Boeroer

Ships shouldn't attack you more frequently on higher difficulties as long as you use the Watcher of Dyrwood flag - unless you really have bad reputation with one of the factions. Did you by any chance change the flag your ship is flying? Maybe to Vaillian? Principi will hunt Vaillian ships. If one faction's ships are giving you a hard time just fly their flag.

Never hesitate to restart.

Now I'm thinking that it would be fun to cast Pain Link on the enemies, too. Maybe that's possible when confused? I guess that's not an option when solo - but is it possible at all?

Seems more like a description of personal feelings than an attempt to analyze or explain why Deadfire was less popular. Not that this is bad or so, everybody may express their feelings of course - but in the scope of this "armchair" thread it's neither a theory nor is it very insightful imo. Take these examples: Was the skill spread something that the individual player didn't personally like? Yes. Is it plausible that the skill spread had any meaningful impact on the success of Deadfire? No. That's not a common complaint (at all). Didn't the player like any interaction with companions besides Edér? No. Does that mean the majority of players felt the same? No. That's not a common complaint. Players have different favorite companions. Does the player think that it's obvious that Deadfire lacks a lot of magic PoE1 had? Yes. Is it really that obvious to anyone else who played the game? No. The user reviews are nearly identical. It may be - but it's not obvious. Else Obsidian would know what to change (which they don't). Does the player think that it's even obvious why Deafire is lacking compared to PoE1? Yes. Does he manage to explain why? No.

Vatnir's difficult bc. of the Messenger encounter. But you can hire a SC Assassin adventurer with an arquebus + modal and put Gouging Strike on the Messenger, then use Smoke Veil and retreat out of sight. Afer doing some household chores while Deadfire runs in the background it should be dead and you can get Vatnir. Not at level 2, but as soon as the hireling can have Gouging Strike. Also possible with any other character + Potion of Invisibilty + Lover's Embrace and Bounding Boots from stealth. Target the Leapt to the Messenger - but pause right after activating it. Unpause/pause/unpause/pause in quick succession with the spacebar until your dotted green character circle appears ner the Messenger but you are still in the air. Cancel the Leap action. You will stand right beside the Messenger, still stealthed. Attack with Lover's Embrace (and hope that you at least graze, so better to use it single-handed). Drink potion an leap away out of sight asap. Then also wait. You can also combine the two apporaches - which makes the Messenger die more quickly. Also an Assassin has a lot easier time to actually land a hit from stealth. Means lesser reloads. Even quicker if you can also apply Brand Enemy (auto-hit). But it's not strictly necessary. One endless DoT is sufficient if you're willing to wait and to reload for your lucky shot. It's very anticlimactic to bring down a dragon that way though.

Yes, good interjection. At that point you can almost be a main tank instead of an offtank. And still be reasonable offensive at the same time.

Since fun is very subjective I guess the title is absolutely okay. I don't think you will use Blade Turning 100% of times anyway. Optimizing a build for it (and having fun while doing so) doesn't mean the character can do nothing else. Also doing a successful solo run can be fun in itself - even if the character appears to be a one-trick pony.

It's +20% damage on top of Soul Whip which doesn't turn off at max focus like with other ciphers. Not wild - but the only Cipher who not only retains bonus damage when at full focus but even gets an additonal one. In this special case it might be even a good idea to pick Biting Whip over Draining Whip. With Community Patch I would totally recommend it.

Today I learned that my wife will attend an audience with the Pope on Wednesday.

Maybe the +1 engagement from "Shield Engagement" might help with that?

Druid is great too. While shifted a druid with Avenging Storm can deal more single target damage than a rogue - and still has all the spells at his disposal. Even his best summoned weapon (Rot Skulls) is great. And who hasn't met some Ogre Druids and was so annoyed and decimated by Plague of Insects?

SF/HDB procs: shouldn't make a difference whether you use TP or dual weapons. As soon as you trigger one of them the next additional attacks will be done with the main hand weapon. And since Tuotilo's Palm can use the modal, +5 ACC and the usually higher than normal ACC scaling of Transcendent Suffering it should proc SF/HBD well enough. And if you really want to focus on SF/HBD procs as a tanky Shadowdancer you should use Riposte (Full Attack, both of them can proc SF/HBD) and Outward Spikes of Tuotilo's Palm. Its PEN doesn't scale and it does ridiculously low damage - but it will proc SF/HBD and since this will trigger main hand attacks this increases your chance to proc crit chains a lot when getting attacked - especially by several enemies at once. Besides that: if the goal is to trigger SW/HBD as much as possible (which wouldn't be my focus sice it's great against squishy targets but rather ineffective against difficult foes - but depends on the difficulty) one should equip Sun & Moon in the main hand. No other weapon allows a higher frequency of crit chains because both heads will get rolled again with every proc. It works a bit like a nuclear chain reaction where one hit has the potential to trigger two additonal hits which then each have the chance... and so on. Here I made a quick vid with a Shadowdancer who uses SF/HBD with Tuotilo's Palm with Outward Spikes and Ripste + Sun & Moon to showcase how they proc crit chains. I'm not attacking actively, it's just the enemies' misses which trigger those chains (attention upon opening he spoiler tags: 30MB animated gif): Sorry for the nested spoiler tags - no idea how to remove that.

Generally speaking Psion is excellent because it doesn't rely on anything else than time to gain focus (like a Chanter) - which can be a big advantage against enemies that are tough to hit and/or if there aren't a lot of enemies to begin with. A Beguiler only can generate focus via Deception spells if there's enough enemies to hit. But in this "ranged auto-attacker" case I agree that a Psion will def. fall behind a Beguiler or Ascendant in most encounters. Mainly because a ranged auto-attacker's main purpose it to deal weapon damage and a Psion doesn't profit from that nor does he contribute to that. Beguiler as well as Ascendant are better suited to synergize with a ranged weapon attacker because they gain focus from that weapon damage (which you wanna deal in the first place) and do additional damage via Soul Whip. Beguiler can get additional focus from Deceptions (but also has to cast stuff or else: why bring a Beguiler?), but this takes away time for shooting your weapon (which was supposed to be your priority). Ascendant gains more focus from weapon damage so can ascend more quickyl - and when ascended has increased Soul Whip damage. So an Ascendat can actually contribute to ranged damage even without casting a single spell. Of course you want cast some spells (like Borrowed Instincts and Tactical Meld) - but even if you don't it's not a moot class combo. That's why I personally think that if you go for Ranger/Cipher in order to build a ranged (auto) attacker you should pick Ascendant. Psion is awesome for certain builds (mostly Psion/Caster of any kind) but in this case it wouldn't be my pick.

If you have Blade Turning active you can also use Enduring Dance. With lots of INT and some Power Levels it's enough to sustain Blade Turning. It takes 7 hits to end it so that's usually plenty of time. But with a Nalpasca it's surely much easier to uphold. You can also generate wounds with Parting Sorrow if you engage enemies and then kill them (with Blade Turning) which will be counted as "broke engagement because dead" - but that's less reliable of course. Other ways of generating wounds while using Blade Turning is to use self damaging abilites. Berserker/Monk (Frenzy) and Wizard/Monk (Deleterious Alacrity of Motion) come to mind. DAoM deals enough damage to sustain Blade Turning but of course you need to make sure you get some healing in between. By the way: self damage doesn't interfere with Enduring Dance. Monk/Wizard is also a great choice because it leads to Wall of Draining. With that you can prolong Blade Turning endlessly. So you don't even have to generate wounds anymore to have it for a very, very long time (as long as there are more than 1 enemies in your Wall and then some). WoD also prolongs all other benefical effects - like Minor Lay on Hands from those early gloves. Which means you can prolong DAoM to gain wounds while healing up again at the same time AND have Blade Turning active. Against ranged characters you can just use a Large Shield (Blade Turning doesn't care about your ACC malus), Weapon & Shield Style, use the modal and cast WoD + deflection buffs like Mirrored Images, Llengrath's Safeguard and Soul Mirror. They will miss a ton and if they hit they will do whimpy dmg. Eventually they will shoot themselves to death. Also this helps a ton against AoE spells thrown at you (the shield + modal, not Soul Mirror).

Right. Dual daggers don't do anything for you defensively compared to a single dagger. Dagger's modal does stack with Borrowed Instincts though. So a Beguiler with small shield, dagger and Borrowed Instincts could reach repectable deflection and good overall defenses. Cast Psychovampiric Shield, too. Since Beguiler gets focus from casting Deceptions most of times (and those also help to tank better) that could be a viable strategy. Dagger's reduced dmg wouldn't matter. Or use a hatchet... Cast Phantom Foes to gain a lot of focus and follow up with Secret Horrors to seriously impede enemies' offense. Then check out how the fight is going. Also Whisper of Treason, Puppet Master and Ring Leader can be string tools for tanking: you just let the enemies tank for you. All things the Beguiler is good at. I would also consider medium shields. The -4 ACC isn't that bad - and you can activate the block modal which is nice and only slows down your weapon attacks, not your casting. Nerian's Ward is a great medium shield for a tankisjh character. The conversion upgrade is sweet. By the way: the (Greater) Fire Shield of Magran's Blessing does generate focus... so that's also an option.

That may be the case in easier encounters, but in the DLCs and other late(r) game content this isn't true. At least in my experience. The longer the fights last the more important the defenses become (and refreshing resources, too). Riposte is good for somebody who wants to tank or offtank. It even triggers SF/HDB, doesn't it? And as I said the usage of Tuotilo's Palm doesn't mean that much of an offensive difference. Keep in mind it also raises the ACC (or damage) of your Forbidden Fist ability. And as I also said for FF and Toxic Strike etc. it doesn't matter at all since it's either a primary attack or the DoT is the important part (wich isn't connected to the weapon's base damage at all). Ranged enemies are seldomly affected by Repulsive Visage, yet Tuotilo's Palm will protect you from shots and spells as well. Might as well consider Soul Mirror in addition now that I think of it... I also really like the combination of TP and Adept Evasion. You can then cross/enter your party members' reflex-targeting AoEs and not be affected most of times. If you want to use stuff like Toxic Strike and Confounding Blind a lot (which are both quite expensive) I wonder where the Guile for Mirrored Images and Repulsive Image comes from. Sure, in short encounters you can just burn through your Guile and Mortification - but in my opinion that isn't a viable strategy in prolonged fights like for example in SSS or FS - or even Splintered Reef or Drowned Barrows. It may depend on the difficulty setting though. I only play PotD so that means fights will take longer and enemies are a lot sturdier and more numerous. Maybe on lower difficulties my argument doesn't apply. Just keep in mind OP asked for offtanking, so a good mix of defense and offensive is a good starting point I believe. With Tuotilo's Palm you only give away a little bit of damage compared to a normal dual fist/weapon setup - but gain so much defense in return (also compared to a normal small shield bc. of "balanced shield"). The PoE build OP used (Juggernaut) was a very sturdy monk build. Flagellant's Patch cast time is 1.4 sec and it has 3 secs recovery, not "no Recovery". You can exploit it with reloading weapons and skip their lengthy reload entirely (and thus I will use it with guns), but you will never have 0 recovery - unless you play a Monk/Barb with Blood Thirst. Also the long casting time is annoying as heck imo. Swift Flurry/Hearbeat Drumming can kill regardless of Flagellant's Path. There's no causal connection so I don't know how this can be an argument for Flagellant's Path? If you use FP you'll have 2 less Mortification you cannot get back. That means less uses for Swift Flurry and Stunning Surge (you won't always get a refund against tough enemies). Imo it's a lot better to use Escape (which has a casting time of 0.5 secs and actually has 0 recovery) and then use Stunning Surge at the target. You'll have even higher chances for Swift Flurry/HBD to trigger (bc. stun causes -10 deflection), caused an affliction and likely get a refund for the Mortification you spend. FP's low PEN crush damage "on the way" is not enough to convince me to use it over Stunning Surge. It surely isn't "insanely good" - unless I missed some secret sauce until now. Finally: if you are like me and use Bounding Boots a lot (because the Leap can be free if you know how) you don't even need to spend anything on Escape. The positioning is also way easier. Often with FP and Escape you don't arrive at the spot you wanted to. I don't think that Ciphers have significantly more dialogue options in Deadfire. At least that wasn't obvious to me. They get some special lines, but other classes get that, too. Anyway that wouldn't be my motivation to play Cipher. I might be mistaken but it's not nearly as "disbalanced" as in PoE where the Cipher got so many more (interesting) options. Monastic Unarmed Training doesn't have the weird mechanics of PoE anymore (although I liked those I have to say). It's a "true" weaker form of Transcendent Suffering. Where TS scales every 2 Power Levels, MUT scales every 3. But there is some small bug - it's in your favor though. Check it out in detail here (courtesy of @thelee) : https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/pc/227477-pillars-of-eternity-ii-deadfire/faqs/76599/monastic-unarmed-training I agree. With high RES & stuff it doesn't make a big of difference. Still that little difference is why I like to get Clarity of Agony. Sometimes - when in a tight spot and a stacked curse or other afflictions bother you - you can just cancel hostile effects nearly instantly (-5 secs and -50% duration in combination with the high RES). One time I even picked Enlightned Agony and went with Iron Wheel instead of Turning Wheel. The +5 INT countered the "loss" of the INT bonus from Turning Wheel (won't stack anyway) and I got bonus AR and CON - which isn't too bad for a Forbidden Fist I must say. Also because your Fortitude defense can reach stellar heights this way (especially in combination with Thunderous Blows). If you then get only grazed by nasty afflictions that target fortitude (and combine it with the high RES or even Clarity of Agony and Crucible of Suffering) you will only suffer very shortly, your defenses will be up even more and you'll get a wound very quickly. Well said. The description is a bit misleading: when you read it you might assume that the first use of FF will give you no bonus dmg (because you have no curse on you when using it, so it should be +0% dmg, right?) - but the curse gets applied to you first. I mean before the attack roll on the enemy happens. That attack roll already takes "its own curse" it placed on you into account. That's why Haplok's calculation is correct - despite the official description somewhat suggesting otherwise. 3 stacks can kill you very quickly if you're not toying around with Barring Death's Door or similar effects or very strong healing. If you do use (prolonged) Barring Death's Door you can reach absurd amount of damage bonuses. I that case you might not even want to rase Resolve - because the longer the curse the easier to stack it. For me personally that's too cheesy. But if you like to punch holes through Engwithan ruins' walls then go for it! Some additional info: the Forbidden Fist ability targets deflection - but the enfeeble effect does a separate attack roll against fortitude. This can miss a lot when you fight against high fortitude enemies. In that case Evenmed Strikes can help. "Huh?" you say? Yes, it may seem redundant at first because EnvStrikes only weakens while ForbFist gloriously enfeebles - BUT Envenomed Strikes' weakeing effect is not a separate hit roll! Let that sink in for a sec. It applies its weaking affliction automatically if you crit with any melee attack (ususally targeting deflection). The automatic weakening effect then already lowers fortitude by 10 points - which then might help your Forbidden Fist ability to enfeeble more successfully. Of course that's not a critical advantage and I guess one really has to think about spending that extra point for that obscure synergy - but I wanted to point that out because it flew under the radar for so long (also mine until recently). You mean the -10 deflection and the -1 AR make up for a missing level of fist scaling? It sure helps. The good thing is that almost nobody is immune to flanking (Eoten are). But I don't understand where the Tactician comes in since you could do the same with the Devoted. But maybe you mean because you would cast Phantom Foes a lot anyway because of Brilliant Tactician? With MUT you have to plan out your PL progression in advance I think. This can reveal if you will have to use stuff like Stone of Power (+1 PL)* and/or Tactical Barrage (+1 PL) instead of Disciplined Strikes to lift your fists over the next threshold. The good thing about MUT is that is trats even multiclasses as if they had single class PL progression. So "internally", for the purpose of determining your MUT scaling, your multiclass is treated as if it were a singel class. See the link I posted above how exactly the progression will be. The other good thing about MUT (on Devoted) is that they don't get the -10 ACC malus because you are always proficient with fists. So they are excellent backup weapons for the Devoted. )* if you have two Stoes of Power you can stack them in the stash. That will recharge the per-rest use automatically - you can use it in every encounter then.

How would I? I'm turning 45 in a few weeks. All I know is that if I use that ominous internet to google "boomer" it gives me the "born between 1945 and 1965". At best it is a very ambiguous term. To use it in this case means to paint with the really broad brush. If you do that you're basically a... wait for it... "broomer" - lol. The term "grognard" denominates those people you talk about a lot better imo. But that's just a sidenote. To the rest I do agree. Don't know if that's the reason for low sales numbers though. (Codex) grogs are just a fraction of potential customers and I also believe they don't have a lot of influence on the whole target group. But yes: their nostalgia drivel is annoying.

I don't think a lot of boomers play CRPGs. I'm one of the older guys here - but I'm a whole generation after. If you'd replace "boomers" with "grognards" that would totally fit. Especially the "write novels about unfulfilled nostalgia" part.

That's totally fine imo. With a lot of games (with a story) it's what I do, too. What actually keeps me playing PoE and Deadfire is this forum. So many ideas get discussed that at some point I want to dive in again and try something new. Often I don't finish the run then though but lose interest before (once I validated that something I thought about works - or doesn't). Sometimes I manage to finish though. I don't do Megabosses most of the times - it's just too tedious nowadays.

It's way too expensive with 2 Mortification for my taste. Escape is the better alternative imo. I need Mortification for other stuff. If you pick Riposte and consider the increasing returns of high deflection (and also keep in mind that Tuotilo's Palm gets +1 deflection/+1 reflex per wound) it's a crime not to use it imo. With Adept Evasion and Tuotilo's Palm + Weapon and Shield Style you will get missed by almost all reflex based AoE spells. ANd of course overcoming your deflection will be very hard. At the same time Tuotilo's Palm's damage is not that important if you apply stuff like Toxic Strike or Ring the Bell or use Forbidden Fist (which is a primary attack anyway). Imo the greatly increased defenses are totally worth the bit of dmg los. Also a bash from Tuoltilo's Palm (or any offhand weapon for that matter) that Triggers Swift Flurry or Heartbeat Drumming will proc attacks with the main hand weapon anyway - so in case of Swift FLurry/HBD chains it doesn't even matter what you are wearing in the offhand. And Tuotilo's Palm not only has Precision Striker (+5 ACC) but also the modal which gives you +15 ACC for your next attack - should enemies miss you (which they will). Also a shield means +1 engagement. With Persistent Distraction you will have 2. Nice to have with Parting Sorrow imo. Especially if you want to use Ryngrim's RV. Absolutely worth it in my experience. One of the few cases where I actually use Tuotilo's Palm. If one uses Shattered Pillar then Whispers of the Endless Paths is also great. Offensive Parry generates wounds for the Shattered Pillar. Riposte won't but it procs the cone attack which isn't bad either. And of course the cone AoE with Turning Wheel is quite big which makes stuff like Efficient Anguish lots of fun. With Morning Star + Envenomed Strikes + Stunning Surge you can lower enemies' fortitude by 45 points and then use Efficient Anguish (targets fortitude). This procs Swift FLurry/HBD quite often then. Also the Willbreaker has the enchantment "Make them Flinch" (25% miss to graze) which - combined with Gauntlets of Greater Reliability (also 25% miss to graze) is very good against enemies with very high deflection (in order to easily apply Body Blows even if you otherwise would miss all the time). Miss to graze is such in undervalued conversion imo.

It will. With Forbidden Fist an additional feature is that you can use something like a sabre in one setup, a spear on the other - and still have a crush alternative with your forbidden fist ability (which doesn't use your weapon but has its own crush base dmg). So enemies' AR or immunties will be no problem a all.

One reason is there's no drawback when your AC gets knocked out - because it's a summon. You won't suffer Bonded Grief and can just summon it again (for 1 Bond). Also cool: just dropping your Animal Companion behind sombody - or in places a normal AC couldn't reach easily. Drawbacks: you can't have AC + summons. Your AC has a duration and also the act of summoning costs a bit time and a bit of resources. Also your AC can get dispelled (because it's a spirit). But that rarely happens (if ever).

Mediocre MIG, mediocre CON, above average DEX, PER, INT and RES. If Forbidden Fist: max RES. From the top of my head (not in that order, didn't count if too many): Fist (and a non-crush weapon as backup, for example a sabre) + Tuotilo's Palm (Balanced Shield + Precision Striker), Weapon & Shield Style, Two Weapon Style, Escape, Dirty Fighting, Riposte, Arterial Strike, Ring the Bell, Toxic Strike, Adept Evasion, Persistent Distraction, Deep Wounds, Deathblows, Turning Wheel, Lightning Strikes or Swift Flurry, Efficient Anguish, Thunderous Blows, Enervating Blows, Parting Sorrow, Heartbeat Drumming. If Forbidden Fist also Crucible of Suffering and Clarity of Agony. My preferred armors would be Casita Samelia's Legacy with max Intimidation or Nomad's Brigandine. If nobody else desperately wants them then also Cloak of Greater Deflection and Bracers of Greater Deflection. If Forbidden Fist then Stand of Favor and Cabalist's Gambeson and all the RES gear you can find (including the Evee pet dog and food with -x% to hostile effects duration). I think Forbidden Fist/Trickster fits quite nicely because Forbidden Fist wants high RES to make his curse as short as possible - and deflection bonuses have increasing returns: the more the better - so the high RES is great in combination with Mirrored Images and additional deflection stuff. MIG can be at 10 anyway. Trickster gets plenty of damage bonuses. IN case of Forbidden Fist it also holds the self damage at bay. Forbidden Fist is not that easy to play in the early game because you will have slower wound generation as with a normal monk or Shattered Pillar. But it's very rewarding after some levels imo. The Forbidden Fist ability is very strong. Enfeebled prolongs all hostile effects on the enemy by 50% and prvents healing completely, +10 INT from Turning Wheel adds 50% more duration. So stuff like Ring the Bell or Toxic Strike (good raw dmg DoTs) last for a very, very long time. You can "escape" to an enemy, punch him with Forbidden Fist + Ring the Bell (or Toxic Strike), zip to the next, do Forbidden Fist + Stunning Surge (very long stun), zip to the next and so on. It can be mad fun. And you won't have to bother about getting damaged too much because you will be sturdy and tanky enough. Also off-tanking is no problem.

Yes, the "directly damaging yourself" might be the thing that breaks it. Who know... I'm too lazy to search the game files for that.