Boeroer

I edited the wiki accordingly: https://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Crossbows_(Deadfire) @theleeYou need to update your gamefaqs!

Dang! I just used a crossbow on my lvl-4-Skald and Come Soft Winds of Death got converted from hit to crit by the Bonus Crit Chance of the crossbow! I also have no other source of conversion yet. Crossbow = new caster stat stick.

Wild. Needs more testing!

What class are you playing? Are you sure that you have no other source of conversion? Because I know that the combat log entries for conversions are somewaht buggy (for example if you play a Debonaire and attack a charmed target then the log always tells you that it was converted from hit to crit by Dirty Fighting and not the Deboniare passive; if you don't pick Dirty Fighting it won't tell you you converted at all and so on). So maybe in this case the log is buggy again and displays the crossbow conversion although something else converted your attack roll? If that's not the case: well then you found out something new and interesting.

Debonaire/Beguiler is one of those combos that fit beautifully from a thematic perspective and also work really well. Charmed enemies will give you 100% hit to crit and that works right from lvl 1 on (if you pick Whisper of Treason) which is great. Ring Leader + Pernicious Cloud is pretty badass because it's friendly fire (so it will hit charmed enemies) and the crit solves the problem with the ability's low PEN. But beware: even the yellow circle will hit friends, so keep away from this dude when he's casting Pernicious Cloud. But also Disintegrate, Toxic Strike and su h is great with crits. Beguiler is my preferred cipher subclass anyway. While I like the Beguiler best in general I had tremendous fun with a Troubadour/Psion. Just because the resources will come to you without any effort and since you can alternate between phrases and focus there's always something to cast. Very versatile! Ciphers work very well with Monks. +10 INT is great for any CC/debuff effect, especially since it stacks with Cipher's Lingering Echoes, but also the bonus ACC from Dance of Death is cool. With a Monk you can even use a melee weapon and play at range (Instruments of Pain). And you'll have some useful summons, too (Dichotomous Soul). A Nalpasca/Psion with Dance of Death could almost play like a Troubadour/Psion I guess: wounds and focus come for free as long as you don't get hit. Wizard/Psion or Wizard/Beguiler can pull off a neat trick: With Arkemy's Brilliant Departure you can stay invisible while casting CC/debuffs without damge components! Wall spells are also fair game. That mean with Wall of Draining you can actually stay invisible for he whole encounter as long as you don't deal damage. As Psion your focus generation will never cease to work because you're invisible - as Beguiler you can cast Deception after Deception for gaining focus and doing CC/Debuff. And some Wizard spells are great in combination with Cipher spells, too. Take Miasma for example. You just want a cipher subclass that can generate focus without dealing damage. In general I find single classes good, there are just some classes where I'm more exited about the PL 8/9 stuff. Cipher is not one of them. Not that the PL8/0 stuff of Ciphers is particulary bad, no (Shared Nightmare for example is a pretty great passive, especially for an Ascendant) - but it's just not that exciting to me.

It's just a rel. cheap way to fill a game I guess.

Arcane Dampener will work. It doesn't get rid of Llengrath's Safeguard but it will suppress it. Other ways: Concussive Tranquilizer (Ranger), Street Sweeper (weapon), Magran's Might (Priest of Magran). The easiest way is to make sure Neriscyrlas doesn't cast Llengrath's Safeguard. A Wizard can use Thrust of Tattered Veil to interrupt the cast. It's an auto-hit and interrupts 100%. But you need to remove the dragon's concentration with other interrupts first. Or with a Chanter's phrase. Arbalests and Crossbows can help a lot, too. Both may interrupt while targeting deflection (which isn't that high with Neriscyrlas). Slicken is also good if you can buff the Wizard's ACC enough.

Hm... indeed quite similar to Watchful Presence. Only dmg shield instead of healing. I have another question: there are some effects like Ryngrim's Repulsive Visage, Relentless Storm, Nature's Terror and such which attach an effect to your character but it won't show up under "beneficial effects" and thus can't be prolonged with SoT/WoD. Would it be possible to use an ability like Ryngrim's Repulsive Visage but instead of causing terrify in an AoE it would cause the BDD effect in an AoE? If so, would it be possible to turn the AoE into "target:self" only? Or make the AoE so darn small it wouldn't touch bystanders? If that was possible then all the problems with Wall of Draining, SoT would be gone, right?

But they removed a lot of filler combats with a patch. Although in WM there are again some unnecessary fights (looking at Russetwood and Longwatch Falls).

I didn't mean that you could use empoiwer more often per encouter though (imo that's way too impactful) but simply to be able to restore Empower points so you won't have to rest in order to get them. It's true that at some point (if you're at max Empower) it wouldn't do anything more for you. But is that so bad? I can imagine to give Brilliant +5 INT, +3 (or 2?) PL and +Empower points so that it's always better than Acute even if Empower points are at max.

Not particularly well. Like any Priest/Celebrant/Zealot could tank - nothing special but if he's not the only one who gets attacked it's doable.

BDD did allow to reach 0 health without knockout on release. But it interfered with stuff (like Vengeful Defeat I think) so it was changed to 1. The Fire Stag of Druids does explode at 0 health - but it still doesn't "die" when under effect of Barring Death's Door --> unlimited explosions. So that "at 0 health" trigger has to be in the game I presume? It could be that the Stag has a more complicated trigger but I don't really think so.

If you don't do boarding fights you can ignore that on any difficulty.

Tell that to Lucia Rivan. It seems that Death Guards don't necessarily have to be on good terms with Berath. Only that their will is strong enough to defy death when it's supposed to come. +50% Action/Recovery debuff is easy, elegant and good since it discourages time stuff/prolonging shenanigans. But once you couple it with Blade Cascade we're back at 0. I actually quite like the Death Guard idea (it's my own after all, hehe, #selflove). Not that it has to be implemented of course, but the lore it implicates is cool imo. I'll develop the idea further (just bear with me, I'm only brainstorming): Every time you hit 0 health while under the effect of Barring Death's Door you'll get an instance of "Mark of Berath (or whatever it's called)". Effects: -10% healing received, -10% max health, +50% duration of Barring Death's Door. At some point (which cannot be reached in game) you'll have 0 "real" health but very long duration of BDD and when you finally go down you'll rise as Death Guard. Yes, of course. Good point. Good point as well. I like a debuff during BDD. Maybe Action speed etc. could get countered by Blade Cascade so maybe something else. But the general idea is good I think. I don't recall any enemies with suoerhigh health who use BDD. But maybe there are. Could be solved with Enfeeblement as a counter though (if not resistant to CON affl.) or by destroy-abilities (Touch of Death, Disintegrate etc.)? But yes: if there's such enemies it would be a problem. Does somebody know enemies like that?

You simply run back up to the house where Vatnir's at. Afaik the Messenger is too big to follow? If not you can simply place your party somewhere out of sight and just go in with the Paladin, apply Brand Enemy and then use a potion of invisibility to retreat to your party asap. Or you just let the Paladin go KO while your party waits out of sight. Combat will not end because the DoT prevents it. It's rel. foolproof. I did my test with lvl-1 Edér and a lvl-5 paladin. But I spawned Neriscyrlas with the console into the early-game caverns on Port Maje. I placed Edér in front of the dragon, applied Brand Enemy, retreated while the Dragon attacked and killed Edér. Then it stood there and burned. I went to prepare some food for the kids and when I came back it was dead.

Cool in general but this sounds a bit too complicated to explain to the average player. I would suggest: Barring Deaths Door will prevent knockout and injury and heal you up to full and then immediately ends. That way: no abuse with time warping effects like SoT and Wall of Draining. If you add an injury it's pretty bad if you want to save fellows who already are severely injured. Or instead: one could add a debuff until rest instead of an injury. Like "Mark of Berath" which gives you +recovery time every time you should have gotten knocked out during BDD. Or -x% healing received. Hey this could explain how people turn into Death Guards. Once you reach -100% from this effect you'll be a Death Guard.

Funny - I almost never use it. I guess first of all it's good if you are able to stack/combine it with other forms of passive party healing like Exalted Endurance and Lethandria's Devotion, Blackened Plate and so on. At some point you will feel a substantial difference I guess. It's also good in combination with damage-mitigating strategies like high defenses + high AR - so great for tanks usually. Also good in combo with Her Courage. And secondly I think it spares you to use a dedicated healing ability "in advance" from time to time. Which can be valuable because that takes at least some recovery time. But I agree that AM alone isn't something I'm too exited about. Other phrases are a lot more appealing to me. For example Many Lives Pass by does a much better job when it's about preventing knockouts. You just fill the battle with decoys - nobody's attacking your party members anymore.

Yes, they do.

Yes, 10 MIG is ok. You want to put a lot into RES.

Normally, if you get two of the same injuries the second one automatically becomes a major injury (third: critical injury). I guess fatigue would be no exception.

Yes it does. And I would strongly recommend Steel Garrote/Trickster for such a setup and using both Offensive Parry and Riposte.

I used to be that way, too. Also in TTRPG sessions. Age somehow cured this.

...then somebody does a Lover's Embrace from stealth...

In this case it's simply based on my enjoyment. Therefore I first need to try it (in most cases). Of course it's not much fun to play an underperforming character in CRPGs (while it can be fun in TTRPGs) as well. But the opposite - like playing a character who has a win-button build in - is also no fun. It's a tightrope walk - but the rope is rel. thick I think. I can have fun with a lot of characters. One key is some interesting, effective mechanics but not too much repetitive micro (like using 123 buffs every time combat starts), another that I personally discovered some nice things about my character build and also that I can somehow connect to the character. That includes a somewhat believable appearance, motivation and backstory - even if it's just a rudimentary thing in the back of my head. So playing a Huana Debonaire in Patinated Plate with Fair Favor, rapier + flail and using the drunk pose... not for me. Anyway: some stuff just feels too strong for me to enjoy it. I don't say other players shouldn't enjoy them - just play how you like it of course. It's just my personal preference and it's complicated. There are even exceptions: I consider SC Monk with dual mortars pretty OP in a party setup for most fights - yet it was so much fun to play.

I don't find it too cheesy to hire a specialized Paladin to fight the Messenger in order to get Vatnir real soon. You're meta-gaming already to get this companion sooner than usual - and then it's just another small step to hire a fitting Paladin for that special task and say farewell to that special dragon hunter afterwards.