bigwillystyle

2x Rangers (Sagani on Stormcaller, Hireling or MC as Plaguecaller) MC or Hireling High Dex Priest (Big fan of the "How I buffed the others" build) Kana Maneha with Tidefall or Abydon's Hammer Grieving Mother melee build That will faceroll anything

That would be some much less micro-management and so much more fun. I may try out this Direballs thing and see if it hits the fun register.

Raven, do you feel differently after Deathblows enters the picture? Thinking about it, probably not. By the time Deathblows enters the picture, the Cipher is wrecking with Amplified Wave.

Good list overall, nicely done. For Cipher, Mind Wave is amazing against large packs with lots of folks behind the target. I would add: I enjoy Psychovampiric Shield for the -10 Resolve debuff, which gets you -20 Will defense. This helps a lot of other spells that target Will to land. When I play melee cipher, my opener is often Psychovampiric Shield / Attack / Mental Binding to paralyze.

That's not the way the DOT damage is calculated. The total damage is divided in ticks and each tick is reduced by the DR/4 of the target. OK. That's not what shows up on the screen under "Additional Effects" for Flames of Devotion. It explicitly says "47.9 - 3.0 DR = 44.9 damage as Burn" I'm not doubting you, just saying that what shows up on the screen doesn't seem to match what you describe (wouldn't be the first time the data displayed did not match the actual activity behind the scenes!)

The enduring flames damage issue isn't that bad, IMO. When you trigger it, it calculates 50% of the damage done pre-DR and grosses that value up for Might modifier. It then applies DR to that calculation and the DOT takes place. Each tic of the DOT is not subject to further DR. The DR that IS applied pre-DOT looks really small to me. I was carving up the guys in Craigholdt bluffs last night and each hit (with Abydon's hammer) was for 40-50, the lash DOT was typically low 30s, and the DR offset was in the 2-3 DR range (it looked almost like 25% DR was being used instead of 50%, but I need to double check that specifically against Fire DR) The thing that is annoying about the Enduring Flames impact is not it's damage, IMO, it's how darned long it takes to apply - with 20 INT and a crit, it takes 22.5 seconds to apply the full damage. In the time the damage takes to hit, a mage or priest can typically pull off a heal

I think the most satisfying dialogue option in any playthrough, for me, was as an Eothas Priest when speaking with Raedric. You have the option to tell him the the Lord of the Dawn is back for vengeance (or words to that effect) and it literally drives Raedric over the edge. Very emotionally satisying. It does clash at times with other dialogue options ... I hated having the option to ask Eder "Who's Eothas" but that one dialogue option rocked.

So something like the below ... ? Trying to get a sense for high to move PER at the expense of INT. I'm thinking of trying this out, it sounds fun. Grab the Greatsword power at lvl 2 to fix accuracy, could be interesting. I've played 8 CON / RES before and it's usually doable. MIG 21 CON 8 DEX 10 PER 13 or 15? INT 18 or 16? RES 8

What stat spread did you use for your Priest at low levels, Boeroer? That sounds like Act 1 could have been on the rough side!

I can't speak for the expansions, but prior to WM1, the spread of unique conversation options looked like the below: (Per user Bubbles, post dated in April '15) Barbarian: 3 Chanter: 2 Cipher: 17 Druid: 1 Fighter: 5 Monk: 2 Paladin: 1 + Order Priest: 6 (3 unique - without equivalent "Clergyman" background check) + Deity Ranger: 3 Rogue: 3 Wizard: 4 Kind Wayfarers: 7 Bleak Walkers: 6 Shieldbearers: 3 Goldpact: 2 Darcozzi: 3 Berath: 3 Skaen: 7 Magran: 6 Wael: 5 Eothas: 7 Aristocrat: 8 Artist: 4 Clergyman: 7 (4 unique) Colonist: 9 Dissident: 6 Drifter: 4 Explorer: 9 Hunter: 10 Laborer: 8 Mercenary: 8 Merchant: 11 Mystic: 5 Philosopher: 11 Raider: 11 Scholar: 13 Scientist: 6 Slave: 7 Aedyr: 12 (5 of them with Aloth) Deadfire: 9 Ixamitl Plains: 1 Old Vailia: 4 Rauatai: 0 The Living Lands: 9 White That Wends: 14 Aumaua: 7 Coastal Aumaua: 1 Dwarf: 0 Boreal Dwarf: 1 Elf: 1 Snow Elf: 7 (3 with Glaswal) Godlike: 10 Fire Godlike: 4 Nature Godlike: 2 Moon Godlike: 2 Death Godlike: 3 Human: 1 Orlan: 14 (5 with Captain Aldmar) Hearth Orlan: 1 Wild Orlan: 1 Male: 7 Female: 12

bummer!

I read that was corrected ... but I have not tested myself yet.

One minor quibble this. Reinforcing Exhortation does not stack with Shielding Flames. It stacks with Shielding Touch & inspiring triumph (and outworn buckler) but not shielding flames. Tested extensively a couple of weeks ago when planning a new Paladin. I ultimately went with a Kind Wayfarer as the duration on the Shieldbearer talents was kind of meh.

For option #1, I would go with Dragon's Maw instead of Bagradr's For option #2, as long as you give Maneha the Shod In Faith Boots & Veteran's Recovery talent, she'll be fine ... as a barbarian she has a massive health pool I'm not personally fond of the Interrupt barbarian specifically for Maneha because her perception is so modest

I feel like axes, maces and sabres are now much more comparable in the higher stages in the game, but I haven't done the math. Good nerf

I am quite keen on reinforcing exhortation myself

Do the wounding shots also multiply their damage by might +dam multiplier? That's the one thing that Enduring Flames does seem to have going for it. The damage is equal to pre-DR damage * 50% * (1+Might Bonus). I've got a Paladin with a 33 might, so it's kind of cool. If you were comfortable with a lower INT on a Paladin, Enduring Flames could be pretty great. I wouldn't personally be comfortable with a low INT Paladin though.

It would be nice if INT affected the damage of the ticks as well.

She's actually good with a shield / weapon & shield style / open encounter with Escape. Is she optimal? No. But then again, neither are Rogues in the general case

I would dump Turning Wheel in a heartbeat and never look back. But that's just me.

There's definitely no need for Alacrity. This is a fun build - I tried it last night with Zahua and it was super fun. Now that we better understand the mechanics of attack speed, for a hireling, I'd probably swap the Dex into Con, but otherwise lots of fun. I actually need to upgrade my armor, as I appear to have leftover attack speed, which is crazy. Playing Zahua with the Antilei power, this can go up to Durganized Scale, I think. There's nothing quite like a monk blitzing across half the battlefield to crit the enemy mage and prone him shortly thereafter.

The biggest issue (for me at least), is that it's so easy to out level content. I screwed up my current run and entered the White March at lvl 9 thinking it would upscale, and it did not. Unless you're going to tackle the content at a downward level (or upscaled), it's just not challenging. And anything tackled at level 15 is a joke.

I am currently running a Paladin similar to yours, albeit with a shield. Greatswords are probably fine. If it were me, I think my low level build would look a little like this: Island Aumana [For the extra weapon slot / carry two Arquebuses] Mig 20 Con 10 Dex 10 Perception 10 Int 18 Resolve 10 Level 1: Lay of Hands Rationale: Best heal in the game. It's amazing. Level 2: Veteran's Recovery OR Weapon Focus: Soldier Rationale: If you're not using a shield Veteran's Recovery will keep you alive, and it's amazing with high Might / high Int. If accuracy is bugging you, you could take Weapon Focus instead. Level 3: Zealous Endurance. Rationale: The +3 DR doesn't stack with Ale, which sucks. But the 15% hit-to-graze conversion is amazing. Level 4: Veteran's Recovery OR Weapon Focus: Soldier Rationale: Whatever you didn't pick last time. Level 5: Flames of Devotion Rationale: Packs a punch for your Arquebus. Everything after that is flavor. You could probably cut your CON to 3 if you're comfortable with doing so, I personally didn't but your mileage may vary.

It seems like a big leap from a damage range of 16-20 to 20-30 Is the idea that a differential +8 accuracy, weapon lash & higher proportion of crits can make up that much of a difference?

I'm off to slay the Eyeless and let me just say Firebrand ... not too useful against Eyeless!