Boeroer

Hi guys! I also wanted to write a short backstory but totally forgot about that. Maybe I can add this this afternoon - if my kids let me. @MaxQuest: Nice pic - fits perfectly well! @Blunderbuss: Unfortunately I couldn't get Backstab to work with scrolls. Not even woith Feign Death or Cape of the Master Mystic. Also didn't work with Prestidigitator's Missiles - which is really fast. It also doesn't work if you use a special attack like Crippling Strike and so on. Only worked for me with standard implement attacks. @Statis_Sword: 1.: Not really. You just have to look up the ingredients for the scrolls you like best and then collect/buy/spawn them. The Curio Shop finally did something useful for me! And also the midnight guy in Ondra's Gift suddenly makes sense. 2.: I don't have one, but if you use the wiki and check all the unique items you get a good overview. @all: Right! You can of course build a great caster rogue with all those spell binding/holding/striking items. Especially if you also go into melee. Swaddling Sheet and White Crest, the Azurro mid shield and Bittercut... there are lots of items that grant you spells (that also work with Deep Wounds). Also the mind control items like Ring of Changing Heart, Munacra Arret and so on are really powerful on a rogue because of his high ACC and his hit-to-crit conversion. And then the Morning Star makes even more sense because you won't die instantly in melee once a foe targets you. But since Blunderboss is playing such a rogue at the moment and also wants to post his build I tried to completely switch to scrolls and leave most of those items aside. This way I was more independent from items and could totally focus on scrolls (and traps/mechanics).

"That old sorcerer has vanished And for once has gone away! Spirits called by him, now banished, My commands shall soon obey. Every step and saying That he used, I know, And with sprites obeying My arts I will show." From "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1797), translation by Edwin Zeydel (1955) =================================== The Sorcerer's Apprentice =================================== Difficulty: PotD v. 3.02 -------------------------------------------------------------- Class: Rogue -------------------------------------------------------------- Race: Wood Elf -------------------------------------------------------------- Background: Old Vailia - Merchant -------------------------------------------------------------- Stats: MIG: 18 CON: 03 DEX: 19 PER: 16 INT: 19 RES: 03 -------------------------------------------------------------- Skills: Stealth 1, Athl. 3, Lore 8, Mech. 12, Surv. 4 -------------------------------------------------------------- Talents (a=auto, r=recommended, !=important) Weapon Focus Noble ® Runner's Wounding Shot Marksman Dangerous Implement Penetrating Shot (!) Deep Pockets ® Vicious Fighting Prestidigitator's Missiles Abilities Blinding Strike Crippling Strike Deathblows(!) Deep Wounds ® Dirty Fighting Distant Advantage (a) Escape ® Sap Second Whind (a) Sneak Attack (a) Withering Strike --------------------------------------------------------------- Items (*=additional echantments by me; !=important, r=recommended): Weapon set 1: Engwithan Sceptre (*Exceptional, *Corrosive Lash, *Durgan Refined) or Pretty Pretty's Rib or Rod of Pale Shades or Puitente med Principi Weapon Set 2: Acuan Giamas (!) Boots: Boots of Speed or Viettros Formal Footwear (put only 7 points into Lore then!) Head: The Witch's Hat or Footpad's Hood Armor: Raiment of Wael's Eyes or Rundl's Finery (or any other robe) Neck: Glanfathan Adraswen or Cloak of Minor Missiles Belt: Girdle of Maegfolc Might Rings: Ring of Overseeing, Ring of Thorns Hands: Gauntlets of Swift Action or Ryona's Vembraces Quick slots: Scrolls, e.g.: Binding Web, Paralyze, Missile Barrage, Concussive Missiles, Bounding Missiles, Crackling Bolt, Rolling Flame, Maelstrom --------------------------------------------------------------- Hi again! This build is all about scrolls. You know I normally only use scrolls in tough encounters but even then I most of the time forget using them because... I really don't know why. Might be the feeling that I waste something when I use scrolls, maybe it's because it's not part of my "every encounter routine" - who knows. So I decided to make a build which main purpose is to use scrolls - very effectively. Most scrolls have a huge range and are best cast from a distance - so a glass cannon wannabe-wizard should be an appropriate build for using scrolls. Knowing that a rogue has amazing ACC and also some abilities that cause afflictions (like some spells do), I figured this would be a good class to use scrolls. And if you don't want to waste scrolls for easy encountes, a rogue can always dish out lots of single target damage via sneak attack. Also, there are some nice implements in the game that are either speedy or cause afflictions on crit - which is also a nice synergy with the rogue's afflictions, his high ACC and his hit-to-crit conversions. And on top of Sneak Attack (and later Deathblows) we can also use Dangerous Implement. This is quite nice in the early game because you do +75% damage if the target suffers from any affliction that qualifies for sneak attacks. And since we want to stay in the back row the self damaging part is not that much of a problem. But most important: scrolls and spells work with Deathblows! Not with Sneak Attack though (what?) - but with Deathblows. Since some scrolls have huge amounts of base damage (look at Crackling Bolt for example), Deathblows with those spells result in absurdly high numbers - especially if you also crit with them. Crackling Bolt easily surpasses 50 damage per "normal" hit. Most of the time my Crackling Bolts do more than 100 to 130 damage per foe. And remember that Crackling Bolt has a great range and also bounces. If you manage to line up some enemies (Boots of Speed are nice for this) and CC them, then one or two of those bolts should be enough to end the encounter. But also Rolling Flame and other damage focused scrolls do the trick. Another thing about spells that hit in a "line" like Crackling Bolt and Rolling Flame: they work with Penetrating Shot. Pen. Shot will give you 5 DR bypass with those spells without slowing down your casting. It only slows down your ranged attacks (aka implement shots). Other scrolls you should consider: Missiles. Those also work with Pen. Shot and Deathblows - and also with Deep Wounds! Here you can switch from devastating single target damage (Missile Barrage, Minor Mssiles, Prestidigitator's Missiles) to AoE-Deep-Wounds-damage (Concussive Missiles, Bounding Missiles). Deathblows with Missile Barrage is a death sentence! 9 Missiles with 8 DR bypass (11 if you use Ryona's Vembraces) will hit for 13.5 damage with +10 ACC. This means most of those missiles will crit, causing ~34 damage each. Against foes with 8 (or 11) DR this can mean 306 damage. Usually it's a bit lower because not every missile crits and some foes have more DR, but usually you'll cause over 200 damage (and also interrupt a lot). Concussive Missiles can also hit hard and apply Deep Wounds in an AoE. Bounding Missiles are great for two or three enemies that stand near to each other. Other good scrolls are Binding Web and Tanglefoot. Those are two easy ways to trigger deathblows in a big AoE. Because of your high ACC and the scrolls' ACC bonus, you will hit/crit a lot. COmbines with your high INT, the durations are great. Instead of using scrolls all the time you could also collect every spell binding item you can find. I wanted you use scrolls with this guy, so I didn't focus on that. Another good thing: You can still make this rogue your mechanics guy. He only needs 6 Lore to use most of the powerful damage scrolls. Give him 8 (or 7 if you plan to put on the formal footwear) to also be able to cast Maelstrom (very high base damage = absurdly high Deathblow damage). I only gave him 4 Survival for the +10 ACC bonus. That was enough for me. What I really wanted to do with this guy is to get that morning star that steals spells: Acuan Giamas. Once you have this and meet some casters it gets really funny: wait until your buddies engaged, run to a caster in the back row, hit him with sap or another affliction that prevents him from killing you, and hit him until you steal spells. Then immediately retreat with Escape (you could also use Shadow Step or Shadowing Beyond for this but I didn't feel the need. Escape just works fine). Be sure not to kill the caster you stole spells from - then all the stolen spells will vanish! Now you have a long timespan in which you can chain-cast the stolen spells without losing any resources. Those are "free" spells for the given timespan. Ogre Druids for example can give you Calling the World's Maw. I think I don't have to tell you how powerful this spell is if you can just cast it over and over again with very high ACC... aaand Deep Wounds... aaand Deathblows! This setup is very powerful - but since you get this Morning Star very, very late I didn't evolve the whole build around it. It just puts the icing on the cake. Now you could say: "But scrolls are always powerful - a fighter can also be a good scroll user!" - and you would be right. This is just a build which whole purpose is to use scrolls a lot and brings some nice synergies. The good thing is that this guy also (like most other builds) works without scrolls. Like a plain old ranged rogue. However - using this build I litrally forced myself into using scrolls. Before that I also used them from time to time - but at the end of the game I had tons of money, parts and plants and gems and a sh!tload of scrolls in my stash that I didn't use. I never visisted my stronghold's Curio Shop. With this "rogueish" wizard I fully unlocked the potential of scrolls. It resulted in an easy playthrough. Oh, and don't forget the traps! He also can do that. A petrifying trap (means damage*2) plus Deathblows plus Missile Barrage is... total overkill! Good when you have to deal with those nasty WM-bounties. Ok, thanks for reading and have fun!

I don't think Overwhelming Wave itself is overpowered because it normally stuns foes and friends alike. Is the sheet's spell still foe only? Because that's what makes the difference. If it would also stun allies nobody would say it's overpowered.

Reloadfest it is.

OK. Great. Thanks for the info.

Celebrant's Gloves will proc Holy Meditation on getting crit. This raises concentration by 30. It stacks with the belt of chimes, which will give +25. +55 Concentration is really good and more than enough for a 3 RES guy.

Spell holding and spell striking items don't use talents that are related to their spells/abilities: Sanguine Plate can't profit from Greater Frenzy, Vent Pick doesn't profit from Intense Flames or other FoD related talents. However, they seem to be able to profit from Scion of Flame and friends and also Penetrating Shots and so on.

I guess it can't trigger a full attack. This would mess up animation badly. Full Attacks and the actual effects of an active ability seem to bee two components that form the ability you "buy". All the spell striking or spell holding items only proc the effect, not the attack type or any animation. Some of them don't even proc the AoE effect but only a single target one (Twin Sting on a ranger). So I guess there's also a separation between effect (that applies to any target that gets hit) and array of targets (aka AoE). Does Unlabored Blade only proc Firebug on one target or does it jump?

It doesn't work with the monk's Long Pain. At least you don't suffer raw damage. So I guess you also don't get the +25% damage.

Ah. Cool. Last time I checked there was nothing from WMII. I don't use that page too often though because it tends to be very slow - at least for me.

Glad you like it so far. I'll have some business meetings around the country for the next couple of days and will do a lot of traveling. So I won't be posting much. Next week I will have time to write down the final class build I guess. Tuesday or Wednesday or something like that I hope.

How so? I thought the description was pretty clear.

What do you mean when you say Penetrating Shot works with Minor Blights? Does Minor Blights' AoE benefit from Penetrating Shot as well - or only the initial target? I guess the later. And if that's the case: does the AoE benefit from Penetrating Blast?

? For those you only need your MC to have high RES, not the rest of the party. Or what did you mean? Edit: Of course: if you're playing with official companions only you have a point.

I would always use the druid as a light tank. They are such amazing CC-frontliners if skilled and equipped accordingly. In fact, one of my playthroughs had a chanter (ambassador) and druid (batsh!t) as "tanks" and it was one of my easiest runs. I also had a paladin and didn't use him as permanent frontliner because those two were enough. You don't need any warrior classes to have an easy playthrough.

Interesting. Didn't try it for some time now. Maybe for me it still doesn't work. The only reason that this build doesn't use Minor Blights was that this effect didn't happen when I tried it.

Don't think so. It always fires twice. Never once, never thrice. Nice phrase for a chant by the way. It used to only fire once. So either this is a bug and related to others of the same kind (Stormcaller's Returning Storm hits enemy and yourself, Redeemer's Spell dito and so on) - or it's intended. Since this is Oopsidian I think it's a bug.

Those bugs seem to be pomace flies.

There was a change. When I was playing this build I did of course try Minor Blights and there was no such thing as "baby HoF" going on.

As I said before: Oopsidian.

They just should rename themselves to Oopsidian...

Oh man - I really loathe those necro bugs. They fix something - and when they introdoce some new features all the old bugs reemerge.

As far as I know all those bonus healing modifiers that go like "+x% healing received" from item and camping bonus all add up and then get multiplied by the healing you would receive. Like: 100 healing * 1.x MIG bonus * (1+0.x+0.y) "healing received" bonuses. I don't think the later multiply with each other. I didn't test that excessively with spreadsheets and so on. But if you have very high MIG the numbers indicate that it works that way (with normal MIG it wouldn't make much of a difference). There's also an item that does "+15% healing done" - forgot what it was. How that fits in I don't know. I guess it will get added to MIG bonus. Could be a nice addition to very high MIG. Imagine 30 MIG and this item an a 65% healing done bonus: 100% * (1+0.3+0.15) * 1.65 = 240% healing. So - if anyone feeld the urge to test this thoroughly: go ahead and do it!

Maybe - I'm too lazy to test that.

Ah, ok - great. Thanks for testing. I guess they changed something about the duplicates. Because I remember that the monk's duplicates profited from Weapon Focus Unarmed and Two Weapon Style. But maybe I don't remember correctly.