Kaylon

A few comments about ranger vs rogue damage potential. If we don't consider the pet, then a ranger with Twinned Arrows and a rogue with death blows do similar ranged damage (by the way Persistence gives always the best ranged dps and if durganized, in combination with the Gauntlets of Swiftness and a potion of alacrity you have nearly 0% recovery). While the ranger shots twice he also faces twice the DR and in the end the damage is similar with what the rogue does with deatblows. Now, for melee, the highest dps is done by a Tidefall rogue (durganized, Gauntlets of Swiftness, potion of alacrity) with death blows. The rogue attacks as fast as the ranger but has 36% higher base damage and much higher damage bonuses/accuracy (than his ranged version) - all these make his dps far superior to what a ranger can do. Of course he has to move to do the damage (unlike the ranger) and that's why the melee damage should always be superior to the ranged damage... The pet has very high damage potential if you pick his offensive talents but his attacks are slow, he has low accuracy and defenses which means his damage isn't very reliable (he misses often, can be disabled/killed easily). In a perfect world however I'm expecting Persistence ranger + pet = Tidefall rogue with death blows.

The cipher is much more effective from range (the fact that his class soulbound weapon is a bow means something...) and I think your party will have some problems because it's too squishy (and you have no buffs, nor heals).

I don't deny the numbers, I deny the conclusions Also why pick the wolf pet for testing when you don't even know his base damage? The average base damage of the most damaging attacks/spells varies somewhere between 40-60 and 27% of that is roughly 10-15. Like I said, 10-20 samples are meaningless if you want to draw a conclusion (no offense!). To show how misleading a small sample is let's take the ogre - he does 40-60 dmg with 21might - that means 30-40 base dmg. A crit should do 55-80dmg ie 67 average dmg. If the dmg reduction is multiplicative then the critical damage after reduction should be 40-58 dmg ie 49 on average. If the damage reduction is not multiplicative then the dmg range is 47-69 dmg ie 58 on average.

The belt works vs everything and yes, even in the tavern, vs your companions. The test is very simple - if the reduction is multiplicative then you can say exactly what is the max damage you can take. If you can take more damage than that then it's a straight reduction. Very simple to check and no need to do averages which are meaningless unless you have a very large sample. Once you know how the reduction works then it's very simple to make an estimation of the damage reduced because it's 27% of the base weapon damage. VS enemies using normal weapons (2h weapons) the average reduction is less than 5dmg and can go to 10-15 in the case of the dragons or the most damaging spells. In the end there are a few things to keep in mind: - how often I'm hit by a critical - does it make sense to equip a belt just for crits or there are better options (like reducing all dmg by 5 or having a bigger endurance/health pool) ? - it's good to take so many crits to make the belt worthwhile? it's efficient to heal such build? how reliable it is (what happens if you take 2 crits in a row)? Of course, the game is easy enough even on potd and you don't have to optimize everything to feel like a boss.

The Blunting Belt is good for melee characters only, who already have high armor and get hit often by slash/pierce attacks. The +3CON belt is good for everyone and it helps against all types of damage... The Girdle of Mortal Protection reduction bonus isn't multiplicative, is cumulative like all bonuses/penalties in this game - instead of 150% damage you will take 123%. 27% of the base damage is insignificant most of the time and it works only on crits - in other words don't bother with this belt (sorry Boeroer )

You can also use ManageParty before the cinematic scene, that way you can keep them alive. Or you can recreate them again at the next inn... (it makes no difference because they have no interactions).

Well, her face has nothing special, it can be easily reproduced at the character creation. Or maybe you want to make your character face look like the portrait?

Yes, you go to the companion portraits in your game directory (Pillars of Eternity\PillarsOfEternity_Data\data\art\gui\portraits) and copy her portraits into the player/female folder.

The chanter... He can unlock Stormcaller, has ranged attack speed chant and can use other support chants from the back at the same time.

I have Bittercut and Resolution. I might go get Purgatory, but I want to finish getting Durgan steel first. But can't a dual wielder with 2 top-end weapons do the same - or at least in a similar time frame usually? The best is to try it and judge by yourself...

Redeemer is a very strong vs vessels even without leveling. There are many resistant vessels (animats, eyeless, undead, ...) which can be killed in 2-3hits with it.

Well, Massuk Hunting Bow has better range/dmg than wands/scepters and will outperform many bows because of the dual damage. Until you get the Engwithan Sceper, the Stormcaller or Persistence it's a very good option.

Many paladin's abilities are redundant if you start thinking like that, but Righteous Soul protects against many afflictions, some of them not covered by priest's defenses...

That's way too many talent points to deal with this problem though. I already have Aegis of Loyalty, will get Sacred Immolation, and then Righteous Soul on top of that? I want him to do some DPS, too! I don't know what abilities your paladin has, but Righteous Soul is one of the best he has...

A paladin with Hermit's Hat and Righteous Soul is basically immune to all mind control effects. You have also a few items with Defiance/Loyal enchantments which can be further comboed with the Snowcap drug...

Scale has only 25% penalty to pierce and combined with the enchantment it's not such a big deal in the end. I always keep it on Eder for RP reasons and also because it looks cool and he can have no recovery penalty with it.

Personally I always give it to the druid for its unique ability to restore shapeshift.

You can customize your party formation and put the ranged characters far behind your melee... And yes, you should set everything on aggressive...

If you pick only passive abilities the AI will just spam Torment's Reach which is all you need in a lazy party...

What did your ultimate line-up turn out to be? And what would you choose if you could build the whole party from scratch and not use in-game companions? My lazy team with pre-made companions is paladin (MC), Eder, Maneha, Kana, Palegina, Zahua which is very low maintenance and requires minimal resting. With only custom companions a party of 6 tank paladins is my ultimate lazy party. Many people would argue that 6 chanters are better because of their AoE dmg, but chanters are too vulnerable to cc and are very squishy (they have caster end/hp). Stacking 6 of anything is no fun though. What if there is a restriction of no more than 2 per class? 2 paladins, 2 monks, 1barb, 1 chanter

For Wounding shot you have: LV15: 116-101=15 (your lvl) for the main attack and 111-101=10 (your lvl - 5) for the effect LV16: 120-104=16 (your lvl) for the main attack and 125-104=21 (your lvl + accurate WS - 5) for the effect For Envenomed Strike you have: LV15: 116-101=15 (your lvl) for the main attack and 111-101=10 (your lvl - 5) for the effect LV16: 120-104=16 (your lvl) for the main attack and 115-104=11 (your lvl - 5) for the effect It seems Marksman is applied only to the main attack, while the effect is unaffected by it. PS. I don't know if the other abilities (Distant Advantage, Vicious Aim) affecting only the ranged accuracy work the same way, but you could see, in theory, up to 20 difference in accuracy between the shot and the effect.

What did your ultimate line-up turn out to be? And what would you choose if you could build the whole party from scratch and not use in-game companions? My lazy team with pre-made companions is paladin (MC), Eder, Maneha, Kana, Palegina, Zahua which is very low maintenance and requires minimal resting. With only custom companions a party of 6 tank paladins is my ultimate lazy party. Many people would argue that 6 chanters are better because of their AoE dmg, but chanters are too vulnerable to cc and are very squishy (they have caster end/hp).

There are monsters immune to slash? Dayyaam. I guess I really need back-up weapons. But doesn't that also mean I need to get a talent that enables quick switching - since I am not smart enough to memorize all resistances? There are not many monsters immune to slash, you don't have to pick Quick Switch just for that...

With Ancient Memory, Veteran's Recovery and the best armor for the entire party the Ch.1 is not very hard even on potd...

Wounding Shot isn't so nice with a blunderbuss because the dot damage is calculated after the DR... Also a blunderbuss with powder burns means you have to be in the front line (powder burns damages also allies). A pistol with high int has a wide enough area at max range and allows to position yourself on a side and avoid hitting your party.