Boeroer

But it becomes even bigger! Dah!

I had Vatnir as a SC Priest but didn't bother with summons. Maybe I should have... Is a Scourge a beast? I would cast Wild Growth on it.

Rymrgand's Incanate: 500 base health and +50 per level?

It says version 3.05 which is that latest game version. So - yes, it is up to date.

No, it does not. Only damage that goes through attack resolution does this. This is true for all effects that get canceled or prolonged by hits (Psion, Enduring Dance, Takedown Combo, Shield Cracks and so on and so forth). But even if it did: what effect would a Goldpact/Shifter have that would end prematurely? Edit: You mean Gilded Enmity I presume. Fair point. But luckily it shouldn't break from DoT ticks unless it's not implemented completely differently than all the other effects that get canceled from hits.

@Powerotti: Oh sheite you are right. I totally overread the TB part. Forget what I said about DEX then. 😅

7 DEX is a bit low I'd say. For your melee attacks it wouldn't be as noticable if you do FoD mostly - but recovery of initial (or in-between) spells will be slooow. If you lower RES to 7 you might as well go down to 3 in my opinion. If you cast a healing over time before shifting you won't need 14 CON either I'd say. Then 10 might be enough. Also because Lay on Hands and Exalted Endurance will still be available while shifted. And you will get healed between shifts automatically as well. Maybe equip some regeneration gear later on. It will keep working while shifted as long as it's not an armor or weapon. Stack up on AR as much as you can (basically take every AR passive of the Paladin tree). Eternal Devotion stacks with Wildstrike. I would also use Hylea's Talons. They will put a raw DoT on you as well but they stack with the other lashes and your passive healing should more than outbalance that DoT. If not you can still use some other gloves. Like Boltcatchers or something.

It was a decision that wasn't done by the designers or even the game director.

It's 1/encounter. After the first Ascension you can't use it anymore. I mean if you don't abuse SoT + Ancestor's Memory to prolong Ascension infinitely. I personally would also pick Helwalker since I usually prefer longer but more controlled fights and I just like Monks better than Rogues (by far). Streetfighter is also a bit more fiddly with the friendly-fire of Powder Burns.

The most impactful part about Streetfighter is of course that Powder Burns keeps you Heated Up 100% of times which results in a 50% recovery bonus which is HUGE. Deadfire's speed bonuses are not additive so even stacking a 30% + another 30% bonus wouldn't be as good. And of course it works with spells. The recovery bonus is universal. What Heating Up also does is increasing Sneak Attack damage significantly. That's all without getting Bloodied. By the way the Streetfighter doesn't get "On the Edge" when between 50% and 25% (Bloodied) but from 50% to 0%. So Bloodied and below. On the edge increases crit damage. Nice if you have it but not crucial in this combination. You wouldn't use a melee Streetfighter/Cipher here but one with blunderbusses (Kitchen Stove with Thunderous Report usually fills focus right away) or even better dual mortars. Dual mortars have the advantage that they target reflex and have dual damage. Blinding Smoke from hand mortar unlocks Deathblows automatically. Also Fire in the Hole jumps (using Chain Shot - jumps with the AoE) and the Streetfighter can apply his afflictions (like Arterial Strike) in an AoE as well. Also the AoEs + jump fills up focus extremely quickly if you can target several foes at once (hello Wizard with Dazzling Lights + Pull of Eorora) especially when heated up (remember: increased Sneak Attack). So the synergy is that the Streetfighter fills up focus extremely fast with mortars or blunderbusses, ascends and then automatically has 50% recovery bonus on spells. This is extremely good with spells which have short casting time but long recovery (see Mind Lance for example). You can cast a lot more spells during Ascension than most other combos and spend very little time with filling focus. Cons are: Perception affliction. This will lower your deflection by 10, your AR by 1 and your Perception by 5 at nearly all times. Perception inspirations (Blessing) don't work well: the get canceled with every shot and also prevent Heating Up then The fact that Streetfighter is so good with weapons so that you might spend more time shooting than casting: well that's not a disadvantage. If you don't need any Cipher effects at the moment you can shoot for impressive damage. But once you want to cast you will have awesome speed. Or if you want to deal AoE dmg take the mortars but if you want to deal single target damage take Disintegrate. Helwalker/Ascendant is also very nice though. Takes a bit longer to ascend but you will stay ascended longer - on the other hand you can't dish out spell as quickly - but they will have +10 MIG and way more INT. I wouldn't call one better than the other. They play differently. Streetfighter can be a bit hectic.

I saw that on Twitter a few hours ago, very cool! 😄

Whispers of the Endless Path: the cone is foe-only! The cone works with FoD (so all attack rolls get the lashes). The key element is Offensive Parry (but you need living steel for that) Spirit Lance + FoD (Bleak Walker) + Zandethus Fury is very good as well. Rooting Pain: If you can't gain wounds (like being at max would count) it will not trigger. You'd have to spend wounds first. It's still a great passive to have for a tankish monk since the occasional interrupt can mess up enemies really bad. Spend some wound with Thunderous Blows and Enlightened Agony and such. Edit: Oops AeonsLegend already answered that, sorry. Cipher vs. single (Mega-)Bosses: in my opinion the Psion is best here. Others might really struggle with focus generation. Psion does not. If you have a Priest you can withdraw the Psion if he gets hit too often - then he'll emerge with full focus (and healed).

I'm not Kaylon but maybe I can answer this as well: Because the defensive ones last a long time and their effects won't run out until you have gathered enough phrases for the next one. Usually you can uphold the effects of two buffing invocations in parallel. Offensive invocations with debuffing/CC components last a lot shorter which means you will have quite some downtime between effects. Exception may be "The Shield Cracks" which prolongs itself with every hit the enemy takes (great in combo with party members who have multihit-abilities such as Chillfog, Walls, Wicked Briars, Beams and so on. Compared to other nukers also damaging invocations have quite some downtime between them. Even a cheap 3-phrase invocation takes 18 secs to recharge (if not Skald or Troubadour). I mean without special gear. While I wouldn't agree that one should completely forget about those offensive invocations because of this issue it's surely something you should consider. Like not picking too many different offensive invocations since you will most likely not be able to use them all. As stated, Skald and Troubadour are exceptions. The first one has several good offensive invocations for just 2 phrases (12 secs for two phrases) and can regain phrases via melee crits on top of that. And Troubadour, while having +1 cost per invocation (so 4 phrases for the cheap ones) can build phrases twice as fast with Brisk Recitation(12 secs for 4 phrases then). Bellower might also be an exception, he can't dish out a lot of invocations in an encounter but the one he shouts after loading up can have a big impact (imo best combined with some abilities that you can use right away in battle while charging up). But also here: don't take too many. Same if you got Sasha's Singing Scimitar: empowered offensive invocations are great, bit don't spread your ability points too thin with different offensive invocations. Kaylon may roast me now.

Really, it doesn't stack? That's weird since it's a passive. Shouldn't that stack with everything? Like... with Crucible of Suffering (which would be a nice stacking of defenses indeed)? I know that Enduring Beacon wouldn't stack (because active). Nice idea with the Paladin. I think I would use Steel Garrote because an enemy who's hit by Forbidden Fist ability already qualifies for draining. And Gilded Enmity doesn't stack with Iron Wheel iirc. Eternal Devotion works with Forbidden Fist ability, so that's cool, too. Also the high RES (and also Clarity) would make Sacred Immolation's self damage ridiculously short and thus no problem. It would even give you a wound and some healing then. And you'll get Lay on Hands which is always nice to have.

Clarity of Agony is nice, but it costs 2 wounds and has recovery. Better to only use it against the long-lasting stuff in my opinion. Because If you have to use it to reduce Forbidden Fist Curse you spend 2 wounds for gaining one which isn't that great. The maxed out RES, combined with items and food that reduce hostile effect duration, makes sure that you can spam it with (nearly) no pause, get lots of wounds and healing all the time in the process. And since your RES is maxed anyway you can as well use that guy as tank. Not the only viable way to play a Forbidden Fist of course, but a nice one if you are looking for a good combo of offense and defense - e.g. if you don't like the usual damage sponge tank tht only eats damage and engages but doesn't do much else. Point with not using a Monk's good mobility: yeah, that's right. But if you want to use Rooting Pain, Blade Turning and Parting Sorrow/Imagined Pain you can't zip around too much anyways. Instruments of Pain let's this more stationary Forbidden Fist tank attack enemies at ca. 6m range - so that isn't such a big deal once you get that. But yeah: the zip-zap of a mobile monk can be fun. Maybe another argument for an additional monk multiclass with that Ascendent.

The Forbidden Fist was chosen because if its Enfeebling effect in synergy with Disintegrate (Ascendant) and Takedown Combo (Stalker/Bloodmage). Since a Forbidden Fist profits from maxed out RES and reduced hostile effects enchantments enormously he can as well be played as an offensively capable tank (with Tuotilo's Palm). Also because Forbidden Fist doesn't work with Heartbeat Drumming and Swift Flurry. That tank can uphold very high defenses, has unlimited resources and can spam Forbidden Fist non-stop while using his main weapon as stat-stick only (or backup weapon - e.g. Kapana Taga for +2 engagement or immunity to flanked). Every instance of Forbidden Fist will only last under 2 secs (Hylea's Talons will do the same basically), giving the Monk a wound and healing when it expires. Triggers Rooting Pain all the time. Also triggers Crucible of Suffering every few secs. Enlightened Agony will provide +5 INT and Iron Wheel (since Turning Wheel doesn't work with Forbidden fist anyway), giving that monk enormous Will, Fortitude and good Deflection and Reflex (RES, Lightning Strikes, Weapon & Shield Style). Imagined Pain will work extremely well with such a Monk. Every miss on him results in a wound. Parting Sorrow allows special synergy with White Witch Mask or a Wizard: terrified enemies will break engagement and give the Monk wounds. He doesn't need resistances because afflictions only last a few seconds and will give wounds and bonus defense. It's not a conventional tank but a pretty great mix of offense and defense once he comes online. Whispers of the Wind problem: correct. But if you use Ajamut's Stalking Cloak with WotW the enemies can't rush to your other party members because they will be stunned. Even if that might not prevent rushing 100%: the rest of the party seems to be plenty sturdy to handle a few enemies by themselves. Alternative would be to use Inner Death instead of WotW since it as the same "problems" as Forbidden Fist: no Turning Wheel, no Swift Flurry/HBD. But really good with Empowered Strikes. Since it uses Mortification and you won't use that a lot elsewhere (since you will use Forbidden Fist most of times) this is also a good use for that resource. Priest is never superfluous because of inspirations, Devotions and Salvation of Time. Especially Salvation of Time if you have an Ascendant with Ancestor's Memory since that creates an awesome synergy that lets you prolong Ascension a lot. But I agree that it might be better to not stack all the healing spells onto one character. He will hardly use them all in a single encounter due to casting times. Also there's a ton of micro already with the other chars and a caster/caster combo adds a lot more. I thought about Priest of Eothas/Troubadour with Ancient Memory + Mercy and Kindness maybe? Ascended does indeed work well with some multiclasses - especially Helwalker. This one is supposed to cast Disintegrate a lot. So SC reaches that a lot earlier and also Ancestor's Memory and Driving Echoes (maybe the most important advantages) and also gets +3 Power Level which translates to +15% multiplicative dmg (compared to a Helwalker's +30%max additive and +50% duration via INT). Also casts a lot faster during Ascension with the help of Time Parasite and has bigger AoE due to Shared Nightmare (very late game stuff though). At the same time Helwalker is more fun earlier, has a longer Ascension Time in general (+10 INT) and will most likely generate focus a lot quicker (lashes and stuff). He can also use Soul Ignition as an earlier (but weaker) Disintegrate until he gets that. Works also well with Enfeebled and Takedown Combo. Swift Flurry/Heartbeat Drumming can fill up focus instantly once they trigger. Which is pretty cool. I guess a multiclass would be more fun overall. Other alternatives to Helwalker are Barbarian/Ascendant (Blood Thirst + Disintegrate is cool), Ascendant/Bloodmage (Wall of Draining prolongs Ascension and stuff like Borrowed Instincts, also great focus generation with Spirit Lance), Ascendant/Streetfighter (super fast casting recovery with blunderbuss, very fast focus generation - great with mortars, too). Another option to cast Disintegrate all the time is Beguiler: you can alternate between Phantom Foes, Disintegrate, Secret Horrors, Disintegrate and so on since usually one big Deception creates enough focus for Disintegrate. No need for weapon dmg then. SC Beguiler is very nice with all the Will passives the Cipher can get and with Shared Nightmare. Also nice as multiclass. Or Psion/Bloodmage: Arkemyr's Brilliant Departure lets you generate focus undisturbed while casting Walls and CC from invisibility (doesn't break then) and once the focus is full: cast Disintegrate from invisibility (that will break then). Recast Brilliant Departure and repeat.

What's the problem? Looks fine. SC Ascendant is a bit weaker than some multiclass combos like Helwalker/Ascendant or Streetfighter/Ascendant in the earlier parts of the game. But as soon as SC Ascandant gets Time Siphon he's an absolute beast. And of course you'll get access to Driving Echoes for your other casters and Shared Nightmare which is superb with Ascendants/while ascended. Is anybody of your guys wielding a Morning Star? 'Cause no proper playthrough without a Morning Star. I have a hunch that you want to use Disintegrate and Takedown Combo + Forbidden Fist's enfeebling effect. Therefore a Morning Star would be very helpful to land those reliably. Both Takedown Combo and Disintegrate target Fortitude. CON- and MIG afflictions would help further. Looking at your Stalker/Bloodmage: I once had a Stalker/Wizard with the Morning Star Willbreaker (using Takedown Combo + Essential Phantom with Draining Touch) and it was pretty good. So maybe that's an option? Don't know if you know it, but your Bloodmage/Bleak Walker can get +10% corrosive lash and +10% burning lash for all the wizard spells: with the soulbound arquebus Blightheart and Eternal Devotion. It's pretty neat to add 20% multiplicative dmg to your spells. Has to play ranged then though because switching away from Blighheart will remove the 10% corrosove lash immedialtely. Another great (really great) Arcane Knight is Steel Garrote/Bloodmage with Whispers of the Endless Paths. Melee then of course. Max out deflection and use Offensive Parry. You will drain health faster than you can lose it while damaging foes at the same time. It's very easy to use Blood Sacrifice and cast spells atthe same time because Offensive Parry will also happen while casting. So you're doing melee dmg and healing while casting. Pretty cool. Offensive Parry itself dazes enemies so you don't even need to acitively afflict enemies around that guy if you don't want to. He's afflicting enemies "passively" all by himself. How is the Priest of Eothas/Livegiver supposed to look like?

Yes, the Spike-Flinger's bug is especially annoying since it doesn't become faster with soulbound upgrades but slower. 💆‍♂️

You might want to tag @BAdler so he gets notified. Oops, now we already did. Edit: ach nevermind, you already quoted him so he gets notified anyway. Now he got two notifications... sorry...

@BMac of Obsidian posted a nice starting tutorial on modding in the modding subforum. It also has follow-ups. I think it's a good place to start: Modding ist mostly done by altering text files that are written in JSON format. So something like (just an example): { "name": "Boar", "model": 324234wefwef, "powers": [ "raw damage DoT", "health recovery" ] } I didn't look into spiritshift specifically, but judging by how other stuff works I believe there are several ways to achieve what you want. I would try to just copy the combat values of the form you like mechanically (here Boar) and paste those into the form that looks nice to you (e.g. Cat). Then you'd have Boar, Cat with Boar's values, Stag, Bear and Wolf in the modded game. You'd lose the original Cat. To preserve the original Cat form you could make a copy of the Cat form before and name it... I don't know... Stelgaer or so - and then replace the Stelgaer's combat values with the Boar ones. Then you would have Cat, Boar, Stag, Wolf, Bear and a new one: Stelgaer. Which looks like a Cat but behaves like a Boar. As far as I know you could even tint the Cat modal of your new Stelgaer form so that it looks more dark/blackish. But that may be too advanced. If you want to look at an example for modding Spiritshift you could download the files of the Community Patch (nop need to install the mod) and browse through the files to see how @Phenomenum altered the "Stag-Carnage" ability from 1/encounter attack to a passive. Also @Harpagornis made a whole mod around Spiritshift and surely has some deep knowledge about how to mod Spiritshift specifically.

Wow, never saw that happen. I played with the Community Patch for some hundret hours and the only "bugs" I saw were mechanical ones (like SHattered Pillar's Lesser Wounds reducing the max wound count back to 5 again - and such). But nothing so glitchy like this. How did you install the mod? Manually or with this Vortex thing from Nexus (unfortunaltely it doesn't work with that Vortex thing)? If manually (according to the installation instructions): Maybe some files got corrupted during download? Seem like some addresses got mangled up but who knows. Maybe delete all the Communuty Patch mod folders and reinstall?

It is relatively easy to create a small mod which does this.

Do you mean Nexus? Did you use the install wizard? I think it's called Vortex, isn't it? Unfortunately you can't use the installer of the Nexus site. You have to download and extract it into the correct directory manually as the instructions describe.

I adressed that (kind of) in one of my posts above:

I would add the Boar form. It has an automatic raw damage over time effect on its attacks (kind of bleeding damage) and it heals passively while shifted. Which is nice. Also it looks absolutely hilarious. Stag is indeed bad. But you can install the Community Patch mod which transforms the 1/encounter ability of Stag Carnage into a passive ability like the Barbarian Carnage (only a bit weaker). Then it's a fine (but not OP) spiritshift form. PS: good to see that the big upgrade of Spiritshift, Spiritcapslock, still finds its use.