dgray62

A FF monk/stormspeaker MC build is very fun, although only possible if you use mods.

Yes, the focus generation is amazingly fast late game. I really think psion is optimal for caster MC builds.

Yes, it's a tough choice. Beguilers are fantastic when fighting mobs, while poisons really shine late game, especially against tougher foes.

Nice build! I've been playing an oracle lately, but with the psion subclass, which is nice for action economy, since you'll pretty much be always casting, and will build focus continually while you are casting. Psions really shine late in the game when their focus gain become very fast.

I prefer BM over Evoker because I hate losing access to spells, especially Chillfog and Combusting Wounds, two of my favorite spells. The flexibility of being able to cast whatever you want whenever you want, plus the +1 PL from blood sacrifice and the constant regeneration, outweighs the +2 PL for evocation only and the small chance of repeat casting those spell, IMO. Also, I don't like resting, so I never empower spells unless I'm playing a chanter, so BM takes away an option I'm not inclined to use anyway. As for your party, if you're not fixed on the SC idea I'd recommend taking Fassina as a sorcerer, so you can add nice druid healing spells to your party. Then take a SC priest and SC cipher as your final two.

Another thing to keep in mind is Soulblades periodically have to use either a power or SA, since when you hit max focus you lose the soul whip bonus(es), which gimps your attack. So you need to keep an eye on your focus and either spam SA or cast a power when it's full. Usually, for SBs it makes sense to focus on debuff powers to disable foes and make them easier to hit. But once they're rebuffed you can speed up their demise with SA. SB is probably best as a MC and for those who enjoy micromanagement.

You want max RES. I usually keep STR and CON flat, and then put the rest of the points in to DEX, PER and INT. You don't need more than 15 INT, since you'll get +10 INT later from Turning Wheel. With forbidden fist, you really don't need to spend wounds. With max RES and Clarity of agony, you can use the FF attack once every few seconds, as soon as the curse expires. You don't need high STR because you get so much of a damage boost from transcendent suffering, sneak attack and death blows. DEX also doesn't need to be too high, but you don't want to dump it either. Something like 12-15 would be fine. Put the rest in PER.

A forbidden fist monk/assassin MC is extremely powerful. With Tuotillo's Shield you are very sturdy and don't have to worry about the +15% damage malus, and you can disappear and do devastating damage from stealth when you wish.

That is an evil trio of destruction! You can wreck the game just with them, and throw in a companion or sidekick or two for flavor as you wish.

Regarding grimoires, naturally for any wizard you will want to keep a nice array of several choice grimoires in your quick slots. But if you are interested in going the grimoire quick switch trick, such that you cast Concelhaut's Draining Touch from a grimoire, and then switch the grimoire before striking, you'll be able to keep CDT as your main hand weapon for the rest of the encounter, which is sweet as it's an amazing weapon. If you cast Essential/Substantial Phantom the phantom will have this weapon too. But for this to work you'll have to cast it from a grimoire, and not learn the spell when leveling up. Blood Soaked Grimoire is the first grimoire that has it that you can easily get early game.

This build would definitely work for Maia, although the Gunhawk subclass is less optimal than the stalker for the melee geomancer build that @Boeroer suggests. But you could still do it. As for grimoires, you definitely want a grimoire with Concelhaut's draining touch, as you do not want to learn this spell, since doing so makes the grimoire switch trick impossible. Ultimately you'll want Concelhaut's grimoire, but early game you can get the Blood Soaked grimoire from the Tangaloa temple ruins crypt on the island just south of Port Make. You can take the enemies on there early, once you're about lvl 7.

You could have a real fun time playing both! Pick one as your MC and hire the other as a custom hireling. That would be a very fun evil party duo. If you do, give the FF/SG Magran's Favor and Tuotilo's shield per @Powerotti's recommendation, and equip the trickster/SG with WotEP per @Boeroer's. Give the latter 10 STR and also pump up RES, so both toons can torch mobs with sacred immolation late game. You'd want to give the latter Mohora's Wraps since they'd lack Clarity of Agony. If you want, you could go with a trio by adding a psion/woedica priest, if you want extra CC and debuffing. I have recently been playing a psion mystic and it is loads of fun; you can just alternate casting cipher powers and priest spells all day long.

A FF/SG is a real tank with serious DPS potential as well. It's also one of the few builds in this game that can safely spam sacred immolation, since with max RES you quickly shrug off the raw damage caused by that ability. If you follow @Powerotti guide, keep in mind that you don't need to use Mohora Wraps as food so long as you max RES, since that alone is enough to keep the duration very short for your FF curse; apparently the added malus to negative effect duration from the food doesn't do much due to the way the math works in this game. I prefer using Hot Razor Skewers for the +1 PL and the +2 PEN for weapon attacks. The main thing for this build is to make sure you get to 35 RES. Doing a no rest run or a mod that makes this unnecessary makes this much easier to reach.

That's interesting! Wonder what's going on here....

It probably wouldn't be metagaming or an exploit unless someone figures out how to reliably proc this effect, right? For now, it seems to be a somewhat rare bug, at least in my experience, since I've never noticed it in my runs through the game. I must say though, getting SP's passives would be a really cool and OP effect.

I think that there is a bug that special abilities from items can sometimes become permanent after saving and reloading. It has never happened to me, but I seem to recall reading about this before. I'd say, though, that you are very lucky to get run through as a permanent ability. It really is a powerful ability that can destroy most foes.

Seeker's Fang is a great weapon for any melee cipher, as you noted. Keeper of the Flame is also good for ciphers, especially if you max religion, since the flame AOEs it procs build focus, and the its will debuffing aura is great for landing cipher powers like Borrowed Instinct and Secret Horrors.

You can get Fair Favor by mid game very easily. Just make sure in the dialogues that you make the choices that build favor with him. He is one of the easiest companions to get to a high favorability level quickly. You can complete his quest just by doing Deadlight shortly after getting your boat, then going to Neketaka, and then going to Sayuka.

Thought so, but you never know with this game....

Just out of curiosity, if you wield Dire Talon, does any crit proc the 20% wurm summon chance, or only crits with Dire Talon itself. If the former was the case it would be pretty crazy in the hands of a corpse eater/skald or corpse eater/druid.

I used the enchantments that @Not So Clever Hound recommended. Maybe it is just a weird bug. I've switched out the weapon and shield; it works with any weapon. It goes away if I un-equip the shield, but returns if I equip it again . After several additional fights it hasn't changed, just a constant damage bonus of 1400%. It's not very impactful as I've set the AI to mainly just cast spells and Brand Enemy.

Yes. Strangely, the Gullet is one of the places where you have a chance at getting the top tier gems. Maybe it's all the smugglers there.....

Yes, I'm using a number of mods. CP, the no rest mod, and a few others (the one the raises level caps for example). Not sure if any might be effecting the shield here.

Yes. In the battle in question the character was at full health, and never went below 50% in that particular battle. It seems that the accuracy bonus was working as intended, as there was no Blood Rage accuracy bonus, as expected when at full health. I'll experiment with removing the weapon and will try to see when and why the damage bonus increases. Will report back when I learn more.

I never did either, until I realized it could solve the resource shortage problem. It's somewhat tedious to do this, and makes the game more grindy, but it's indispensable when you're playing with a full party. It's completely unnecessary for solo runs, however. As for the sleight of hand skill, you only need a few levels. What you do need is max stealth, so you can get close to victims without being seen.