Kaigen42

IE Mod doesn't cause any problems when you patch, although you'll have to redownload it once it is updated for the new patch. As for what Durance is like when you first pick him up, I don't know where he assigns his skill points, but I know he has the Bear's Fortitude talent. Priests don't have any selectable abilities when they level up aside from talents, so you don't have to worry about that at least. That said, the ability to have a character join at level 1 and level them up manually is now baked into the game, so you might be able to justify giving him a different talent and skill spread anyway. I'm not sure if this is still a concern with IE Mod or not, but make sure that he still has Magran as his deity after you respec him. Unless they updated that part, IE Mod nulls the deity selection when you respec, so you have to re-select Magran as Durance's deity using a different console command.

This thread inspired me to go through my stash on one of my endgame saves and take a good look at what some armors look like. In addition to those named, I like the looks of The Coat of Ill Repute, Aru-Brekr, and He Carries Many Scars. Hand and Key and the Sun-Touched Mail have interesting designs too (though it's a shame about the lackluster enchantments on the mail). Aloth's Leather Armor doesn't look half bad if you pair it with the right colors. I might try throwing it on a Barbarian to see if it gives me a bigger Carnage AoE. Random question: Has anyone picked up Rebel's Call (sold by Azzuro) since 1.05 hit to know what the new Wary quality does?

I haven't tested every single speed weapon, but every single one I've tested hasn't worked. You can pretty easily test it by taking two characters with equal Dex and no other speed modifiers in Clothes, one with a speed weapon and one with an identical non-speed weapon, and have them both attack the same target. The synced up animations will tell you that Speed isn't functioning.

Of course they don't, but they do a fantastic job of doing it while they're doing their job. All of those spells I mentioned are bread and butter spells that I use even when there isn't a Rogue in the party. I use Slicken and Repulsing Seal because Prone enemies can't hurt my party and are easier to hit. I use Chill Fog and Sunbeam because Blind is a nasty debuff that dramatically lowers enemy accuracy and deflection. And I use Mental Binding because it's a fast casting long duration Paralyze that can be used repeatedly and also inflicts Stuck on enemies in the vicinity. That all of those debuffs would also enable sneak attacks if I happen to have a Rogue around is icing. That is why I have no issue with considering the Rogue's sneak attack damage as a given. @Jimmysdabestcop; I just did some testing in game. Armored Grace doesn't seem to be able to reduce the recovery penalty below 0. Two 20 Dex characters in Clothes, one with Armored Grace, one without, attack at the exact same rate, with or without Penetrating Shot active. If you put the one with Armored Grace in Robes, they still attack at the exact same rate. So a ranged Fighter can wear Robes and maintain the same attack speed as a Rogue in Clothes, but can't get faster.

If none of the casters in your party are inflicting any debilitating effects on the enemy, what on earth are they doing in the first place? If Sneak Attack isn't enabled, that means your Cipher isn't using Mental Binding, your Wizard is ignoring Slicken and Chill Fog, the Priest is passing on Repulsing Seal, and/or the Druid is giving Sunbeam a miss, to say nothing of the multitude of higher level spells that inflict debuffs. Many of those spells inflict debuffs while doing damage. Debuffing is something you do as a matter of course, especially if you're playing on PotD. I'm also not sure where the +45% damage for the Fighter is coming from. Are you counting Confident Aim as a 20% damage bonus? Because that only applies to half the damage range, so it's more like a +10%. Honestly, I'd rather build a melee fighter than can switch to ranged when needed than a ranged fighter who might switch to melee sometimes.

The Shod in Faith boots are sold by Dunstan in the Crucible Knight's keep in First Fires. You have to do their first quest (retrieving the Forge Knight plans) before he'll sell to you. Bewildering Spectacle is a 2nd level spell.

I still like Ruffian. Lead Splitter still does excellent damage against low DR targets, and you can keep Dulcanale in another slot for the high DR enemies. If you're unwilling to risk melee, I still think firearms are your best bet, as a big burst of Focus at the beginning of combat is often more useful than the steady trickle you'd get from a warbow.

Apparently every once in a while a slaver or animancer will come through and offer to buy up prisoners from you for a bit of copper. It doesn't appear to happen very often, though, so it's anyone's guess whether you'll even get a chance before your prisoner escapes.

Well, we don't all have the luxury of being able to appeal to the authority of the strategy guide. Also @Jojobobo, since I don't think anyone has specifically answered this part of your question: Stronghold guests, including Azzuro, work on game time rather than turns, so theoretically you could get him to spawn by traveling around or resting a bunch. Since he only offers one item at a time and it's random, though, I wouldn't recommend trying that if you're looking for a specific item.

As am I, since stats, etc change frequently while they balance the game. However 1) this wouldn't be a balance change and 2) there a difference between "grain of salt" and "ignoring a blatant statement without solid disconfirming evidence". Here, since my report about Azzuro trying to visit without a Merchant Stalls wasn't "solid" enough for you, I used IE Mod's AdvanceTimeByHours command to generate this:

Generally correct, I would just like to add that attribute bonuses on weapons stack with attribute bonuses on items. This caught me by surprise. Good catch. This doesn't come up much since there's little overlap between weapon/shield properties and properties on items in other slots, but the game does seem to treat your weapons and shields as a separate category when it comes to stacking, so Godanthyr's Might bonus will stack with +Might items, and Sura's Supper Plate would stack with the old Sanguine Plate for extra retaliate opportunities.

Like I said, I haven't successfully managed to get Azzuro to the Stronghold so I can buy something from him yet, so I could be wrong. But I'm inclined to take anything the strategy guide says with a grain of salt.

My 2 coppers: Antipathetic Beam has always had friendly fire for me, Ectopsychic Echo has never had friendly fire for me (playing since 1.03). I've seen the same bug with Phantom Foes, and I'm not sure what the cause is. I haven't tested Recall Agony; it might be a good question to take to peddroelm's thread. I'm assuming you're wondering whether each hit creates a new DoT that overwrites the previous one? The damage ticks of Soul Ignition are affected by DR, but they only appear to consider 25% of the opponent's DR like lash effects. In my testing, the damage per tick against a 4 DR target as opposed to a 14 DR target was 17 vs. 14.

I don't think Merchant Stalls are actually necessary for Azzuro to appear. I haven't successfully managed to get Azzuro to appear in my keep yet, but in my current playthrough he tried to visit but was repulsed by bandits even though I haven't built the stalls yet. As long as you have the Main Keep, along with sufficiently high Prestige to draw him and sufficiently high Security to keep him from being attacked on the way, I think his arrival is a possibility.

Since Con is a percentage effect, it has a lower impact the smaller your class's health pool is. A max level Rogue only gets about 5 endurance per point of Con, so the difference between 10 Con and 8 Con on a Rogue is the difference between 180 endurance and 170. This is why people find it so easy to dump Con when they're min-maxing. More power to you if you want to leave it average because it bothers you to have dump stats, though.

Currently the speed property doesn't work. Theoretically, all of those should stack together; Gunner, Sure-Handed Ila, and Swift Aim all appear to stack fine. The general rules for stacking are: Passive bonuses (including bonuses tacked on to active abilities by talents) and Chants stack with everything; Item enchantments don't stack with other item enchantments of the same type; Active abilities (including modals) don't stack with other Active abilities. Given that, and the way attack speed bonuses are carefully parceled out, the only cases I can think of where attack speed buffs might not stack would be a Paladin using Hastening Exhortation on a character who already has an attack speed buff active (e.g. Swift Aim, Frenzy, etc.), or dual-wielding speed weapons (if the property worked in the first place).

Deep Wounds is overwritten when you hit again regardless of duration, so if you're a melee rogue that's probably a non-issue

My first PotD run had no priest in the party. Most of the time, you probably won't even miss the Priest, but there are a few types of enemies where it's definitely useful to have one around. The big thing I missed was those "Prayer Against X" spells for defending against confusion, charm, dominate, etc. A Druid can easily supply any healing you might feel you need, or else you can keep a few healing potions/scrolls handy for emergencies. Spamming Winter Wind trivialized a lot of encounters, though that was pre-1.05's damage nerf.

That party doesn't look like one that needs a lot of unique weapons, so I'd look into buying useful stat-boosting items (the Dozens merchant has several) and the extra spell rings from Lora in Copperlane once you have the cash. Once you hit Act III, there's a really good Club on sale in Twin Elms that I like to put on Eder when I'm using him. The main thing with weapon enchantments is to make them Exceptional when you can and put an elemental lash on them (usually corrosive or burning). If you have enchantment space left over, you can consider making a weapon Superb (you only get the materials for one two-handed weapon or two one-handed weapons) or putting a slaying enchantment on them. Slaying enchantments are a matter of taste, really, but Spirit, Vessel, Beast, or Kith are good options.

I noticed that as well. Lots more hidden caches and some switches that I had missed before.

Personally, I tend to dump Int on Fighters because the duration of their prone effects are so slim to begin with that you only lose 1.5 seconds by dumping it. I also tend to load my Fighters up with passive abilities rather than the active ones anyway, though, so your mileage may vary. The main thing Paladins care about Int for is aura radius; it's hard to affect much of your party if you dump it, though Boots of Zealous Command can help in that respect. It also helps make Lay on Hands more effective, but if you aren't taking that then it loses a bit of utility. I tend to leave it at 10, just so that aura radius isn't too terrible.

True, although a scroll-user might have a few fire damage spell scrolls handy that could benefit, so adding Flaming Lash and taking the talent on top of that might be a way to use a marginal talent slot. Might be interesting on a Darcozzi Paladini for use with Flames of Devotion and Fires of Darcozzi Palace. Also, while you wouldn't take it for the lash alone, knowing whether or not it works on lash effects could affect which lash you enchant a caster's weapon with.

Are you on the 17th day of the month (e.g. 17 Fonprima when you mouse over the time at the bottom of the screen) or on Day 17 of the game (i.e. what is shown on your saved game)? I ask because the Gloves were only there on the former, and I made the mistake at first of thinking it was the latter.

Also, a gear idea for the Gunadin: Use a Marking gun (Pliambo per Casitas for Soldier or St. Garam's Spark for Ruffian) as your second weapon. Fire the first gun with FoD, switch to the second to unleash your second FoD, and then the Marking quality will allow Pallegina to paint targets for the closest ally at hand. This can boost the accuracy of another ranged DPS or help a caster land a spell on a critical target.

Ironically, as you've noticed, stealth isn't very useful for a Rogue setting up backstabs. I like a little bit of it on the entire party to skirt around enemy groups to find the best angle of attack; it also helps get your melee fighters a little closer before combat starts, and can help your casters get into casting range for short range spells to fire off to open combat.