Boeroer

I don't know how Ciphers and Chanters work in TB mode but you had lots of fun with a Troubadour/Psion in RTwP mode because you never stop casting: once phrases are depleted you cast with focus - if focus is depleted you cast with phrases again. And both classes start combat with some focus AND phrases so you can cast right away. The "downside" (not really) is that you almost never use any weapons - because you don't need to. If you focus on the shorter casts (some Cipher spells do have short casting times and most offensive Chanter invocations have) I suppose you will have little downtime in TB mode...?

Gipon Prudensco is a padded armor. And obviously it's an exception because it has some very good unique enchantments that help with tanking (giving you more deflection AND immunity to flanked which means 1 more AR and 10 more deflection than a char who gets flanked) and also comes legendary.

The correct name would be "The Wall" - it's the modal that you get when picking the weapon proficiency for large shields. It's one of the best (if no the best) modal for tanks because it makes ranged attacks and AoE damage almost meaningless due to the hefty dmg malus (that stacks with the ones from grazes and underpenetration). I suspect often it's all the high PEN shots of enemy rogues/rangers and such that will bring down your tank, not so much the melee attackers. Leather armor on a tank is not sufficient at all. Def. put all AR you can get on a tank.

A non-Soulblade Cipher can cast Ring Leader from stealth and out of combat at lvl 18. Level 17 if he takes the passive Greater Focus. An Ascendant can reach that point at lvl 14 due to his increased maximum focus. Picking Keen Mind doesn't help in this special case (in RTwP at least) because the +10 "starting" focus only gets added once combat starts. So if your Cipher is supposed to cast opening CC from stealth in order to initiate combat he should be an Ascendant I think.

Usually all offensive spells (usually spells that require a hit roll but also auto-hits like Minor Missiles or Sworn Enemy) that don't rely on resources you won't have to out of combat (wounds, focus, phrases) can be cast from stealth. The second point is kind of obvious (can't cast an invocation that costs 5 phrases if you don't have any phrase for example) but maybe that's what causes a bit of confusion when it comes to seeing a general rule. I personally think that for example Whisper of Treason is an excellent spell to use from stealth in RTwP. You basically place a summon (kind of) right into the ranks of the enemy. It has rel. short range so you need decent stealth in RTwP. Later Ring Leader is just superb for the same reasons.

The Mage Slayer's passive that prevents the usage of potions and scrolls? Fits "picky eater" and "illiterate". Don't know if one can separate this from the arcane resistance though. Cowardice from Debonaire Tactical Dilemma from Tactician

I don't know about any instability issues with the Community Patch.

Since I don't play turn-based I can't say. For RTwP my pick would be Unbroken/Trickster.

Yes, it works the same if you pick the "Fight Another Day" enchantment.

Some multiclasses are very frontloaded (e.g. Rogue/Paladin) while others have their peak later. Monk's really good stuff starts at mid levels, Fighter's even later.

Blunting Belt is both iirc: fixed in some places AND random in other places (Boots of Speed also have this).

The cone of Clear Out is much bigger than the cone of WotEP. I can't say how big the cone of Karabörü is (like Clear Out it has no AoE indicator and cannot be triggered 100% reliably during testing). Yes, high INT (or even max) is kind of mandatory for AoE weapons. Brawler shouldn't have a hard time to gain high INT though? Unless you picked Iron over Turning Wheel that is. And even then you can still use Enlightened Agony to get +5 INT at least - no need to pick Tactical Barrage if one likes Disciplined Strikes too much. Even as 14 INT-Brawler you could get a helmet with +2 (for example Heaven's Cacophony) and an amulet with +2 (Charm of Bones) and then put +10 on top with Turning Wheel --> 28 INT. Ot let's assume your Turning Wheel bonus is +5 on avagerage: still 23 INT.

He said that because with dumped DEX and heavy armor you will most likely be the last one in the turn order - and then it's hard to interrupt/CC before casters let loose Arcane Dampener etc.. Although I don't completely understand why that's a general problem when 90% of fights can be initiated from stealth (with interrupts/CCs like Slicken for example) where your initiative doesn't matter. Of course you should avoid boarding fights then. Maybe I miss something though.

You lost me there.

Josh wrote some months ago that Deadfire broke even. That was long after release so I guess you can say that it got a long tail. Most RPGs do. I'm quite surprised that yesterday the concurrent player peak was 1.5 K.

I was referring to the Edér dating sim "Under Oaf" that should be pitched to Josh. Before the new theme that got slapped onto the forum recently that was a laughing-tears emoji at the end. Now it's a sad one. Kind of messes up the tone and intention of my post I guess...

Touch of Rot is a good dmg spell in RTwP. Insect Plague + Infestation of Maggots, too. Don't know how they behave in TB mode though.

That also works. I personally don't use consumables much so I always try to make things work with ability and talents only. Instead of Swift Aim one could also use Outlander' Frenzy or Frenzy from the Sanguine Plate.

Magran's Blessings is Berath's Blessings in this case, the achievement points you get during playing the game. Some of those can be used to get twice the skill point bonuses at char creation. Just saying so OP doesn't get confused. I just imagined that if you unlock Edér's pet slot with Berath's Blessings there might be a secondary pet effect that boosts your bombs, too. Didn't check all pets' party effects now, but maybe there's something useful.

Yes, atm they are doing Wasteland3 for example. And most of their (admittedly small) games were quite lucrative for the investors. Deadfire however was absolutely not. There was another one that was disappointing but I forgot the name.

Players often forget that summons are very impactful because having an additional body is impactful. Well having an additional companion is as least as impactful. But the focus is always on the Ranger. Naturally the Ranger alone can't be as offensively powerful as a Rogue - that would be totally unfair since the Rogue doesn't have an Animal Companion. And still at the end of the game the Ranger comes pretty close even without the Animal Companion. Stunning Shots with a dual wielding setup and Swift Aim (aiming for 0 recovery) is extremely good. You can stunlock any enemy (who's not immune to stuns).

If you'll use Flames of Devotion (+20 ACC), Zealous Focus and have a Priest in the Party (always mandatory for me: Inspiring Radiance) then you can easily do with less PER. DEX is the most impactful dps attribute. If you want to deal respectable dps you shouldn't drop DEX too low. If you are going for a tanky approach you can use high RES: every point of additional deflection has increasing returns. So if you already have high deflection from shield etc. then every additional point of RES helps even more. If you have mediocre deflection to begin with (e.g. using a two hander or two weapons and not using Deep Faith) then putting a lot of points into RES doesn't do as much. If you want to use a shield: There's a shield in the starting village (Gilded Vale) - obtainable at the smith iirc, it's called the Outworn Buckler. It can only be used by paladins. It's a really good shield because its defensive enchantment (covers the party) stacks with everything - even with a similar shield that can be worn by everybody but can only be found a lot later in the game. It's a small shield so it will give you no ACC penalty - which is kind of a good compromise between offense and defense. And because of its enchantment its defensive capability is nearly as good as that of a large shield (and it helps the party, too).

With maxed out Flames of Devotion Paladins can be good alpha strikers, but after that the dps will be mediocre at best. Still - killing some enemies right away can have tremendous impact on the encounter. I didn't play a Paladin with Tidefall (since I always find somebody else who's better suited for it) but I played one with Firebrand and one with the Hours of St. Rumbalt (also Blade of the Endless Paths/Half-Mast as very effective marking paladins as variant of my Counselor Ploi build: https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/89995-class-build-counselor-ploi-charming-paladin-supporter-tank/ ). Both great swords are annihilating which means they have increased crit damage (+100% additive instead of +50% additive). Firebrand has huge base damage and profits from Scion of Flame (+20% additive) while Rumbalt causes prone on crit. A Paladin with Zealous Focus and Flames of Devotion (+20 ACC innate bonus) can crit fairly reliably. As I said the dps after FoD use isn't super high, but on the other hand they don't go down easily - and dead chars don't deal damage, so... And of course once you get Sacred Immolation your mediocre dps turns into awesome dps all of a sudden. For Tidefall you want the highest Might you can get because the wounding enchantment scales with MIG (so that it actually does more than 25% once your might raises over 10). Every dmg bonus (Two Handed Style, Sworn Enemy, Apprentice'd Sneak Attack) is good because the wounding lash is a multiplicative dmg bonus that takes all other ones into account. Add a burning lash and pick the talents that max out Flames of Devotion. Also pick Runner's Wounding Shot for another special attack. It's strong. Wounding is best with low INT, but that's not a great option for a Paladin and also not for Sacred Immolation.

Same thing applies to Ancient Brittle Bones: the skeletons that spawn if one of the tiny original ones is killed will have normal size and health (and you can't control them either and they don't count towards the summon limit).

Too bad. I actually liked it.