Boeroer

This also works without the CP. The Forbidden Fist attack scales like Transcendent Suffering with or without the Community Patch. The only difference ist: without CP the Forbidden Fist attack gets treated as a melee "spell", the main drawback is that it wouldn't generate focus that way nor work with Swift Flurry, Heartbeat Drumming, Enervating Blows (redundant since enfeeble, but still), Turning Wheel (I think) etc. The Community Patch just changes the type of attack from melee spell attack to melee weapon attack (as it should have been in the first place - twas likey just an oversight from the devs). The scaling from Power Level etc. is untouched. The Druid side of this idea isn't even touched since the Druid has no special sauce that would only work with CP's FOrbidden Fist implementation. So for this partial build idea it doesn't really matter if CP is installed or not. The only thing you wouldn't be able to do is use stuff like Swift Flurry. But a Druid/FF isn't an ACC monster in the first place so going for Lightning Strikes (I believe that does work with FF attack even without CP) is the reasonable route anyways. Still would consider the Community Patch. It doesn't fundamentally change mechanics and doesn't make them cringy powergamey. Imo it doesn't impact the "feel" or experience of the vanilla game even if you played it the first time. It's just the better version of the game. I'm also not very fond of modding games right away and most mods are kind of over the top generally - this one is not imo. It actually improves balancing in a nin-intrusive, enjoyable and sensible way. Little improvements here and there, removing things that don't make sense, fixing lil bugs and oversights that were ackowledged but couldn't get fixed during the patch cycles of the game. Nerfing too wild stuff here and there so that it works as intended without nerfing it so much it isn't fun anymore... Besides that you can turn on/off any singular change of the mod indivudually if you don't like them. I also do that with two or three options (for example I deactivate the little Avenging Storm and Resonant Touch nerfs because I find the original behavior more fun). Then you'd also get unique icons for every passive ability. That alone would make me install it because I find it annoying that upon level-up you have to mouseover the passives to know what hey are since they all share the limited set of icons. And I don't say that because I drew all those new icons. But of course: if you want to enjoy the first run unmodded that's obviously fine with me, too.

She can be a Herald. That alone makes her a great option for most parties. Tankyness, support and (passive) healing as well as some spike damage. Her subclass options are a bit unexciting though and not worth taking imo. But then just spare those ability points and put them somewhere else. Paladins have plenty of good abilities to pick from - so that shouldn't cause headaches. While her subclass isn't too nice her godlike race is pretty good I think. Getting two resistances (INT, PER) right away is useful, you can spare 2 ability points for the paladin passives which do the same that way.

Yes, they will have additional +15% dmg, +4 ACC and +1 PEN. Besides that of course all abilities will also profit from the added PLs. I didn't mean to spiritshift. I meant to hold the Lance of the Midwood Stag in my hands to get the +2 PL - which scales Transcendent Suffering up one step - but still be able to use the FF attack which does scale with Transcendent Suffering. So the Lance would indeed be a stat stick only that gives my FF attack +15% dmg, +4 ACC and +1 PEN. I just picked Druid for the most convenient unlock of the enchantment (you need to have a plant or beast effect on you). Woodskin and later Form of the Delemgan. It's also nice to gain wounds from your own Tanglefoot (also unlocks the enchantment - it's a hostile plant effect - but a plant effect on you nonetheless). The Lance also looks nice with a Nature Godlike and fits the druidic theme...

Hi, you're welcome. You mean in general? Not really. I think my (currently) favourite melee class combo is Berserker/Helwalker with the Saru Sichr Morning Star. But if you ask me if I like Brute over Crusader then yes. Main reason is that I really like Barbarians (and Monks) and at the same time I'm not a huge fan of fighters and also paladins. It's not because of power or anything, it's just a matter of taste. If you combine Body Blows (-25), Spirit Frenzy (-10) and then some CON affliction from the party (also -10 - e.g. a sicken from Secret Horrors) you will lower enemies' fortitude by 45 points. There are not many enemies that have 45 points fortitude over deflection. And if they do then usually their deflection is pretty low to begin with and you can attack that instead. So: no loss. But I would say that in over 90% of cases Brute Force gives me an advantage. Often a big one since often enough enemies raise their deflection with buffs (like enemy Wizards) - but seldomly they raise their fortitude as much. It's extremely easy to kill a Rogue who's under the effect of Escape (+50 deflection) if you can just target his fortitude. But a Crusader can do the same debuffing with a Morning Star and the help of party members and then use Knockdown to target fortitude - or use FoD with +20 ACC against deflection - which is lower. Not as convenient as Brute Force, but still nice to be able to choose.

The reason why I thought about Conjurer etc. was to get to +6 PL, Tactical Barrage: +1 Stone of Power: +1 Conjurer: +1 Wellspring of Life: +1 Lord of the Forest: +2 But I tested the Lance and as I feared the Lord of the Forest effect (+2 PL) disappears as soon as you switch to another weapon set. So I personally would just use Tactical Barrage, Wellspring of Life and 2 Stones of Power to conveniently get to +3 in every fight. But the Lance gave me an idea for a Druid/Forbidden Fist.

Unless you have one or two very special builds (where Wahai Poraga's friendly fire can be used to your advantage) it's just crap unfortunately.

See the other thread.

I would say that a Brute is pretty tough, too, especially if you don't dump your CON but instead raise it. The combination of attack speed (Frenzy, Bloodlust, Blood Thirsty) with Cleaving Stance + Carnage is great. Also Clear Out + Carnage is very good because the push effect of Clear Out pushes the targets into the Change AoE so that even the initial target (who usually don't get hit by Carnage, only the bystander) get hit by it which is some nice free damage upgrade. Especially with a Morning Star + modal a Brute has very good "virtual" accuracy because he can lower the fortitude of enemies by 25 with the modal alone and then by another 10 points with Spirit Frenzy (staggers enemies). First this makes Knockdown very easy to land (it targets fortitude) and later with Brute Force you will always automatically attack the lower of the two defenses (deflection or fortitude) - except with Clear Out which also targets fortitude (never deflection). Barbaric Smash is an awesome finisher that costs nothing if done right (best combine it with Bloody Slaughter). Works very well to plan Cleaving Stance procs better (needs bystanding enemies). Another way to play an offensively impressing Brute is to use Amra (2h Battle Axe) with 25+ MIG and combine Carnage with Riven Gore (the extra Carnage of Amra if you have a crit at 25+ MIG) with Blood Thirst and Cleaving Stance. It is super effective if you use a Berserker/Devoted and use the confusion to Carnage-kill your party's skeletons from a chanter who sings "Many Lives Pass Bye" or summons Ancient Brittle Bones. Every accidental kill of a skeleton will trigger Blood Thirst and Cleaving Stance, attacking another skeleton which will nearly always crit (and kill) triggering Riven Gore which will kill more Skeletons and so on. Very good with a pet that heals on kill, too. It's like the enemies are caught in a meat grinder. But never send allies near that kind of Brute! They will insta-die if they go below 50 HP because Riven Gore not only kills, it outright destroys the ally immediately (and removes them from the party, never to be seen again). A Morning Star is way more controllable. Or Amra without the Berserker combination. Dual battle axes are also very good with the modal and especially once you get Blood Thirst. I personally prefer the Morning Star route. It is already very effective in the early game when you use Knock Down, making encounters mich easier because you can reliably prone all sorts of enemies. For me a Brute is significantly more impactful on the offensive side but also on the debuffing/CC side. Of course a Crusader has party support and healing. And he can be tougher. Crusaders are steady and very reliable, that's the plus. However, most players complain that it's a boring class combination. I don't think it's that boring, but certainly less exciting than the Brute. Imo a Crusader can be a nice offensive-minded offtank who brings both reliable offense but still very good additional tanking capability and he can always help the party out with strong single healing and support - but it's not an exciting DPS character. The Brute is less tanky, but still tanky enough to fill the offtank role, while better on the offensive and debuffing end. Yet he offers no healing or support for others. If it's primarily about DPS I would recommend the Brute.

Since you are planning with a pike anyways check out the Lance of the Midwood Stag. You can get +2 universal Power Level from that one enchantment. I don't remember if that buff stays if you switch from that pike to fists. If it does then that's +2 stackable PL for your fists which would be nice. Then think about farming 2 Stones of Power (necklace). It can be used once per encounter for +1 universal PL for the whole fight. If you stack the depleted one with the full one in the stash both will be full again, turning it from a per/rest item into a per/encounter item. Also that PL bonus stacks with everything. Then maybe read the following article from @thelee about the scaling of Monastic Unarmed Training so you can make a well informed decision when it comes to stacking PLs (if it's necessary to take Tactical Barrage or not and so on): https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/pc/227477-pillars-of-eternity-ii-deadfire/faqs/76599/monastic-unarmed-training Essentially what you want is +3 PL at all times to take the fists to an additional scaling which makes them very good. +3 with a Fighter is rel. easy: Tactical Barrage (+1PL), Nature Godlike (+1PL) and Stone of Power (+1PL). Of you could reliably stack another +3 PL (see Lance otMS above and then some other source of PL) the fists would become really, really good compared to most other weapons. But the first +3 PLs are pretty easy to come by. Could also think about a Death Godlike and go near death for a huge boost of PL, but I think that's not reliable at all. Another source of PL could be the Conjurer's familiar summon (the bonuses of the familiar stay even if the familiar is gone for whatever reason). Not 100% sure if it stacks with Tactical Barrage/Acute though. So Conjurer instead of Blood Mage I mean. The +1 PL of the Blood Make is for wizard abilities only unfortunately.

Speaking of Miscreant's Leather Changeling's Mantle (doesn't touch Rekke, lil' offtopic): with a confused Berserker/Troubadour or Beckoner you can make great use of the Primal Carnage enchantment. Confused Carnage hits against your summoned wyrms will give you more action speed (up to +15%) in any fight. Not gamebreaking or anything but maybe cool for a themed build or something.

I personally value Make them Flinch (25% Miss to Graze) over the alternative for a Brute. Make them Flinch is great against high defense enemies if you combine it with Gauntlets of Greater Reliability (also 25% Miss to Graze) and Saucco (the food, or better drink, additional 20%) which gives your Brute a whopping 55% miss to graze overall. 25% interrupts on hit is not that valuable with a Brute because he gets Knockdown, Clear Out and also Interrupting Blows. So tehre's enough interrupting going on already. The second enchantment is more a matter of taste and party composition really. our Brute doesn't use the shouts it seems, so if your party likes to toss around shaken, frighten and terrified then I guess the DoT from "The Mind Makes Real" is preferrable. Otherwise the 10% crit conversion is cool, too. Leap is absolutely worth it because you can use it for free out of combat which makes "sneaking" so much easier. And you can also cancel it mid-air and spare the Rage cost. You will then do no dmg and no effect on landing - but you'll also have no recovery time and paid no Rage, yet you moved. But you can substitute that with Bounding Boots as well and just spare the ability point if you wish. This last mechanic is a bit cheesy and def. unintended by the devs. Still very nice to have. Also makes stealing from crates etc. supereasy with no investment in stealth. The DEX from Wild Sprint is cool - but imo the duration is way too short. I have a unorthodox solution down below when it comes to armor recommendation. Reckless Brig. i good, especially combined with Mob Stance and lots of engagement. But that would require Hold the Line and Barbaric Shout for the bonus engagement. Then it's a fast option for that type of armor and the added AR enchantment is also nice. But yes, the looks are special and tailored towards a Huana Mataru, not really Rekke I guess. If it's too painful to watch then maybe check out the Bloody Links (either fast or added AR when bloodied, also raised defenses), Miscreant's Leather (faster than being naked, 1 less AR than your current option) or Magnera's Chain (not faster but defensively a top item). Coming back to Wild Sprint: if you like the freedom of running around unbothered by disengagement attacks you could also check out Nomad's Brigandine. Firstly: it looks like a normal Brigandine (cool imo). And then: it not only raises deflection or adds hit-to-graze, its one enchantment "Tactical Withdraw" makes you immune to disengagement attacks. You will still trigger them when breaking engagement, but they will all(!) be converted to misses. Add Boots of Speed and you basically have Wild Sprint permanently for free (without the DEX bonus unfortunately). Of course you cannot wear the Helm of the Falcon then. I mean how does that look? I like Death's Maw for Brutes. Not only the looks, but the damage reduction is actually more impactful than the numbers suggest. Damamge maluses mostly work in a multiplicative fashion so it really does something for you (once you stand near a slain enemy). But Thaos' Headdress is also good. I almost never use Accurate Carnage because Carnage scales its values with Power Level, even when it procs off of auto-attacks - and the added +5 ACC doesn't mean much later in the game, especially because Carnage cannot critically hit but is limited to miss/graze/hit. This may be different with some mods like Blance Polishing Mod, so my point is only valid for the vanilla game - but also valid when using only the Community Patch. Refreshing Defense is great and I would very much use it with any melee Brute. You will get hit frequently anyway due to Frenzy - and the refreshing +20 to all defenses buff stacks with individual defense buffs - like +20 to deflection or whatever. If you picked Magnera's Chain you will be a defensive powerhouse (except deflection). Note that defenses have increasing returns - so once you start stacking them up in a serious manner the outcomes become nicer and nicer. --- By the way: for Unflinching it can be very useful to have alternating health that drops/raises below/above "Hurt" all the time. Because Unflinching only triggers when you are above above Hurt it will get removed when you are under. This can be used to become quasi-immune to all DEX/CON/MIG afflictions: Let's say you get hit by a paralyze at full health: you are resistant due to Unflinching so it gets downgraded to stuck. Now your health drops below "hurt" status and unflinching is removed. Howeverm the affliction already got downgraded so nothing happens with the stuck (it doesn't get raised to paralyze again or whatever). Now you heal back to full: Unflinchng returns, adding resistance again. This resistance will now downgrade stuck to hobbled... and so on. This pairs very well with Unbending because you will get damaged but retrieve the damage as healing over time (so it's like an up and down - perfect).

A Brute without a Morning Star isn't a proper Brute imo. Knockdown targets fortitude, Clear out Targets fortitude, too. A Morning Star lowers fortitude by 25. Spirit Frenzy lowers it by 10. Later with Brute Force not only Knockdown or Clear Out will profit, but every attack that targets deflection will. The combination of Blood Thirst and Mob Stance is pretty nice. Best to use a hard hitting 2h weapon at that point imo - so Morning Star fits this, too. But imo Lord Darryn's Voulge is also good - so I approve your weapn choice very much. With a Morning Star one seldomly needs Penetrating Strike. I wouldn't pick it. Wild Sprint: nah Armored Grace is a must-have for me. I like to combine that with Devil of Caroc Breastplate (already very fast Breastplate due to enchantment) and Helm of the Falcon for more speed. Willbreaker already has more speed - so all in all it will be a fast combination for a 2h-Brute. Also looks rad imo.

You can use Sharpshooter - but I consider it to be one of the weaker Ranger subclasses. The recovery penatly is hard to compansate with that little crit conversion. Assassin doesn't work well with Frostseeker because it is is multiprojectile weapon and as soon as the first projectile hits the invisibility is lifted and the assasinate bonus will be gone. Projectile 2 and three and the AoE on crit will get nothing from Assassin. --- One of the strongest class combos for Frostseeker is Arcane Archer/Ascendant. Or Ghost Heart/Ascendant if you don't like having the animal companion around all the time. Reason is the highest potential accuracy in the game (Ranger passives + Imbue Shots + Arcana + Borrowed Instinct + Tactical Meld) paired with the Ascendant's Soul Whip and its dmg bonus which doesn't turn off when focus is full (like it does with the other cipher subclasses) but instead does even more weapon damage. And you get all the nice Cipher spells on top of that. For example Pain Block on a bear companion with Resilient Companion makes for a pretty good offtank - contrary to most other approaches to let the animal companion tank. --- A more obsucre but also good combo is Ghost Heart/Mage Slayer. The Frostseeker Bow creates a hidden melee attack roll when its projectiles critically hit. That hidden melee attack does no damage but triggers the AoE the bow does. This hidden melee attack does work with the Mage Slayer's Spell Disruption. Since Forstseeker has multiple projectiles you can shut down a caster pretty quickly - which an be very valuable. Also works with Arcane Archer of course but it just feels so wrong thematically. Mageslayer also brings more action speed via Frenzy and Bloodlust, either stagger on hit (Spirit Frenzy) or raw DoT on crit (Blood Frenzy), Barbaric Smash as a good finisher (can be cost free if it kills) and crit conversion and high dmg against near death enemies with Bloody Slaughter. --- Another good combination is Arcane Archer/Helwalker. In the unmodded game Turning Wheel will not work with ranged weapons (Lightning Strikes does), but the increased INT of Duality of Mortal Presence will enlarge the AoE of the bow, Eternal Dance of Death will give you +12 accuracy, up to +15 MIG and +2 PEN (Helwalker passive at 10 wounds + Thunderous Blows) do help with the damage of course. You also get a good summoning option on top of the animal companion (Dichotomous Soul). --- Yet another good option is Devoted/Arcane Archer or Ghost Heart. With Penetrating Strike you get awesome +5 PEN wit your warbow shots, could even get +6 if you use a Sharpshooter and get close (I don't recommend that though). Better crit dmg and then some of the other Fighter goodies like more accuracy and so on. --- Streetfighter + Frrostseeker could be unlocked with a Chanter (most likely Trobadour) as second class. As phrases it would be Aefyllath Ues Mith Fyr + Sure-Handed Ila and you would use the phrases to summon upgraded Whisps which you target at yourself. Those hits will distract you and unlock the Streetfighter's passive -50% recovery time and bonus Sneak Attack damage. It's a little cheesy but works very well. However it doesn't have the best accuracy. If you let the Whisps shoot you enough you can become bloodied which then unlocks the next stage of the Streetfighter which results in a lot more critical damage. If you take human as race this will also unlock Fighting Spirit (+ accuracy, +dmg). Another way to use a Streetfigher with Frostseeker is to pick Berserker as second class and let the self damage of Frenzy get you to the bloodied state - unlocks Streetfigher passive. This combo is shooting very fast but also doesn't have the best accuracy. Note that all combos without Ranger will lack the ability Driving Flight - which is very good in combination with Frostseeker. I'd say it is too good to pass on it.

Nope - only the Druid spells that are keyworded with "Beast". You mean with weapon attacks I presume. With the deception spells it generally isn't a problem at all with the Beguiler. Even the deception spells that are cast on unafflicted enemies will generate focus: first the deception's affliction will be put on the enemy... and only after that the game checks if the enemy is afflicted and if there should be focus generation (for casting a deception spell on an afflicted enemy). This is one reason why the Beguiler mechanic around deception spells/focus generation (outside the weapon attacks) is so strong.

For modding you'd also have to alter the progression table (which tells the game which ability comes when for a class), not only the ability itself.

Ah, I see. Unfortunately Damage over Time spells (apply once, does ticks of small damage afterwards without additional hit rolls) like Shining Beacon don't profit from Scion of Flame and its siblings (see Spirit of Decay with DoT corrosion spells for example). In all other cases of direct fire damage* it will work, even with weapons (see the Firebrand summoned great sword) and non-spell abilities (see Flames of Devotion). It also works with lashes like Turning Wheel and as I said Flames of Devotion - also with the Wildstrike Burn of Druids or generally with all burning lashes on a weapon. It will raise the lash damage by 20%. So if the lash was doing 25% additional dmg. Scion of Flame would increase that from 25% to (0.25*1.2=0.3) 30% lash. And yes, that sucks and you couldn't know that. It's one of the little oversights that never got fixed and that you can only know about if you skim this forum, directly ask here or do extensive testing yourself. So it can be frustrating. *See Divine Mark and also Storm of Holy Fire: this one does multiple hit rolls which all do direct burn damage, it's not a DoT spell like Shining Beacon that only hits once and then ticks away like a poison. Both will work with Scion of Flame. --- Good finding with the mod option/Turning Wheel.

It's only crit dmg bonus. I find it hard to justify to get flanked with a low health ranged char and deal with melee attacks that potentially one-shoot me for more crit damage. If you can get flanked reliably but without taking dmg otherwise though (like by a party member's spell or whatever) it would be def. an option. Switching from an initial blunderbuss shot to bow would also work, but it lowers accuracy further and in a party that's way too much micro for my taste. And I tend to play without AI on - although this build is very nice for AI scripting.

If you need a great damage dealer in the early game not much beats Berserker/Streetfighter with Hunting Bow, preferably Essence Interrupter imo. Right out of the gates it gets Frenzy with higher action speed, Streetfighter passive with -50% recovery and 50% recovery from the bow modal. The self dmg of Frenzy leads to blooded which triggers the Streetfighter's Heating up. If you go with 3 CON this happens very quickly, but later in the game you would need to counter the self dmg more - bc. it scales more steeply than your health. First Frenzy + bow modal will speed you up, then Frenzy + Heating Up + modal will give you insane shooting speed and when Frenzy wears out you'll still have 2x -50% recovery. Of course the +2 PEN helps, too. Hunting bows get +5 acc naturally, so the malus of the modal is not that bad. And if you pick human as your race you will always unlock Fighting Spirit which counters the malus, too. Then buying the exceptional Essence Interrupter that early on the game does its part for your acc, too. This build can plow through Gorecci Str and the Digsite with ease - if you have somebody to keep enemies away from it. Luckily Hunting Bows have a great range. Blooded will already add 25% dmg to the high Sneak Attack of the bloodied Streetfighter. Later add Bloodlust even more speed), Bloody Slaughter and Blood Thirst and go the Blood Storm route of Frenzy - because the raw dmg is nice and bc. one kills so quickly the duration will be extended quite a bit. But then you have to counter with healing over time at some point. A pet with "heal on kill" can help. Devil of Caroc Breastplate + Abraham is a solid choice, also gets rid of the confusion. Later Savage Defiance. You can also go the Spirit Frenzy route and unlock Sneak Attack automatically with the stagger. The you can unlock deathblows right away with on Crippling Strike for example. Then also Brute Force can come into play in combination with Withering Strike (or some other source of sicken or weaken from the party) so that you can target a lower fortitude instead. I'm undecided on which is better. Spirit Frenzy is probably easier to control because the frenzy duration is finite. Ofc. Deathblows... I really liked Crippling Strike as my no.1 "affliction" attack. Upgraded to Arterial Strike when I went the Spirit Frenzy route and as Debilitating Strike if I chose Blood Storm (fast Deathblow unlock). It is cheap, scales its base dmg lovely via Power Level - esp. in combination with all the additive dmg bonuses - and has +2 bonus pen right away which stacks with the Berserker's +2 PEN. Once a target is afflicted you can just auto-attack (aka let the gatlin-gun do its work). As finisher I would use Barbaric Smash instead of Finishing Blow because often if will get refunded and it does comparable dmg (at least on crit). With Deep Wounds you might want to switch weapons to A's Legacy - because shock dmg wouldn't trigger Deep Wounds. But the summons from the EE's crits and then kills are still very nice to have, so maybe that's a matter of preference or party composition and also which enemy you are facing. It is not a build that improves like crazy after several levels but instead starts as very impactful and just keeps being good on a more flat "power curve". With Essence Interrupter this guy also rips Steelclads apart even if you are underleveled - an enemy who can otherwise be a problem if taken on too early. You can do the same with blunderbuss and combine the flanked with the bloodied for high crit dmg - but the shooting will be significantly slower and the acc not much better. Also the low range is really hurting this setup because you will get attacked a lot more. Purely single target damage though ( no problem with the initial confusion) - so I prefer him to take on dangerous but more squishy backliners like casters. Hes very good at killing them very quickly. As you can see the Berserker is mostly there to unlock bloodied/Heating up very quickly without the need to get flanked or get actually attacked by enemies - and the +2 PEN. This build profits a lot from party summons and/or mind control because it draws enemies attention (especially ranged enemies) away from him.

Grave Bound (the freezing effect of Grave Calling) isn't only applied with Chilling Grave (the Chillfog) but also with normal weapon crits. But iirc Scyorielaphas is immune to freeze attacks? Or does it work anyway?

I also didn't experience those bugs with Scion of Flame. I mean there are still some, but hardly noticable most of times. For example the Blood Testament Gloves have the same occasional quick as Turning Wheel. Unequip/re-equip will help. That's not great, but not a big hassle like removing/adding abilities every time, jeez - that's super annoying. I don't use any mods with PoE though.

True. If it's a party that's a non-issue in my experience though. Berserker/Beguiler is also a good choice imo. I don't have a ton of exp. with Berserker/Rogue - only two builds I played for an extended amount of time. Both Streetfighters: one ranged with hunting bow, one with Pukestabber + Lover's Embrace. Ridiculous attacks speeds with both, so good fun. But more of a challenge to keep alive.

The first bug occurs from time to time. Maybe it's tied to the specific invocation. You will usually still be able to gain the extended phrase number during battle and it's "only" the start of combat. Still sucks ofc. The second I never experienced myself. And I - funnily enough - also played and tested a Skald with Blightheart for quite some time. With Berserker as a second class though, not Psion. No idea where this could come from...

Paladin has Eternal Devotion which not only adds a burning lash but also +10 ACC. If you wear the Ring of Focused Flame you can add another +10ACC on top. Pretty good for landing crits. Then you can also use Zealous Focus for +5 additional ACC. It stacks with both FoD and Ring's bonus. Exalted Endurance's AR bonus doesn't stack with the Hardy inspiration of the Berserker anyway. Of you use a Kind Wayfarer and dual wield, your FoD attacks not only crit a lot but they also will heal you on the fly, making the use of Lay on Hands less frequent (better action economy). Also Paladin has on-kill effects (+defense, +Zeal) which synergizes with the Berserker (Bloodlust, Blood Thirst etc.). Barbaric Smash as finisher only. Add a pet that heals you on kill (+20) and maybe put a pet on Edér which heals +10 on kill party-wide. Results in pretty sturdy damage dealer imo.

I didn't have those kind of problems. Sometimes Turning Wheel not activating, but not frequently. Quicksave/-reload fixed it. I put a lot of hours into playing Monks.

It is viable. Less on PotD than on the lower difficulties, but with some effort and good item selection it's still viable and fun on PotD. Just don't expect to be able to facetank everything. While melee attackers will have a hard time the ranged ones will still be hitting you often enough which might get you in trouble if you are too ****y. The Offensive Parry does indeed generate phrases for you should it crit. So stacking melee deflection is a high priority. But you can also use deliberate disengagement as a source for Offensiove Parries. The armors Gipon Prudensco and Nmad's Brigandine both offer an enchantment that makes you immune to disengagement attacks. That doesn't mean that those attacks won't occur if you break engagement but nstead those attacks will all be converted to misses (100%) - and Offensive Parry will trigger. Fortunately both armors also offer an enchantment that rases deflection - which is nice. Te main difference is that Nomad's Brigandine offers a lot more AR with the know downsides (slower recovery). So you can try to tank a lot of enemies in order to trigger a lot of Offensive Parries from their misses - and if it's getting too hot you can just run away and trigger some more Offensive Parries in the process - hopefull gaining some more additional phrases. On top of that you might want to max out RES, get refreshing defense (it stacks with all deflection-only buffs like The Silver Knight's Shields or Warrior Stance - so that's great), Entonia Signet Ring, Superior Deflection, Cape and Bracers of Greater Deflection and Offensive Parry itself. Casità Samelia's Legacy is also a viable armor, but you'll have to raise the Intimidate skill in order to make it worthwhile. This can be good if you also take the Berath's Blessing "Infamous Past". But it lacks the disengagment trick. Of course it is benefical to debuff enemies' accuracy with the whole party. See Priest's Devotions for the Faithful and Desponent Blows, all sources of Blindness (Chillfog for example), PER debuffs (Miasma of Dull Mindedness) and so on. On top of all the Offensive Parry stuff you will also have the very good combo of the WotEP's cone attack with Clear Out later on. This will also be able to give you a very high chance of gaining a phrase because not only does Clear Out roll twice against the initial target but also every target in the cone of Clear Out will proc a new cone of WotEP which leads to a ton of individual hit rolls which not only send enemies sprawling in all sorty of direction but also makes it very likely to deal a critical hit that produces a phrase for you. For that combo to be good you also need high INT (=bigger AoE cones).