dreamrider

Don't try to do everything in the early going with just your char capabilities. - Every character can make and use scrolls - Every char can make and use potions - Shooting and kiting may not feel "macho", but they keep your character alive...and every char can be equipped to shoot. - Find ways (Abilities, Potions, gear, whatever) to be slightly faster than most opponents. If you are slower/even, they will chase and chase and chase, giving you little opportunity to use kiting, shooting, scrolls, potions, choose your own targets, etc, etc, etc. If you are slightly faster, most opponents will reach a territorial limit, and turn away, allowing you to control the pace of the fight, and to kite effectively. - Recon slowly, gently, in stealth mode … every time! - Use doorways, gateways, narrow passages, pinched corners of rock formations, corners of the map, etc to restrict the approaches and frontage of your party, so you are fighting fewer enemies at any instance of combat, and so some of your enemies are stacking up just out of melee range...where they are ripe for AoE damage from scrolls and casters. But you have to recon the area in stealth first to set this up and pick your spot(s). - try to choose final fight postions where even teleporting, jumping, and unengaged 2nd line enemies cannot get behind you. Getting surrounded and immobilized is death. This is the reason why, sometimes, corners are better than doorways, especially vs kith mobs that include rouge-types. - BE PATIENT! REST OFTEN if you don't feel comfortable with the fight mechanics and your powers yet. - Review your powers, over and over again. Then review them again before the next fight. Experiment on lesser fights to learn how to use each one. Then...try to use them ALL, smoothly. (There is a stage beyond that, where you make a conscious decision to not waste action time on certain class powers, except in most special circumstances, but you are a long ways from that yet.)

Chanter would probably also work well, as PC. I would look up suggested chanter tank/off-tank builds in this forum, however. Personally, I love Monk PCs. Sorry I didn't pay proper attention and realize you were looking for PC suggestions. I somehow got the idea that you had your PC picked out.

Pallegina (earliest), Zahua, or Mahena. For Mahena, you need WM2, but that is HIGHLY recommended anyway. Once it is installed, you will find Mahena during WM1 visit to Stalwart. I like backstory on all the Comps. So plan on temp acquiring each of them, though the ones above are the off tank type you probably need. Well, Hiravias could do it if built correctly, or the Devil. But by the time you can aquire the Devil, you will have developed alternate solutions for the Rouge shaped hole in your party. Sagani is probably the least useful, but has an interesting story, and some of the "most supportive", loyal, scripting. Friendliest. I find Kana Rua a bit dull. Chanters can be built reasonably tanky...but I am no good at it. (Small SPOILER Alert, PoE II: DF) For what it is worth, the 3 "Old Companions" that you will (or may) see again if you later delve again into the Watcher's soul and history, are: Eder, "the BFF" (no secret/spoiler there; he's active in the sequel before your PC is.); Aloth, and Pallegina.

Belt of the Royal Deadfire Cannoneer. Check the wiki for it's later powers. It may solve your quandry.

I actually think that "xaurip black market smuggling" idea might work, as a personal RP excuse. Of course, there is (has been) a major deterrent to limit such smuggling … as in, one screwup, one shed scale reserve stock accounting mistake, and Sefyra eats you, and your entire bloodline.

Ah Well. Perhaps in some of the DLC. Or maybe we'll meet her again when we go to delve in The Living Lands. (I've always assumed that, with a name like that, we would HAVE to adventure there in some sequel. Though perhaps as soul-child of Watcher.)

Is Persistance the ONLY item / weapon in the two games that requires TWO Sky Dragon Eyes in order to enchant to Superb? (Not that she doesn't become AWESOME at that level!)

Hey!? How do you enchant Superb armor and shields in PoE II: DF? I haven't gotten there yet.

OK, IC. Barely believable, but good enough for personal RP, I guess. I think you went a little overboard making her royal, however. Minor nobility, of a disfavored ethnic group, ah la Robert of Locksley, or the Reeds of the Neck, would have been sufficient.

Does it occur to anyone else that, somewhere, there must be an archmage with a side business of plating dragon scales in adra,...or transmogrifying them into adra, … or something like that? Because the Adra Dragon is, as near as we can tell, ABSOLUTELY unique. And NOBODY (til now), except some xaurips, ever come back from Seyfra's lair. So, without an alternate suppoly of adra dragon scales, where did all the accumulated Superb gear of Eora come from? Of course, I suppose the xuarip High Priests of the EPON may have been running a little smuggling gig for a few ... centuries. Is there an actual in canon explanation for this?

Does it actually HELP in gameplay in any way? I mean other than the intelligence that she gives on how to find Thaos, which you will find out before the time comes anyway I know from reading that you encounter hints of her, as a freebooter captain, as you knock around the Deadfire in the sequel, but is there any material benefit in either game? BTW, I agree that RP story-wise setting yourself up with a dragon ally is very cool. I've been tempted.

Listen to Kaylon. "Warlock" is a mis-label. He is an Arch-Mage of the forum, he just doesn't post as frequently as some of us blabbers..

@ IC: You played as a priestess of Skaen? Your handle is soo-o-o appropriate. I was tempted, as I have been trying to play a character that slowly evolved from the personal survival goal into keeping the larger picture in mind (thanks to Eder, Lady Webb, and a few others.) So while tempted by the pragmatic but morally ambiguous approach, I fought (and fought and fought) and killed Sefyra. I do try to remember her name, however. (Besides, the Scale Breaker Talent is multiply useful, and I think you get one more Adra Dragon Scale from killing the beast as opposed to cooperating.)

Consensus in forum discussion of WM is that it fits best if you go off and do the WM1 stories when you hit a "reasonable dramatic break" in the original storyline (there can be several) at around character level 7-8. You have to make your own decision when to respond to the message from Stalwart, however. Similarly, consensus seems to be that if you want to do WM2 without scaling up content, you should make an opportunity at around character level 11-12. (Personally, I haven't found it that way. Perfectly satisfied, as in "NOT scared ****less, or constantly reloading", with an L16 party for WM2 content.) I did not go to WM until L16, the circumstance you find yourself in now. It is fine. Back up to a save and do it. You will not feel shortchanged.

1. Re Bull's Will vs Mental Fortress. Will defends against a much broader palette of detrimental effects and spells than Mental Fortress, even though Charmed, Confused, and Dominated may be viewed as generally the "worst". So, if it is a flat choice between Bull's Will & Mental Fortress, take Bull's Will. - caveat: Will per se, after being generally raised by Bull's Will, is subject to being diminished for a time by certain afflictions or spell effects. A direct Defense booster, such as Mental Fortress, or Spellward Amulet, is always undiminished in effect. But still, in the broad scheme of unpredictable events, Bull's Will is probably somewhat superior. - 2nd caveat: Confused, Charmed, Dominated ARE pretty nasty, and essentially game-enders for a solo. Consider taking both Talents, if you have the slots. BTW, I fully built my current PC and Compainion's ((this is my favorite all-time typo; not correcting it!)) before I realized this, and I focused on Mental Fortress as a "must have". I keep telling myself I need to respec. 2. Re Critical Defense. Yes, it effects everything. And that counts as a REALLY GREAT thing! However, I would judge that it is NEVER better than Mental Fortress or Bull's Will against the 3 afflictions you seem particularly concerned about. This is because, if you will note, Critical Defense never causes a MISS. Relative to Confused, Charmed, Dominated, it apparently only diminishes duration, not likelihood of some effect. BTW, there are very few, if any, circumstances where Confused, Charmed, Dominated are defended against by Deflection, unless the affliction is being imposed by the strike of a physical weapon. Even then, there is likely to be a separate Will check for the specific mental effect.