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It's tricky, I'll give you that. Especially making every single point you put into an attribute meaningful, and especially when you're working within PoE-the-computer-game's attribute system. The way I did it in the PoE tabletop homebrew I'm writing up (yeah that's me, plugging myself), benefits from increasing an attribute are staggered out. Like, Resolve influences Deflection and Will, right? So you put one point in, you get a boost to Deflection. You put in another point, this time you get a Will boost. That kind of "staggered". Still sucks that we're not going to get an official system, though.

Version 0.0.4 is here! (it, uh, still says. 0.0.3 on the title page, but trust me, new things are there.) The newest PDF has some more fun PoEd20 things for you all! Here's a brief overview: The much-touted weapons table! Complete with prices based on the game! Yeah, most two-handed and ranged weapons all cost the same in PoE. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ An incomplete guide to level advancement! Next update will be defining ability gains per class, and filling in some abilities and talents. Several low-level enemies for you to take a crack at. In the playtest last Sunday, I actually tried out about half of these, and they seem to be working well! Made the diagrams in the AoE section better. Optional rules for critical fails, cover, no maiming before death, and craaaaaawling in your skin one square per round when Downed.

Huh. I feel basically the exact opposite about music direction: the background and atmosphere pieces are great, but the battle themes are just kind of...okay.

Names removed just to be on the safe side, but that's definitely a "go ahead with your silly fan thing" from Obsidian! In the coming week, expect some more stuff in the Items section, including better formatting, prices, miscellaneous items, and, college permitting, traps and monsters. Which brings me to the next point.... We're going to have our first Playtest. The playtest will be held online, on roll20.net on Sunday, April 3, at 2:00pm EST (that's 18:00 GMT for those of you across the pond). This playtest is going to be a combat-heavy little affair, where I test out low-level monsters on a level 1 party. If you'd like to participate, you'll need to make a free account on roll20.net first. Then just get in touch with me: Post a reply on this thread Send me a PM Click here to right to the game's page on roll20.net and post in the listing discussion Hope to see you there!

One whole year of friends and acquaintances putting up with me gushing over this game. Thanks, Obsidian!

Honestly, this is a pretty good way to look at it. Your Resolve lets you focus more on the battle and on keeping your defenses up, instead of jumping at things. You're able to keep your nerve as well as someone who's seen many more battles than you actually have.

My first watcher was a Hearth Orlan, so I'm partial to them. :> (I know godlike are popular with casual players due to aesthetics, tho)

Actually, not a bad idea. I'd be down for a walk toggle. Lots of immersive bang for your technical buck.

If ignoring gravestones and kickstarter npcs doesn't fix your problem, PoE probably isn't the game for you. A lot of the target audience doesn't mind some prose. Also, writing prose is easier on Obsidian's time and budget to implement, so they can do things like make the writing good instead of just animating one small thing.

Hey folks! No PDF update this week; I've mostly been focusing on writing the sample adventure for this system. Yeah, I'm making one of those. Let me tell you about it! Headwater Hold is a dungeon crawl designed for low-level characters. The eponymous Headwater Hold is a ruin of an Aedyran keep that was never finished before the War of Defiance, when Dyrwoodan forces and their Glanfathan allies sacked it. The ruin gets its name from its close proximity to the headwaters of one stream, which winds south and joins a larger river near Cold Morn. Further to the northwest is the town of Coppercwm, which sprang up only a few years ago around a rich copper vein at the foot of the nearby mountains. But when the skuldr from Headwater Hold start moving to the copper mines in great numbers, who will help the town? And who's only in it to investigate rumors of a member of the Dozens' Expedition Hall hiding in the Hold with an Engwithan relic? Like in the PoE computer game, experience will be given for completing objectives and advancing the story, not killing monsters. But don't worry; there will be plenty of story! So here's what's probably going to be in the next pdf: Fix the weapons section and its abuse of lists. A section on experience points. Some low-level traps. Some low-level monsters. And maybe, just maybe, more on Deities and Factions. Stay tuned!

Probably not seeing a PoE2 for a while, but Tyranny looks to be in the same engine. I'm all for writers having more time to pick over PoE2 while the rest of the crew works on Tyranny and the engine's technical issues. (Because it looks like Tyranny's at that part where it's largely out of the writers' hands.)

Interesting idea, but also consider: playing a normal game, only keeping one named save for that game, saving over it every time you do something or a companion dies, and never reloading that save unless it's a game over. Due to the whole reincarnation system, character death is pretty dang permanent in PoE.

In Pokémon, to light an area, you have to take one of your pokes and teach it a useless move that can't easily be forgotten, forever crippling it. PoE has no such restriction. I'm not the developer, though. So maybe you see things others can't.

Well, what do YOU do with your offhand when you're "using your wand"? ;) Seriously though, dual implements would be a great idea for PoE2.

I, personally, wouldn't mind if a romance has to get axed in favor of some other really cool content the developer wants to do. (Operative word being "cool". PoE has been good about not wasting my time with grindy sidequests compared to other games, but let's not drop the ball now.) But OP has a point. Between the Bethesda "it happens yaaaay" in Skyrim and Fallout 4, and the Bioware wish fulfillment model of "here is your waifu/husbando, LOVE THEM", romance just isn't done right in video games. We need to be given reasons to love them other than the fact that they're DTF. And we need to see why they'd love our character. Doesn't need to be voiced. Doesn't need to be drawn or animated. Some of the best lines in PoE are just plain prose. Another thing that stuck with me from OP's post: finding kindred spirits among your travelling companions. Even if it's a wholly platonic "best friends" connection, don't tell me I can't find a kindred spirit. On the playthrough I sunk the most time into, my Watcher had this whole theme of finding a place to call home and people to care about. The rest of this is under a spoiler tag because endings.... So yeah. Even if it's not romantic in nature, I'd appreciate being able to have a deeper connection with my favorite companions. TL;DR version: Most romance in video games sucks. Do romance right, or not at all. Bromance is an acceptable compromise.