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Hopefully IE mod will have it's own subforum, and it will serve as a honeypot for people with bad taste and disgusting habits. I've already seen some of that, for example "slower recovery while walking makes no sense". Sun Tzu and Machiavelli agree kiting is the pinnacle of strategy ! The mod will also make balancing easier for Obsidian, because they will just have to look into IE mod patch notes, and do exactly the opposite to have an interesting, fun to play game. Farting and spitting in public is okay - just don't do it if it bothers you ). Feces are sweet -- millions of flies can't be wrong.

That's Baldur's Gate at it's best - confusing, opaque combat system. No idea what monster defenses might be.

Okay, okay, you win ! Clearly, because I was talking about fantasy in general, I meant D&D ! Fantasy is D&D.

Did you know... that Eder was initially a Rogue ? https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/65025-update-71-the-heavy-hitters-rogues-and-rangers/ It kinda makes sense given the fact how Eder talks. Also, Eder is the only companion whose talk has NOTHING to do with his character class and profession. Sagani talks about hunting, Hiravias has something to do with wilderness and druids, Aloth briefly mentions spells (Pellegrina), Durance is deeply concerned with religion and gods, Grieving Mother messes with your head, Kana enjoys lore and folk tales and is very inquisitive. Eder's personality could be pasted on top of any other companion.

You've said you have lots of lore on that paladin. Until you get more engagement, use some scrolls. Particularly something nasty, that will punish enemies if they don't go after you, such as Jolting Touch.

read post above Is this something from actual combat log, or something you've just made up without verifying ?

So maybe it's proportional to the lash percentage ? That would make sense. +25% damage: reduced by 25% of DR +50% damage: reduced by 50% of DR

Oh, but I'm not blaming PoE for taking these things from D&D. It's you projecting your insecurities :-P. I wasn't the first person to mention D&D in this thread.

Yes, and that would be good ! It would force players to use under-utilized parts of the game. To pay price for (literally) min-maxing. I don't have problems with switching to shields, repositioning or casting defensive spells. I fondly remember a battle which was won with only Aloth and Ituumak standing. He'd never accomplish that without Arcane Veil, Corrosive Siphon and Weapon Focus: Noble. The game is prepared to take it. It has an arsenal of defensive tricks. Really ? Is not AI your opponent ? So what are they, just "mobs", then ? -- Helmuth von Moltke, Prussian field marshal. You could at least show enough respect to react to your foe's actions. I strongly disagree with you. I think AI behavior dictating what a good tactic is is the goal. Also, if opponents were smarter, there could be less of them on Hard, or PotD enemies wouldn't need such inflated stats. Would you rather fight a smarter opponent on Hard, or a bigger pile of bricks ?

No, I dont. I know many fantasy fans, I play board games and PnP etc with them. I frequently hear this or that book, or setting is 'too strange'. And it's nothing really crazy, for example Jack Vance's "Lyonesse". Conversely, they are happy to read the n-th fantasy book which does everything the same way. You'd think reading fantasy would build up tolerance for "craziness". Ultimately, it's worth remembering the word "fan" comes from "fanatic". Literally.

I think Paladin single target buffs and exhortations should be stronger than Priest's versions in all cases. They are single target. Even the developer post from a while ago supports this line of design thinking: (see above for full quote)

If they called them exactly like DnD and others call them then you would get people complaining that they are not the same as they are in those other games. I've already seen it with people asking why they don't need fire to kill trolls anymore and that they aren't real trolls as a result. Fampyrs are quite different from vampires too, they are not blood-drinking immortals who turn into bats but rather zombies that can still think and pass for human, I find that significantly different enough to warrant a different name to avoid false association. That's even more sad because folklore where trolls came from, had nothing to do with fire or wolverine style regeneration. It had to do with sunlight turning them to stone afaik. What's even sadder is that many "fantasy fans" struggle with imagination. They can't imagine a troll that is not big, green, weak to fire and regenerates wounds. I like fantasy because it lets writers get away from limitations and create something otherwise impossible. They like fantasy because it's a familiar where everything is predictable.

I could complain about how that would just result in people playing chicken for 3/4 of a fight, or about how it would just result in armored casters and naked frontliners. You can always switch to Easy.

Dragons tend to have bad Reflex, and less than impressive Will. Hit them with spells which attack Will and Reflex, especially those which further lower some of their defenses.

You can make a whole melee party without repeating a class! Melee Fighter Melee Barbarian Melee Rogue Melee Paladin Melee Monk Melee Chanter Melee Ranger One too many. You could remove Ranger, but not all abilities he has require ranged weapons. Vicious Aim requires ranged weapon, Swift Aim doesn't. Wounding Shot works with melee. Best to test with a hired adventurer first. Primary mission objective: kill the Adra Dragon !

I'll list all defensive tricks Wizards have. You pushed me into it. Grimoire Slam: an attack with knockback, breaks engagement. 1/encounter I believe. Arcane Veil: +20 Deflection for 10 seconds, +40 with an upgrade. 2/rest. Lesser, Greater Invulnerability Spell Heuristics - these talents decrease the casting time of defensive spells. Level1: Dazzling Lights, area stun. Stun breaks engagement. Chill Fog - does not break engagement, but -20 accuracy from blindness is good enough. Parasitic staff - bonus to hit, drains endurance on hit. Sunless Grasp - damage and accuracy reduction Slicken - area knockdown. Prone breaks engagement. Fan of Flames - if it's dead, it no longer engages you. Jolting Touch (of doom) Fleet Feet - movement speed bonus, I think this one grants disengagement bonus as well ? Wizard's Double - +20 deflection for stacking Level2: Bewildering Spectacle: area confusion Fetid Caress - paralyses Corrosive Siphon - damage over time in area, restores caster's endurance Infuse With Vital Essence Mirrored Image Binding Web - slows enemies so they can't get to you. Level3: Delay of Motion. 75% slowdown. Draining Touch: damage with endurance drain Repulsive Visage: nearby enemies are Terrified and Sickened. Terrify is a very powerful effect. Diplaced Image: +25 or so deflection Level4: Dimensional Shift - teleports the wizards and stuns everyone between him and an ally. Great if enemies are past your line of defense. Flame Shield - HARD counter to shades and shadows, +10 Freeze DR and 5 Fire damage each time something hits you. Ironskin Level5: Safeguard. Whenever caster is knocked below 50% endurance, all close enemies are knocked prone, and wizard receives bonuses to DR and Deflection. Torrent of Flame - burns anything near caster Level6: Martial Power

Waaah, waaah, my fighter is now pointless! Therefore, all fighters are now useless ! Buff fighter ! Fighter is an useless class @! Wizards have tons of defensive abilities, and at least 2 defensive talents. Use them, damnit !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Priests may be screwed, but then again people talked they're overpowered, so let them pay the price. There are still many ways to defend your characters, including large shields, potions you normally don't care about, armour. At the very least, they could make AI disengage on higher difficulties. No one would have right to complain.

Why bother with a Cipher if you can use a Wizard ? Combusting Wounds, +5 damage per hit. For Blunderbuss this means +30 damage per shot. Have an Island Aumama with Quick Switch.

Because it's a new world, new serries, new engine. No Forgotten Realms, no D&D to draw upon. Baldur's Gate 2 didn't just magically spawn out of thin air. It was based on the foundation that was BG1. It even contained some of the characters. And the budget is closer to BG1 than BG2. Also, Pillars of Eternity contains much wilderness travel, which is common in BG1 but not BG2. ---------------- I like Pillars of Eternity very much. It has some downsides, like story being told in a somewhat confusing way, but there is much to love. Combat is actually fun compared to BG1. Priest is not required to make a party work. Non-spellcaster party members have various abilities. Classes really feel unique, say what you want. It looks better than I hoped - it does a great job combining 2D backgrounds with 3D characters and light. Writing is miles ahead of Baldur's Gate 1 and 2, pacing is better than BG2. For me BG2 felt overloaded in urban areas, in some places you spent like 30 minutes reading conversations and getting quests. Then you go to an adjacent location, and it repeats. There is no pre-buffing, no annoying rituals I have to go through. There are very few exploits. A super-powerful demilich in BG2 ! Let's leave the room and come back when his enchantments have worn off ! Place 40 traps where the boss will spawn for an instakill ! The system is much better suited for a realtime game this time around. Durations are measured in seconds, and more easily modified by stats. In D&D, odd stat numbers DO NOTHING. You get a bonus every even point. In PoE, you may only get +3% damage per point of Might, but you're getting it right away. The setting is interesting and not cliche like BG1, BG2. Reputation system allows a wider variety of characters to be represented, it was originally meant to be in Baldur's Gate 3: The Black Hound. You can use a variety of weapons, you can't put 6 skill points into a single weapon type and be stuck with it forever. Some characters are better with weapons, but anyone can wear any armor and wield any weapon. It just isn't always in your best interest. Also, the combat system is much more transparent this time around and easier to know what you're doing or why it isn't working. There is engagement (zones of control), enemies can't just walk around as they please, rendering formations useless. Wizards aren't GROSSLY IMBA. There is more than one way to finish many quests. You can scout ahead and see what the next encounter will be, very rarely enemies jump on you with no chance to prepare. Combat is largely optional, you don't have to kill if you don't enjoy it (or loot). But in many cases it's quite obvious if there can be loot, for example a pack of ghosts or animals is probably not going to drop anything interesting. All the ANNOYING parts of BG, like random encounters, are gone. Player is prevented from resting after every single encounter. There is a reason to pay for inns. Encounters are better designed, there is less trash than in BG2. No companion is forced upon you (Imoen was annoying and overbearing in BG2, so was Yoshimo). If you don't like companions you encounter, you can hire your own creations.

Information about engagements comes up in tooltips/pop-up tutorial, so people who don't click through everything know about it. That said, the game could use an obnoxious "disengagement attack" notification. That's because some still play it like an ARPG. I've seen youtube videos where people are surprised they get hit when disengaging.

You mean they attack him anyway ? In that case, engagement prevents them from switching targets.

Yeah, it's great and all except for how you can't use it on Confused, Charmed, or Dominated allies. Haha, wait -- it doesn't work, because charmed allies count as enemies ? And let me guess - even if you use Paladin's "deprive the unworthy", all you will accomplish is disabling the POSITIVE effects on the charmed ally ? So... they're pretty much doomed. No way in the game to help them. I have an idea for a Barbarian ability countering charmed/confused/dominated! "Knock some sense into (charactername)". The icon is the fist icon. Hits the frenemy in the head, removing the charm effect. There. Finally a way to remove these!

I like this. Especially in case of effects like Paralysis and Petrify, where shorter duration from graze doesn't matter much. The victim will usually be dead before the spell expires.

Do monsters in this game EVER disengage ??

So... Damage Over Time attacks seem to be multiplicative ? At least as far as Int is concerned. By the reason this new cRPG system is still new, changes can still happen without ruining level 30 characters. There is "suppressing" effect for stat boosts, for example if you have boots of +5 Perception and girdle of +3 perception, you get +5 Perception and the +3 bonus is suppressed. My point is, a similar mechanism may be added to damage additives. Or something like "only up to 3 damage additives count". That would put end to the speculations that Dex is everything.