Boeroer

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.

I can't see extreme viewpoints in this thread... at all. As an olive branch I even presented some ideas to you that would take your initial idea and make it so that it fits into Deadfire's mechanics rel. flawlessly. Wouldn't call that extreme nor letting opportunities pass by. You didn't even comment on that. Eh? Nobody disagreed with that as far as I can tell? Getting those "refuting statements that weren't made" vibes again... but maybe I just missed the passage where somebody commented on that. I can't find it when skimming the thread. 🤷‍♂️ Bringing forth reasonable arguments that show why the current solution is good isn't roadblocking. If you had convincing arguments there would have been forum users who'd agree to your proposals. If you are confronted with a lot of comprehensible counterarguments it doesn't necessarily mean that you get roadblocked - it could also mean that your idea isn't as spectacularly good as you thought it was.

Yes you can. You should get 78 points with race and cultural background (like e.g. Living Lands). The background also gives you a bonus point. All in all you'll have 78 points to distribute. And in the example there are 78 points. So it should be possible.

Here's a list of talents that I find useful for a cipher (no particular order): Weapon Focus (whatever weapon group you like best) Biting Whip Draining Whip Greater Focus Apprentice's Sneak Attack Outlander's Frenzy (until you get Time Parasite) melee Cipher specifically: Veteran's Recovery Two Weapon Style / One-Handed Style / Two-Handed Style (depending on your weapon choice) Weapon and Shield Style (with shield) Savage Attack (especially after getting Borrowed Instincts) Vulnerable Attack (melee Cipher when reaching 0 recovery, thsi can be done with dual wielding and/or any speed weapon + Time Parasite; especially when using light weapons) Spirit of Decay (with Bittercut) randed Cipher: Marksman Gunner (ranged Cipher with guns or crossbows) OR Quick Switch & Arms Bearer (Island Aumauan ranged Cipher with 4 guns or crossbows, switching after each shot) Penetrating Shot (ranged Cipher with blunderbuss or Golden Gaze - or a ranged weapon with speed enchantment + Time Parasite after reaching 0 recovery) Dangerous Implements (with wand, scepter or rod) Heart of the Storm (with Stormcaller)

As PotD player I am biased. You are right. On normal or even easy it can def. wait.

It does? Nice. I tried it on a Nvidia 555M (or something like that) dedicated mobile graphics card and it was not good at all.

I posted that vid above (inside the spoiler tags). But the sidetopic "misconceptions about medieval gear" seems to be an unneccessary distraction from the actual topic of the implementatio of flanking in Deadfire (and PoE). *There is no doubt and not really any discussion that plate armor doesn't work in reality like it does in games or movies. But if you make plate armor (in games and other media) as effective as it is in reality then it would take away from the overall experience - at least if you are not making a very historical accurate game or movie. A fighter in plate would alway be the optimal way to play in combat. Rogues with daggers and leather armor (which isn't really a thing) would be wrecked completely. Who does want that in a fantasy where it's supposed to be fun to play different yet viable roles/setups?

Quick question since I'm not superfamiliar with contemporary D&D rules: Since when (which edition) does a crit need to be confirmed and how does that work? I guess you have to confirm it with a successful "normal" hit roll? Which would make a lot of sense and that's how I know it from some other systems. I can confirm numerous critical toddler hits where it hurts the most. Didn't even need a weapon, knee and ellbows are sufficient.

You misunderstood me it seems. I didn't mean that those Blessings would unlock new areas but that you could simply choose that the world map was all open and accessible. So the first playthrough would somewhat limit your freedom and "guide" you through the game better in order to experience the story in the way the writers intended (to some extend). And after you finished that first, story focused playthrough you can do subsequent ones where everything (or most things) are accessible right from the get-go (if you wish so). Hope I somehow explained it well enough so that you guys can understand what I mean. Basically you'd transform the world map from semi-open to open for subsequent playthroughs. OR: give an option where players can choose a more guided playthrough ("experience the story like the writers itended") or a fully open world playthrough ("go where you please"). Maybe that could be a thing? Just throwing out ideas here...

Deadfire is an open world game, so is Skyrim: a game where you can go everywhere and won't get restricted in your travels. That means you could end up in a place where enemies are way too powerful for you - or too weak. That's why Skyrim has scaling and Deadfire has, too. Else a majority of the encounters could become unfun. But those problems with difficulty etc. are not my personal problems with open world games. They focus on exploration and that's a fine thing to have in general. But what I don't like is that it's nearly impossible to tell a coherent story/follow a plot in a somewhat cosistent way. I mean unless you stick to the default path through the game. But if you do that: why have an open world in the first place? So... as soon as you leave the trodden path it is inevitable that the main story/plot comes to a halt and you'll have some kind of sideshow. That also means that often players (me as well) get the feeling that the main story isn't really that important. Without the main plit in your head you might get the feeling that you are lost somehow. "Where to go next? Hm... no idea, doesn't really seem to matter that much, does it?" I believe it's incredibly hard for designern and writers to create an open world game experience without sacrificing consistency and urge of your plot. PoE didn't have that kind of open-world approach: you could visit all places only after you unlocked them. E.g. you can only go to Raedric's Castle if you first go to Easternwood - and so on. And on top of that you had three acts that were seperate from one another. Deadfire keeps this only in citites where you have to unlock the districts by traveling to the adjacent ones first. But the world map is free with the only exception that is Ukaizo which is the seperate endgame. This might also be related to the overall quality of the plotline, but Deafire's plot feels a lot less compelling than PoE's (and even that one didn't give you an overwhelming feeling of urge, but was fine with me). I think open world does play a part in this. Skyrim has the same problem, at least for me: what am I supposed to do again? Like: ultimately? I tend to forget... "Look, here I can become a member of the Brotherhood, cool. It's fun to get assignments to stab random people from behind and..." On the other hand pure dungeon crawlers like Eye of the Beholder drop the player into a place (a room or a forst or whatever) and there's only one (or two) way out. You fight your way out of the dungeon (or into it in pursuit of X) and usually there's puzzles and fights and all - but you can't go left and right that much. You are focused on the main goal. Funnily enough those games often have very little story and plot - maybe because they don't need them to create motivation and tension. The setting itself does already provide this. And of course such games are so much easier to balance. Usually fantasy RPGs are somewhat of an interactive story though. So plot, story, motivation - those are important. Else it's more like a combat simulator or a tactics game. See Battle Brothers: open world, focus on tactics/combat and no overarching plot/story, only some "random" goals to achieve and contracts to fulfill. And it works just fine - but it's not a game like Deadfire or Baldur's Gate or Plainscape: Torment or anything like that. So I would argue that the current "open world hype" is bad. An RPG has to be advertized with that or else player are gonna say "Wut? How 2000!" - even if it hurts the overall experience. A somewhat open world is okay - let's say open "stages" of the game world. Like open acts. Too much railroading like in Legend of Grimrock would hurt the replayability I guess - too much open world hurts the story and the feeling of progression. Something in between would be fine. It would be easier to write for, it would be easier to balance (no scaling of encounters needed) and it would be more exiting - especially in the first playthrough. Maybe one could even do a game where the first playthrough is not open world but you would unlock areas like Berath's Blessings and then would have a more open world in additional plythrougs..? Hm... getting interested while I write this...

Now rereading and missed "Priest of Eothas" the first time. I have to say Priest of Eothas/Chanter (especially Troubadour) sounds a lot more fitting to me than Priest of Eothas/Cipher. I mean thematically. Mechanically there's no problem either. Troubadour with its passive that lets you overlap two chants without gap and Ancient Memory + support chant coupled with a Priest makes a nice passive + active healer and buffer combo. And it is somehow fitting that a benevolent Priest of Eothas wanders around, putting joy in the hearts of his fellows with his jolly songs and such.

I would argue that weapon focus should be your first talent since its impact is biggest in the early game - but the rest: 👍

Psion/Priest is actually not bad. The Psion's focus generation doesn't rely on hitting anything at all so a Psion would be the perfect fit for a supportive Priest (who also doesn't need to hit things that badly). Psion's focus generation scales with Power Level, so it's quite good at higher levels as long as you don't get hit (receiving damage is fine as long as there's no attack roll - so self damage or DoT ticks will not stop it). Priests may have ways to prevent getting hit. Most notably Withdraw (come out of it with full focus) and Skaen's Shadowing Beyond but also defensive buffs (especially Priest of Wael). Wearing a shield and staying in the back rows also helps of course. Priest of Wael/Beguiler is a great fit as well - thematically and also in terms of crowd control and buffing/debuffing. Priest of Woedica/Cipher does pretty nasty damage and focus refill with Soul Whip + summoned "claws". Even works well as Soul Blade.