VahnXIII

I like the idea of having a higher difficulty unlocked after beating PoTD. I'm not sure how I feel about respawning enemies, but I would like more random encounters. For instance, while I'm traveling i wouldn't mind coming across a group of bandits I need to dispose of or even coming across random merchants and other NPC's along the way. In BG you would come across bounty hunters, bandits, star gazers, merchants, palm readers, etc. It brought more flavor to the traveling.

I can see how many view it this way. However, I'm glad they are taking their time with the details and I'm sure they'll let all of us know when there are updates. I'd rather have a "we'll give details when we're ready" instead of giving tentative release dates and ending up launching unfinished products. I'm sure old saves will be compatible. It wouldn't make sense to release an expansion that would force everyone to start a new game.

I seem to be one of the few that truly appreciate BGEE and BG2EE. I started a "saga run" in which I would take the same main character (multi-class elf - Fighter/Mage dual wielding long swords and katanas) through all of the titles and expansions. I got to Baldur's Gate city when PoE was released, so I never had the chance to finish. To answer your question, I am very much enjoying PoE and look forward to returning to the BG, NWN and perhaps the IWD series afterwards. Very good games that still stand strong today.

Hello there, Rogues are extremely powerful in this game. I'm also just now playing through the class (level 6 at Defiance Bay). Right now I am using a similar build to this: http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/79744-tcs-rogue-dw-sabre-4-shot-thaos-1-bs-1-cs/ About 48% of my hits are critical strikes and my rogue accounts for most of my party kills. With Aloth casting CC spells, it creates a rogue's wonderland (rogues get huge damage bonuses on enemies that have certain status effects on them). With this build you can either use stilletos or sabres. I prefer sabres because of the raw damage output. For skills, I dump points into stealth and mechanics. With the upcoming 2.0 patch, your rogue will be able to stealth and position separately from the group. Mechanics is a must unless you have someone else in your party that handles traps and spotting hidden items. This is a very fun build and things die fast. People say the rogue is a squishy class and can die fast. As a seasoned rogue-player I would imagine you know the code of the class, "a dead enemy can't hit me." Just remember that.

Cheers. Have fun.

If you don't care about achievements, want to keep the story characters for their quests and dialogue AND do not care for their default stats, you can always use the console to shape their attributes to their liking. http://orcz.com/Pillars_of_Eternity:_Console_Commands Again, do not do this if you want to earn achievements.

https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/78849-class-build-the-dynamite-melee-wizard-or-tnt-105/ This is the build I'm currently using and it's great fun. The best part is, things die quickly. Most of the time they will die before they even knew you were around if you position correctly. Highly recommend taking a look at least. Cheers.

I also have a tendency to restart with different characters on a more than normal basis. I actually am already restarting with trying this build: http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/79744-tcs-rogue-dw-sabre-4-shot-thaos-1-bs-1-cs/ I little different but looks to be well rounded. That looks like a very solid build for soloing, super good. Are you soloing though? Negative. I'll probably switch some abilities around for more of a party-friendly build. I'm level 4 at this point and already cleared the Temple of Eothas in Gilded Vale. All I can say is things die extremely fast. I always start my rogue off to the side, have Eder pull, rogue moves into flanking position and whacks away with enchanted sabres. Works wonders. As soon I get attention from mobs, I simply use blinding strike and continue hitting with sneak attacks. What I found is blinding strike and crippling strike actually hits the enemy twice with each use. These abilities are per encounter. I can simply use them back to back to burn down a troublesome enemy quickly. In summary, this build is great and pretty strait forward. As for offensive output, I generally defeat enemies before they can even hit me so I must be doing something right with this class. Very, very fun indeed.

https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/78849-class-build-the-dynamite-melee-wizard-or-tnt-105/ This is the build I based my wizard off of. All I can say is with 2 wizards in my party (PC and Aloth), the game became much easier. 4 Arcane assaults per encounter is very helpful to stack AoE damage at no spell cost. At level 9 having unlimited Slicken and other CC spells on 2 wizards made for an extremely easy time with CC for any fight. Simply lay down a ton of CC, use Parasitic Staff to go melee and restore endurance and cast higher level spells to full effect. Melee wizard is extremely challenging but fun. Having 2 can quickly trivialize many encounters especially in the late game.

PoE is a deep game based on a "complex" set of rules. If you wish to succeed you will become well aware of how these rules work and how to use them to your advantage. It takes time and patience to do this, but it is certainly worth and in a way makes the game that much more fun and enjoyable.

I also have a tendency to restart with different characters on a more than normal basis. I actually am already restarting with trying this build: http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/79744-tcs-rogue-dw-sabre-4-shot-thaos-1-bs-1-cs/ I little different but looks to be well rounded.

I didn't want to say anything about that build on the other thread since you had already chosen it, but the thing I disagree most with is where he says "RES - 8 - I really don't need Concentration." If you are taking into consideration that you will often get hit in melee despite your best efforts to the contrary, you will often be interrupted, and Concentration is very valuable to maintain high DPS while getting attacked. IMHO his build would have been improved by dumping Con to put more into Res, which also would have opened up more dialogue options (namely, a greater power to persuade people across a wide range of situations). You also don't really need Int as a rogue, which he acknowledges. Of course, he is factoring RP into his decisions for both Con and Int, so he realizes it's not an optimal min-maxed build. Basically, unless you are planning to solo the game as a rogue, his blinds and cripples are useful to get the ball rolling on disables and sneak attacks, but then other characters can take over with AoE disables which also last longer even if you were to have average or above Int on a rogue. Because he is not focusing heavily on Per and Res, he is not prioritizing Deflection anyway. Following his thinking, I'd surmise he would consider the Perception change to be good. He is already neglecting Deflection in order to max the DPS he would do while not being attacked, so why not have more Accuracy to increase his theoretical max DPS even further? Overall, and this goes back to AshenPlanet's thinking, Accuracy and Deflection are both good for a rogue. Which is more important of the two I think is debatable and partly based on personal preference, but it also varies from fight to fight. Edit: Vahn, I don't want to make you feel like you've made a "wrong" choice there. The build you're using is certainly viable, especially below PoTD, and it seems you're enjoying it, so cheers. I appreciate the input! I do play at a level below PoTD so I imagine there is a higher degree of forgiveness for not playing a maxed build. Perhaps this is a good build for players not playing PoTD but still want to play the rogue. I'll continue doing a little experimenting on my own and will contribute to this conversation further. However, I always find there is someone else more adamant about their class build and have already posted their findings.

As a new player of the rogue class, I'm finding this build: https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/79375-class-build-dual-wielding-stiletto-rogue/ to be extremely effective. I may only be at the beginning of the game, but things are already dying fast. The downside, as others have said, is the incoming change to perception.

I decided to go Rogue this time. Melee Rogue. It's the class I most often play and I always enjoyed playing the "Rogue from rough lands, but with a good heart". Going with the build from this thread: https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/79375-class-build-dual-wielding-stiletto-rogue/ Seems very solid and exactly what I'm looking for! Thank you very much for the input everyone. This forum never disappoints!

Hello everyone, It has been a while since I've roamed these forums let alone play Pillars of Eternity (damn you Witcher). However, I'm thinking of diving back into this one and it seems there have been plenty of changes in my absence. I plan to start from scratch. Instead of being diligent and rummaging through countless forums and articles, I thought I'd ask you kind souls to help a player in distress. By distress I mean I'm not sure what class to play. However, I have narrowed it down to Wizard, Cipher, Rogue and Ranger (in that order from an overall appeal perspective). What are your thoughts on each of those classes in general? I appreciate your input in advance!

If you go wizard, you can use Parasitic Staff. It essentially equips you with a staff made from energy and each hit restores a small amount of your endurance.

Thank you for your input folks! My char level is 7 now and I believe I'm on level 7 in Od Nua.

Just completed level 5. Moving on to 6. It's been a good run so far!

I understand needing the specifics perhaps. I've posted my party composition. We have good weapons and armor (uniques, enchanted, etc.) and are dominating so far.

Thank you for this. It seems I am able to continue with a couple of levels with my party composition. I plan on going a few more levels down and then perhaps go back to Defiance Bay. Level 3 was was a good challenge. Level 4 is a bit easy so far. I'll see what levels 5 and 6 have in store next!

Normal Difficulty Party: Eder, Aloth, Kana, Durance, Sagani. Party level: 6 Just completed level 3. How far am I able to progress in Od Nua with a party level of 6? Thank you, Vahn

I personally enjoy the combat system in PoE/BG/IWD/etc. As mentioned above, this is a subjective matter. Some players enjoy beating their enemies turn by turn more like a board game. Other players enjoy the suspense and reactiveness (word? idk) of a hybrid system that implements turn based and real time elements. I enjoy both combat systems, but prefer the type that is already in PoE. I would've played the game regardless, but I'm glad for real time combat with the pause option.

I'm not looking for spoilers. Only Od Nua level by character level ranges is all.

Greetings everyone, I plan to tackle Od Nua throughout my playthrough. My question is this, how would you recommend I tackle Od Nua levels at certain character levels? Example: Od Nua lvl 1: Char levels 5 Od Nua lvl 2: Char levels 5 Od Nua lvl 3: Char levels 5-6 Od Nua lvl 4: Char levels 6-7 .... etc. Any thoughts/input on this? Thank you in advance, Vahn

Before 1.05, it was more like casting mental binding, followed by casting mind blades, then one shot with the blunderbuss, afterwards you begin the cycle again and substitute in any other spells til your heart is content. Most fights are done before you even have to reload (except for boss encounters). The Cipher class is fun, but it can get a little repetitive. The Wizard class has so many other options and is ridiculously powerful at mid levels and higher. Multiply that by 2 (main character and Aloth) and you have a force to be reckoned with.