Shatterstar

Giacollo's research on godlike was successful, and no more problematic than medical screening of fetuses. In some senses, his work severing Pallegina's chime has many parallels to the difficulties trans children go through. Animancers are the only ones with any real grasp on mental health (which has been explained as damage to the soul in some form), and although the sanitarium is not a great example of patient care for extreme cases, that was mostly due to one person's mistreatment, not animancers as a whole. And people with lesser issues are definitely helped there. The woman working on Awakening cases hasn't had too much success yet and is maybe a little to focused on the humorism system of medicine but she definitely made progress with your help, which could eventually help people like Aloth who don't come to terms with their Awakened preincarnations. I think like any form of science, there is a lot that can be done with it, but expecting any of it to be inherently "good" is an unrealistic standard. Splitting atoms leads to nuclear energy and also nuclear weapons. And the methods of discovering new science are often going to be controversial and can easily become morally exploitative. Surgery saves millions of lives, but originally? It meant butchering people. As a "medieval" world, they haven't gotten to a point where this branch of science has a list of benefits and successes longer than it's failures during testing. That doesn't mean it's not on its way though. And like I said before, condemning animancy because of the people who practice it would also mean condemning basically all forms of magic as well. There are just as many selfish/overly dedicated wizards as animancers, and just as many druids who think that what they're doing is for the greater good and therefore necessary.

I don't think animancers f*ck up any more than your average wizard. There are good animancers, they just research a field that has serious consequences, and you're usually involved in their biggest/most dangerous projects. Their whole practice is based around conducting souls/energy through wires and ardra, fixing a pillar would just be a slightly bigger scale, and the animancers at the top of the tower in the Sacred Stair were already working on a project that involved moving souls across miles ardra. *SPOILER* And if you finish the game by letting Eothas just do what he wants instead of trying to convince him to empower kith/help them rebuild/empower Berath, the Children of the Dawnstars as a whole start ferrying souls to his body/just outside the Ukaizo storm so that they can rest in the mini-Beyond he created there.

Not really. The only watcher ability that lets you do something like that (Dominion of the Sleepers) is specifically about looking at unawakened lives. in Deadfire certain cipher echo abilities can boost you allies by tapping their previous incarnations, but the Watcher themself never gains anything from being awakened, just the guarantee that they'lll end up like Maerwald if they don't come to terms with the awakened soul

Okay but the Pallid Knight does specifically say that you are meant to open the In-Between for the spirits that follow you so they can enter the Beyond. That's not an "optional" dialogue choice, it's something she says to every character. And again, even if it's not specifically your job given to you by Berath, it's what most watchers do, and you were given all kinds of opportunities to do so in POE1, so it's annoying for my benevolent character to just nonchalantly abandon multiple spirits for no apparent reason

Adaryc (the Readceran watcher in charge of the Iron Flail) was not awakened, and Maerwald was not originally awakened either. I think it's just maybe a little more common for watchers to be awakened eventually, and it's particularly traumatic because their abilities make their visions all the more consuming. Being awakened doesn't really make you special, just more of a danger to yourself if you can't settle the old memories. I mean, technically your awakening led you to your interaction with Thaos and therefore you become of particular notice to the gods, which is why they probably picked you first, but it doesn't make you more powerful or give extra abilities another watcher wouldn't have

Just because you didn't feel like explaining to the spirit or you're reluctant to do it doesn't mean it's not true. I'm sure. I'm not talking about the ones that are scripted after the first ardra pillar, the ones on the beach, or in the flooded Port Maje neighborhood. I said AFTER you leave the first island. I mean going to Arkemyr's basement, finding the soul in the construct, and being unable to release it on your own. Or the three in the bog with the map to Ukaizo. Xoti has an imperfect understanding of what's going on. She seems to think that souls can't find they're way because of that, but that's not really true. An influx of lost souls would probably only be in her perception, at least till Eothas actual drained an ardra pillar and the souls did actually get stuck. There was something wrong with that ardra other than just being disconnected. That one was still glowing, no matter what you did, it was just corrupted somehow, like the ardra pillar on Motare o Kozi with the adragan that had been corrupted into a menpwgra. The problem there was a blockage/backup once the souls were already inside, they couldn't get back out again, and the corruption likely started affecting those trapped souls. Unconnected luminous ardra just doesn't let souls into it in the first place. There are definitely more differences between a Watcher and "every other scmhuck" than that. By you're own words you're the only one who can fix an ardra pillar by interacting with the souls. But do we really know that a cipher couldn't do the same? They can read past lives, watch memories from an object, shred souls, see connections between soul twins, etc. Granted they can't see the souls of the dead, but is an unattached soul really so different from a living one if they know it's there? Animancers definitely are futzing around with ardra pillars enough that they could probably find a way to fix a luminous ardra pillar, especially with Engwithan machines to help, and they have devices that let them see souls. They can also store a soul that has been separated from a body, and even transfer it somewhere new. And now priests can guide souls as well, if in a much more roundabout way. It just seems annoying that they've added another way that makes you just a slightly more efficient way of getting the job done. I don't agree that there's no reason to have a watcher be the main character like someone else said, because yeah, you ARE the only one who can fix the ardra. And yeah, relatively you affect more souls. But there are way more times you interact with singular souls than pillars, so why take away the interactions where you try to help a soul find peace (like the little murdered boy in POE1) as an option. No, you're not required to. That Raedceran commander of the Iron Flail doesn't as far as we know. But I spent the first game helping lost souls under my own power. It feels weird to come across a spirit, reading it, and then wandering off without a care in the world unless Xoti is there. I'm not arguing that the MC shoudln't be watcher. My point is that I want them to have more opportunities to BE a watcher, and not have most of those opportunities be impossible if you don't bring the token cipher and now priestess with you in your party. EDIT: Also, not entirely relevant, but I think the lord of a major Dyrwoodan holding could probably get an audience with the queen regardless, and I don't know why Furrante talks to you, but to me every time he's mentioned that he's more interested in me because I slew a dragon/dragons and have a fancy castle rather than the fact I am a watcher. And any decent fighting party could have cleared Caed Nua's grounds/castle, none of that requires a watcher. You don't even technically need to clear the Endless Paths.

Except they don't follow you. They stay exactly where they are until you bring Xoti back with you. And like I said, yeah, she's not quite as effective as you because she can't see them and she can't return them to the Wheel without an ardra pillar, which is why it's annoying that 90% of the time you can't just do it yourself.

The Watcher literally says that's what they're supposed to do to the first spirit they "collect" on the beach, and Berath says that they're meant to open the door to the Beyond for the spirits that cling to them. And I know Xoti can't see souls, but that was my point. If I can do it more efficiently, why can I not do it basically at all in the game? I have to have Xoti in my party to pass spirits on now. I know practically it's so you an advance her quest, but lore-wise it's just annoying. What's even the point of being Watcher when there are probably thousands of people in this country alone who can do everything I can do in some form (except for actually SEEING the dead)? I think they could have been fine, but they've ended up turning what could basically have been a demigod into a rare cipher subclass that no one else can pick. Yeah, I deal with the ardra blockages, that's unique, but otherwise i don't really feel special for being a watcher because they gave us even less unique things to do then they did in the first game.

Would anyone be up to editing either the bald male aumaua portraits (male_aumaua_b) or the Grog portrait (portrait_voxmachina_grog) to have dark skin (vailian style) and red facial marking? My photoshop skills are a little too limited, but if not i'll muddle through EDIT: I wouldn't need the watercolor version, just the small and large portrait for whichever one you felt like doing. Preferably the aumaua, but Grog works just as well in a pinch

Anyone else feel like Xoti took over a big chunk of your role as Watcher? I know it was probably to make sure that you don't run out of souls to advance her quest, but after you finish Port Maje's island and the Woedica temple where you have the option to deny Xoti to help the innocent soul yourself, I haven't come across any situations where the Watcher can help souls move on (excluding big picture things like restoring ardra pillars). Any lost soul you come across in Arkemy'rs basement or the swamp with the corrupted ardra pillar or wherever has to have Xoti there to move it along. That seems really weird and a bit disappointing, especially now that you're the Herald of Berath. You've specifically been charged to guard and guide the souls of the dead, but you're outsourcing that to a priestess of the minor aspect of the god that the god you're serving told you to stop, and she can't even see, speak, or manipulate souls like you can? Plus like 85% of the other "Watcher things" you do could technically be done by a cipher as well, even if the game doesn't actually function that way. There's not really a need to reopen the cipher vs watcher discussion, but combined with the Xoti thing it does seem to make being a Watcher a largely pointless reason to claim that you're special. It doesn't even really add to the advancement/science/animancy vs. tradition/magic/religion because apparently both sides have ways of doing what you can, even if they might not have it all in one neat package. Honestly it's a bit like the debate on whether the gods are real lol. Is a cipher-priest combo with like......ardra-lense glasses designed by an animancer to show spirits functionally different from a watcher?

Despite the Devil walking into the ocean in my world state, I still find her breastplate in Marihi's Metalwork with the description saying she was ripped apart by villagers.

It can be a yes or no answer to avoid spoilers if need be, but has anyone come across a situation where characters (not just a situation where you can light a torch with your head : P) recognize fire godlike? I was disappointed by the lack of matching portraits for my moon godlike, so when I restarted my game i decided to try a fire godlike since they apparently have a lot of superstition attached to them in the Archipelago. I even gave him the aumana body type and set my background as being from the Archipelago originally, making it a kind of homecoming for a native godborn who was never comfortable there. However, I haven't got much of a different reaction from any other godlike. In fact, the Huana I've met have given more unique comments about my moon godlike being a child of their version of Ondra than I've gotten about being a fire godlike who supposedly has control over the volcanoes. I knew that I was never going to get recognition for the body type. It's disappointing but understandable when someone's head is on fire I suppose, and that's how it was in the first game. However, to not get unique interactions so far based on being a fire godlike OR an aumana (technically) really sucks, although there are a good amount of Deadfire background options. I don't need it to roleplay everything for me, but I'm hoping I just haven't come across some of these options yet, cause i would like SOMETHING

idk, it just feels weird....lore-wise? Roleplaying? I don't have a personal grimoire that I've filled with the spells I've spent months studying and perfecting, an ever growing receptacle of my knowledge and power. I learned a couple spells, and otherwise I just carry around six textbook-sized cheat sheets, except the people who wrote those cheat sheets were taking a different test than I was so it's pretty random and i've got to flip through all of them to get through a fight. And why are grimoires I got from a curio shop or off a street thug holding information for spells of the same level (if not as unique) as the spells I find in an archmage's grimoire? And if you only "memorize" your best and most important spells, why are an archmage's spells in a grimoire at all? If you try and rationalize "well he had to write it down so it doesn't get lost!!" then there shouldn't be level one spells in that book along with it unless it really is a collection of the majority of his spells, and then it shouldn't have so few spells in it. Plus, at a certain point after you've learned the core spells as suggested, you're probably only going to be carrying grimoires that have unique spells in them, and then what makes them essential to being a wizard? At that point you might as well just make archmage grimoires a class-locked magical item I think a better idea would have been to: Have an editable grimoire for yourself. It is equipped in your offhand, and there are unique wizard quickslot(s) that allows you to hold one (MAYBE two, but again I don't like the idea of juggling half a dozen textbooks every battle) backups for switching in combat. Allow fewer spells per book than in POE 1 so switching grimoires becomes more necessary. Your starting grimoire can only hold spells up to a certain level. You CAN swap what spells are in your book, but it takes time. You can't just change spells in your grimoire on the fly in the middle of a mission, and trying to do so will penalize you since you don't have either the old spell or the knew spell memorized. Being on your ship or resting in town makes the necessary time pass at full speed, while resting in a dungeon or waiting makes your memorization rate ~15-25% slower, and walking around is half speed. A rest may not cover a high level spell completely. To get another personal (editable) grimoire, you HAVE to commission one, and that's not something you're going to be able to do at your small town grocery store. Increasing the highest spell level it can hold or the amount of spells-per-level increases the price. And it's possibly a trade off between the two. you can have grimoire full of a bunch of your low level spells or you can have a grimoire that allows you to use a couple of your high level ones. Essentially it's a page limit, your grimoire can only be so big if you're going to carry it into battle, no matter how well it's made You can't edit other people's grimoires, but they function as wizard-only equipable items. Each one has some tips and tricks which give you bonus casts depending on the owner's practitioner level (ie a wizard in a street gang gives you +1 level one casts, while a powerful mage might give you multiple extra casts on several levels). If it has a unique spell, THEN it can be added to your spell list like they are now, disappearing if you put another grimoire in that slot. On top of just being a different (and hopefully better) system, it'd let you see a description for all of the grimoires. I always hated that you could get a grimoire called "The Winter's Woes" or "The Leaves of Essence" and get no info on it. In a world that's absolutely STUFFED with magical items with unique stories, you're really telling me that a BOOK has no story behind it? But that's just me But that's just my two cents. I don't really enjoy the new system, but I'd rather have them working on fixing bugs then work a new system at this point.

Yeah, to be honest it's pretty disappointing. Like, on the one hand i can rationalize not getting many new portraits since it IS supposed to be the same character, of course the portraits would be the same. But moon godlike in already didn't have many portraits, and only one even matched. Now we've got even FEWER heads, no new portraits, and none of them match. Being able to pick hair is nice and all, I do appreciate that, but I was really hoping that I would be able to play as a character that ACTUALLY looked like my portrait, especially since it's a race that isn't as easy to look up replacement portraits for as elves or humans.

From the description, I'd assume that that won't change conversations/reactions, it would just make it so that the Holy Radiance ability (which I don't have and don't want/need) wasn't affected by disposition. At most it would remove the points based on my divine alignment, but I don't have one because I'm not a priest. I want NPCs to focus on the high level of honesty instead of the one point in deception, since the only people I've lied to are bad guys so that I could get a better outcome. Since they apparently aren't smart enough to do that, I'd like a console command that'll just get rid of the deception point. The only one I've found doesn't appear to work.

Anyone ever figure out how to change the dispositions? I'm annoyed that my 1 in deceptive cancels out my four in honest in certain convos, and I'd really like to be rid of it. I lied for a good cause!