[Understanding the stronghold]

Moneys so easy in this game with the stash working like a free bag of holding and being able to take all everything. I was constantly losing 200 copper here and 400 copper there not really caring. The only reason i had the hirelings is because i didnt like to have to rebuild things and id boost my prestige as high as possible with them. The stronghold is not totally amazing, but it is an awesome feature. I usually just used mine as a sweet place to rest and I built the workshop early so i could always keep that mechanics bonus. (There are very few things in this world that bother me as much as a lock im not skilled enuf to pick)

[Paladin Stats]

I agree with the resolve over perception for tanky fellows. When youre wearing full plate your recovery time is already going to be pretty high. you wont want to get interrupted and make it even longer. And with the high recovery time youll have less chances to interrupt, making perception less useful. 

[Rogue build focusing on critical hits?]

A priest with your rogue could circumvent most these problems also. Increasing your parties accuracy and decreasing your enemies deflection, and also the priest has a spell (2nd or 3rd level i believe not sure) that increases your crit range. But again these would work more efficiently with a more efficient critter. but really rogues not a bad class to do it with. Just need that crit conversion percentage, as much accuracy as possible, and attack speed.

[(spoilers) Are the companions worth it?]

I like Kana a lot. My first playthrough i decided he was way to ugly and he could just hang out at the keep where i found him. This playthrough tho I picked him up cuz Chanter was one of the only classes I hadnt experimented with and I'm actually liking his dialogue. Hes not always just throwing out his opinion, even if its harsh or unfitting to my own approach. Hes knowledgeable and can provide you with additional lore and historical information in lots of the conversations.

 

Besides that it really just depends whether you want a customized party or if you want your companions to have back stories. I will say that there are a few twists and turns in some of the companions stories, nothing that really affects anything though (as far as i know). Just extra story. Ill probably play through with each companion once, but once i know all their stories and have done their quests I doubt Ill ever grab one again unless a couple years from now I'm feeling sentimental when I get to gilded vale.

 

And i like Eder! He's got the laid back country guy routine going. Some of the dialogue my male orlan cipher had between him made it feel like adventuring with a friend, that would put down some ale with me and have my back if i got too drunk and tried to box an amaua at the bar.

[Killed Raedric 2nd time, lost rep with Gilded Vale]

You killed Raedric and everything was good for a time. Then Raedric came back and killed everyone in the castle. It's because of you that a freaking Death Knight, er... Death Guard is terrorizing Gilded Vale. A mortal tyrant is one thing, but an undead abomination? Maybe the Watcher should've left Gilded Vale alone in the first place...

 

It's not [Rational] but it's how the people might think.

 

A real life example would be helping a battered wife escape her abusive husband, only for him to retaliate by killing their kids. Chances are that she'll blame you and herself for getting her kids killed, never mind that it's entirely the fault of the husband.

But that still wouldnt make sense why youd lose reputation for killing him. If they were mad at you blaming you for his return then why wouldnt they be relieved when you destroy him. This really doesnt make any sense. ):

 

I had another quest that seemed backwards reputationwise like this. forgot the name but its in the area of the broken northern bridge of defiance bay. The shopkeeper from defiance bay has lost her cargo to destitute farmers gone looters. If you retrieve the cargo for her she smiles heads back to defiance bay and promises you a discount in her shop, and then you lose minor reputation with defiance bay. At least i did....

[[Heavy Spoilers] How much does this game react to your choices?]

If you like your dialogue to impact your game too then i recommend going into the settings and turning on the option that shows how the different dialogue options effect your reputation. I didnt do this on my first playthrough and my reputation was all over the place. one or two points in everything. (I was kind of an unpredictable chaotic neutral guy tho) But now on my second serious playthrough with this option turned on Im seeing how just little things like saying "okay" or "Don't worry, Ill take care of it right away" can affect you getting a benevolence reputation point or not and thus how people treat you in the future. Playing a Female Elf Wizard whos a total sweetheart this time. wanna get my benevolence up there :D It would be interesting if npcs meeting my character for the first time regarded her as benevolent. even if it only happens once or twice.

[Anyone have a class they prefer when using 2 handed weapons?]

Another little tip I've found useful with my 2handers is having decent resolve for the concentration, as your recovery time after each swing is going to be relatively long and it only takes longer when youre getting interrupted by enemy attacks.

[My favorite monk build]

I haven't messed around too much with different monk builds but one thing I did like was the poisoning strike talent, forgot what its called exactly, but it was great for leading into fights before you have wounds to spend, and also pretty useful for when youre trying to maximize your dps on a tough target like a boss or something.

 

Also thank you for testing the 2 weapon talent with fists. never took it on my monk because i wasnt sure if it applied, the tool tip is a bit misleading because if you take it literally it sounds like it shouldnt. "Grants bonuses when wielding a weapon in each hand" or something to that affect.

[Scion of Flame, Heart of the Storm, Spirit of Decay and Secrets of Rime.]

I was running a test party where i had a fire god like paladin with the +50% burn dmg on next attack ability and a fire specialist wizard behind him. ran scion of flames on both not only for the damage but so my paladin could more easily shrug off some of the wizard spells he was inevitably eating from time to time. was pretty cool. Never found enough fire based content in any of the other classes to inspire me to continue it except maybe a druid. 

[Stronghold question - prison]

Huh I never even knew the prisoners could escape lol. Mine never did. Thats pretty cool. Do you have Hirelings hired and walls built and all that good stuff?

[Am I the only one who doesn't like Monks at all ?]

I like the monks a lot. My only complaint of monks in this game is the micromanaging required to use them.. when you stack up 6 wounds and your next 6 attacks you have to pause, click on your ability youre spaming, then click on the same enemy, then unpause, to spend your wounds. I mean it's not a lot but when you have 2 or 3 casters going it just feels really unnecessary to have to power up each and every attack on the monk. That being said my monk was one of my most crucial party members on my first playthrough on normal, being my 2nd tankiest next to my fighter, and having high/reliable single target dps. I had fights where almost my whole party went down and my monk 1v3d the half hp mob leader and his 2 full hp minions. And Ive had boss fights where ive had to reload just cuz i missed a key heal from my priest and my monk went down early lol. They really get strong later as their unarmed dmg increases. I definately recommend always having a priest by their side or at their backs tho since they do have to take dmg to really dish it out.

[Can someone help me make an legendary Wizard?]

Wizard is kinda crap, it doesn't really fit in anywhere, cipher and druid do the things the wizard does, but better.

That said max out int and might take a few points from con and put into dex to reduce cast time. Focus on aoe spells that knock down enemies, daze them or aoe damage over time.

Wizard is much better late game than the cipher (just as wizards grow exponentially in every single game ever) as a cipher can drop a few good spells then has to regain focus through weapon attacks, and a wizard can drop spells for much much longer in a single fight (they just dont reset for the next fight like a cipher) but in the really challenging fights where my dual wizards are dropping 8 spells in a row each my cipher was not nearly as effective. But I'll agree the countless easier encounters my cipher basically won for me cuz hed drop everything and have it again next fight. 

 

And to Arctic- My moon Godlike barbarian with a greatsword, scale armo, and gauns pledge solod the bear at lvl 2 took a couple loads cuz the bear kept critting me right off the bat.

 

AND IF YOUVE NEVER TRIED TO SOLO WITH A WIZARD FROM EARLY LEVELS IN GAMES LIKE THIS THAN GTFO ITS SO FUN.