SimpleEnigma

With Pillars of Eternity 2 on the horizon and the fact I haven't played White March 2 DLC yet, I'm looking to do one fresh run that I'd use to import into POE 2. I beat the game with a paladin so I'd like something that plays a little different from that. I'm considering priest since it fits into the lore so well but I can be persuaded into a different class, especially Cipher. I'm looking to play on Hard difficulty with story companions. I'd like to use the 2 DLC companions since I didn't play with them much in my first play through so someone that meshes well with them is ideal. Primarily I want a character that feels really connected to the lore and story of the game (subjective I know) which is part of why priest and cipher appeal so much to me. Any suggestions for builds or comments from the crowd?

With WM2 just released and steam sales all the time I am sure there are people trying out the game for the first time. Not all guides are for everyone!

I agree, it's just a perception thing though. English accents just "sound" old, at least to a lot of Americans.

Yeah I agree it would work but it's kinda a novelty build that would probably be hell for a new player. Although on Normal difficulty perhaps it would be less severe. Rogues in general seem like a poor choice for a first playthrough unless you heavily researched the mechanics of the game beforehand.

I think the British voice being standard for fantasy characters is a mix of Tolkien intentionally writing in a very old English style and writers following that style. Plus high fantasy normally loosely models a Medieval Europe so modern accents sound weird in that environment. Finally for a variety of reasons (for instance I read an article on how British stage actor training gives them skills to better sell/act out a fantastical role) British actors get cast more often for fantasy roles. I enjoy seeing specifically video games address the accent issue though. For instance Dragon Age dwarves have American accents.

I think a rogue fits what you want to do best. Because of how damage bonuses are calculated might isn't that key of a stat for rogues. A high PER, high RES rogue that focuses on getting lots of crits can be a very strong build. Single wielding a rapier or similar will further increase your chance to crit. However if you want to go toe to toe with enemies you will want that shield or a weapon that stuns or prones or somehow disables. Even with high resilience rogues are notoriously fragile.

1) For melee I vote monk as your best bet for what you are looking for. Pure melee class with a lot of interactivity. Shapeshifter Druid is fun too plus gives you quite a bit of versatility. Rogue has the high potential to be very frustrating since rogues are very fragile and depend a lot on positioning. They are they most interactive melee class though in my opinion. I prefer ciphers played as ranged. 2) Eder is one of my favorite video game companions of all time. He has good lore insight, friendly, and has some really funny moments. Everyone has to experience Durance at least once. He's rather... prickly but has a unique story and is quite different from companions found in other games. Kana is your gentle giant that also chimes in with lore frequently in conversations. I think he's a bit underrated. Sagani is worth it alone for her banter with Eder. Devil of Caroc has interesting quips too. 3) I think the DLC is worth it but either get both DLC or neither since the two combine for a story arc. You can wait until you've completed Act II though before deciding if you like the game enough to buy more content for it.

INTRODUCTION Hello there! Let me guess, you just got this awesome game called Pillars of Eternity and so far it seems really fun but you just cant seem to decide on that perfect main character. Or hey maybe you've had the game for months, still sitting at that "create character" screen waiting for divine inspiration. That was me. I bought the game in December and had over 100 hours played before I even created the character I eventually completed the game with. This post will hopefully help you find that perfect character quicker than I did, and give you some tips on creating that character - different from the kind of tips found in most new player guides. There will be extremely minor spoilers, but probably spoilers you've already seen if you are on this forums and reading guides. CONVERSATION Conversation attributes are the great sirens that lure many of our new character dreams into the reefs. Let me take one large chunk of conversation anxiety right off the bat: with very few exceptions your race, background (home and job), class (including paladin orders and priest deities), and gender only give you flavor text with no real impact on the outcome of the conversation. So with these options just choose what you want to roleplay as and occasionally people will remark on it - which is pretty cool but does not really factor in how the game plays out. Mental stats (Int, Per, Res), skills (like lore, mechanics, and survival), and your reputation from conversations (are you honest, clever, cruel, etc) tend to be the modifiers that actually influence how an encounter will play out. Unlike many other games however, just because you pass a check for a certain dialog option doesn't necessarily mean it is the "best" option. For instance a high int may let you point out a hole in their logic, which pisses them off and they may even attack you for it. They always aren't the "good" option either. Resolve for instance sometimes gives you options to bully people into doing what you want or extorting poor people out of money. Also know that sometimes you could have multiple unlocked options and you'll have to pick one (say a resolve option, perception option, and a lore option) Having a character with high RES, INT, and PER pretty much limits the character to some type of tank or support role. There is no build I know of that can do top tier DPS and have all 3 mental stats approaching 20. Paladins and Chanters normally fit into this type of build best (shameless self plug for my Rauatai Captain build but there are other good builds on here for convo builds) but most of the other classes can make a convo build work at some level. You will get gear and other bonuses that raise your stats so don't think you have to max out all 3 stats at character creation to hit all the checks.More importantly don't feel obligated to chase after all 3 stats. In the end it doesn't change things THAT much. As I mentioned earlier there are a lot of conversations where you can choose only one of several special options so there's a fair bit of overlap. Nearly every build will have a significant number of points in at least one of those 3 stats. Focusing on just one or two of the stats will still give you lots of unique dialog. Lore and Survival open up the most dialog options of all the skills (helps that with 3.0 survival is pretty much a must have). Towards the second half of the game your personality will change how people react (you can turn on the meta tags for conversations if you want to ensure you build a specific personality). COMPANIONS If you are reading this guide you are probably interested in the full story aspect of the game and want to have a party full of story companions. The nest suggestion I have is to try grabbing all the core (non DLC) companions real quick just so you can get a feel for their personalities and decide if you want to create a character that compliments a team of your favorites. In case you don't own all DLCs the companion classes available are: Core game: Fighter Wizard Priest Ranger Druid Paladin Cipher Chanter WM Part I: Monk Rogue WM Part 2: Barbarian CLASS With WM II DLC making all classes available as story companions you can pick any class and have companions that will fit well with your build. Do note that the DLC companions take a little longer to get to (and aren't available if you do not own the DLC). Paladins and Priests get minor benefits for being the main character. If you are like me and want your main character to be the one you focus on most in combat then Wizards, Priests, Druids, Monks, and to a lesser extent Ciphers and Rangers tend to require the most direct attention. On normal and even hard difficulty the game is forgiving enough that most builds can be successful. That's how I ultimately decided on my character. I found smiting bad guys and having my allies benefit from it was a fun mechanic, so I created a build around it and enjoyed it through the whole playthrough. I think most around here have a build they consider their "own" that they really connected with. CONCLUSION I would try to avoid metagaming this game as much as possible. There are a lot of cool little secrets and surprises this game offers that trying to prepare to do them perfectly is near impossible and just kinda spoils the surprise. So just go, try out some builds, and when one just grabs you by the throat then you know you've found the one!

The mail has 3 uses. I briefly added other items like molten shield and such but I ended up with so much stuff to cast I was hardly swinging my sword!

Towards the end of the game I realized Paladins make for pretty solid battlemages because of their high int and might. I bet there's a solid build out there for a paladin that focuses on fire spell items. Casting speed is quite lackluster though.

I love Eder. Decently built, pretty funny, and in my opinion has by far the best banter with the other companions (everyone else seems to kinda hate each other). I found his story arc to be the most cohesive and well done. I actually liked Sagani but that's probably because her banter with Eder actually made me laugh out loud. I also like Kana too not so much that his story is that interesting but he adds a lot of good lore flavor to a lot of situations. Devil is good fun. Aloth is just inconsistent and Grieving Mother just didn't work for me. I still need to have meaningful playthroughs with Hiravias, Pellagrina, and Zahua before I have an opinion on them. And buy WII for our new friend. Durance is just in a category on his own.

I recently beat the game with this build (pre WMII) and I made some optimizations (too bad I can't edit them in). First up St. Ydwen's Redeemer is awesome with this build. The Destroy Vessels makes for easy Inspiring Triumph procs plus of course the other goodies St. Ydwen brings. I also wore Sun-Touched Mail of Hyran Rath. Transitioned into more of an off tank as this build really needs an Eder type (and a ranger pet as well). Go with Intense Flames and Scion of Flame and your Sunbeams get pretty nasty. I also picked up Righteous Soul because disables are the worst. I didn't end up taking Sworn Enemy, Critical Focus, or Weapon & Shield style. In the end this build worked best as tanky fiery ball of buffs. I did respectable damage while also having 2-3 defensive buffs up on my group most of the time. This build is best with a melee heavy party to soak up the buffs. Priests, Rogues, and Barbarians in particular like that extra tankiness to shield their frail souls. Also completely ignore the items in my original post as I didn't know that you couldnt stack the same stack bonuses. Instead I tried to get the highest stat boost across the board. Buff Constitution first because the low CON can lead to a lot of early game resting if you are tanking a lot. I bet a tankier version of this build would work sticking with Outworn Buckler and going with plate armor like White Crest Armor. Oh and this build can hit all RES/PER/INT convo checks with some proper resting and gear. (One thing I just realized - where are the Shieldbearer convo options? I think there are supposed to be 2 or 3 checks for them but I don't remember seeing any )

I have yet to beat the main story for the first time. I own WM I but I haven't bought WM II yet. Without spoilers would the story flow better if I complete WM II before finishing the main story? I have completed most of what was in WM I if that makes any difference.

Sinle target dps is what I want. Someone to make the annoying enemy druids/wizards/priests/etc disappear!

Detailed advice indeed. That is accurate for v3… Hihi I did a damage per hour in combat calculation on a "we just dps" party once and cipher was going at a nice 1200+ clip (from the start of the game I had a consistent party). Next in line was barbarian at just over 1000, rogue was at about 750 (no deathblows until high level unfortunately but after that it goes higher). Per rest casters were not run though as I was speeding and did not want to rest. Was there a ranger in this group? I thought they were among top dps.