konst3d

Fighters are able to do an average amount of damage all day long. Mages are able to do MASSIVE AOE damage for few minutes before resting. The same is with tanking - there are some spells like mirror image, stone\iron skin, energy immunity, etc... that could make your mage almost immortal for some short period of time, fighters on the other hand could survive some lesser beating but all day long... Balance. P.S. But yeah, most of the IE games allow you to rest almost anywhere (just quick save before) so mages quickly become more powerful then any melee character.

Human fighter - I love tanks, I love humans.

I love such challenges!

Plunging fire on a target 5-10 meters far... this would look... special.

Composite bows allow to add *some* of your character STR bonus to damage, not STR bonus x1.5 like melee two-handed does. So the ranged damage output will always be lower this way. This also means you should invest into STR to have some benefits from this weapon. The problem is ranged to-hit depends on DEX and moving some points to STR means you sacrifice to-hit for damage, while melee character could concentrate on one ability and rise both to-hit and damage. I've heard that in some D&D redactions PBS added significant damage bonus, but my opinion is that this was a wrong decision, this way ranged weapon really become too powerful. I love how this feat works in NWN1\2 - +1 to attack in melee and no attacks of opportunity. There are some powerful arrows that allow you to enhance your damage output but this could be balanced with its price and availability. Well, in general I feel that the right way of balancing ranged\melee is to make melee hit harder while keeping ranged more versatile (freedom of target selection, attacking from the safe distance, different ammo selection). And don't forget you could combine 1-handed melee weapon with the shield for better protection. Edit: Feats\Talents could also help to keep the things balanced - add some interesting combat abilities like DnD's manyshot\rapid shot\AA class goodies\etc. Just in case ranged will become to boring without the melee's damage.

I think that your deflection with the weapon more depends on your training and personal preferences then on weapon type. And *IF* something like this will be in the game I would prefer the Drakensang way - leveling your character select what to rise, offensive mastery or defensive, or both. BTW, there were some weapons with defense bonuses\penalties. But most of the weapons didn't provided any defense modifications. And once again, I'm not sure that PoE needs all these things. Just my opinion.

The idea itself is probably good. You are right, armed with the sword you have better chances to deflect incoming sword blow than with your bare hands. But this will complicate the things that is already complicated enough, on the other hand, I'm not sure if this will add something valuable to gameplay. Edit: Something like that I've seen in Drakensang: The Dark Eye, rising you weapon skills you could select where to add the points - offense or defense. However personally I never put them to defense line.

I love how DnD done with this issue - you apply your STR to to-hit & damage. With ranged you apply your DEX to to-hit, but not to damage. And there are some bows that allow you to apply some small amount of STR to damage. So in the end, melee characters do more damage, ranged do less damage but from the safe distance and more flexible in general - you can attack these casters hiding behind the enemy fighters, interrupt his spells, etc... Done. Why to fix things that weren't broken?

Deleted, wrong topic, sorry.

In the first levels you never had that problem when you started BG1 ? never ? really ? I mean it takes a bit of time before obtaining a decent spellbook or even to get to level 3. Invulnerable in the first levels maybe for a veteran gamer but i would never put a low level mage in the front line, my fighters are here for that so my mage only have to cast protection spells against other spells and projectiles. "Also I don't see anything wrong with enemies trying to bypass the front line to get to the squishies." I am talking about a goblin who i don't know how succeed to pass between 3 fighters to get to your mage without any retaliation. First playthrough that problem was a huge pain in my back. I admit it's a common tactic but it infuriated me to see a goblin (BG1 no goblin i know but at least i spell it right) walk casually between my fighters, no damage although my fighters were targeting him (and yes i use right weapons) and get to my wizard. Now with the engagement mechanics it will not be possible and you will have the feeling of controlling the battlefield. Enemies will need to knock you back, to have special abilities to break through your line of fighters without retaliations. In american football, think about a grandpa who walk casually with the ball in his hand, "break"/bypass/walk through a front-line of defense of pro-players and score a touch-down... If trash mobs break my formation or bypass it, i want it to be because of poor tactics from me or good AI from them. With PoE the grandpa need to be younger faster and to use a special abilities to knock back, evade, flank etc the front-line defender to score a touch down. I agree plenty to the idea of adding more options to the fighters (i will learn to multi-quote) and rogue. But still i like the progress from the old DnD rule-set. It is more efficient ? I don't know. Perfect ? no without a doubt. Perfectible ? surely. Maybe it has flaws, but it felt nice and fresh to me. I like the general directions of this system. First of all, the 'weak caster' problem exists on some few first levels. Reaching level 2-3 mages start getting access to really good protection spells. As for me it's 3-4 hours of gameplay in average. Also this problem is mostly exists in BG1 and IWD1, in later games caster levels much faster, and very fast they become more powerful and tanky than most of the melee classes. This means that 'bodyguard-and-nothing-else' fighter could become really boring in a few hours of gameplay. At the moment PoE fighters looks exactly 'bodyguard-and-nothing-else' as for me. Hope I'm wrong. Well, to be honest I don't know how powerful and tanky will be PoE casters and for how long they will require fighter-bodyguards, but I'm afraid they also will not be that fighter-dependent. After all you could use other classes for an 'occasional tanking', classes that could do not only this. Now about engaging\disengaging mechanic (if I spelled this right). In IE games you was always able to block narrow passages with your characters, usually fighters\clerics\druids and other tanks. Also starting with D&D 3 (NWN1\2) edition there is an "Attacks of Opportunity" thing and as for me, "Engaging\Disengaging" is just a limited variation of this feature (not sure this will be free attacks against people trying to cast\use items\ranged weapon in a melee range). Just my personal opinion, but class that could not be customized - is boring class. There will be a party of 6 (?) characters in PoE, so you have an opportunity to test all of the PoE class in a one walkthrough. And now, if you have already tried all of them and there is no option to create a main hero fighter that will differ with your NPC fighter - what is the point to play the game once again with fighter or any other class you have tried as NPC during your first walkthrough (except some optional plot\quest elements)?

Any *right* wizard or sorcerer should have mage armor, stone skin, blur, protection from arrows, mirror image and a lot of other things that allow him to stay in the center of trash mobs group and killing them being almost invulnerable.

PoE is not yet a masterpiece in any kind. BG's mechanic was good at 1998, but D&D was significantly improved since then. You can't create a masterpiece giving a player less freedom and character development options then in far 1998.

It seems a bit ridiculous to me, to compare PoE role system with one used in the game released at the end of the 1998, more then 15 years ago. Don't get me wrong, the old things is not necessary bad or worse, and I really love old and good IE engine games (right now playing BG:EE) but I believe new games should be better and use more advanced mechanic. It's called "progress".

Back to accuracy. Well, I believe the problem is with the term itself. It's used a bit wrong in PoE. What 'accuracy' basically is? It's an ability to deal a precise strike. Yeah if you have enough MIG to handle your weapon and enough PER to see the target then it's possibly completely covered by your DEX. But the problem is - accuracy itself is not enough to hit the real target, a monster or a knight with sword and board that does not want you to hit him! He will try to dodge your hit, to block it with the sword or shield, and finally - you have to pierce its armor (deflection) to hit... So you could be the most accurate man in the universe, but if you are unable to overcome his blocking\dodging ability or if your rapier is unable to pierce his plate - you will do no hit. On the other hand, you could be a half-giant with very limited DEX but with a lot of MIG and big and ugly 6-feet-long club and just smash this blocking-master with his weapon, armor and shield over the ground. You don't need too many DEX or PER to hit the human-size target in melee range. So the accuracy itself does not reflect the fact you should not only do a precise strike to hit, you also have to overcome the target defense to make your attack hit the target! This way the accuracy and DEX is just a part of some more complex ability to deal a damage with a weapon. Let's name it AF (attack factor). Now let's see what else could affect it. Strength (MIG) - you can hit so hard that any block with weapon or shield will be unable to stop your weapon from penetrating the armor, especially if it's some heavy weapon like great axe or sword or even heavy hammer. There is still a chance to dodge the hit, but unlikely a knight with the shield and full plate will be able to do so. Perception (PER) - you direct your arrows into some vulnerable zones of the armor. Dexterity (DEX) - you attack very fast constantly changing the direction of the hits so your opponent just fails his blocking attempts. So finally we come back to the idea to use different attributes to calculate your ability to hit the things. You could do it with MIG and heavy 2handed weapons, you could do it with DEX and light weapons that allow you to attack fast, you can do it with PER and ranged weapons. Very low DEX could introduce some attack penalty for every weapon, but you really shouldn't have it very high to be able to hit the man-size target in melee range. Monk as a wizard-slayer only\mostly? It's highly debatable I would say, but let's not start this here. Well, possibly mid\low level WIS monk will not be so bad as 20+. But anyway, haven't seen any pure WIS monk myself. By the way, healing is a cross-class skill for monks, so you will not be any effective with this anyway. Actually there are only 2 WIS based monk skills (3.5 ed. at least): Spot and Listen. And 4 DEX based: Tumble, Parry, Move Silently, Hide.

2Lephys I'm mostly agreed with everything you have said about accuracy, dexterity, might and perception. The only thing that confuses me a bit is that how complicated thing become. You have a heavy crossbow let's say. It is heavy enough to have some MIG requirements, so you should calc an accuracy penalty (or even a bonus - not sure) based on the difference with your actual MIG. Now at the battlefield you have to calc how far your target is and calculate your accuracy penalty\bonus coming from PER. And also you have to combine these all with your base DEX-provided accuracy. And also, this way, DEX become a 'must have' for any melee or ranged character - you basically can’t hit anybody without good DEX and there are nothing to replace it with. But well, possibly it's the most realistic approach out there, finally 'accuracy' is very complicated thing and it depends on many different things starting with your body condition and ending with battlefield illumination (day\night) and weather (rain\snow\mist\sand storm).

Ciphers, quite interesting class. Most likely this will be my first character. The ways I would like to be able to customize my cipher: 1) Melee, anyway you should melee to build your focus, but why stop than? Let's just use this focus to even better melee! 2) Spellcasting obviously. 3) Mind control. Why to melee or cast - let's just take a control over some enemy fighters and casters! 4) Animats. Ciphers are mind and soul masters and animats are souls trapped into some "vessels", right? Why not to create a powerful animat to help you in combat? 5) Necromancy... This is about souls again. There are a lot of dying enemies across the battlefield, imagine you could trap the soul inside the body and force it to obey. But this necromancy has nothing in common with skeletons\mummies\vampires, you just able to create few temporary slaves, no undead armies. One more word about ciphers and animats - I think there should be something speciall about these two. As I said before, animats is souls trapped inside some objects and ciphers are a soul masters. Possibly the loss of the body could hurt the spirit somehow and left it more vulnerable to cipher abilities, but possibly even vise versa. And few talent ideas (ok, let's use this term). And no requirements, mostly. Name: Soul Armor (Passive) Effect: Cipher gains deflection bonus based on amount of focus he has developed. Note: Keep melee! Name: Soul Blade (Passive) Effect: Cipher gains accuracy and some damage bonus based on amount of focus he has developed. Note: Even more reasons to keep melee! Name: Soul Vamp (Passive) Effect: Killing an enemy in melee range, cipher restores some of its health, stamina and focus. Name: Soul Spike (Active) Effect: Cipher uses some of his focus to create pale phantom spike of deadly energy that pierce the target body ignoring any armor and shield (melee range). Name: Soul Poison (Modal) Effect: Cipher's weapon radiates noxious pale glowing that makes each hit extremely painful and reduces target accuracy for short time. Note: Stacks with Soul Whip. But drains more focus then Soul Whip provides. Name: Suppressive Gaze (Modal) Effect: Cipher suppresses his melee opponent will weakening his deflection. Note: Drains focus. Melee range. Could only suppress one oponent at a time. Name: Mind Over Body (Passive) Effect: Cipher's will become so strong that he could use it to endure physical suffering. Cipher could use his INT instead of CON to determine fortitude defense. Requirements: High intelligence. Name: Mind Over Death (Passive) Effect: Cipher could even ignore the lethal blow and keep fighting for some time after his heart stops beating. Requirements: Very high intelligence. Name: Mental Suppression (Mode) Effect: Cipher turns on trans attacking mentally group of enemies. Depending on creature will defense it could be a) disabled (staying helpless) b) suppressed (suffers huge combat penalties) c) unaffected. Note: You could select creatures that will be suppressed. The number of creatures depends on cipher's INT and on will defense of each creature already selected. Cipher stays helpless until this mode is on, unable to move, use other abilities and even protect him. Drains focus depending on number of creatures affected and their will. Name: Mental Domination (Mode) Effect: The same as Mental Suppression but you gain full control over the targets. Note: More focus drain. Name: Mind Link (Mode) Effect: Cipher falls into a trance connecting allied minds into single network that allows them to act as one creature greatly improving each of them. Each ability of each party member becomes equal to higher one across the group. Note: Cipher staying helpless for the duration. Maybe to powerful, not sure. Name: Assume Direct Control (Mode\Active\Not sure) Effect: Cipher takes direct control over the creature body temporarily suppressing the owner soul. The main difference with domination is that cipher retains all of its abilities and also gains the object abilities. You could also take the control over your party members (this way you shouldn't beat its will - let's take they are agreed ). You could use melee to gain focus to stay longer in this body... You could only have one creature under the direct control, in fact cipher's soul temporarely migrates into new body. Note: Drains focus, amount depends on creature will (if it's hostile, some constant otherwise). Cipher's body layng helpless on the ground for the duration of the effect. If the subject dies under direct control effect the cipher suffers massive neural shock that left him with huge INT, will defense and focus regeneration penalties (so he mostly useless for the rest of the battle). Name: Soul Cage Effect: Puts damage over time effect on the target. If the target dies until the effect is active it becomes a zombie-animat that fights on the cipher side. Note: Animat lifetime is short. And possibly it drains cipher's focus to stay "alive". Name: Annihilate Soul Effect: Annihilate the soul captured with Soul Cage ability with powerful surge that damages surrounding creatures and have some chance to knock them down. Name: Animat Servitor Effect: Cipher gains an animat companion. Note: He could play a bodyguard until you are in trance or become a perfect subject to assume direct control. I could also imagine some talents that will improve it both ways. More to be done.

I see your point. Yeah, from the roleplayng point of few these builds are terrible. But as for me (and some other people I delieve), the major part of any good RPG is role system that allows you to create a wide range of different and _vital_ characters. It's a kind of LEGO - you have a set of some basic bricks and you can create almost anything you could imagine. And I love D&D because it allows me to do this. And I would like to see this flexibility in PoE. This will allow me to play this game for ages - trying new character builds over and over again.

I feel the DEX as an only source of accuracy is a bit unnatural. Ok, it's an eye - hand coordination value and definitely you can't be to accurate without this, but... As Lephys did say - what is if your MIG (hand) is too low and you barely able to hold this big and ugly sword? Will you be able to make any accurate strikes with this? What if your perception (eye) is so low you barely see the opponent? Yeah, the right way is possibly to introduce some minimal MIG and PER requirements for weapons. Now huge great axe will require let's say 10 MIG to use it well, if you have not enough MIG - you are still able to use it, but you suffer some accuracy penalty, the bigger the difference - the bigger penalty you suffer. Weapons like bows and crossbows could possibly have both MIG and PER requirements. Moreover if your MIG and PER is considerable higher than required - you can gain some accuracy bonus (debatable, just an idea). So at least, your accuracy depends on MIG, PER and DEX. And weapons of different types have different MIG\PER\DEX requirements. Obviously, to be accurate with huge weapons you need high MIG, high PER is required to use ranged weapons, DEX is a main factor for some light weapons as daggers and short swords. So finally, you could introduce minimal MIG\PER\DEX for weapons, a system of penalties and bonuses depending on character MIG\PER\DEX values. Or, you could just say that huge 2handed weapons use MIG for accuracy calculation, ranged uses PER, small weapons are DEX based and possibly a medium weapon could use both DEX and MIG - which is higher. The same effect, much simplier calculation. And now, being a fighter you aren't bound to DEX as a only source of accuracy. P.S. About D&D, Monks and 'intuitive strike' - my experience says that 'intuitive strike' monks are to weak. Yeah, you could take it and count your WIS as a primary attribute - high will save (but high level monks are anyway having mind-affecting spells immunity), AC and AB boost, what else? Now compare it with DEX\'weapon finesse' variant - same AC, same AB, mind-affecting spells immunity, much better reflex save, tumble, hide, move silently and finally - high DEX opens a way to things like epic dodge (ignore all damage from first attack each round), expose weakness (DOT and debuff on enemy), self concealment (up to 50% chance to miss for _each_ opponent attack). Much better yeah? Personally I think 'intuitive strike' is for druids to help his AB a bit. Clerics do already have things like divine favor\might\aid\and so on. You can create a WIS only monk with this feat but I see no point doing so.

This topic is more about "let's dream what kind of feats you would like to see in this game" then anything else. Sorry if I didn't make this clear, my english kinda sucks. Possibly you (and obsidian) are right, but I feel there should be some really powerful talents that should have some requirements to take. Well, it's looks not right for me, if any wizard or rogue could spent one single talent\feat point and gain an ability to knockdown with great sword all adjacent enemies around him or do some other powerful combat trick. Just my opinion however, and any requirement here are mostly a drafts\suggestions\ideas (like anything other). Why fighter only - this is good question, I have also asked it myself. And here is my answer: 1. Weapon\combat-style talents is a result of a long practice with the given weapon, not a divine gift or an innate ability, or some trick you have seen once and now you are able to reproduce it. Here is why there are "talent-chains": first you learn how to use a shield for protecting youself, than - how to hit an enemy with it, than how to run and hit anybody on your way... 2. Fighters are the most combat oriented class out there. Moreover, they have nothing except their combat prowess and weapon mastery. They shouldn't split their training to diplomacy or faith like paladins, or to pets like rangers should do. Also they have nothing except their sword & board to count on - no pets, no divine powers, no frenzy. So I believe the fighters are the class that should take the most from any weapon or combat style just to survive on the battlefiled. Here is why I decided to restrict these feats to fighters. Any wizard or druid should possibly be able take a shield and have its deflection bonus. But you have to train for years to be able to rush it through the battlefield knocking down anybody you hit on the way. So fighters are the only class that have the most advanced combat styles and take the most from almost any weapon in game. There are barbarians for sure that are also good at frontline, but the source of their abilities is rather innate brute power, toughness and wild frenzy. About a wizards and shields - I think there should be some general feats\perks that will allow your wizard to equip the shield and even to learn some shield tricks, BUT it should be considerable less powerful then fighter shield talents. P.S. I don't mind you or anybody else criticize any of my ideas. It's just some unpolished thoughts and they deserve to be criticized.

2Chilloutman, Oh.. ok, got it. Well, obviously that was a powergaming character, not a roleplaying one. I was thinking to tell here about my chaotic-evil svirfneblin barbarian\blackguard\hospitaller but I'm not sure now... relax, just kidding. P.S. Powergaming is just another way to play games. Yep there is another way, except the orthodoxal-true-roleplaying one.

Few Fighter, sword + shield feats ideas. Note: AFAIK there is no such thing like shield block in PoE (just deflection bonus), but you could emulate this: If the attack does NOT hit the character and this character have a shield equipped you make attack calculation once again (using the same values), but WITHOUT a shield deflection bonus - if this attack is hit the character, than obviously it was blocked by the shield. Now you could use this knowledge to do thing like playing "shield-knock" sound, play some character blocking animation and so on... Name: Shield Specialist (Passive) Effect: Some deflection bonus while shield is equipped (possibly that should scale with character level). Also possibly some fortitude defense bonus. Requirements: Fighter. Name: Shield Bash (Active) Effect: Warrior uses his shield to make a sudden strike that could make the enemy shaken (accuracy and deflection penalty). Requirements: Shield Specialist. Name: Improved Shield Bash (Active) Effect: The same but also a chance to knockdown (or stun) the target on failed fortitude defense. Requirements: Shield Bash. Name: Shield Assault (Active) Effect: Covering with his shield warrior could sprint across the battlefield to the distant target. If the target is an enemy - it receives the Improved Shield Bash effect. You can also target any free area on the ground and just "travel" here this way. Oh, and also you gain some deflection bonus against attacks of engagement\disengagement. Requirements: Improved Shield Bash. Name: Improved Shield Assault (Active) Effect: Basically the same but now you also do some damage against enemies you hit on your way and possibly you have a chance to knock them down. Requirements: Shield Assault. Name: Defensive Stance (Mode) Effect: Penalty to offense (damage? accuracy? hit rate?) but bonus to deflection and fortitude. Requirements: Shield Specialist. Name: Bodyguard Stance (Mode) Effect: Allies staying adjacent receive some of your shield deflection bonus. In exchange fighter suffers accuracy or damage penalty. Requirements: Defensive Stance. Note: Should not stack with Phalanx Training effect. Name: Improved Bodyguard Stance (Mode) Effect: Now allies gain full shield deflection bonus. Requirements: Bodyguard Stance. Note: Should not stack with Phalanx Training effect. Name: Phalanx Training (Passive) Effect: If there are other character with Phalanx Training and shield staying adjacent - both have the deflection bonus. Note: Should not stack with Bodyguard Stance effect. More to be done.

4th ed did help to customise characters with INT and CHA for melee characters and are useful for different builds now. eg. Swordmage (INT), Rogue (CHA), .. And there are a lot of builds now that use CHA as one of your two primary stats. Yep, currently playing one on Realms of Trinity NWN2 server: perfect two weapon fighting + epic divine might + level 9 divine spellcasting -paladin(5)\favored soul(5)\mystic knight(10)\ hospitaller(10) - charisma, dexterity and strength are main attributes, charisma are primary attribute for FS spellcasting, paladin abilities and solid EDM melee damage, I wish I could take a bard levels - to have its "snowflake wardance" that adds charisma bonus to attack. Also gonna try to build melee wizard\swashbuckler\swiftblade which will have its melee prowess coming from the high intelligent. Correct me if I'm wrong, but NWN2 is not even 4th edition... I am truly sorry, but that just sounds utterly, freaking, terrible. But why? The character is pretty powerfull both melee and spellcasting wise, nice saving throws and overal defense, 10 attacks a round with dual holy avenger scimitars. And it's a Yuan-ti Pureblood, so very high magic resistance, blind fight and some other goodies.

Well, personally I feel it's good idea to allow to use different basic abilities to calculate accuracy, few of them at least - dexterity (default) and might (optional, unlocked by the feats\perks). At least for some types of weapon - heavy two handed swords and axes for example. That will allow to build different fighter type characters with the same accuracy (and I believe it's must have for any melee character). So I could imagine a nimble fighter (dexterity) with a sword, dagger or bow (or even a pair of weapons) that will have good reflex defense and will be able to use any weapon with good accuracy. And the other one warrior type - big and brute that only could have good accuracy with two-handed weapon, pour reflex defense and deflection (he is bound to two-handed weapons, so no shields) but in exchange he gains better damage output with 2handed weapons and fortitude defense. The might-based warrior type is perfectly feats barbarians IMHO.

4th ed did help to customise characters with INT and CHA for melee characters and are useful for different builds now. eg. Swordmage (INT), Rogue (CHA), .. And there are a lot of builds now that use CHA as one of your two primary stats. Yep, currently playing one on Realms of Trinity NWN2 server: perfect two weapon fighting + epic divine might + level 9 divine spellcasting -paladin(5)\favored soul(5)\mystic knight(10)\ hospitaller(10) - charisma, dexterity and strength are main attributes, charisma are primary attribute for FS spellcasting, paladin abilities and solid EDM melee damage, I wish I could take a bard levels - to have its "snowflake wardance" that adds charisma bonus to attack. Also gonna try to build melee wizard\swashbuckler\swiftblade which will have its melee prowess coming from the high intelligent. Correct me if I'm wrong, but NWN2 is not even 4th edition...

Hello! So looks like PoE role-system will have something like D&D feats or SPECIAL perks to customize your character. Let’s speculate what these feats could be! In general I would like to see the feats that will allow to customize the same class few different ways: General (no class restrictions): - Survivability: More armor, hit points, saving throws, regeneration possibly. - Offensive: Better to hit and damage. - More to be done. Fighters: - Sword & board style: Generic balanced fighter. Some blocking\deflection improvements, some one-handed damage and to hit. - Two-handed way: Two-handed weapons damage improvements, some aoe damage around the target, damage and to hit bonuses, some special attacks like disarm and knockdown. - One-handed without a shield or heavy armor: Master-duelist style combat, impressive special attacks that weaken the target, improved mobility over the battlefield, dodge. Made his deflection somehow depends on its to hit. - Dual weapons: Not sure it will be in the game, but I would like to see it. - Ranged: Way of the sniper. Bows, crossbows, firearms. - Vanguard\Tank\Bodyguard: Pure defense specialist - taunts, shield and heavy armor oriented feats. Currently this is what PoE fighter is (but I have seen no taunts). Barbarians: - Berserker way: Barbarians who heavily depends on frenzy and mastered it to be a powerful and fearsome weapon. - Tribal defender way: A barbarian’s way of tanking. There are no shields, deflection and canny tricks like regular fighters do, there is rather a damage soaking due to huge hit points buffer and natural toughness. Big and ugly hulk that could completely ignore some arrows stick up his shoulder and will only notice this fact if somebody else will tell him. - More ways to be done. Druids: - Wild Shape fighter: Wild shape improvements - different bonuses while shaped, new more powerful shapes that aren't available to other druids. This way you can make your druid a capable frontline fighter, a tank and even a hunter-killer. - Offensive Spellcasting: Improvements to druid’s offensive spellcasting. A way to make an offensive spelcaster. - Defensive Spellcasting: Defensive\Buffing\Healing spells improvements. The support way. - More ways to be done. Here are few feat ideas to start with: General: Weapon Finesse Effect: When wielding light weapons (short swords, daggers, etc...) character could use its dexterity score (if it's higher than its strength) to determine to hit bonus. Requirements: Dexterity score of X or higher. Note: I don't know if strength will give any to hit bonuses in PoE, but usually it does in other games. If this is not the case for PoE - just forget this idea. Druid: Predator Grace Effect: Being shape-shifted character gains +X dexterity and +Y movement speed. Requirements: An ability to shape-shift (be a Druid obviously). Predator Senses Effect: Being shifted character gains its view range extended or anything else that will allow them to detect other creatures better (possibly show them on the minimap). Requirements: Predator Grace feat. Predator Might Effect: Damage bonus while shifted. Requirements: Predator Grace feat. Predator Instincts Effect: Being shape-shifted character gains to hit and critical chance bonuses. Requirements: Predator Grace and Predator Senses feats. Sabre-Toothed tiger Form Effect: Character gains ability to shape-shift into powerful and fearsome primal hunter. Requirements: Druid level X or higher, Predator Might feat. Barbarian: Powerful Frenzy Effect: Character gains strength and constitution bonuses while frenzied. Requirements: Frenzy. Lingering Frenzy Effect: Frenzy lasts longer (possibly allow taking this feat few times with cumulative effect?). Requirements: Frenzy. Fearsome Frenzy Effect: Shout a fearsome battlecry entering a frenzy mode that will make surrounding enemies shaken (combat penalties) and even possibly make them flee in terror if they fail the will defense. Requirements: Powerful Frenzy feat. Vigorous Frenzy Effect: Increased stamina and health regeneration while frenzied. Requirements: Powerful Frenzy feat. Indomitable Frenzy Effect: Huge will defense bonus while frenzied. Requirements: Powerful Frenzy. Fight to Death (Ragnarok) Effect: Huge damage and to hit bonus, immunity to control effects, cannot die until ability ends, but falls whacked out with 1 hit point left after that. Requirements: High level barbarian. Note: Barbarian rush into battle like it is the final battle between good and evil and there is no tomorrow. Natural Toughness Effect: Hit points bonus, let’s say 20% more each level up. Requirements: Barbarians, constitution score of X or higher. Scarred Skin Effect: Character gains some damage reduction. Requirements: Barbarian, constitution score of X or higher. Feel no Pain Effect: Bonus to fortitude defense. Requirements: Scarred Skin. Runic Skin Effect: Some magic resistance. Requirements: Natural Toughness, Scarred Skin, Feel no Pain, Barbarian level X or higher. Note: There are ancient, dangerous and painful shamanic rituals that allow covering creature skin with magical runic tattoo that will protect against evil magic. Possibly frenzy should increase this effect. Defend the Tribe Effect: Huge defensive bonuses while frenzied. Requirements: Natural Toughness, Scarred Skin, Feel no Pain, Runic Skin. This feat should only be available for barbarians that are invested greatly into the defensive feats line. P.S. Obsidian guys, in case you'll find useful some of these ideas - you can use it free of any charge and without any limitations.