Boeroer

The rel. early Amulet of Summer Solstice and Sun-Touched Mail of Hyran Rath for some AoE dmg. Munacra Arret and Spirit Spiral (charm) as well als Ring of Changing Heart (dominate) for impactful CC.

Psion is one of my favorite class options. Very nice with all sorts of casters in multiclass I think, but I also enjoyed it a lot as single class (bc. notably faster focus generation). The one I liked best is maybe Psion/Troubadour. However, I didn't really try Psion/Priest yet - so I cannot say how that plays. It should be good though, don't see a reason why it shouldn't be. Having said that: usually Xoti as single class Priest is fine for me. I don't like to bring too many "soulless" hirelings into the party. It makes the playthrough a little dull for me personally. Later Vatnir is a cool Priest alternative. He has an excellent spell portfolio because he brings some nice alternative damage spells to the usual priests' offensive fire spell monotony. --- An unorthodox Priest option that I did and enjoyed was Berserker/Priest (mine was Berserker/Priest of Wael, but the Priest subclass doesn't really matter). The reason to take Berserker was to become confused at will, which allows you to cast Withdraw on enemies. It is an auto-hit and a benefical effect. That means: defenses don't matter, high Resolve won't shorten the duration, no immunities whatsoever. Just *pouf* - gone for some time. You can use that trick very early in the game to shut down dangerous enemies in no time, finish the rest of the group and then deal with the withdrawn afterwards. There's a pair of shoes that grant you an additional spell of that Power Level, so iirc you can easily get 3 casts of Withdraw per encounter. That's three enemies taken out of the fight for a pretty decent amount of time. With Empower to fill up your spell uses again you can even take out some more. If you have a Cipher in the party who casts Ancestors Memory on you: just withdraw everybody but one. Very easy fights... Of course there's other little synergies between Berserker and Priest (casting speed with Frenzy/Bloodlust/Blood Thirst on kill, +2 PEN, Spirit Frenzy applying to spell hits and so on... if the Berserker/Priest is a good finisher then Triumph of the Crusaders + Blood Thirst is great), but the main reason was withdraw + confusion. A thing that one has to keep in mind: If the Priest wants to buff the party a lot at the start of the encounter then one might run into action economy issues. Casting an Aware inspiration + Devotions ftF takes some time and you def. don't want to be confused while casting those. So maybe wait with the Frenzy until all buffs are cast - or have high RES so that the confusion only lasts a short while during the Withdraw cast - or use Modwyr to "unconfuse" with a weapon switch at will. A Tactician/Priest could also do this in theory, but I guess way more fiddly. Anyway - just one maybe interesting ability/spell combo that's not widely known and can be very impactful.

I personally think Sage is the most entertaining combo to play. Yeah, Godlikes - or rather their racial abilities - are not really that great. But for thematic reasons it might be still nice to pick them. Also Death Godlikes get some special dialogue options in the game.

I ran a solo Geomancer (Stalker/Bloodmage) - but it used Willbreaker as main weapon for the Geomancer himself. Draining Touch was used for the Phantom. The synergy was that Willbreaker + modal lowers fortitude which is great for the Animal Companion's Takedown Combo (targets fortitude) and also lowers Will (stacks with Miasma) which is great for the Phantom's Draining Touch (targets Will). That way the AC could apply Takedown Combo and the Phantom then smashes the enemy with Draining Touch crits and with a +100%dmg bonus. Takedown Combo also works for spells from the Geomancer of course. With thick armor the phantom + Draining Touch was pretty sturdy, the Bear companion was sturdy, too - and the Geomancer was also pretty sturdy because Stalker's passive + wizard's buffs. --- My approach with Draining Touch as main weapon for the character (I often used it with Aloth): I use it with Engagement-bonus gear like a shield or Kapana Taga (club, +modal) and Reckless Brigandine and then use Ryngrim's spells to cause terrify whenever possible. For those I use Whitewitch Mask (also looks decent with the Brigandine). This will allow free disengagement attacks against the terrified enemies which are brutal with Draining Touch. The Phantom can use the same method because from its gear it will also have some engagement slots (usually 2 or 3). So enemies get into double disengagement trouble... Kapana Tanga can be better than a shield because it not only provides +2 engagement but also lowers Will by 25 points with the modal - and that's the defense that Draining Touch does target. But I think it depends on the class combo you pick. You can then decide which second class is best: Unbroken is cool because of the additional armor with a shield and the insane PEN bonus of the disengagement attacks and the additional engagement slots from Hold the Line and Defender Stance and so on. And of course a Fighter/Wizard can later use Unbending with Wall of Draining which makes you basically immortal. I'd go with a shield because of Shield Mastery (Unbroken passive). Monk is nice because Club+modal+Draining Touch is a lot of virtual accuracy which works well with Swift Flurry and Heartbeat Drumming. And later Spirit Lance + Stunning Surge or Efficient Anguish is just great. For a Sage I would def. use Tuotilo's Palm. Rogue is also very good because the very high base damage of Draining Touch works nicely with the Rogue's damage bonuses such as Sneak Attack and Deathblows. I'd recommend a Streetfighter because ,out can easily become bloodied with Blood Sacrifice and then dish out truly jawdropping dmg numbers when doing disengagement attacks while heated up (because Sneak Attack will have a +50% bonus then). Debonaire is a no-go imo because: no engagement. I'd use Kapana Tanga here. Steel Garrote is another nice combo. The Draining Touch applies weakened which unlocks the Steel Garrote's life drain. It stacks with the one from Draining Touch, giving you nice healing when punching things. Combine with the other goodies any Arcane Knight can have and you will be a very tanky yet offensively capable character. I think I would use a shield in this caseto double down on the tankyness. Furyshaper is the next option I enjoyed. You cannot combine Phantom and Wards (both summons) but the interaction of the fear ward with Barbaric Shout and Draining Touch and a club+modal is great. You drop a fear ward , summon the Draining Touch and then you will lower enemies' Will via shout and gain +3 engagement. You drop the Miasma and maybe even a Spirit Tornado. Most enemies will have their Will defense crushed and be terrified by now and you can engage them and punch them with good speed. Carnage is nice with Draining Touch because the base dmg of the weapon is high. When enemies disengage you punish them, too. Bloodlust, Blood Thirst, Blood Slaughter... This combo is also nice for your action economy because you don't have to cast Ryngrim spells that often. I'm sure other combos with Draining Touch Bloodmage and Ranger, Cipher etc. can be cool, too - but I didn't really try those out enough to be able to make any meaningful recommendation. For all of those combos my final piece of headgear is the Helm of the White Void by the way. Before that I use Whitewitch Mask as I said. Since Draining Touch comes with the weaken effect the +10 accuracy of Rhymrgand's Influence always applies. Of course this comes rather late, but it's something to look forward to.

How about 69%?

Right. Also Corrupting Beauty has pulsing attack rolls (great for Avenging Storm) - but that's not mentioned in the description.

It doesn't matter why I don't use consumables. I know I'm not the only one so it doesn't hurt to give another reasonably argued point of view... so that OP can see if he agrees - or not - and then make a well-informed decision that matches with his wishes and expectations. I'm not pushing somebody towards anything - I just give my perspective and then let OP decide whether that applies to him or not. Again: I'm not saying it's not fine. I'm saying that I - personally (stated that every time explicitly) - am not in favor of making consumables an integral part of my character. So if OP feels the same way or can somewhat relate then he can consider this - and if he doesn't agree then he can discard what I wrote. Better to read two reasonably written opinions on a matter than just one. Yes, it stacks with everything except the Rogue's Escape. Later Veiled Hood (Mask of the Weyc) is the same: it stacks with everything except Arcane Veil. You can stack both and extend them with WoD for +100 deflection, which stacks with all other deflection buffs (like Mirrored Images or so). The downside of the cape is that you have to become bloodied in order to unlock it - but I guess that's not a big problem with a Bloodmage. By the way, speaking of WoD: I also like to prolong Blightheart's healing on hit and Lesser Lay on Hands (gloves). You can switch Blightheart after shooting/receiving the heal effect. The healing will stay. Iirc it pulses and every pulse adds a healing over time and they can be individually prolonged (but maybe I remember wrong). I mean just in case one seeks some "self contained" healing options that work with Wall of Draining. Wall of Draining works best if enemies have beneficial effects which the Wall and drain from. If enemies don't have that then WoD doesn't work as well. You can makesureall enemies have a benefical effect to drain from by wearing the Cap of the Laughingstock. Its "Village Fool" enchantment gets automatically placed on enemies in range (as well as allies) and is considered a benefical effect - thus the Wall can drain duration from it, even though Village Fool has no duration (is infinite).

Yes, but only from time to time for a rel short amount of time. Doesn't make the modal (which works at all times) redundant. To the contrary: the faster you can shoot the higher the chances to trigger Bullet Time in a given time frame. Skipping reload (original idea) would also be an absolute buff which would make any speed buffs obsolete for a short amount of time. So I think when it's about coming close to the original (which doesn't work) -80% is more in the spirit than -50% imo. Doesn't matter if the 80% would be overkill often. But it would be very nice for characters with no actual speed buffs and feel powerful compared to their usual slow reloading speech. Another thing: does Bullet Time allow to get triggered while Bullet Time is active? I imagine if it worked like intended (0 reload time) it could lead to an extended duration because it gets triggered again during that rapid-fire phase.

I quickly tested the Apex Ward jut now (with CP and Enhanced UI mod) and it worked like intended: when blooded I gained +10 ACC and +10% dmg to my attacks. Healed back up - bonus is gone. Next fight, getting bloodied: again +10 ACC and +10% dmg. :shrug It's weird though that the Bood Rage effect will not get listed under benefical effects or on the char sheet at all. You have to do an attack roll and check the log in order to find it. Which other enchantments did you put on your shield? Maybe there's some interaction... Nevermind: tested it with all enchantments - didn't change the outcome.

Then maybe do -80% (like the stealth bonus) to make sure the floor is def. met with Bullet Time?

Whoopsi!

That's your preference. As I made clear not using them is just mine. OP might tend towards your preference or mine. No. As I explicitly wrote above I simply don't use consumables as part of a little personal challenge. I find using them cumbersome (and I especially don't like that scrolls take away the uniqueness of class abilities). Instead of hording them I just sell all consumables (except food bc. you are kind of forced to use food/drink while resting). But I guess there are enough players who don't use consumables because they hoard them. The reason for not making them an integral part of a character build doesn't matter though: if you don't like to use consumables then you shouldn't rely on them when planning a character concept. If you have no problem with using them on a regular basis then that's not a problem of course. That is why I explicitly wrote that Wellspring of Life is worth it - in my opinion - if it helps you to get over that threshold (+3 PL for 1 additional for us per sec) and otherwise... not. For a multiclass character (like Bloodmage/Psion) it's accessible at level 19 out of 20. It comes very late in terms of character progression and still late enough in terms of game content. It's nice no doubt and often it is fun to use. I will absolutely use it myself with all sorts of buffs (see stuff like +50 deflection from the Magnificent Escape Cape) - I just wouldn't plan a build around it because the majority of time you play the game you will not be able to use it. I doesn't matter whether I am the only one who thinks godlikes are good or not (I don't think they are generally a good pick). If one can make a good argument against Wellspring of Life in the scope of this thread then that's fine - as it is fine if somebody makes a good argument in favor of it. In this case - as I said: it's worth it imo if it helps you to easily/conveniently get the +1 focus per second. In addition to that picking Nature Godlike is also worth it imo because of thematic reasons if you also want to use the Lance. That's my two points pro Nature Godlike. There are surely other points for another player race. If all those points are presented the OP can make an informed decision for himself.

By the way: If you switch away from the Lance while having woodskin, form of the delemgan or any plant effect (also see tanglefoot or thorny roots) you will immediately lose the +2 Power Levels from Lord of the Forest. If you switch back to the Lance the PL bonus will also be back. It is worth going Nature Godlike if the 1 additional PL brings your Soul Mind focus generation over the edge to generate 1 more focus per second - which is a huge improvement. If it doesn't then maybe not, although +1 PL does a lot more for you than simply add a bit of additional focus - see +1 ACC, +5% base dmg, +5% duration, +0.25 PEN and all that. Iirc Wellspring of Life + Lord of the Forest are exactly worth +1 more focus per second for the Psion. Since the Psion generates Focus at all times, even while casting and recovering and even while CC'd in most cases (as long as not critically Hit), this is a very good bonus imo. If you don't want Nature Godlike then Stone of Power can substitute it, you keep the +1 focus and can enjoy the benefits of a helmet. It may also depend on party vs solo - and on what you are willing to invest on a regular basis in fights. I personally wouldn't want to chuck a potion for getting to a decent PL threshold, but instead I would want to achieve a better focus generation with abilities and gear that I can use in every fight (in case of Stone of Power you'd need two of those then) and which I can get access to relatively early (see Nature God-like and Lance of the Midwood Stag). So with recommendations I personally will not take into account stuff like potions, Wall of Draining and Wand of the Weyc etc. The first I would be reluctant to use all the time (actually I'd never use it, that's my own lil' challenge) and the second come pretty late so that the game is too far advanced in terms of "time played vs. time left to play". Hence I recommended Lance otMS if you have a Druid in the party who can cast Woodskin and Form of the Delemgan. That's easy, reliable and early access to the +2 PL of the Lance. Reling on becoming blooded for that one cast of woodskin would be too fiddly for my personal taste as the only source for the PL boost, but of course it's a source that's accessible as soon as you get that enchantment on the Lance, especially with a Bloodmage. A Death Godlike can also be a good source of PL for a Psion. Being near death raises your focus by 1/sec right away. But of course it's also super risky if you don't go the Barring Death's Door + WoD/SoT route. For me personally not worth the hassle. Nature Godlike or Stone of Power is easier and I like the thematic fit of Nature Godlike + Lance of the Midwood Stag/Lord of the Forest. For me the thematic fit is an important part of whether I enjoy playing a build or not. I guess that's different for everybody though.

This is interesting. That is usually one of the easier fights for me personally (other that the Changeling's Dance for example, grmblfx...). I'm using official companions most of the time. I don't know why - I guess it has something to to with the general tactics I like to use (like for example "assembling" as many enemies as possible in one spot before really opening the fight) that make some other fights (especially with lots of very mobile + tough enemies) pretty hard but others pretty easy - contrary to what other players describe.

Oh, weird... that is something I never experienced. Is the combat mode over though? If so that sounds like a veritable bug. I wonder what might trigger it. I did that fight so many times... there has to be one sort of behavior or prerequisite that breaks the quest that I didn't use (much) or have. Did you by any chance use some sort of destroy effect - for example Disintegration, Marux Amanth, Saru Sichr's Death Sentence (Neriscyrlas should be immune to that though), Amra's Riven Gore, Death Ring or something like that?

Yes, it does. Stacking universal Power Levels is great for boosting the Psion's focus generation. So stuff like the Lance of the Midwood Stag (+2 PL) is a nice "stat stick" for a Psion (if you have a Druid with Woodskin and/or Form of the Delemgan). Also Stone of Power...

Also the most impressive looking imo.

It's still good - but a bit less potent as in PoE. The range is shorter, its casting time is longer (3 secs casting + 4 secs recovery), the prone effect is shorter (+INT has no effect on prone duration) and it has relatively low base Penetration in Deadfire. The base AoE is a bit bigger - but in Deadfire AoE size doesn't increase as steeply as it did in PoE with INT etc. (because in PoE the radius was increased so the AoE grew quadratically while in Deadfire the area size is increased directly so it grows "only" linearly with INT etc.).

As a Wizard I would pick the spells at level up that I really and def. want to cast on every fight - and not one more. The rest you can cast from Grimoires. Spare the ability points for the Psion's powers and passives in general. The Psion (as all Ciphers) has access to one of the most impactful mechanics there is in Deadfire combat: mind control (Charmed or Dominated). So usually that's what I put most emphasis on when playing a Psion. A Bloodmage (as all Wizards) has plenty of spells that cause friendly fire. You can see that as disadvantage when it comes to charmed enemies (cannot hurt charmed enemies because they will flip back to hostile) or advantage (can even hurt charmed enemies with spells). In case of dominated enemies it can be very good because you can occupy enemies with their dominated formes allies and still torch the whole place with spells without regret. There's a superb wizard spell, also accessible by Bloodmage of course, that works extremely well in combination with all mind control spells of the Psion - and all other powers and spells that target the Will defense (Phantom Foes, Secret Horrors, Exposed Vulnerabilities, Ryngrim's spells etc.). That spell is Miasma of Dull-Mindedness. It drops the Will defense by 40 points and also makes your effects last a lot longer on the enemy. I'd say there is not much better individual synergy effect between Wizard and Cipher than this single spell. Also in combination with the cipher passives that circle around spells against will and also critical hits with spells. If you also have a party member who can wield a club + modal: even better. Other spells that are very useful: All the self-buffs of the Wizard, most notably the defensive ones. They will help a lot to prevent focus generation stops: if your defenses are high you are less likely to receive a critical hit. Chillfog - ist just a very good spell. Concelhaut's Draining Touch in combination with an Essential Phantom. It adds a summon to your "army" of mind controlled enemies that hits real hard because Draining Touch targets Will instead of deflection. It also drains health so the phantom will be tanker. On the phantom it will not vanish after one hit + if you summon it first and then the phantom it will stay there for the rest of the phantom's duration. Expose Vulnerabilities in combo with Phantom Foes. This will reduce enemies AR by 3 points. Start with Phantom Foes, then Exp. Vulnerability. By the time you finish the wizard spell the focus spend for Phantom Foes has already "grown" back. Secret Horrors is a good spell to shut down most enemies' offensive abilities quickly. It also lowers Will so it can be a good opener to soften enemies up for Miasma and then the individual mind controll uses such as Whisper of Treason or later Puppet Master. It's also cheap enough to regain that focus very quickly as Psion. Borrowed Instincts and Tactical Meld. The latter only if you don't use a Priest with PER inspiration buffs. Disintegrate is very good in this case, too because it doesn't flip back charmed enemies. You can charm a tough enemy and then disintegrate it without any stress. Soul Ignition, too. But Disintegrate is a lot more potent.

Did you go back to find Vatnir in his secret chamber?

Yes, it's a serious drawback.

Nature's Terror is friendly fire in Deadfire, too.

For single target dmg I would suggest either Boar form (wounding DoT is strong and stacks) or Cat Form (fastest attacks) with Wildstrike Belt (it's a lot better than it seems) and Avenging Storm. --- When going Boar: the higher the MIG the better because the wounding lash scales with MIG. The higher the MIG the bigger the percentage of the wounding lash of the tusks. With high MIG you can then also pick Novice's Suffering and wear the Sandals of the Forgotten Friar because both boosts the bonus damage of Novice's Sufferung while nothing else does. That way you get good melee dps and fast hits (important for Avenging Storm) even if you are not shifted, while sparing resources that you would otherwise need for enchanting backup weapons. The Boar Form also has passive healing that stacks with Veteran's Recovery. In combination with high MIG you can make the Boar Druid pretty sturdy while shifted which makes it less likely to go down (aka dealing 0 damage ;)). --- For a melee Cat Form I would maybe prioritize DEX over MIG. Also helps to cast buffs etc. faster. --- For a casting setup with Relentless Storm and so on I would probably focus on the Cat form (just because of the faster casting).

Konstanten has low int and that means his cheap offensive invocation cones (such as Her Revenge) will be too short to be of good use if he fights at range. Imo he has to get close to the enemies in order to make optimal use of those cone-shaped invocations. You could try to boost his INT with various items + food - and that might work at some point. But tbh I would just make him a melee char (and still increase his INT because it sucks ;)). Konstanten as Howler with a Morning Star and Brute Force, Spirit Frenzy and the chant "The Long Night's Drink" worked very well for me.

It is supposed to skip reloading for a certain duration. But it does nothing. I guess since the normal reloading cycle has a minimum animation time (you cannot shorten the reloading time more than down to a certain floor value) the reload time cannot be reduced to zero in a conventional way by just setting it to 0.0 secs or something like that. I suspect the devs just went "ok, let's set reloading time to 0.0 secs for the base duration of x secs" but eventually forgot that even with 0.0 "official" reloading time the reload still takes that minimum amount of animation time. Instead I would look at how the Red Hand achieves its two shots with not reload in between and copy that behavior but give it that 10% chance and do like 3 or 4 shots without reload or whatever seems balanced - and scrap the "for x seconds". Just allow x shots with no reload in a row, no duration involved. But of course getting "x shots without reloading" isn't the same as getting "shoot with a reloading time of 0 for x secs". Because you won't be able to influence the first one with INT and so on I guess. And naturally players would salivate over the possibility to extend that buff with Wall of Draining and so on. Not possible with a fixed amount of no-reload shots. So maybe the red hand method would be ven cleaner and more cheese-avoiding.