Remix

Chanters work really well as a multiclass option. Druid pairs well because of healing and lots of AOE spells while you wait for chants to build up. Wizard, too because of self buffs (+5 int +5 con 2nd level spell especially). As far as the chanter part it just depends. Troubadour and beckoner are great for summons. The former because your chants accumulate quick and the latter because more summons at once can increase dps.

Although this might not be precisely what you're looking for I did mess around a bit with a ranger/beckoner utilizing the bow that causes soul diplomacy on crits. It allows you to have multiple summons at once and can be pretty fun to just "infect" nearby enemies one at a time and the use an AOE spell to activate them all on simultaneous kills.

Currently building a skald/anamist for my MC playthrough. The idea is that even though you miss out on maelstrom one can still use the ice spike invocation, returning storm and dragon thrashed all at once. Max str 10 con Min dex Max per Max int 10 res The idea is to stand behind two tanks (currently using barb and paladin) and cause all sorts of constant AOE damage on the front lines. Any suggestions?

Anything you can find that boosts fortitude will help (or stats that boost fort, like might and constitution). High Deflection may also prevent it from hitting you.

The barb that I used was a simple human with base stats of 19 might, 19 int and 10 everywhere else. He survived just about every boss fight with my last potd party and he had done the most overall damage by a pretty significant degree (although I'm sure that's because the game doesn't really keep track of damage done by the Chanter's flame/slash chant). This was a really carefully planned party, though. The strategy was based around the notion of causing constant foe aoe damage and lots of cc. I was able to do things like take on the revived Raedric and enter the massive battle for caed nua underleveled and still come out on top. By the time I started doing the 3rd tier bounties I was pretty much unstoppable and my barb was almost never KO'd.

Priests are very useful but not entirely necessary or even game-breaking in the least. If they were capable of tanking to the same degree as d&d clerics it would be a different story.

Chanter is by far the best. Summoning, cc, aoe damage, buffs all while being an above average tank. Druid would probably be pretty easy, too. More resting though.

I've never really had to use priests. I've messed with them in a lot of parties and they can provide some great spells but so far my easiest potd run involved 2 chanters, a paladin, a barbarian, a wizard and a druid. Almost nothing could stop me between all the cc, disables, and aoe damage. I never really used any potions other than healing potions and almost never had to use resting bonuses.

Before my computer died I had a barb in my potd party. I had two tanks that I would send at crowds and bosses first and then I would use my barb to either flank the boss or guard my casters against mobs. I also slapped items with second chance on him as soon as possible. Athletics, ancient memory and having a tank paladin gave him a lot of survivability. Barbs have huge health pools. As long as you keep healing and reviving them they will do a lot of natural damage.

That should work. You'll be able to hold your own with defensive buffs should anyone get past your front line or in situations where you can't kite so easily. Cc spells will work well with the 16 per so you're good there. And the high might will benefit long lasting Aoe spells like the various walls, noxious cloud and other chillfog-esque spells. Maybe take interrupting blows at some point to further optimize those spells for cc.

A melee/tank mage with some crowd control is really powerful in Pillars. Use spells that increase deflection, concentration, action speed and conjure weapons as early as possible in encounters. You will probably want to put attribute points into might, con, res and maybe some into Per and/or dex. You will be able to afford to have average-ish intellegence since a lot of the protection spells that wizards have already last a decent amount of time.

For barbs' carnage effects it can be useful since the aoe damage is reduced. Still, though, you're probably better off using a weapon that causes afflictions and disables in conjunction with carnage's aoe effects rather than DR penetration.

I think the DR penetration talent only works with weapons. Haven't actually tested, though. That's just how the description reads.

Barb, 2x chanter (or 1 priest and 1 chanter), druid and wizard is my current potd party. Barb has the most kills and the highest total damage dealt. They get the most boost when other characters can buff them and debuff enemies.

DR penetration is good for aoe effects - especially with the barbarian's carnage. DR penetration is also useful for ciphers who rely on the highest possible single target weapon damage for their abilities. Monks might get some use out of it but I haven't really used them too much. Otherwise that, though, it's somewhat situational.

Barbarian with two handed weapons is always fun. Their inate ability, carnage, is well implemented - it's basically an AOE melee class.

Utilizing the belt thst causes stuck on hit with some riposte mixed in could be useful for disengaging. It's name escapes me. Perhaps the boots that cause consecrated ground on a hit, too. Or something to increase movement apeed. Build it like a magekiller. Add some lore for cc effects like paralyze. Maybe not great for solo but still viable in a party.

Cape of the cheat.

Ciphers pair really well with chanters. Ciphers have spells that require companions to latch onto in a beam-like blast. Chanters can summon creatures into the back lines of foes. Ciphers can cast their beams onto the summons and do some insane damage really quickly and without disrupting your battle formations.

I would recommend a cipher or druid. A good mix of debuffs, cc and offensive spells.

Honestly, though, the original party posted in this thread isn't too far off from a party I'm already using. When I get a chance I'll post it.

This is kind of what I tend to do. I will build my characters a bit more tanky at the start and then adjust them based on items and natural abilities gained from levels. This goes doubly so for squishy builds.

Enemies get a big boost to defenses on potd. That's why perception and, by extension, accuracy becomes more important than other difficulties. As you gain levels your accuracy will increase naturally, though. So you can always respec and increase resolve or constitution when your natural accuracy is higher or you find items to boost it.

What I meant by lack of perception hurting debuffs were your debuff chants and invocations will be less effective. Particularity the invocation that paralyzes your foes. It's really useful on a tank but becomes less effective when you don't boost perception.

Unless you're using an old version of the game perception should boost accuracy. Resolve and intellegence should boost will defense. Chanters tend to take a hit to their reflex defense from their tendency to drop dexterity. Shield style compensates for that, however.