DreamWayfarer

For a backstab-focused rogue for a party, I would like to suggest skipping most "strike" abilities and using a Hearth Orlan with an Hours of St. Rumbalt(sp?) and either Tall Grass or an Arquebus, and the Forgemaster Fingers gloves. With Dirty Fighting, Minor Threat, high Acc, debuffed enemies and eventually Durgan Steel you will crit more often than not and pile up damage multipliers like crazy. Also, with a spiritshift-focused Druid or any melee char with the White Crest (is this the right name?) armor opening with Overwhelming Wave and then helping you flank you get easy deathblows against helpless foes.

If you want a "flashy" high damage melee char, may I recommend a monk instead of a rogue? They have many more "active" skills, while rogues are all about positioning. Or, if tough masochists are not your thing, a melee Wizard? Here is an explanation on how to build one:

Perception also means more crits, which helps a lot with CC as well as damage. Maybe I value it more than others because I don't play with Priests, but there are few things more annoying than seeing your hard-earned focus "wasted" on a graze or miss against a poweful foe you needed to debuff. And some of us prefer to have all characters capable of holding against one or two foes in melee instead of always relying on two or three tanks, specially in battles against a big number of foes when you don't have enough druids or wizards to keep everyone disabled all the time. Plus, dumping defensive stats on melee chars is bad advice for begginers who still don't know the optimal strategies against every enemy type. Logic also shows that dead people generaly don't kill things very fast, and that bad aim makes killing harder. It is a matter of deciding based on build and playstyle. Might accounts for a smaller percentage of potential damage increase in two-handers because the two-handed style talent is equivalent of +5 MIG for the purposes of damage, and while more damage is always better, not dumping defensive attributes allows you to position your cipher more freely and not panic the moment you get engaged, things that IMO would be much more useful to a beginner than doing more damage and using powers more often.

It's a moot point, and I think we are both on point. But you can easily have high Might/Dexterity/Intellect, and still have a few points to go around. That's not even min-maxing. What about PER? And on melee you also need Con and Res. And with a two-hander, MIG does not matter much for weapon damage, with +40% from Soul+Biting Whip and +15% from the talent MIG gets less relevant.

Swift Aim wirks with melee. If anyone cares.

I'm assuming you mean firing two shots before going to melee range- you can't dual-wield firearms.I meant switching between guns to avoid reloading. Why would one need dual wielding to shoot two guns? That entirely depends on how you build your cipher. There are some very powerful support powers that the cipher gets. Furthermore, "nuking" with a cipher is more than viable, most of their "nuking" powers deal raw damage, which no enemy in the game has immunity or resistance to (it completely bypasses DR). This part was about the base MIG and high DEX Cipher, who won't nuke as well as a high MIG one. And the support powers were included under "buffs".

Warbows are good for ranged ciphers, yes. For melee Ciphers, these are my two favorite ways a begginer can build them (not the only ways, just the best for someone who just started the game): The first is the dual-wielding gunslinging high burst cipher, who shoots one or two guns to build up focus, uses it to deal high damage or CC and then uses two sabers. For this cipher, I recommend Island Aumana. For attributes, raise MIG, PER and INT and leave the rest at base. When choosing your powers, prioritize damage and control over stat drains, as your main role will be taking out priority targets as the fight beggins. Use the Ruffian weapon focus for sabers. The second, and my favorite, is the two-hander wielding CC and stat-drain focused melee cipher, who should raise DEX, PER and INT, leaving the rest at base. When choosing a weapon, use either a Estoc or Greatsword as a main weapon. The first weapon type deals more damage (specially if it is called Blade Of The Endless Paths) and has a very diverse weapon focus, but against pierce-immune enemies you will be forced to use an halberd. There are also many cool greatswords, and the Soldier focus has pikes, arquebi, and arbalests, making it a hard choice. This cipher should take stat drains, buffs and control powers instead of nukes, and serves as a constant pain in the enemy's backside, dealing damage even against stronger foes and mind-controling or locking them in place. Start fights with a stat drain, self-buff or CC and engage weakened enemies with a teammate by your side. ps: Pale Elfs work well with the second build, IMO.

@hrwd: But ciphers are still fun. And if you buffvthimgs too much the game gets too easy. It is easier to nerf a few outliers than to buff everything else. @Blablaologist: You shouldn't pay too much heed to "class tier" lists, as many are outdated or exagerated, and the classes have more balance and flexibility than in most other games. It is also hard to know what you are doing "wrong" with your cipher without more details on your playstyle. But from your gear it seems you are still on the early mid-game, so Firebrand can explain part of the power difference. Melee characters are also better at dealing damage, because their weapons either hit harder or hit faster (a bit of relevant trivia: a "slow" melee weapon actually has the same speed as a single "medium" speed one).

You must choose "explorer", I think. And Island Aumana make great Paladins, since you can use Flames of Devotion with a gun, switch, repeat, and then go melee.

There is also the possibility that during rest our characters... I dunno, treat their wounds before sleeping? I mean, why is this do unthinkable? IRL people had to learn how to survive without magic potions, and since magic healing in Eora is a provisory measure more often than not, I believe they had as well. Medicine may not be very advanced on Eora but many, if not all, of our story companions have backgrounds that justify some first-aid training: Aloth was trained as a battlemage (or was it arcane knight?) Edèr was a soldier. Durance... can cauterize wounds with his staff? Kana... read a book about it? Sagani is a hunter who has been travelling the world for years. She can handle herself. Pallegina is a soldier. Grieving Mother is a midwife, and may have training as a nurse. Never used Hiravias, so can't speak about him. Zahua didn't die from infection in his wounds for a reason. Manahea is a mercenary. The Devil... learned how to repair herself in case she decided to kill Galvino?

I think your stat spread is too uneven, yet unexpecialized. Generaly, it is hard to notice a raise or drop of 2 or 3 points in a stat. For a MC frontliner Priest, I suggest: 15 MIG 10 CON 14 DEX (can't waste half the fight pre-buffing) 10 PER (accuracy is easy to buff with talents and spells) 15 INT 14 RES (at the beginning of White March there is an Ogre boss that drops a ring that gives +3 RES, which is enough for the most relevant and useful RES interaction I've seem: convincing a Dragon to negotiate.) EDIT: but I am glad you liked how your Priest turned out!

actually, I think you are better with shield+mace before reaching Defiance Bay. At first, the low base stats hurt you a lot.

If health depletation is the problem (which it shouldn't be until later in the game, unless you are playing solo), the Wound Binding talent is affected by MIG, INT and Healing Received multipliers, so you can completely refill your health with it. Still, it is not a talent that I would advice taking until at least level 8, because earlier you just can't self-heal yourself to the point of running out of health most of the time. And on shields, while they may be useful it still makes sense to specialize in two-handers depending on your playstyle, since dead people are generally worse at killing you. Plus, you can have a shield+mace on your secondary weapon set.

Loren... Tyr? He(?) hasn't posted in this topic.

How about a Pale Elf Priest of Berath with a greatsword, going with the Pale Knight theme? The favored and disfavored dispositions tend to not be very restraining, the lore is very cool, and there are many cool greatswords, like Tidefall, which drains health from your foes. Invest into Survival for the bonus healing received so you aren't so squishy, take the Inspiring and Agrandizing(sp?) Radiance Talents (as they stack with everything), as well as The Pallid Hand to compensate your lacking base stats and invest into MIG, INT and either PER, RES or DEX (choose ONE, as spreading you points too thin does little good), never dumping any stat below 8 (except maybe RES, because you have a spell that increases Concentration and lots of healing). For armors, anything between a breastplate and full plate can suit you, depending on your stats and playstyle.

I am not affirming that your imagery is the one of a blank page. I am merely saying that it could benefit from further work. For exemple, could you elaborate on the philosophical basis of good and evil light? You wrote that good light needs war, and evil light wants it. Does that means that peace is found in darkness? Are there good and evil dark as well as light? What is this "promise" so often mentioned? And since this is supposed to be a game, how is the narrative going to be integrated with the mechanics?

Again, many things can be imagined in a blank page. Symbolism is an interesting design element, but just it and vague concepts aren't enough.

Deadfire Archipelago has Sagani and some item descriptions, but I agree on Living Lands and Old Valia. I actually forget that the Living Lands are a thing sometimes.

Of course it isn't. I was just trying to explain that the problem is not a lack of petential, but lack of definition.

As someone who rarely plays anything but Pale Elves, I agree. My heart sunk three miles when all Manahea had to say about the White That Wends is that it was cold. **** you, obsidian, offering the option to talk to her about it just to tease us. Next PoE better have entire questlines or companions that let we dive into the cultures neglected by the first game.

I think you are mixing up egoism with arrogance. And if your idea is so good, you certainly should add in the details before exposing it. I mean, even if a vague sketch can be art on itself, it generally benefits from time and effort. Plus, your outline is so vague that the problem is not being unable to see potential, but the lack of restriction to said potential. After all, what has more potential than a blank page yet to be written?

Not all of these builds are highly minmaxed. And the most important part of them is not the Attributes or gear list, but the explanations of why the builder choose those Attributes and gear, and description of the games mechanics. Read through those descriptions, look for the "Attack Speed" thread, and you will understand some of the most esoteric game mechanics. And don't care too much about builds when playing. Respec was introduced for a reason, and it wasn't cheesing dragon fights. In fact, half of the fun is testing ideas you had yourself when you found a nice piece of gear.

You know, if you are retraining only to learn more spells it is often less expensive and faster to create an adventuer and take his spellbook. You keep all spells you payed for before, and the cost of hiring adventurers is not that high.

The only racials I can think of that every build can make use of are the Pale Elf DR bonus and Island Aumana weapon slot, and even then you'd be better with another race for many builds.

As a serial reroller there are way too many characters I have imagined backstories for. However, this one is an archetype I really like and reused with several classes (from my memory: Druid, Monk, Priest of Eothas and perhaps Cipher or Barbarian): Agiqun - Pale Elf - White That Wends - Mystic Agiqun was born on one of the few Glanfelen (Pale Elf) cities on the Southern Deadfire Arquipelago, from a merchant and a immigrant from the White That Wends. When he neared adulthood, he travelled to a monastery in his mother's land to further his studies of the sciences, history and teology. Since childhood, Agiqun had his flashes of deep insight, often mixed with strange sensations and a surreal disconnection with reality, and with fear of being judged insane he kept those secret at all costs. However, as he aged and grew in both knowledge and independence, the episodes grew more vivid and common eventually culminating in visions. Despite it going against his master's doutrine of humilty, he began to consider the possibility of being in tune with some power beyond this world, perhaps a god, or maybe something even greater, and grew distant from his colleagues. Eventually, it was discovered that he had contacted multiple exiled animancers, as well as spoken and written against the teachings of his group, leading to his banishment. Lost and unsure of where to go, he eventually settled on investigating an old vision he had, of a terrible all-devouring light, which led him to the Dyrwood, where he discovered a different yet very familiar kind of visions.