Lasci

These questions should really come with a disclaimer about which difficulty level you want to play on before a question is asked. <.<; Yes, it could work. If you don't want to use adventurers from the inn, make sure your main character is a rogue for that sneak damage. Pick up a Cipher or Grieving Mother. Make sure you have a Chanter or Kana singing the reload spell. If you're not on Hard or higher, you can probably get away with just using Eder as a tank, but that might be pushing it on Hard. It's not a bad idea to have Sagani in your party, since she's a ranger and should provide a bit of variety in your party.

This is a slight derail, but I am interested in your perspective (and I do not have enough to say for a full new topic). What about a Wizard tank work? There are a few spells which really help (spirit shield, bulwark against the elements, mirror image), the classes basic attack (the 2 per encounter AoE) causes daze and there are a lot of CC options. So could a wizard, in your opinion, work as a full tank? If not, how viable do you think a wizard as a off-tank / CC hybrid is? (i.e. is it "doable" but worse than the alternative, or a true alternative) Wizards have less endurance and half the starting deflection of a Cipher, but their kit is better suited to being close up. Their per encounter abilities require them to be close if not into the melee and arguably their most damaging ability, Fan of Flames, requires them to get close for good positioning. They also have a pretty stupid amount of self-buff spells. The problem is, buff spells have to be used in combat, so if you're wearing heavy armor and a shield on top of wanting to cast these spells, you're waiting forever to actually be viable in melee. I haven't run the numbers, but you could probably make it work. If you're not playing on PotD, you could get away with a Cipher or a Wizard acting like a melee spellsword if that's what you're really going for.

If you want to optimize, you should max might and dexterity.

Unforgiven (Convert Graze to hit, Exceptional, Speed, Burning Lash) -- given as a reward after completing Cinders of Faith, a quest given by the Magran priestess in the Ducal Palace of Defiance Bay.

My main character is a druid and I love her to bits. It's good early because of shapeshift and dominates later because of an excellent spell list.

If you want 16 resolve and perception for roleplaying purposes, you're going to take a hit to your damage efficacy. But you should be fine; you're not going to have a complete dud of a character if your stats aren't offensively maxed.

Tanking in this game is possible by any class. Take high constitution, resolve, and perception. Wear fullplate and use a shield. Potentially dual wield hatchets? The question is whether or not the Cipher would make for a good tank, and the answer is a definite no. It has decent starting deflection but comparatively poor endurance. None of a Cipher's abilities can target itself and the only one that provides an actual defensive buff to the Cipher needs to target an enemy and hit in order to give its bonus. To add to this, a Cipher shouldn't be wearing a shield or heavy armor -- there's no synergy with heavy armor its kit. You want to be doing fast attacks to build Focus, and wearing a shield and heavy armor does the exact opposite of this.

Swap the wizard out for a paladin or monk and I think you're good to go.

Blaidh Golan (DR7, Breakout, Preservation) is in Caedman Azo's laboratory in the Sanitorium. Rundl's Finery is found (DR5, Intellect+2, Lore-Giving, Slash-Proof, Fine) is found in level three of Endless Paths of Oda Nua, given by the ogre in exchange for killing his former chieftain. Argwes Adra (DR14, Second Chance, Lore-Giving, Fine) is taken from the fampyr after killing him.

In the early game druids can act as a two-hander or a tank with a shield while opening each encounter by shapeshifting. The druid forms are incredibly powerful until they teeter off after the first half of the game. After this, you should stick to the back with lighter armor (or none at all) and try to cast spells exclusively. If you're willing to micromanage them, the shapeshift is still useful later in the game and you can easily outfit a druid with a quarterstaff to help with melee damage after that twelve seconds is up. Max might for damage and intelligence for duration and AoE size.

Rogues can be incredibly high damage dealers with every single offensive weapon style -- two-handers, dual-wielders, and single weapon users are all viable rogue builds with very small nuances between them and small damage variance based on the situation. In general, you want might and dexterity maxed out. I would bump down intelligence before I would bump down constitution, and I would take perception over resolve because of its interrupting qualities. Rogues are arguably the class that needs intelligence the least; it only reduces the duration of their debuffs, which the rest of your party can apply for your benefit. But slaughtering your constitution for large amounts of perception and resolve seems incredibly over the top. If you're wary of overly min/maxed attributes, you can easily take something like this on a human (adjust for favored race): MIG: 19 CON: 10 DEX: 18 PER: 10 INT: 9 RES: 12 Ideally, however, you want to either be an aumaua or a hearth Orlan. You can also potentially be a dwarf. Culture: Deadfire Archipelago or The Living Lands Background: Any 1 - Crippling Strike 2 - Your choice -- Bloody Slaughter, Vulnerable Attack, Interrupting Blows, Savage Attack 3 - Dirty Fighting 4 - Vicious Fighting 5 - Deep Wounds / Reckless Assault 6 - Style 7 - Reckless Assault / Deep Wounds The level 2, 4, and 6 talents can all be chosen in whatever order you decide, but your style is best chosen later on when you've gotten a feel for how you want to play your rogue. Experiment to your heart's desire; see how it feels to use each weapon while dual-wielding, each two-hander, and whether or not you're satisfied with how few grazes and how many crits you get with a single weapon. I'm not convinced that weapon focus is good for any class that isn't a fighter -- +6 accuracy isn't worth being forced into a specific selection of weapons. Always remember that you're not beholden to a certain weapon. Stilettos not hitting often enough? Try spears. Too much DR? Take a two-hander. Still not piercing through sturdy opponents? Grab an estoc. Always open with a sneak attack blunderbuss shot before swapping to your melee weapon set. Backstab and Escape are both pretty terrible and aren't worth the investment.

Rooting Pain should only be used for tanky monks who are going to be surrounded by enemies. Otherwise, it doesn't have enough range to function very well. 3 intelligence on a monk could technically work, but I'm not sure if it's worth it. Torment's Reach and Force of Anguish are so useful and Rooting Pain is quite nice when tanking. I feel like you're gimping a lot of the abilities that make a monk unique by getting rid of intelligence. Whatever the case, if you're going to stick to your guns, you're going to want to get Swift Strikes and Turning Wheel, along with Duality of Mortal Presence. Otherwise, if you want to tank, try looking something like this on an Orlan or a Moon Godlike with less PER/RES: MIG: 10 CON: 14 DEX: 9 PER: 18 INT: 9 RES: 18 If you're looking to DPS, take a race with a bonus to either dexterity or might and max both of them while dipping into constitution. You can leave the rest at 9's and 10's.

Max might and dexterity. Guns are, unfortunately, very, very slow and take a long time to reload. If you're deadset on playing a gunslinger rogue, I would open up with a blunderbuss shot from stealth before swapping to a pistol and using that. Alternatively, you can do a dual-wielding or one-handed melee build, while still opening up every fight with that sneak attack blunderbuss.

Seriously, this is about all the information you need. Max might and dexterity for damage. Put the rest of your points wherever you please; constitution for more health, perception for more deflection, and intelligence for a larger aura. Grab a two-hander and go to town. Wear whatever armor you feel most comfortable with.

Eder should be using a pistol or blunderbuss shot to start the fight and then swapping to a stiletto and shield. You can pick up Oidhreacht fairly early in the first level of Oda Nua's Path and it'll be useful on him until the end of time. Kana is best used as a frontliner with invocations that have an area of effect and a duration -- for instance, "At the Sound of His Voice, the Killers Froze Stiff." Aloth is used like every other wizard. Cast spells and make with the pew pew. He should be wearing robes, if any armor. Durance is much in the same boat. Keep him in the backline and cast spells. He can get away with wearing light or medium armor, but he shouldn't be getting hit. Sagani should sit back and shoot her bow, because that's what rangers are built to do. Early on, Hiravias can be a beast with his shapeshift and flanking with a two-hander when it dies out. Later on, like any spellcaster, he should be in the back killing people with spells. Pallegina gets your best two-hander and sits at the front with heavy armor. She should have Reviving Exhortation for emergencies. Grieving Mother should open every fight with a shot from a blunderbuss before retreating back to shoot things with her bow. Use your spells liberally. Mind Blades is insanely good; spam it.

Ciphers are squishy and generally shouldn't be in melee, but they're not necessarily terrible if you put them in a flanking position and make sure they don't get attacked. A single weapon or two-hander rogue can dish out a lot of damage. You could use a crossbow to start the fight, thereby getting a high damage sneak attack, and then retreat back to your tank line so that they distract your enemies while you attack them. Fighter is more of a tanking class, though that's absolutely not a requirement. Fighters are allowed to specialize in a certain group of weapons and get a high damage bonus with those weapons. You could take the Knight class of weapons, which has battle axe, sword, morningstar, crossbow, and warbow. Attribute-wise, you want high might for damage and dexterity for attack speed for all three of those classes.

I feel like Beloved Spirits is a must on any Chanter. If you want to go for the evil feeling purely for style, pick up: Come, Come Soft Winds of Death Lo, Their Endless Host, the Harbingers of Doom And for invocations: White Worms Writhed in the Bellies of the Dead Any of the summons. Reny Daret's Ghost Spake, "I'll Catch You, Ben Fidel" These are all the "evil" or "scary" abilities. Chanters don't really need intelligence. They're generally pretty good as tanks, in which case you want constitution, resolve, and perception, but you could easily get away with building might and dexterity and just using a two-hander in medium armor to do flanking damage.

If you think your wizard looks swaggy with a gun, let him use a gun. All the power to you. Your wizard will always be most effective when casting spells, but what weapon he uses when he isn't casting is mostly a matter of personal preference.

1. Backstab is pretty bad. 2. Stilettos pierce DR. Rotate your weapons based on what your needs are. 3. I've never, ever needed to use Escape on a rogue anyways.

Won't later foes that have high DR just not take as much damage from bows as opposed to other weapons? The more the foe has DR, the worst a bow gets. Unless all you want is to gather quick Focus to unless spells. A Cipher's job isn't to shoot arrows. The arrows just build focus and happen to do good damage because of Soul Whip's passive damage buff. You want to be casting spells as a Cipher. Mind Blades is insanely good, incredibly precise AoE damage.

Hats off to Chris for both Durance and the Grieving Mother. I'm pretty sure they're my favorite two NPC's so far.

I have to admit, I was very disappointed when I found that the spiritshift was poorly documented and didn't describe that twelve second duration. But I think it's a fair balance considering how good it is in the early game and how the druid comes into her own as a very powerful spellcaster once she grows out of the form. I don't think it'd be reasonable for the spiritshift to get a buff and for the druid to keep her overall spellcasting prowess.

Yes, and you should start every fight with a blunderbuss shot before switching to a bow. But in my experience, the time it takes to reload simply isn't worth the extra damage when you could just as easily be firing off several bow shots whenever you need a bit extra focus for your spells. God forbid you get a wealth of misses and grazes from your blunderbuss; that's a devastating loss in efficacy.

Melee rogues are perfectly viable. In fact, they arguably do more damage. They're just a lot more maintenance than ranged rogues because you have to pay attention to where they are at all times. I'm also fairly convinced that a single-handed rogue is incredibly viable. You crit insanely often as an Orlan and never graze, meaning your damage is consistently able to string together high damage attacks that pierce through DR with the right weapon selection.

I would recommend making both your paladin and your chanter sword and boards. Both classes don't really benefit from fast attack speed; paladins want to be tanky and give auras, chanters just want to chant and then explode when they invoke. If you make your paladin use a two-hander, and you want his Con low, and you want dialogue options, and you want resolve and perception... you're spreading yourself way too thin. Go for something like this: MIG: 12 CON: 14 DEX: 10 PER: 16 INT: 10 RES: 16 I haven't seen many intelligence dialogue options that don't require 16-18+ intelligence to activate, and putting that many points into intelligence is pretty nonsensical. You can take away from might and dexterity and put the points into intelligence if you want a larger aura range, though -- but I'm trying to satisfy your desire to do some damage. You're going to want to put most of your points into Survival and Lore while taking enough of Athletics to not get tired in combat all the time -- those two are the most commonly used skills in dialogues. I recommend getting Zealous Endurance, Lay on Hands, and Reviving Exhortation for utility purposes. Deep Faith is great as well. Weapon and shield style and Cautious Attack help with your defenses. As for the others: The Monk is going to want high might and dexterity with a splash of constitution. Force of Anguish is really, really good. And don't forget to take Lesser Wounds. Chanters are pretty hard to mess up. Most invocations greatly affect the battlefield, just make sure you're using them the moment they're available. Feel free to put points in constitution, resolve, and perception for tankiness. Druid is going to want to max might and intelligence. For the first portion of the game, shapeshift is really good at tearing through enemies, so you can give your druid a two-hander and have her wade into enemies early, but the form falls off later. Don't invest talents in it. When it starts to dwindle in usefulness, keep your druid to the back and have her cast spells in light armor. Priest needs might and intelligence as well. It's hard to screw up a priest to be honest. Cypher wants high might and dexterity, with a touch of intelligence for AoE range. The level 2 spell Mind Blades is the most accurate AoE in the game -- one spellcasting can literally do hundreds of damage spread over a group. Start every battle with a blunderbuss shot before swapping to a bow and using it to gain focus.