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I just hope @Katphood is okay

It's not an epiphany, though. The clip is years old. So that's what he said years before the second election of Donald Trump. Which means it is just evidence that Rogan is a truly reprehensible human being.

One thing I know that should stir up Guard Dog's heart and finally break through his paradoxically pathetic yet practically impervious shell of "both sides are the same"...the assassin even shot and killed the dog, a darling golden retriever. Find me any evidence of anyone but right-wing scum, be it this creep or cops or ghoulish governors of South Dakota, deliberately going out of their way to kill dogs in this day and age. Even their king hates dogs: doesn't that tell you both sides are, in fact, not the same?

I've hit level 35 in Dune. That seems like a lot, but I still feel like I suck a bit. I soloed a research station today and died about 5 times. But now I have a shield generator and I think that might help. Or it might make me worm food. Who knows? Anyways, my base is gorgeous and I have a nice little terrarium with Muad'ib in it.

Tainted Grail - after trying to "clean up side quests" for a bit, got impatient/bored (100-ish hrs) and just did the plot end thing. ---I found and got to have another convo with that chicken, in another Act. Game does stuff like this - find or go back and chat with npc's later, they may have something to say. Which is cool. ---I'm pretty sure there was a Hellraiser and Aliens reference/homage re: a couple mini-quests. ---I was level 75. I wiped the floor (bosses included) by level 50. I was not purposely grinding. The only way not to be 50+ by endgame is to not do a lot of sidequests or a lot of exploring. And there are TONS of sidequests, although many could easily be missed. This probably adds to replayability for many tho. ---Act3 is definitely the smallest. I still liked exploring it, but its main focus is to sorta barrel you to the Final Bit. That said, you could still spend a fair bit of time doing all the back and forth for factions. Or you could take the "bah humbug" way like I did and after exploring, ignore all that for another straightforward choice. Again, thanks, devs. ---Act3's multiple small faction areas were even worse in design than Act2's main town. I mean they make sense/are cool looking, but constantly going and returning to NPC's was a PITA chr. pathing/running wise. ---that first big patch added a "continue" option, so you could go back and try to grind the other 825,000 chr. levels if you wish. Why anyone would want to, I don't know. Act1 -- grade A Act2 - slower to get going but a solid grade B all told Act3 - grade C+, mostly for size and feeling a bit rushed/less dense/fullfilling A lot more RPG than Diablo, not as RPG as the best Baldur Gates (whichever one you think is that).

What about shooting at enemies from stealth first? Then it shouldn't be too bad if the first reload doesn't profit from Heating Up - because stealth has it's own -85% recovery/reload bonus. Completely different approach: the most painless way for me to make my Streetfighter Swashbuckler work very reliably was to turn him into a tank with a large shield (like I did Edér many times before) and "escape" into the middle of an enemy mob in order to get flanked - for real. And then I just let him hack away, always heated up until only a few enemies are left and there was no flanking anymore. But at that point the fight is usually won anyway. That way I could make good use of: Escape and Charge (mobility is useful in order to get the best position for tanking and getting flanked - especially useful since you can move while the large shield modal is up) Coordinated Positioning (never used this before - but in this case it can be great to place yourself between crowded enemies perfectly so you actually get flanked properly - sometimes there's no free space to Escape to... and then Escape doesn't work reliably and your character might get ramdomly placed in some stupid spot) Mob Stance (even faster attacks and cleaves on kill - with the help of some engagement slots, see Hold the Line, shield and some other gear) Armored Grace (obviously) heal-on-kill pet (the damage output is good, that leads to kills which leads to cleaves which lead to more damage and kills which leads to a lot of healing procs for you) Entonia Signet Ring (getting engaged by enemies raises your defenses, perfect) Riposte (lots of missed melee attacks against you due to high deflection even when flanked - can trigger cleaves, too) Deep Wounds (nice in combo with Riposte and Cleave imo) Persistent Distraction (unlocking Deathblows on every engaged enemy automatically, also reducing their accuracy) Adept Evasion (in combo with a large shield modal AoE spells don't bother me anymore) Refreshing Defense (of course this works very well with such a setup) Unbending (if he punishment is too much you can still keep going easily) Fighting Spirit + On the Edge (increase dmg output even more before eventually getting healed) Slippery Mind (won't remove real flanking but will take away all PER/INT/RES afflictions once you are On the Edge - it's super useful imo) Pernicious Cloud (it's friendly fire so normally I wouldn't ever use it - but since you're surrounded by foes anyway...) Into the Fray (nice to pull some enemies near so they can flank you instead of bothering your allies) and so on. It worked out really well - while the tankyness was good enough to be the main tank of the party, the damage output was still very impressive. No comparison to the Edér Swashbuckling tankyness I'm more used to - in terms of the offense I mean. The increased Sneak Attack damage (+50%) combined with the short recovery, Ripostes and Cleaves leads to great dps while occupying a lot of enemies - even though it's "only" weapon & large shield and no dual wielding or two handed stuff. There wasn't even the need for the Rogue's strikes abilities. All in all I think this was much easier to play and less fuss than what is usually done with Streetfighters to make them unlock their passive "easily". I find all that blunderbuss firing and switching in order to milk that Heating Up passive turns into tedium quickly. But maybe that's just me. I used a Streetfighter/Devoted with the Galdiator Sword + Bronlar's Phalanx by the way for some Roman Gladiator vibes (also I wanted to stack the +1 PEN of the sword with the +2 from the Devoted and never bother to switch weapon sets - Iazy ;)). But I think the Fighter subclass doesn't matter that much. With a Black Jacket you can be more versatile (and even switch from weapon & shield to a more offensive setup if the situation is right or directly turn off the large shield modal), with an Unbroken you get more AR (but worse Reflex - but that's already very high due to the large shield) and better disengagment attacks, the Devoted grants more dmg with your one chosen weapon because of the PEN and slightly incrased crit dmg... but that's all not really crucial for this direct "getting flanked" approach I think.

ya it makes logical sense in a way I suppose. But if a monk could shoot his fists from range why couldn't he use stunning blows from range? Don't think it was overpowered compared to what any of the casters can do. It is sad it doesn't work now though. I'm sure long pain is still sorta strong in its own way, but this makes it way less fun to play with and use. Goodnight sweet witch doctor prince. A flight of angels sing thee to thy rest, etc.

I dont know if you going to open a separate thread for Grounded 2, but I not I'll put my idea here. I think I would be really cool to make and armor like the ant lion armor, but for the cold. Like for the icecream cart? Because it is so cold, you need this armor to stay warm

DoT damage doesn't show in the records. Plague of Insects etc. are super annoying when they hit you - but that's mostly because they bypass your DR and eat away your health pool while you cannot do much about it. They are not as effective against the enemy thouh imo because they take quite some time to make a difference - unless you have additional means of disabling large groups for a longer time and can afford the slow (but sure) death by raw DoT. The number one spell surely is Relentless Storm. It has good AoE size, hits foes only and combines a pulsing stun with shock damage. Overbearing Wave is excellent, too. Its stun lasts quite a long time and the damage is good, too. It causes friendly fire though - so you have to be careful. Talon's Reach and Nature's Mark are good because they are fast casts. Returning Storm is only working on a single foe, but it is still nice to have periodic stun + shock dmg proc. Especially while using Spiritshift it will add to your melee dmg against a single enemy. Venombloom and Wicked Briars are great in combination with a Wizard's Combusting Wounds.

Happy Father's Day

Give your tank: Ilfan Byrngar's Solace shield (+50 Defenses while Stunned; +50 Defenses while Prone) or Ring of Thorns (+50 Defenses while Stunned; +50 Defenses while Prone) Boots of Stability (+30 Defenses against Prone attacks) Belt of the Stelgaer (-33% Prone duration) Potion of Llengrath's Displaced Image Priest needs to cast Prayer Against Fear, Prayer Against Imprisonment (Adragans), Prayer Against Treachery (Adragans). Paladin has Sworn Enemy. It increases accuracy by 15. So put Sworn Enemy on Adra dragon and cast Scroll of Paralysis. If you have Lore 8 on your paladin. Ciphers have two great buffs for your tank, Pain Block and Going Between. Also Mental Binding and Tactical Meld are handy. Scrolls of Valor, Defense, Protection, Revival are great. The Adra dragon is very slow. You can easily outrun the dragon and deal with all the other enemies. Especially Adragans need to go asap. Adra dragon's Wing Slam and Dragon Breath have very large aoe cone. Your whole party needs accuracy buffs.

I pruned some duplicate posts. I hope that's fine.

I am a huge fan of this idea, definitely consider this, I think incorporating more aspects for traversal and just blending the landscape seamlessly could be very effective in a map that is 3x larger than grounded 1. Environmental/ecological features that assist the player in reaching destinations quicker but also look beautiful in the topography of the park is a welcome change for sure!!

Tainted Grail: oh, forgot to mention, the dev's said they have plans for mod capability/tools in a few weeks/a month or something. How useful/extensive or what form this will take is unknown. But it peaked my interest a bit. they're also looking into a NG+, and extra content updating with a focus on Act3 maybe in August. So if they hold to this roadmap of updates, it's likely to improve the game a fair bit. I might replay it then to see. EDIT: to be clear, I still enjoyed the game quite a lot. It just kind of runs out of steam/started to feel too repetitive by Act3. And far too easy (over-leveling content).

Did you cast summon?!

I hope you also plan to play it. It is my favourite PoE content.

Simon & Garfunkle classic

You're welcome. I know you're probably going for a more self-sufficient way of activating heating up on your Streetfighter by multiclassing with a Black Jacket and using a blunderbuss, but may I suggest an alternative, party-dependent setup for a Streetfighter? It still relies upon using a blunderbuss, but instead of equipping a blunderbuss directly on your Streetfighter and using the Powder Burns modal, you equip Serafen's Hand Mortar on another party member and take its Blinding Smoke upgrade. Blinding Smoke adds a Disorienting effect to its auto-attacks which fires out in a cone and affects allies and enemies alike. By merely positioning your Streetfighter in between your Hand Mortar-user and enemies, you can reliably keep Heating Up activated on your Streetfighter. The Blinding Smoke attack also targets Will and works on grazes which is very beneficial for a Streetfighter that would want to keep their other defenses like Deflection high in order to counteract the Flanked status that comes with Disoriented. Another nice facet about the Blinding Smoke effect is that it is an attack that does no damage so it won't take away charges of spells like Mirrored Image. You would still wanted to deal with the fact that Disoriented is a nastier T2 Perception Affliction that adds on a 50% recovery penalty which is counter-synergistic to the Streetfighter's recovery bonus. Luckily, a very easy way to deal with this is to upgrade Eder's starting Saints War Armor which gives Perception Resistance and will downgrade Disoriented to a more manageable Distracted perception affliction. These two pieces of gear are available fairly early, though it may take you some time to gather the necessary materials to upgrade them. You'd also be stuck with using Hand Mortar on another party member to enable your Streetfighter's bonus, but I find that a party member with high-ish Intellect can reliably keep the duration of Blinding Smoke active on the Streetfighter while alternating between attacks with another, dual-wielded weapon, like Fire in the Hole to pair with it, or firing off the occasional spell -- a dual mortar setup is pretty nice setup for a lot of builds so you don't exactly have to twist my arm for me to want use it, personally. Granted, another downside is the opportunity cost of not being able to take the alternative Point Blank shot enchantment on Hand Mortar for the extra damage. Yet another issue that you'd have to overcome is protecting your other frontliners besides the Streetfighter who are standing in front of the Hand Mortar-user so that they don't suffer Blinding Smoke's effects. Fortunately, the Captain's Banquet food bonus can give you Perception Immunity, but be prepared to shuck quite a lot of oysters depending on the number of front-line party members you have. I know this may all seem like a chore, but it's honestly my favorite, relatively painless way of getting a Streetfighter to work, especially when I want the Streetfighter to be able to use weapons other than a blunderbuss with Powder Burns. This party setup would also free you up to multiclass your Streetfighter with something else besides a Black Jacket, since you seem a little disappointed by needing to dedicate several slots for blunderbusses to do the Powder Burns swap and the lack of being able to use your Fighter side's Disciplined Barrage. Instead, you can multiclass your Streetfighter with another class that has higher, non-Perception Inspiration accuracy buffs and defenses to counteract the Flanked and Distracted status. Cipher is a nice option, for example, for the Borrowed Instinct's big boost of accuracy and defenses. Paladin is another good option for the accuracy or armor aura, the accuracy bonus while using Flames of Devotion, and the Clear Head passive ability which gives you Perception Resistance, allowing you to then use a different armor than the Saint's War Armor. It also sounds like you're leaning more towards the Black Jacket side in your original Streetfighter / Black Jacket post. I have some suggestions on Black Jackets too if you'd like.

Fort Irwin to be renamed Fort Hitler

Finally put some ca$h into purchasing The White March, my final piece of the puzzle. (Bought both PoE 1+2 immediately upon release each.) A choice made for capitalism by capitalism.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/israel-reportedly-striking-irans-fordo-underground-nuclear-site/ Seems pretty easy for Israel.

Watched The Phoenician Scheme in a crappy movie theater, with my parents. Suffice it to say, they did not like it. I don't even know why they picked it. Probably because it was between Jurassic World and some other stupid movie. As for me, I liked it. There is not much new to this Wes Anderson movie, expect for the new actors he cast, but as of yet I am still not bored by the formula.

@Gromnir I must shamefully admit I remember very little about the Camp David sessions What had lodged somewhere back in my head was memories of the Oslo Accords in the 90s where Rabin and Arafat committed their respective factions to mutual recognition, peace and a two state solution. Something that was a hard sell for the two leaders

If someone shoots your shield with a laser and the game doesn't fry your HD as a result, request a refund.

the thing to keep in mind is that almost half the country don't see anything wrong with what happened to mr. padilla. in fact, am suspecting 1/3 o' the country woulda' been more pleased if the senator were visibly injured during the altercation. am serious. tell us with confidence that Gromnir is wrong. doesn't matter that what the senator were doing was legal. doesn't matter that alex padilla had been escorted into the presser by both fbi and national guard; no "busting in," nonsense. doesn't matter that the senator did in fact announce his identity as a senator, though again, as he were in the fed building at the time of the presser, he had an escort that knew his identity. etc. facts don't matter. the reality don't matter. even if you do the impossible and convince somebody that alex padilla didn't do anything illegal, then chances are you will hear whataboutism or some kinda deflection. alex padilla is one of them, so when bad things happen to him, the initial reaction is gonna be that not only did the senator deserve the treatment he received, but that he shoulda' gotten more it... and by now, trump politicians know what trump voters want. when nixon were convinced by republican Congressmen to resign, those republicans, almost to a man, were primaried during the next election. trump is ignorant of history, but am gonna suggest near all senators and most representatives serving in 2025know history... and am certain those political creatures is aware that their constituents don't care about what is right and just unless it is they/them who is doing wrong. perhaps worse, the independents and democrats who either voted for trump or didn't vote for harris, are somehow ok with what is happening to social security, the va, pepfar, free speech, legal immigrants from afghanastan and venezuela losing their protected staus (another one am disappointed @Guard Dog can remain quiet regarding 'cause he knows what it means to be sending translators and those who helped US troops back to afghanistan,) and due process. they is ok with trump's corruption with market manipulation and his meme coin. they is ok with cecot. they is seeming ok with just about anything save whatever may personal be important to them. for gd? second amendment rights? for a farmer in north carolina? perhaps if the ice raids start happening on north carolina hog farms or... unless it affects 'em personal, trump voters or those who couldn't be bothered to vote against him, cares little that trump is gutting norms and freedoms. heck, even when people is personal impacted, chances are they still can't admit they were wrong, 'cause we don't do that anymore. again, when we saw the reaction to trump's muslim ban promise, we finally got it-- an increasing % of americans want them/they to suffer. First Amendment? due process? basic christian values? none o' that minor stuff matters 'cause trump is a fighter who is finally going after the real bad guys: illegals; libs; smart-arsed college professors; etc. "A poor Russian peasant’s neighbor has a cow, but the peasant himself has none. Every day the peasant has to walk by his neighbor’s field, where he sees that cow. He admires the cow, even adores it, envying the animal to the point of obsession. He even dreams about the cow at night. One day, the peasant goes into the forest to cut wood–and he finds a sprite bound to a tree with bonds that only a mortal can undo. The sprite promises the peasant that, if he frees her, she will grant him any one wish. So he unties her…and says, “Kill my neighbor’s cow.”" globalism is working. here in the US we are all becoming more russian, eh? HA! Good Fun! ps try and imagine how the alex padilla situation woulda' played out in 2015. if the dhs secretary's security detail had done the same thing to a sitting US Senator, the dhs woulda' likely apologized, right? maybe jeh johnson explains that security reacted with perhaps an overabundance of caution to the presence o' a large man with no visible press ID at the presser. woulda' been described as a truly unfortunate and regrettable mistake, right? in 2025, mike johnson is suggesting his colleagues in the senate should be calling for padilla's censure. never admit fault. double-down. gaslight with the help of fox news and turn this seeming loss into a win. too many republican voters like seeing a democrat US senator getting man handled, so go with a victim blaming effort, right? but, if harris was President, nothing would change, so...

Soooooooooooo pretty much Rambo?

Alex Padilla, US senator getting cuffed for speaking over Kristi Noem. Just perfectly normal, as bad as any other administration. It would be great if people in positions of power started pushing back against the Trump administration . Edit: And here's the Noem quote that should be getting alarm bells. "We are not going away. We are staying here to liberate the city from the socialists and the burdensome leadership that this governor and that this mayor have placed on this country and what they have tried to insert into the city."

poll show promising new york mayor candidate could win and freeze rent price but since this is usa and mccarthyism means they can not have nice things

Being fantasy half-race is apparently racist in current year

I guess winning the popular vote by 1.5 percentage points could be considered 'overwhelming' for sufficiently large versions of the number 1.5.

I didn't realise The Onion just did news posts now.

https://theonion.com/trump-claims-he-can-overrule-constitution-with-executiv-1830106306/

LOL

I don't post about politics very often, but I will say I love my state of California. The Trump administration has been lashing out at my state for the better part of a decade. It doesn't bother me, because I'm very comfortable in what California is. It's the 4th largest economy in the world. We have amazing cities, national parks, beaches, and mountains. We have incredible diversity. I can find a good restaurant/food truck for every imaginable cuisine. We have all the schools. I mean, just incredible universities that cover every possible field of study. So watching a sitting President attempt to wage war against my state is sickening. This is the same President that had no problem pardoning the people who stormed the Capitol building. He is actively working against the Governor. I'm at a loss. On Saturday Trump is staging a birthday parade that is going to look like North Korea.

(This was posted on another forum for Deadfire but thought I would share it here as well) Alvesa was born to minor Vailian nobility who've spent generations wandering Eora in hopes of restoring the prestige and wealth lost in the fall of Grand Vailia. A genteel disdain for any labor or trade seen as beneath their former station, however, has made it difficult for the family to improve their lot in life. While other expatriates from Old Vailia found success in profitable business ventures with the Republics or blighting the trade lanes with the Príncipi sen Patrena, Alvesa's family continued to drift from port to port, clinging to their faded pedigree and dwindling family fortune. Young Alvesa did not inherit her family's delusions for a bygone past and instead took this lesson to heart: “Accept no truth but your own.” Eschewing materialistic concerns, Alvesa turned towards the spiritual and became initiated in the mysteries of Wael whose domain of revelation appealed to a poor, itinerant child unmoored by the earthly attachments of her family. Not content to scour only libraries or temples for knowledge, Alvesa would also explore the back alleys and slum of the cities where her quick wit granted her access to the kind of illicit and disreputable dealings that her family never would've deigned to dirty their hands with. Undeterred by even the revelation of her patron god's true origins, Alvesa continues to seek out truth by uncovering the many mysteries of Eora. As someone who loves making a lot of crit-focused builds, I really appreciate Priests as an invaluable source of accuracy with their party-wide buffing spells. Because of that particular emphasis, I also tend to not want to multiclass them too often as I don't want to delay their access to these crucial spells. By a similar token, I also find action economy an issue with Priest multiclasses as they need to devote a lot of their time getting out their buffing spells before they can perform any other function. One of my personal white whales for a Priest multiclass has been finding a combination that not only justifies their slower ability progression from multiclassing but also overcomes the possible dilution of effectiveness by tacking on an ill-suited role to the Priest's kit. I believe this rather unorthodox Priest of Wael/Trickster build solves these issues by using several techniques and pieces of gear that allows them to not only get out their buffing spells in a timely manner but also lets them serve as a capable frontline fighter, profiting directly from their own buffs, and a disabler par excellence who can become a veritable gorgon able to turn their enemies to stone and keep them locked down for much of the encounter. Character Creation Class: Zealot (Priest of Wael + Rogue Trickster) Race: Ocean Folk | Culture: Old Vailia | Background: Dissident Other than the multiclass selection, these elements can change depending on your roleplaying preferences. Besides the thematic considerations, the Intellect and Stealth bonuses from my character creation choices also happen to suit the build mechanically. Attributes 10 Might | 3 Constitution | 18 Dexterity | 18 Perception | 19 Intellect | 10 Resolve This attribute distribution is fairly unusual and will probably seem controversial for a build that will also function as a frontline melee striker. The low Might is slightly counteracted by spells and supplementary damage buffs, though it should be accepted that this build won't be much of a healer unfortunately. The low Resolve score is similarly mitigated by the plethora of defensive spells available to this build. However, there is simply no getting around the liability of the low Constitution score, and some care and compromises must be taken with this build due to their low health. (If you play with the Berath's Blessings attributes bonus, I would definitely sink the extra points into repairing the Constitution score and slightly raising Might or Resolve for an overall smoother experience). The high Dexterity, Perception, and Intellect is in service of efficiently getting out spells and maximizing action economy and the efficacy of their crowd control ability. Skills Active: Stealth Passive: Bluff Stealth should be pumped exclusively because it will help action economy, which I will get into later, and also increase melee damage. You have more leeway with the passive skill choice. Keep in mind that Priests of Wael have Shady as one of their favored dispositions, and Bluff often acts as a corresponding skillcheck for a lot of Shady dialogue options in the game. However, you don't necessarily need a high Bluff in order to max out the Shady disposition, and disposition bonuses for Priests in Deadfire only affects the healing potency of Holy Radiance spell (and this build won't be doing a lot of healing) and the damage potency of your summoned spirit weapon, which this build won't be using at all. In short, feel free to let roleplay dictate your passive skill choice – I actually chose a mix of Streetwise and Bluff for this playthrough because it matched my character's background. Weapon Sets 1. Stalker's Patience + The Eye of Wael 2. Variable Equipment Devil of Caroc Breastplate, Whitewitch Mask, Charm of Bones, Cloak of the Theocrat, Gauntlets of Accuracy, Ring of Overseeing, Ring of Prosperity's Fortune, Girdle of Eoten Constitution, Footprints of Ahu Taka Abilities – (bolded are auto-learned abilities) 1: Arcane Veil, Arkemyr's Dazzling Lights | Suppress Affliction, Interdiction, Escape, Defensive Roll, Fast Runner 2: Ionic Projection, Mirrored Image | Two Weapon Style, Weapon and Shield Style, Dirty Fighting 3: Mirrored Image, Ryngrim's Repulsive Visage | Dire Blessing, Combat Focus, Riposte, Bear's Fortitude, Snake's Reflex, Bull's Will 4: Llengrath's Displaced Image | Devotions for the Faithful, Adept Evasion, Persistent Distraction 5: Confusion | Champion's Boon, Tough, Farcasting, Rapid Casting, Uncanny Luck, Deep Wounds 6: Arkemyr's Wonderous Torment | Salvation of Time, Improved Critical, Spell Resistance 7: Gaze of the Adragan | Deathblows Strategy You may be wondering why this multiclass chooses Priest of Wael and Trickster as their subclasses, given that they offer seemingly redundant access to automatically learned Illusion-keyworded abilities at every ability tier. This is a deliberate choice as it enables the build to A) not have to invest in active abilities as much and instead put those ability points into passives that amplify their strengths and fortify their weaknesses and B) have two resource pools to draw from to use these powerful, cross-class abilities. The endgame, centerpiece ability is Gaze of the Adragan which this build will be able to cast multiple times as both a spell and as a Rogue ability that costs 2 Guile per use. With bonuses that give additional points to the Rogue resource pool such as The Devil of Caroc Breastplate and the Adratic Glow bonus you get from paying for a dip into the Luminous Bathhouse's pool, this build is able to cast Gaze of the Adragan a whopping total of SEVEN times every encounter when using up all its Guile and AT7 Priest spellcast. This build also maximizes the duration of every cast of Gaze of the Adragan by every means possible, including A) power level bonus from the Illusion-keyworded gear Whitewitch Mask and the The Eye of Wael, B) high accuracy enabling crits which gives a bonus to duration on debuff spells, and C) high native Intellect further boosted by items such as the Charm of Bones and Cloak of the Theocrat. Furthermore, Gaze of the Adragan when used as a Rogue ability is technically an AT6 ability (though Tricksters still only get access to it at AT7) which means that it gets additional, native PL scaling for a slightly longer duration compared to the Priest version – this is actually very beneficial as the bulk of this build's Gaze of the Adragan usage will be from its Rogue side (though this does mean that they don't benefit from Rapid Casting, which is a small downside). Before going any further, I should explain why Gaze of the Adragan is such a good ability/spell that's worth specializing a build around. It's most noteworthy feature is that it applies Petrified, a Dexterity Affliction that is functionally identical to Paralyzed but technically counts as a tier higher than Paralyzed which is already at the highest Tier 3. This means that even enemies who have Dexterity Resistance (such as the common Wood Elf among kith enemies) will only be able to downgrade Petrified to Paralyzed, thereby still suffering the identical effects of being completely locked down. This doesn't make Gaze of the Adragan's Petrified effect the be-all and end-all of all crowd control abilities because there are still enemies with outright Dexterity Immunity or Body Immunity who can nullify it, but it does make it just a little more effective among the other hard crowd control Afflictions. Petrified/Paralyzed also grants a hefty hit-to-crit conversion against afflicted enemies, a feature that this build will also exploit to maximum effect. The way this build manages action economy issues as a spellcaster hybrid that needs to get out several lengthy buffs before moving onto any other action is mainly through Stealth. While in Stealth mode, actions get a -85% recovery reduction bonus which allows for a speedy follow up action. What might be unclear is that non-hostile abilities do not break stealth mode, meaning classes such as Priests with multiple non-hostile, party buffing spells can cast several in a row while benefiting from the drastically reduced recovery time. By investing heavily into Stealth and placing them further back into the formation so that enemies don't inadvertently bump into them, this build will be able to cast the requisite Devotions for the Faithful and Dire Blessing spells at the start of combat to boost their overall accuracy without being slowed down too much (do note that Devotions for the Faithful has a hostile, enemy debuffing component to it so you should be careful not to also hit any enemies with it lest it break you out of Stealth mode). After casting these spells, this build still has an AT3 and AT4 spellcast to use on Mirrored Image or Llengrath's Displaced Image, which should be used separately as the other wears off since their deflection bonus won't stack concurrently; this is both an action and resource economy save as it uses Priest spellcasts to activate defenses, saving Guile to be used for Gaze of the Adragan, and they are instant cast spells. The build also has double castings of Salvation of Time to further extend any of its buffs as needed. While it's not an Illusion-keyworded spell, the PL1 Arcane Veil eventually gets up to a decent duration with power level scaling, giving the build yet another fallback defensive spell to have in a pinch. Once accuracy has been pumped up, defenses boosted, and enemies locked down, this build is able to join the fray to great effect thanks to their dual-wielded Stalker's Patience and The Eye of Wael loadout. While a dual-wielded ranged and melee configuration may be suboptimal on a class like Rogue with Full Attack abilities in normal circumstances, this is less of a concern on this build where all Guile is being spent on Gaze of the Adragan anyway. In fact, the split weapon types is actually ideal in this situation as it means only the spear will attack when in melee distance and the scepter will only attack while at range. Dual-wielding a melee and ranged weapon at the same time like this is a useful technique when you want to profit from the Two Weapon Style passive and have a weapon with an effect that you want to maximize the chance of proccing, and this is true with both weapons. In the case of Stalker's Patience, it has an incredible enchantment that gives it a chance to instantly recover on crits, which means this build's high accuracy and crit conversion turns into a high volume of potentially chainable, instant-recovered attacks. With Rogue bonus damage modifiers like Sneak Attack, Deep Wounds, Deathblows, and the spear's enchantment that grants a damage bonus that scales to the build's synergistically high Stealth score, this weapon is optimized to dish out a lot punishment in a small window of time, delivering devastating coup de graces against their helpless foes before Gaze of the Adragan wears off, whereupon they will cast it again and continue preying on their enemies. The same principle applies to The Eye of Wael, which isn't just an inert statstick that amplifies spells for this build but a decent ranged weapon in its own right. If the Priest of Wael/Trickster is out of spells, or their defensive and accuracy buffs wear off, or they're facing pierce-immune enemies, or it's just too dangerous to go toe-to-toe with a boss, they can fade back to range and blast things with their scepter. The Eye of Wael delivers slash/blunt damage to diversify the spear's pierce damage and will benefit from the increased action speed of Two Weapon Style while attacking solely with the scepter at range. Like Stalker's Patience, The Eye of Wael has a chance to proc effects including debuffing Illusion spells and random Afflictions, making it so that build can still profit from Deathblows/Sneak Attack and debuff enemies even after they've run out of spells. It even has a chance to make you semi-invisible – though it's not a true invisibility that works with effects like Assassinate or Backstab, it does prevent enemies from attacking you and serves as a nice defensive effect. In tandem, I think this weapon set is a neat package that fits the craftiness and ingenuity of a Priest of Wael/Trickster character. This build so far has focused mainly on the endgame with a setup that doesn't come online until AT7/Level 19 for a multiclass, which may seem shortsighted. The cool thing about this build though is that its access to free spells and abilities at different ability tiers and via different resource pools allows it to continually take on different iterations and change up its configuration as it levels up. So for the early game at AT1, you will notice that I place a lot of stock in abilities that apply Dazed or allows you to break free of engagement; this build was played on POTD difficulty with all upscaling, and I developed a healthy respect for being able to displace and get out of danger in the early game when this build is at its weakest. However, as soon as AT2 is reached, this build can start to more comfortably stand on the frontlines as it will be able to use its Guile to cast Mirrored Image for a hefty, repeatable deflection bonus. I also take Weapon and Shield Style and opt to wear a small shield like the Outworn Buckler which doesn't come with an accuracy penalty. You can wear a medium or large shield if you find you need even more deflection, however I wouldn't take any bashing shield as it will take away attacks from Stalker's Patience and be an overall reduction in DPS (and you can of course respec out of Weapon and Shield Style later in the final form of this build). AT3 is where it gets interesting because you then get access to Ryngrim's Repulsive Visage, an aura that Terrifies foes. This gives you a short-range hard CC effect where your high accuracy now becomes part of your defense, disabling enemies all around you and making it a very decent stand-in Rogue ability to spend your Guile on until you unlock Gaze of the Adragan later. The spear's modal ability and shield setup actually remains a relevant loadout with Ryngrim's Repulsive Visage as it provides additional engagement to help you farm disengagement attacks when enemies try to flee from your aura. You can supplement this later on with Persistent Distraction and Champion's Boon (though do note that the later's Might Inspiration doesn't stack with the Might coming from Devotions for the Faithful) for even more engagement slots. Another school of thought is to equip a morning star for its modal effect that drops enemies Fortitude by -25 since the Terrify aura targets Fortitude. This is more if you want to go all-in on with using Ryngrim's Repulsive Visage as your main form of defense, but I think it makes your more vulnerable against ranged/backline enemies since the Terrify aura will only reach immediately surrounding enemies and I actually think Stalker's Patience and its instant-recover will end up out DPSing even the two-handed morning star, especially when it has its negative damage modal active. Another setup that you can use before the endgame is going ranged with a rod weapon; I really like Rod of the Deep Hunter on a Rogue multiclass, especially one with high Intellect, because the AoE effect added by the Blast modal and its stacking deflection debuff can lead to some juicy hits. With a more dedicated ranged setup, you can wear lighter armor, respec into Two-Handed Style, and use your Guile more for active Rogue attack abilities rather than frontline defenses. Yet another option available to this build is going with the previous suggestion but using the Spiritual Weapon spell to summon Priests of Wael's unique scaling Rod weapon, which also has Blast and a scaling Shock lash – if you've maxed out your Shady and Clever dispositions at that point, it could be a very effective delivery system for AoE damage. As you can see, you have a lot of interesting ways of transforming yourself to tackle challenges at different stages of the game, sort of mimicking the shifting visage of this build's patron god, which I think is very thematically fitting for a Priest of Wael/Trickster.

I m happy to see people posting with new builds in 2025!

@tackthumb thank you so much for doing that, it's a bit of a bummer on an already strained concept (not being able to use disciplined barrage to gain intuitive feels like I'm losing something pretty fundamental too) but at the end of the day I'm just losing one weapon slot so it's not entirely a deal-breaker. I'm gonna see how I go with it and if I don't like it I'll just make a melee trickster / black jacket. Thanks again.

Awesome. I especially like the first part where you explain why and how you arrived at this unusual combination and style of play. Because your initial description of "problems" with priest multiclasses is what bothers me in most cases, too.

neat build. one thing that might be worth calling out (apologies if you did and i missed it) is that you also double up on arkemyr's wondrous torment. you probably don't want to waste the guile from the rogue side (better spent on gaze), but priest gets it and you might as well. with wondrous torment, you can really cripple enemy resolve and will defenses, which can be a really great way to get stupid long durations on each cast of gaze of the adragan. it'll only really affect one enemy dependably (you have to wait too long for it to split and bounce), but can be really useful for making each gaze last during boss fights or other tough enemies.

It is a game in the category "Good idea for a game - no experience how to make a good game". I can see how one would not enjoy the gameplay. I played through it and enjoyed the different book settings similar to how I enjoyed the concept of entering different games in Gamedec. And I thought the moral aspect of messing up the lives of fictional characters for personal gain was nice. Obviously I played a do-gooder. I am used to not liking the protagonist

It took me a moment to realize you weren't talking about XCOM.

LoversLab adult alien mods is the only way to play games. No. I just like the aesthetics. It feels very NASA. Also I like that robot companion from the beginning of the game. A lot of the writing is really cringe and bad, but occasionally you find a little gem that is interesting and you'll start to actually like that character. Also I like those big town locations that I have seen so far. They look really nice and do feel somewhat alive. Not as alive as Cyberpunk 2077, but still.. a lot better than in older Bethsoft games. I've installed a bunch of mods already that fix issues and change things I don't like. There are bugs that Bethsoft still didn't fix yet.. and they are in the game since release a couple years ago. This is just so typical Bethsoft. They release something and then move on, not bothering about it anymore, because "the community will fix it" ... just terrible practice all around.

Bros, I have an announcement to make. I have started playing Starfield and I know, this is madness. The writing is Bethsoft level dog poop as usual, the quest design is dog poop as well, it took me a while to get used to the weird visuals, but now it kinda clicked with me. There is a lot in this game that I don't like, pretty much everything I hated in Skyrim and Oblivion and especially Fo3 and 4 already, but still... Somehow I'm in it right now.

I haven't played this game so know nothing specific, but in general terms, I'd say since extra party members are not the intended party size the game encounters "expect" and were designed around, I would put it in the unbalanced modded category - whether you want to call it a "cheat" or not is up to you. And in SP, who cares. Do what is fun for you, imo. I mean, it's fun to alter rules sometimes, whether a little or a lot. Having all companions in FO:NV was pretty much a "win" thing for that game, but it was hilarious. Also, made for a better dance-mod line.

No, but you could use Toybox to make the level cap 40. You'd probably want to cheat for the Legend path if you did that though, as everyone now gets the most of its gimmick. Hitting 20 way before the end of the game wasn't a deal breaker for me. I think for me what killed WotR was BG3 tbh. The Owlfinder games were easily 90%+ combat and most of it isn't very interesting, you figure out the buff spreadsheet and hope you win initiative before archers machine gun the back line. Kinda lost interest after doing the harpy fight and doing the dice rolls to solve conflicts in BG3.

Well, you're never "cheating," because it's a single-player game. It's your game. You can play it however *you* want.

Tainted Grail: ---I had a long and intriguing conversation with a chicken who had a long backstory. ---some side quests (dunno about MQ) can have choice consequences too, which can alter rewards or access/who survives, or just offer different conclusion to a "tragic tale." More than MMO/Diablo questing, but not as in depth as some. -- VA's are hit and miss, sometimes they're great (who voices Arthur? what a great voice) sometimes they're very mediocre. ---there is no level scaling within an Act area, so difficulty re: each one will be front-loaded. That is, could be super hard/die all the time in the beginning, then you're 1-shotting everything by the end of Act depending on how much you've explored and build/items/upgrades etc. ---loot appears non-random, at least the good loot. I suppose a deranged peasant randomly drops "fancy underpants" instead of "underpants" at times. ---I am told when the story ends, there is no "continue", but you can travel between Acts to finish things before that ---town stash box is infinite. Player inventory is weight based but there's ways to up it and it hasn't been a real issue even for a picker upper like me. If one *wants* it to be an issue, just don't increase weight limit. (EDIT) items with 0.0 weight do appear to weigh something. You won't notice with a stack of 10 such, but having 1000 arrows and 1000 various picked herbs in your backpack will still weigh you down a fair bit. Dunno if intentional/bug. Just saying. ---Beyond jank, have run into minor glitches but nothing terrible (yet). Still just simple, old fashioned, tightly/fast paced crpg fun. My current "concern" is the entire game may be "front loaded." eg, Act1 may have had the most time devoted to it, it feels full, planned out, interesting. I've played games like that where after that, it becomes less interesting, shorter, etc. That said, there's 25-35 hours to be had from Act1 alone - more if you're the type to seriously linger.

Fantastic! One thing I suggest would be swapping the "DebugName" ("Pro-Humor", "Pro-Duty", ) for the name of each topic as it appears in the game ("Lighthearted", "Dutiful"). Anti-Gods = Antireligious Anti-Tradition = Progressive Kind to Animals = Animal Kindness Pro-Autonomy = Autonomy Pro-Deceit = Skulduggery Pro-Duty = Dutiful Pro-Gods = Piety Pro-Humor = Lighthearted Pro-Immodesty = Pride Pro-Passion = Impassioned Pro-Provincial = Provincial Pro-Resourcefulness = Resourcefulness Pro-Stewardship = Stewardship Pro-Tradition = Traditional Pro-Worldly = Worldly