Elric Galad

Thanks OK, after a first round of reflection, here are my (sometimes radical) proposed changes for SC Paladin : 1. Divine Retribution : 2 Zeal per downed ally -> 1 Zeal What I'm trying to address : Divine Retribution being so brokenly strong that you have kind of an infinite pool of ressource. Now, I'm not trying to destroy builds relying on infinite summons, but to mitigate how easy they are to spam just about anything. 1 Zeal per downed ally is also enough for an ability point when not relying too much on summons, it still helps for drown out battle. Also as stated above it is mitigated by how BPM reduced various zeal costs. Further tweaks are also more lining toward buff direction. 2. Healing Chain (from current BPM version with 51+ random bounces of 10 health in about 30s) : - 2 Zeals -> 1 Zeal - Adding a 30s cooldown What I'm trying to address : - Cheaper zeal costs to make SC Paladin less reliant on Divine Retribution - Healing Chain being so dirt cheap for its power that it feels almost always cool to cast, while not replacing other heal. Basically it acts like a tweaked Healing over Time, halfway between an active ability with a very little cost and a sort of passive working in the background. - Avoid spamming abuse (spamming Healing Chain like crazy could basically make your party feel immortal). Other HoT do not stack with themselves. 3. (the most radical one, feel free to comment) Sacred Sacrifice : - Remove the reviving effect - Infinite duration for both the pulse and the self damages (so not reduced by RES) until knockdown or end of battle EDIT : probably leaning toward a very long duration, probably 60s. Infinite duration breaks the game with robe of the Weyc, least unstable coil and similar items. You'll be actually burning yourself to sacrifice. Note that Sacred Immolation and upgrades disable themselves while active. What I'm trying to address : - Redundancy between Sacred Sacrifice and Providence. Actually this one synergizes with providence. - less reliability on zeal/divine retribution (lots of damages for zeal spend). Dirt cheap in term of zeal compared to potential damages. Health management (your teammates can help) instead of zeal management... - Boost action economy since not having to cast it again helps you to do other things. - Provide something fun/fluff to do with your SC Paladin that feels quite different from the more "default" Divine Immolation upgrade Sacred Sacrifice + Providence will cost 5 Zeal, so with a high health pool and some health regeneration, you'll be able to do a lots of damages for the cost. 4. Providence : - Heal to full health (was quite reachable before with low CON, high MIG, Practiced healer and... fruits). THis is meant to favor high CON build as a replacement from removing similar effect from Sacred Sacrifice. - Remove BPM Courage until end of battle that felt a bit Random.

Yeah, now I remind that I've harmonized BPM Blood Surge with what CP did to its paladin equivalent : boosted on-kill proc to 50% but does not work on allies Mmmm could have tweaked it differently. Barbs killing his own allies could have remained an option (that sort of make sense lore-wise compared to paladin)

Yeah I'm testing a SC Paladin build with Slayer Seeker Survivor standalone. And I'm not completely sure of Chain Healing use either. Also I'm a bit concerned that SC Paladin is SO reliant on Divine Retribution and summons. Divine Retribution could eat a nerf (something like 1 zeal per downed ally would still be good, especially with BPM general nerf of Zeal cost). Of course it would require other buff, the general idea is that you shouldn't have to design your party around SC Paladin, or at least not on a single ability. I have some absolutely not finalized ideas such as extendid the benefit from self-rez (sacred sacrifice and providence - which already provides encounter long Courage) and/or making Sacred Immolation free but with a cooldown (how it would buff Multiclassed Pal could be an issue). I'll keep you informed as Paladin consultant

I would pick both in most case. They are the 2 main reason to pick SC Barbarian. Retaliation is excellent complement to Driving Roar for the battle with big boss where Driving Roar doesn't excel. I'm not sure Blood Surge is mandatory. 25% Rage on Kill (I think it's 50% with CP or BPM as its Paladin equivalent) isn't bad, but I will prefer picking Shout upgrade, Prestige and Retaliations in most case (unless probably playing solo). SC Barbarian doesn't have a big issue with ressources cause shout upgrade is so cheap, and On Kill effect isn't very reliable anyway. If you really need more Rage, your Cipher buddy should help, or Empower refund.

A minor osbcure thing I'm thinking about is that getting one of Sacred Immolation upgrade gives you a net +4 Accuracy and +1 PEN. Why ? Because of obscure scaling rules that gives an ability a "native scaling" based on its level (here Tier 7 -> Tier 9) while the PL scaling remains based on original level.

Community Patch and Standalone Slayer Seeker Survivor mods

I'm considering going dual blunderbusses (not necessarily mortars, although they are sweet vs crowds) for Confounding Blind into Gambit. Foe's deflection will be going down so fast that getting 2 crits on your 8 attack rolls should be easy. As Boeroer, you should probably pick both, but probably specialize into one. Max PER in any case, then it is a choice between max INT and DEX, granted you can go reasonably high for both.

Ok, so I swallowed my honor and repeated the first fight (which isn't hard, obelisks can be destroyed while stealthed, and that Void Blight can be more or less tanked while the rest of the party poke it with bows) Now my henchmen are lvl 16. Say hello to Gambit, Disintigrate and various stat boost. EDIT : so I have finally beaten those snakes. Now my party is level 17 and next fights I will be able to spam more symbols of Berath and Priest Fire spells Probably the difficulty doesn't need adjustment that much. People can farm a bit if their characters have trouble vs a specific fight. No-repeat run would be challenging, but that's something players are sometimes looking for. It is fortunate that this first fight hasn't been removed as Noqn feared it at some point.

Every 4secs with BPM Nerfs Basically I agree with Boeroer. The key to SC Paladin is dying summon. BPM tried to reduce this necessity a bit by buffing Hastening Exhortations upgrades, so you'll probably be fine with a party with occasionally dying summon. But anyway, you can spam Exhortations like crazy, Brand every none fire absorbant foe and spam BPM Healing Chain (if you have a decent PC ) and/or Light of Pure Zeal. Sacred Immolation (and its upgrades if your build has the ability point to get it). I'm also testing S4 + BPM + CP with a Fire Godlike SC Paladin and... well at lvl 15 vs Fire resistant nagas, it wasn't ideal. Lvl 19 is when you get the critical payback (though early Stoic Steel is nice). I would also recommand Inspired Beacon so you have something sort of offensive to do vs fire Immune.

Well, litteral translation from French failure. <Setting the curseur too high> is a synonymous to setting the bar too high Or setting the limbo bar too low, I guess. I'm sure it can work. But also I went with a party of SC Berath Priest, SC Paladin, SC Rogue (a bit waiting for Gambit/Vanishing Strike), Psion/Troubador, and a melee Ranger/Rogue. This party might have too much support, even if it is probably not THAT poorly designed. Berath Priest is annoyed by this particular fight because it deals damage sthrough Fire and Acid, and each half of the naga force is immune to one of this element.... That's a bit the point. It's not only about having troubles, but evaluating how much I have compared to standard play. I have rarely felt so powerless than yesterday from a certain time. I mean, challenge is a good thing. But it's also about evaluating how much other player could feel. The mod should not be too frustrating. But you know what is said about difficulty in CRPG... I guess after a few fights and a bit of money, one can feel very comfortable because of the access to all equipment indeed.

Yes, maybe. I don't even think 15s would be a problem. It's an ability that costs 2 ressources and 2 ability point and does not bring anything more than a Full Attack with minor bonus. Not something you can spam easily anyway. BPM Fractured Volition is 12s Enfeeble and Hobbled, but without damages. It costs 30 Focus which is about 1+ ressource (less than 2 Guiles by my standard). I'm just affraid of spreading Enfeeble even more. Another option would be a conditional effect : - 30s Weakened vs target >50% Health for long health decrease, and long term Tier 2 Affliction (robust to resistance) to enable sneak attack/Deathblow - 15s Enfeeble vs target <50% Health for quicker kill

I feel you. Those snakes kicked my ass twice yesterday Starting at level 16 means your henchmen are level 15 and missing all items means you're overall much worse than an usual level 15 party. I won't complain about difficulty though. I may tend to design my build around lvl 20 efficiency, but during a S4 run, you'll probably spend less time at lvl 20 (especially for hardest fights) than for a standard run. At least you skip early game levelling ! EDIT : Well, maybe the cursor is slightly too high compared to the base game. I got my arse kicked on second fight without having a clue about how to win it. Granted maybe my party isn't perfectly built BUT the point of the mod is to enable experimenting various party, so any semi balanced party should work more or less. I don't consider myself a very good player (I can't beat the game above PoTD with party, I don't play solo), but I usually don't have that much difficulty. It might be that Nagas spam a lot of abilities that have been buffed by CP/BPM (Barbaric Blows, Toxic Strike, Perishing Strikes) I can repeat first fight to grind experience and gold, but on second fight it seems quite early. Other players might not like it either. I mean, I can probably beat the current content, but the goal here is to provide a feedback about overall difficulty. I would recommand to let main character start at level 17. So the others start at 16. Recommanded level for normal SSS is 16. Level 16 is an important breakpoint so it would help a lot.

Yes, it's another mod. Somehow I didn't add its content to BPM, but please consider that BPM is tested with this small mod installed (as well as CP) so you can feel confident about adding it to your active mod list. On another topic, I have just spotted that Perishing Strike is quite terrible (totally negated by CON resistance) [MECHANICS] Various Testing - Page 16 - Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire Characters Builds, Strategies & the Unity Engine (Spoiler Warning!) - Obsidian Forum Community I'm planning to tweak it, but I see no way ot make it work as I felt it should be (at least a 30s duration of Sickened into Weakened vs CON resistant foe). Feel free to make suggestion about it. Default solution could be a straight 15s Enfeebled, but it would be a too convenient way to inflict this rare affliction (not OP but make other class getting Enfeebled less unique).

Same for Perishing Strike Enfeebled, which only happens if the target was initial Weakened. Against anything with a mere CON resistance, Persihing strike has exactly the same effect as Withering Strike, not even an Enfeebled reduced to Weakened after the initial duration. The is... meh

I ve just noticed that the Breath blessing giving +2 to all stats do not work with the mod. It's not a big deal but you should be informed.

I plan to give the similar treatment to Thorny Roots : 3 raw damages per 3s for its immobilization duration (20s). That's 23 base raw damages, but rather slow. I feel that the 23 base damages that the base game adds to Binding Roots for a cost of a Tier 7 ability point (tier 7 is where it starts to be scarce) is a bit mediocre even if it's free additional damages. Also it allows Ranger to get a long time DoT on its own for Predatory Senses, which feels a bit missing in the design of the class.

True that's why I went from 4 ticks + initial tick (30 damages) to 3 ticks + initial tick (24 damages) Also the initial tick damage isn't increase by INT and does not benefit from double PL extension (for damages and duration). So with 3 ticks + initial tick, only 18 damages out of 41,5 get the increased DoT total damage scaling. DoT total damages = <Initial tick damage> x (1 + 0,03 x MIG) x (1 + 0,05 x PL) + <base nb Tick> x <Tick damage> x (1 + 0,03 x MIG) x (1 + 0,05 x PL) x (1 + INT + 0,05 x MIG) x (1 + 0,05 x PL) Overall, I think it is fine because 41,5 base damages (and 10s Quickness) allows some spamming for the sole purpose of dealing damages. Some level of spamming is necessary to make the ability interesting because spending 2 ability point on a situational ability is meh (and the Evasive Fire upgrade does not make the ability more interesting for its situational use). But is still much less convenient to use for this purpose than its 1 Bond damages competitors (Twinned Shot and Accurate Wounding Shot) because you can't aim.

What is universal ? Can you get the PEN bonus from any hit ? Or does the bonus PEN apply to any attack ? Or both ?

What we know for sure is that the game broke even at some point. Now the remaining tail should be generating some minor profit. It can be argued that Obsidian made some marketing errors but that the quality of their game prevented a complete failure. Videogames is an uncertain industry, so being unable to fail is a significant ceiling for any investor. Overall "PoE1 + PoE2" was still a great success. But that might be the reason why Avowed seems to have a more classical setting and less niche gameplay than RTwP Isometric CRPG...

Now that I think about it, DoT are a good way to increase the damages of instant abilities that require it without allowing instant damage burst, especially in TB. Thus, for Evasive Fire, I will rather go this way : - Damages stay at 15-20 - PEN 7 -> 9 (still legit I think) - 6 raw damage DoT for 9s (enabling Predator's Sense on the way) EDIT : tuned down from 12s Total : 17,5 + 6 x (3+1) = 41,5 base damages, which is fairly reasonable considering you can't aim and is not instantly applied.

Or yet another idea (sorry for the flooding) , rising the damages, but in the form of DoT, to avoid the consequence of instant ability spamming. This version would be "benchmarked" around the Panther's Leap upgrade since it costs also 1 Tier 8 ability point on top of a 2 ressources ability. - 5 PEN -> 7 PEN - AoE 1.5m radius -> 2.5m - 14-28 damages -> 10-14 damages (as daggers) - Add 3 raw damages DoT per second for 8s. Total damages = 12 instant + 3x(8+1 initial tick) = 39 damages (panther leap = 14 + 7x(4+1) = 49 damages with same AoE, but doesn't add hobbled) - Clinging to 8s Hobbled. So if you Hobble your Paralysis target, 8s Paralysis would be a strict upgrade.

Or maybe you're right, and I'm considering alternate options : - 5 PEN -> 6 PEN but also deals Pierce/Slash damages. Pierce Immune are a nuisance, Flurry of Blades already suffers from dealing a Tier 1 affliction which is often resisted, so dual damages would make it more robust, as a Tier 8 should be. Also you're throwing daggers... which deal Slash damages to begin with (I can understand that a thrown dagger deals Pierce, but if an arrow deals Slash/Pierce, why not a dagger ?) - Clinging to 8s Hobbled. So if you Hobble your future Paralysis target, 8s Paralysis would be a strict upgrade. - Crazily increase the AoE to Point Blank 5m radius with same damages (14-28, still won't worth the cost). The point of the ability is to bog down as much foes as possible while your pummel their selected friend. It would look cool this way.

It is a kind of pure DPS pick, so it has to be compared to Accurate Wounding Shot and Twinned Arrows, granted that the later 2 adds "hit chances/additional hits". The question is how much damages 1 Bond adds to a standard attack, since you can "standard attack+evasive fire" with a similar time taken and ressource cost as the abilities described above. I think that now the DPS is good, albeit obviously inferior to the 2 abilities quoted above. Granted that Evasive Fire has utilities, and can be repeated multiple time to increase DPS even more in a short time, making it more versatile. Increasing the PEN was also critical to ensure the ability won't go wasted. Basically you can use Evasive Fire as your spammable bread and butter DPS ability now, instead of Accurate Wounding Shot. Even without the positionning, it grants respectable additional damages for 1 bond + 15% attack speed for moderate duration through quickness, and "save an ability point" since you'd usually want Accurate Wounding Shot + at least Evasive Roll. This makes up for the random targetting and absence of accuracy weapon combo (e.g. Frost Seeker...). I thought about this but discarded for following reasons : - I wasn't sure how animation will keep up with a greater radius - Benchmarking is my basis for balance (cause I can't play everything) so I seized the opportunity of balancing it with Spirit Tornado - Could be an overlap with BPM Smoke Grenade for the "quick AoE" ability niche. (Smoke Grenade isn't instant but quick Interrupt). Flurry of Blades use is more limited but grants the utilities of Shadow Step. I think it is borderline interesting to spam on a foe already in melee. Additional instant damages + 8s guaranteed paralysis can bring doom to an opponent (the Hobbled at least removed any DEX Inspiration before Paralysis is applied). If you're going to use Shadow Step anyway, this could worth the ability point.

Currently leaning toward giving a little buff to evasive fire, but not as much as in version 1.0 of the game (where it dealt 20-36 damages) So I intend to make it 15-20 -> 20-25 damages And also 7 PEN -> 9 PEN so it would be more reliable. So the cap is below version 1.0, but slightly more consitent vs high AR. Flurry of Blades seems a bit underwhelming for a Tier VIII, even with the Shadow Step boost to 2 Guiles and 8s Paralysis. The AoE is only 1.5m radius and it has 5 PEN. I plan to give 5 PEN -> 7 PEN and 14-28 -> 25-35 damages. The benchmark here is Spirit Tornado and its instant 14-20 damages for 1 Rage, for 3 ability points and with other side effects.

Great ! Seems to work fine. It will be included in next BPM version, with the usual credits.