround you and empower it... but it costs 2 points). Monk: Swift Strike; Swift Flurry; Clarity Of Agony; Enlightened Agony; Duality; Turning Wheel. PASSIVES Chanter: Soft Winds; Ancient Memory; Rapid Casting; Quick Summoning; Many Lives. Monk: Two Weapons; Weapon & Shield; Long Stride; Soul Mirror; Crucible; Rooting Pain; Tough; Uncanny Luck; Improved Critical; Heartbeat Drumming. -----GEAR------ Weapon Set 1: Sasha’s Singing Scimitar (Refreshing Finale, Shocking Prelude), Tuotilo’s Palm (Precision Striker, Balanced Shield). Weapon Set 2: Can wield Grave Calling for chillfog cheese. Or a ranged weapon e.g. Bightheart. Head: Helm Of the White Void (+10 ACC to FF attack!). Neck: Token of Faith. Chest: Devil of Caroc (Devil’s Due, Heart of Bronze). Cape: Giftbearer’s Cloth. Gloves: Hylea’s Talons (amazing for any FF). Rings: Greater Regen, Entonia’s Ring. Boots: Boots of the Stone. Belt: Girdle of Eoten Constitution or Least Unstable Coil for Empower fun (not that impactful here). Pet: Eviee. -----STRATEGIES------ Turn Brisk Recitation on, and never turn it off. Early on, just use a chant with healing (Soft Winds/Ancient Memory), fight in a corner or narrow corridor and kill them all one by one. Later on, switch to Many Lives for distraction and alternate fisting and invocations. The tougher the opposition, the more summoning you want. In really hard fights, use potions (invisibility, healing, ascension, arcane reflection, ryngrim…) to get an edge. An invisibility potion at the beginning of the fight to have all enemies front load their worst abilities on your poor skellies and letting you cast Animated Weapons in peace can be invaluable. This build is a steady achiever, I had a lot of fun playing it. Hope it can inspire your inner cantor. Feedback always welcome!

sweet jeebus, that might explain why those druid sporelings carried me in that Sealed Fate ambush.

Great information. I had spotted something similar when addressing a bug about Minor Bog Ooze sometimes getting an ability and sometimes not depending on area (independantly from caster level). Your explaination is more general, but I confirm it is supported by facts spotted on my side. Ach ach that's a bit sad for poor BPM familiar, but given that it is more of a living self-buff (and possibly some fuel for Divine Retribution) than a combat summon, I don't think it is too bad. Still better than Conjurer being limited to 1 Summon, and sort of address the problem of flooding with familiars (with Brilliant or something similar). However, I might consider 2 mitigations : - Increasing a bit familiar base HP (arnound 50-75-100ish), so it doesn't die to a breeze (can't get too high because of low level, but would hardly be more broken than Ancient Sporelings), - reducing casting/recovery since the familiar has 0 raw power in actual combat. Maybe to 3s/0s.

oh for god sake hahaha club club yes the kapana taga i use lol

this is not true the "immunity to concentration" effect will immediately strip neriscyrlas of all layers of concentration, same with any other target with concentration. if it only prevented new concentration layers, it would be a *terrible* chant the only thing i can suggest is that it targets will, and you may not have been able to surmount ner's will defense.

Is the Nord man going to cut the tree for you, then?

Have run into this bug on a recent version of the game, and I am trying to make a fix. Essentially if you take the quest from Khan then head to Oathbinder's Sanctum, interrupt Oswald's trial, but let the Steel Garrotte proceed his execution. You are rewarded with 1400 copper, and at the end of the conversation teleported to the entrance chamber. This is where the problem occurs as to progress to the next stage of the quest you need to go back to trial chamber and search Oswald's body. From what I can tell the script that should set the variable "b_10_erol_body_searched" to "1" (True) when interacting with the corpse, doesn't activate when interacting with the loot pile that has replaced it with the scene changed. If you let the trial playout without interrupting it, then search the corpse the script will activates just fine though. Is there someway to maybe set it so a script will also trigger when searching this instance of the loot pile? Currently the only potential workaround I've come up with is to set following script on the Drunkard's Regret ring on his corpse, that activate once the item is picked up. { "GameDataObjects": [ { "$type": "Game.GameData.EquippableGameData, Assembly-CSharp", "DebugName": "Ring_U_Drunkards_Regret", "ID": "8e0aa96f-1726-43aa-8d67-a3a1c3816cdd", "Components": [{ "$type": "Game.GameData.DataScriptEventComponent, Assembly-CSharp", "Scripts": [{ "Event": "OnItemCollected", "Script": { "Conditional": { "Operator": 0, "Components": [] }, "Scripts": [{ "Data": { "FullName": "Void SetGlobalValue(String, Int32)", "Parameters": ["b_10_erol_body_searched", "1"], "Flags": "", "UnrealCall": "", }, "Conditional": { "Operator": 0, "Components": [] } } ] } } ] } ] } ] }

I've played Boeroer's geomancer build solo, and it is very tanky once you get your buffs up and summon a phantom to help deal with the aggro. It's definitely a very tanky build.

Then he stars as Vito Corleone in the Godfather reboot. It's about family, after all.

While Keanu was in Poland working with CDPR on the ill-fated Cyberpunk 2077, I guess he learned Aard.

pallegina as a crusader makes a great tank. paladin hardiness and party support, and you can use a shield + hold the line for 2 engagement, or just do whatever and turn on defender stance for 3 engagement. only downside is that pallegina wastes her subclass and her first skill point on a lame upgrade to sworn enemy and getting flames of devotion, neither of which are great for a tank, but the strength of her ancestry helps ease the pain of manually picking up lay on hands.

Lol, I knew I should have looked it up.

HA! Good Fun!

My booster shot was the worst of all three, like a day and a night of seriously unpleasant flu, and it only started something like 14 hours after, so everything is not lost yet for you. ....er...heh. Heh heh. Oh, have a video!

Found a nice day to get my third shot. Public holiday on Wednesday, have some time off on Thursday and Friday, so I got my shot today. If it whacks me down I won't miss much, and I should be good until the holiday comes up.

Brushed up a couple of portraits from earlier using the guide kindly provided by @Phenomenum .

is it? It is more likely lack of considerstion rather then proof of game’s scale.

Been awhile since I posted... ...fought some monsters... ...saw some nifty abilities... ...watched my demons talk to other demons. ...helped the fairy King and Queen... ...experienced drama... Yup. Surt. Guess I'll have to go around. Met these two again and taught not-Radiou Kuzunoha a lesson. And merged a bunch of demons for new demons. What's in the cards next?

Anyone solely relying on Steam reviews to make purchasing decisions is a foolish consumer IMHO. It's a nice supplement, I like to read a couple positive reviews and a couple negative ones, but I'll also look for "professional" reviews both in written and video form, preferably from trusted sources. It's on a case by case basis how much research I do. If it's something from a series and/or developer I am already familiar with and predisposed to liking, I'm just looking to see that the devs didn't royally **** up a formula I already like. If I'm going into totally uncharted territory then I'll do a lot more research.

Episode five: Was almost an episode in the sense that there were only a few instances of stupid, some nice moments that happen and decent setup for the final episode of the OVA. All that's left is to be disappointed by the resolution, but I'll do that tomorrow, I think. Then it's either the TV show version or the Nanoha movies. No, there aren't, but the show practically starts her off bowing over Shinji for no other reason than to stare at her ass for a bit before the mine goes off and blows over her car. It's not during any important character moments unless it is part of them (like Asuka dangling her assets in front of Shinji's face). Insofar that's pretty well done, most of the time. Nanoha has this sort of art style that's just... I don't know. I didn't hate it, but I also didn't like it, and for the action scenes at least, it wasn't a good fit. It needed a more visceral feel and more detail to make them really work, like NGE or maybe Cowboy Bepop (since people are talking about the live action adaptation currently). edit: Forgot to talk about Miranda, yeah, dunno, my idea of genetic perfection is pretty different, but hey, she's a female clone of Martin Sheen, so some problems are to be expected, right?

Cat that has trained an entire apt. complex to do its bidding.

The -5 secs will only get applied to existing hostile effects that are currently on you when you cast Clarity of Agony. For the rest of the duration of CoA newly applied hostile effects will get the -50% duration, but not the -5 secs. So it has an immediate effect (-5 secs from all current hostile effects) as well as an ongoing effect (-50%).

Bell's Theorem demonstrates that there are no local hidden variables in quantum mechanics. As far as we have been able to demonstrate, it is utterly and completely random. If you can prove otherwise, the physics community would be very interested. Bell’s Theorem

With Muse of Mystery from the Robes of the Weyc (since you use the Weyc Wand I suppose you got also the robe), after empowering your phrase, Thick Grew... is going to hit every 2s (or crit and so interrupt). Ennemies' recovery time is rarely quickly than 2s, then (if the chant crit, vs will) they are generally fully disabled. I like to use a MC troubadour - druid because on top of that, I have 3s' pulses spells targeting every kind of defenses, from Tanglefoot (reflex) to Wicked briars and Venombloom (deflection) through Wall of thorns or Retentless Storm (6s)(fortitude) or Nature Terror (reflex and after, will). It is also easy to use the Least Unstable Coil with a chanter-druid, and the cat form provide a +33% action speed non-restricted to the cat form itself ; Druid get 2 spells with "immunity to concentration" targeting fortitude in the case where ennemie will is superior. My best interruptor personally. As well, it is fun to spawn 1 skeleton every 2s., and it is protective, when the Thick Grew chant doesnt work for any reason.

Since Raithe mentioned Romeo and Juliet... By any objective measure its plot is actively worse than pretty much any modern movie's and almost all modern media full stop. Massively contrived at all points, ludicrously contrived ending, maudlin, and the entire plot from meeting to falling in love to eloping to suicide with duels etc along the way takes place over- and this is literally, literally- one day. If it wasn't 400+ years old, written by Bill the Bard, directed by [famous director] with [RSC alums] acting it would be laughed at by the elitists.

That's the same as suggesting more than one Matrix film was made. It's something that contemptuous fools occasionally do...but that's all, .

Edit: And yes, I know that isn't actually the fully correct story, but the focus is on the picture..

I think that after this season I'm probably done with football for a long while. Maybe for good.

(once again, sorry for the multiple post, but I think this one should be the last of the analysis) So now it's Chanter turn. One thing to keep in mind with Chanters is that all their summons share the exact same pool of ressources. So if each one has not a clear role, it will be completely useless (meanwhile a Druid may sometimes cast Lesser Blight only because it's his last Spell Tier with a Summon). Skeletons : Will scale at levels 9, 13, 17. They start as poor so they have "fine" weapons at level 20. Scaling will not apply to split skeletons (for some reasons, they benefit from difficulty level scaling, so not applying scaling is the best way to make sure they stay "lesser"). Role : Skeletons are here for their numbers. They're fine at it (and have much combo potential). Note : Scaling will not apply to "Many Lives..." phrase skeletons (because they don't scale anyway). Phantom : Will scale at levels 5, 9, 13, 17. Phantom upgrade duration : 25s -> 60s. Role : with such a duration, Phantom will be design as "summon and forget" for those chanters that don't like summons but still want an extra body. He's cheap, he stays for long so I think it's a good niche for him. Wurms : Will scale at levels 13, 17. Upgrade cost : 4 phrases -> 3 phrases (I have already aligned all chanter upgraded invocations with the cost of their original ability ; I want to keep this principle : an upgrade should be a strict upgrade, as for all other abilities / classes) Role : Wurms are cheap ranged brute force. If you look at the table, they have pretty good attack strength for their cost, especially when upgraded. So I don't want to "overscale" them. I don't want cheaper Ancient Weapons... ! 2 scaling is just enough to bring them to 11 PEN, which is kind of "default PEN" for level 20 weapons. Wisps : Will scale at levels 5, 9, 13, 17. Role : Wisps are utility-based summons and I think they are in a good spot for Interrupting / Distracting. Full scaling won't do much for their lowish attack but will at least bring them to 11 PEN. Ogres : Will scale at levels 9, 13, 17. Role : Tanks with damage dealing potential. With a bit of armor scaling, they will become tougher than Animated Weapons. Oh, and they have this wonderful 3 base Engagements. I want to make sure they don't reach Animated Weapon DPS potential. They have a slow attack rate (due to their recovery), so it's ok. However they will still do okay damages in melee with a bit of scaling (they needed PEN scaling to stay relevant). Drake : Will scale at levels 5, 9, 13, 17. Duration 25s -> 35s. To add : Ground Immunity, Fear Aura and Dex Resistance that all other drakes have (Dragon Summon gets an improved version of Fear Aura). 2 Knockdowns -> 3 1 Fire Breath -> 2 Role : Drake is on a weird spot : it is basically a lesser version of Dragon Summon, but is not that much cheaper. It comes alone (well till its death), but its barely OK stats don't really give him an edge over multiple summons (Ogres or Weapons for example). Its upgrade require it to die to be useful, which may not happen reliably. That's why I think it deserved a good buff. Stat-wise, first, with full scaling. I also added the classic resistances and fear aura of other Drakes. Even with this, I doubt that it matches the raw power of Ogres and Weapons, that's why I want to increase the number of uses of its AoE abilities, to give him an edge over them (especially Ogres who have a bit of AoE themselves). Even with all this, Drake remains a weaker dragon. That's why I wanted to emphasize its longer duration side since its the only logical edge he can get over a grown-up. The result, I hope, is a well-rounded summon who can tank a bit, attack a bit, have some AoE and utility, has an average summoning cost and last for a decent duration (but less than hey phantom). Dank Spore : Will scale at levels 5, 9, 13, 17. Duration 25s -> 35s. Role : Dank Spore is an utility summon, but still a bit weak since its charm ability has a long casting/recovery and its upgrade's stinky cloud can be tricky to use. Some scaling will help it a bit (the current version already scale in a weird way for some reason), as well as a slightly longer duration (which also help getting sure he stays long enough to be killed). Animated Weapons : Are currently already fully scaled. No change. Role : Summons so good I had to analyse all other summons to make sure they could be relevant in front of them. Great brute force with a bit of Prone attacks from Animated Pike. Dragon : Will scale at levels 5, 9, 13, 17 (well, it will be fully scaled at level 19 when you get it) In addition to scaling, I'm going to change Dragon stats because they currently don't make sense, with a bottomless pit of health but lower AR and attack than the drake ! - Armor 7->10(+4 from scaling) with resistance to Fire and Slash and vulnerability to pierce. (Based on the (scaled) version of the Drake, +1 AR) - Health 200 + 50/level -> 100 + 30/level - Attack : 16-22 CRU/PIER, 7 PEN, normal attack speed -> 20-26 CRU/PIER, 9 PEN, fast attack (+scaling) (this is based on the drake attack, but slightly improved) Role : the ultimate summon, but not the best at everything. Its defense will be good, and HP the best, but multiple summons could still have more total HP and AR is not significant vs everything in PotD upscaled. The Dragon is mostly about AoE. It is also good at tanking but it has a rather low duration (less benefit from PL). I don't think improving its auto-attack is that significant because the dragon should mostly use its special attacks. But a 7 PEN attack was not noble enough for this creature. Its fear Aura also brings a bit of utility.

As I said yesterday, I wasn't fully convinced because of 2 issues : - Inequal summons. Multiple summons just feels better. Just too much. - Risk of making priest into top tier summon spammers, which they aren't meant to be. The PL malus was the limitating factor for Incarnate, so they could only spam Spiritual Ally without backfire. So I'm going to address this the following way : Change -5 PL malus for 30s into stacking -1 PL malus for 300s (instead of -2 PL for 30s) EDIT : mmm 180s will be enough. This is supposed to make using Incarnate once not too bad, but using it several times in a row (especially thanks to Brilliant) more punishing. I could have made it last the whole battle, but I wanted to leave hope for Megaboss encounters, especially for a High Resolve build. 300s will not stop at the end of the fight, because I wanted to make the stacking malus relevant even if Brilliant is not used (at least for for vibe, the player can still way for the effect to wear off). Incarnate really felt like a "last resort" ability, not something one should use everytime, and I wanted to keep this feeling. Note that is also meant to mitigate the inequality between Subclasses' Incarnate. Use Incarnate Tiers to compensate for Subclasses Tiers There are 3 Priests subclasses Tiers for me (and Thelee's Gamefaqs is more or less aligned with it), leaving Woedica apart from the debate because no Incarnate and Gaun and Rymrgand too because their incarnate are good enough and pre-determined Companions can be a litte stronger : - Tier A : Wael and Skaen because they bring completely new abilities the class. - Tier B : Berath and Magran, cause they bring many abilities, but not as "new" as the other (other damages spells aren't exactly new compare to Invisibility or Defense self-buffs) - Tier C : Eothas, cause he only brings his symbol and Sunbeam. Eothas still okay for MC cause it saves a lots of ability points for "classic" priest abilities, which is relevant in this case, but is very meh for SC. Incarnates are currently the following tier : - Tier A : Eothas (3 almost always better than 1) - Tier B : Berath (2 almost always better than 1 and worse than 3) - Tier C : Magran, Wael and Skaen. So I came to the conclusion that Magran's Incarnate can be buffed to match the power of Berath's pair. With Magran on Tier B, we will have a perfect mirror of Subclass Tiers. Magran's Incarnate is going to be a Defensive Juggernaut, Impervious to Hostile effect with a level of attack comparable to Skaen (but without Sneak Attack, so Skaen would still be better at pure damage dealing). I will set its CON to 25 (nearly as much HP as Skaen's), RES to 25 (-45% Hostile effect duration, feel free to add an Inspiration on top of that). Armor would be changed to 14 AR without weakness apart Cold and its Recovery would be lowered from +67% to +34% (this value comes from a Fighter with Armored Grace wearing a heavy armor. This is suitable for Magran who is an Armored Garce, pardon my French)

What I intend to do for Priests (sorry for the multiple posting but I write this when I have time) : Spirtual Ally :Will scale at levels 5, 9, 13, 17 (Mace, Armor & Shields) Tune down duration to 25s because scaling weapons make him much better at high level and it was already a decent summon. In practice, Spiritual Ally seldom dies in battle so lower duration will makes it last less. It will poke much harder, but it will not change his non-weapon abilities (heal & corrode cone). Incarnates : First, I will lower the PL penalty to -2 PL because it makes the ability a bit too committing to use. I will also lower the duration to 30s since it was affected by PL malus to compensate. Now for specific Incarnates, they are mostly buffed (bar Rymrgand's), but I think they will not exceed the level of quality expected from a Tier IX Spell, especially considering you don't directly control them and get a PL malus : - Eothas : Equipment set to Legendary Quality. Note that this is basically the same as Full scaling since Incarnate is a spell you get at level 19, after the last scaling. Eothas trio is arguably the strongest incarnate, but since SC Eothas priest are also the ones that get the less non-priest bonus spells, I would say this is legit. - Berath : Equipment set to Legendary Quality too (including Pallid Knight armor which was basic : she had no more armor than the Usher...). Pallid Knight & Usher would be indeed a strong duo. - Magran : Weapon set to Legendary Quality, armor upgraded to Rathun Lord quality (+2AR). - Skaen : get 2 scaling bonus (+2 PEN, + 8 Acc, +30% damages with weapons, +2 AR). Skaen felt a tad weak, especially PEN / AR, so I think this will fit. - Wael : get 4 scaling bonus (+4 PEN, + 16 Acc, +60% damages with weapons, +4 AR). Wael's Incarnate is basically a greater blight with better stats but without greater blight ultimate ability (it is limited to normal blight's ones). I will also give him +10 CON so its health pool is more in line with other Single Incarnate. I will also add +5 DEX, +5 PER : since Wael is only auto-attacking it is good to make it at least good at that ! - Rymrgand : No changes to this monster.

Okay, so here what I plan to do with druid (already coded and tested for Greater Blights and Call of the Primordials) : General Principle (also appliable to other classes) : Scaling may happen at levels 5, 9, 13, 17. Each scaling add +4 Acc, +15% damages, +1 PEN for weapons (spell-like abilities are unaffected) and +1 AR in addition to +3Acc/All Defenses that every creatures get. This is identical to already scaling creatures such as Pets or Animated Weapons (or summoned Weapons and Armors). But since some summons start very strong, they may not get all the scaling levels. There would be 5 categories : - Some summons will scale at levels 5, 9, 13, 17 (full scaling, for a total of +16 Acc, +60% damages, +4 PEN and +4 AR) - Some summons will scale at levels 9, 13, 17 - Some summons will scale at levels 13, 17 - Some summons will scale at level 17 (theoritical for the moment) - Some summons will not scale at all (for example Ryrmgand Incarnate is strong enough and do not require any scale. It might be interpreted as if the base stats of the creature already include Fine / Exceptional / Superb / Legendary weapons and armors. However, the main goal is balancing the various abilities. So low level summons may also get fewer scaling levels. In addition, I may change other stats of the Summon Spells or Summoned Creatures for various purposes. Side note : the changes will not affect the Bestiary creature that the summoned is based on. Ondra's Whip, Watery Double, Lashing Vine : no changes. I think these abilities are balanced as they are (and they all scale at levels 5, 9, 13, 17 ). Summon Sporelings : Will scale at levels 13, 17 only. These summons are already very tanky for their spell Tier, with very good duration. They are subclass-specific so I feel it is legit if they are a bit stronger, but full scaling would probably be too much. All Blights Summons : Will scale at levels 5, 9, 13, 17. I think these spells needed a bit of a buff, so full scaling felt suitable. In addition, since each Tier of Blight summon basically gives +1PEN, AR and damages (as well as a new ability), their stats would be very similar if Minor Blights scaled more than normal and greater ones. Higher Tier summons should be stronger than lower Tier counterparts, that's why I gave max scaling to all of them. Call to the Primordials : Scaling will depend on the Ooze : Greater Black Ooze will scale at levels 9, 13, 17. Adra Ooze will scale at levels 9, 13, 17. Magma Ooze will scale at levels 13, 17. Bog Ooze will not scale at all. (The difference is based on the base level of the creature, but they all end up with 11 PEN) Call to the Primordials nerfed to summon only 2 Oozes. This spell already feels too strong so I want to seize the opportunity to make it more in line with other summons. Fire Stag : (already scales at levels 5, 9, 13, 17) (minor) Change its fire shield so it procs on damages as other fire shields, and not on Hit/Crit. Set Engagement limit to base 3, so it can be more focused on being a decoy. Adjust base damages to 13 - 19 with PEN 8 (equivalent of a sword with +2 PEN and fast attack rate), so it feels potent for a summon of this Tier. Remove the possibility to abuse Barring Death Door for multiple self-destructions. Possibly adjust the self-destruction effect (maybe no friendly fire, also proc if the creature is killed ?) Aspect of Galawain : (already scales at levels 5, 9, 13, 17) Adjust base damages to 13 - 19 with PEN 8 (equivalent of a sword with +2 PEN and fast attack rate), so it feels potent for a summon of this Tier. Wolf would get higher base damage. Adjust armor base 5 AR -> base 8 AR, 25% recovery -> 0% recovery. Bear would get +2 AR. (they would basically get the equivalent of Spiritshift armors) Add a Prone on Hit effect to its base attack (EDIT : only Interrupt on Hit since the beast has very high attack rate) so it feels like a living Concelhaut Crushing Doom (or Animated Pike and its plentiful Knockdowns). This is meant to be similar to pet's takedowns since the ability is already based on Ranger's pet. Please tell me what you think of these changes, especially if something feels too powerful.

I don't even think it was an intentional retcon; I think it was simply a 'retcon' that came up due to limited quality assurance, editing, and customer feedback, which is no surprise in the entertainment industry. The fact that so many threads about this topic exist and that a great many people are confused is evidence of that. If Obsidian intended for us to come to the explanation and conclusion you're selling, then this confusion wouldn't exist and there would be no debate. Many movies, games, and fictional stories have contradictions and missing information which forces users to 'plug in the holes' themselves. You and many PoE customers are doing exactly that, plugging the holes in the story. I respect your explanation and certainly find it plausible that the gods have been deceiving us all this time, but until the game confirms this with upcoming DLCs or PoE III, this is just one of many conjectures.