KDubya

You don't have to have Might for an effective PotD build, for the easy levels you can do whatever. For casters Might only affects damage. You can make a very effective controller type Wizard, Druid or Cipher with an average Might and instead pump Intellect for area and duration, and Perception for accuracy and interrupts. Rogues can easily get to +285% damage without anything from Might, Dexterity for attack speed and Perception for accuracy are more important for them. They are the class that can ignore Might and end up with a more effective build.

If you care that much about the numbers use a calculator. If you absolutely need the bestest gear at all times maybe Diablo is a better genre for you. The increased base damage displayed includes bonuses from Might only, it's a display problem. Again the simple answer is bigger numbers are better then smaller numbers for damage and faster is better than slower. If you really, really need to know then go record the game at 30 fps video and count frames. I can happily go to my grave without ever knowing exactly how many frames my character attacks at.

Grieving Mother (Cipher) and Durance (Priest) need time in party to talk after camping. Also PotD is easily accomplished with only using the story companions. A few stat points moved around will not make much of a difference. If you want additional classes such as two Ciphers in the party then you'll need to roll up a merc but there is not much reason to replace Eder with another Fighter or Aloth with another Wizard. At least in my opinion anyway.

The AI does a good job of activating Swift Strikes and Torment's Reach, only need to micro for Flagellant's Path or Force of Anguish. I like to take Turning Wheel even when I'll be using my wounds as fast as I can via Torment's Reach. More damage is always good and the only competition ability wise is Stunning Blows

I bet you exited from the other exit that goes onto the small outcropping where a body has a key. Go back in the cave and use the other exit

No it does not "eat" up your wounds. There is a, I believe, a 10 or 12 second lifespan for wounds after which they naturally expire. Also there is a limit of ten wounds, more than that are not counted and stored.

The math in the IE games is easier for me, because the values are immutable: 2d4+3 will always equal something in the range 5-11.In PoE, a weapon's min/max damage varies depending on: 1) whose inventory it's in - the same fine sword will have different min/max damage in Eder's inventory and in Aloth's. 2) whether or not it's equipped And you call that easier than the IE games? Also, as you say yourself, this doesn't take into account additional damage multipliers. For example, the "slaying kith 1.25x" I'll have to calculate on my own, if I know what I should apply it to in the first place (which I honestly don't know). Regarding weapon damage per round being more difficult to calculate in the IE games due to multiple attacks - quite the opposite. It's in PoE where it's more difficult to calculate the time between attacks, because you have to know: 1. the number of frames for attack (for the specific weapon) 2. the number of frames for recovery 3. a modifier coming from the weapon setup - single weapon/weapon&shield/dual wield/two-handed 4. the modifier from Dexterity (in %) 5. the modifiers from weapon enchantments and positive/negative afflictions 6. modifiers to recovery coming from your armor 7. possibly other things I'm unaware of 8. Then you need to know in what order do you apply the percentage and multiplicative modifiers. No one knows that as far as I'm aware. All that in order to know how many attacks per second you have (or how many seconds per attack, no matter). As you see, a lot more complicated than knowing you have 2/3 attacks per round in the IE games. These calculations would be nearly impossible to do on-the-fly if Obsidian had documented all this info. And as we know, they never have. Whatever info we have is from players who have been hacking PoE's code and conducting their own experiments. For D&D it's enough to read D&D rulebooks at least, no decompiling .dlls is required, heh. So, after all this, the IE games' weapon damage is more difficult to read? Weapon descriptions are more difficult to read? Lol. No. D&D was made for people playing PnP, with dice, and face to face. Whatever calculations were needed there, they only involve integers and absolute values (no percentages). It's meant to be used by people doing maths without calculators. To know your precise damage and speeds in PoE which was supposed to have a simple system, you need an Excel spreadsheet calculator. That is why I say again - PoE's whole implementation of RtwP is profoundly and irredeemably botched (to refrain from using a stronger word), and should best be redesigned from the ground up for PoE2 with the goal that it should be possible for players to quickly gauge the quality of items and their chances to inflict damage vs an opponent. Speaking about the "slaying" modifier - what is this modifier applied to? The base damage values, or the damage values adjusted for whoever is holding the weapon? And please give me a source for the info, because I haven't seen it anywhere. The math is really straightforward, not sure what the issue is?????? All damage modifiers are additive and affect the base damage. All the damage adders are the same - +25% from Might = +25% from slaying = +25% from whatever. You just add them all up and then apply to the base damage. Lashes are applied differently but follow the simple rule of having one is better than not. For any casual player "bigger numbers are better" is about as simple as it gets The percentage system allows for small increases, especially with speed. It is much better to have a +20% speed enchantment than to have an extra attack that doubles your damage output like AD&D had. Tabletop D&D had to be useable with simple dice based on a system of turns. PoE is computer based in real time, the computer understands the percentages even if the players don't. At the end of the day it is a role playing game, use the Blade of the Endless Paths because you cleared an entire dungeon for it and t looks cool instead of it does 0.034% more damage per second.

Those numbers also don't include GOG sales. I bought GOG and I'm sure many others did as well. They've made enough to keep the Forums on, patches rolling out and continue work on White March part II. No epic failure like Flagship had with Hellgate London which in its defense, I thought was pretty fun with an interesting lore.

Change Fighter with Monk and you have a much better combatant. Give the Monk the same armor and weapons and the Monk will hit harder and faster with Lightning strikes and any damage you take become wounds which fuel your attacks. Even with just auto attacks the Monk will do more than the Fighter, which unfortunately for the Fighter is all they get. Add in the Monks AoE attacks or super duration knockdowns and you outclass the Fighter by a mile. The only thing a Fighter is better at is going full meat sack with the taking damage for the team aura.

Your base accuracy is 42. When you single wield the axe you have 42+12 = 54 accuracy When you equip a medium shield you get 42-4 = 38 accuracy

One thing I'd like to see is if the adventures available for the followers at the stronghold were like the illustrated cutscenes instead of the blah that they currently are. Probably have to make them for story companions only but that'd be really cool.

Do you think the CC changes will be across the board immunities such as Dragons can not be CC at all? Or more like they can't be knockdowned prone but can still be mind effected like confusion and domination? If it is across the board the encounters will need to be rebalanced as I'm not sure you can take some of the Dragons without locking them down. If it is only physical attacks that get affected then spells become even more powerful and required. One good thing about the Fighters getting a buff is that lots of the enemy are Fighters and will get stronger. I still think a Monk will outclass a Fighter by a bunch even with the proposed changes. Maybe there are some cool details that Josh left out that will make me have to eat crow.

I've also never even thought of swapping a grimoire in combat. Like you I pick the four spells per level that best fits my gameplay. The only difference is I like Spirit of Decay more than Heart of Storm as I like the corrode spells more than lightning. Other than that I'd say our spell picks are like 90% the same.

Foe only. Also effects from the weapon can be applied by the carnage hits as well. This is things like defense debuffs on hit, prone or stun on crit and so forth.

I think you'd have to either: 1.) Make all spells and abilities per encounter, completely remove the rest mechanic and health. Then balance the encounters based on max strength every fight. Probably cut spells down to one or two per level instead of four, or have them chosen at level up like an ability. Or go with cool downs. 2.) Have all classes need to generate focus like Ciphers do, no Vancian casters at all. 3.) Do nothing and let modders mod and players self regulate however they see fit. #1 and #2 require a big revamp of the entire game so that is pretty unfeasible. #1 would be like Dragon Age Origins, I think #2 would have been the most original and best solution but maybe a new game will try something like that.

I'd choose to go with either the intellect - clever, looking for a loophole type conversation options, or go with resolve - strong conviction, making the hard choice type conversation options. From a role playing standpoint I don't think that the same person would be good at both types of conversations. If you have strong convictions - resolve - you don't need to look for a loophole like intellect has to. Likewise if you can find a loophole and 'cheat' there is no need to have strong convictions. This also has the plus of letting you go for a high resolve or a high intellect. If it was me I'd go with either: Might 16 Con 10 Dex 15 Per 15 Int 6 Res 16 With food and an item you can easy get back to 10 intellect for no malus. Go with dual wield melee or retaliation shield, heavy armor. Look for powers that do not have a duration like the rays. Melee does better damage faster than ranged so you will generate focus quickly. With this go with something other than wood elf, Boreal Dwarf or Moon or Fire Godlike if you like cheese. or Might 18 Con 8 Dex 16 Per 15 Int 18 Res 3 A more standard ranged glass cannon build, maybe even dump con all the way for more cannon.

The best gear for a Wizard is a sleeping bag Look for the Shod in faith boots, the crucible knights smith sells them.

At level 6 you should be able to handle the fight. It might just be that your team is too squishy. Were you using story companions or mercs? If mercs were they min maxed for glass cannons or balanced stats?

UPDATE Devs have confirmed that the fire damage lash from Turning Wheel stacks with the Lightning Lash from Lightning Strikes, so no reason to not take both.

Nothing wrong with that? Might as a single attribute controls physical strength and spiritual strength at once. A mage with 18-20 might is also very strong and can act like that with regard to heavy items and scripted interactions ... e.g. lift a log of wood. That's not a good concept. Would it make you happier if they replaced Might with Spiritual Strength for powers and Physical Strength for weapons? As long as they did not add more than 3 stat points you could then min or max the two as you want without getting extra free points. Would be bad for Ciphers but it'd make everyone happy who can't handle a combined spirit and physical stat.

The leap of understanding I made when I embraced heavy armor on the Monk opened up the whole Juggernaut concept to me. That and reading AndreaColumbo's Lady of Pain build to incorporate some of the equipment choices, especially the Sanguine Plate and the Shod in Faith boots.

Just kill them. Out of combat beat them down until zero health. When they get back up maimed just hit them again.

Nobear got it. I meant toggle as in can turn on and off via a weapon set. A superb small shield gets you +20 deflection, with duality you get another +8, with weapon and shield style you get another +6. All in you get +34 deflection and +26 reflex, or you can set duality for defense and still get +26 deflection, +34 reflex, +8 fortitude and +8 will. A heavy shield would set you back 8 accuracy but add another +8 to deflection. Monks have the highest base accuracy and deflection to start with as well. It helps a lot at low levels when you don't have a big enough endurance pool to be able to go shield to slow down the damage. At high levels you have enough endurance that more damage just makes more wounds and more offense.

What exactly are you looking for with regards to good weapons? You can get 3 Sky Dragon eyes with which you can upgrade to Superb three one-handed or one two-handed weapons. You get like ten Durgan steel enough for several weapon and armor sets which add good bonuses. Best of all the above upgrades are chosen by YOU not the devs. You can make your Hold-Wall Arbalest the best ever seen or make a super Gaun's flail or whatever. Any weapon with a prone or stun on crit, increased attack speed, DR penetration, endurance drain or starting with Superb is going to make for a great item, having two of those enchants makes for "find someone to use this" type weapon. You are greatly undervaluing those stun or prone on crit weapons. Take a Rogue with high perception, reckless assault, weapon focus, the two hit>crit abilitiy/talent, and some Durgan steel and you get a weapon that has like a 35% hit>crit conversion where you can just about perma lockdown anyone while hitting every attack for sneak and maybe deathblows. BG2 locked you into certain weapon choices. Roll a Paladin and you'd better specialize in Great Swords for Carsemyr, too bad if you wanted to go sword and board. Hope you like flails and I really hope you like dual wielding as anything else does a lot less damage.

Thanks Nobear for plugging my Juggernaut Monk Saves me from shamelessly doing it. A Monk in heavy armor is the most fun melee I've found by far. Takes a beating and dishes out a beating. You can micro every action with auto pause after activation or set the AI to aggressive and have the AI spam out Torments and Swift Strikes. Barbarians have Carnage for AoE goodness but tend to be squishy, Monks have smaller AoE from Torments but Flagellant's Path opens up the AoE damage output a bunch. And the twin summoning ability at level 13 is fracking awesome. I get two summons with 280+ endurance each who have near 20 DR who also can use any spell effects from equipment. With Zahua you can have two monks for double the fun. They even do just as well with weapons, especially dual wielding due to Torment's using a full attack + 50%. You can even go full on deflection tank with the toggle-able Duality ability for +8 deflection. Compared to a Fighter you'd have 8 deflection more except when the Fighter hits Vigorous Defense which would put the Fighter +12 for 15 seconds or so and then the Monk is ahead again. Fist and shield still out damages weapon and shield since you do average speed damage at the speed of fast weapons. All this just costs you one weapon slot for the shield, spend one talent on weapon and shield style and you have a super toggle-able deflection and reflex boost whenever you need it. Just watch out for crush immunes.