Boeroer

What's wrong with the fox? It's basically a wolf companion which I'd prefer on a ranger anyway.

Hehe... Unbroken has higher PEN on disengagement attacks and additionally: all fighters can buy an ability that increases disengagement damage and prones disengaging enemies.

No. You didn't study the fighter ability tree properly I guess...

Does the wizard side bring anything of note other than Deleterious Alacrity of Motion ? Because if not, one might be better served using potions (or boots !) or speed... As I wrote, the wizard brings awesome self buffs (esp. defensive ones). The best thing about the new Alacrity is that it gives you immunity to engagement now. The new disengagements really hurt and this way you can completely avoid them while "catching" all enemies with your multiple engagement slots. And also +100% move speed which is good because Unbroken can't move as fast as other characters. But still only a concept. Had no time to test it yet.

That works from stealth if you are <= 2meters away. Currently there's a bug with Shadowing Beyond where only melee attacks get the backstab bonus. The arquebus modal gives you slower attack speed but +20 accuracy. Rangers can get ok attack cycles because they have gunner exclusively and can buy a hat that also gives you +20% reload speedup. Pistols' modal would give you +100% reload speedup but will also cost you 20 accuracy. They still might be better for backstab because you can dual-wield them - blunderbusses, too.

No crashes so far - also not with those combos. The only probem I have is that the game won't close properly but hangs itself up when I want to quit - which is not that bad.

No class is useless in PoE if you really know how they work. Not Sagani and especially not chanters.

Yeah, that's pretty neat and of course way better tha n using a potion.

I just saw that a combo of Berserker/Streetfighter could combine a high number of engagement slots (shield use +1, Persistant Distraction +1, Barbaric Yell +3, spear +1) with the ability to distract ALL engaged enemies passively with Persistent Distraction... Does that mean auto-sneak-attack with carnage? I also realized that an Unbroken/Wizard could combine a lot of engagement slots (like, a LOT) with hefty disengagement-punishment. Alacrity would allow him to move freely and swiftly and "collect" all enemies in engagement. If they want to leave they get severly punished... I mean besides the crazy high defenses because of Unbroken + Wizard's self buffs.

I'm just thinking: What happens if you pair immunity against engagement (enemies can't engage you) with a lot of engagement slots on your side - and then run around and "collect" enemies like a magnet? Once they want to leave they get punished by disengagement but you won't if you go after some rushers who want to have your squishies for breakfast/lunch/supper. Would that be viable? Maybe I'll try later...

I think that was patched in later (no idea why). There used to be times when Savage Attack and Reckless Assault didn't suppress each other's dmg bonus (or so I remember). But here: a modal from a proficiency that is totally useless once you gain some special abilites is a problem in my opinion.

Atm you would be gimping yourself if you would try to use powers with a Soul Blade. That's the main reason why I would never roll a single class Soul Blade at the moment. You would be forced to take some of the (momentary awful) powers. If you multiclass you can just pick Biting Whip and Hammering Thoughts and put the rest into the better abilites of your second class. There are some really nice combos (Shattered Pillar, Bleak Walker, Devoted, Assassin...). All casters that you build offensively feel really, really bad at the moment while healing and self buffing via spells is very powerful.

Yes, I also tried right now and it's totally NOT useful. Something for the bug section I guess...

Nope. All two handers and heavy one handers had actually the same attack speed despite their descriptions.

I also think that the estoc is kind of weird: I can live with the low base damage because it has high PEN and this can be very benefical for damage - especially when it comes to overpenetration. YOu could also argue that the narrow blade is great for PEN, but doesn't cause as much tissue damage as a bright blade would do. But even lower damage for more PEN when using the modal is a bit bonkers. How do you inflict less damage with a blade that didn't change and now has even more penetration? Maybe because you target vulnerable spots in the armor where no vital organs are found? Don't know... But lower attack speed I could understand better - you aim more careful in order to hit the weak spots and so on. Sure, using realism is not what I normally do, so...

Do you mean Path of the Damned (PotD) or Pillars of Eternity (PoE)? But yes, with a Full Party you could totally go the non-optimal way in PoE with PotD difficulty.

Yeah... but you know what I mean: In PoE1 this would also be very good, but you couldn't do it all the time without resting because a) your healing spells wouln't be per encounter and more importantly b) your health pool would suffer a lot. Now in Deadfire it is like a godmode cheat for nearly one minute without any consequences. You can do this forever without resting. Maybe if you step into a trap... but that's another story.

It is determined by your guile pool. If you have more guile you can use it more often. Empower can refill your guile pool. So far I haven't seen anything else that can. Corpse Eaters can refill rage with Flesh Communion, however there's nothing like that for the rogue (yet). So yes - you can do multiple backstabs during an encounter: first out of stealth, then with Shadowing Beyond (as many times as your guile pool allows). And I guess an Assassin/Soul Blade is a very good solo character. I mean not only because he can one- or two-shot most enemies from stealth/invisibily, but also because the gameplay will be a lot different and fun - now with the new stealth system, the sources of noise with which you can distract enemies and so on. For example you can place a trap somewhere and then sneak to another place. The enemy will hear the trap and look what's happening, often stepping into it. THis is very loud and so other enemies might come to look what's up while you can sneak where they cam from - the path is clear.

Modal large shield and modal dagger is actually what I use. Then please don't use it. I don't want you to die from boredom. Anyway - this is suppoesd to show how the health system is a bit broken or at least exploitable.

They also boost healing a lot. I did a Nature Godlike Livegiver and healing goes through the roof with +9 power level (Wellspring of Live: +2, Livegiver: +2, Living Surge: +5 = healing effect more than doubled). Topic and OP: I would have liked option #1. Not necessarily all passives have to be accessible by all classes. My initial post on the topic "Removing universal talents was a bad idea" was based on the experience that leveling up a single class character was very boring and railroady and that casters had no passives at all - and I wished for more choice (still do) - like the universal talents gave in PoE. I'm not too happy with the idea to put them into the same category as proficiencies. For example I would have liked access to Two Handed Style for a Conjurer (summoned weapons specialist) and for a priest of Berath (can summon great sword), Bear's Fortitude for a Transmuter, Envenomed Strike for a Druid and so on - stuff like that, where it makes sense and gives some more meaningful choices without cluttering everything up with combinations nobody would take because it doesn't either fit the class or is completely rubbish. Another option for me would have been to reinstanciate the talent choice as a seperate thing again. Pick an ability every level und maybe pick a talent every third or second level or whatever. THose could also include very special stuff like "improved explosives" or "strong shooting arm" for higher range with explosives, "nimble fingers" for an additional bonus for pickpocketing and whatnot. Not necessarily Two Handed Style and Weapon Focus, but why not...

I tried again with all non-casters except the Livegiver and it's a lot more powerful than having casters only. Reason is that rangers/fighters and so on shred things a lot faster than pure AoE casters can. Even when they have enough time now to cast things they are just very bad compared to classes that deal weapon damage. I presume a pack of helwalkers would be cool - because they can gain wounds and MIG bonuses by taking damage - which is healed all the time... The healing makes it easy to go full offense. It's still benefical to have one dedicated damage sponge who unstealths and absorbs the first wave of attacks so that you can cast your fast healing sequence unhindered. A large shield with that modal might help a lot - and after healing is "on" switch to a more offensive setup. Afflictions like Sickened and Weakened can easily be countered with an inspiration.

I just did a single class Nature Godlike Livegiver and I have to say I'm very impressed and see that my worries about the new health system have been confirmed: - Cast Nature's Vigor in order to trigger Wellspring of Life (Nature's Vigor is a fast cast, leads to +2 Power Level.) - shift into cat form to gain Living Surge and use Cat's Flurry for faster casts. This will give you +5 Power Level for Rejuvenation spells. - Lifegiver's automatic ability gives all Rejuvenation spell +2 Power Level - you are now at +9 Power Level for Rejuvenation spells in a matter of seconds (everything was fast cast) - now you cast Nature's Balm (get +4 armor and healing per tick with +9 Power Level) - cast The Moon's Light with +9 Power Level You and your party can't die for about one minute. If you have a priest in the party he can cast a spell which gives you oancentration and then you have all the time in the world to cast offensive spells/summons/whatever. You don't need to leave the healing are if you use ranged attacks or spells. Slow caster-only party which doesn't have to move is fun and totally possible. You can even give everybody CON 3 and RES 3. If you have a Beckoner he can summon 6 Sekeletons which will also heal. It's crazy - and this is only lvl 6. By the way the healing of Nature's Balm and The Moon's Light don't suppress each other. Later you can get Moonwell (didn't level up yet) and I guess it gets even crazier... You can also multiclass with a priest but sice Restoration spells don't profit from Lifegiver's stuff I found it wa more benefical to concentrate on a higher power level and gaining the good spells faster. But the priest can heal after shifting runs out because then you'll have -5 power level for Rejuvenation but no penalties for Restoration spells while you can still profut from Wellspring of Life. I'd use this multiclass when fights take a lot longer (PotD maybe). But honestly I think it's just better to take a single class priest with you instead. Now add a Beckoner with Ancient Memory...

Yes, but the high base damage also makes it an ideal weapon for any character with a lot of damage modifiers (like crit or even Merciless Hand, high MIG and so on). A rogue with Firebrand is absolutely murderous (until you can lay your hands on durgan steel). I'd also say it's the perfect backstab weapon - if only the summoning wouldn't break your stealth. It's also great with Flames of Devotion + Intense Flames, Scion of Flame, Sworn Enemy and stuff.

It's Thanksgiving. You'll have to wait a bit before you can expect any answer from Obsidian. They left for the holidays.

You can pick spells that have no friendly fire. For example Freezing Pillar. Golden Gaze also procs Expose Vulnerabilities which help a lot with Blast's damage and the two (weaker) projectiles. Also try Combusting Wounds + Kalakoth's Minor Blights. Two spells only to shred enemies to pieces. Blights + Blast generate a plethora of hits which all trigger Combusting Wounds on the enemy. If they don't have enormous burn DR they will die very quickly and you don't harm your party members. Pull of Eora helps to pull enemies together. Perfect pre-spell for Minor Blights use.