Purudaya

VTC: works with slavers, takes bureaucratic advantage of Huana villagers. Principi (Furrante): works with slavers RDC: rampant amoral imperialists Huana: abhorrent caste system (unless the wheel somehow really does guarantee that all Roparu are reborn into a better caste, but even then). That leaves Principi (Aldys). A lot of people misread her ending slides, but after plundering Ukaizo she essentially makes it impossible for anyone to go back, which is the only ending where the balance of power in the Deadfire isn't totally upended by any one faction (aside from there being more pirate activity). It makes repairing the wheel harder, but Eothas says kith are on the cusp of outpacing the Engwithans using their own technology anyway. Also, none of the other faction heads calls me "lovesome," so that's a factor.

Their action speed/recovery bonuses should synergize well with Konstanten's invocations, making him cast faster. A single-class barb eventually gets access to Heart of Fury, which is especially devastating with AoE weapons like mortars or (to a lesser extent) rods. They multi really well with monks: Brute Force combos well with abilities and spell debuffs that lower fortitude (morning star even has a modal for it iirc), which means more crits and more bonus attacks from swift flurry. Wahai Poraga and WotEP used to allow you to apply carnage multiple times per attack by hitting multiple enemies at once, but I'm not sure if this is still the case. I wish they had more attack abilities (basically just crushing blow for most of the game) to make use of, but they really take off at higher level or as half of a martial multi. Konstanten is a single barbarian here, so no invocations. Having to use rods or mortars is incredibly counter-intuitive, so I won't be doing that. I just want him to work well in melee, and I don't think he does. I dunno, a barbarian switching to a pair of blunderbusses and going to town doesn't seem that counter-intuitive in this setting. Kind of fitting, actually. Barring that, at least make sure you're dual-wielding to make the most out of heart of fury when it becomes available. Lion's Sprint also helps with recovery and accuracy on top of the various passives. I do wish they'd let you see companions' stats before deciding what class/multi to go with. I haven't looked at his sheet in a while, but I'm not sure Konstanten is that well optimized for a single-class barb.

One thing to keep in mind if you're not already familiar: if you plan on roleplaying a certain type of character, you might want to look into the dispositions associated with each Paladin subclass. You don't want to pick Steel Garrote, for example, if you're not comfortable playing a character that needs to keep the "cruel" disposition high. On the other end, best to avoid the Kind Wayfarer subclass if you're looking to play evil. There's a list of dispositions associated with each Paladin Order here: https://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Paladin#Orders Forgive me if I'm misunderstanding the question, but summoning spells don't persist at the same time. If your chanter summons a drake and then raises 3 skeletons, the drake will be automatically unsummoned (exception: Many Lives Pass By, Each Leaving Footprints). If you're looking at quantity of summons for CC or other reasons, that might be another notch for Beckoner.

In RTWP mode, dual wielding automatically gives you an action speed bonus and Two Weapon Style adds another 15% on top of that, so the actual bonus to action speed is somewhere in the 30% area iirc. I'm not sure if the double bonus is present re: initiative in turn-based, but you could probably test it by entering combat with two weapons equipped (without TWS) vs. one weapon equipped and seeing if there's a difference in the turn order. If there is, then you can decide whether further improving your initiative is worth spending a point at level up. In turn-based, dual wielding apparently does mean attacking with both weapons every round, which was not the case in the default mode. This basically eliminates any reason to choose low-damage/previously high speed weapons like daggers and stilettos, so I wouldn't be surprised if this mechanic gets altered in a future patch.

Their action speed/recovery bonuses should synergize well with Konstanten's invocations, making him cast faster. A single-class barb eventually gets access to Heart of Fury, which is especially devastating with AoE weapons like mortars or (to a lesser extent) rods. They multi really well with monks: Brute Force combos well with abilities and spell debuffs that lower fortitude (morning star even has a modal for it iirc), which means more crits and more bonus attacks from swift flurry. Wahai Poraga and WotEP used to allow you to apply carnage multiple times per attack by hitting multiple enemies at once, but I'm not sure if this is still the case. I wish they had more attack abilities (basically just crushing blow for most of the game) to make use of, but they really take off at higher level or as half of a martial multi.

I had the same concern when I reached level 5 by the time I left Port Maje, but the levelling speed does taper off as you get later into the game. That said, an 80-90% completionist run will reach level 20 without the DLCs, so you might want to play with level scaling: upwards only. There is a mod over at Deadfire Nexus that reduces XP gain by ~20%. Just type in "Deadly Deadfire," select the "Lite" version, and place the XP gain folder in Pillars of Eternity II/PillarsofEternityII_Data/override. Works like a charm.

And lack of dialogue to tell what I want to say, not only this quest. Don't tell me infinite choice, certain dialogue is within reasonable range. For example, when I "buy slave" in Crookspur island, my goal is to save him first before too late and developer knew it since there is option to release him. But when Serafan question me, I cannot explain my plan, I just admit slaving! Argh, this has bothered me since release. They could improve it a little bit by at least adding in a redundant [LIE] dialogue option (no need for new VO) somewhere in the questline.

I recommend the legendary soul bounds mod over at Deadfire Nexus. It changes their fair/exceptional/superb/legendary progression so that most end as superb/legendary rather than exceptional/superb when fully unlocked. Always bothered me that soul bound weapons require so much extra time/work to reach their potential and many of them are easily outclassed by normal enchanted uniques.

Still not sure if this is an intentional nerf. They put the change to turning wheel in the patch notes and not this, even though modifying how weapon AoE afflictions are applied is a much bigger change given the popularity of builds that rely on it. I'll hold out hope that the response to the bug report will be that it wasn't intended.

I feel like you're confusing unwarranted criticism with requested feedback. The developers specifically asked for people who are familiar with the game's mechanics to playtest and provide suggestions for improvement because they know that turn-based mode isn't fully baked yet, hence the open beta. For example: you don't have to be a min-maxer to understand that it's problematic for sabres and daggers to have the same number of attacks per turn. I mean, you do understand that, right? Quite enjoyed Last Jedi, btw.

Streetfighter with Powder Burns debuffs Accuracy. A monk variant can buff Accuracy with Enduring Dance (as well as Might, Int, obviously). I prefer the latter. But I do agree there are better ways to Ascend then using a Hunting Bow. Yeah, but rogues have a fair amount of hit to crit conversion and the gauntlets of greater reliability will take care of a lot of miss to graze. The rest gets partially made up for by the innate damage bonuses and those from Heating Up, and remember that the main thinking behind the build is that Heating Up speeds casting recovery while ascended. Tried both and I agree with you, a monk with dual mortars probably eeks it out in terms of getting to ascended fastest (especially with flagellant's path's reload skipping, forgot about that). I just like having the utility of spreading gouging and toxic strike AoEs all over the battlefield before getting down to shredding stuff

True. Was referring more to one individual beckoner, but yeah - a party of 5 beckoner subclass heralds (or even single class) pretty much runs itself

Is there a place that shows me the list of skills of all classes, and other information? Is Chanters the one that has more invocations than other classes? * Does Chanters have any specific ability for invocations or is it a specific subclass of chanters? * Do Paladins have "Chants / Auras" that strengthen invocations? * Do clerigos have specific buff spells in invocations? * Druid in case only guarantees more invocations to the team? * Summons worth your while in this game? (Or only serve as a tank / wall) Which Multiclass would look good with Chanters? (In this case if you have a good build, Classes and SubClasses that match them) All Chanters have access to the same abilities, some subclasses just emphasize certain abilities over others (Skalds, for example, gain a bonus to offensive invocations while beckoners gain double creature summons for summoning invocations). Chanters are the only class that use "invocations" (that's just the term for their at will abilities) but they're not the only class that can summon (they're just far superior at it). No other class will ever have the word "invocation" in an ability description. Paladins have auras that protect or empower their allies (these will apply to any nearby summons you have on the field). Since chants work much the same way, there are good synergies to be had when multiclassing. Priests and druids have buff and regeneration spells that affect all allies, including summons. I would recommend starting here. Should be one pure chanter (fextralife, from the wiki) and two herald builds, some of which are not focused on summoning but will give you an idea how the classes can synergize: https://pillarsofeternity2.wiki.fextralife.com/Chanter The wiki (first link) will list all of the phrases/invocations by power level, but the best way to explore would be to boot up the game, start a new character, and click "preview ability tree" at character creation. Remember that single class Chanters (not recommended imo) will reach power level 9, while multiclass Chanters (Herald!) will cap out at power level 7. Just a heads up, Chanters don't summon armies if that's what you're looking for - only one summon invocation is generally in rotation at a time (edit: per chanter). There are exceptions, such as a phrase that summons a skeleton in addition to whatever else you may have summoned. Some invocations might summon one powerful creature, while others might bring forth a cluster of moderately powerful ones. You'll have to choose the right summon invocation for the situation, but there are plenty of good options. Keep in mind also that you're not stuck with your choices - if you find that you're not using a phrase or invocation as much as you thought you would, you can always respec your character at any inn. Can't recommend a beckoner/paladin multi enough; heralds are widely considered one of the most powerful builds. After checking out the wiki and looking through the in-game ability tree, try punching in "Deadfire chanter" and "Deadfire herald" over at YouTube – there are several builds that will give a level by level guide.

Chanters are the primary summoning class in this game. They pair especially well with paladins (multiclass: Herald) as there are good synergies between the chants and auras, both of which apply to the summons. Druids have a handful of summoning spells (blights) and have good regenerating abilities to keep them alive, while priests have an ability that extends the duration of summons on an as-needed basis. A party with all three will allow your summons to play a central role, but a chanter is viable in just about any party configuration. Chanters also have a "bekoner" subclass that boosts/lowers the cost for summoning abilities at the expense of offensive abilities. I'd check YouTube for some chanter multi builds to get a feel for how they work, especially Herald.

I went ahead and gave this build a shot – the fundamentals work well (I don't bother with clarity of mind, however), but I found the bow damage/focus gen a touch underwhelming when compared to the always awesome dual mortar option. It's too bad that turning wheel got the nerf, but the build is still very good with that +10 INT. That said, a streetfighter/ascendant with powder burns gets to max focus much faster and the extra seconds for ascended can be made up for by the halved recovery from heating up and a cast or two of salvation of time. I never realized what a great combo disintegrate + stasis shell was before. Ended several battles just watching 2-4 of the toughest enemies melt within their little mind cocoons

Deadfire could use one more pass for increasing base game high level PotD difficulty, tweaking a few of the new subclasses, and (ideally) filling in some of the gaps re: unique weapons. I really hope the remaining resources for this game aren't just going to be poured into turn-based mode.

The difficulty of my game a month ago was significantly higher than it was at launch. But what I said was that now the game is easier than a month ago. The difficulty settings were exactly as I described - nothing changed except now I also have Galawain's challenge (which is irrelevant for the discussion I assume). The difficulties of both my old and new playthroughs were set when the games wertr created. The level scalings were both all only scale up and were never changed. Ok, sorry if I misread your OP. I haven't seen an observable drop in difficulty since December, and I have been playing the patch bata/watching the notes. It's possible that that encounter has been affected somehow by the new patch, but as a whole the game difficulty doesn't seem to have been decreased. It's also possible that you've encountered some kind of bug unique to your playthrough. If you're finding that other encounters are significantly easier than in your December run, I'd suggest posting about it in tech support.

For stealing lots of money/cool items, no. For planting live grenades in enemies' pockets, yes

This is the mod you're looking for: https://www.nexusmods.com/pillarsofeternity2/mods/2 It hasn't been updated to the latest 2 patches, so you have to take a few steps (posted in the mod's comments section) to make it work. It's just a matter of changing or deleting one or two lines in a gamedata file iirc, so it's nothing too difficult

Most people (myself included) are reporting that PotD is significantly harder than it was at launch. Is it possible that you changed the scaling or difficulty settings during one of your playthroughs? Difficulty scaling changes only affect areas you haven't visited yet, so it could be that you entered the map at a lower difficulty or with scaling off, then raised it/turned it on and the changes therefore weren't implemented for the Old City. That's about all I could think of - that map was easier for me as well, but only because I approached it at level 10 in my second playthrough vs. level 6 in my first. Most of the game is noticeably more difficult, however. There were several fights that I had to walk away from until a higher level, something that never happened at release. Some of the very high level encounters could still use another pass, though.

Small correction: "Looking for a Fight" is the Streetfighter's default state. Powder burns/flanked activates "Heating Up."

Just to be clear: Phantoms only get your gear, not your stats or any of your abilities (except the passive ones from yoir gear). So no Driving Flight for Phantoms. Living Illusions get everything afaik. Very cool. Sometimes they even summon Phantoms... But they are also dead very quickly. Best thing is that Living Illusions copies you AND your animal companion! You can also summon Kalakoth's Minor Blights and then Phantom/Living Illusions. The phantom will be stuck with the burn version. But that works with Ring of Focused Flame... Having an AoE burn blast attack with +22 ACC (if one handed) on a phantom (or even more on 6 Living Illusions) is kind of cool as well. Especially if you prepared with Combusting Wounds before. Also here Driving Flight is great as well. Right, essential phantom only copies gear, but it's enough to have some fire support running while Maia works on CC. I forgot about living illusions also summoning 5 Ishizas...I imagine the illusions also suffer bonded grief when they die? Either way, the first few volleys alone are effective enough to be worth it.

Beast of Winter is recommended for level 14 parties. It sounds like your party could use a striker; maybe a rogue, barbarian, monk, or combination thereof? The sword-and-board tank and two-hander off tank probably aren't dealing enough DPS and the high reliance on firearms is going to give you PEN issues. Also, it sounds like you're relying on your melee characters for CC and your mage for damage - I'd suggest the opposite approach, especially for long boss fights. Finally, it's really important to use the right buffs and debuffs for the situation. If an enemy has regen or self-healing and is replenishing health faster than you can drain it, find a way to apply the weakened/enfeebled afflictions. An enemy causing high single-target DPS can be slowed down quickly by stunning and long term via blinding/hobbling. If your most effective character keeps dying, have Xoti cast Barring Death's Door and Salvation of Time once those abilities become available. There are some abilities - like gouging strike - that will continuously deal damage until combat ends, which can be a good way to outlast enemies with high armor/HP. Fights with a large amount of enemies can usually managed by locking weaker opponents with AoE Terrify, Stun, or Paralyze afflictions. Finally, make sure you rest with some "incredible" food if you need to: the bonus penetration/damage combined with weapon modals can make a huge difference. Some good party options for PotD: Single Target DPS: Dual-Wielding Streetfighter/Monk, Streetfighter/Berserker, Single Class Monk, Single Class Barbarian Tank: Rogue/Fighter Eder with Lord Darryn's Voulge, Mob Stance, and Unbending Trunk (just as good at tanking as a full fighter but with better damage options), Brawler Rekke (better as an off tank until duality of mortal presence/iron wheel are acquired), Herald Pallegina, or Crusader Support: Priest/Monk Xoti (monk abilities increase casting speed and spell duration), Watershaper Takehu (Foe-only damage AoEs, Moonwell), or Sorcerer Fassina CC: Pure Wizard Aloth (Chill Fog, Miasma of Dull Mindedness, Combusting Wounds, Enervating Terror, Gaze of Adragan, etc), Geomancer Maia with Shroud of the Phantasm (living illusions summons 5 duplicates wielding whatever arquebus she has equipped, recommend the Red Hand), or tactician/blood mage Multi-Target DPS/Secondary CC: Barbarian/Cipher Serafen, Dual Mortar Streetfighter/Cipher, assassin/evoker There are a variety of unique weapon, armor, and accessory pairings that can make some of these combinations really shine. You might want to check out YouTube for some examples - a few of them will be outdated due to patches, but most of the fundamentals will still apply.

I dunno, they already have Rathun ships and I don't think those are associated with any kind of faction mechanism. They could just copy a Principi master ship, replace the sailors with "devoted slave" models, and call it "Deadfire Slaver Ship" on the map. Not having the word "Crookspur" attached provides the reactivity. I like the idea of having some more diverse "oddball" ship types that aren't associated with any one faction, but that would probably require more hand-crafting/time. Like a high level bounty pack or something.

On the other hand, if Microsoft *does* decide to produce more games in the POE IP, they could be more likely to have multiplayer. They might also not be CRPGs, so there's that. I'm generally not as bearish about the prospects of Microsoft ownership as others around here, though. They wouldn't have bought the developers of Tides of Numenara and Pillars of Eternity if the didn't like what they were doing/want to produce more.