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Greetings, Watchers! We’ve been hard at work delving deep into the code grimoire and tuning the balance of blade and spell—and today, we’re excited to share the results of that effort with a brand new patch. This update addresses a wide range of fixes and improvements across visuals, combat, quests, and more. Whether you're journeying through the Eastern Reach for the first time or returning to tie up loose threads, your path should now be a little smoother. But that’s not all—we have something special on the horizon. Coming later this year, Watchers will be able to help us test a brand-new feature: Turn-Based Combat. We’re excited to explore this new way to experience encounters in Pillars of Eternity, and your feedback will help shape its future. More details on how to participate will be shared in the near future, so keep an eye on our socials and in our discord. For now, read on for the full list of changes in this update—and as always, thank you for walking the path with us. —The Pillars of Eternity Team General Fixes & Platform Support Mac users may now access the latest updates and bug fixes without issue. Resolved a longstanding issue where the game would boot to a black screen on systems using Turkish and certain other non-Latin-based language settings. GOG Achievements should now unlock correctly. Kickstarter and Backer rewards on Steam and GOG are once again granted properly to new players. Steam Linux users: support is now live and will be maintained in future patches. Epic Games Store users will now properly receive their Royal Edition digital rewards. Saved games now sort by most recent activity, regardless of save type (Manual, Auto, or Quick). Visual & Audio Enhancements Characters should now reliably speak when selected—Eder has once again found his voice. Grimoires will now properly vanish from view when reading scrolls. Cutscenes and maps now perform better when viewed in 4K resolution. Fixed rare T-pose occurrences in select cutscenes. Removed unintended "knock" sounds in some dialogue nodes. Act introductions and developer commentary no longer echo unintentionally. Ferry boat in Oldsong no longer appears to be sinking. Corrected VFX alignment for multiple Woodskin spell variants, including Spell Holding and Spell Bind versions. Visual and audio effects restored for Delemgans, Adragan, Pwgra, and Menpwgra spells. Party members immune to poison will no longer complain about being poisoned. All animal companions now make proper footstep sounds. Hiravias' Spiritshift FX now play correctly upon reverting to his natural form. Taena’s VO will now trigger correctly in both instances where it can be heard. Quests & Dialogue Fixes Resolved softlocks involving Aldwyn's services, both in Brighthollow and the Salty Mast after hiring Lyrinia. Simoc in Sacrificial Bloodlines will no longer drop a duplicate quest reward if slain. Slaying the High Monk after receiving Alia Braccia will no longer grant a second copy. A Mother’s Plea now correctly fails if Ranga is killed before acquiring the potion. Abrecan will still accept the letter he requests, even if you already possess it. Krivi’s Od Nua rewards can now only be claimed once. Anamfath Leader in Twin Elms will now continue The Child of Five Suns quest even if Vincent Agosti is dead. Failing Athletics or Dexterity checks in Durgan’s Battery now properly applies the Concussion affliction. Tealdor’s Bounty can now be continued later even if you initially leave the conversation. Turning in the final pieces of the Blade of the Endless Paths while Dunstan is defending the keep now grants proper rewards. Grynde's "ripple sponge addict" accusation exploit has been fixed. Crothar’s fate no longer influences the state of Korgrak’s quest. Combat & Mechanics Fixed a crash involving the Shadow Step ability. Shadow Step is now ground-targeted and no longer treated as a modal. Spellsword Wizards will now prioritize Second Wind over Deleterious Alacrity of Motion when wounded. Party AI will no longer waste Second Wind when Endurance is low but Health is too low to benefit. Party AI will no longer target charmed/confused allies with harmful abilities. Movement commands now hold position briefly, as seen in Deadfire. (Watchers may still attack if able.) Trap Accuracy no longer double-applies the attack’s Accuracy modifier. Constant Recovery now scales properly and outperforms Veteran's Recovery, as intended. Ryona’s Buckle Tenacity Accuracy bonus now updates dynamically with Endurance changes. Iron Circle damage reduction now deactivates correctly when above 26% Endurance. Killing Bolt traps now correctly target Fortitude and no longer display slash damage. Chain Lightning traps now properly deal damage. Abydon’s Hammer will no longer cause permanent Might increases when reforged. The Lady’s Hand now uses a visible trigger for easier tracking on the character sheet. Black Sanctuary shield correctly applies endurance regen during Withdraw. Royal Deadfire Cannoneer belt no longer causes trap recursion. Eyestrike and similar effects no longer trigger on beneficial “attacks.” Powder Burns and similar modals no longer damage allies unintentionally. Fulvano’s Blunderbuss now correctly charms targets on spellchance. Knock Down now respects suppression mechanics and prevents stacking. Characters under Crushing Doom are no longer able to move while proned. Izali's Boon Stealth bonus now properly clears after resting. Scrolls of Minoletta's Bounding Missiles and Boiling Spray now match their respective spells in description and range. Scrolls of Restore Endurance now have updated ranges consistent with the spell version. Salty Mast hirelings now maintain their boons when aiding at your stronghold. Skyward Kick no longer causes bugs like vertical launch or permanent prone states when missing. Multiple Unconscious effects no longer allow movement during incapacitation. UI & Interaction Improvements Culture selection on character creation is now preserved in rare level-up cases. Double-clicking a weapon now equips it to your first weapon slot. Right-clicking creatures now opens their bestiary entries (if discovered). Retraining UI no longer shows white portrait bugs. "Best of" damage types now show correctly in the character sheet. Burial Isle vision sequences can now be properly canceled. Traps that trigger aggression now show appropriate cursor warnings when opened. Trapped chest in the Abbot's Quarter during The Rising Tide can now be looted after disarming. Queued looting actions can no longer be exploited to loot multiple times. Ancestor Pendant’s Guardian Spirit no longer displays erroneous ability info. Invalid names at the end of character creation will now prevent finalization. Attribute bonuses from culture are only displayed after culture is selected. Localization Several Talents that were previously missing translations are now fully localized across supported languages. Known Issues In rare cases, the spell cursor may show an incorrect icon. This should now happen far less frequently, but further improvements are being investigated for a future patch.

My passion project sees the light of day! What can you do with it? Create builds! Export/import them! Make a build, press Summarize, then use one of the copy buttons below. Look at what abilities do! Mouse over icons on desktop; press icons on mobile/tablet. I don't have any inside info - the data is from fansites and videos - so there are some assumptions behind it that may not be correct: You get one point per level, starting at 2. There are no bonus skill points. The level cap is 25. This I'm pretty sure of, because there is no level 25 tier (which there should be if the cap were 30 or higher), but Iron Fists rank 4 requires level 25. You don't have to spend ability points as soon as you get them. You can hoard them. You can wait until you're level 20 and then learn all level 20 abilities at once. Therefore, the calculator lets you skip levels/hoard points if you turn off strict mode. As a result of these assumptions, there is a maximum of 24 points you can spend in my calculator. This may very well be wrong, so don't take it as gospel. I would love to know if you know/think differently! I have faithfully copied the data as written, other than fixing a few typos here and there, but the following are probably not correct: Rank 2 Corrosive Siphon can permastun an enemy. Freezing Pillar, Blackbow and Pull of Eora can be learned without finding them in a grimoire. These are the only spells that require Grimoire Mastery without having to be learned from a grimoire. I expect they do in fact need to be learned from a grimoire. Sniper is 25% for all ranks. Looking at other passives that are 25% at rank 1, it's probably supposed to be 25%/40%/50% or 25%/35%/40%. And now for some questions you may have about the tool... I want to make a max level build and/or not worry about build order. Turn off strict mode. I exported, but didn't get the build order I had in mind. When you play around and reduce skill levels while in strict mode, the calculator will try to keep your build intact and valid rather than force you to start over, but it cannot always figure out the order when you do this. If you want to be sure it gets the order right, start over and only increase skills to get your build. If you didn't lower any skills while building and the order still ended up wrong, do let me know. I can't increase this skill, why? You've spent all 24 points, the skill has no more ranks, you're missing a pre-requisite (Grimoire Mastery or Unbreakable), or you're in strict mode and taking the skill would cause you to skip levels. I can't lower this skill, why? It's a pre-requisite (Grimoire Mastery or Unbreakable) for a skill you still have. Get rid of that skill first. I have an issue with the calculator. What should I do? Post it here! I have a suggestion for the calculator. What should I do? Post it here! I have made a build that I want to talk about. What should I do? Post it! But not here. Give your build the space it deserves with its own thread!

So, the first game I played that was made by Obsidian was Knights of the Old Republic 2. It was to be representative of the early productions of the studio. Yes, admittedly, it was rushed, technically very flawed and was clearly lacking content that was cut to make the deadline. But it was still a gem, inserting shades of grey in the normally two-toned world of the Star Wars universe, and in doing so making the world feel that much more real and worthwhile. The characters were believable; they didn’t just exist simply to further the story, but they each had their own agenda, and they were all tied to the player character in their own unique way, as was slowly revealed throughout the story. And this is what I feel Obsidian so often manages to add to a world, whether it’s an Obsidian original, or borrowed from another’s intellectual property. They take their narratives seriously; they build their worlds to be believable and they allow their characters to live their own lives and not simply be window dressing for the main characters. I remember going through Mask of the Betrayer, the Neverwinter Nights 2 DLC, for the first time and being awed by the gravity of its story. This was a story of mythological proportions, pitting you against the laws of its universe and death itself, and in a way where you were never quite sure what exactly was the right choice to make. The ending did not offer simple black and white choices, a hallmark of the sort of Obsidian games that I hold dear, and of which I cherish fond memories. I kept following Obsidian throughout the years, and each time I would look forward with anticipation to whatever the studio would come up with next. Fallout: New Vegas was a huge success, of course. And when the studio started doing Kickstarters for their own IP, there was absolutely no doubt in my mind to throw some money their way. It did not leave me disappointed, both Pillars of Eternity games wove exactly the sort of deep narrative, rich with lore and worldbuilding, that I have come to expect from the studio. Remarkably, the studio has not lost its soul throughout the years, as exemplified by the 2022 release of Pentiment. Set in the fictional town of Tassing in historical 16th century Bavaria, this game plays like a detective story. But the catch is that actual detectiving is a fool’s errand. Whoever you end up picking as the culprit, you never have enough evidence to be certain that you have picked the right perp. Not that the powers that be mind very much; they’re happy so long as someone is seen to be executed for the crimes. You could say that the true objective of Pentiment is to unravel the underlaying plot, and to eventually confront the real thread spinner that has immersed the quiet town of Tassing in a state of chaos. But I don’t think that’s quite right. For me, the real objective of the game is to, if only for a moment, make it possible for you to transport yourself to a different time and a different place, and to contemplate what life was like for people in those days, and what kind of choices they were confronted with as the last vestiges of the old were being blown away by the winds of modernity. And now, it will not be long before their next much anticipated game will come out. I will be honest, when I first heard of the studio working on what was then still considered to be the studio’s answer to Skyrim, I was sceptical. It seemed like they might be biting off more than they could chew, and I felt the sort of formula behind Skyrim didn’t seem to play to the studio's strength. But now that I’ve seen the first previews, I’m glad to see that it’s actually nothing like Skyrim. It seems smaller in scope, less focused on a large open world, and actually aiming more for a smaller, more intimate experience. A lot has been made about the combat, and luckily the latest news seems to be that there’s been a lot of improvements on that front. But what I find more interesting is that once again Avowed looks to have characters with their own voices and their own agendas. And once again there seems to be a rich story with plenty of mysteries to unravel. I honestly can’t wait, and I’ve always taken the week after the release free from work, so I can fully enjoy it without any distractions. I’m sure I’ll have a great time.

https://www.nexusmods.com/pillarsofeternity2/mods/804 This should fix the bug described here: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/pc/227477-pillars-of-eternity-ii-deadfire/faqs/76599/bugs-and-oddities As I've understood it, this has been a pain point ever since patch 5.0 for many Credit to @ShadyDax for nudging me to check this bug out Note that this does not fix potions added by mods (I'm gonna have to patch Potion of Enlightenment later ) Going to sleep now

Greetings Envoys, We want to take a moment to thank you for your continued reports, feedback, and suggestions. Your insights are valuable to us, and we appreciate the time and effort you put into sharing your experiences with us. Our team is committed to ongoing support, and we’re always looking for ways to improve. Your input is key to help us refine and expand Avowed, and we are excited to keep rolling out updates. Within the next few weeks, we are going to be releasing a roadmap that will go over some of the plans we have that will be coming to the game over the upcoming year, so keep your eyes peeled! Thank you for being part of our community—we appreciate your support and look forward to sharing more with you in the future! — The Avowed Team Community Requested Features The player will now receive an additional talent point at levels 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30. Players with save files past those levels will receive the additional points. High Contrast Documents: New option increases font size and applies bold styling to all documents, tutorials, in-game pop-ups, and the ledger's quest tab. Walk Toggle: Players using mouse and keyboard can now toggle between walking and running. HUD Customization: HUD Toggle Keybind: A new keybind (default: Backslash) hides all HUD elements for cleaner screenshots. HUD Opacity Slider: Adjust the transparency of the HUD to your preference. Camera & Compass Options: Third-Person FOV Slider: Added to Graphics Settings. Static Compass Option: Players can now lock the compass to always point North instead of rotating. Controller & Input Improvements: Full support for customizing controller keybinds. Crashes & Major Issues Game Stability Fixes: Fixed a rare crash when switching music during level transitions. Xbox App (PC) Launch Crash Fixed: No longer crashes with error 0xc0000005. Fixed a save data issue causing crashes related to encounter spawning enemies with save/loading. Resolved a Fast Travel crash that could sometimes occur. Addressed a rare crash affecting ROG Ally and Intel-integrated laptops. Main menu frame rate is now capped to prevent crashes and hardware issues. Quests & Dialogues Quest Progression Fixes: The "Quest Available" icon for Ranger Verano no longer appears after the quest becomes inaccessible. "The Finer Things in Battle" quest now triggers reliably and will retroactively complete for players who already met its requirements. Attacking the xaurips in Dehengen’s cabin before the "Find Her Cabin" objective now properly progresses the quest. "Our Dreams Divide Us Still" – Combat at Mount Forja now consistently ends to advance the quest. "Dawntreader" quest fix: Now properly turn-inable to Ofryc even if Kai and Marius are not in the party. "Elder Offerings" quest fix: Now properly resolves if the player both paid for the stolen food and returned it. "Boundaries of Antiquity" quest fix: Prevented an issue where players could skip a required conversation. "An Untimely End." - Ygwulf and the rebels no longer become hostile after sparing him. NPC & Conversation Adjustments: Fixed Adelarro and opponents failing to appear if Dreamthralls were killed before starting a side quest. Amalia will now always give you the key to her camp’s chest when speaking with her. Constable Hajime now correctly rewards players for bounties even if "Heart of Valor" isn’t completed. Marius’s Training Offer: His training offer is now more accessible in conversations. Conversations will no longer drop unexpectedly if enemies detect the player while in dialogue. Restartable Dialogues: Players can now restart conversations with: The illusion in the "Face Your Fears" quest (Shatterscarp). Runyd the watcher if dialogue ended prematurely. Ranger Casagrada in "Steel Resolve" after progressing past "Ancient Soil." Systems & Gameplay Improvements Combat & Enemy Behavior: Arrow Decals Improved: More visible in XSX Performance mode for "The Wasteland Courier" quest. Pistols now hit targets more reliably. Companions with the Shocked status effect no longer electrocute the player when nearby. Enemies react more reliably to arrows impacts. Ranged enemies are less confused when the player moves in and out of cover. Spells & Abilities: Essence cost reductions now properly apply and no longer prevent spellcasting. Fixed cases where totem effects would stop working after conversations or cutscenes. "Into the Fray" ability can now be canceled into other actions sooner, improving combo potential. Quest & Loot Fixes: Fast Travel is now disabled during certain animations to prevent getting stuck when quest items are consumed before progression. If Old Nuna was defeated but the bounty quest didn’t progress, returning to the location now correctly updates the quest. If Belderreno was defeated but no bounty trophy was received, players can now revisit the bounty location to find the trophy. Loot in the Yellowband area no longer falls into the environment, preventing collection issues. Controls & Performance: Mouse 4/5 buttons can now be bound to actions. Optimized elemental accumulation effects for better performance. Optimized the Tebaru Sanakis spirit visuals to improve performance. Reducing VO volume now also reduces reverb/echo for characters. Upscaling no longer defaults to DLSS every time the game is launched. Collision & Environmental Fixes: Adjusted Eothasian temple collision to prevent going out of bounds. Doors at Naku Tedek now correctly unseal when reloading a save if combat was already completed. Fixed rock collision near the Strangled Adra in Dawnshore. Wall textures in Emerald Stair Pargrunen Cache now render properly. Bug Fixes & Miscellaneous General Stability & Fixes: Resolved issues with respawning enemies, such as the Sporeking reappearing after being killed. Fixed unkillable Dreamthralls outside of Thirdborn. Fixed an issue where Ryngrim's rotating wheel would shift when the game was out of focus. UI & Localization Fixes: Gjeda’s Journal no longer contains duplicate entries when playing in French. The description for the food item Saucco now displays correctly in all languages. Medical Supplies quest item now has the correct icon. Navigation & World Interactions: The player can no longer become stuck in the Cistern after dying in combat with Ygwulf. Sliding under obstacles now works properly. The player can now properly talk to Ambassador Hylgard, and others if combat previously interrupted a quest-related conversation. Sargamis no longer gets stuck when walking toward the lever in Eothasian Temple. Even more fixes and Improvements! We had so many fixes in this patch, that we ran over the character limit for some of our platform's patch note features. So, here are even more fixes that went into 1.3. Content Fixes NOTE: This content section is full of story spoilers! Readers beware! Global Changes Adjusted collision on all winch assets to improve performance. Centered the UI indicator on each illusory object. Character creation options now have consistent translations in Polish. Marius's offer to train the player is now more easily accessible through conversation. The Ledger's Documents tab no longer displays debug text on the header for Lore while playing in French. Tuned variables for tracking the player's influence on The Voice to improve reactivity. Fort Northreach: Cleaned up rocks and sand assets to blend together better. Fixed multiple issues in Polish translation of documents at Fort Northreach. Improved camera framing in the conversation with Steadman Ralke at Fort Northreach. Removed parkour from certain rock formations around Fort Northreach to prevent players from accidentally getting out of bounds and falling through the world. Updated settings on rocks in the ocean to prevent players from getting stuck out of bounds. Dawnshore Added ambience SFX to a room that was missing it in Dawnshore. Addressed rendering issues on various props used in Dawnshore, including wicker baskets, window frames and glass, cobwebs, hanging water plants, book piles, swinging trap logs, beige curtains, red curtains, iron curtain rods, and bougainvillea plants. Adjusted camera framing in conversation with Dagherda in Dawnshore. Bright flash of light no longer appears in cutscene during the quest "Dawntreader". Changed collision settings in Eothasian temple to prevent players from going out of bounds. Dream conversations in Dawnshore now use the correct gendered variants when referring to the Envoy while playing in Polish. Glaedwine and Leoflaed no longer repeat their quest turn in dialog for "Escape Plan". Grysca will now enter his standing animation more reliably. If the player turns in the Luminous Adra to Sapiento de Falva as part of the quest "Precious Light", the player can no longer turn in the adra to Captain Evina Bardatto as well. Improved performance for lighting and raytracing in the Ruinous Cavern in Dawnshore. Reduced light and fog leaking in Runyd's house in Dawnshore. Reduced shadow noise in the first room of the Cistern when playing on XSX Performance mode. Removed gaps in Dawnshore's Shantytown that let players go into unintended areas. The action "Store Items" in Party Stash now uses the correct translation in Polish. The conversation with Tycg in the Aedyran Embassy in Dawnshore will no longer end unexpectedly. The hanging cloth drapes in Dawnshore's Shantytown bar now render in their intended color. The player can no longer fall and get stuck between buildings in the Militia Barracks in Paradis. The player can no longer reach an unintended area behind sewer grates in Dawnshore's Cistern. The player can no longer reach an unintended area near the God Shrine in Dawnshore. The player can no longer reach unintended areas inside buildings in Northern Paradis. The quest "Precious Light" will now use correct quest markers if the player kills without meeting Sapiento de Falva first. The Voice now correctly acknowledges the Player's pronouns during their conversation in The Beyond while playing in Polish. Updated one of Captain Soldis's lines to use the correct formatting and syntax. Ygwulf and the rebels no longer become hostile after in "An Untimely End". Emerald Stair "Quest available" icon for Ranger Verano no longer displays after the quest becomes inaccessible. Adelarro is now using the proper voiceover file during some of his lines. Bounty quests with a singular target will now update upon killing the target instead of having to defeat all the enemies in the encounter. Corrected the description for Death Knight Armor's "Bastion" enchantment in Polish. Corrected the loot list for a chest outside of Naku Tedek that would sometimes have no loot in it. Enemies outside of the Delemgan Queen's chamber will now remain hostile if the player enters combat with her. If the player defeated Old Nuna and collected the bounty trophy but the quest did not progress, they can now return to the bounty location and the quest will update. Improved lighting performance for mushrooms outside of Naku Tedek. SFX of electrified water in Naku Tedek will no longer play after the trap causing it has been disabled. The conversation with Lieutenant Fidelio will no longer end unexpectedly if the player receives the quest "Missing Rangers" from Belenna and speaks with him before finding Adelarro. The name for Fast Travel Beacons now accurately convey their purpose and meaning in Polish. The player can no longer turn in the quest "Nature vs. Nurture" infinitely to Amadio. The player is now able to talk to Ranger Casagrada as part of the quest "Steel Resolve" if the player has progressed past a certain point of the quest "Ancient Soil". Updated syntax for Death Knight Armor's description to display the correct health values. Shatterscarp Added the correct SFX to a lever in the Sand Sea Ruins in Shatterscarp. Camera now correctly centers on the Envoy when certain characters state their opinion about trying drugs. Choosing specific dialogue options when talking to the survivalists near the Ancient Lakebed in Shatterscarp no longer causes the conversation to infinitely loop. Cutscenes that occur during the quest "Shadows of the Past" now have controller vibration haptics. Giatta now uses the correct voiceover file for one of her in-combat remarks. If the player made choices that lead to Chiko's death, they will no longer appear and be alive during the quest Optimized raytracing near the Naku Kubel Approach in Shatterscarp. Overworld changes that occur after certain choices are made during the quest "Shadows of the Past" will no longer appear earlier than intended. Players can no longer get stuck in an unintended area in Shatterscarp's Shrine to Wael. Rotating wheels in Ryngrim's Domain now have the correct SFX. The audio for the sea shanty singers in Thirdborn is now removed if the singers are not present. The conversation with Nameho and Tamamu no longer ends prematurely if the player already completed specific objectives in the quest "Home Sweet Home" before speaking to them for the first time. The NPC Koda in Shatterscarp now has the proper voiceover files for some of his lines. The player can no longer get stuck inside the cliffside rocks near the Sand Sea Ruins in Shatterscarp. The player can no longer reach an unintended area near Aiko's Campsite in Shatterscarp. The player can no longer reach an unintended area near the Pargrun Cache in Shatterscarp. The player can now properly receive their reward if they patiently wait for the guard who has to pee in Thirdborn. Updated Ruanga's character model to resolve continuity errors during the quest "One Last Drink." Galawain’s Tusks Added a conditional to prevent players from talking with a specific NPC about the outcome of the quest Keep History Alive if they have not completed it yet. Added ambient crowd noises to NPC crowds in Solace Keep. Amalia will no longer fail to give you a key to her camp's chest after speaking with her in her camp. Players that have previously run into this problem will receive the key when entering Galawain's Tusks or after loading a save game in Galawain's Tusks. An NPC will no longer walk into the conversation space when talking to Warden Radut in Galawain's Tusks. Fog no longer leaks through the walls of Solace Lava Tubes when playing with Shadow Quality set to Medium. Improved lighting performance in the Southern Warden Tower in Galawain's Tusks. Prevented Councilor Kostya from saying a line of dialogue that should only play for a specific outcome in "Ancient Soil". The conversation with Renato in Galawain's Tusks will no longer trigger earlier than intended. The quest "Boundaries of Antiquity" will now properly complete if the player purified the water after Weeping Willow will now fight back when the player chooses at the end of "Boundaries of Antiquity". Endgame Regions Adjusted camera framing in conversations during the quest Adjusted text positions on the map during the quest Companions will no longer become stuck behind locked doors in The Garden. Corrected formatting of Polish translations during the final region of the game. Improved transition into the ending cutscenes and end slides of the game. The examinable can now be found in The Garden. The player can no longer access a conversation in Galawain's Tusks with Iancu meant for another area of the game. The player will no longer get stuck in an unintended area when jumping off a cliff in The Garden. The player will no longer get stuck in the environment in certain areas during the quest Updated fog in The Garden so that cloud VFX from abilities such as Blizzard and Returning Storm will properly render. UI fixes and Improvements A "new item" indicator will now appear subcategories in the ledger to help guide players to the entries they have not read yet. Added a "Next Tip" prompt for loading screens. Added a visual indicator for progress when uploading saves to Xbox Cloud. Adra Shard now uses the intended item icon. An inventory count for adra will now be displayed when viewing it in a store. Buff icons from Food no longer appear cut off if the player has several buffs active at once. Changing subtitle size will now update immediately if the player is in a conversation. Changing the game's Language in Settings no longer requires the "Apply" prompt to be selected twice. Companion abilities will no longer auto-bind to slots which have already been bound by the player. Disabled the ability to open the ledger when the player is dead or incapacitated briefly during Second Wind. Full-screen tutorials now display properly during a new game, even if they had been seen in a previous save. In the rare event of loading an incompatible save, the Main Menu's Continue button will now display a warning. Marius' abilities now have the correct respec cost. Mouse 4/5 buttons can now be bound to actions. Remove allowance of Emojis during name creation for Xbox. Removed the "removed from inventory" prompt every time the player uses a throwable. Shopkeepers will no longer get rid of items you have sold to them. The description for the food item Saucco now has the correct string in all languages. The HUD will no longer persist when leaving or entering a Party Camp. The input for canceling the throw of a grenade will now properly update to the correct input if the player changed rebound "Interact". The player can no longer continuously spend money on respecing companion points without actually allocating any. The player now retains temporary status effects/buffs from consumables when entering another map. The player will no longer become stuck in a blocking state after opening the Action Radial while blocking. The quest item Medical Supplies now uses the correct item icon. The setting "Use Xbox Saves" is now hidden when playing on an Xbox or via the Xbox app on PC, as using Xbox Saves is always required on these platforms. The text for equipping a weapon from the inventory is no longer cut off when playing with different Text Size settings. Updated Radial Menu for keyboard to use non-customizable keys 1 - 6 keys for binding abilities to the quick action bar. This is to prevent conflicting inputs from happening. Updated text formatting for the descriptions of game difficulty options. Upscaling no longer defaults to DLSS every time the game is launched. Using ESC will now return the player to the previous page in in the Action Radial instead of always closing it. Gameplay Fixes, Improvements, and Balancing A skeleton warrior in Ryngrim's Domain now notices the player if they get shot by the player while reanimating. Added an error message when attempting to save the game during a cutscene. Adra and Awakened Adra's item descriptions no longer claim that players can break these items down into even more Adra. After killing fire blights, their bodies fall inertly to the ground instead of remaining in the air. An item pickup sound now plays when the player acquires an item during a conversation. Attacks from pistols now hit the target more reliably. Captain Evina Bardatto now drops some equipment in addition to money. Clarified that Kithwarder's enchant bonus/penalty applies to Damage Reduction. Boosted Kithwarder's bonus against kith back to 10% (up from 3%). Combat music in the Lava Tubes at Solace Keep now updates correctly when the player stealth attacks an enemy without killing them. Companion's abilities now correctly scale with the tier system Companions no longer play stealth barks when the player is sliding. Companions no longer receive elemental accumulation while incapacitated. Companions with the Shocked status effect no longer electrocute the player when standing near them. Conner Tranton will now always drop his unique boots. Corrected animations seen in third person while the player is idle, running, or sprinting while holding different weapons. Crowd NPCs in Solace Keep will no longer teleport to the center of the world in front of the player. Dawnshore Merchants now stock anywhere between 3-5 lockpicks at a time in their shops, increased from the previous amount of 1-3. Emerald Stair's exploration music now continues to play when loading saves in Naku Tedek and exiting to the overlands. Enemies no longer teleport to Yatzli while she's actively teleporting to a new location in combat. Enemies will no longer get stuck doing nothing after being hit with a knockback attack. Enemy health bars will no longer disappear after the player becomes incapacitated in combat. Essence cost reductions now apply consistently, instead of blocking the player from casting spells despite having sufficient Essence. Fire Blights can now attack players that are currently blocking with a shield while targeting the creature. Ghost summons Huginn and Muninn sound more like ghastly spirits and less like living people. Ghosts' Stamina Drain aura no longer remains after they die. God Shrine Totems at Party Camp now have a green smoky effect if their buff is currently active. Godless chests can now spawn firearms again. This also allows the player to find unique firearms such as Magic Mistol in their intended location. Ice platforms and shock hazards should no longer spawn in midair when using elemental melee weapons over shallow water. If the player falls off a cliff during the second trial in Naku Kubel, they will proceed to die instead of activating Second Wind. If the player performs a Wand Special Attack on an enemy after knocking back and stunning them with Grimoire Snap, Wand Special Attack VFX now properly displays under the enemy. Improved performance for summoned creatures that receive damage over time or disappear on death. Increased Young Bears' resistance to the impact of Power Attacks from Bows, making them less likely to become stunned too often. Into the Fray can now be cancelled into other actions earlier, to create more follow-up/combo possibilities. Lowered the stun threshold on Delemgan Summoners. can no longer get stunned when transitioning between combat phases, and her stun meter now resets upon being healed after transitioning. Lödwyn's sword now uses the correct appearance during her entrance cutscene in Dawnshore. Maegfolc no longer get launched unintentionally high in the air when ragdolled by Pull of Eora Marius's Hunter's Sense ability will now highlight loot from defeated enemies. Offhand one-handed Axes now play the correct Power Attack animations while in playing in third-person. Optimized Amadio's ally buffing abilities to increase performance. Players can now use any ranged weapon to target Magran's Fury Stalks, Eye of Rymrgand Nests, Electric Carnivorous Lilies, Ivy of Forgotten Souls, and Essence Generators. This will allow Wand projectiles to target and home in on them. Players on Story Time difficulty are now twice as resistant to the impact of incoming attacks, making it harder to interrupt the player when they perform actions in combat. Players on Story Time difficulty will now slowly regenerate up to 50% of their maximum Health and Essence while out of combat. Power Slide now affects all enemies except for Maegfolc. Increased the impact of Power Slide Rank 2. Prevented an error that would cause enemies to respawn after they have died. Many enemies that respawned incorrectly due to this issue should be dead when loading an affected save. Prevented auto-saving from occurring when the player is not in a safe position Quality of life improvements to the firearm reloading system. Quest titles no longer linger on the HUD even after being completed. Rank 2 of Returning Storm now correctly displays the duration of the ability in its description. Reduced all Adra costs for upgrading equipment by 1. Reducing VO volume now also reduces the reverb/echo from characters, making them inaudible when setting VO volume to 0. Removed exploit that allowed players to skip summoned character cooldowns by unequipping the item that grants the summon ability Removed the cube that appeared after interacting with certain merchants Resolved inconsistencies in targeting powder kegs and other objects. Second Wind now has no cooldown on Story Time difficulty. Small Spiders, Small Beetles, and Extra Small Beetles no longer have collision during their death animations. The "Press Any Button" prompt now plays a UI sound effect when the player interacts with it. The Disappointer's enchantment "Shared Misery" now correctly applies the debuff to surrounding enemies and no longer stacks multiple times on the same enemy. The Grimoire dry firing animation no longer plays if the player tries to cast a grimoire spell immediately after switching to that grimoire. It now only plays when trying to cast a grimoire spell on cooldown or if the player has insufficient essence. The player can no longer damage a Damaged Maegfolc by hitting where its missing arm would be. The player will now receive an additional talent point at levels 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30. Players with save files past those levels will receive the additional points. The reticle now accurately indicates whether or not Izmalt's Meteoric Apparatus will hit an enemy when the player aims it at them. The Sporeking will no longer respawn if the player already killed it. The underwater audio filter now properly updates when moving the camera above or underwater in Third-Person. The Yellowbands no longer respawn after the player completes their bounty quest. Updated Destul's health bar to correctly display the creature's name. Upgrading Grimoire Mastery no longer reduces the essence cost of spells cast with Grimoires. Upgrading weapons on Hard and Path of the Damned will now require more upgrade materials: Hard: +1 Plant Materials per upgrade, +1 Adra Materials per tier upgrade, Path of the Damned: +2 Plant Materials per upgrade, +2 Plant Materials per tier upgrade Using an ability right after the ability cooldown wears off will always be successful. Wand attacks now properly home towards targets standing in water. Water Beetles' projectiles now properly home towards targets if the beetles attack them while standing in water. When changing Difficulty settings, the player's health and essence now correctly update relative to the newly chosen difficulty. When loading any save data, gamepad vibration now remains turned on if the player already had it enabled. When playing on the difficulty Path of the Damned, enemies now have +20% bonus attack speed. Wildwalker Gloves now have a cooldown, preventing NPCs from getting indefinitely rooted in place by its effects. Xaurips in Fort Northreach will now react to the player shooting down Magran's Fury and killing a xaurip. Yatzli no longer stops following the player while exploring the Abandoned Mine in Shatterscarp. Ygwulf no longer gets stuck in a loop if his target disappears when he teleports at the start of combat. Animation Improvements Adjusted animations of Hasui during the quest "First Contact with the Enemy". Adjusted animations of Iwao during conversation. Adjusted animations of NPCs mouths, emotions, and gestures when talking outside of conversations. Adjusted facial animations in conversation on Lynna in Dawnshore. Eilara's Grimoire no longer has blank pages. Enemies will no longer have their weapon grow in size if they were attacked while a certain animation was being used. Giatta will no longer have an abnormal snapping animation in conversations during the quest Improved animations of the last character encountered during the quest Improved lipsync for Yatzli's recruitment conversation in Thirdborn. Improved lipsync of Hylgard when talking to him during the quest Improved lipsync of Kai when talking to him in Emerald Stair about Improved lipsync of Ranhyr during the quest Lödwyn will no longer disappear after certain cutscenes during the quest "Shadows of the Past". Miscellaneous A facial hair option the player can choose for their Envoy no longer stretches abnormally during cutscenes. Adjusted Fog and lighting in shanty town. Adjusted some godlike features to not clip with the player's head. Adjusted some hairstyles to not clip with the player's head. Blocking with a weapon now uses the correct SFX when playing in first-person. Corrected clothing materials on Merchant Alonya's outfit. Dreamthrall Bears no longer pop in textures when viewed from afar. Enabled Ray Tracing for character hair to improve the appearance of character shadows. Fix visuals in terrain around Lake Lacuna. For windows platform, it now sets the default graphics upscaling value to an upscaling that is supported by the computer it is running on. Improved the heat warping effect of air above lava. In Ryngrim's Domain, the rotating wheel behind Ryngrim no longer changes position when game is out of focus. Modified rendering of background assets in the Garden to improve performance. NPCs in Naku Tedek now have the proper arm appearances. Optimized certain lights in the Garden to improve performance. Optimized Ice Wand AOE visual effects to improve performance. Optimized the visual effects on Clear Out to improve performance. Optimized the visual effects on Fan of Flames to improve performance. Optimized the visual effects on Jolting Touch to improve performance on higher FPS modes. Optimized the visual effects on Spirit Lance to improve performance. Optimized the visual effects on the weapon 'Emerald Splitter' to improve performance. Returning Storm rank 3, now consistently displays it's visual effects. Summoned Earth Blights now more consistently display their visual effects. The Aurochs-Skin Grimoire now includes the proper sigils on its pages. The screen no longer flickers and stretches when charging an attack with ranged weapons. Yatzli's voiceover no longer abruptly cuts off during a conversation with her in The Garden.

Thank you, sir. I'm ok. They mostly hit military targets but yeah, it was scary. It's over now. Let's hope it stays this way.

I've been talking/begging about this since 2016, even added it as a begging section to my gamefaqs guide. I will literally re-install PoE1 just to take a look at this. With the last patch in 2024 I promised a hand-written letter of effusive praise if the devs got around to fixing this as well, and now I have it on this week's todo list to go out and buy some stationary. thankyousomuchomg

So I take it, starting the 24th, I'll be all alone in the forum because everyone else is playing this at launch, right?

LOL

I started playing Disco Elysium. I put on most of my clothes. Reached for my tie which was on a ceiling fan, then had a heart attack and died and went to the game over screen. That counts as completing a playthrough right?

From the trade show last month. Bad lighting in the hall. As an architect I feel offended by how bad the lighting was. Even worse attendance. Complete waste of money.

Hey everyone. Hope y'all are doing well! We're in Jamestown New York for a family function. We're picking up Bri from the airport in a few hours. I dislike New York mostly but it's nice around here. We drove up from Texas which was pretty miserable this time of year. After this it's back to cheese land for a while.

One of the primary reasons I continue to be drawn to Obsidian Entertainment, reaching back to the days of Black Isle, has been its commitment to great storytelling. This has been a quality that I believe has and continues to set it apart in the creative venture to tells stories through the gaming medium. I would like to delve into their artistic storytelling by highlighting just three examples that display their unique approach to narrative design. For me, I was hooked by their stories back in 1990s. When I discovered the stylised ‘isometric’ game of Fallout. It illustrated to me the importance to establish a foundation for narrative depth and complexity. In these early days, I believe Fallout telegraphed this hallmark of Obsidian's later works. The game's post-apocalyptic setting, moral dilemmas, and branching storylines captured my attention to the extent that much sleep was lost and it set my expectation quite high for storytelling in video games. And it all began with a water chip … Though the post-apocalyptic genre has always captured my geeky imagination, it has always been the fantasy medium to which I have been drawn. Some of the first books I dove into, as I discovered the power of the written words, were Tolkien’s and the vastness of Middle Earth. As I shared this passion with so many, Obsidian’s first foray into the genre, particularly through Gary Gygax’ D&D worlds, from Icewind Dale to Neverwinter nights, was amazing, but Obsidian’s ability to create its own IP was when they went to the next level. For me, the evolution of Obsidian has been their ability to create immersive worlds that come alive in dynamic ways. At the launch of the first Kickstarter for Pillars of Eternity, I knew that something amazing was happening in the maturation of the company’s ability to weave tales. The dedication to illustrating rich and detailed environments had me lost for hours. The world of Eora, which I believe will be further expanded in Avowed, exposed me to a living, breathing world with its own history, cultures, and conflicts. The depth of the lore and the complexity of the characters means my choices unfolded in meaningful and engaging ways. Beyond just the first title in the franchise, with Deadfire it was clear to me that my choices had consequences. This is a recurring theme in Obsidian's games, where my agency as a player is paramount. The storylines are often not linear path, but they present multiple divergent paths that lead to different outcomes. This approach not only offers opportunity to replay (if one had the time!) but it allowed me to feel like I was the agent helping the story unfold. Deadfire’s narrative, as an example of Obsidian’s narrative commitments, was further enriched by its well-written dialogue and memorable characters. The last example that I will touch on in this blog is the storytelling that shines in The Outer Worlds. If Fallout was post-apocalyptic, this recent addition to their creative library involves a journey through a dystopic future where the rich and autocratic corporations’ rule and individual freedom is intentionally oppressed. The story unfolds with satire on capitalistic greed. The satire presents a story that unfolds with a nimble wit and dark humour, which I believe is an essential component of Obsidian’s taletelling. As with their other stories, I felt I could become the Stranger. The character offered me a blank slate that allowed me to become the Stranger as I realised my choices would affect the fate of entire colonies, need alone my companions in dramatic ways. The writing is clever and thought-provoking, with plenty of twists and turns that kept me up much too late far too often! Let me conclude this musing, by focusing on Parvati’s Companion Quest. This component of Obsidian’s storytelling is what hooks me every time. Their ability to weave storytelling to liberate the player to see more widely through an artistic medium allows me to commit to the outcome of the story. Parvati’s relationship with Junlei is rich, human, and inspires me to see outside of the box. It allowed me to feel like I was hanging out with Kaylee from Firefly, recognising that in this dystopic future, love endures. The human connexion and emotion this questline evokes are profound, standing as a powerful challenge to the very real-life struggles we face outside the immersion of great gameplay. If a creative story can stir our hearts and show us options that translate into how we might aspire to be better human beings to one another, then those are the games I will passionately continue to play. And that is the true power of storytelling that I continue to experience from Obsidian after over twenty-years of my relationship with them.

One thing that nobody warns you about when you get a job in the gaming industry is just how many meetings there are. There’re daily standups, gate reviews, sprint meetings, post-mortems, sign-offs, bridge meetings, war rooms, and the list goes on and on. But one of the most important meetings is called Triage. It generally occurs on a daily or weekly cadence, depending on what part of the dev cycle you are in. This is where Production, Design, Engineering, and QA get together and discuss the latest bugs. We go over each bug written since the last Triage and decide as a group how important the bug is, who is going to fix it, and when they need to fix it by. There are three main ways that this is measured. Severity: How bad the bug is, in the eyes of the user. Priority: How soon a bug should be fixed. Repro Rate: How hard, or easy, is it to run into the bug? How likely are players to see it? This is usually measured in attempts. For example, a crash bug could happen 100% of the time, or it could only happen under very specific conditions. And one thing that is easy to forget when you’re lost in a sea of bugs, is the scale of the audience. Sure, only 10% of the testers may experience a specific issue. But 8% of the modern AAA audience is hundreds of thousands of players. You would think, with that in mind, anything that affects at least 5% of players would be treated as a serious concern. But what if I told you that while only 0.5% of women are color-blind, 8% of men are? And how many modern games have color-blind filters? The answer is not nearly enough. Accessibility features are about giving players the tools they need to enjoy the game in whichever way works best for them. If you can add color-blind filters (https://colorblindgames.com/2021/03/29/colorblind-gaming-101-the-basics/) that’s roughly 5% more potential sales. According to the Entertainment Software Association, 85% of Americans under 18 play video games at least once a week. That comes out to 205 million players in the US alone. Five percent of which, comes to 8,000,000 people. Multiple that by $60 and we’re talking serious money. So why, in a world where the dollar drives everything, are accessibility features not standard? Why are so many developers leaving so many potential players behind? It would be easy for me to blame big bad CEO’s or shareholders for the problem. But the reality is, it’s not malicious. Like most issues in life, it’s more ignorance than anything else. People just aren’t as informed on the subject as they could be. But that is starting to change. The industry is starting to come around and they are making serious investments in multiple ways. (alt text: Ishihara test was invented to measure color blindness. The image above uses different shades to create the image of Toadstool from Super Mario Bros) source: Obsidian has been leading the way for longer than most. Well before it was “cool” to make accessible games, titles like Pillars of Eternity (2013) were giving players multiple color-blind filters, detailed difficulty options, and a large suite of audio/video settings to let players decide what “good” looks like. Back in 2020 Grounded introduced the Arachnophobia filter. A setting that is now becoming default in many horror/survivor games. Hogwarts Legacy added it, but only after NorskPL released a community mod for the setting. My favorite is actually from the most recent version, Grounded 2. Can you detect the feature? It’s one of the first things you see when you start the game. (alt text: Screenshot of Grounded 2 main menu showing custom face button graphics used to inform the player where on the face the button is located.) Many of you probably pointed to the Accessibility shortcut. And that is a great example of mindful design. How do you expect people to turn on the accessibility features if they need the accessibility features enabled to get to the accessibility features? But that’s not my favorite. My new favorite is the A and Y buttons. Notice what’s different? I bet you Xbox Certification noticed that these are not authorized representations of the face buttons on an Xbox controller. But I love that they saw through the rule to find the intent. Instead of confusing players, these actually provide more information. It’s a tiny change that can have a big impact. Heck, I’m not even color-blind and these helped me after I spent the previous few weeks playing Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, where the A and B buttons are swapped. And that’s the key to accessibility features. Not telling players how to play, but providing the options for them to play how they want to play. And they are not alone. The industry as a whole has finally seen the benefits of expanding their games and tearing down walls. For example: the Entertainment Software Association (a trade association representing the major video game developers and publishers across the industry) recently rolled out their Accessible Games Initiative. They are leading by example and starting with updating their storefronts to include Accessibility Tags. Much like you can browse by genre or feature, now you can filter games by which ones support the accessibility features you care the most about. (alt text: A black background with brightly colored stickers in the shapes of Xbox icons and accessibility products like prosthetic legs, wheelchairs, and seeing eye dogs.) And they are not alone. A whole market is forming around consulting, reviewing, and teaching about accessibility. People are getting together and demanding “Never about us, without us.” From Accessibility Labs, a startup in Tempe, AZ of former QA professionals passionate about Accessibility testing. To Microsoft’s Xbox Accessibility Guidelines, requirements that titles they publish must meet. But Tommy, I’m a developer and I want to do better. How can I make sure everyone is able to enjoy my hard work? Well, I’m glad you asked, imaginary developer person. Because while I’m passionate about the subject, I also acknowledge I’m just as ignorant as most. But together, we can work towards fighting that ignorance, in our own minds, and in others. Even the smallest changes, like the button prompts above, can have a huge impact. Bring on Accessibility experts during your design phase, don’t wait until you’re about to launch. Don’t be like so many others before you that designed fully fleshed out UI’s that rely on a cursor to navigate. Only to find out down the road this is not very accessible for people with fine motor issues. Making these changes during the design phase will save you thousands, if not millions, of dollars down the line. Embrace your lack of knowledge and seek out the experts. There are resources available to developers of all shapes and sizes. Are you a small developer that wants to do better, but just doesn’t know where to start? Support other independent gamers like Accessibility Labs. Have a good idea of what you want to do, but want to make sure you aren’t forgetting anything? Check out Microsoft’s Xbox Accessibility Guidelines. Want to support the effort in other ways? Reach out to AbleGamers, who have been fighting this fight for over 20 years. Enjoy this article and want to know more? Check out Derek Gruber on Seattle Indie’s Accessibility Awareness Month episode. The last thing I want to do is trivialize game and UX design. Accessibility is just one of countless aspects that must be considered when designing a game and it’s UI. What’s most important is that you are making the effort. Instead of asking why you should add an option, ask why you shouldn’t. When in doubt, trust the player to decide what is best for themselves. Not every feature is going to be a home run. But as long as we, as a community, are working towards improving, the rising tide will raise all ships. Sources & Resources Game Developer - Nintendo, Microsoft, EA and others unite to make accessibility messaging a priority Washington Post - Accessibility option in survival game ‘Grounded’ turns my arachnophobia into a thrill Colorblind Games - Colorblind Gaming 101: The Basics Mashable - Video games taught me I was colorblind but it's not always a friendly lesson Nexus Mods - Arachnophobia mode Seattle Indies - Accessibility Awareness Month Interview Series: Steve Saylor and Derek Gruber Able Gamers - Combating Social Isolation Through Play Accessibility Labs Microsoft - Xbox Accessibility Guidelines Entertainment Software Association (ESA) - Entertainment Software Association Introduces the Accessible Games Initiative to Provide Players with Information About Accessibility Features in Video Games

I got a free copy of the new Hexen+Heretic release since I owned both Hexen and Heretic on my Steam library. Trying it out now. Also, thank you Bethesda! I don't care if you ruined the Fallout franchise so long as you give me free stuff.

NWN2 Enhanced Edition comes out tomorrow, so I decided to pick it up on GOG. I'm pretty excited to play it after so long. It doesn't look like they've done much graphically, but it was a decent looking game back in the day, so it should be fine.

Was watching some videos re: Trump/stripping naturalized US citizenship etc. I am a naturalized US citizen, since I was adopted in early 1971. I think they altered some laws 20-30 years ago where adoptees can be US citizens without actual naturalization process, but only applies to those adopted post-early 1980's, with certain requirements etc, or something. I don't know details on that. Anyway, while watching it occurred to me I should go doublecheck all my adoption/citizen paperwork/records, because moving a few years ago is chaotic + my memory/organization gets worse every year. Looked in file cabinet, closets, looked in some boxes (still packed re: moving homes), couldn't find them, started to panic. Then remember the "mom" box. I had put them in there. Phew. New safer place for those again. Hopefully, since I'm almost invisible to everyone but the DMV/taxman (haha), as long as I don't try to become a drug kingpin or accrue 1000 parking tickets in a few months, Trump won't notice me.* *Not really worried about my personal status/self, mind. Not what he's (currently) chasing after. But it's Trump - and things are crazy. I think I won't leave the US for vacation/anything for a while. Trump might not let me back in.

I just hope @Katphood is okay

(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.

Donald Trump now has the opportunity to do the funniest thing: deport Musk back to South Africa.

Unconventional Wildrhymer based on summons and ranged damage Hi all! Eventually, my second long-awaited build for PoeII Deadfire is finally here. I don't remember exactly how this build was born in my head, but I thought about a young little woman pale elf with a lovely pet as a friend and a cute family in the White that Wends. I don't know why, who, when and how, at some time her nice pet and her beatiful family were massacred by only gods know. She became eager to help all the weak people in difficulty, she began to not tolerate the abuses of the strong and her spirit of revenge, together with the bond she had with her loved ones, became so strong that she learned to evoke the souls of her deceased loved ones and of her pet bear (Oëdenläff) to help her in her battles. (Now follows a series of reasons for my choices) Pale Elf Wildrhymer (Beckoner / Ghost Heart) - The "Summoner with Warm Heart and Cold Gaze" "Be careful: I'm not as alone as I seem..." - Laerne's warning to ill-intentioned people Name: Laerne PoTD/SOLO/ULTIMATE: YES - You can beat all contents, also all Mega Bosses ( and without too much cheese ) Game Version: ver. 5.0.0.0040 with all FREE DLCs and all DLCs ("Beast of Winter", "Seeker, Slayer, Survivor" and "The Forgotten Sanctum" plus "Mega Boss Battles") Race: Elf (+1 DEX, +1 PER) Subrace: Pale Elf (Elemental Endurance: +4 Burn Armor Rating, +4 Freeze Armor Rating). Almost any other choice would have been better, made only for RPG purposes Classes: Wildrhymer - Beckoner (+1 Bluff, History, Arcana, Sleight of Hand and Diplomacy) / Ghost Heart (+1 Diplomacy, Survival, Alchemy, Stealth and Bluff) Culture: The White that Wends (+1 PER). It's my RPG culture and besides, +1 PER is perfect. Background: Mystic (+1 Arcana, Metaphysics and Religion). A summoner of ancient spirits seems good as a mystic, and bonus to Arcana and Metaphysics is good for us Pose: Pious (To connect more with the spirits and pray for them to manifest ;P) Berath's Blessing: NONE --- Attributes: base (with permanent effects collected through the run) Mig: 10 (10) Con: 6 (6) Dex: 18 (20, +1 as Elf, +1 Cauldron Brew) Per: 18 (20, +1 as Elf, +1 The White that Wends) Int: 18 (18) Res: 5 I like to MAX INT, DEX and PER attributes often for my characters, but in this case there are also valid reasons to do that. INT is essential for the range of phrases, for the duration and range of skills and especially summons; PER is always important in SOLO (to discover hidden objects) but as a Ranger it can be lowered a little; DEX as a Chanter is not important if it is maxed out but as a Ranger it increases DPS a lot and is still good for speeding up spells and summons. MIG is less important for DPS (I use PER and DEX for that and summons do a lot of damage) but I don't want to dump it, also because it is needed for STR and healing (even if this can be increased quite easily). I don't want to dump CON and RES either, with low scores as you play easily, wanting to bring the skills to 7 or 8 you can take away some points from PER and DEX if you want. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Skills score There are no particular reasons to use one or the other of the skills, during the game I MAXED Arcana a few times because with high PER certain scrolls are devastating - see for instance these "Storm of Holy Fire" damages against Hauani O Whe: Alchemy to be able to increase the effect of drugs and potions to a great extent and Metaphysics for the effects of certain objects (Essence Interrupter ); the latter, in addition to being very useful, is also perfectly relevant to the character For hard battles (i.e. Megabosses) you need often specific skills: see the videos below. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Abilities I respeced and experimented many times through the run, so I'll do a resume of how I'd do the build now, after my run: which skills have I used most often and which have been the most useful. For hard battles (i.e. Megabosses) you need specific build: see the videos below. Level 1 Beckoner (free) Invocations summon twice the number of creatures. The chanter's summons are smaller and have half their normal health. Summon Invocations cost +1 Phrases. Nothing special here, half health is not a great problem with healing, +1 Phrases is a heavy drawback but we can use more times early level summons but DOUBLE creatures is insane sometimes Ghost Heart (free) Immune to Bonded Grief. Animal Companion is immune to Engagement. Must actively summon Animal Companion during battle (costs Bond and has a duration of 30.0 sec). Companion is considered a Spirit and is affected by Spirit-targeting powers. Animal Companion cannot be healed (Unable to learn both Heal Pet and Revive Pet abilities). As I said, I pick GH above all for charcater history and because I like playing LITERALLY SOLO, but for the sake of analysis my considerations follow. No Bonded Grief is pleasant, nothing disatrous but nice to have. Immune to Engagement: also said before, it is good having the AC run to one foe and keep him busy with no time wasted - underrated ability. You must summon your AC: bad thing because you waste bonds for it, but this build doesn't need many bonds, summon is very fast and with high INT it lasts a very long time. Companion is a Spirit: I never noticed it, not actually a drawback. AC cannot be healed: ROTFL, we heal as a Chanter: not a drawback. Bear Companion: picked above all for RPG purpose (I like the idea of a little Pale Elf Woman friend of a White Bear) but Bear is tanky with +2 AR and is larger than other AC, thus he can block better the foes in some situations. If their Bones Still Slept Under that Hill, None Can Say I picked up "The Thunder Rolled Like Waves on Black Seas" to keep foes away, but if I started again I'd choose "If their Bones Still Slept Under that Hill, None Can Say" because 6 skeletons help a lot and its upgrade is useful late game, too. Come, Come Soft Winds of Death Not so much to choose here, but you need a Phrase and "Come, Come Soft Winds of Death" at least is a healing source early levels, but it is not so effective and it losts value late game. Marked Prey No brain. +10 ACC versus a foe is huge late, mid and end game. Weapon Proficiencies Dagger (Parrying Blade some defense when we are forced in melee. Hunting Bow (Rapid Shot we have high ACC so we can increase DPS a lot with more speed. Level 2 Arms Bearer More choices, more chances of damage, more fun! Level 3 The Thunder Rolled Like Waves on Black Seas Ok, eventually I pick this one. Not much else better and a source of Stunned in AoE with few bonds is always appreciated and it can save your back also late game. Alternative: Fast Runner, but you can increase stride also with equip. Level 4 Two-Handed Style I used ah huge amount of tow-handed ranged weapons, so this is obvious. Marksman +5 ACC almost always. Nothing else to say. WP: Pistol (Rushed Reload) Same speech made with the hunting bow AND it is important for Eccea's Arcane Blaster Level 5 Shot on the Run Gunner can be better, but we are often using also bows, so Shot on the Run seems a better choice. Level 6 Gernisc Slew the Beast, but Soon Faced Its Kin Six ranged wurms with fire attack can do the difference in many situations. Level 7 Ancient Brittle Bones Six skeletons who died and splits in twelve, and the latter don't count as summon total? Oh yeah - tanky funky And if they don't make huge damage, 12 or more little skeletons who hit a foe, count for "on hit" effects Evasive Roll Cheap cost, great panic button and on the top, a source of Quick… believe me, you'll always miss it if you've tried it at least once. Alternative: Marked for the Hunt, but not always you face many foes at once and you can choose the following target… Level 8 Sure-Handed Ila Nocked Her Arrows with Speed Less reload and revovery time, more speed, more DPS. And it is good with your ranged summons. Do you remember the wurm from before? WP: Crossbow (Interrupting Shot) A never ending source of interrupts. Why not? Level 9 Ancient Memory Wonderful infinite source of AoE (for summons and companion) healing. Also with mid MIG we can exploit it. Level 10 ...and Their Screams Reached The Heavens Why have wurms if we don't use their Screaming Breath? Alternative: The Lover Cried out to the Beloved, "I am Yours!" - An AoE Charme, if you are satisfied with "regular" wurms. Hunter's Claw Not for itself but rather for its upgrade Alternative: a passive like Gunner or Two Weapons Style or Weapons and Shield Style. Level 11 The Brideman Slew Thirty 'Fore They Crossed Half the Hall Strong and Steadfast for you and yours summons/companion. Not bad. Alternative: ...Its Crash Could Not Be Denied, if you enjoy stunning people, +15 ACC is always welcomed Level 12 At the Sound of His Voice, the Killers Froze Stiff It is a no brain choice, more with high ACC and INT. And it is an alternative to Stunned and/or enemies with high Reflex. Companion, Skeletons and Wurms are enough for us and alternatives chanter summons are not so good or important to pick up. Alternative: The Long Night's Drink Birthed the Revenge of Morning - a source of Weakened and a -14 debuff to Fortitude, I didn't think so but it is an underrated Phrase. WP: Medium Shield (Block) 30% complete resistance to attacks is huge when we are in trouble somentimes. Alternative: you can experiment with Magical implements modals, such as Scepters (Destructive Channeling) or Rods (Blast). Level 13 Rapid Casting Speed can make the difference between life and death. Always picked up in my runs. Practiced Healer Wait! Why not Driving Flight?!?! Well, like Marked for the Hunt not always we are facing more foes at once and we need to compensate mid MIG for healing capability, besides it synergies with chanter healing abilities and everyone benefits from it (summons and AC). And if we stack Healing buffs, we can heal like no one. Level 14 The Bride Caught their Ruse and Set to Make them Pay AoE lasting Quick and Insightful - no brain. Alternative: Gernisc's Beast Lit the Night with his Breath - ok, you can have fun with it, but Dragons are not as good as you can hope Level 15 Tough We have not a large reserve of health and we often need it - trust me. Alternative: Together They Slew Forth a River of Red or ...And Their Fear Followed Them into the Foothills - improve previous Invocations with nasty effects. Level 16 Quick Summoning Mandatory for a summon-based build. Hunter's Fang Balnce out for our mid MIG. It does wonder with Boss and megaboss (se the videos below). WP: Large Shield (The Wall) Useful when you search refuge versus projectiles and/or need more REF. And I have used two unique large shields extensively during my run, and of ot them has a enchantment that works with this WP. Level 17 Survival of the Fittest More ACC is Always welcomed, even if we have already high ACC. With high defense values of some foes it is envaluable. Level 18 Improved Critical Plenty of choices here. I'd prefer this one because with our ACC we score many Crits thus we are improving our DPS, and a passive ability is more advisable than active one usually. But you can go for an alternative with no worries. Alternative: pick an upgrade of a previuos Invocation, i.e. ...Each Kill Fed His Fury because +5 CON helps us a lot; or have fun with So Singt thy Biting Winds o' Eld Nary but Tornado is quite clumsy in my opinion. Their Champion Braved The Horde Alone is good for PEN buff, but you have already The Brideman Slew Thirty 'Fore They Crossed Half the Hall who give more MIG. With our excellent DPS Old Siec Would Not Rest 'til His Hunger Was Sated works very weel, instead. Level 19 Called to His Bidding, the Ancient Instruments of Death And finally, our SIX animated weapons full of self healing and their own abilities! Superior Camouflage +8 DEF against ranged attacks when we are almost always far from the fight, is our bread. Alternative: ok, you can pick Driving Flight because is a great DPS enhancer all in all Level 20 Many Lives Pass By, Each Leaving Footprints Sometimes, without it, you wouldn't be able to win certain battles. A free skeleton invocation. Alternative: Mercy and Kindness Followed Where'er She Walked if you want a more healing-oriented build; Set to Their Purpose, They All Knew Their Part because more INT more the summons last. Or have fun with Boil Their Flesh From Skin to Bone seeing enemies explode when they are almost dead WP: War Bow (Overdraw) Most because to be considered a ranged weapon specialist. Or follow advices of level 12. Watcher's Abilities Wit of Death's Herald Taking always sassy responses to Gods, you have a source of "Brilliant". And Laerne has a bold personality No Time for the Lost More duration to Beneficial Effects, Less duration of hostile effects - it's the best choice, but it doesn't make so much difference,RPG-wise you can also go for Mercy for the Lost. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Equipments Weapons There are three weapons I've used in my run more than the others: Frostseeker, Essence Interrupter and Eccea's Arcane Blaster. Frostseeker comes relatively early and it has three properies that make it vry good for us: it is multi-shot, it has 2 different damages and it has an AoE effects. The best choice early/mid game versus groups of foe. And it is perfect from RPG point of view! Essence Interrupter can be bought almost immediately, it has 2 (or three) different damages, DPS can be improves by skill maxing and as a hunting bow it is very fast. Extensively used through all my run. Eccea's Arcane Blaster is maybe the best ranged weapon for us when pierce, frost and shock damage are failing or we need corrode/crush damage. Imbued Ammunition deal a lot of damage and we are so fast that 35% more recovery doens't worry. On top of that Fractured Bullet furthermore enhance DPS and helps delivering one of the other enchantments. And it is a lot of fun to use it! Other weapons used frequently Scourge of Bezzello: useful for canceling enemies concentration with multi-shot and its modal. Kitchen Stove: needed for stacking Hunter's Fang buffs with multishot and Wild Barrage. Blightheart: a soulbound arquebuse we can wield early game as a healing source and to build phrases faster. A dagger for parry when I were using a defensive slot with a shield. There are some other weapons used but just for fun or occasionally. Shields Somentimes I've used The Best Defense when I needed a weapon slot for defensive purpose as well as Nerian's Ward, Lethandria's Devotion (the latter benefits also of our healing buffs) or Wintertide Bulwark. Armor Miscreant's Leathers: my favourite dress early game. -10% Recovery, +8 REF, -10% Crit Damage taken and +5% Misses converted to Grazes. What else do we need? Fleshmender: +5 Health Restored per 12.0 sec which become superhigh with our healing buff, +3 AR bonus at combat start, on top of that +1 Quick Item Slots and 5% of incoming Hits converted to Grazes. It is like a god mode with this character I has ended up wearing it all mid/late game. RPG-wise you can use also Sharpshooter's Garb, but it is less effective than Fleshmender, I warn you Clothing Head: Acina's Tricorn (more DPS) Neck: Baubles of the Fin (more DPS for summons) / Bone Setter's Torc (healing buff and more self DPS) - Charm of Bones against vessels, with also its +2 INT Hands: Aegor's Swift Touch (more DPS) / Finger 1: Ring of the Marksman (+1 PEN is fundamental) / Ring of Prosperity's Fortune (increase DPS) Finger 2: Ring of Greater Regeneration (with our healing buffs is a huge boost in healing) / Kuaru's Prize (+1 INT is always more summons time and it increase also our scrolls DPS) Waist: Physicker's Belt (healing buff) / Sash of Judgment (improve DPS) / The Undying Burden (defensive choice and +2 CON) Feet: Footprints of Ahu Taka (DEX and healing buff) / Boots of Stone (DEX and resistance to stunned, moreover looks better than sandals ;P) / Fenan's Finery (the best fitting RPG shoes) Cape: The Giftbearer's Cloth (one more quick item, one more weapon and more defence that we lack) / Cloak of the Theocrat (more INT more summons time) Pet: Harley (+10% ranged damage is better than all the rest) / Animancy Cat (improves summons a lot and Arcana and Metaphysics is just our skill!) Trinket: Muātu's Head or Crucible Token Quick slot items With high Alchemy I've found these potions very useful in my run: - Potion of Spatial Alacrity, Potion of Deftness and Potion of Perfect Aim to increase DPS; - Potion of Impediment for interrupts; - All healing potion cause of our high healing buff. Any drug is good for us, especially Mouth Char, Deadeye (in this case Potion of Impediment and Potion of Deftness are unnecessary), Taru Turu Chew for our low/mid MIG and CON and occasionally Whiteleaf for its healing effect upgraded by our healing buffs. With high Arcana Scroll of Avenging Storm is awesome when we shot with a multi-projectile weapons (i.e. Frostseeker); Scroll of Moonwell is wonderful for us and our summons because of healing; Scroll of Withdraw lasts a lot and can save us many times; all powerful scrolls deal much damage with our high PER (i.e. Scroll of Storm of Holy Fire, Scroll of Great Maelstrom and so on...) Unfortunately, the Scroll of Kalakoth's Minor Blights could have been a beautiful and appropriate weapon for Laerne, but they are less effective than other "normal weapons" because the damage type changes randomly with each hit (this is not suitable for almost any creature) and it would be better if it were a rod or a scepter; the wand is a bit "meh", but you can use it just for fun every now and then. Food and Drink Laerne is especially fond of Mohorā Wraps: it gives us a lot of strength (which we lack) and speed, which increases our DPS. Apart from that, Glazed Chops are also great for strength and the healing buff as well as Honey Wine Hen for even more defensive fights. ===================================================================================================================================================== How to play the build The way to play the build is not very difficult to understand: summon allies with the chanter's invocations, make them tank and shoot as much as you can with the throwing weapons that are most suitable for the enemy you are facing. Use as many buffs as you can with the Phrases and/or the ranger's abilities, in case of danger use "Evasive Roll" and/or "The Thunder Rolled Like Waves on Black Seas" and if you can't use the chanter's summons, spend a bond on your beautiful badass bear VIDEOS Laerne in action: all megabosses, Nemnok - a very difficult fight! - and Changeling's Dance as bonus track Nemnok Changeling's Dance Sigilmaster Auranic Belranga Dorudugan Hauani O Whe Guardian of Ukaizo

Solasta - I owned this on Steam and never got very far. I'd make a party, and then re-think my choices, and start again. I did this a half dozen times. So basically I had 20 hours of making characters. I decided to try again, but I wanted the DLC classes, so I bought the Lightbrimger Edition on GoG, as it was on sale for a good price. I managed to push past the first mission and now I'm starting to get into the rhythm. Hopefully it lasts.

Went to the theater for A MINECRAFT MOVIE, because my nephew really wanted to go. So far I thought watching him play Minecraft was the worst thing. Then he started to watch Minecraft YouTubers, and I thought, wow, it can't get any worse. Oh how wrong I was. The best moment of the film came from an older woman a few seats away, having been dragged to the theater by what was probably her grandchild. When the credits rolled, she very loudly exclaimed: THANK GOD IT IS OVER.

[banter voice="Kana_Rua"] Hellooo! Hello? [/banter]

I completed Pillars of Eternity a couple of days ago. I had such a good time, I haven't played an old school RPG for a couple of years despite it being my favorite genre and Obsidian made an absolute banger here. It had a really good story, and not having the curtain pulled back until the very end made all the reveals very impactful. I was planning to play something that's totally different between Pillars 1 & 2 so I didn't get bored with the real-time and pause genre but after the last couple of hours of PoE1 I just have to know what happens next now so I've started playing Deadfire immediately. I've basically just started, I'm about to repair the ship and leave the first island. It was a bit jarring for the first hour or so with the new UI and going from a typical medieval setting to a swashbuckling pirate adventure but it's already obvious that the quality of the writing and RPG mechanics are so much improved here. I'm very much looking forward to seeing the rest of the game.

Here's the trailer for Solasta II. I'm stoked for this game

please make pillars of eternity 3 start kickstarter maybe? -Anıl Erdem Sarak

Charlie Kirk assassinated by some white guy in his 60s while giving a speech at Utah Valley University. Boy, our country sure is in an interesting place right now, isn't it? Utah just passed a "open carry at colleges is legal" law earlier this year, too... "Charlie Kirk Says Gun Deaths ‘Unfortunately’ Worth it to Keep 2nd Amendment" Hey, as long as it's not you or your kids, I guess so, right? Well...one of those rare cases where some right wing piece of **** got the chance to actually practice what he preached, so good on him.

I got the email today that I am officially verified as run #16! It's hard to believe its been over 6 months since I finished my run. Something fun is Sam said in his email there have been a surprising number of submissions recently. Looking forward to seeing what people have done.

Hello friends! Here are the patch notes for Hotfix 0.1.2.1 Resolved an issue that caused players to crash when the Founders Pack equipped. Addressed an issue that should fix AI pathing behavior. Due to an unintended issue - The ORC bee by the blueberry bush should now move back to their intended location. Various stability enhancements have been made, including improvements to the process of sending your buggy home. Hopefully this will help players progress through the story. We are continuing to work on the existing issues in the game as well as any new reports that come in. Please feel free to submit a support ticket if you run into any issue with the game. Obsidian Support Thanks!

I jumped on my bike and kept going until I ran out of road and had to circle back. Before and after I ran out of city. + an obligatory instagram shot of the cold beer i thought i deserved for my troubles.

Right now I'm drinking a cup of coffee and watching the sun set on a pleasantly cool evening. Life is good. Hope ya'll are doing well!

our response is gonna be unsatisfactory. There is a Constitutional crisis if scotus says there is a Constitutional crisis. in the garcia case, the issue o' most immediate concern, the Court did their effectuate v. facilitate silliness and so there is just enough ambiguity that the executive may implausible but perhaps legal realistic claim confusion. https://www.stevevladeck.com/p/143-the-state-of-play-in-the-abrego highly recommended read. not too long. if you still have questions after reading, ask us and we will explain sans most o' the legal stuff. by the way, more than a couple dems makes it tough to take 'em serious if trump does explicit ignore the courts and they then complain. rules for thee but not for me. concerning to us personal, and no doubt confusing given our recent posts, is the fact all o' the legal debate ignores the more important questions o' right v. wrong. yeah, we must not ignore due process to get bad guys such as tren de aragua/ms-13 members... or trump, but debates over legal ignores far more important and fundamental questions o' right v. wrong. so much o' what trump is doing (has already done) should be seen as wrong/immoral/unthinkable by all those salt-of-the-earth christian americans who vote for trump regardless o' whether a court decides he can legal do. by constant debating the legalities, people are able to ignore the more important and fundamental questions o' right and wrong. worse, at some point people replace "right" with "legal" and the two is most assured not synonymous. slavery were legal for a long time. until more recent, it were legal impossible to sexual assault your wife. purchasing and displaying foam fingers at sporting events is legal, but we all know it is wrong. call out the wrong is a moral duty even if not a legal one. yeah, too many ignore due process when it suits 'em but even more sit quiet or only complain via text or post when they nevertheless witness wrongs being done. as we noted already, obama used the espionage act and other means to target fox reporters and tea party members. such were wrong then even when it were legal. you think trump is gonna show same "restraint" as the obama administration? a couple years past we noted how even after the Court ruled that use o' testimony induced by torture o' non citizens not on US soil were legal admissible if obtained pre trial, the biden administration vowed it would not do such a thing, declaring such acts repugnant. 'course is nothing stopping trump from ignoring biden's conscience. right. v legal. read the 2025 project and as each week passes, the trump administration checks off a new item from the authoritarian to-do list... and we ain't even three months in as o' today. we did think that the alien enemies act would be invoked and used sooner by trump, but he will get around to targeting individual american citizens before he finishes up with law firms and universities. so, we are most certainly already in a crisis situation, but until the Court says we got a Constitutional crisis, we don't, 'cause they were purposeful obtuse/vague. HA! Good Fun! ps speaking o' what trump may do to US citizens on US soil, before he ships 'em off to cecot, am suspecting the administration is purposeful trying to provoke summer 2020 kinda protests. have already mentioned the espionage act as a way to target reporters and likely lawyers, but the insurrection act is also a possibility. bush used the insurrection act in 1992 to send troops to la to quell riots. project 2025 anticipates the use o' the insurrection act and such should be chilling given the way they have bent and twisted the alien enemies act. also recall that when teslas were set on fire, trump claimed such were terrorist acts. as we has warned numerous times, identify a person or organization as a terrorist is a way to diminish due process rights, which is why we always balk at legal using domestic terrorist language. if somebody burns a tesla or poops in pelosi's desk, get 'em for vandalism or whatever is appropriate, but tack on terrorist label just to reduce due process strikes us as dangerous. tween insurrection act, patriot act and espionage act, trump is gonna have legal tools to disappear people or use the military to suppress 'em.

Beat avowed. I enjoyed it. The worst part about is it that you are aedyran. Limits role playing. The best thing about the game is how they managed to make it feel like Eora. Don't want to go into particulars. Maybe I will write something in the avowed spoilers page. One thing is for sure. After playing kcd2 and avowed back to back, I am done with first person RPGs for a while.

Hello Developer, I had the only one major issue with Avowed's Journal UI. It hurts my eye trying to read Avowed's Journal with White Background and Black Text. Almost impossible to read and hurting my eye greatly. Can we have a simple patch with the opposite White Text with Black Background for user with TV monitor especially. I try adjusting all possible TV settings,. Brightness/Contrast/Gamma to no valid solution. I cannot enjoy the game without reading the journal properly. Upvote if anyone is facing similar issues. Thanks. rgs Ariobeth.

Yo, where is it @Aarik D? Congrats to no.1 on Steam btw.!

Just completed my Ultimate run today! What a journey. I used an SC Bloodmage. If anyone is curious here's a link to my playlist-- https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAm0AdL2JprBmLIvnUJQa_8nGDaN3QPxR Thanks to ValkyOfApocrypha for his route, that was such an invaluable resource in figuring this out.

Oh, I also saw a massive ad for Avowed in Times Square. It was one of the corner ones that stretches around. Here are a few more good photos of our trip: The Bone Museum in Brooklyn One really good family photo. I don't know how we got the angsty teenager to smile.

Hi, check this out! We found a big box in my father-in-law's attic and in it - among other stuff - was an old German youth magazine. "Why did he keep this?" we asked ourselves - until we discovered this: Awesome

Avowed - It's fantastic. It looks great. The intro area is really well done. I just reached the first city.

It turns out that if you put phrases in your chants and then respec and don't pick those phrases again you can still use them ! As long as you don't remove them from your chant. So you make a chant with the all the phrases and then "sculpt" a custom chant from the original chant. This way I avoided picking any phrases at all.

Long photo heavy post! Cone to go?

Yeah, never eat mushrooms. Eating mushrooms is smurf domicide.

I always liked how Obs handled diversity in Deadfire, i.e. they just put it there along with world building for it to make sense, no fanfares or shining a spotlight on it.

If all else fails, go on OnlyForks.