Elric Galad

By the way, I'm probably going to experiment a bit with a simple "Focus Regeneration canceled on Hit/Crit" without other adjustement. That's because my current run involves a Psion and I feel like cheating a bit now that it is acknowledged that the CP variant is a tad too strong. He's a Wand & Board ranged Wael's MC (so has access to Mirror Image and Minor Avatar to reduce Hit/Crit).

Because they can't be regenerated by any means, meanwhile classical pools of ressources can be (through Brilliant, His Heart did Fill... - buffed by BPM, and finally Potion of Enlightenment that BPM introduced to avoid overreliance on regenerating ressource classes ofr Megabosses fights). I think it should be, or something close enough. The tedious part if about how to implement the various spiritshifts. Could be an extra form. The cancellable modal I'm not a big fan of the cannot cast spell restriction cause it is supposed to be the unique drawback of Shifters. Shifters are "sorta OP" IMHO, not because they are that much stronger, but because their drawback is almost unsignificant. Exact interactions with Lifegiver subclass should be thought about if you lift the no spell restriction. Spiritshift is strong, but require talents to really shine and not to the point it requires a specific drawback. Impossibility to cancel the Form could be the specific drawback of the Spiritshift spell. That could solve the 2 issues above. "1 additional Spiritshift" uses could be tedious to code, and is sorta covered by the extra spell. IMHO you could spend your effort on something else

OK, I think I'm going to leave alone Minor Arcan Reflection and Arcane Reflection cause there is no consensus on proposed change (based on @Noqn and @thelee feedbacks) about how to fix them (with a technically feasibility and non-weird design proposal). I had this in mind for weeks without coming up with an idea. They will stay situational spells. Minor one will be the one you use when hit from time to time, normal one when against more intense fire (Auranic...). The important part is that these spells have some use where they feel optimal, even if they won't be part of an (optimized) buffing routine. I will change Llengrath's as specified above cause this one is the biggest offender as a Tier 9 and I haven't receive much negative feedback about the above proposal.

Just another technical remark that comes to my mind : I haven't found any way to implement an effect scaling with a specific attribute (outside of the traditional bonuses). You can do it with Skills or PL, but not attribute. Attribute threshold is possible, but not incrementing effect (although a super tedious 35 thresholds could technically emulate attribute scaling ). I'm also not a big fan of per encounter abilities*. A way to combine both of these issues into a solution could be to implement a pseudo cooldown, through a self-inflicted hostile effect when Mental Grit ellapses that prevent reusing it. Hostile effects are decreased by Resolve, so... That could be complicated, and I think implementing it a pseudo-cipher power (such as Telekinetic Burst or even Soul Annhilation) could be more simple. Cost, duration, cast time could be adjusted to so it won't be OP. (*Another note that has nothing to do with the topic : I always regret Druid can't bring back their Spiritshift. I wonder if a new Druid Spell couldn't provide a special Spiritshift, something like Tier 6 (because Tier 6 is a bit meh ^^), so you can still benefit from your Spiritshift Talent)

If you're pushing people away, having some persisting psychic energy that repel a bit incoming attack for a short duration doesn't feel so weird IMHO That's why I'm suggestion a Hit to Graze conversion. No Hit, no disabling and you don't even have to code a new effect.

Or upgrade telekinetic burst (that I don't use that often) so it provides 100% Hit to Graze for something like 6s unmodifiable seconds as Psion Psychic Energy deviates attacks ? (or something similar) EDIT : Partially Ninja'ed EDIT 2 : Maybe the push away of TKB should be removed to simplify it a bit ? Not sure at all, just debating. EDIT 3 : It costs 10 focus and pseudo-guarantee a gain of 6s x Psion Generation factor. For a lvl 20 max level MC Psion without PL tricks, it guarantees a net gain of 14 Focus.

Same here. I guess it's not meant to be faithful to the original intention, but I think it's a nice idea.

Offtank Psion shall not be IMHO. It is a subclass that basically has a penalty when attacked. You can't have it tank and hope being optimal for this role. Or you're basically creating a subclass with a completely different feeling. At least an Offtank Psion WILL take hits. But the right build should be able to not get too many of them and still get a decent amount of focus. Priest should pick Shield for the Faithful. Etc... Bloodmages should work too. Troubadour... Hey... Not. But Troubadour / Psion is an Ultimate winning MC combo, so should be viable, just not as Offtank. Roll, not. But they do hit. I should have specified Hostile Hit and Crit indeed.

Well, about this specific point, there are still dispells. It was so fun to remove Dracolich Safeguard just with 1 blunderbuss shot of Tranquilizing Shot

Wow Such mod Many abilities Very Doge

Honestly, I start to think that the right solution may actually be very close from CP one : Just make Hit or Crit stop Focus Regeneration instead of just Crit. Compared to non modded design : - It excludes Graze - It includes Hit from various debuff, so overall it's not a real buff but a tweak (which is right when speaking about a subclass able to complete the Ultimate) The biggest difference is that you're a bit more likely to be prevented regeneration by various AoE debuff but staying in melee would still be viable to some extant (Psions aren't meant to be tank anyway). Excluding Graze means a slide of 25 points on roll result, and this can be enough to still get some Focus while taking a few attacks in melee. Stacking stuff such as Shield, dagger modal, high Resolve (fitting for a Psion IMHO), Borrowed Instinct and whatever your multiclass can provide can help toward this goal.

The problem I have is that the cap is hard coded with spell reflection. It is hard to mix with a general spell resistance. There are 2 solutions : Having the spell reflection cap causing the spell resistance to wear off or ending while spell resistance stays active. Both feels equally weird to me. That's why I only mixed spell resistance with 100% reflection without cap. Also I don't really want to buff the 2 lower spells cause it would buff wizard (which they don't really need) and because wizard can deal with the situationnality of their ability. Situational does not mean bad if they still have their niche (cough cough Auranic).

The issue is that I don't know if it's possible to implement an effect that specifically applies when interrupted. That's a good point.

Just to add a random brainstorming idea : If we want Psion to have more interaction with Concentration, we could have Telekinetic Burst add 1 Concentration to the Psion on top of its current effect.

This is a good point. Official design is hard to play and completely prevent from sitting even just behind the frontline. A bit complicated IMHO. Why not, having 2 separate and not directly intricated effects could work. Still a bit strong if your defenses are high enough to prevent Crits. A bit complicated too IMHO. I don't know. The issue is that Psions being one of the rare suclass to have completed the Ultimate kinds of prove they don't need a buff. But what they might need is a tweak : making the focus pause a bit less punishing for semi-frontliner + adding another drawback can be the way to go. Psion being easy to interrupt (and loosing concentration) à la Grimoire of Vaporous Wizardry feels about right. I think this is a good idea, although I don't have a clear tweak in mind. But I think the targetted level of power should be comparable to the one proposed by the devs. "Hit and Crit interrupting + preventing focus gain for 6s" is an example of simple and clear design (Graze won't do anything, still a gain), although a bit too punishing so a conditional should be added. I don't think is it technically possible to remove exactly 1 Concentraion without Interrupting. Or is it ?

Thanks I get that, but you'll still get it with the lvl 6 version. This change is to make both spells have their own merits. I'm not set though.

Currently what I'm planning for Arcane Reflection line of spells : - Minor Arcane Reflection : 50% reflection chances* for 45s, not spell level limit - Arcane Reflection (unchanged) : 100% reflection chances* for 60s, 30 spell level limit (so better than the previous one in most cases, but the first may have an edge against intense fire) - Llengrath Arcane Reflection : 100% reflection chances* against single target spells and 75% spell resistance for 20s (basically a short duration almost absolute protection against most spells. Note that setting both to 75% would have caused the 25% non reflected single target spells to be resisted 75% time, which I find confusing.) It can be abused through WoD**, but not really more that what some MC can get (Unbending Trunk, Blade Turning) * Note that reflection chances vs single target spells also works with bouncing spells. **(though next version of BPM will set it to +0.33s/-2s per Hit only, so one need 3 targets for infinite duration) Tell me if this design would feel right for you. Full discussion below : Do Different Arcane Reflection Spells Stack? - Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire General Discussion (NO SPOILERS) - Obsidian Forum Community Sorry for posting it in 2 subforums, but the initial discussion may not have been in the right place.

Then it might be the one case where CP buffed something that needn't to be buffed

And what would you think about having Psion stopping gaining focus only when damaged by WEAPONS ? This way it would remain challenging to play but at least won't be too penalizing when fighting groups with multiple AoE who make avoiding damages super tedious. Also would kind of mirror other Ciphers Soul Whip which only works with weapons.

Another question about Psion is the duration of the no Focus Gain effect : is itit increased by INT and PL ? Is it decreased by RES ? This is another category of possible tweaks.

Currently what I'm planning : - Minor Arcane Reflection : 50% reflection chances* for 45s, not spell level limit - Arcane Reflection (unchanged) : 100% reflection chances* for 60s, 30 spell level limit (so better than the previous one in most cases, but the first may have an edge against intense fire) - Llengrath Arcane Reflection : 100% reflection chances* against single target spells and 75% spell resistance for 20s (basically a short duration almost absolute protection against most spells. Note that setting both to 75% would have caused the 25% non reflected single target spells to be resisted 75% time, which I find confusing.) It can be abused through WoD**, but not really more that what some MC can get (Unbending Trunk, Blade Turning) * Note that reflection chances vs single target spells also works with bouncing spells. **(though next version of BPM will set it to +0.33s/-2s per Hit only, so one need 3 targets for infinite duration) Tell me if this design would feel right for you.

I'm using a CP Psion right now and the focus generation feels overall... a little too unchallenging. I'm playing with a Wael priest MC and I rarely even have to use my priest powers (but Minor Avatar/Mirror Images help avoiding crit even more...) It worths noticing that Psion has been used to complete the Ultimate, so the original class is certainly not unplayable or bad. That said, at this level of play, you can excpect players to find ways to basically get never damaged. With or without CP change, it might not have been a big difference. There are tons of way to tweak Psion focus stop : setting it to Weapon attacks only, setting it to Hit or Crit only (excluding Grazes), etc... Why not Hit or Crit from weapons only ? The original design feels maybe a bit too punishing for non-expert player while CP current one feels a tad too simple to use. Probably there could be a good middle ground to find.

Yup, or lower reflection chance and reduce duration. 30s of capless 50% reflection could work with Tier 4 reflection. In some cases it can be better than 60s 100% but with cap. I like the idea of making all 3 spells different enough so there's always a situation where these situational spells could beat the others. Yes, but also for Llengrath's. With such design (which feels right), my concern is basically only about Wall of Draining. BPM tweaked it to -2s for foes / +0.25s for self but I plan to rise a bit to +0.33s for self so it is a bit closer to its modless glory. I might not go with 100% spell resistance, even if I think it would thematically go well with 100% reflection. Could also be 75% (or lower) of both with a good duration, so it won't be as abusable with WoD.

I was suggesting Spell Resistance (or +all defenses if Spell Resistance prevent somehow reflection) The issue I see is interaction with the the spell level count. Spell level count reaching 0 will either dispell both effects (in which case targetted spell) or only dispell itself. In both case it feels weird IMHO. That's why I would put Spell Resistance only on version of Spell Reflection without Spell level count. Adding some spell resistance to Tier 4 and 6 would buff Wizards significantly. That's why I'm not not to keen on adding it. Tier 9 a bit less cause it would still require casting a defensive spell instead of one of these ultimate damage spells, universal dispell, etc... That's why I suggest to differentiate a bit more the spells than they are currently.

In a nutshell, what can be done through modding is anything but applying reflection to AoE effects : - tweaking the number of spell levels reflected (including removing the limit entirely) - tweaking the durations (including Infinite duration which could make sense with an effect limited to a nimber of triggers) - Applying reflection to targeted weapon attacks (and targeted non-weapon / non-spell abilities) though I won't risk the "total number of ability reflected" part with it. - Lowering the % reflected (yep this is a nerf, but could be coupled with a number of spell limit removal or another buff - the aim is to provide more variety) - Add other effects (such as actual Spell Resistance or +all defense vs AoE spells) What are my personal thoughts about any changes : - Spell Reflection is situational. There is nothing intresically wrong with situational abilities for Wizard given the possibility to swap Grimoire. - Wizard is a hugely powerful class. Buffing it should be done with caution. - There is one single fight in the game where spell reflection is VERY useful. And since it is one of the top fights, buffing Spell Reflection would be a Game Changer for this particular fight. You know the one I'm speaking about, since you describe it in your Gamefaq guide (wrong subforum to state it explicitly). - My main concern is the spells are quite redundant IN ADDITION to be situational. You'll never need the 3. You'll never even gain a marginal gain by using a more appropriate one than the 2 others. Casting one of them is purely ressource management. Which wouldn't be that bad if there weren't also the constraint of their situationnality. - They contribute to high level Enchanting spells being meh. - I have a specific concern for Llengrath's Spell Reflection because Tier 9 casts are so precious (and other ones are so so good). BPM also reduces the efficiency of Brilliant with higher Tier cast restoration, so there will be few circonstances where you want to use it for ressource management. There are tons of tweak possibility. As a simple example, there could be following difference between the 3 spells : - One with 50% chance reflection, without number of Reflection limitation and a moderate duration - One with current design - One with 100% reflection, 100% resistance to spells but low duration (though Wall of Draining coul dmake it abusable, even with BPM nerf)