Boeroer

You should like Psion/Troubadour. It's one of the most versatile combos, both classes have "automatic" resource regain (only time has to pass), it has healing, summons, mind control and CC and damage. Another plus for solo: It was one of the builds that completed the Ultimate Challenge - so you know it's 100% valid for solo runs. For me it also was one of the most enjoyable mluticlasses to play. Imo players almost always initially underestimate Psion because they think the focus generation is slow. It it not because it a) scales with Power Level and b) it always works, even while you cast, attack, recover or are even unable to act (like when withdrawn). The only thing that stops it is getting damaged - but with a combo such as Troubadour that's rel. easy to avoid because of all the summons and charm/dominate.

I wouldn't call Tekehu an OP AoE nuker until he reaches Avenging Storm and Great Maelstrom (preferably with Effort in his hands) - and that's not even exclusive to his subclass. But foe-only Chillfog (which is exclusive) is extremely convenient and has noticable impact on most fights. It's not about the damage alone but on the blinding (tier-3 affliction!) of all enemies around your party while your friends are completely unfazed.

Yeah. And obviously we'll have to repeat all these points in a few months again because nobody will reread all this before posting and that's why

I mean Feargus must've thought Deadfire would sell really well. How else could he justify to add Full VO near the freaking END of the production just to match D:OS2. Wild...

Exactly. Especially all those games that were reviewed less favorably. I agree though that being part of a big IP such as D&D/Pathfinder etc. will help a game even if it's not as good or if the marketing campaign sucked - just because the IP in itself is a big publicity factor nd also a factor for customer (player) loyalty. So if you launch a game with a rel. fresh IP (Eora) on an unknown crowdfunding platform (fig.co), use a rel. niche gaming mode which is rel. unpopular atm (RTwP), choose an unorthodox setting ("Pirates, arrr!"), drop the ball with marketing (saw a ton of Tyranny ads everywhere - but nothing much outside of Twitter for Deadfire), have no multiplayer (which draws significant audience to titles like D:OS) - I just assume it's enough individual reasons to let a game not sell well. Add increased competition (also in terms of price) and maybe a little bit of saturation for nostalgia-fed games and the game might indeed tank at release. And all of those points don't require to actually buy and play the game in order to take effect. They prevent you from buying the game just like that.

As I said: secondary conditions. Lots of "ifs" just to make one's theory somewhat plausible in comparison to the simple ones. All that didn't seem to have hurt the sales of Tyranny, Pathfinder, Solasta etc. which had worse reviews from critics and users. One certainly has had plenty of options to pick something other than one of those titles, too. Sales of all those alternatives with worse reviews should have been low then as well. Did not happen. So what is more likely to make players stay away from a cRPG that has better reviews and scores than the alternatives? a) "I bought PoE but I didn't like it a lot because of the numerous shortcomings it has. But I didn't ever bother to write anything bad about it either - and when Deadfire came out it surely looked nice and interesting and all... but suddenly there were so many alternatives that had worse ratings - so I picked those instead." or b) "Look, first of all I didn't know that Deadfire even existed, right? Never saw it on Kickstarter or so. So then when I learned about it it was reviewed quite favorably but it looked like a somewhat light-hearted pirates-of-the-carribean-themed game. Heck, it didn't even have a multiplayer option so I thought that wasn't my cup of tea and thus I bought something else. Until later it became more apparent that it's not a pirate game... and then it went on sale and I thought 'eh whatever', bought and played it and it was actually very cool. Hence see the review I wrote."

https://www.inverse.com/gaming/pentiment-game-preview

I don't know if it was changed at some point. Years ago I did intense testing of Marking and Coordinated Attacks with all sorts of constellations when I was playing and later writing that "Counselor Ploi" build and later again for some other Paladin build that totally focused on combining Marking, Coordinated Attacks and the Darcozzi's Inspiring Liberation (the tandem partner was a Cipher).

It kind of works if you assemble the Blade of the Endless Paths, enchant it with "Marking" and combine that with other defense-debuffs of the enemy and/or accuracy buffs for a party member. Paladin/Soulblade could do that with Psychovampiric Shield and Tactical Meld for example. Paladin/Priest has Blessing + Devotions, Paladin/Rogue van use Confounding Blind to lower enemies deflection even further. A Wizard's Essential Phantom will use the same weapon as you - and the Marking of Blade of the Endless Paths from a Phantom will stack with yours - leading up to -40(!) deflection on the enemy. So an Arcane Knight (Paladin/Wizard) can be a very good "marker" and also be sturdy as hell because of the numeerous self buffs of the wizard side which stack with the Paladin's passives.

Yes, using a Fighter with Knockdown or a Monk with Force of Anguish in combination with a Darcozzi marker and a Priest with Inspiring Radiance+ Devotions can make the life of a dragon pretty miserable.

Hanging Sepulchres is very tough. Lvl 6 is too low imo. Arkemyr's Manor can be done without any fighting at all - so the level doesn't really matter (except you need a somewhat decent mechanics skill for certain locks and traps). The Steelclads make fighting through the Manor challenging for lowish level parties because their armor is too high for you to do significant damage (usually).

As long as the mods work for what you want I would also recommend to use them instead of the console.

That is correct. Achievements for that run would be disabled. It wouldn't touch the achievements you already gathered though - just the ones you would potentially gain during that run. If you use the UnityConsole mod the achievements will not be disabled. Console can always be used to do this at any stage of the game. There's no limit (other than the achievements getting disabled for the rest of the run then). I don't know about the mods. Depending what you did with the companions it would need more typing though. The easiest way might be to go retrain that companion in an inn and cancel the level-up process. This will automatically remove all the abilities except he ones you get at lvl 1 - just means you won't have to type as much "removeAbility" commands in the console. But you totally can transform a companion without retraining with the help of the console. If you need help with something like that just tag me with @Boeroer.

That's rather complicated. Maybe @Shylahas an idea who might be able to help with this?

That is right and fun to play. My problem with that approach is that a Paladin only has 2 uses of FoD per encounter. That stinks a bit the longer the fights get (PotD 0 more enemies and higher defenses and HP, later game a lot more enemies and HP in general). One could add Runner's Wounding Shot (works the same) to get to 3 high dmg DoT attacks per encounter... but overall - and especially in the later stages of the game - I prefer the marking weapons for a Paladin - because they deliver great support at all times without any limited resource cost. And they'll do good enough dmg with FoD as well (to take out some casters quickly or so).

Yes. That's how it works. Same target, nearest ally also attacking that target. Doesn't matter how far away if Sagani's the only other ally who's attacking the same enemy as you (the marker). Clicking on the enemy in order to attack already counts. The marker doesn't need to land a successful hit or so. As long as the status is "i want to hit that enemy over there" - attack mode - it's already unlocked for your nearest ally (who wants to attack the same target). Yes, the one of them who stands closer to you. That is false. Only the nearest ally to the marker who also attacks the same target as you will profit. Unless you manually stop the attack mode each time after an ally has landed a hit (to "free" the marking for another ally). Then, in theory, everyone taking turns in attacking the same enemy could profit. But it would need an immense amount of timing and micromamagement. Not suitable for weapon attacks imo. This can work well with spellcasting though - because (without AI) a caster will stop attack mode after casting a spell and just waits which will move the marking bonus to the next caster who casts an offensive spell on that enemy. That is correct. Although Marking of two different weapons won't stack on one ally. If Pallegina with a marking weapon attacks a dragon and Edér does the same with another marking weapon - and there's an ally nearest to both of them who also attacks the dragon - that ally will only get the Marking bonus once (for unknown reasons). Besides that little detail, Marking and Coordinated Attacks stack with everything. Marking can even stack with itself if you use two one-handed marking weapons on the same character. Dual-wielding two marking weapons I mean. The only possible weapon combo here is Shame or Glory + Cladhaliath with the proper enchantment though. All other marking weapons are two handed. If you do that it results in 2x+10 ACC for the nearest ally who's attacking the same enemy as you - not only +10. Coordinated Attacks (and other ACC bonuses) then come on top. You can read more about it here:

As a Psion you might not want to go into melee at all. Instead pick long-range cones like Killers Froze Stiff and deal damage with Soul Shock, Antipathetic Field or Mind Blades at the lower levels. You can make Her Revenge and The Thunder Rolled work (I would pick one of those, not both - bit of a waste of ability points imo) if you pick a small shield and invest in weapon & shield style. This will make you more sturdy and also a less attractive target for enemies while it doesn't hinder your casting at all. The weapon of a Psion/Troubadour doesn't matter much because he shouldn't be auto-attacking a lot. Instead he should be using Brisk Recitation and then invocation & cipher spells all the time. The weapon can be some sort of stat stick then (like Dagger + modal for added melee deflection or something like the Lance of the Midwood Stag for added Powerlevels or so). Honestly: using summons & charm/dominate is almost always preferable when we speak about the impact on the encounter (not the fun while playing). Psion is not the right pick when you want to use melee weapons and prefer to stay in the front line. In that case a Soulblade would be a good cipher subclass. And maybe even Skald for the chnter side instead of Troubadour. Skald only pays 2 phrases for Her Revenge and the Thunder Rolled (and other offensive low level invocations).

If anybody wonders about the (vanilla) console commands to do this (no mods required): After every <enter> you have to reopen the console. First type iRoll20s <enter> Xoti (Gaun/Helwalker) - pick the Monk/Priest multiclass in game setSubclass Companion_Xoti(Clone) Monk Monk_Helwalker <enter> removeAbility Companion_Xoti(Clone) Sister_Of_The_Reaping_Moon <enter> addAbility Companion_Xoti(Clone) Helwalker <enter> addAbility Companion_Xoti(Clone) Helwalker_passive <enter> Edér (Unbroken/Trickster) - pick the Fighter/Rogue multiclass in game setSubclass Companion_Eder(Clone) Fighter Fighter_Unbroken <enter> addAbility Companion_Eder(Clone) Unbroken <enter> addAbility Companion_Eder(Clone) Unbroken_passive <enter> setSubclass Companion_Eder(Clone) Rogue Rogue_Trickster <enter> addAbility Companion_Eder(Clone) Trickster <enter> removeAbility Companion_Eder(Clone) Sneak_Attack <enter> addAbility Companion_Eder(Clone) Sneak_Attack_ArcaneTrickster <enter> addAbility Companion_Eder(Clone) Arkemyrs_Dazzling_Lights_Trickster <enter> Pallegina (Paladin/Berserker) - pick the single class Paladin in game setClassLevel Companion_Pallegina(Clone) Barbarian <current level> false <enter> setSubclass Companion_Pallegina(Clone) Barbarian Barbarian_Berserker <enter> addAbility Companion_Eder(Clone) Berserker <enter> addAbility Companion_Eder(Clone) Carnage <enter> addAbility Companion_Eder(Clone) Frenzy_Berserker <enter> # repeat with other abilities you would have picked at the current level, like Blooded or whatever fits after it's all done type iRoll20s <enter> to disable cheats again.

I just tested an SC Cipher who casts Reaping Knives on an Assassin/Paladin after that guy started a fight with a Gouging Strike from stealth using Lover's Embrace and followed up with Brand Enemy. If you deliver those 3 endless DoTs with that combo to a boss at the start of a fight the Cipher will get ~4.2 focus per sec (on top of his normal focus generation and on top of the additional hits the Assassin/Paladin will do) - for the rest of the fight against that boss - as long as the Assassin/Paladin has Reaping Knives (doesn't matter if they disappear and you recast - the focus gain from DoTs will simply resume then). That is pretty cool in those very long fights in which the usual "Soul-Whip Cipher" sometimes struggles. I guess it pays off to invest the 80 focus then. With 40 secs of Reaping knives you should roughly gain 160 focus that way for a cost of 80. This even partially works against superdefensive enemies like Belranga. Should you miss the Dagger attack - Brand Enemy is an auto-hit. It's then only 5 focus/ 3 secs for the rest of the fight - but better than nothing for a focus-starved cipher. But then one has to ask if the 80 focus for Reaping Knives is worth it and not better spend on something else.

true Whirling Strikes is pretty good, especially with AoE weapons. Iirc you can even trick a mortar into the full attack (use one melee weapon like Keeper of the Flame and Fire in the Hole+Chain Shot in the offhand) which then also works with Driving Flight, doing a ton of attack rolls on everybody around. Twinned Shot (+Driving Flight) is nice if you really want to proc something that has a rel. low chance - like the AoE of Current's Rush or Ondra's Wrath from Watershaper's Focus. Those are fun but expensive - and imo not enough to pick an SC Ranger. Only exception for me is SC Arcane Archer (with Cmmunity Patch that fixes the PEN issues of the imbue shots): up to three Death Rings per shot (initial hit, 1st bounce from Watershaper's Focus or Fire in the Hole, 2nd bounce from Driving Flight) is fun and pretty dang good. It is friendly fire and destroys enemies who are near death. SInce you are triggering up to three instances that destruction happens pretty often because 2 instaces already bring a lot of enemies near death while the third one then destroys them. Too bad SC Ragers can't pick Spirit of Decay...

Cipher's Disintegrate is also very convenient when fighting Hauani O Whe. But I wouldn't say any class is mandatory if you play with a full party. Refreshing resources are very helpful though. I played Psion/Troubadour in a party - and it's one of the most enjoyable, flexible and sustained class combinations I know. The combination of endless charm/dominate with endless summons alone is enough advantage already - and there's so much more in terms of support, crowd control and even damage. So I would second what @theleesaid. Also Xoti as Gaun/Helwalker sounds better to me thematically.

It does cost 3 guile in the vanilla game.

Toxic Strike on a boss in combination with a confused buddy Berserker/Troubadour who uses Many Lives Pass By and Frostfall's Dispersed Suffering is cool I guess.

In the resp. year of release PoE sold +500K copies while Deadfire only sold +100K. I don't know the long term sales numbers though. I only read (mostly Twitter-) messages of Josh and some other devs who reported the break-even point of Deadfire and then somewhat later said that it made a profit in the long run. But one can imagine that it's a big disappointment if a sequel (initially) sells a fifth of the copies of the original game.

I also think that's the main point. Elemental/raw lashes don't trigger any additional Deep Wounds. Also maybe an advatantage of multiple small DoTs compared to singular big ones is related to the Reaping Knives "trick"? Where every tick of a DoT that the wielder of the knives inflicts would generate 5 focus for the summoner of the knives - no matter how little dmg each tick does. Lots of parallel DoTs = lots of 5-focus-ticks.