MaxQuest

Getting access to wizard's fire spells is indeed not bad. But so far I see it as "not bad but not good enough". For example I would easily take druid storm spells over wizard fire ones as I find them much more useful; plus PoE1 was manageable without protection spells so I can live without them. Additionally being a priest of Magran does not grant a bonus to power level with fire spells, like in the case of wizard's subclasses. But yes, having fire spells of/on every rank is an argument.

Imho, Adra Dragon is easier than Alpine, because she: - is very slow, iirc she has move speed of 3 and could be stopped completely via Hobble. - has much lower melee dps: damage (58-88 vs 74-101), no deathblows/finishing strike... and Alpine is "dual-wielding" and attacking faster than the "single-wielding" Adra Dragon. On the other hand, she is immune to fire, has comparable in damage Dragon Breath but of wider (!) cone, and also has the Wing Slam which can insta-kill unfortunately placed squishies.

This made me think, what if there was a faithless priest subclass (or heretic/atheist/whatever) that loses the ability to cast Prayers and Symbols, but in return: - v1. can learn fighter's active abilities. - v2. can learn monk abilities and passives that do not use "wound" keyword. - v3. automatically learns Transcending Suffering. - v4. ? And if disposition for Radiance is a problem, the bonus could: - use 2xrational - be computed automatically as for NPC priests - use user selected as the new favored dispositions - just stay zero

It wasn't confirmed in a direct sentence, but it is implied by the combination of these two tumblr posts (one, two) with this progression table. There were "Bonus xth Level Spell" talents which would grant you an extra spell-usage. It's great, and I will be taking it (for Shinning Beacon/Shadowflame/Confusion probably); but it doesn't make you learn a new spell)

You got me Although paralyze aside (-40 def), blind (-20 def) and charmed (-25 def) effects can help with lowering deflection as well. And for early game there are: - sunbeam, chill fog, curse of blackened sight - the lover cried, whispers of treason, charm beast

Huh, haven't even looked at it from RP point of view. But I do completely agree here. My first thoughts when looking at priest subclasses where: - Berath: so I can take Rot Skulls, Minor Avatar and also multi-class into wizard for Blast + Penetrating Blast? Yes please. - Eothas: wohoho, superb. Now I can mix the points forte of druid, priest and chanter. As I already wrote in another thread: think of opening up with Painful Interdiction to lower fortitude for R.Storms stuns and will for Shinning Beacon. And when the Storms hit, stunned evemies get a high reflex malus vs Dragon Trashed. And now add the Minor Avatar as a cherry on top. - Magran: you must be kidding me. As a priest I do not want: Fan of Flames, Ray of Fire, Fireball nor Delayed Fireball. Priest already has better fire damage potential. Firebrand + Firebug on the other hand... that could be useful. - Skaen: "can learn rogue offensive abilities as priest spells" - what does this mean exactly? Are they subjected to per-rank spell-usage limit? Why not just "can learn rogue offensive abilities"? Also does this only include active stuff? If I can't get deathblows, then what's the incentive? - Wael: do Illusion spells, include only stuff with Confuse and Blind? Or also stuff that inflicts Paralyze, Stun, Prone, Petrify, Unconscious? In any case this subclass could make into a nice support-debilitator. Although will have to check if it will not get superseeded by a melee skald-illusionist or ranged trickster-beguiler.

Don't build your party around crits for the early game of PotD Or at least make sure to start each fight with Painful Interdiction -> paralyze effect -> hit the target with deflection lowered into abyss)

Exactly) That's why I don't really worry for the school locking. Not to mention that in PoE1 there are ~93 wizard spells. Even if the total number is shrinked to ~75 spells, and 2 schools out of 5 are locked, that would be 45 spells to choose from. The thing I don't like though, is that ex-vancian classes learn way too few spells on level-up. And if wizard can partially work it out via grimoires, druids and priests seem to be starving. Not to mention that they are already gated by low amount of spell-usages per rank. That being said, it would be nice if we could find/research a few occasional scrolls found around the world or received as quest rewards, and thus learn 5-7 spells extra over the game's duration.

Hmm, but those would be level 1 spells, no?

Seems like the game will incentivize respeccing. I hope cc-spells won't be useless on level 1 because of the very short duration.

With the amount of spells priest and druids can learn now, for a new player there is indeed such possibility. In PoE1 priests and druids of max level could learn/cast 52-53 spells. For comparisson In PoE2 there are 62 druid spells (up to rank 9), or 53 spells (up to rank 7). Out of these they can learn on levelup only up to 20 spells (according to this progression). But they will also need some abilities and talents, so it's even less. Overwhelming? Hmm, cannot relate. Sure, it was about 30-40% of spells that I used 90% of the time. But it was nice to have few situational solutions at hand as well.

This is likely the right guess. Although I am curious how big that bonus to Soul Whip will be... because in order to avoid the drain, cipher would want to cast powers asap, and not to continue auto-attacking. With a tooltip that writes something like: "focus drains for 15 focus per second for 3 seconds if left at max for 5 seconds"? Basically ascendant makes you want to achieve max focus as fast as possible, in order to benefit from the bonus to powers / soul whip, but at the risk of losing focus due to drain of unexpected overflow (especially if you use hard-hitting weapons; and focus is gained in big chunks). This risk is getting higher, along with dps/maxfocus proportion. Looks like a multi-classed ascendant will have higher risk and also higher benefit from this subclass, than a single-class ascendant; because he will likely have lower maxfocus. Not to mention that if the pool is big, cipher has no time to wait till it's getting full especially if he needs to cast a crucial power right now; or if the fight will end soon enough.

That wasn't a naked solo run though Just a few naked solo dragon fights)

Well, I have 3 ciphers... So my second Deadfire playthrough will likely be with a devout blade or devout ascendant. Haven't decided on the multi/sub classes for the first run though. Edit: actually thinking of: - (melee) shattered soul blade - (melee) shifter ascendant - (melee) stalker ascendant (echo spam on pet) - (ranged) helwalker ascendant (with long pain) - (ranged) sharpshooter ascendant/beguiler - (ranged) back jacket ascendant (with dual-pistols quick-switch; or blunderbusses if possible) - (ranged) ghost-heart ascendant (echo spam on pet; twinned arrows) - (ranged) trickster beguiler So.. yeah, there is a lot to think about)

I learn a new word everyday on this forum) Btw, grats with the 1000th post

Agreed, banning two schools outright seems a lil too much. On the other hand wizards can only use 2 spells of each rank per encounter, so the builds will likely end up highly specialized. Plus we have to see first how big is the power_level bonus for the spells of the selected school. Agreed. Enchanter's Free Action in it's current form looks kinda weak. Illusionist's free Mirrored Image is probably ok, as it will also be useful for some wizard offtanks. Evoker's echo could be interesting if the chance is high enough. Plus it was told that some empowers could also refund a spell/ability usage cost. So there might be a chance for recursive spamming for free. As for Transmuter, Ogre should retain current weapon / weapon + shield, or benefit from Novice Suffering in order to be useful on PotD. Or at the very least make this Hulk retain weapons if they deal crushing damage. Delay would make me think of some waiting before the actual action, not after, so yeah... The recovery in PoE is like catching a breath after doing something that takes effort. A recuperation of sorts. Btw it would be funny if first n actions would have lower recovery duration. n being influenced by CON, DEX and RES. Although forget it, just a random thought

Oops, corrected) As for alternative names for recovery..: recreation, repose, inter-action rest, procrastination... nothing comes to mind that sounds good and fitting enough

After checking the video again, penalty descriptions actually explicitely write: recovery time. Not just [recovery] which could lead to ambiguity between duration and speed. That's a step forward I will edit my post.

Just posting bonuses and penalties of few subclasses, since it's easier for me to check them here, than open the video each time: Hellwalker: Bonus: - begin combat with 1 Wound - gain +1 Might for each Wound they have Penalty: - take 5% for each Wound they have Nalpazka: Bonus: - all drug effects last 50% longer - generate Wounds while receiving the benefits of drugs Penalty: - crash penalties from drugs cause the monk to be unable to receive healing - degenerate Wounds while not benefiting from drugs Shattered Pillar: Bonus: - gain Wounds by melee weapon damage inflicted Penalty: - cannot gain Wounds from damage received - required threshold to gain wounds increased - max Wound limit is decreased Conjurer: Bonus: - gain increased power level with Conjuration spells - Conjure Familiar - familiars provide a useful passive effect Penalty: - lose access to spells from Evocation and Illusion schools - +20% recovery time for wizard spells not of Conjuration school Enchanter: Bonus: - gain increased power level with Enchantment spells - Free Action - once per encounter when under effect of Hobble affliction, wizard can clear it and become immune to it for 10s Penalty: - lose access to spells from Illusion and Transmutation schools - +20% recovery time for wizard spells not of Enchantment school Evoker: Bonus: - gain increased power level with Evocation spells - your evocation spells have a small (interesting how small??) chance to "echo", reapplying their damage and effects to their target again, immediately. Penalty: - lose access to spells from Transmutation and Conjuration schools - +20% recovery time for wizard spells not of Evocation school Illusionist: Bonus: - gain increased power level with Illusion spells - once per encounter, when first attacked, automatically gain the effects of the spell "Mirrored Images" - when empowering spells there is a 30% chance of refunding the Empower point Penalty: - lose access to spells from Conjuration and Enchanting schools - +20% recovery time for wizard spells not of Illusion school Transmuter: Bonus: - gain increased power level with Transmutation spells - Form of Fearsome Brute - transform into Ogre; can't cast in this form, but physical attributes are increased. Penalty: - lose access to spells from Enchanting and Evocation schools - +20% recovery time for wizard spells not of Transmutation school

Tbh, looking at stats of different Ogres from PoE1, and also how weak was Tenser's Transformation and Word of Changing in NWN2... I am a bit skeptical about Transmuter's transformation into Ogre... "While in this form, spells are disabled, but physical attributes are increased" - if wizard will be able to use the form, while being silenced from Citzal's Martial Power, and also be able to keep Citzal's Lance upon transformation, then it's other story though.

Much better now.

Helwalker get +1 MIG per each wound they have - so it's nice for their fortitude. But they also take +5% damage per each would they have. So yeah, remain only Unbroken/Goldpact and pure fighter. Maybe there will also be a Fighter/Goldpact + Wizard, depending on how potent will Llengrath's defensive spells will be.

Exactly And Deadfire will also add the Troubadour's bonus linger; and the extra 'fold' being the damage coefficient that comes from power_level (if it made it's way to the new system).

You have a point. Even in PoE1 wizards' way of learning spells was different from priest/dru. Instead of learning 3-9 spells immediately on each odd level, they were able to learn 2 on each odd, and 1 on each even level. The upside was that they could pay-learn up to 9-14 spells per rank and end up knowing up to 80-100 spells at max level. While if we combine the above link with this progression progression, it looks like wizard can learn 'permanently' up to 20 wizard spells, plus have access to those in his current grimoire. Now the question is: are the grimoires thick enough

Thanks for the link. So at least we are not hard-forced into alternating between classes. Yes, I also have noticed that Josh has included [Weapon & Shield Style] which is a talent, not an ability. There is one thing that worries me in that post though: 1 spell slot equals 1 ability slot? If so, that's not good, not good at all. In PoE1, on each odd level, fighter could select 1 ability, while priest and druid were learning 3-9 spells. Not to mention that if a lvl 3 battlemage/warden/cleric would have to choose between taking knockdown vs a rank 2 spell... guess what he would choose. Provided that fighter abilities use resources from a common pool, while spells are limited to spell-usages per rank (conform to spell-progression table by power level).