Boeroer

Just note that Scion of Flame (and the other elemental boosters) doesn't do anything for DoT effects like Cleansing Flame and Shining Beacon. It only affects direct burn damage. But the priest also has some of those spells: Storm of Holy Fire is only one of them, like Ohmega said. A very hefty combination is Shining Beacon + Cleansing Flame. Cleansing Flame not only does damage by itself, but also doubles the damage of Shining Beacon. Shining Beacon alone is one of the best dps spells in my opinion.

Right.

NeverchangearunningsystemI'dsayjustmaybetakeabreathinbetween. Seriously: when you have no problems, why change anything? Priest can not only heal and buff, but also debuff and deal a lot of damage. So turn one priest into a supporter and the other one into an offensive caster. Can't do wrong with that. Priests are powerful. Especially when they gained a few levels.

Do Crucible of Suffering and the potion stack by the way? That would immediately end all afflictions, wouldn't it?

Ranged ciphers are easier to play. But with melee attacks you will get more focus because of the higher attack speed and/or the additional dmg mods, but you will more likely be knocked out. Luckily you have spells that disable foes. Ciphers are sort of hybrids: they do a lot of weapon damage with their soul whip but they also can cast really nice CC and support spells. They just can't spam them in quick sussession like wizards/priest/druids can. They balance this out with pure per encounter usage (or better: per resource) and the higher weapon damage. I mean +40% weapon damage through soul whip without any drawback is a lot. The more weapon dps and the lower the enemies' DR is the higher the focus gain will be. So a melee cipher with a two hander for example could use following things to raise damage per hit: - Soul Whip (+20%) - Biting Whip (+20%) - high MIG (18 MIG: +24%) - Savage Attack (+20%) - Apprentice's Sneak Attack (+15%) - Damage bonus to flanked targets (survival, items, up to +40%) - Two Handed Style (+15%) For a total damage bonus of +154% just by casting Phantom Foes. Maybe his weapon is exceptional, then he will be at +184%. An elemental lash will also add a lot of damage and focus. This is pretty nice. He will kill things quickly but also gain a lot of focus per hit. If you give him a reach weapon he doesn't even need to be super sturdy and can reach enemies easier without running around too much. I tried Durance's staff once and it's nice because it's the only reach weapon with two damage types. Llawran's staff is cool because of the speed - together with Time Parasite you will be hitting very, very fast with lots oft damage per hit.

I so support this: clear that invisible mess up please! Also, the line "this.m_ownerStats.InvisibilityState--;" is worth a hefty facepalm...

The first "faction quests" can all be done. With the second one that follows you'll choose your faction. You can always unlock all factions' shops.

Yes, it does. Come, Sweet Winds also does.

Shoot low DR stuff. Use Whisper of Treason. A lot. That's it basically.

Yepp.

Maybe. It was ridiculously good when they introduced it. At least I had the impression back then.

You have to stack attack speed bonuses. For example: - Frenzy: 33% - Speed enchantment on weapon: 20% - Durgan refinement on weapon: 15% - Gloves of Swift Action: 15% Those bonuses are multiplicative (IF they stack), so the the more you can stack the easier it gets. Dual wielders already have halved recovery (50%). For them it's easy to reach 0 recovery. There is a thread here in the forum that goes into great detail. Somebody should really write a wiki article about it though. Then a simple link to it would be enough.

Thanks for testig it so quickly. Hm... that's weird. I never experienced that behaviour. But I have to admit I didn't use it for a while because I played no implement wizard for some time now but only a wiz tank. Maybe they changed the push distance in order to balance it a bit? 'Cause I found it to be crazy powerful when I did my hurtstacker build with implements (patch 2.something). Prevented whole bounty groups from reaching me, containing them in the AoE while I blasted them to death. I also did a hilarious test with Pull of Eora and Fire Stag some time ago and also didn't see those far pushes. However I still think it's one of the best CC spells for me. Lasts a long time and totally messes up the "tactics" of the AI. And most of the time packs a mob together so they can be nuked properly. But if you want to combine Chillfog or Wall(s) of Flame it would then it would indeed be better if enemies wouldn't get pushed out of the AoE.

They get swirled around in the AoE - they don't get pushed out of it. In My opinion it's one of the best CC spells there is. The enemies normally stay in the AoE even if the spell misses from time to time and can be nuked to death without fighting back.

Yeah there are certain parties that could do it - I meant normal parties Although I doubt that 6 chanters would have an easy time because of their chants' low ACC and the lack of self buffs besides consumalbles (which every class can use). I guess 5 ciphers and a speedy wizard could do it: Alacrity, Chillfog + Pull of Eora + Bitter Mooring (or any other beam spell), Boots of Speed and 5 * Ectypsychic Echo might kill everything before it kills you... 5 wizards with Eldritch Aim, Chillfog, Pull of Eora, 6 Wall of Flames and Combusting Wounds and a priest with buffs 5 wizards with Eldritch Aim, Martial Power + Blast + Envenomed Strike plus a priest with buffs 6 fighters... naaaaah!

If you want to attack with no recovery in order to steal a lot of duration you could also duplicate Spelltongue with the Helwax Mold and dual wield it. With Alacrity and dual wielding you'll already have 0 recovery with no armor. With gauntlets, Durgan steel and Spelltongue's speed stealing you can easily reach 0 recovery with weapon attacks in full plate and even use Vulnerable Attack with no speed loss. Immunity to fear is easily achieved with 2 lore and a scroll of prayer against fear. A wizard usually has a lot of options to lower deflection - I don't think he needs Outmaneuvering. So I don't find Steadfast to be a really good choice. Little Saviour is always nice.

There is a big misconception about the expansions: they are not meant to be played after the main quest. They expand the main game, they are not adding a new closed story line like BG, NwN or ID used to. So you can always go back and forth throughout the main quest line. Once you jump into the pit on Burial Isle there is no turning back and no chance for expansion any more. Everybody struggles at Crägholt Bluffs with lvl 9. Lvl 9 is a good level for entering the White March/Stalwart - but Crägholt is high level content which becomes doable with lvl 13 or so (strongly depends on difficulty and player proficiency and meta knowledge). Don't be frustrated when you get obliterated at lvl 9 - everybody does.

Yes. DEX reduces the casting animation as well as the recovery time. It's bonus gets applied to recovery AFTER the other bonuses to recovery got calculated. Speed bonuses/malus to recovery that also work with casting are (universal recovery bonuses): - Alacrity of Deleterious Motion: 50% OR - Frenzy: 33% (no stacking with Alacrity) OR - Swift Aim: 20% (no stacking) OR - Swift Strikes: 25% (not 100% sure it works with spells, might be melee only, no stacking) OR - Time Parasite: 50% (no stacking) OR - Their Champion braved the Horde alone: 40% (no stacking) - Bloodlust: 20% (stacks) - Blood Thirst: 0 recovery after kill - Anitlei: 10%, (stacks) - Spelltongue's stolen attack speed: 15% - Gauntlets of Swift Action: 15% - Potion of Power: 25%, (no stacking) - Svef: 15% (no stacking I guess) - armor penalty (-x%) - Cautious Attack (-20% ?) - Penetrating Shot (-20% ?) That's all I can shake out of my sleeve right now. Attack bonus speed on weapons only works on that weapon's attack. Thus, speed enchantment on weapons/shields and Durgan Steel only work with attacks with the enchanted weapon. Durgan reinforcement on armor (-15% recovery malus) however helps when casting. So you could use Frenzy with Bloodlust and Spelltongue and Gauntlets on a barb to speed up casting. Or Alacrity and Spelltongue and Gauntlets on a wizard. After calculating the recovery DEX further influences it. Funnily I think a barb could be the fastest caster there is. Too bad he lacks a lot of spells.

Great, happy to hear it works for you.

Monk (normal build) + Moon Godlike is a perfect synergy of class and race. It makes early game a lot easier and is still nice later on. Heavy armor in the early game also makes a monk's live a lot easier. For monk beginners it's def. the best pick. As is high MIG and INT. Torment's Reach + Force of Anguish are a lot of fun. Veteran's Recovery as soon as possible. Shod in Faith as soon as possible. Then you'll have the perfect mix of tankyness and damage. Have a look at the monk's builds in the list. They are very different but all three (I guess) are very nice to play with their own unique style. Monks usually need a lot of micromanagement to get the most out of them.

ROFL for "crit happens".

Yes - but it doesn't matter which defense gets targeted. If you receive a crit from the dragon's fear aura but are immune (scroll or steadfast or whatever) it still triggers Frenzy.

Yeah sure. I just thought because QuiteGoneJin initially said he wanted a backstabbing rogue with lots of maneuverability options and stuff my suggestions should evolve around those things. If we put backstabs and positioning aside then I also would use a very similar approach as you. Just more INT and lower DEX - but all of the special attacks like Crippling Strike and such because of the full attacks. Played the Devil like this with Godansthunyr and also Bittercut (both have two damage types instead of one) and the Barricade as well as Aspirant's Mark and it worked really well. Also took Pen. Shot for an opening volley with a Blunderbuss and for the Barricade's Thrust. But back then the crit-bash triggered ToTV twice - don't know if it's still effective enough compared to a normal shield.

That you don't like monks gives me serious doubts about your definition of fun. What makes a melee build fun for you? Rogues are a very tricky melee class. I never found them to be a source of great fun (with some exceptions). Barbs and monks are my source of fun in melee.

Badgradr's Barricade is inside Durgan's Battery and has 10% reflection against ranged attacks and bash. When you crit with bash it procs Thrust of Tattered Veils (unlimited times per encounter). It's a medium shield. Also note that Starcaller comes quite late. Funny... my approach for a tanky backstab rogue would be totally different - although I like the combination of starcaller, flanking and low INT. Your version is tanky but not useable for backstabs any more. But maybe QuiteGonJin doesn't want that any more anyways. I guess with constant Deathblows through flanking and stunning Vulnerable Attack is a waste by the way. But what else to take with low INT...? A good alternative might be Penetrating Shots: it works with Thrust oTT and doesn't slow you down in melee.