Leaderboard

The last thing, I want from any tabletop RPG is hack and slash

Ascendant/arcane archer was a very good choice and at higher level you could fill your focus bar in 2 shots with Frostseeker. At lower level you can start the fight with Thunderous Report from Kitchen Stove and then switch to your bow. PS. Frostseeker generates focus with all hits, including the AoE procs. However the imbued shots trigger only from the first hit.

I make my own beer which -let's be honest- tastes like crap. A couple days ago I was drinking some of my own homemade beer while watching Cowboy Bebop and they suddenly land on Callisto: What are you looking for? All you will find here are men and rancid booze. Yup, I drink 'rancid booze'.

Hi all! Tim Cain started an awesome YT channel. Reveals he's semi-retired since 2020, but working as a contractor for Obsidian and other companies. So far he's been talking about Troika, Arcanum, Bloodlines, Fallout and ... an unreleased Lord of the Rings game from 2001. Stories of Pillars of Eternity might follow, he's mentioned that and Tyranny a few times.

Introduction and Principles : I have the project to make a "small" balance mod for PoE1. I haven't much time to work on it right now, my target date is more about this summer, but I think it's better to get comment as soon as possible since the activity on this forum is decreasing... Mostly, I would like to gather some feedback before it's too late to get "enlightened" reviews. I am already the author of a rather big balance mod for PoE2 ( Deadfire Balance Polishing Mod at Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Nexus - Mods and Community (nexusmods.com) ). I don't want to do something that big for PoE1 since modding PoE1 is a bit more complicated and I don't have that much time to invest again. In addition, I won't find it that suitable since I'm in love with many of PoE1 « unbalanced » features (such as Dragon Trashed. builds..). Finally no multiclassing tends to reduce the number of potentially OP combinations. My objectives are only to make every combination of Races and Classes relevant enough. All classes shall be able to fullfill a particular role (or combinations of roles) better than anyone else in a party (Solo is a secondary concern for me). A couple of warnings before sharing the details : - I won't try address all bugs and glitches. By experience, there are just too many of them. - I won't do anything else than tweaking numbers beacuse of the technical difficulty to do so. I can increase damages, duration, values of bonus or even add a scaling per level (seems simple enough). So please try to avoid making suggestions that would require adding new properties to a particular ability. - The total number of changes should be close to the list I will present below (I can include a couple more suggested changes, but not too many...). My vision of current class balance : Tier S : is about casters who can unleash many (great) casts when needed Tier S++ : Priest. Close to impossible to replace as party support (and solid for everything else). Playing without a Priest in one's party is like rising the level of difficulty... literally since PotD adds like +15 Accuracy and Defenses to foes, while a priest get basically adds around +30 Accuracy and +60 Defenses (even if it requires casting time and a party slot). Tier S+ : Wizard. Incredibly strong on its own. Special mention to Ninagauth Shadowflames which is way too strong (even for a special reward) and you can cast it every encounter from lvl 15. Tier S : Druid Tier A : Solid tier All of these classes have some very strong specials. Here are the reason why most of the classes fit in this category : Chanter : Dragon Trashed is crazy strong, and they can do that while standing in the strongest armors (and pocking with weapons). Paladin : similar to Chanters (even tankier) thanks to Sacred Immolation, less powerful but with a lots of other support goodies (instant resurrection, auras, spike damages with FoD, etc...) Ranger : very strong ranged damages with Twinned Arrows (basically doubles DPS), a good pet from the later version of the game, reccursive Stuns from Stunning Shots. Monks : very versatile with summons, Crowd Control, good DPS abilities, and tankiness through Iron Skin Barbarian : great AoE damages with possible added Crowd Control (through interrupts or overbearing weapons). Spike AoE damages with Heart of Fury. Cipher : extremely versatile casters with great weapon damages. Defensive Mindweb is super good. Tier B : slightly subpar Tier Tier B+ : Fighters : some nice goodies, but not something as gamechanging as the previous ones. Just needs a trump card similar to what is Sacred Immolation or Twinned Arrows for their respective classes. Tier B : Rogue : great Single Target DPS... but not that much greater than Ranger with a lots more weaknesses and no really great other goodies. As a consequence of th I will try to do the following : - Give a super endgame ability to Fighters - Improve the Rogue substancially and also give them a super endgame ability - Tweak down a couple of Priests and Wizards spells that I consider particularly annoying. Note that I would include nerfs in an optional component. (as I did for my PoE2 nerfs) - Try to reduce the gap caused by Rest Spamming (see below) Focus on the Rest Spamming issue : Limitating rest is part of the usual game experience. If you rest spam, some classes (casters) are way stronger and restricting oneself from using per rest ressources is part of PoE1 game design. Of you roleplay a minimum, you won't go back to the nearest inn every other fight. You may find this gamplay annoying, but I don't want to touch this. However, it would certainly be a good idea for another mod !! It would most likely require to lower Wiz/Priest/Druid casts to 1-2 per spell level as it was done in PoE2. On the contrary, one of the general principles of this balance mod would be to increase the number of per Rest casts for all non spellcasters. One of the biggest strength of casters (Wiz, Priest, Druids) is that they have a lots of casts for boss fights, making them God tier for such battles. Increasing the number of Per Rest casts of martial classes would reduce the gap. A lot of Per Rest abilities are actually quite good vs bosses (Unbending, Deprive the Unworthy, Finishing Blow), and I feel weird that they usually get 1-2 casts of them while casters get 4 casts on each Tier (not even counting mastery). Since my purpose is to give more Per Rest casts to martial classes in general, my rule would be by default to give 4x Per Rest cast of everything Per Rest. Because 4x Per Rest cast is what casters gain per spell level, it would feel fair. Sometimes I would make exception to 3x if the ability feels a bit strong (Unbending, as it is) or 5x if weak/spammy (Binding Roots as it is, or Hastening Exhortation). Expect +2x Per Rest cast compared to current values, with some exceptions (Unbending and Binding Roots feel quite balanced as they are, so no +2 Per Rest cast). The result of this tweak would probably to have martials/cipher/chanter to do the biggest part of the work for "minor" fights due to passive and Per Encounter spams (until Mastery at least) while Druid/Wiz/Priest would still carry the party for boss fights, but with other classes also contributing more than before. Detailed preliminary list of changes: Fighter Clear Out : 4x per Rest Sundering Blow : duration 8s -> 30s, -8DR -> -10DR I want to make Sundering Blow the best DR reducer of the game by a significant margin. This would ensure the utility of fighters versus bosses. Also note that using it with a blunderbuss makes it basically an autohit, unlike similar abilities. Ney it's melee only Paladin Hastening Exhortation : 5x per Rest Deprive the Unworthy : 4x per Rest Monk Clarity of Agony : 4x per Rest Barbarian Barbaric Shout : 4x per Rest Wild Sprint : 5x per Rest Ranger Revive Companion : 3x per Rest Master's Call : 5x per Rest Rogue - Sneak Attack : +50% base +10% per 3 lvl beyond 1, up to +100% at level 16 - Dirty Fighting : 10% => 15% crit - Riposte : 30% chances on miss too - Withering Strike : 1x => 2x per encounter - Fearsome Strike : 4x per Rest - Feign Death : Prone 10s -> 3s, invisible 6s -> 12s - Deep wounds : add +3 raw damages scaling per 6 lvl beyond 1 up to 9 raw damages per 3s tick at level 13 - Finishing Blow : 4x per Rest Finishing Blow : +5 Acc, +50% damages, +3% damages per 1% health loss below 50% => +10 Acc, +3% damages per 1% health loss from 100% (up to +300%) Devastatating Blow +5 Acc, +50% damages, +5% damages per 1% health loss below 50% => +10 Acc, +4% damages per 1% health loss from 100% (up to +400%) Most Rogue changes have already been discussed here : Melee Rogue is too weak on PotD Upscale - Page 2 - Pillars of Eternity: Characters Builds, Strategies & the Unity Engine (Spoiler Warning!) - Obsidian Forum Community Wizard (in a distinct nerf component) Shadowflame : Paralysis 6s -> 4s This one is specifically annoying because an AoE Paralysis with a significant duration that can be spammed every fight or 6x times on a single encounter can really break the game. Priest (in a distinct nerf component) Devotion for the Faithful : -20 acc for foes -> -10, -10 mig for foes-> -4, +20 Acc for friends -> -10 (in a nutshell, that's PoE2 values) Crow of the Faithful : +25 Resolve -> +6 Resolve As stated above, Priests are just too good at buffing party. DftF is arguably the best spell of the game since High Accuracy help everything including landing Crowd Control, and you're even debuffing your foes on top of this ! Also Resolve is arguably the worst attribute, but at least it brings a sometimes critical resistance to interrupt. By buffing it so much, CotF basically makes your initial Resolve attribute insignificant. Race changes Death Godlike : damages to foes under 25% endurance : 25% => EDIT 25%+7% damages per 3 lvl, up to +60% at level 16. Nature Godlike : bonus set to +3 to Mig, Dex and Con when under 50% health, +1 per 6 lvl up to +5 to Mig, Dex and Con at lvl 13. Mountain Dwarf : +20 -> +40 vs poison and disease (+20 is too weak and was basically only useful for 1 single build, @Boeroer's Bilestomper) Additional change : 1-Handed Style : 15% Crit -> 25% (basically the same level of power as what I did for my PoE2 mod)

The thread for PoE1 "small" BPM has been initiated : PoE1 (small) Balance Polishing Mod - Pillars of Eternity: Characters Builds, Strategies & the Unity Engine (Spoiler Warning!) - Obsidian Forum Community

1. I thought the first couple of episodes were such hot garbage that I gave up...uh, well, after the first two episodes. But... 2. Actually, it's pretty much the same story on why I gave up on Gravity Falls as well, except that was more like...5-6 episodes and not just 2. 3. I have been told, repeatedly, that both shows get much better after their initial poor starts. Which is actually pretty believable to me, especially when I look at Steven Universe and how bad and clunky it starts out as well. Western animated children's shows that are secretly kind of aimed at adults* seem to have to battle with their networks to start out with before they become established and get more license to do what they actually want to do. Well, that kind of happened at the end of Steven Universe when it effectively got soft-cancelled (i.e. had to rush to the conclusion...and conversely had bizarre filler-ish episodes that felt like they belonged to a different show) as well, but same idea really. *There is another problem with cartoons like this: networks like Cartoon Network and Disney don't usually really care too much about the shows or their content...so long as they sell their bloody merchandise quotas. The issue is that shows with primarily adult audiences don't sell nearly as much merchandise as shows with primarily child audiences, which is often why such shows get cancelled prematurely even when they seem to have good viewership and critic ratings. Sigh. it sounds like the first two episodes were at least more enjoyable than any episode of Noir, so there is that

...ne'er install any o' that damnable ASUS AI Suite crap; all it does be clog shyte up...swears by ASUS mobos, I does, but I ne'er installs that "extra" shyte anymores an' me systems run smoother without 'em... ...WHO LUVS YA, BABY!!...

UK intelligence take on Russian labor market, which was discussed here few days ago.

Started playing Wartales. I have to make myself play the game without feeling the need to get the best results. It's not that kind of a game.

Not entirely certain what to make of it after just two episodes, and I really don't know how they managed to drag out the concept over three seasons and some OVAs and specials, but after the second episode, I'm tentatively hoping that it won't end in a dumpster fire. If indeed this is, at worst, a somewhat relaxing show about nothing with a scene that reminds me of watching better animes, then I'm willing to call that a win. What I am not certain of is if the setup and the silliness in the second half of the second episode made me laugh on its own merit, or if it worked because it reminded me of, uhm... a certain other anime season directed by Junichi Sato that we all kind of enjoyed. If it really is only the latter than it will probably not stand up to scrutiny, even in the first season, let alone three of them. Well, at least it is a short series regardless.

I can't help thinking that with all the missiles fired and all the air defence work being done, the odds of shooting down one Super Missile are bound to increase by the sheer force of numbers, even if skill has essentially nothing to do with it. So I won't be all that impressed if one Kinzhal is demonstratably shot down. If someone manages to bring down three, I'll definitely change my mind. [Incidentally, the American author John Barth has, in his book Sabbatical, a nice side note concerning the power of numbers. It states that while any individual sperm ejaculated is almost certain to perish, the fact remains that if the average male in the average marriage wishes to conceive two and precisely two children, odds are that he will. ]

Standard ballistic missiles are intrinsically predictable, precisely because they're ballistic: they go up, they go sideways, they go down. It's what they do. There's no reason you can't shoot down any missile, it's a matter of probabilities and the faster and more manoevrable they are the harder it is. The Saudis were at times firing entire batteries of Patriots to take down one ancient Scud though, hence their constant requests for more missiles. A Kinzhal is basically an Iskander missile fired horizontally from altitude, and is not ballistic* in the normal sense despite what many articles say, it's far closer to a glide bomb, just not gliding, obviously. Or a very fast ATGM maybe.They say it was ballistic though because, of course, the Ukrainians said at the time a ballistic missile was fired. In any case, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence and, well, people would be ridiculing Russia if they claimed something with the level of proof Ukraine has for that shoot down which amounts to the most generic 'warhead' imaginable with a hole in it and a... pipe which is even less identifiable than the warhead. It's particularly funny after we had a drone toodling over central Kiev for 20 minutes during which time the Ukrainians hit one of their own buildings with a missile again (having initially said it was... a drone attack, of course). Thank goodness they found some good news the same day. Note also: this is not the first time it's been claimed that a kinzhal has been downed- it was also claimed with no evidence on 26 Jan 2023. As always, one suspects you weren't really meant to remember it a few months later though. This is, of course, the first time the claim has been made, when, hmm, a US firm stands to benefit. I wonder if the NYT sources work for Raytheon. Oh well who knows. *technically of course even a rifle bullet describes a ballistic trajectory, just a very flat one. If you said you received ballistic fire and meant rifle rounds though people would think you were taking the mick, or being incredibly precious. Since the kinzhal is fired horizontally it's far closer to that rifle round in terms of trajectory.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-says-it-downed-hypersonic-russian-missile-with-us-air-defence-system-2023-05-06/ Updated link on this, the US Patriot system was only delivered last month I love the part " The Kinzhal, which means "dagger" in Russian, is one of six "next generation" weapons unveiled by President Vladimir Putin in 2018 when the Russian leader boasted that it cannot be shot down by any of the world's air defence systems "

Might increases the raw damage reapplied since the 30% damage calculation depends on how much damage you did in the first place. All sources of +damage like inspired Beacon stack on each hit which affects the raw damage amount. Damage is always 30%, so it will be affected by power level if and only if power level increases the damage of your attacks, like power level increases transcendent suffering (monk fist) damage, and most spell damage, but typically not weapon damage.

Picked up Space Haven on GoG. As a kid, I would always build spaceships with legos. It wasn't too fancy, I'd just take the base plates and connect them, and then build quarters and engine rooms and a bridge. This game lets me do that. The nice thing is it lets you control characters directly for certain events like exploring ships. It's a pretty fun game.

I can confirm that the bug does exist. Having any of the mother demon set and using the bardic inspiration mutation on, you somehow end up applying the poison and venom coating to yourself. It seems like this would be a bug, since it's supposed to empower.. not debuff the player nor this mentioned on the wiki.

It would add a lot to have events that are optional where large or small parts of the map are effected like a mower event where you can have a part of the lawn be mowed and it sets a timer for like ten minutes or so where the grass is cut and creatures are out and mad like red ants will attack on sight and wolf spiders roam outside there area so you can get more loot at a higher challenge and then have some high tier creatures like black ox beetles spawn there or an event like heavy rain where a part of the yard floods and causes structures to be destroyed unless they have a buoyant foundation. It would also be cool to have a new map where instead of regrowing at the end of the game you are instead sent to a new area like the front yard where it would have a lot of the same resources, creatures and locations and, some new ones. The weather could even change between the maps such as when you go to the front yard it has been long enough for it to be winter where there is new gear like a winter jacket made form low level gnat fuzz and a better jacket made from bee or moth fuzz and it could add new structures made of snow or have it be spring where it rains and the rain could make you cold if you are wet to long and add rain gear like a clover hat to help keep dry.

I'm not one to condone murder, but this lad was doing the world a service.

...from Megatron or Starscream??... ...WHO LUVS YA, BABY!!...

I splurged for the good stuff: Best vodka money can buy IMHO.

Theoretically, if you do not switch to custom mode with the disabling of certain fine settings, then no achievements should not be disabled.

Saved a bumblebee.

Buy Raytheon stock now.

The joke about it being lucky no one knows what they do applies to so many places

Seers are very powerful for what it's worth. It's less about ranger abilities than that you can stack accuracy higher than any other multiclass and crit most attacks. They do require some micromanagement to get the most out of them, like using marked prey, flanking targets with your pet and attacking targets threatened by the pet (for stalkers link). You also want to keep up borrowed instinct most of the time. Some weapons fill focus faster than others. The ones that fill the most hit multiple opponents. Some people are fond of whispers of the endless paths for this, as it hits in a cone. What weapons did you use? Dual mortars can also build a lot of focus, or dual blunderbusses. The red hand is very high DPS. Also the bows Frostseeker and Essence Interrupter. Some multiclass combinations can make it easier to fill focus. For example, wizards have citzals spirit lance that can strike several enemies at once. Kalakoths minor blights also can hit several enemies. You can collect 200+ focus in at most two attacks at higher levels. Often one. So blood mage / cipher can be very powerful. You may consider psions as well since they generate focus passively. Psions go particularly well multiclassed with other caster classes since you can simply cast spells from the other class while generating focus. Psion / troubadour is a great combination. So is blood mage / psion. Forbidden fist / cipher has a very powerful base attack, forbidden fist, which can fill 200+ focus in 2 to 3 attacks. These forbidden fist strikes also heal you and enfeeble the enemy making it a powerful combination (especially with soul blade since it is a melee attack anyway). For forbidden fist to work properly with focus you need the community patch https://www.nexusmods.com/pillarsofeternity2/mods/335

Commander of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has confirmed today, that the Kinzhal was indeed successfully intercepted near Kiyv by Patriot air defence system. https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/05/6/7400941/

Stop that, it was entirely beneficial for the islanders to get exposed to some overseas cultures. Without my ancestors, they wouldn't have had a proper language, but still using that mix of grunting sounds and Latin they were using, not to mention teaching them some really important life skills like warfare and beer drinking! Don't get me started on the spiritual side of things, teaching those heathens some proper gods to worship, like Odin and Thor, instead of kneeling down before dumb rocks, worshiping tree stubs and praying to the sun

For people who like xcom style games here is some important news: Every Day We Fight has a playtest week scheduled for the 25th. If you don't know the game, check it out.

So I was thinking while looking at most the armors, most leg armors do not touch the upper thigh so what about having leg pouches that increase inventory space, different tiers maybe too like fiber, clover, silk, pupa leather, berry and so on, or maybe even a different slot for armor in general for upper legs and maybe splitting the pieces for all armor. Also a quiver, it was on the artwork before, a lower back quiver, perfect place would be under the backpack, possibly different tiers same as pouches that allow you to carry more of an arrow type or even give a bonus like armor. Top that off with the ability to change the clothing of the kids and customization in this game would be next level. Like not even anything drastic, just basic clothes, like different shirts, pants, and shorts. Just some ideas.

Season changes would be amazing. Wife and I talked about it last night. Maybe not snow but rain/winds/etc would be great.

Nope - I don't know about any place on he internet where you could find that. His website k4zz.com is also down.

Watched The Owl House. Was pretty great. Real sad there are only 3 seasons. Every character was great, and I liked their developments over time. Best one was Hoocifer, who's just a total psychopath. Interestingly, at first I thought he'd be totally annoying, but over time I couldn't stop just liking him.

One positive of Millennium Actress over Perfect Blue is that I've been able to watch the former three times now. I wonder if the latter would impress on me even further with a re-watch like Millennium Actress has...or would it be much weaker without being able to watch it while out of my mind tired like I was when I first saw Perfect Blue? Hmm. not one, not two, but three distinct blu-ray releases, and every single one is a terrible, and the key word here is terrible, upscale here's an idea ya trash-can anime labels and distributors: if something was digitally produced or cannot be re-scanned at a higher level of detail, just put the entirety of the show in standard definition progressive video on one bluray instead of a bazillion blu-rays, save in manufacturing costs, and have the possibility for better-looking video because video players will have better upscaling than your "just blow it up to 1080p, sharpen it, and call it a day!" 'technique' but they won't do that because then they can't sell multiple scam blu-rays, which is probably the point when you're trying to re-sell an old series like this...but if you've butchered your blurays so badly that the original DVDs are better, then I really don't care, your blurays shouldn't exist idk if I'll watch this, the prospect of having to muck around with DVDs just to try out something I probably won't like is making me the big grumpy