Boeroer

All I can say is: BOOOOOOOOOOO!

The expansions in PoE are not small sequels like with BG and BG2, but blend into the main game. WM I is for chars of lvl 8+ while WM II is for high lvl chars. It's totally cool to travel to the White March, do some quests and then return to the places of the main game, do some other stuff, then returning to WM and so forth. I would recommend playing PoE with WM I & II. The expansions add some nice unique items and other neat stuff as well as three additional companions which you can use in the main game, too. The expansion really "expand" the game.

Well. You drink so much that you forget everything. After that, the barkeeper helps you to remember. Sounds totally plausible to me.

Yeah sorry. I'm superbusy at the moment and have only time to post some stuff here and there, but not to work on a proper build description. Said priest is a lot of fun. Basically because very high MIG is supergood for wounding (Tidefall) and also wounding get's accellerated by Cleansing Flame. In that case high INT + wounding ist not too bad because else it would be difficult to cast Cleansing Flame on a wounded target or vice versa. Had a lot of fun with it. General approach is to get as much MIG as possible (dwarf or aumaua, +1MIG background, Aggrandizing Radiance, Champion's Boon or Minor Avatar, items like Maegfolc Skull) and get high ACC (Insp. Radiance, Devotions, WF Soldier, Berathian weapon talent). I paired this with Veteran's Recovery because it's so good with that much MIG and high INT. I also added Envenomed Strike for the same reason. I also added RUnner's Wounding Shot because it's superawesome with high MIG - esp. in combo with Cleasing Flame You will do good melee damage (not like a shifted druid or a deathblow rogue, but really solid) and still can cast stuff. I specialized on damaging spells like Shining Beacon and so on. Shining Beacon with over 40 MIG and high INT, paired with Cleansing Flame and supported with Tidefall's wounding + Runner's Wounding Shot and/or Enevenomed Strike kills everything, including dragons, in no time. I also played it on solo PotD and it was viable and a lot of fun (after a difficult beginning). Later I switchd to Abydon's Hammer just for casting and had around 50 MIG with it (including resting bonuses and such) during the hard fights. Damaging spells and also healing with 50 MIG is quite the show.

The message will be wrong then - in hindsight. If the DR changes during the duration ot the DoT effect then the ticks have to deal with the changed DR. This can be good - for example if your wizards casts Expose Vulnerabilities on an enemy that already suffers a DoT effect: the ticks will then the lower DR more easily. But when the DoT still is working and Expose V. wears of the ticks will have to overcome the higher DR again.

@MadScientist: I thought you meant things like Necrotic Lance, Touch of Rot and Autum's Decay. Those have an instant damage part, followed by a DoT effect. Usually it's around 50:50. My answer was aimed at those things. Sorry if I confused you guys.

All companions indeed have a couple of optimal builds that can suit them.But there are few scenarios when you need something specific. For example I may like Aloth, but he is not super fitting for Zeblastion or Bilestomper builds And he wouldn't be with other stats - unless you could also change the race.

Roasted orlan I presume.

White Coaaast!

An ooze who likes booze!

That would be a good thing. I hereby support it!

I have three kids, one of them is five years old. I guess I'm pretty prepared to pull the orlan brat's ears.

You made a Youtube channel for the BIBs? Splendid!

Do you use VSync?

Not yet. She can't wear Munacra Arret - that's a drawback for the charming aspect of this build. On the other hand she can unleash Wrath of the Five Suns when she uses Sworn Enemy which is pretty cool. Maybe one yould substitute Munacra Arret with Enigma's Charm until you get the Ring of Changing Heart and Spirit Spiral. Thanks, Torm51. Good to have you back!

MaxQuest - a witcher from the books, not the games. I still think a chanter would be nice. Aard: could be the lvl 1 invocation that stuns and pushes. Igni: obviously The Dragon Thrashed. Yrden: everybody with mechanics can place traps. The chanter can also have drop traps. Or the Killers froze stiff. Quen: the -10% damage chant & the 30pt damage shield chant Axii: there's an invocation for that. Most of the invocations are cone shaped. Best thing is: you can name your chants accordingly.

Apart from katanas of course. A single katana wielding master swordsman could have won the 30 years was on his own I don't know. There were no wet, rolled up strawmats to annihilate.

But aren't the Hanuta or Huana or what they are called a bit "archaic" in some ways? They could rely on throwing spears, harpoons, slings and stuff like that.

I am a powergamer and I didn't care.

Pfff spoilers. Tehehe. We just don't care. What to spoil if there's no game yet?

I want to raise it as my own - I'm a orlan at last. I will teach it the secrets of powergaming, hahahahaha!

Yeah, stop it. I want a somewhat tamed wicht as sidekick.

2. definitely better game mechanics than BG/BG2. And a lot more freedom on how to build your character. A lot of things a viable even on the highest difficulty setting. 5. Wizards can totally be played with any kind of armor and any kind of weapon. You can easily play a melee wizard in plate armor, wielding a two hander and also the wand swinging cliché wizard - and everything in between. It's not possible to multiclass, but wizards have a lot of awesome self buffs and also summoned weapons which let you have a lot of fun in melee. Have a look at those two exemplary wizard builds which are from opposite sides of the spectrum: A tanky melee wizard: Bilestomper A frail ranged wizard: Hurtstacker Just to get an impression how different classes can be build - and still be fun to play.

Hehe. edit: Eh, I meant "then in PoE2, follow up with..." obviously. Sorry...

Yes, you can retrain at any inn and also at your stronghold. Costs a little bit of money. But watch out for your grimoires! Since you will lose all your spells and pick new ones at level up you can scribe all your known spells into your grimoires before retraining (unique spells you learn via quests don't vanish, you will keep them automatically). Then, when retraining, you can pick spells you didn't have learned before. After that you relearn your old spells from your grimoires. Cheesy! That way you can learn all the generic spells in the game. Do I ever hit enemies with normal, non-summned weapons? I do a lot when I use an implement (wand/rod/scepter) with blast - because the blast effect works with spell chances and on-crit effects: for example a rod that causes stun with every crit also stuns enemies when the blast crits. So you can have single target CC effects turn into AoE effects. Another nice implement is the soulbound sceptre which has a chance of dominating enemies on hit or crit (aka spell chance). This also works with the blast AoE. When I'm playing a melee wizard then most of the time I will not use a non-summoned weapon. After some levels you have enough spells to always be able to summon your preferred weapon and in case of two-handers you even have three spell levels to pick from: lvl 1 for staff, lvl 5 for lance and lvl 7 for another staff. Usually I never run out of spell uses for those after the early game. But since those weapons have an universal weapon focus I can use any two handed weapon I like as "normal" weapon should there be the need to attack with it. I can then pick my weapon focus accordingly for that weapon. A pike (WF soldier) could be good or a great sword (also WF soldier) - or even a staff (WF peasant). Durance's staff is pretty neat for example - because nobody else normally wants to use it as main weapon. But it's the only reach weapon with two damage types, making it a good choice for a two handed backup weapon.