ISC

The problem remains the same, because might/soul power is perfectly 1:1 correlated with strength/magic. It is not that strength causes magic or the other way around, it is that might/soul power completely govern both traits, which means that you cant have one without the other. I totally get the concept, its just that it is a clumsy abstraction when it comes to character differentiation, and that it is poorly explained. By the way, suspension of disbelief is as much a product of game design as it is of the players imagination (or perhaps lack thereof).

+50% exp!! oh well.. Care to elaborate on that? I'm just curious, because I have no idea.

Furthermore, I think that the key problem here is that we don't have an explicit explanation of the relationship between "soul power" (aka "might") and physical vs mental strength. Right now it appears to be directly linear (i.e. you cant have one without the other), which is both very unlike our world and makes it impossible to create the differentiated characters some players would like. Edit: also, the concept of might changes the rules we are familiar with in more than one way. It does not only add an additional phenomenon (soul power) to the human beings we are used to, might also seem to change all the mechanisms influencing things like strength or willpower. These usually develop fairly separately, through different genes or experiences (strength training for example), which appears to be impossible in Eora. Might it is such a high level abstraction that encompasses things that are too different to be accurately represented in detailed interactions.

It is relevant, because in our game same gun deals a different damage in hands of different characters. That is just nonsense. Whole point of a handgun is that a weak person as dangerous with it as a strong person. That, however, is completely irrelevant to how guns work in Pillars of Eternity, because the game does not take place in our world, nor does it pretend that the game's world/universe runs by the same rules as ours. I have to disagree with this. PoE is largely based on our world and largely simulates our physics. To say that our world is completely irrelevant is just wrong. It is highly relevant but much less so in specific aspects. And that relevance is important, in this case for immersion and plausibility (which might be a better word than realism). Whatever things work differently from our world still do so in relation to things that work similarly in our world, and sometimes its important that this relationship make sense to the player (or reader, or viewer). The mere existence of elves and magic does not discount the similarities or the need for (internal) consistency. The damage of a gun could certainly depend on the nail polish on one's left thumb, but its just so unlikely that it would require a very elaborate explanation (which ties nail-polish-magic to things like real-world physics) to be acceptable. Feel free to quote me on that last part.

I suggest using IEmod with +50% exp requirement to level. But I agree on there being a serious problem with difficulty in general and exp in particular in PoE that should be addressed by the devs. Given that PoTD is intended for 'hardcore gamers' (i.e. powergamers, completionists, old school IE fans etc), I personally think that increased exp requirements should be an integrated part of PoTD as a way to increase difficulty from previous settings without just bumping enemy hp/dmg.

Use the IEmod or similar solution to up the experience table about 50%. That seems to balance the content of the general game better, at least, and should make TWM experience have less of an impact.

As people have pointed out, the lore reasoning is basically this: Which means that the following analogy is irrelevant, if anything might is more like the gunpowder of spellcasting The fundamental problem with might, beyond user familiarity, is probably that it is an abstraction on a higher level than the other attribute concepts. They are all abstractions of course, but might is a quite broad and fuzzy concept (at least to us who are not familiar with everyday soul causality). It can be used to describe very different properties related to the general "power" of the character, from something like willpower, to big muscles, to divine faith. Because might is such an umbrella term, things get weird in for example dialogue options. I don't think that all might 18 characters are intended to be about equally muscular or physically strong. To a lesser extent the same is true of the other attributes, I don't think that all intelligence 18 characters are equally quick of mind, have the same memory capacity, creativity, problem solving capacity, ability to abstract etc. It is just that might is such a high level abstraction that it creates bigger problems when the details matter.

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Alright, I think I've found a second good use for paladins besides tanking (and besides going outside the ruleset with the console ). In PotD accuracy is really really important, which I realized while running a fighter tank instead of a paladin with the accuracy aura. However, even with a paladin tank, the aura range is rather small and will often not affect your back row who stay back. Also, the order-related abilities are often centered on getting killing blows´, which the tank paladin is really bad at (average accuracy, will be really slow with dumped dex and heavy armor, will use heavy shield and hatchet etc). For the same reason, the tank paladin is really bad at utilizing flames of devotion. So I figured why not make a dedicated support paladin capable of getting killing blows through spike damage? That way the paladin could potentially make good use of all kinds of talents and not just a limited set. Screw tanking. So I went for a Kind Wayfarer wood elf Paladin with accuracy aura + distant advantage + marksman using a pistol together with flames of devotion. No armor, only clothes. This Paladin not only does decent damage with maxed might, while being in the middle row with his aura, he also AOE heals when firing the flames of devotion AND when getting a killing blow and he is really good at it. The high might makes his heals decent, including lay on hands, and he has a range of other support abilities and can safely focus on maxing mig+dex+int. Sure, obviously he will make somewhat less damage than a rogue, but he is a heal-bot with a very useful aura capable of reviving people. Your other rogue(s) will thank him. The only possible "downside" is that it requires a lot of micromanagement to get consistent killing blows, but thats the way I like it

Ive been running an off-tankish DW fighter in PotD and have some experience to share. First of all, a DW warrior can work really well in PotD if carefully constructed - and I mean REALLY well, as in one of the best and most useful characters in my party. Obviously you will still need a dedicated full tank in PotD with a big shield and tanking talents, but the reason I prefer a fighter over a rogue for this job is that the fighter gets enough hp + constant recovery to handle tanking two or three enemies while dishing out serious damage. The damage might be slightly lower than the Rogue could do, but actually not that much as a fighter can be built entirely dedicated to doing damage. Barbarian is also a possibility, with about similar tanking capacity, but I really prefer single target dps in PotD despite there being more enemies. The main reason why I like DW for my off-tank fighter, which really makes him awesome and makes me like the PoE ruleset, is that it works very well in conjunction with a really heavy armor. Why? Because DW with fast weapons has the lowest possible recovery time while 2H has a really high recovery time, which means that DW is suffering very little from even a +50% recovery armor (Its like 0.33 seconds I believe). If you want to go 2H you should consider the lightest possible armor, which in turn means very limited tanking capacity in PotD (as you wont have a shield either), and then I'd suggest a rogue fully dedicated to dps instead. So, a DW fighter in really heavy armor is awesome. He is one of my best damage dealers, capable of tanking whatever the dedicated tank leaves behind, and due to his high accuracy his knockdowns hit hard which makes him very capable of protecting back row squishes. As for stats it is quite straight forward = mig, dex, con as high as possible, then perception and resolve for additional defenses, and dump intellect. I went with the anti-stun/prone maua, maybe a dwarf or orlan might be doable as well. For weapons I currently use stilettos (and a pistol to open with) because they are fast, penetrate DR and there are some really good one's mid game at least. Combine that with vulnerable attack and you have some -8DR. Alternative weapon choices could be sabers or maybe maces, although neither are fast so they suffer a bit more from a heavy armor.

Anyone know if/how ChangeClass works with Paladin orders?

Interesting! Had no idea they drop enchanted gear. Nonetheless, it seems like godlikes are not missing out on anything huge this far.

According to what little is in the wiki, which may have been changed, there is also: Pylgrim's Lasting Vigil + 1 Resolve, + 1 Intellect Stag Helm +2 Athletics, +1 Dexterity

Im considering godlikes and would like to know what helmets are in the game. I've not played very far, but I recall the following: Kanahat +1 Intellect hermit (?) +1 might the early one with +1 resolve & +1 perception. What else is there? Unfortunately the wiki is incomplete.

I was wondering, do we know that the specific NPC tied to the area is the only one affected and only when said NPC is in your party (i.e. recruited and/or not left at stronghold)? So that if I dont pick up durance I could save freely at Magran's, even with other NPCs and/or picking up Durance later? Good point about the cottage anyway.

Is there any reason to believe that it comes with any problems? I have not suffered any bugs more than the one's affecting just about everyone. You get that much for the disappointer? Nice. What are you refering to with "get the explorer to calisca's sisters house", have I missed a quest or something?

Yeah, this is what I do. You have to calculate the attributes and stuff, but it creates the best compromise of experiences for me. Although I also try to stick to similar classes (no aloth barbarians or eder wizards for me, but ciphers/rogues).

1. Because some people want to play the game without cheating and/or importing advantagous mechanisms from other games. 2. You can already 'mod' the NPC characters using the IE-mod and console commands? Give them the attributes, classes and abilities you want.

Incorrect. Just hide your casters far away. Send in the tanks. Run in a caster and cast chill fog. Run the **** away and pray to me that the caster doesn't get followed. + just use paralyze/stuck and have some melee character attack them.

I really really dont want to get into the discussion around how someone should raise their kids or whether pillars "should" have swearing or not, but I am just finding it so very hard to understand why kids shouldnt come in contact with any swearing in any kind of way (other than all that which they will hear in school all day long anyway). And now we're even talking about protecting "teens" from swearing which seems quite problematic to me as, if it was even possible, it might actually create some dysfunctionality in relation to the wider society. Again, I am not saying anything against modding the game or anyones child rearing practices, I just want to understand the reasoning (I am a sociologist, I can't help it). If it's about wanting to raise well behaved children I guess I can understand that, although I wonder if its not better to educate children in good practices than to try to isolate them from bad ones. Isnt it better encountering swearing as something a low-life thug in Ondras Gift would do than something that cool kid at school does? Id be happy for any reasoning about this, assuming that some people have thought this opinion through.

No you haven't, the game's been out less than a week. A week is a very long time when it comes to the release of a long awaited game imo.

I have yet to decide upon my tank preference. Initially I played with a Paladin Wild Orlan, and although paladins are quite good tanks, it seems that fighters have the edge. Another realization of mine is that some racial abilities scale while others don't, which may turn out to be very important in the long run. This has made me want to consider a moon godlike fighter over the Orlan because of the freakishly large AOE of scaling 3/encounter healing. Against the moon godlike racial the Orlan has some +6 deflection and +6 reflex/will from better tanking stats and their racial ability that grants them +10 defense when attacked by a will attack (its not clear to me if this applies before or after said will attack though). These are both decent tanking features, but I have a hard time seeing how a few points of defense + situation boost (+ helmets if there are any good tank helmets?) can compete with the 3/encounter AOE heal that scales? Any other opinions on this, or other alternative tank builds? Please make an argument if you make a suggestion! (Another advantage with Wild Orlans is that I love their model and portraits but absolutely hate the Moon Godlike portrait).

Alright, some more observations! It is both "instant" and over time! At level 1 the heal is 10 endurance in the first wave, then it heals about 1 endurance/tick in between the heal waves. I dont know if closer distance or levels allows for more waves to hit, but in my testrun another 10 endurance wave hit by the end of it in addition to the first one, after about 5 endurance healed over time. So thats something like 25 endurance which is VERY much at level 1 for a /encounter with 20meter AOE. However, it does of course come with the cost of a helmet, so moon godlikes may actually have something worth that. Blave: You're right about the level thing. I checked at level 5 and then the ability listed +22 endurance. Whats that, like... +3 additional endurance per level? Note that this is base, might +/- 0%. Moon godlikes racial might be one of the very few racials that scale with level, which is seriously powerful. Some other abilities are %-based, but several are just a set number from level one (distant advantage with +5 accuracy for example. Which is pretty good but loses significance over the course of the game).

I just checked and some stats are actually displayed on the ability in the game (but not in character creation). First of all, the base AOE is 20m(!!!), and the heal is listed as "+10 Endurance" but it does seem to happen over time but there is no duration listed so its difficult to know exactly how much it heals in practice..

Wait a second, just to be clear on "save loads" - do we know (i.e. have reason to believe) that it is loading that is the issue, not saving itself? I was worried about autosaves for a while!