Boeroer

The downside? Way too easy!

Yes

Josh having a vision does not mean that he's able to implement it in a way that it works out like intended. Or maybe sometimes he can't make his developers implement it in the way he envisioned it. There are examples where Josh had no clue how some ideas were implemented, like bash in PoE1 or MIG multiplier in Deadfire. He doesn't seem to run some tests or math in order to confirm if his ideas make sense or not. I think he relies more on testing the stuff in game and look how it feels. Fair enough, but you can only "testfeel" so much...

Yes, one has to know that with maluses like graze and such it's not like you lose 50% of your rolled base damage. You lose more as long as you have a positive dmg modifier after all (see above). Because of that some people might have thought that graze is "multiplicative" like MIG, which it isn't. It works like all the other "additive" dmg mods. The only exceptions are MIG and Power Level bonus. The percentage-values with all maluses are totally misleading for the average player. For the same reason blunted criticals (-25% crit damage) does not lead to a crit that does the same danage as a hit - a crit with a gun leads to less damage than with a hit. This shows that even the devs/desginers at obsidian don't really know how their mechanics work - at least not all of them. The intention was that a crit with a gun should do the same damage as a hit. So somebody thought: "well if a crit does +25% then I only need to add a malus of -25% and the crit does the same damage as the hit..." - well - no. Now a crit with a gun can do +25% and -33% which leads to an overall crit damage of -8%. Bravo! Again: very nice research of the damage formulars by the way guys.

Yes, as I said: I'm ok with PL giving multiplicative bonuses. Usually they are lower and their increase is less steep than MIG's. And there are no abilites where you just get huge amounts of it (except for Livegiver with they +5 when shifted - which is kind of cool though in this case because you also get a -5 after shifting).

If I could I would make Edér a Fighter/Streetfighter. But yes, for me Fighter/Rogue fits better than just Fighter - and Rogue only somehow also doesn't feel right. But maybe just beause I'm used to his implementation as a Fighter in PoE. Maybe this time I will build him in a more tankish manner for a change and give him Arterial Strike. Pull the annoying rushers in with Into the Fray, hit them with an Arterial Strike and they won't want to go anywhere.

Another thing Josh might look into "personally": Bonuses of Power Level like increased duration and healing are also multiplicative. I think that's ok - but I don't know if this was done by design or by accident as well...?

No, it also was additive in PoE and still is (kind of - the math was changed a bit and works in "steps" now and whatnot - but basically it's still additive). Same as crit damage.

He seems to be a guy I could watch without getting annoyed.

Overpenetration will lead to 30% more damage. That's not unimportant. It's debateable if it makes sense though. I don't think that this forum gave it more importance than it has. What this forum does is showing where the flaws of the PEN/AR systems are (under a pile of other stuff). Some people here are analyzing this way better than Obsidian seems to have done before and after implementing it.

All dmg modifiers that work with % are in one group that uses the weapon base damage as... well, base. Only MIG is in another group of modifiers that uses the whole dmg (except lash and attached DoTs) as base. Simply put: all stuff like Sneak Attack, crit damage, overpenetration, Backstab and so on get calculated with the weapon base damage and then "added" - and then comes Lord Might and multiplies it all.

Don't need any help from the internets when playing the game for the first time. Unless I run into a serious bug or get so stuck that I can't go on.

I agree. If only one employee of Obsidian watched this forum they must have stumbled over this topic a dozen times. Also BAdler answered a question of MaxQuest during beta1, explaining this behavior. So he def. knew.

They are not that frail. But even if: in case of the skeletons you will have 12 instead of 6 then...

Well the spiritual weapons are nice and all - but hey have no special and unique enchantments as unique weapons have. The latest stream showed some pretty interesting weapons with very special features.

Well that escalated quickly! Why does a gaming preference that is different from yours to be considered "scum"? Don't most games made in this genre provide an "advancement of power" in the PC and party? "The only people I knew" does not mean "all power gamers that exist." The power gamers I knew were scum because they would do anything and everything to obtain power within a game (cheats, exploits, bugs, design flaw, etc..) Nothing wrong with power gained within the confines of its intended design. I can assume decent power gamers exist but its all conjucture for me based on my experience. You mixed up Powergamers with Munchkins.

Summoned weapons like Concelhaut's Parasitic Staff and Citzal's Spirit Lance combined with wizards' self buffs will do the trick.

Yes, when you have high deflection you can use the unique shield Aila Braccia (from monks in Celestial Sapling, Twin Elms). It turns all ranged attacks that graze into misses and reflects then back to the attacker. Cleansing Flame is a ranged attack that targets deflection - so it gets reflected if it grazes. If it hits you're screwed though.

Goldpact + Berath is indeed a good combo. FoD with +80% lash, with Eternal Devotions you'll even have +70% without spending Zeal. At the same time improved tankyness via Gilded Enmity. Devoted/Berath might also be good. Great Swords can use some bonus PEN and the crit damage also doesn't hurt. I didn't try it myself though. But a multiclass Priest will lack some nice sounding spells: PL 8 Dismissal PL 8 Hand of Weal and Woe PL 8 Crowns for the Faithful PL 8 Spark the Souls of the Righteous PL 9 Hand of Berath PL 9 Berath Incarnate ​But at least Avatar is still available for multiclass at PL 7.

If you like a 2handed cipher there's a variant that is lots of fun and powerful: grab the Belt of the Belt of the Royal Deadfire Cannoneer and Forgemaster GLoves and use Firebrand as your main weapon as often as possible (6 per rest). With the good dmg bonuses of the cipher combined with other dmg bonuses like Svage Attack, Two Handed Style, Apprentice's Sneak Attack and also Scion of Flame you'll do immense damage per attack - one strike usually is enough to follow up with a good cipher spell. I would prefer light to medium armor - but heavy armor is good in the early game. Just don't engage first but wait until Edér and Pallegina are engaged by enemies. You can make the cipher a lot sturdier with Veteran's Recovery - it works very well with high INT and MIG. If you combine it with survival (4/8/12) and an itemd that lets you receive more healing you will have fighter-like sturdyness when it comes to endurance. But you have to watch your health bar! If you don't like the idea then give it to Pallegina - her FoD strikes are great with Firebrand and she can even use Runner's Wounding Shot as fourth per-encounter attack after Wrath of the Five Suns and 2 x FoD. If you want to build Edér as a tank with a shield then I'd vote for war hammers, not swords. The uniques are way better. I would not build him 100% defensive because... that sucks. You can stil give him Disciplined Barrage and Kockdown and later grab Badgradr's Barricade or Dragon's Maw. Those two shields are great for offense as well. If you pair them with the Godansthunyr hammer you can be great at defense and offense. Durance should be your primary buffer, not healer. If you use his spell uses for healing that's wasting precious resources. Use his spells for stuff like Devotions. Healing is better done via stuff like Veteran's Recovery and Lay on Hands etc. Of course - if you are in danger of going down DUrance should use healing - but in general I would see him as buffer, not healer. Buffing up your ACC is very important on PotD. Make sure he takes Inspiring Radiance. Its +10 ACC stack with everything. Cast it right at the start of the battle (ignoring the whimpy healing) and start your CC salve with +10 "free" ACC. Durance will get rushed if he has low DR AND low defenses. YOu can prevent that with thick armor (=slow recovery) or a shield. SInce he has high RES his deflection with a shield is pretty decent (for a priest) and discourages a lot of enemies from attacking him. General rule: Buff ACC --> do CC --> deal damage. 90% of the dialogue checks are unimportant. You'll get the same results without them. There are some checks that lead do a differnet outcome. For example you can talk a dragon into giving you an item - you'd have to kill him to get it otherwise (which I would do anyway). I another situation you can get some permanent minor stat boost via talking. If you choose the violent way you get very rare enchantment resources instead. I'd take the resources. For the rest of the game the dilogue checks are not very important except for roleplaying reasons.

I meant the ACC bonus of Novice's and Transcendent Suffering not working with abilites, yes. Still didn't test it in Deafire though.

It's was confirmed that Edér and Aloth don't have any subclass.

Yes, constant healing (from another source like another chanter or a paladin or both) paired with 30pt-dmg-shield every 3 sec is very good: no casting time, no spell uses "wasted" - just a great way to passively gain a ton of "virtual" health. An otherwise very offensive but glassy party turns into a sturdy one. THis setup doesn't prevent death because of high spike damage though (dragon breath and such).

I guess it stacks because Reflective Image is a passive ability?

It was so in PoE. I didn't test if this is still the case in Deadfire.