Harpagornis

Ah, thanks Dr <3! This makes things much easier. I tested it - worked. Even helping Medreth will get you in. Damn - this is too easy. i will try the Dozens and see if it works. If not i can always fall back to Doemenels.

Hhhmmm... but how can you avoid fighting the bandits? I have tried all dialogue options but they always attack me! What am i missing?

For all readers just joining in - here is a short summary: Name: Noober Class: Ranger Race: Wood Elf Pet: Bear Act 1: Finished! Act 2: Cliaban Rilag: Finished Sanatorium: Finished Heritage Hill: To be done Faction Quests: To be done Many quests finished while even more quests skipped.

Hhhhmmmmm... the problem with the Doemenels is the fight against the bandits in the small house. Five enemies - three of them high dps - with no room for kiting. I have tried it several times and failed miserably. What would your strategy be here? Maybe i should get more figurines first? But even then it would be very tough. If i cant get through them and the Dozens are also too hard then.... well, then it might be over no?

Yeah, thats why Noober maxed Perception to 20 and has chosen Wood Elf for even more accuracy. Its quite cool that in PoE better items do not have any level requirement. Not getting hit is the most important part so especially mages and gunners are the main targets. Worked pretty well even against the full party that was hunting the Dragon Egg. After the ranged attackers - and the monk - were dead the rest was easy thanks to good old bear running in circles. Maybe Noober will try to finish the quests of the Dozens first. I am a bit terrified getting into this damn tower in Heritage Hill. Noober also bought the hat with 3x charm but so far hasnt been using it much. Maybe it will be key later on...

Ah, thats new for me as i never ever played weapon & shield chars and the last time i put Eder into the party is so far away... hrhr... that happens when you nearly only play solo. Yeah, the exceptional weapons pushed Noobers powers to a new level that - so far - is working quite well. We will see how long this works. For the tower in Heritage Hill he has buffed his Stealth to 6. Will this be enough or is heavy cheese required? Or maybe its the end of all hopes? In the next days we will have an answer!

Sure Noober is still shooting. He is the chicken master so hit & run matches his nature perfectly. One-handed style is out of reach - no leveling up. And dont forget: He is running around with ~60 endurance and nearly no deflection so most enemies right now will nearly instakill him. Ranged combat is far superior - if you can pull if off. Accuracy potions are saved only for real tough encounters. Believe it or not: Most of the time i am not using any potions or food buffs. Its just not needed and a waste of gold. Iron Man Noober? Not in this life!

Noober has finished Cliaban Rilag - damn this took too much time. Tactic was as usual. Play the hit & run game while cheesing around with the enemies maximum engagement range. Saved the summons for the Trolls, the Slimes and the Animats. It took nearly forever to take down the regenerating Ghost on level 2 while the Phantoms were usually one shotted thanks to Noobers new Exceptional Arbalest (+25% Corrode Dmg!!). For the water blights he switched to his magic wand and shot them down one after another - nothing special. Will be heading to Heritage Hill or doing the quests of the Dozens soon. Noober found +5 Accuracy Gloves in Raedrcis Keep so his accuracy is now boosted to "gigantic" 53 (+5 with Racial Bonus, no food buffs included). Will this be enough later on?

Update: Thanks to the +2 Mechanic-Resting-Bonus from Caed Nua Noober managed to infitrate Raedrics Keep where he finally got the +2 Mechanic Gloves. Another thing why Rangers are great: Even if you cant disarm traps and they instakill you, the game will not end thanks to your pet. Once you got up again you can loot the treasure normally - great!

Sounds funny!!! Try this Braven - please. I only have one life (and an angry wife).

Hrhr... yeah, i was thinking about Noober + Neeber Duo too! Thanks! I will try to get more items and power before going into Heritage Hill. I think the tower will be the most critical point in Act 2. The rest should be doable. Well, theoretically. Yeah that sounds great but as i stated earlier: No game breaking bugs allowed!

Heritage Hill outer region: No problem! The second level of the tower is where the problems start: Stealthing wont work. And the summons wont soak all engagement so you still have to fight. Maybe there will be some space where you can hide but... cant judge it right now... will have to try it. Any tips welcome!

Yes, you can only place one trap - no trap field of insta death like in BG. So far i only got two figurines but will work to get more. Pets cant start dialogue exept when you engage NPC´s that will start their conversation automatically once you got into line of sight. The Sanatorium isnt something i am worrying about. Why? Because Noober already finished it. At the end its quite simple: Summon the 3 beetles and give them some seconds to soak maximum engagement. In the meantine you and your pet can move to the small niche so enemies wont spot you for unplesant engagement. When the enemies start hurting the beetles you can just run through - or better around - all incoming enemies. With movement speed bonus from rest you are fast enough to get through unhurt. You just have to make sure that the Fleshbeasts wont get the chance to knock you down. I see much more problems coming in Heritage Hills Tower. This one will be a tough nut to crack. Getting an invitation from one of the factions will also be hard. I dont see how to get Doemenels or Knights as the given fights are in small areas where you cant cheese. This would leave only the Dozens open. The Lhe a Rhemen ruins with their spider swarms could be a nightmare too. We will see...

The spiders in the jail are tough. Took me several hours to find a way through. To survive the waves the Ranger used Food Buffs, 5x Endurance Potions, 5x Potions of Eldrich Aim. To surive the damage he weared Plate Armor + Blunting Belt. First Wave: Tanked by the bear while the ranger one shotted the spiders with Wounding Shot thanks to the good Arbalest. The bear has to survive at all costs. Second Wave: Tanked by the Animat that used Heal on the Bear to max his Endurance again. Killed the Spiders with Arbalest + Wounding Shots. Third Wave: Tanked by the bear again while the ranger killed the spiders with Arbalest + Wounding Shot. Up to this point no healing potion should be required. Fourth Wave: This is the most dangerous part because your bear is dead. Used a door so the Ranger only has to tank one small spider. Killed the big one first with Potion of Eldrich Aim. After using Wounding Shot with the Arbalest he switched to Hunting Bow as the interrupts of the spider attacks are very annoying. Once the big one falls it will get a race of who dies faster. Even with Endurance Potions your Health Bar will get critical at some point. Its just a matter of dice luck. Maerwald was a joke. Cleared the spider room first using the "Summon Animat" while killing one or two spiders with Wounding Shot. The retreat and rest game took some while. After the spider room is cleared you have enough room for running out of Maerwalds Engegament Range (+Movement Resting Bonus works great here). Killed Maerwald thanks to the engagement cheese. Once he was dead the ranger switched to a wand (damn piercing immunity) and killed one Blight after another. Defiance Bay i am coming!

Okay, things for the Ranger are going well so far. Phantoms in Caed Nua are cleared thanks to the Animat (+ Bear Pet). While they got punched i had enough time two shotting Phantoms with a "Good Arbalest" i found earlier. Took several - okay many - rests to get through. The spiders are waiting... have not time atm...

Hmmmm.... cant find the scroll in the daily loot list. Seems its just totally random loot as you stated. And the big question is: When does it start dropping. Act 2? Earlier? Later? I will try to get my Ranger rolling. If it fails i maybe should fall back to the Lore Skill and a Chanter. We will see!

Hmmmm... never played Chanter... should check this out maybe. The Rites Scroll needs Lore 4 as i can see. Damn. And: Where can you buy it? I pushed Surival to 3 right from the start with my Ranger. Lore is at 0. I am doomed.

Thats great info Braven. Totally forgot about the "Rite of Hidden Wonders"-Scroll. Together with the Resting Bonus this will open the path to the "Gloves of Manipulation" in Readrics Keep for even more Mechanic-Skill - say hello Shadow Figurine! Is it possible to beat the whole game.... well, we will see. There will be some tight spots to get through. Its all about cheesing the AI and the "strange" engagement system. Oh, and many, many running and resting for sure. But i know what patience is. Beating Wasteland 2 with a naked level 1 solo ranger on SJ was such a pain in the ass - it cant get worse. So Ranger is the number 1 choice so far? Anyone else? Boeroer we need your help!

Yeah, Perception maybe the most important stat regardless of class. Dex and Might will also be nice. Hhhhmmm... not sure about Con. You will get hurt later on. Would be bad to get one shotted no? Res we can drop and Int.... hhmmmm... would depend on the class. More opinions?

Gamebreaking bugs should be avoided or not?! But its a good question where "cheese" ends and "gamebreaking bugs" begin... In case of doubt i would claim: Play it legit.

As stated above: Noober loves cheese so any kind of cheesy tactic is allowed. Everything like Console etc. is no go. Yeah, avoiding fights will be key - or at least minimizing them. At the moment Ranger seems my favourite thanks to his pet. Difficult decisions...

Everyone in town used to throw rocks at me and tell me I was annoying. I once knew this guy named Dilby. He threw rocks at me too. Are you gonna throw rocks at me? What about now? After countless deaths caused by impatient adventures Noobers soul vanished from the realms of Baldurs Gate only to appear in Pillars of Eternity. How this could happen is still a mystery but Noobers current aims are clear and simple: He wants to be an adventurer too - help him to survive! Noober – as the name already indicates – is a noob in its truest form. This means: He is stuck at Level 1 forever and will never go up. All monsters he faces will get furious so PotD only. Because of his nerve-racking personality he has to play solo. Before the adventure starts Noober has some questions to the dear community: Which class should he pick? Which race would help him most? What stats should he push? Which background is helpful? Which items are essential? Will you throw rocks at him? Noober loves cheese so any kind of cheesy tactic is allowed. Everything like Console etc. is no go. What tips and tricks can you give him for his journey? And the ultimate question: When and where will he fail? Gee, you sure are patient.I´ve run out of things to say.

Rooting Pains damage is too low later on to stack Resonant Touches. Still havent tested it with DR-Items because i got bored of the monks insane power even when running around naked. Enervating Blow + Force of Anguish + Apprentice Sneak Attack is a nice combo. Buff it with Savage Attack + Bloody Slaughter + Interrupting Blows and the monk will be a punching death machine. Offense is the best defense no?

Monks dont need endurance regeneration to be succesful. They even dont need any items to hit & kick their way solo through the game. Most of the time my Ascetic Monk only needs two abilities to steamroll through enemies: Torments Reach + Force of Anguish. Fine DPS + CC which you can build around your other talents/ abilities. High CON and Moon Godlike is enough to survive, only for tough encounters you can spare your Endurance Potions. As Boeroer stated above: Monks are awesome. And if you know how to counter heavy CC - say hello Lagufaeth - they even get superawesome in my opinion. Still Good Luck Shiroco!

Theoretically your Monk should be able to clear the Ogre Attack at level 7+. My Ascetic Monk took Arzir down at level 9 (on expert mode) but the split-pulling was quite tricky. If you want to play it safe i would wait for level 10+. Then it should be a cakewalk if you play carefully.