Serg BlackStrider

I hope so too And since you post your run on Beamdog too I hope at least those members who residents there will join us here. Well, here we are: Grim Face, Hearth Orlan Scientist (Alchemist) and Priest of Eothas from The Living Lands. Hungry for knowledge he is going to study arcane magic too in Deadfire. Game Version: 3.7.0.1318 with White March I & II Difficulty: Path of the Damned, Trial of Iron, Upscaled (All) Settings: Maim Before Death: On; Injuries: On; Expert Mode: OFF; AoE Highlighting: On; Show Personality/Reputation: OFF Mods: None All in all this is mostly a little bit tweaked Gloomy Face. Dex and Int are the same and I dumped Con to 8 and Res to 10 to rise Per to 20. Actually I run Gloomy Face in Deadfire with such attrubutes and it's quite smooth sailing. Perception is very important in Deadfire for traps/secrets detection and all NPC there are average at that. As usual for me this is going to be a completionist run (so it will be quite hard to keep pace with Astrid) and I'll also try to keep this run knockout free for all Crew members. OK, lets get started. Grim Face is not a crit based killing machine like Astrid (or Heodan) but quite decent at that nonetheless: Out of ruins we got a level 2 (Mechanics>4, Inspiring Radiance) and dive back there to disarm all the traps for 325 exp (every bit counts at early stage). Next we made a beeline to Gilded Vale to gather all possible exp while solo (solve a grain dispute, visit all houses, pick all possible tasks). That was enough for level 3 (Mechanics>5, Lore>3, Athletics>1) and we joined with both Eder (Lore>5, Athletics>3, Stealth>1, Rapid Recovery, Disciplined Barrage) and Aloth (Athletics>3, Lore>7, Blast, Chill Fog, Curse Of Blackened Sight, Infuse With Vital Essence). Back in Valewood the Trio dealt with Wolf pack (Inspiring Radiance+Bless from Grim Face, Curse Of Blackened Sight+Arcane Blast from Aloth, Disciplined Barrage+Knock Down from Eder) and saved Tenfrith with the same approach. Fulvano's Gloves went to Grim Face. Next we are going to deal with those Bears and start a proper adventure finally. to be continued...

Looks like a promising start, Alesia! Keep rocking! Meanwhile, I feel just unbearable itching to start anew myself immediately alongside with Astrid and finish my current Deadfire run in background. I'm such a weakling... Actually Grim Face is already in Gilded Vale and just joined with Eder and Aloth. I'll post my intro entry shortly.

Yes, for sure! I was intending to start posting this new documented full saga run all in this thread (without creating or waiting for separate Deadfire one) right after finishing the full exploration of Deadfire. I'm already familair with nearly all Deadfire content including all DLC - for my very first character graduated from PoE, whom I made Ranger (Arcane Archer)/ Druid (Animist) Beastmaster multiclass, all that remains there is to choose a faction to follow (or move alone) and take a final voyage to Ukaizo (final boss). I was hesitant which faction to choose (they are all kind of "gray" and I can barely justify any of those on the RP grounds) so put that run on hold and start another character to study a class combo which is able to "regenerate" their limited per-encounter abilities (very important for those extremely wicked mega bosses or long SSS arena fights...) - Cipher (Psion)/Wizard (Blood Mage). Cipher (Psion) generate focus passively over time and Blood Mage gain Blood Sacrifice ability to restore a spell level applying a variable raw damage to self and gain passive health regeneration. And finally my current character based again on Gloomy Face - Druid (Lifegiver) / Wizard (Blood Mage) on Trial of Iron. I'm quite fond of Blood Mage subclass but while Lifegiver Druid is a capable healer, druids in general are much less fun in Deadfire compared to PoE in my opinion. That's why I want to run Priest of Eothas/Blood Mage as my next character. Priest of Eothas is a closest to RL myself on terms of favored/condemned dispositions and Blood Mage is just strong. And last but not least, as you might already be well aware, Cleric/Illusionist is my core alter-ego in Baldur's Gate universe. So the character is pretty much set. All that remains is to finish my current run, which (considering I'm also running Pathfinder: Kingmaker in background) might take a while. Or I might start immediately alongside with you when you'll be ready to share your rogue and finish my current run in background.

Hi, Alesia! Nice to see you back safe and sound! I'm sure, your trip was pleasant and full of new experiences. Meanwhile Gloomy Face is on the verge of finishing his shadow Completionist (except those stupid Mega Bosses)/Trial of Iron/PoTD/Upscaled All/No Berath's Blessings Deadfire run as Lifegiver Druid/Blood Mage Sorcerer (after several failures/restarts along the way and running Pathfinder: Kingmaker as a side trip). Once I'll finish this run I think I'll be ready for a new full saga no-reload run (most likely with Priest of Eothas in PoE following Priest of Eothas/Blood Mage in Deadfire this time).

@Decadency Congratulations! Impressive achievement!

Welcome on board, Concrete Monster! It's always nice to have another dedicated no-reloader in the Crew! Even tho there wasn't much activities over here lately, personally I'm still in and just about finishing Deadfire for the first time. Alas Gloomy Face was ripped by Wild Boars almost at the very begining (Engwithan dig site) but as I intended I've continued the exploration of the Deadfire to learn a bit more of new game mechanics and when I'll finish that run I intend to start all over again from the beginning of PoE1 with a new char I've already generated - a Cipher (PoE)>Cipher/Priest(Deadfire). Until then I'm looking forward to follow your run. All the best of luck and safe travels!

Thanks! Yeah, I'm browsing and study all those forums/wiki too. And my current first steps in Deadfire already revealed that it's quite different from what it was upon release, when I first tried it. And PotD there now is a true challenge compared to how is was beforehand or in the first PoE.

Gloomy Face just finished his another completionist upscaled PoTD and my first Trial of Iron PoE/WM1/WM2 run. Each and every quest/task/bounty were resolved one way or another. The only exceptions are personal quests of Durance, Grieving Mother and Zahua. Once we hit level 9 there were very little obstacles which could hinder our steady stride. Most fights were won on per-encounter abilities/mastered spells: Gloomy Face (Tanglefoot, Autumn's Decay, Form of the Delemgan, Returning Storm), Xoti (Armor of Faith, Devotions for the Faithful, Dire Blessing, Holy Power), Aloth (Slicken, Deleterious Alacrity of Motion, Infuse With Vital Essence, Ninagauth's Shadowflame). After finishing remaining Act 2 tasks but just before moving to the hearings we've cleared the Endless Paths down to the Adra Dragon, finished remaining available bounties and completed upscaled WM1/WM2, were we befriended both Beregan's Flames-That-Whisper clan and Iron Flail (who in turn helped us in the Battle of Yenwood Field), killed Alpine Dragon (unintentionally - I had all the required stats to resolve this quest peacefully but seems just choose the wrong reply and had to improvise on the move), killed Concelhaut but striked a deal with Llengrath. The Crew hit level cap right upon entering Mowrghek Ien and the rest of the run it was mostly a RP choices to build a pre-history for the Deadfire (we poisoned Simoc and adopted Vela among other things). Adra Dragon was killed right before jumping down into the Breith Eaman and the only scary moments we experienced during Sserkal bounty when the whole Crew was disabled and took heavy raw damage and only thanks to Xoti, who once recovered applied Suppress Affliction, we emerged victorious. Thaos himself, even upscaled, doesn't accomplished much before falling dead and I erased his memories. All God's quests were completed (Sky Dragon was left alive) but I was torn between Berath's and Hylea's favors only. In the end I choose Hylea since Berath gained their part of souls anyway. Some screenshots for the remainder of the run. Forge Guardians: Radiant Spore: Concelhaut: Llengrath: Battle of Yenwood Field (if I remember correctly, we hardly lost even one single unit there): Alpine Dragon (as I've said, it was unintentional, but at least we fully upgraded Ryona's Breastplate for the first time): Kraken (I choose to strike the crystal myself and escaped thanks to Iverra's Diving Helmet. Since I haven't finished the hearings and some other quests at the moment I wasn't able to convince the Eyeless to reforge Abydon, but a tempered version, where his memories are restored but given context beyond what he remembered at his death.): Undead Raedric (Berath needs new Champion): Sserkal bounty (Scary moment... One thing that helped us to survive is that their vicious Psychic Blast is not party friendly so they hurt quite a bit between themselves): Adra Dragon (Xoti is a Beast Holy Warrior and Bane for Evil Ones. She claimed yet another boss' soul. Love her!): Pre-Thaos Crew stats/inventories. Gloomy Face and Xoti suffered 0 Knockouts, Eder, Aloth and Sagani - 2 each, Pallegina - a whopping 6, though one was erroneously gained when the Death Ring trap was triggered in the hit of combat and she suffered 2 knockouts at once. Gloomy Face: Eder: Aloth: Xoti: Sagani: Pallegina: And finally Thaos: Now Gloomy Face has graduated into the PoE2:Deadfire, where I made him Druid(Animist)/Ranger(Arcane Archer) with the same attributes and Wolf Companion Nymeria in a name and memory of Sagani, one of my most favorite characters, who doesn't feel satisfied back in the village and went missing in a blizzard in one of her hunts only because of me being unable to find right words of support when she needed them most... Eder has his faith in Eothas renewed, and he joined a secret Eothasian organization known as the Night Market. Pallegina had gone against the ducs bels' orders by inventing a new trade arrangement with the anamenfath to accommodate the recovering Dyrwoodan market. She was banished from the Republics and entered the ranks of the Kind Wayfarers. Aloth, armed with the knowledge and courage he had gained on his journeys with Gloomy Face, set out on the long and lonely task of dismantling the Leaden Key. I'm going to run the same Crew in Deadfire on PoTD, completionist, upscaled (all), but not Trial of Iron this time since this will be mostly a blind run and game mechanics are quite different from the first PoE. I'm also going to continue the exploration of Deadfire Archipelago if I'll fail on the first try, but until then to be continued...

I'm still going with both of my characters, though quite slow (finished all Act II quests and intend to move into WM now for Gloomy Face and made some progress with Grim Face, though have him rerolled and restarted since I wasn't happy with his average perception (10) and thus accuracy). But since it's indeed a deep slumber over here lately and I wasn't sure anybody will read anything I've postponed my posting until I'll make more significant progress.

Personally, I don't like to respec a character during the run and actually never do that in any game which allow that (Divinity: Original Sin comes to mind). This seems pretty weird to me RP wise. And since I want the very same character to do the full saga run my PoE2 char will be the same stats wise with some class diversity allowed (i.e. making him multiclassed). This is just my personal approach and I don't mind others might see it differently.

- Yes, you need to create the same main character in PoE2. The party could be different. - Yes, you should import the final PoE1 save. - If your main character fall in PoE2 you need to start from PoE1 all over again.

@Ivanfyodorovich: Congratulations! Well done.

Yes, I've done that (upscaled), but that was quite a time ago, so I don't remember much at the moment to give any valuable advice. It's definitely possible, at least with game version I had back then. Both Druid and Cipher with whom I had those knockout free runs (with reloads) have a number of disablers to easy those fights a bit. I'm going to start WM right after 'Undying Heritage' and "Through Death's Gate' now (i.e. after we'll finish all of Defiance Bay content) so will see how it will go with current one.

Grims' Fairy Tales: by Grim Face - Boreal Dwarf Priest of Eothas, Drifter from Deadfire Archipelago. Introduction. Game Version: 3.7.0.1318 with White March I & II Difficulty: Path of the Damned, Trial of Iron Settings: Maim Before Death: On; Injuries: On; Expert Mode: OFF; AoE Highlighting: On; Show Qualifiers/Personality/Reputation: OFF Mods: None Some comments on stats. I don't make any of those below 10 just because I never like this. 12 Might since Dwarfs have +2 racial bonus. Max Dexterity and Intellect for fast cast/action and wide AoE/longer duration of spells (even though quick and nimble Dwarf might look a bit weird. let's make an assumption it's because he is still young). Resolve at 10 since higher Gloomy Face's value (13) doesn't help much with serious dialog checks anyway (the only reason he has that value) and in combat there are lots of means to buff Deflection/Concentration. He is also a primary party Mechanic (lockster/trapster) - seems obvious to me since he is a Dwarf. The Core Crew will be: Eder, Aloth, Xoti (custom clone of her PoEII character), Pallegina, Sagani. And as usual this will be a fully completionist roleplaying run with an intention to keep it 'knockout free'. When he will eventually reach Deadfire I'll make him a Thaumaturge (Priest/Wizard). I'm not sure of his updates frequency at the moment (Gloomy Face is still in priority) but since a proper introduction of a character at the very start of the run is essential part of the challenge, here we are. let's get started...

Best of luck! You're more likely to meet with success in that endeavor, I think. I have levels 1-7 down. My command of higher levels is a little sketch. I don't expect Arya to finish with zero knockouts. We'll try, though! I suppose that could become a new -totally optional- wrinkle on the challenge. This is totaly doable even with full completionist approach - I have that achievement already (though with reloads on knockouts, but I can't remember I ever had the whole party wiped out). The hardest part, IMO, is early levels and you have those under your belt already. So I see your chances to keep a 'knockout free' run as perfectly solid.

Cool! Looking forward to seeing your priest in action. I'm sure I'll learn a lot. A perception of 10 is lower than I'd be inclined to go, but I do prefer to prioritize dex over per with priests, unlike the majority of classes. Priests spend much of their time buffing, a dex not per dependent activity. And for fights where you intend to use your priest offensively, to attack directly, there's blacsonn, which essentially converts two excess dex points to three per points. That's the approach I've taken with Arya. Faced with the choice between two extra dex points or two extra per points, I chose two dex point when I need dex, and three per points when I need per. It makes sense to me. Aye, I want to cast my buffs fast and wide, so max Dex and Int. I don't use drugs but Inspiring Radiance per encounter = 10 points in Perception. Add Weapon Focus, Blessing, Lilith's Shawl and Gloves of Accuracy (if I'll find ones) and you are pretty much set. Champion's Boon later on. Scroll of Valor in hard fights. Well, I think, I'll introduce Grim Face tomorrow morning then. I want a knockout free run and Gloomy Face's one is somewhat spoiled in this regard already. Will run them both simultaneously. Delosar's Inn, Captain Dennis, Limited Wish adventure. The exterior is a little different though.

No. That's not what I was thinking, at least! Walk me through that one: How did that remind you of Mae'Var's Guild Hall? Just an area composition which remind me the Gorch et al. Maybe some Brynnlaw area then? Or Slaver's Ship...

Thanks! I love to follow your runs too and your current Arya's run even inspired me to roll a Grim Face, a Dwarven Priest of Eothas (we don't have much Dwarfs over here) already. He is a Boreal Dwarf with 12/10/18/10/18/10 stats and his racial bonuses of +15 accuracy vs Primordials/Wilders might compensate a bit of average Perception early on. Not sure if I'll run him immediately (in parallel with Gloomy Face) but he definitely will be my next char with the same Crew. On Cail the Silent: There is no point to rush there unless you have Mechanics (10) to pick Tidefall or want Unforgiven flail. We were at level 8 and, I think, level 7 is doable while level 6 could be quite hard/frustrating. As you can see from my post, his Breath is vicious and those Xaurips (High) Priests spamming Dire Blessing with healing don't make things better. You need some means to distract (summons) or completely disable him - stuns by Druids (this early it's Returning Storm only and thus it's game of chance) or prone by Eder (limited) and crit-buffed Pallegina (Hours of St. Rumbalt) or whatever appropriate weapons). Food buffs (which I foolishly neglected) to rise Constitution and max Endurance. It could be sane not to neglect those Xaurips Priests completely too (they buff Cail to make him even deadlier). Miasma of Dull Mindedness might help since his Will defenses are lowest. edit: On your game of guess: MaeVar's Guildhall?

Current state: to be continued...

The Tale of Gloomy Face: Hearth Orlan, Druid - Chapter VII: Searing Falls and Pearlwood Bluff, Defiance Bay back again. TOC: OK, let’s make it quick. Searing Falls: Since most dangerous foes there are Drakes (i.e. Beasts) Druids have high power over them – Hold Beasts keep them at bay with Returning Storm to add some more control and solid damage. Prayer against Fear and Dire Blessing from Xoti doesn’t hurt either. Local Xaurips do not worth to even mention at current Crew’s level. We followed mostly the similar approach vs Cail The Silent keeping him paralyzed/prone while dealing with his lesser goons and eventually he remained all alone (not counting a couple of Xaurip Priests behind him – but who would care about counting those anyway?). Cail was already at near death and I was eager to finish him quickly but neglected to cast another disabler and then … suddenly he applied his Breath and crits Eder for 164 Burn damage and Pallegina for 162 damage knocking her out of full 161 endurance pool instantly… (our second Knock Out in the run). Aloth fired some Minoletta’s Concussive Missiles and Gloomy Face finished Cail soon after but that was a little excuse for my foolishness… Hope Pallegina will forgive me eventually. We picked Tidefall, but while it’s a great weapon I stick with Hours of St. Rumbalt for Pallegina since Tidefall is best suited for low Intellect Fighter, i.e. Eder and I prefer him as a Swashbuckler (Wounding is fixed amount of damage applied over time and high Intellect only extends this time interval. It’s great to have high Intellect Ranger with Wounding weapon since it extends the duration for Predator’s Sense to proc but for Fighter it’s better to apply the whole damage faster). Pallegina on the other hand has high accuracy/decent Intellect (for bigger AoE of her Zealous Focus and other auras) and thus high crit-prone chance/duration of Hours. We got a nice ring for Aloth in Pearlwood Bluffs, advanced Sagani’s personal quest and fought some monsters but nothing too dangerous. Back in the city we got an Unforgiven for Xoti (not that she will use it much) and Spirits in Lighthouse aren’t that scary anymore. With his new ring Aloth shouldn’t be too shy to spam Fireballs and we add the Form of the Delemgan to our usual buffs for a little bit more safety. Gloomy Face donned both Jack of Wide Waters and Lilith’s Shawl for more swift and accurate action. He also hit level 9 (Mechanics 10, Spell Mastery – Tanglefoot). Eder hit level 9 too (Critical Defence) and we made some upgrades for our equipment (Crush-Proofed and +2 Intellect for Pallegina’s Hand and key, Exceptional and Corrosive Lash for Eder’s Resolution sabre, Crush-Proofed Sanguine Plate). Our last side quest to be solved was ‘Far from Home’ and with it done (Sagani > level 9 > Takedown) we are ready to advance on main plot. We breezed through the Catacombs on per-encounter abilities with some light buffs (Dire Blessing) (Pallegina > level 9 > Inspiring Triumph), let Eorn go with some money support (Aloth > level 9 > Call to Slumber/Llengrath’s Safeguard, Spell Mastery – Slicken), persuaded Dalton to let Rowyna’s soul rest at last and quietly infiltrated the Temple of Woedica. To advance Aloth’s personal quest we headed to the Sanitarium and while we are there took an opportunity to solve ‘The Man Who Waits’ (Xoti > level 9 > Spell Mastery – Armor of Faith). To fight Gram and Co we occupied Uscgrim’s cell and just smash them all into the face. Out of Sanitarium we got an invitation from Lady Webb which we are going to take on immediately and then Heritage Hill is on agenda.

Just turn Off Party AI, no?

@Alesia: looking forward for Arya's run. Priests are great - together with Druids they are my most favorites (I'll definitely run one as MC someday). They also are quite capable candidates for a solo completionist kill-all-those-bosses run.

I just completed White March 2 for the first time. I did not upscale and I regretted it. I'll also note that I prefer WM2 to WM1. If you'd like to play the White March safely, without totally trivializing it, I'd advise starting WM1 at L8, just before the upscale option becomes available. That will insure that your levels will be high relative to the content, but not super high. I'm not sure what the cutoff is for WM2. A little help here? I've experience only with upscaled WM1/2 and main plot whenever possible, so unfortunately I can't help with the matter.

I don't think so. My current steam version is 3.7.0.1318 (latest) and it was released long long ago.

If I'm not mistaken in v3.05 they do change loot tables implementing some kind of 'shifts' to them. And truth be told, I'm quite happy with that. I have never used those tables and even avoided to study the information about them. In Baldur's Gate I always use an Item Randomiser mod and I love it. Having a metagame knowledge of where you can get a specific loot item seems to me if not totally cheesy but non-sporting and immersion breaking for sure. I prefer my characters to use what items they randomely get through the normal gameplay flow rather than plan their builds around some specific set of items and rush through the game to particular areas just to get those items as quickly as possible.