Boeroer

But that's always a problem with "open world" approaches if you don't scale all enemies to party/char level. Which I don't like either. Sometimes you must be able to mop the floor with enemies else the player doesn't really feel any kind of power improvement. That's why I don't like truly open world games that much. At least break the open world up into separate "acts" - or however you want to organize it - so that your level designers etc. have an easier time balancing the game. Def. less complaints then. Also way easier for narrative and quest designers.

I don't care much whether a game is RTwP or Turn Based. Both works well for me as long as it's implemented well enough. As long as the game is fun and entertaining it's all okay. I prefer PoE and Deadfire in RTwP mode - but I slightly lean towards Turn Based generally. Why would you look down on people who prefer the one over the other? Or even worse: insult them for their taste? You prefer merlot over riesling? You barbarian! You like mac and cheese? Culinary vandal! You prefer RTwP? You must have too many chromosomes! Really? That's your assessment of the situation where it's about personal taste? Wow... It's sarcastically funny how some gamers steer away from divisive stuff like color of skin, religion, social status etc. but then show the same old zealous behavior as emotionally underdeveloped five year old crusaders when figuratively splitting each other's skulls over playstation vs. xbox, windows vs. linux, RTwP vs. TB and so on.

Let's say it together:

Yeah, check out Bardatto's Luxury with its CON-inspiration.

+1 engagement while >50% health is such a goofy thing. Wonder how that made it into the game. "Haha, I'll hold the line for my mates! You shall not pass!" *gets hit* "Ouch! Ouch! Okay that's it - I'm going home..."

As an example for "allowed" exploits I want to mention Lethandria's Devotion again which can be cheesed with AI settings: it allies its healing as soon as you switch to it, every time you switch to it. Have weapon set 1 with weapon A and LDevotion and weapon set 2 with weapon B and a copy of LDevotion for example. Then, if you set up a script with whatever trigger (e.g. your or Vela's health below 75%) that simply switches between weapon sets all the time (gets executed per game loop - so several times per second) you can heal up yourself and Vela within a few secs without having to wait for recovery to finish or anything, you can always switch back and forth (switching weapon sets is independent from recovery/reloading etc - including the recovery penalty of switching itself). You will get a tick of healing every time you switch (so, like 10 times a second at least). This is fair game for an Ultimate run.

You can also use the quick save/reload trick to stack food + Frenzy bonus. After saving and reloading, food bonuses often turn from active to passive (stackable) bonuses accidentally. No console needed. You could also ask somebody here to make a mini-mod which just changes Konstanten's might. I would do it but I'm on vacation far away from home right now.

Open console, type IRoll20s Console will close, but you will see a message in the combat log. Open console again, type attribute<hit tab> comp<hit tab until Konstanten's name appears> might 15 done. Using the tab function to autocomplete commands and cycle through names makes using the console so much easier since typos will not occur.

With DLCs you def. can.

The speed bonus is also pretty good. I'm always a little bit annoyed that there's no visually pleasing pairing weapon for the sickle. Like... another sickle or so.

White Flames scales with PL and you'll have more Zeal per encounter, so it stays to be useful. Dual wielding is indeed the best thing for White Flames (which I find to be an odd design choice).

When going for Survival I would recommend using Ngati's Tusk at some point. Hunter of Hunters ist a superb enchantmet. With 22 Survival you'll inflict -10 to Reflex, Fortitude and Will in an AoE just by being there: theres no hit roll, it just gets applied to all enemies in range. There's no immunity either and it stacks with everything. The dmg bonus of Mohora Tanga is very low, even with 20 Survival. Not worth it imo. I don't know how Ruata's Walking Cloak scales. But at 20 Survival you are about as fast as with Boots of Speed (+25% Stride) - so I think Ruata's gets +0.5% Stride per point of Survival. It stacks with Boots of Speed by the way. Edit: haha, I used Ruata's Walking Cloak, Swift Hunter's Garb, Bubble the Cat and Boots of Speed with Fast Runner, Long Stride and Fleet Feet on a character and it was pretty hilarious Stride.

Imo it is not worth it. It's only a (lowish) additive dmg bonus and you can use skillpoint for something better like Arcana - unless you want to play a supersneaky ranger of course. Stuff like Xoti's Sickle which grants up to (and in extreme cases even more than) +60% dmg (via Religion) or Keeper of the Flame which also scales with Religion (but its burn AoE) are more worth the skill investment I think. Stuff like Religion, Survival (St. Okamu's Mercy) or Metaphysics (Chromoprismatic Staff, Essence Interrupter) are not competing for points with Arcana, Mechanic etc. so it's not that much of a either/or situation with the other useful "active" skills (like mechanicsm arcana etc).

In Turn Based Mode I guess the Smoke Veil variant is more attractive than in Real Time with Pause. Not because of dmg output or attack speed or so (which is also a factor but let's forget that for now) but because in RTwP the whole "turn invisible to deliver an attack" routine means more micromanagement and that becomes annoying after some battles. It's also difficult to automate this effectively. In the early game it's very good to use Smoke Veil - because the +25 ACC is so impactful then. If one uses Breath Blessings to start at lvl 4 you can even start with Smoke Veil right away.

Smoke Veil does cost 2 Guile, not 1. You forgot to factor in the Powel Level scaling of Crippling Strike. It gains 5% base dmg (meaning multplicative dmg) among other bonuses like more PEN and ACC. Auto-attacks do not scale. Because of that it is not really worth it to use 1 Smoke Veil (2 Guile) and then auto-attack instead of using 2 Crippling Strikes. At least at higher levels. One could compare 1 Smoke Veil + 1 Crippling Strike from invisibility with 3 Crippling Strikes - but I guess the outcome would be even worse. Crippling Strike is a PL-1-ability (even when upgraded it counts as PL 1). At char's PL 7 (that's at max level of a multiclass without any further PL boosts) it will get a bonus scaling of 7-1 = 6 Power Levels. If you use stuff like PL-food or other power level buffs it's more of course. Power Level scaling mechanics are here: https://pillarsofeternity.fandom.com/wiki/Power_levels#General_effects That means at PL 7 Crippling Strike will have 30% more base damage, 1.5 more PEN (+2 PEN it already has by itself, so 3.5), +6 ACC and the affliction will last 30% (base) longer. It's worthwhile to use Smoke Veil + Assassinate if you can use the Assassinate bonus on multiple enemies at once (e.g. with a spell) and/or in order to make sure you really hit something which is otherwise hard to hit (for example if you need to apply Gouging Strike to a really tough boss and then hide and let it bleed out). For the average encounter this tactic isn't very effective in a party setup - just as Kaylon said.

Yeah, but instead of using it for a bit more (single target) damage it is - in my experience - often better to use it with hard CC. Especially on PotD where defenses of enemies are higher and health pools are bigger. A hard CC does "take out" a certain enemy right away no matter the health pool and buys you a lot of time. In case of mind control (dominate for example) you not only take out the enemy for some time but also gain sort of a summon. Sure, the added crit damage and PEN from assassinate won't matter at all - but the higher ACC (maybe even combined with other ACC buffs) makes it so much more likely to actually hit even high defense targets (and those are usually the most worthwhile to turn). So I would argue that Assassin itself is very useful - but in this example (Maia as Ranger/Assassin) it's not that impactful. You might be able to take out the first threat a bit earlier - but what about the second and third? PEN aside imo it's more impactful to use all that Guile for 3 Crippling Strikes (300% all-multiplicative dmg) instead of 1 Smoke Veil and 1 Crippling Strike (+50% additive dmg, +200% additive if Backstab is used from point blank). There's one thing about assassinating with something like an arquebus though: high numbers per hit are just fun. And fun is important, right? I can see Assassinate on a target with Takedown Combo be really cool. Use Dragon's Dowry from stealth/invisibility after you AC used Takedown Combo and the target should be in real trouble. But thinking about a fun and more effective way to use a Ranger/Assassin... what about using it with Thorny Roots? High Chance of immobilizing a whole bunch of enemies right away for a rel. long time and doing decent AoE dmg, too (+4 PEN might be what this ability needed). Stop them, then shoot them. Doesn't sound too shabby to me. Has anybody tried?

I know you can't from Barb's Carnage - but does Riven Gore also not generate focus?

Chromoprismatic Staff maybe? The "hit 5 times in a row to trigger AoE attack" enchantment might occur quite often. Amra with Bleeding Cuts and 25+MIG? Time Parasite even stacks with Amra's Frenzy. Nope, no pull or push effect triggers disengagement attacks in the game. Only thing that can force disengagement attacks is terrify (e.g. Haunting Chains).

The Assassin subclass is absolutely not worthless. For example the Assasinate bonus also works with spells. +25 ACC can make a huge difference for a hard CC spell that gets cast from invisibility (e.g. with an Assassin/Bloodmage). If you are solo (or park the party out of combat range) Assassin is very good, too. Just the "use weapon from invisibility to get a little more damage" approach is not that great in a party setup.

They don't suppress each other because Sworn Enemy gives bonus damage (for your MC only, not the AC) while Marked Prey gives bonus accuracy. Marked Prey does stack with everything afaik (including Zealous Focus). Brand Enemy unlocks Predator's Sense by the way. Which is cool because it's an autohit, has good range, fast cast, no recovery and is quite cheap.

Right. There are some melee only attack abilies that do allow to circumvent that restriction by using a hybrid weapon setup. Clear Out (ranged main hand), Whirling Strikes (like Heart of Fury but melee only restriction), Cleaving Stance & Riposte (ranged offhand), Hunter's Claw. Some of those will use both weapons (Cleaving, Riposte, Whirling Strikes, Heart of Fury) because they are implemented differently than let's say Flames of Devotion or the Rogue's strike abilities. Clear Out is only a primary attack so naturally only the main hand gets used (but you unlock the use with a ranged weapon by putting a melee weapon into the offhand). In case of Hunter's Claw iirc you put the melee weapon in the offhand like with Clear Out to unlock the use with the ranged main hand. And only the main hand will execute the attack like with others Fill Attacks using hybrid setups. But because using Fire in the Hole/Chain Shot or Hand Mortar/Blinding Smoke with Driving Flight gives you a lot more stacks than 2 - which would be the normal melee DW outcome - it's still better (normal blunderbusses don't work that way).

Fire in the Hole with Driving Flight is not only great for Whirling Strikes (it's spectacular actually). It also gives a lot of stacks with Hunter's Claw with only one shot (jumps add stacks, too). The Full Attack of Hunter's Claw allows to use a ranged wepon in the offhand. So - melee + mortar def. works. If you use a melee weapon in the main hand you also keep engagment. Mortar in main hand + melee weapon or Tuotilo's Palm in offhand would also work, but then you'd have no engagement (bit of a bummer imo). Note that Concussive Tranquilizer does work with the AoE of mortars which is great (AoE interrupt and stripping off buffs) - but Wounding Shot does not.

Imo Maia is best as Scout with the Red Hand. Her longer range with arquebuses counters the Red Hand's shorter range and the build-in interrupts from her subclass make Stunning Shots a bit redundant. Twinned Shots with the Red Hand is great as well - but again that costs a lot of Bond. I'd prefer to use Takedown Combo more and raise the dmg with the Rogue's passives (Sneak Attack etc.) that cost no resources instead of investing Bond. I also like to be able to flee with both resource pools. Even if either Guile or Bond are empty you might still have the other one and can use either Escape or Evasive Roll. Also Escape's deflection bonus in combination with Maia's Armor (Return Fire) makes sense. Use Gunner and her armor in combination with Acina's Tricorn and she's great. Also - and that's maybe even more important for a companion - she needs rel. little micro for a Scout (also her bird cannot be engaged and is free to retreat whenever it gets damaged too much). Of course it might be that you already played her as Scout and are looking for something new...

By the way: Stunning Shots with a SC Stalker could be a cool passive I guess? Best used with fast weapon though like daggers or hatchets etc. If you cast Binding Roots on enemies and then use Vion-Ceth you can get a +30% dmg bonus. With max Religion (pretend you worship Galawain) you can also use Xoti's Sickle to great effect. It doesn't matter how you kill enemies (doesn't have to be with the sickle) to get the bonus dmg stacks. And it climbs up to +60%. So one hatchet +30% dmg, the other with up to +60% and good attack speed which might let you interrupt with Stunning Shots often. Also a bit more defense. Sounds good? Lover's Embrace + Pukestabber is even faster than hatchets and more accurate. If you hit a target from stealth you can apply True Love's Kiss which unlocks Predator's Sense. Dual Battle Axe with Bleeding Cuts is pretty great with Whirling Strikes (makes the most out of the Bond in terms of damage). Bleeding Cuts unlock Predator's Sense. A dual wielder can also receive Reaping Knives from a fellow cipher and be good with them. And of course the omnipresent Morning Star is good because the AC's "Takedown Combo" targets fortitude. Takedown Combo works best with a two handed weapon - if you want to profit from it yourself (you don't have to though). Saru Sichr's poison DoT unlocks Predator's Sense, too. Stalker with Ngati's Tusk sounds nice as well (Hunter of Hunters with max Survival is really, really good).