Boeroer

Hi and welcome! My strong opinion is that Monk is the best pick here. It's a fantastic (single) class both in PoE as well as in Deadfire. My favorite Monk build in both games is the ranged Monk. With PoE it's with the Long Pain as main weapon (very strong) and in Deadfire it's with dual mortars (Serafen's blunderbusses) and the Long Pain. But the Monk class is very versatile and fun with a lot of build approaches imo. The Druid is very nice with Spiritshift in PoE (brutal scaling of the base damage of the Spiritshift weapons for example), but as single class in Deadfire he's way better as a pure caster than with Spiritshift. Multiclassing makes Spiritshift a lot more fun. Priest is stronger in PoE than in Deadfire, it's still good though, also when staying with a single class . It's just not that exciting to me as the main character. Wizard and Druid have more entertaining high level spells (Power Level 8 and 9) imo. Tl;dr: Monk!

DEX has linear returns, not diminishing. Even when recovery is zero the returns from DEX are linear. But it is debatable if the small changes in animation speed (counted in absolute frames) is worth the hassle to stack DEX into the sky while other attributes suffer. Remember Rakhan Field only applies to FoD. It is actually a copy of the original FoD attack that has an additional corrosive lash. Most abilities and their upgrades are hard-coded copies with adjustments. Upgrades or talents for abilities usually do no "latch" onto basic abilities or so. Instead when you pick an upgrade/talent the basic ability is removed and the new, improved ability is added to your character. An exception is Scion of Flame - that does work with FoD and also Sacred Immolation. Spirit of Decay also works with the corrosive lash of Remember Rakhan Field. What they do is to improve the lash by 20% (so 25% becomes 30%, 50% becomes 60% and so on). For a Bleak Walker I guess two Bittercut sabres (cloned with the Helwax Mold) could be the best FoD option. The sabre itself does corrode damage and profits from Spirit of Decay, the lash on the weapon (fire or corrode) profits from Scion of Flame or Spirit of Decay, the FoD lashes profit from Scion of Flame and Remember Rakhan Field profits from Spirit of Decay. It's a nice weapon anyway (bc. sabre with dual damage).

No, it cannot. You need an enemy to land a crit. But it can be any crit, including spells, auras and so on and it doesn't matter which of your defenses is targeted. If your defenses are not superhigh it happens often enough. Still I would not use that armor if I wanted to focus on damage-dealing as a Paladin. Maybe I'd pick Outlander's Frenzy instead if I wanted shorter recovery. At least that's controllable.

If you want to play around with settings such a DEX, items etc. in order to get a feeling for attack speed in PoE you can try this attack speed calculator which gives you the resulting frames: https://naijaro.github.io/poe-speed-calculator/ There you can also see that DEX has its returns even if recovery is zero - because it still shortens animation time. Several attack speed buffs (which only target recovery as you said correctly) stack in a multiplicative way, giving you increasing returns - which makes it possible to drop recovery to zero frames. For example item buffs (speed on weapons or something like Gauntlets of Swift Action or Durgan Steel on weapons) will always stack with everything else in that way.

That's great. Dumping INT in order to raise DPS always seemed pretty silly.

I know that this is the case for stuff like Wounding Shot, Goldpact's Fire DoT and so on - but I think wounding lashes from weapons and boar tusks were not affected (and low INT still raises their dps) - but I'm not 100% sure.

If you want the most effective party you should bring a Priest and give him Inspiring Radiance and use Devotions for the Faithful as soon as it's available. So Durance would be my pick although he's sluggish. But he has good RES and with a shield and weapon & shield style he will be a sturdy caster and not be bothered and shot at by ranged enemies a lot, which is good. That way he can go with light armor which can make up for his low DEX. Conselor Ploi or something similar is great for support, especially accuracy support for an individual party member. If you bring Wizard, Priest and Druid your party will be very strong from the mid to late game due to the abundance of strong spells. In the beginning it will be a bit harder because few spells per rest. Because of that I would use the 6th slot for a party member that is very good early on (high starting values) and still has a good power curve. That's a Monk for me. Monks require more micro management than most other martial classes but imo they are the best martial class. You can even build a very strong ranged Monk (see Witch Doctor build). You can use a hired adventurer and replace them later with Zahua (I like Zahua a lot). Alternatives would be a Ranger (additional body with the Animal Companion is great right away - and Saganis comes very early) or Cipher (Mind Control capabilities are superb at early levels, Grieving Mother can be yours rel. early if you make a beeline for her). Both require a lot more micro than a Fighter for example. Fighter generally is a good starter, but you already have Edér - and Fighters' power curve is pretty flat unfortunately. I really like Barbs but they are not good in the early game but become great lateer on (much like casters). So I wouldn'r recommend that in this case. A Chanter is also excellent if you play slow (PotD difficulty and/or playing more strategically - buffing, debuffing/CC, surgically dismantling the enemies rather than using a brute force approach). If you like to rush things though a Chanter will only pay off once he/she reaches lvl. 9. On the other hand the official companion chanter Kana comes very early - which is nice. Also a chanter can be extremely powerful in the early quest around/in Raedric's Castle - if you know how to use the invocation "White Worms" properly. Rogues start strong as well but are very squishy. If you can be patient with them and only let them flank once the enemies have settled arounf the tank they can work well. Or you use them with a reach weapon from the second row - or a ranged weapon and pick off casters and such. Also a flat power curve compared to casters and the Monk - but the advantage in the early game is significant if you can avoid getting attacked too much. If you want to power your party up even more you can use a second Priest. Give him Inspiring Radiance as well. It stacks with the one from Durance, giving your party immediate +20 all-stackable Accuracy. One can build a good melee "offank" Priest or even a melee dmg dealing Priest (use maximum MIG, Aggrandizing Radiance and at some point Minor Avatar and pick the Great Sword Tidefall. Its wounding lash gets boosted by MIG which turns it into a great weapon in this priest's hands). You can also use Novice's Suffering instead of a weapon and pick up the Sandals of the Forgotten Friar at some point, making the Priest a semi-monk. Novice's Suffering doesn't profit much from damage bonuses other than MIG. Superhigh MIG turns those fists into hefty weapons though - and they cost no enchantment resources. Not bad for a character who's casting most of times anyways and only uses his fists when all spells are cast. Anyways: your party composition is good. Make sure to stealth your backline before starting combat and only let the enemies see the tank (and offtank) first. Use the Paladin (and Monk or whomever is your third front liner - maybe a shifted Hiravias or an Animal Companion?) to catch enemies who run past the tank to protect your backline. Or use chokepoints if you can. Wizard's best spells in the early game are Chillfog and Parasitic Staff imo. Use Durance's Inspiring Radiance right at the start of battle (not as a tool for healing but for ACC buffing) so your initial CC/debuffing spells (see Chillfog) do have a higher chance of hitting. Insp. Radiance stacks with everything.

If you are one of the front line characters and taking a lot of heat, dumping RES can be a problem, even for a Paladin in thick armor and still mediocre deflection despite the RES dump - because RES also determines concentration. Especially if you get attacked by multiple fast enemies you can get interrupt-locked because the chance of you getting interrupted will be very high. This - as well as getting knocked out more often due to less deflection - can lead to a drop of actual dps (the one you really do vs. the one you'd do on paper). It's one of the reasons why Rogues are in theory the masters of dps while in the actual game they are often not - unless you can reliably play aronud their weaknesses. This will also be the case here: if you play such a Paladin as a flanker he will perform a lot better than just letting him get attacked too much. But since a Paladin comes with a nice set of defensive capabilities already and piling defenses has increasing returns I often think it's a bit of a waste to make a Paladin a total glasscannon instead of a reliable and sturdy damage dealer (+support character). Not the best at dealing weapon damage besides the two big FoD strikes (and a Runner's Wouding Shot if you like and maybe a Knockdown strike from a belt item) - but also most likely one of the last ones to go down. I personally really like the mix of sturdy, two handed (spike) damage + accuracy support for a fellow front liner which can totally turn the tides against tough enemies. This I'll achieve with a "marking" two hander (Blade of the Endless Paths & Spectacular Spetum would be the optimal two handed sets) and Coordinated Attacks plus Zealous Focus. If you flank an enemy with a buddy (preferrably one with good CC options to keep the foe disabled) that buddy will get +25 accuracy just because you are there - and you'll drop the enemy's deflection by 10, too (flanked) which usually makes it way easier to finish them off. Best pick would be Darcozzi Paladini (because Inspiring Exhortation stacks with all this, too) - but Bleak Walker works as well as any other Paladin order and of course gives your FoD more oomph. Best weapon pick for the buddy would be Cladhaliath with "Stunning" + "Coordinating" enchantments. But any weapon with Overbearing or Stunning would be great (like Hours of St. Rumbalt). Or if your buddy has unlimited CC anyways (see Monk's Force of Anguish) then any single handed, high ACC weapon would be great, too (see Ravenwing for example). Also a special interrupt weapon such as Mosquito or the Vile Loner's Lance can be great on fast attcking buddies with high PER and Interrupting Blows (talent), interrupt-locking the enemy without using any resources (interrupt rolls get a +25 bonus if your buddy crits). Delivering crits even to dragons and such is rel. easy if you pile up Marking, Coordinated Attacks, Zealous Focus, one handed weapon usage an accurate weapon and a Priest's Inspiring Radiance + Devotions for the Faithful. Ifyour buddy is a Cipher with Tactical Meld + Borrowed Instincts things get really ridiculous as his accuracy will pile up into unknown heights, allowing almost guaranteed critical hits. It's not as useful against numerous little foes, but that's what AoE is for most of times (see Sacred Immolation but of course your fellows' AoE abilities also). Against foes like dragons etc. this ACC support that doesn't use any resources and stacks with every other ACC buff (except the part of Zealous Focus) is very valuable and a lot more reliable than pure (glasscannonish) dps imo.

The post he was referring to said about weapon choice: 0-recovery variant: Blade of the Endless Paths (comes late) Hulk Smash variant: Abydon's Hammer (comes even later) Lord of the Crits variant: The Hours of St. Rumbalt (early) The original weapon choice of the LoP was Tidefall (early). Andrea didn't know that the wounding lash on that great sword scales with Might - and since the LoP build has very high Might it may actually be the highest dps variant overall, despite the Blade of the Endless Paths having higher speed. I personally would settle for Tidefall or the Hours of St. Rumbalt because you can get them rel. early which means you can play with your preferred weapon for a much longer time. It doesn't really matter because he only picked Aumaua because of the Might bonus. So either will do. What you like better. You could also go Dwarf - I think Andrea didn't pick that because it also gets -1 DEX which means a little bit less potential dps. But then again Boreal Dwarfs get +15 ACC against Primordial and Wilder which can be a huge dps raise in certain fights, for example against Lagufaeth in the White March, Xaurips in the early game and so on.

Wasn't today but the last weekend, but I made a dead(wood) hedge. I had to get rid of all the cut-off branches and stuff we removed from the neglected and overgrown neighboring property (which is now ours since new year) and thought that this might be a nice way of dealing with it:

Thank you. Sure, Hunter sounds solid.

No DoT (Plague of Insects, Insect Plague, Infestation of Maggots and similar) makes attack rolls after the initial roll. But pulsating spells like Wicked Briars, Venombloom or Tanglefoot do. They reroll attacks every few seconds. Those spells work very well with Energized/interrupts indeed. For a Berserker/FF Rooting Pain would also work (best if not confused): it interrupts by itself already, but Energized would add another interrupt - which can be nice against enemies with (refreshing) layers of concentration.

Or - if you plan to use Clarity of Agony anyways I would try to upgrade to Enlightened Agony and cast that right after Frenzy before Rooting Pain even has a chance to proc. You will not become smart because it cancels the confusion - but you will get +1 wound. And the rest of Clarity will work as usual (helping to reduce the curse duration and the duration of Hylea's Talons should you have picked those). If you go with INT resistance/immunity instead (Devil of Caroc, food etc.) you will not get a wound from frenzy's confusion and not trigger Crucible of Suffering - and that's a bit of synergy not happening... which makes me sad. Of course any other source of INT inspiration on the char (like a Priest Pryer for the Mind or so) could also be used. But since a FF might want to pick Clarity of Agony anyways... And Rooting Pain + Blood Storm or Spirit Frenzy is quite convenient to have for sure.

A Berserker/FF with high RES isn't confused for long (confusion duration and frenzy duration are not tied) and gets +1 wounds once the confusion ends. You can also use Hylea's Talons in order to give yourself the DoT. Again the self damage won't give you wounds - but the duration will be rather short with high RES (and Clarity of Agony) and once it ends you get +1 wound. Both times you also get a little health back. Also Crucible of Suffering will kick in both times. So you'll have two sources of hostile effects in addition to the FF curse. So Berserker/FF isn't that bad wit wound generation as it appears at first glance. Rooting Pain will hit yourself while you are confused. The confusion won't last very long with high RES etc. - but it's still incredibly annoying when you interrupt yourself (and party members) with your own Rooting Pain (and won't even get a wound from the damage it causes). You can circumvent that with Enlightened Agony (cancel the confusion with smart right away after casting Frenzy). Or you use Modwyr in the second weapon slot to remove the confusion. Both ways you'll still get the wound and Crucible I believe. If you use Devil of Caroc's Breastplate with resistance you will prevent the confusion from coming over you alltogether - but you won't get a wound and the crucible bonus either. Hm wait a sec... could it be that the debuff from Engoliero do Espirs (-2/-3 to some stats) is listed as hostile effect and could you generate wounds by switching to and from the weapon? Never tried.