Boeroer

Maybe values of deflection you have to achieve if you want to get to 100% misses (enemies' attacks against you) - against certain enemies (megabosses?) I assume?

Edér as Swashbuckler works very well for me as my main tank. I especially like Persistent Distraction in combination with lots of engagement slots (auto-hits). I also like Adept Evasion in combination with a large shield + modal and also Slippery Mind in combination with Fighting Spirit. But a Fighter/Streetfighter is even better since it has no real downsides when tanking comparee to a regulat Swashbuckler. And I absolutely prefer it over a Fighter/Paladin: it has a lot better offensive output than any other Swashbuckler or Crusader and ist still has sufficient tankyness (same as Edér, even better with optimized attributes).

Unbroken/Streetfighter was just what I played while trying to stay below 50% health with the Streetfighter. I didn't mean it as a recommendation. +1 passive AR is great btw. Underpenetration malus is a sort-of multiplicative dmg reduction which pairs especially well with getting grazed a lot. Paladin is even better with AR, but if I plan to use a shield anyway and want a fighter for lots of engagement and increased speed while wearing heavy armor, I personally would pick Unbroken over Devoted any day. Just because of the +1 stackable AR. With a two hander (which I don't plan to switch much) that's another story ofc.

What you can make happen relatively easily is that you don't quite outheal the average incoming damage with draining and other "side effect" healing stuff. That requires you to monitor your health closely and get the occasional actively triggered healing burst (to not just die) - but it allows for longer times under 50% health. Against weaker foes it will prevent you from going under 50% though - but that might be the fights wherer you don't need to go there anyway (because easy). I didn't try that a lot with a Streetfighter, but SC Furyshaper (bc. of Blooded and Fighting Spirit, using Blood Ward etc.). A lot of CON helps to manage that a lot. But it will never work smoothly or perfectly well because all fights/enemies are different, rolls are chance-based etc. But on average it allows you to be under 50% health longer which can directly add to your offensive output (even if you have to shift some points from a "good for offense"-attribute like DEX/MIG/PER to one which usually is associated with defense/survival - like CON). What also helps is high AR (ideal if you can activate it at low health, see Reckless Brigandine) and getting grazed a lot when under 50% (swichting to a shield for example). And in addition to that have some damage resistance/reductiuon, too (Death's Maw and something like that. Death's Maw is pretty cool in this case because it only triggers when there's dead bodies around you which isn't at the start of the fight - where you might want to get hit harder until you get damaged too much). I played an Unbroken/Streetfighter main tank with Gladiator Sword + Bronlar's Phalanx - but he woud start the fights dual wielding often (no investment in two handed style) and then switch to the large shield as soon as under 50%. That allowed him to stay under 50% for a long time and made him perform a lot better than trying to keep on with the dual wielding.

Hi! Indeed! With a Pale Elf etc. you'd want to focus on fire and ice spells. I think I mentioned the crossed patch (unique headgear), too. It comes from a stronghold adventure and makes you immune to blindness. It's perfect for a Pale Elf who likes to stand in their own Chillfog (no blindness from it then. Also Rymrgand's Mantle would be great for such a Wizard. It's a random drop. If you use this with Chillfogs and other ice spells they will heal your endurance instead of harming you (if you have enough freeze DR). But your health will suffer nonetheless. Therefore it's very good to use Infuse with Vital Essence to heal your health back up, too. You have to check which spells you would like to use (for example Chillfogs) and which defense they target. Chillfogs targets fortitude, so you want that high. But if you want to blast Fireballs without regretting standing in their AoE you need high Reflex (and Burn DR), not high Fortitude.

That is not true. They stack multiplicatively/probabilistically. 30% (Berserker) and 25% (Fighter) and 15% (one handed style) would result in ~59% overall. That is because the game goes through every applicable conversion ability you have, one after the other, and tries a conversion roll. If that's successful the process stops and the conversion happens. With applicable I mean if you roll a hit the game will only go through the conversions for hits. And then it's done. So only one conversion can happen! The game doesn't allow graze to hit and then again hit to graze. Only one conversion. So even 100% graze to hit + 100% hit to crit on a character cannot convert all the way from graze to crit. Exception: if one conversion happens on the character's side and the next one on the enemies'. Example: a Fighter with Confident Aim attacks a paralyzed target. He rolls a graze, but it gets converted to a hit. That hit gets "applied" to the enemy and because the enemy is paralyzed (25% hit to crit received) the game checks conversion again and in this case it works and the hit gets converted to a crit. I guess all conversions get put in an array, list or directory in the order they were achieved. And then the game loops through the array and checks every conversion effect on you in that order - it will use the first conversion that rolls successfully. I don't think they get sorted (like hit to graze first and then hit to crit conversions). But I cannot say for sure.

I had most fun with the WotEP when I used it with a Steel Garrote/Bloodmage. I didn't use it to deal AoE damage but to drain health from melee enemies at the same time as casting spells (and using Blood Sacrifice). With Offensive Parry you daze enemies automatically which unlocks the Steel Garrote drain. You can then "passively" parry melee enemies and gain health from that and don't need to take action to heal yourself so often (good for your action economy). Against single targets (or when I wasn't tanky enough with the WotEP) I used Concelhaut's Draining Touch with the Grimoire switching trick so the Draining Touch never goes away during fights (with a large shield of needed, else with a club+modal in the offhand to lower enemies' Will for the Draining Touch (targets Will instead of deflection). This is also a great weapon setup in combination with Miasma + Ryngrim spells against mobs: they disengage and get wrecked by the hefty disengagement attacks which drain health (Draining Touch + Garrote). Again: disengagement attacks don't use any action time so you can cast spells instead. Obviously this isn't really a melee character in the traditional sense. It's more like a way to deal weapon damage and heal in the process without wasting action time but use this to cast (more) spells. While casting spells with you as the center (like Torrent of Flame for example) I really like Inspired Beacon (one of the few characters where I felt it was worth its heal cost). Naturally an Arcane Knight can become very tanky because of the combination of self buffs + Paladin passives. Not a striker though, so maybe it's not fun for somebody who likes to strike actively - then the aforementioned Soulblade/Trickster ist much better and also fun to play.

Just for emphasizing the healing/regeneration theme ("Vigorous Warthog"). Returning Storm is a fine pick for spell mastery in general.

That's what I meant with "if you really know what to do". Who thinks Raedric's Castle is difficult to clear out doesn't really know (yet) what to do imo. To me it's a fairly easy (but lengthy) step in the early game - and the reward is very high (bc. of masses of loot). That makes the following encounters even easier. Imo PoE encouters can be cracked open more easily with the right tools while Deadfire's might be generally easier to manage for somebody without much (meta) knowledge, but imo they are also less prone "to get played" as much as the PoE ones. I guess also because PoE has some weird, obscure mechanics (besides obscure stacking) which can make a big difference but is hard to discover. One exception on Deadfire are naval battles. Those can get tricked very easily (if you know how) and can get you superb and unique loot along with gold and XP extremely early (which makes the rest of the game easier, too). But in Deadfire, if you follow Benweth directly after meeting Furrante, then immediately go to Dunnage afterwards and think "ah okay, off to the Hanging Sepulchers" right away, you will get wrecked so substantially you might want to abandon the game. This can even happen if you meet Eamund the Fox on Dunnage right after solving Benweth and doing some "running around" quests on Dunnage. Eamund's party will be very hard to beat and it will feel very unfair because there's no indication that Dunnage might have such difficult battles beforehand. But if you level up in Nekataka with some non-violent quests before, mayne do a few easy ship bounties etc. and then go to Dunnage, suddenly Eamund is a joke and the Hanging Sepulchers aren't that bad afterwards. If you solve Arkemyr's Manor peacefully very early and then sail to Berkana's Observatory right away, the Torn Bannermen will crush you. If you manage to beatvm them with tons of resting and resources anyway, Concelhaut and his friends will finally bring you down. And imo he cannot really be tricked unless you are willing to pull out Lover's Embrace, Gouging Strike/Brand Enemy and are willing to exploit a pair of Bounding Boots. If you are lucky on your first run you won't even notice all that and think that Deadfore is easier than PoE. And I would say on average it is. But I've also read many rants from unlucky new players who complained about those perceived unfair difficulty spikes. And they had not many problems with PoE before. It can happen in PoE, too (cannot count the amount of rants about Crägholt Bluffs) but to a lesser extend because the game is less open. TL;dr: it depends.

Weird. I hope there was no secret "fix" because that would turn Vanishing Strike from decent into *pfffrrrt*. Unfortunately I cannot try it out atm because I'm on vacation and won't be back until September 7th.

I played PoE recently again after playing Deadfire for a long time. I just think Deadfire has more ups and downs. This also has a lot to do with how you progress. Imo it happens more frequently that you run into encounters which you are either under- or overleveled for. For example if you do Hanging Sepulchers too early (which can happen if you follow the Benweth/Furrante quest line too rigorously) it will wreck you. And if you don't go to the Vallian Ambassy early and get to Poko Kohara late - it's a cakewalk. This can also happen in PoE - but it's not as open and therefore the risk of that happening is lower overall. I also think that PoE's begining isn't very hard compared to Gorecci Street etc. IF you really know what to do. The enemies are more "playable", meaning their AI seems to be a lot more limited than Deadfire's. Imo

Nice. I don't know enough about Unity3D to anwer that question unfortunately. However I know that there are plugins for Unity3D which allow to use Arabic and Farsi. For example: https://github.com/Konash/arabic-support-unity Hello @Aarik D, is this of interest to you and your colleagues maybe? Cheers!

Hi, I once did a melee Stalker/Goldpact Knight which was very sturdy and used his very high accuracy potential (Zealous Focus, Stalker's Link, Flames of Devotion + Ring of Focused Flames, Marked Prey, Accuracy Wounding Shot) to deliver the deflection debuff of the Blade of the Endless Paths (-4 deflection on crit, stacks 5 times, also gains accuracy throughout the fight with every second). The result is a "marking" character with sturdyness, nice single target dmg and support who stomps a single enemy's deflection into the ground (for you, the party members and the wolf, too). It worked very well as frontliner.

Helm of the Falcon looks real nice with Devil of Caroc's Breastplate imo.

If you go with Reckless Brigandine: as headgear I'd recommend the White Witch Mask then. It looks good with the tribal-looking brigandine imo, it gives your illusions a +1 power level boost and it can cast Ryngrim's Rep. Visage for you 1/rest (automatically if you drop below 50% health). While this combo looks a bit weird on most races it fits super well for a "Mataru" themed character (so any type of Huana Warrior) imo. I don't know, dabateable. If you really like the weapon then bringing it to legendary makes sense. But I personally often don't even bring my favorite weapons up to superb and they usually work well enough. But if the rest of your party isn't very reliant on weapons and/or weapon quality (because they use mostly spells, have a weapon that comes superb or legandary or use soulbounds or summoned weapons) then I will def. bring my few favorites up to legendary (or even mythic).

PS: here's the list of permanent effects: https://pillarsofeternity.fandom.com/wiki/Status_effects_(Deadfire)#Permanent_effects

There is no general rule like "if you want to get the best stuff you have to be cruel" like in PoE (Gift of the Machine, Effigy's Resentment). Instead it's more diverse. There are some interactions where you can only get some stuff if you have a certain reputation (or if you don't have a certain one), like Nature's Resolve where you cannot have the cruel or agressive reputations (because then the fitting dialogue options won't show up). Nature's Resolve only lasts until the next rest though iirc. I cannot give a general direction to which reputation/disposition nets the overall best rewards because I don't remember. I can only say that the rewards are so insignificant (unless you are doing a n-rest run) that it's noth worth bending over backwards in order to get them (imo). There are also very few permanant effects in general. If I think about it: none of them requires a certain disposition. For certain nice unique items you need to get a bad reputation/relationship with a certain faction (see Gipon Prudensco for example).

Oha, that would have been much cooler than her just waiting casually on top of that tower. I guess release came faster than anticipated (as always ;)).

I don't see why I should have asked you a question. You should consider that I didn't write that text for you alone, but also for other readers who might find your rant (which is based on your subjective, very short first impression). They could get influeced by it if there's no counter, missing out on what I think is an excellent and fun game. Of course I am biased: I like the game very much. But still: I made some (I think) pretty solid arguments and gave examples as to why Deadfire's systems are superior compared to PoE's. I was polite, not agressive and I didn't judge your personal opinion. I literally said "it's absolutely valid to dislike the changes made". I merely objected your conclusion and your opinion about the game's systems. There also wasn't a blind defense. I took the time and worded my response carefully and wrote down a bunch of examples - one cannot step back, look at my reply and seriously call that a blind defense. I agree though that I'm not really interested in your position about the game. I'm more interested in the possible effects your rant might have on potential future players - and I want to present a counterargument which is trying to be more objective and resonable... so that those potential players have a chance to make a more educated decision. I like to help players who have problems with/questions about both games' mechanics, rules, builds, tactics and so on. But I'm not interested to play therapist for disappointed players. If you don't enjoy Deadfire then that's fine with me. Not everybody has to like the same things. You're welcome. I also answered your question about Avowed and other Obsidian games. I hoped that would be useful, too. Cheers!

Hi! Objectively, from the game mechanics perspective, Deadfire is the superior system. One can still dislike the changes from PoE to Deadfire of course - but often that seems to stem from the fact that people don't welcome any changes to something the liked in general, even if the changes are for the better. I felt the same way initially when Deadfire's beta came out (there is still a ranting post from me to be found here in the forums somewhere). I was just disappointed that they didn't keep the rules as they were instead of re-inventing the wheel - but I came around eventually once I got used to the changes and once I got an overall better grasp of the game and its new systems. I would suggest you give it a bit more time. I think it's totally worth it. Here are some changes to game systems which are improvements: power level scaling makes sure that low level abilities and spells scale/progress and stay impactful. For example: unlike PoE's Magic Missiles which are basically useless in the later game, Deadfire's Power Level scaling adds more and more missiles to that spell so that it's still worth casting even in the game the (multi)class system works very well and allows for a lot of interesting and fun to play combos. In PoE we only got some cross-class talents. the affliction/inspirations system is more intuitive and practical than PoE's affliction system which had no solid structure. It's also more tactical because you can counter afflictions with the fitting inspirations (and not only Priests' prayer spells) - and you get resistances and immunities on top While I miss the 6th party member, the endurance/health system and per-rest spells, the new approach (party of 5, only health, per-encounter spells) have their advantages, too. Mainly it made it easier to design and balance encounters - and imo one can feel and see that: a lot less meaningless filler fights for example. the PEN/AR scales much better with your progression than PoE's DR did (even though it's a bit too punishing on PotD imo) stealth in combination with sneaking and pickpocketing is just no comparison to PoE (pickpocket wasn't even possible) the interrupt/concentration system is a lot more tactical and not just an uncontrollable side effect it was in PoE - instead the interrupt is a powerful tool and having concentration is a meaningful protection against it unique item enchantments in PoE were not that diversified, the enchantment system is pretty generic: you put the same enchantments on every weapon/armor. In Deadfire every unique item has a unique enchtantment and weapons and armor have unique upgrade "trees" with interesting effects - many of them lead to cool combinations with certain (multi)class abilities which are fun to explore Deadfire has a nice UI-based AI-"if this than that"-scripting tool which is leages better than anything you can do with PoE's party AI settings pets (not the Ranger's Animal Companion) which were only cosmetic in PoE have useful individual and party-wide effects now in Deadfire the new weapon proficiencies grant you a weapon modal but the system doesn't give non-proficient weapons disadvantages - PoE's weapon focus soft-locked you out of certain weapon choices you can export party members as hireligs for other playthroughs the stacking rules are much less obscure and less "all over the place" in Deadfire the combat log is a lot more detailed and helpful the character info (currect stats, effects etc.) is more detailed And so on and so forth... I personally liked the tone and "vibes" of PoE better than Deadfire, I also liked the main story of PoE more - but the systems design of Deadfire is way, way better than PoE's. While it's absolutely valid to dislike the changes made (initially of forever) - a game has to meet your taste after all for you to be happy with it after all - it's not right to call Deadfire's game system inferior. Mechanically Avowed is nothing like PoE... or Deadfire either (unfortunately). Besides it being a first person, real time action RPG (like Skyrim etc.), it also has more streamlined character creation and progression systems, UI etc. due ot it being developed for gaming consoles (and therefore gamepads) as well. PoE and Deadfire were originally designed for PC only and their mechanics and the UI options are a lot more intricate. Outer Worlds stuff is the same as Avowed in that regard basically. There are lots of mods for Deadfire and they are easy to install and manage (Deadfire has a build-in mod manager - another plus). I took a quick look but cannot find any mod which would introduce a whole bunch of PoE rules into Deadfire - besides some minor things like putting PoE's Riposte chances into Deadfire - or some unique items. Here's an overview: https://www.nexusmods.com/games/pillarsofeternity2/mods?sort=createdAt Cheers!

I never have issues with keeping the animal companion alive, especially when it's a bear. Just don't use it as a tank, instead keep it back for a few seconds, let the real tank handle the incoming enemies and use the AC to flank - then it's totally fine imo. I played a solo melee Stalker/Bloodmage with little means to heal my bear and it went very well. If you have a Chanter (like your Shieldbearer/Troubadour or the Wildrhymer) in the party then even better: should you screw up and your AC goes down you can revive it unlimited times with "Rise Again" (PL4): animal companions never get injured and phrases are unlimited. And you can have some other means of rivival besides that (Paladin, Ranger himself). But I think with the occasional healing from White Flames, Lay on Hands from two Paladins etc. you should be totally fine. Since you also bring a Cipher (Seer): Pain Block is excellent on a bear.

sorry double post: a very good front liner who will be very self-sustainable despite the self damage- as long as he kills - is a Berserker/Beckoner or Troubadour. Max INT + INT items and a pet that heals +20 on kill. Amra as main weapon and 25+ MIG (rel. easy with the help of Frenzy and some +2 MIG gloves). High CON is also good. The key is to use Carnage and Amra's Riven Gore to accidentially kill your own skeletons while you attack the actual enemy with Bleeding Cuts. First Bloodlust will help you to speed up after any kill, you will get healed after any kill (including skeletons) which is a lot of healing. Then after getting Blood Thirst there will be no recovery after kills, the build turns into a bleeding cuts tornado. The only thing is: this is not a tank per se. If there's nothing to kill (quickly) he can do down fast. And party members with low health (under 50) can get instantly destroyed from Riven Gore while the Berserker is still confused. So better stay out of Carnage range. First you use Ancient Brittle Bones (Beckoner is the better pick), later Many Lives Pass By (Troubadour is better). You can use that also as Berserker/Fighter with Mob Stance on top of all the killing which makes it even more crazy (and sturdier) - if you have a Chanter in the party who can provide skeletons for you. But then you really really shouldn't go near this guy as party member.

Since you'd like a shield: I played a pretty straightforward main tank with an offensive twist for my party - made from a human Streetfighter/Devoted, themed as Gladiator. He used the Gladiator's Sword (obviously) and Bronlar's Phalanx (also kind of mandatory for the theme imo). Since swashbuckler Edér (no subclasses) always worked perfectly well for my parties in terms of tankyness, I thought that using a Streetfighter/Devoted shouldn't impact the sturdyness at all but improve the dmg output a lot. And it did. As main tank he will get flanked almost always, so no need for distracted or other "artifical" flanking shenanigans - just tank stuff and unlock "Heating Up" in the process, increasing recovery speed a lot and adding more sneak attack damage. Also Gladiator's Sword has incresed PEN (if enchanted fully) and the Devoted adds +2 PEN on top. That's +3 PEN with the sword for all pierce and slash damage which is great. Monastic Unarmed Training for enemies vulnerable to crush dmg. I'd use Hold the Line and Mob Stance for even more speed, Abraham for the speed and heal on kill. Large shield modal makes sure I don't receive damage much from spells while you can still move around with Escape. DEX could be a bit lower, PER a bit higher (to counter the -8 ACC from large shields). Armored Grace and Riposte obviously... I think I used Reckless Brigandine iirc for the added engagement, +AR when at low health and the added speed via engagement. I liked it very much because it performed a lot better than I expected. I guess it would work well with any good one-handed weapon, but Riposte and Mob Stance might favor battle axes with bleeding cuts. Against lower level kith the Magistrate's Cudgel should be absolutely devastating (crit => instakill => Cleave => maybe another crit and so on), but maybe then Mace + Devoted isn't the best pick (crush only). Stalker's Patience should also be great bc. Riposte and Cleave can trigger the recovery skip. It was a "hands off" character though - I didn't need to manage him a ton (like you would need to manage a Monk or so). I didn't even bother with special attacks like Crippling Strikes or so because he was a meat grinder just with auto-attacks. Used the Guile and Discipline for other stuff. Some players like that for their MC, others want "more to do" for their Watcher.

Hi, yeah, saving + reloading turns some active afteer-combat effects into passives - which then stack with everything. This is also possible with some food bonuses or the accuracy bonus of Hunter's Claw.