Elvarein

Well unless ....

50% speed? The targeting circles showing the AOE? Shift Key to queue orders?

Also be creative my good sir. Some of the wizards best spells need him to be in close range and there is that level 6 spell that kinda requries the wizard to be close in. So for instance: *Situational 1st Level spells Eldritch Aim – Increases the caster's Accuracy. Fleet Feet – Empowers the target with unnatural speed, increasing their Movement Rate. Wizard's Double – Creates a duplicate of the caster to distract enemies, granting the caster a high Deflection bonus against a single attack. Spirit Shield – Surrounds the caster with a shield of spirit energy, granting an increased Damage Threshold and a Concentration bonus. * Thrust of Tattered Veils – A quick strike of Crushing force, dealing little damage but having a high chance to disrupt enemy spellcasters. 2nd Level spells Bewildering Spectacle – Enemies in the area become confused. Bulwark Against The Elements – increases the caster's damage threshold for burn, freeze, corrode and shock. Merciless Gaze – Increases critical hit chance. *Mirrored Image – Increases Deflection of the caster but the deflection bonus is decreased with each received hit. 3rd Level spells Concelhaut's Draining Touch – The caster's hand becomes a toxic parasite causing corrosive damage to the target, weakening it and leaching a portion of its stamina. Deleterious Alacrity of Motion – The wizard will attack faster, but will also suffer stamina damage during the duration. Ryngrim's Repulsive Visage – Targets near caster are Sickened and Terrified by the wizard's horrifying appearance. Llengrath's Displaced Image – Increases deflection and reflexes of the caster. *Expose Vulnerabilities – Reduces the damage threshold and concentration of the target. 4th Level spells Confusion – Confuses all enemies in the area. Fire Shield – Increases the freeze damage threshold of the caster and inflicts burn damage to any enemy that hits the caster. Ironskin – increases the caster's damage threshold for 10 attacks. *Essential Phantom – Summons a ghostly double of the caster that fights with its bare hands, doing Shock damage. Other than the appearance of the caster, it shares no other properties. *Dimensional Shift – The caster and one ally are able to immediately switch locations, leaving a shockwave between them. Anyone caught in-between may be briefly Stunned. 5th Spell Level Blast of Frost – Creates a bitter surge of ice and freezing cold air, inflicting Freeze damage on anyone caught in the conical area of effect. Llengrath's Safeguard – An insidious magical contingency activates when the caster hits 50% Stamina. He or she immediately knocks all immediately close enemies prone while gaining a Damage Threshold and Defense bonus for a short time. Torrent of Flame – Instantiates a terrifying inferno of flame around the caster, inflicting Burn damage on everyone nearby. 6th Spell Level Citzal's Martial Power – Caster temporarily sacrifices arcane power for martial might. Wizard gains bonuses to Deflection, Accuracy, Might, Constitution and Dexterity, but becomes unable to cast spells or switch grimoires for the duration of the spell. Gaze of the Adragan – Gives the caster the mystifying gaze of the adra creature that provides the spell's namesake, Petrifying enemies within the area of effect. Minoletta's Precisely Piercing Burst – Creates a burst of of deadly force around the caster, causing any enemies in the immediate vicinity to take Pierce damage - bypassing their Damage Threshold. Arcane Reflection – Creates a field of arcane energy around the caster, reflecting hostile targeted spells up to 5th level back at their casters (for a total of 15 spell levels). *Death Ring – Calls a black ring of necrotic energy into being that spreads out in all directions, causing Corrode damage to everything it touches and potentially destroying those with low Stamina. And viola, suddenly some of the spells become that much more useful if you build for a melee type wizard.

Strangely enough, POE druids rock at pure dps while at range. Wizards on the other hand seem to be more of a control character with their best damage spells requiring you to be close range. If you do use their damage spells though, you will be shocked at how deadly they are.

If the dungeon you are talking about is the story mandated one wih tons of shades before it you can get a party of 5 if you are going by only ingame characters. Your Main, a Fighter, a Mage, a Priest and a Chanter First Village: Fighter, Mage Magran's Fork: Priest Outside of dungeon: Chanter

The thing with the difficulty is that quite a few modern western rpg games scale the encounters to your level (ala Oblivion, etc). This keeps the game at an appropriate challenge level no matter how powerful you get. However, I quite favor the approach taken in this game where the majority of content is not scaled, with only "boss battles" being scaled to keep them appropriately tough.

The tutorial is a little bugged there. There is no disposition gain/change during the starting sequence.

Advance the main plot a little and you will be able to get in.

Also, its important to remember that potions can increase your accuracy.

Also on the floor with the Dragon (Level 5) If you clear out the floor theres a staircase you can use to get back to level 1.

Let me remind all of your that if you really want to get more spells you can create a wizard at the inn and select the spells you want. Then just add them to Aloth.

A good list of useful spells is: http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/73696-wizard-spell-guide-spells-you-get-for-free-early-on/ Note that slick is hands down the BEST control spell in your arsenal. For some strange reason it works against drakes as well! Slick causes your enemies to go prone. And at the highest levels its still useful (esp when level 1 spells become per encounter) at level 11. Also look at the utility talents. There are talents that increase a specific elements damage by 20% which helps increase your damage significantly.

That was merely a Drake. it isn't a Dragon.

Level 7 at defiance bay is WAY overlevelled haha.

@Koth, do note the following: Sneak Attack: Uses the rogue's ability to approach unseen, adding additional bonus damage to their attacks when the target is Blinded, Flanked, Hobbled, Paralyzed, Petrified, Prone, Stuck, Stunned or Weakened, as well as when any target is struck within two seconds of combat starting. In other words, its not just from sneaking. Also @ Odd Hermit While not optimal, Grieving Mother can still be used as one a CC character and you can build her that way. In this game battlefield control helps you make it through fights with minimal resting. Sure a purpose built cipher would be stronger, but unless you are playing on the highest difficulty, the difference is not that significant.

The Arquebus has DR piercing while the Arbalest does not. As such, it depends on the situation. Or if you have DR reducing spells at hand.

Well sadly, you can't change stats but to be honest on easy or normal difficulty, while useful, your initial stats won't change the game much.

After the tutorial you will be at level 2. Theres no avoiding that. If you skip killing stuff and push through the main quest you can get: Aloth, Eder, Durance, Kana Rua at level 2. Get the stronghold -> Level 3 Get Sagani, Hiravias and Grieving Mother at level 3 Squeak in Pallegini at level 4.

To be honest theres a little too much to comment on your builds. However, let me give you a broad overview and an example so that it should help you out with building your party. With regards to stats Fort Saves: Might, Con Reflex: Dex, Per Will: Int, Res Its not a coincidence that Might, Dex, Int are more offensive and Con, Per, Res are more defensive. So looking at your monk: dexterity contributes to attack speed and only to reflex as a defense and perception also contributes to reflex and deflection (ie your armour class). Likeiwse, might is primarily useful for dealing damage. Thus, i would drop your dex and might and move the points to perception and resolve to their cap. Finally, your Monk should be, interestingly enough wielding a shield in his offhand and have the talent that adds the deflection to reflex save as a starter. With regards to spell choices for Wizards, there are many posts that have covered which spells to take, this is an excellent starting point: http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/73696-wizard-spell-guide-spells-you-get-for-free-early-on/ Finally for ciphers. Note that focus is build BASED on Damage dealt. IE 3-4 points of damager per point of focus. The focus talent that allows you to build more focus (ie 2 more focus per attack) is particularly effective for high rate of attacks (ie Dual Wielding/Hunting Bows) or interestingly enough, the blunderbuss, as each time it fires it counts as 6 or was it 8 attacks, ie 12 focus generate per shot!!)

Err Jingshui, firstly, the temple is level 3-4 difficulty content for a full group. Trying to do it with 3 characters is asking to die. You should pick up the additional party members such as the Priest at Magran's Fork (South Exit of Town to unlock the Map) and the Chanter at the Stronghold location. After that if you want more options for characters, you can also pick up a Paladin in Defiance Bay (Port Area), a ranger, a druid and a cipher somewhere else. I suggest you think of what your full party is going to look like and decide on which members to have in the party full time. General Tips: Your frontline needs at least one main tank and one off tank. Decide early on their builds and pick the ones you want ASAP so that you can level them the way you want. Otherwise they make strange party choices. If you want an easier game. Make one of the party members on your own from the inn. Frontline Tank Characters: Eder, Chanter, Paladin Melee DPS Characters: Eder, Ranger (Must get early) Support Characters: Chanter, Priest Control Characters: Aloth, Cipher Range DPS: Aloth, Ranger, Druid, Cipher

You should also remember that you can recruit a wizard npc one level below you and fill up his spellbook with spells. Its rather cheesy but it works.

You forget that flanked allows greater accuracy of weapons and more important, enables crit for rogues.

Another interesting thing to consider, if a little cheesy is that you can recruit a wizard at the inn and give him all the spells you want and copy it to Aloth's grimoire. Also I kinda disagree with the statement that only the spells above are useful. Take for instance if I want to play as a more close range wizard. 1st Level spells[edit] Eldritch Aim – Increases the caster's Accuracy. Fleet Feet – Empowers the target with unnatural speed, increasing their Movement Rate. Wizard's Double – Creates a duplicate of the caster to distract enemies, granting the caster a high Deflection bonus against a single attack. Spirit Shield – Surrounds the caster with a shield of spirit energy, granting an increased Damage Threshold and a Concentration bonus. * Thrust of Tattered Veils – A quick strike of Crushing force, dealing little damage but having a high chance to disrupt enemy spellcasters. 2nd Level spells Bewildering Spectacle – Enemies in the area become confused. Bulwark Against The Elements – increases the caster's damage threshold for burn, freeze, corrode and shock. Merciless Gaze – Increases critical hit chance. *Mirrored Image – Increases Deflection of the caster but the deflection bonus is decreased with each received hit. 3rd Level spells[edit] Concelhaut's Draining Touch – The caster's hand becomes a toxic parasite causing corrosive damage to the target, weakening it and leaching a portion of its stamina. Deleterious Alacrity of Motion – The wizard will attack faster, but will also suffer stamina damage during the duration. Ryngrim's Repulsive Visage – Targets near caster are Sickened and Terrified by the wizard's horrifying appearance. Llengrath's Displaced Image – Increases deflection and reflexes of the caster. *Expose Vulnerabilities – Reduces the damage threshold and concentration of the target. 4th Level spells[edit] Confusion – Confuses all enemies in the area. Fire Shield – Increases the freeze damage threshold of the caster and inflicts burn damage to any enemy that hits the caster. Ironskin – increases the caster's damage threshold for 10 attacks. *Essential Phantom – Summons a ghostly double of the caster that fights with its bare hands, doing Shock damage. Other than the appearance of the caster, it shares no other properties. *Dimensional Shift – The caster and one ally are able to immediately switch locations, leaving a shockwave between them. Anyone caught in-between may be briefly Stunned. 5th Spell Level[edit] Blast of Frost – Creates a bitter surge of ice and freezing cold air, inflicting Freeze damage on anyone caught in the conical area of effect. Llengrath's Safeguard – An insidious magical contingency activates when the caster hits 50% Stamina. He or she immediately knocks all immediately close enemies prone while gaining a Damage Threshold and Defense bonus for a short time. Torrent of Flame – Instantiates a terrifying inferno of flame around the caster, inflicting Burn damage on everyone nearby. 6th Spell Level[edit] Citzal's Martial Power – Caster temporarily sacrifices arcane power for martial might. Wizard gains bonuses to Deflection, Accuracy, Might, Constitution and Dexterity, but becomes unable to cast spells or switch grimoires for the duration of the spell. Gaze of the Adragan – Gives the caster the mystifying gaze of the adra creature that provides the spell's namesake, Petrifying enemies within the area of effect. Minoletta's Precisely Piercing Burst – Creates a burst of of deadly force around the caster, causing any enemies in the immediate vicinity to take Pierce damage - bypassing their Damage Threshold. Arcane Reflection – Creates a field of arcane energy around the caster, reflecting hostile targeted spells up to 5th level back at their casters (for a total of 15 spell levels). *Death Ring – Calls a black ring of necrotic energy into being that spreads out in all directions, causing Corrode damage to everything it touches and potentially destroying those with low Stamina. This creates a pretty interesting alternative with a wizard with spells that allow him to survive upfront at knife range.

There is a room that looks like a library to the left of the room with the Old priest. There should be a door there that can be unlocked with the key which he gives you. Take the staircase up and you will find yourself in the throne room. Be prepared for a fight once you approach the dias. If its too hard, tell him that you will cooperate and he will let you go. At that point reposition and kill the mage in an alpha strike. Follow that up by killing the priest and then the Archer.