KDubya

I think if they added in NPC paladin's faith and conviction is affected by the parties reputation that would improve paladins considerably and improve role play. Another change I'd like is the number of sacred flame strikes that you get needs to increase. Start with two, take a talent that increases the fire damage of it - get another use, take the bleak walker extra corrosive damage - get another use, add in a talent that gets you another use. This way if you wanted to focus on that ability you could and get to use it five times per encounter with the expenditure of four talents. Maybe give it an accuracy boost as well or make a talent that increases accuracy with the attack. Maybe even a talent that added AoE to the strike, not sure on this one. I'd make the base size of the aura's bigger so that intellect does not need to be pumped in order to have a decent area. I'd let you have multiple auras up at the same time. I'd change the marked enemy talent into 1/encounter instead of 3/rest

You can grab the IE mod from nexus and use that to re-level the NPC companions into what you want and still enjoy the role play and interactions. This also gets rid of the temptation to rush to get the companions before they make a bad talent choice. A few simple console commands will allow you to change a class, change a clerical god, change a paladin order, de-level to zero to allow for full control of skills and abilities. Changing the stats is a bit more clunky as you have to assign the base score which then gets the racial modifiers. You also have to keep track of the total points allocated as the method will give you unlimited stat points, you just need to self-regulate. One thing I found is that Eder has an extra free ability when you get him. Un-leveling him removes the free ability. Another is that changing Aloth's spell picks requires him to spend money to learn the new spells that you gave him, just like what happens when you find a new grimoire. With this you could make some truly un-believable characters like Aloth the Barbarian but for replays I could see Durance as a monk or a paladin, Eder with the Soldier weapon focus, Sagani using warbows instead of hunting bows, being able to trade Aloth's arcane blast for arcane veil, changing Durance's +will talent for the Magran special sword and arguebus talent. The reason to go custom adventurer is to have full control, using the IE mod gives you that flexibility AND lets you continue to use the companions that have the banter, plot and atmosphere. Just like with the level one NPC mod in BG you can break immersion by making Korgan the Paladin or Aerie the Assasin, but in the end it is up to you to decide what is cheese and what is awesome sauce.

The problem I see with paladins are that they have the following requirements: (on hard or below it probably does not matter and a paladin will be fine) 1.) Many abilities require getting the kill shot 2.) Getting the kill shot takes doing damage which is best with high accuracy, and might. 3.) Consistently getting the kill shot requires a fast attack rate which needs dex and less armor 4.) Surviving in melee requires good deflection which needs perception and resolve, as well as good faith and conviction (which needs proper role play) 5.) Tanking the hits requires a good DR which is best with the heavier armor 6.) Aura radius's require intellect to have an OK range Based on the above there are not any dump stats, every stat is useful and/or required for a Paladin. A fighter can dump intellect to 3 and spread the 7 points to where they need it, Barbs and monks can drop perception. A paladin could mitigate the danger of melee by using reach weapons from behind a fighter or use ranged weapons, but both of these sort of lose the point of being on the frontline. Maybe it is better to avoid the on kill abilities and concentrate on the buffs and heals which don't require a high DPS build. be more like a strong safety helping the team where needed instead of a blitzing linebacker.. It also depends on your party and how you plan on taking out the enemies. If you are also bringing a barbarian, cipher and a rogue, then the PC paladin as leader will be fine and whatever benefits he gets from getting a kill or two per encounter will just be gravy. Personally I am a fan of damage spec'd fighters either two handed or dual wielding, with weapons spec and mastery with the wary defender modal as needed for additional engagements and 15 deflection, 10 resist. They can stabilize the frontline as well as deal out good single target damage and beat the monsters in attrition damage.

The best I could tell you is to use as light an armor as you can. If wearing leather gets you pasted, try using full plate. You will attack slower but being alive to attack slow is better than being dead and not attacking at all. Grab the blunting belt, get exceptional leather from the doemeni family shop in Defiance Bay. At level 9 this is what I am wearing on my fighter spec'd for damage and he is doing fine on hard.

Update got killed by wolves in Magran's Fork just after getting Durance at level 3. Had PC monk, fighter hireling (level 2), Eder, Aloth and Durance. The PotD monsters just had crazy deflection, had real problems hitting. Had cleared the temple top floor and then one room on the second before I decided to go elsewhere to get to level 4. Since it was ironman it is over. The expert setting was pretty cool though. Not knowing exactly where the AoE is going to hit is exciting. Also the possibility of perma death instead of maiming really adds to the tension. I think surviving another level and getting some fine weapons would have made a lot of difference. I had spec'd Soldier focus for Eder and hireling but was unable to buy any warhammers for single hand wielding in order to get the +18 to accuracy (6 from focus, 12 from one hand) That might have made a difference.

I like dwarves first off because they are dwarves and second for the +2 might, +3 with the Living Lands Origin for a 21 might to start. The poison and disease resist is ok, the +15 acc vs wilders and primordial is pretty good as there are a lot of them and +15 acc makes short work of them.

Who has tried expert mode and do they like it? I am trying a PotD expert run, will see how it goes. The biggest change will be the AoE spells not showing. Currently with a high intellect AoE has no chance of ever hitting your own team, you can adjust the point of aim or your caster's position such that it misses your own team by millimeters and do this with every cast. The PoTD part might be too hard, also have trial of iron so it won't be frustrating just short , but I think the expert setting might make the game more challenging.

Exactly this. Eder is not a rogue, Aloth is not a Cipher, whats the point having them in the party, their banter doesn´t make any sense at that point anymore because they are something else? I don´t get it. Don´t get me wrong, mod the hell out of the game i don´t care, THAT is one the reasons CRPG´s stay relevant. But asking the dev for it, like the OP did is beyond my reasoning. For an official game option I'd be fine with having the NPC class and stats fixed but allow you to pick the talents and skills on level up after level one. Basically this would get you the same effect as rushing through the game in order to collect the NPCs before they waste a talent without ruining the game by rushing through. You get to pick their talents after they are in your party, why not before as well? If talent picking for the NPC's are so integral to the story then the game should pick all of their talents and skills, both before and after you meet them.

Since the game gives you the ability to make your own companions at the inn the mechanism for re-leveling an NPC is there, thus there are not any structural limitations to implementing adjusting the NPCs. I grabbed the IE mod and will use that to re-level the companions. Eder actually has an extra talent when you get him, when you un-level him he looses the extra one. I can also adjust their stats if I want to. It is just a few console commands. I am especially looking forward to exchanging the worthless +will talent on Durance into the cool Magran sword and arquebus talent. For me I'd rather adjust the existing companions and play through then make silent superheroes. This also opens up lots of replay scenarios - want to try Durance as a monk or paladin, Eder as a rogue, Aldoth the cipher? The possibilities are endless. I'd prefer it if there was a checkbox in the options to meet the NPC at level one but the IE mod and console commands suit my needs and desires.

Bottom line up front = the effect is negligible, use flails if you think they are cool or like the enchantments. The flail thing works kinda like this: If your accuracy=deflection you get 0-15 miss 16-50 graze for 1/2 damage, interrupt, and effect 51-100 hit for normal attack 100+ gets a crit with +50% damage, interrupt and effect As shown the graze range is 16-50 or 35%. The flail makes 30% of the grazes into hits. In effect a flail will graze on a 16-39 and hit on a 40-100. Average damage would be miss +0, graze 35% x 0.5 = + 0.175 and 50% x 1 = .5 for 0.675 damage total A flail will get miss +0, graze 24% x 0.5 = 0.12 and 60% x 1 = 0.6 for a total of 0.72 damage an increase of around 6.6% Different ratios of deflection to accuracy will influence the relative merit of the flail.

Oh, I wouldn't say that. Pre-buffing can be a LOT more meaningful than simply "making you stronger". And I'll give you a very common example. Invisibility. Invisibility is an IE game pre-buff. But it doesn't make you stronger. Instead, it simply opens up new tactical avenues. It allows for optimal positioning. It sets up your Thief. It places your Fighter in front of the Enemy's mage so that when the fight begins, that mage is instantly put into a melee situation. And no, PoE's pathetic excuse for Stealth is not a valid substitute, because it doesn't work that way at all. And then there's Protection from Evil. In BG2, Protection from evil is more than a buff that makes you stronger. It's a buff that nullifies an enemy's demon summoning spells. it forces that demon to ignore you, allowing you to focus your efforts on the enemy itself, instead of the enemy's summon. We are denied these tactical options in PoE, NOT because of "balance" (or whatever the preferred argument on this thread currently is) but because Josh Sawyer thinks that pre-buffing is Rote, and that Combat should be more quick and 'actiony'. <gag> Pre-buffing in BG results in godmode when done correctly if you have mage spells. Improved invisibility plus a few spell immunities divination makes you always invisible and immune to targeting by spells. Throw in SI: abjuration, protection from energy, protection from evil, a spell shield , globes of invulnerability and so on and the base game AI can not touch you. You need SCS and SCS II to get mages to use anti-magic spells properly. These mods also allow your enemies to prebuff as well. Check out the no=reload threads on Bioware's BG legacy forum and read up on Alessia (sp?) and her solo no reload beatdowns. In one example it would have taken seven ruby rays of reversal to start to drop the buffs and this was in Ascension Final battle. I for one am glad that the pre-buffing arms race is cancelled in this game. Now you can hit the enemy priest or mage before the game changing buffs are up. If they were all pre-buffrd to the max at the start it would be crazy. Not allowing the enemy to pre-buff while allowing you to do so would totally break immersion and make no sense. Another problem would be for the game AI to figure out which buffs to use. Better to balance the base saves and abilities of the monsters without taking pre-buffs into account and then just balance the spells for both player and monster. If you can pre-buff then the smart move is to always pre-buff. This wastes your spell resources and promotes sleeping every other fight. If you choose not to pre-buff and get rolled then you just save scum and repeat with the proper pre-buffs. How would the ability and requirement of pre-buffing increase the tactical choices in the game or improve the game experience?

Yeah.. (Dis)Engagement is broken like that. I don't think it is broken, I thought it was a pretty cool thing that can make the choice between a reach weapon, pike or quarterstaff, and an estoc something more than a no brainer, at least as far as for a frontline melee who is not hiding behind a tank. This makes soldier style a viable pick with pikes, arbalest, arquebus and great sword compared to adventurer with estoc and war bow.

The estoc with the -5 DR is going to be better than the polaxe with crush/slash best in pretty much every situation. Better to just enchant up your estoc and use the weapon switch for a warbow. One thing I found out with reach weapons is that if I am engaged by a guy with a pike he can hit me but I can not hit him back unless I move and risk a disengagement attack. I assume that this works for the player as well. That would make reach weapons great for even the front line guys.

The whole game is balanced around limiting resting supplies, that is what makes hard mode hard. Per encounter abilities are made to be spammed and per rest abilities are to be held in strategic reserve. If you are resting all the time because you are out of spells don't use as many. Barring that, play a cipher who bypasses the normal spell mechanics and can spam everything all the time. If you are resting all the time because your guys are maimed but still have spells left over, then start using more spells to reduce the damage taken and/or kill the monsters faster. If you are both maimed and out of spells you are properly limiting your rests Or you are under leveled or using bad tactics :0

There'd be a lot more differences than that, primarily deflection and stats. What are the dump stats on a rogue? If it is not int then your tanky stats will suffer if everything else is comparable i.e. both max might, high dex, res and per with 7-9 con. A low con will have worse consequences for a rogue than for a fighter due to base hit points. A rogue has a lot of duration effects that would be wasted with a 3 int. Raising to just a 10 would have to drop something by 7, most likely per or res. This plus the initial 10 less deflection would get a 17 lower deflection than a damage fighter and have less interrupts and/or concentration. A fighter in plate will have better attack speed (50-16=34) than a rogue in scale (-35%) and have a massive DR advantage. In the same armor a fighter will attack 16% faster with 17 more deflection or 4 % slower with +32 deflection and +10 saves via wary defender. With that much of a lower deflection, if a rogue can tank and survive, then the fighter would be untouchable. I don't see how a rogue can stand in the front, tank the monsters and still put out decent damage because this is what a damage spec'd fighter can do. If the rogue is hiding in the back with the other squishies, a pike barb would do better for the team with carnage, or even just spec the rogue for ranged attacks. In that case the party still needs someone to stand in front to take the engagements, a damage spec'd fighter is that person. The game does not require a super tank with low dex, low might, max con, re and per using sword and shield with a hatchet in order to hold back the hordes. A damage tank fighter can tank well enough while putting out some large consistent single target damage in relative safety. His job is to fire an initial shot then rush the foe and hold them back while hitting for big numbers at a decent rate.

They went to the trouble of renaming strength to might. I was surprised it never dawned on them to rename intelligence to intuition (for example) It would help considerably with people who are a little peeved (myself included) with genius barbarians. The ranger lion companion has a higher intelligence than my dwarf fighter With max might and min int he is like an angry retarded midget. I wish they had the low int talk options like fallout did.

At hard difficulty a two hander fighter with an estoc, with max might, high dex, per and res, high single digit con and int at 3 can tank well enough to stand in the fray without soaking up all your heals while hitting for big damage with a high accuracy. He leads my team with damage with more than 3X the closest, his average hit is 40+. His only active skill is the accuracy increase buff that lasts 10 seconds. The max might also increases his passive endurance regen. Him and Eder each fire one shot and then rush into the fray. My focus is then on the rest of the team and firing off their per encounter abilities and focusing fire on ranged threats. I have: armored grace which gives -16% armor penalty which effectively gives you +16% attack speed Weapon focus, spec and mastery that gives +6 accuracy, and +25% damage - this applies to the whole weapon group so you got a two hander, one hander and ranged that all get the bonus. Two handed style for another +15% damage Savage attack modal for another +20% damage at the cost of 5 accuracy. Not sure I would take this again, with all of the stacking bonuses that affect the base damage, the net effect is about +10% of the total damage at the cost of 5 accuracy. At PotD the loss of 5 accuracy for 10% damage might not be a good trade off. Confident aim- the one that changes 30% grazes to hits and adds 20% to minimum damage. I think I would skip this in the future. I thought the minimum damage increase was for the base weapon damage as in 10-17 damage goes to 12-17. Instead it is for when DR totally stops your attack and you do a minimum of 20%. With an estoc this situation had not occurred yet as far as I can tell. Also the +30% graze to hit does not hardly ever fire as my accuracy is high enough that most swings are hits and almost 30% are crits. Total bonuses are +33% might, +25% spec, +15% style, and +20% savage attack for +93% damage for a two handed weapon with +12% attack speed from dex and -16% armor penalty for +28% speed. He has +58% damage with a war bow. The MkII version will drop savage attack and confident aim for the wary defender modal that adds +15 deflection, +10 saves, +2 engagements at the cost of -20% attack speed for use when I need to tank something or engage an extra 2 guys. A fighter spec'd for damage is a real lunch box blue collar type, without any flash or style he just goes and does his job which is holding the mob at bay and grinding them down.

Before I went to Raerdic's castle I enchanted a fine estoc with kith slaying. It helped a lot in the hands of my dwarf fighter dps build. An easily enchanted extra 25% damage is nice, add in corrosive as well if you can or whatever you have the parts for. I would not try to do this for more than one guy, just take care of the heavy hitter. When you get the stronghold build the garden and the shop that sells ingredients, helps a bunch in getting all the parts needed.

This is what I am planning on doing. Have a frontline of two dwarf fighter twins - max might, per, and res, dump int to 3, balance rest between con and dex as you see fit. Even a 7 con on a fighter will still get you enough endurance after a few level ups, early on is when it is noticeable. Go for two handed weapons either both adventurer for estoc or have one go soldier for pikes/great swords/ arquebus. With wary defender modal these guys will tank well enough while auto-hitting for 30-40 with each being able to engage 4 guys. You could re-spec Eder into one if you want the dialogue but not the stats. Have one priest for the buffs and heals. Maybe magran for the sword and arquebus. Maybe even just grab Durance and re-spec him to drop the bad talent. With heavy armor and a sword and shield to switch he can grab any that get past the dwarf twins. Pick a melee off tank that can hit hard but will need attention to control - monk would work spamming torments, or barb with pike, or melee rogue. Depending on how micro intensive your two casters are, a monk might be too much to control while a barb with a pike behind the twins would be fairly safe and fire and forget. A barb with the yell could help keep the front frightened for the malus to accuracy to help keep the pressure off the two hander twins. A monk would have to run around the front line to engage on the flanks or go deep to get into the enemy rear. With the last two grab whatever caster type you want. Cipher, wizard, druid whatever makes you happy. You could even add in a ranger with the lion pet to roar for the -10 acc from the fear to help out the frontline. Using Aldoth primarily for CC would work or just re-spec him with mod. With this team using all the per encounter abilities should be able to roll over most groups while holding back the big spells for the challenging encounters, including a cipher would go along way in helping the group to not have to rest. Not sure if it would be better to use the IE mod to re-spec the companions in order to have them be a permanent part of the team or just leave them as is and cycle through one at a time?

I'd say start with PoE unless you are familiar with AD&D 2nd edition which is the rule set in BG.( I remember original D&D where Elf was a class Boy where we happy when we got our hands on AD&D ) Then get the BG1 tutu mod that changes BG1 to use the BG2 engine. Start in Candlekeeep with a level one and run it all the way to ToB. This will take a long time perhaps months depending on how much time you can devote. Then go back and add in SCS and SCS II mods from Gibberlings3 and do them again with a greatly improved AI that will rofl stomp you. You will then realize how easy modern games are, even the unmodded game is pretty merciless to low level characters. Playing BG 1 and BG 2 before PoE will let you appreciate some of the design decisions or at least understand where they are coming from.

A deflection fighter would be a fighter that has a high per and res and uses defender/wary defender to keep deflection high. Does not necessarily use a shield. Here is a level 7 pale elf swashbuckler I whipped up. He has Noble focus and spec (for rapier, also gets mace for penetrating DR), defender and wary defender (modal ability that gets you +15 deflection, +10 all saves, +2 engagements at the cost of 0.8 attack speed), one armed style (converts 30% of grazes to hits), armored grace ( for -16% armor penalty) and disciplined barrage (for 10 seconds of +10 accuracy for burst damage, could go knockdown instead). His armor penalty with padded is only 4%, his 19 dex gets him +27% action speed, defender slows it by 0.8 so all together it'd be about +3% attack speed wearing padded armor while running defender mode. With a single fine rapier he has a 75 accuracy which should get a lot of crits and interrupts. He has a 76 deflection while running defender mode. His might is only 10 so will depend a lot on getting crits to boost his damage. The int is dumped to 3 to pay for all the rest, this only reduces the duration of disciplined barrage or knockdown, a fair trade off in my opinion.

I think it is fine the way it is, after killing enough to fill the bestiary you stop getting experience. This gives you the option to avoid enemies, bypass them via stealth, or find alternate routes to the objective. I also enjoy the combat and choose the violent approach to all the problems in game. If there is a choice to avoid a fight or start swinging I am going for the combat option. My character is called the November man since after he passes through an area everything is dead. Just like in real life violence solves all problems, if your problems persist just add more violence

If you dump int down to 3 you can max might, per and res. This will give you good tanking stats along with max damage. For con you can leave at 10 or even drop to 7 or 8 and place the extra in dex for faster attacks. Int on a fighter just affects the knockdown or accuracy buff duration, 5 second knockdown at 10 or 3.5 sec at 3 with an extra 7 points to put somewhere useful. You can go weapon focus, spec and mastery for +25% damage and +6 acc. Go with two handed weapons for bigger damage and better armor penetration. Estocs are really nice and are paired with warbows, another choice is soldier for great swords, pikes and arquebus. Instead of making a damage sponge armed with a hatchet doing minimum damage, go for big damage two handers while still being able to tank well enough. Two handed style gains 15% damage and gives up 6 deflection and some reflex saves compared to sword and shield style.

Outside being able to hold 2 more monsters down than any other class, I am having a hard time seeing why fighter is so much better at tanking? Is 15 deflection really such a deal breaker? Because that (and 10 on all other defences) is what you're losing as a barbarian compared to a fighter. And the constant regen, which starts to be better in fights that last a lot longer than 30 seconds. I'd love to see some numbers that demonstrate how much better 15 deflection is on a tank with say... 120~ deflection range (with fighter getting 135~). Fighters have access to much more passive deflection, target engagement and defense bonuses. On top of that, they can instantly regain endurance when knocked out (though this only comes into play at level 12), receive less crits and have have constant regeneration. I've said it several times now, but there's really no equal to the fighter when it comes to tanking. The closest 2nd are Paladins, but even they pale in comparison to the abilities of a Fighter. If you want a tank, get a Fighter. If 15 is much, then I guess. Paladins tanking stats are exactly the same as fighters though, so outside being able to hold 2 more targets they're equal. I never saw the regen as that important on Hard, but I guess it does come into play in PotD. Barbarian should be able to do the same on fights that last less than 30 seconds though. Most fights did not last long enough for chanter to hit 3 verses. The difference would be 25 as soon as you hit frenzy. Plus a barb needs int for his carnage area and frenzy duration, while a fighter can dump int. The points that a barb needs for a good int will come from either the damage stats of might and dex or from the tanky stats of per and res. If you had a barb with 15 int that is 12 points that could be saved by a fighter dumping int to 3. Those 12 points placed in a tanky stat would get you another 12 deflection as well as better saves, concentration and interrupts. The difference now would be 15 base + 12 stats = 27 deflection that would increase to 37 deflection during a frenzy. In the case where the fighter deflection = monster accuracy the barb will be taking crits 27% of the time and 37% during a frenzy. Crits having 50% higher interrupts will hammer your barb that also has less concentration than a dps fighter. If the barb deflection = monster accuracy then the fighter will be at +27 or 37 and be practically unhittable. Keeping your barb safely behind the frontline and using a reach weapon will avoid him being face planted but removes him from actually engaging and "tanking" any of the monsters.

That would be terrible and would really hamper any sort of fighter who wanted to do any damage. Currently a fighter needs high resolve and perception in order to get a good deflection, cause interruptions and defend against interruptions via concentration. To do decent damage you need a high dexterity and might. This leaves intelligence and/or constitution as dump stats to fund the stats that you think are more worthy. Dropping intelligence drastically reduces your durations but is a fair trade off. Dropping constitution to high single digits, 7-9, is a calculated risk, you'll have less endurance but you can survive by being either having more deflection or doing more damage faster. Your proposal would force fighters to pump up constitution or else be dropped as fast as a wizard without the benefit of staying safely in the rear. The only place to get the points would be from dex and might, the two stats that increase your damage. This would force fighters into being only damage sponges. The effect on glass cannon casters would be negligible or even give them a boost depending on the default starting endurance level. The ranged classes already have a big advantage in the game, no reason to nerf fighters who try to do decent damage while still being able to survive in melee. The proposal of having constitution reduce armor penalties would be interesting if it was comparable to the speed increase from dexterity. A fighter could then drop dexterity in favor of constitution to maintain a balanced tanking/dps or drop the tanky stats in order to go as fast as possible. This would open up many options for builds.