Ben No.3

Now, I came up with a simple concept for the hybrid paladin, so I'll post it anyway... It's not a full build, rather a first-levels recommendation and a simple draft... I never tested it. Should work anyway. It is also a good first build since it works rather simple and requires little micro. The cheetah (we will cheat around DR, also we play an yellow Orlan to fit the name ) Heart Orlan M 14 (15 base -1 Orlan) C 8 D 8 P 19 (17 base +2 Orlan) I 14 R 14 (13 base +1 Orlan) With your culture you can add one more point anywhere... Perhaps mig or perception Whatever Order you like, Kind Wayfarer might fit since the used weapons are rather cheap and low-quality (lore-wise, use obviously the best you can get) and the wayfarers ate described as a loose order lacking in structure and money. No min-maxing since this is your first char. Heart Orlan to get more crits. This is an accuracy build. We will use a blunderbuss and dual stilletos (for guns and duals speed penalties are rather minor, so this enables you to wear any armour you want. Hand and key is yellow though, so let's take that . It also has kind-wayfarer lore and a nice bonus... You can find it rather early). The thing about stilletos and blunderbuss are: They both can benefit greatly from DR-Bypass because their base damage is low, so they loose very little. Beware: You are more of a DD than a tank. Some Res over more Int so you have some more front-line capabilities. If you behave accordingly to your order you will also get defense-bonuses. This all makes you a sturdy DD. However, I won't stop you from putting Res into Int, you will simply loose some defensive capabilities. Also, mental stats are all upped in this build. So, let's see: Lvl 1: Lay on hands/Flame of devotion It really does not matter... Our goal is to go for DR bypass, so more damage is only helpful for low-DR enemies at this early stage anyway. It's still a lot of fun. The Heal is very powerful though, I would recommend it. Lvl 2: WF: Ruffian As I said, Stilletos and blunderbuss Lvl 3: Zealous Focus: We are a DD, so more accuracy gives us the most. As mentioned before, duals and guns don't care about speed as much. More DR doesn't help a DD an awful lot Lvl 4: Penetrating Shot, or Vurnable attack: we can soon get a blunderbuss (if you focus on the story), so let's prepare for that. See, the blunderbuss shoots six (?) low damage bullets, so the DR bypass gives us a lot since it applies to every single bullet. If you don't plan to focus on the story as much, take vulnerable attack: more DR bypass for our trusty stilletos is always good. The fact that they trade speed for DR bypass is also really nice for us. Lvl 5: sworn enemy: The "better flames of devotion", it also adds to accuracy which we always love. Lvl 6: Vournable Attck, or penetrating shot: whichever you didn't choose before So that is a nice starter pack. After that you should have some experience with the game, so you can choose talents which you consider best for your playstyle. Keep always some sabres in case you encounter pierce immunit, perhaps also a sabre and a shield if you need to tank for a certain fight (although that isn't our main concern). Also an early game miniboss drops a really nice yellow stilleto . So yeah... That's it Edit: now that I think about it, definitely choose penetrating shot after Vurnable attack. Orlan is also more of an recommendation, any race will do...

About the hybrid character though... Well, the wizard can summon some quite powerful melee weapons, one of them from lvl 1, and he has some quite potent self buffs. Also he can become very powerful when ranged due to special abilities with wands/scepters/rods as well as an spell called kalakthos (?) minor blights and one which lets you summon a powerful bow (very late). If you want to focus more on physical damage, perhaps a rouge? Weapon focus ruffian seems to be a strong choice... It gives you access to both blunderbuss and sabres which are quite good for a rouge... Backstabbing blunderbuss continue to dual sabre The ruffian group is also a good choice for ciphers. However, all of these characters tend to be quite squishy. Perhaps a ranger? Due to the animal companion it is an melee/ranged hybrid anyway, and at least some companions can tank (thinking of bear and antelope). If you want you can even build a melee ranger. But again, without the companion the ranger himself is quite squishy

Are you referring to a paladin or a monk? Because I don't see how taking no damage should hurt a paladin (also I don't see how you are taking no damage, it's more about taking and them regenerating, which makes the race such a strong choice for a monk)

Also @ Boeroer: for the same reason I'm gonna ask you: did you actually use the guy in your portrait as a character? If so, what was his class, background?

@slack83er do you mind posting your character's gender, race and background? It's just that I find characterlore quite interesting.... Does he worship skaen though?

Why, why fighter? No, I love my tank to death, but I wouldn't take a fighter as a main... They are practically predetermined to become tanks, and even when you build a DD fighter it is simply a pretty boring class... don't get me wrong, they are very very potent and every party can benefit greatly from having one, but in comparison also have a pretty passive playstyle. And since you use a party, it won't help with the learning curve past guilded vale, since you then start to pick up new companions with new classes whom you need to understand. Also, the fighter companion is a really nice guy to have around, and you get him very early. And trust me, ain't no spider strong enough.... To stop our wonderful monk in the first dungeon , especially not on the low difficulties

I say go skaen monk . Monks behave somewhat weird, you'll need some time to get used to getting hurt without getting damaged... It's an class all about balance. And if you build a moon godlike monk it will forgive mistakes. Choose your role: a 18 18 18 10 7 6 for damage (for monks I value speed higher, there are enough ways to increase accuracy) (high con+that wheel ability with the 5% per wound is a wonderful choice), 18 18 10 7 6 18 for somewhat tankiness. Swap mig and int for cc-tank with true tanking abilities (also put some con and if you are willing even some mig into per then, in which case also the mental stats are good), ending up with 3 15 16 18 18. For RP, in my opinion the strongest choices would be a skaen monk coming from clergy or slavery due to skaen being the God of slaves and the monk's pain to power thing, or wael monk coming from clergy due to the fact that wael's rituals seem to be very weird. For any God, you can choose philosopher or clergyman as background, and have the character "realise" the only "true" way to worship his God is trough pain (especially with Eothas: the redemption through pain idea fits). However , you might want to choose clergyman (Aedyr exclusive I believe) for having priest-like dialogue options and use the tank-monk for the mental stats.

For the actual gameplay, there are better people to talk to around here, however, I'll try to answer you in the sense of roleplay. Now, the picture of the paladin being a "war-priest" might not be just entirely correct: the paladin is simply a warrior devoted to his order and it's lifestyle. A bleak walker or a shieldbarer (to name opposites) for example have very strict rules of life, however not for religious but rather for political/social reasons. There are certain religious paladin orders in the game, however, you cannot be a member of one of these. The paladin is more of a war priest in the sense of abilities, he has supports and heals. If you are simply looking to build an warrior man of faith (which you mentioned), then why not go with the most fun melee class (which is the monk in my opinion) without a strict code and then simply connect his backstory to being a priest or religious man (cleric or mystic might be good choices). Also, you can simply behave according to the god anyway. Example: A monk worshipping skaen (seems to be the most fitting for a monk, however I can also easily see one worshipping Magran or wael) can simply behave deceptive and cruel. Also for some gods you will find temples (one even includes a ritual), and you also will have a chance or two to "listen to your god". So, basically every class can be following a certain God, no problem from an rp-perspective (except for paladin sadly). You simply won't be able to choose the priest-specific dialogues. BTW I have played only very briefly a character with the clergyman background, but in the Bears cave he had the Same Option as an priest. Also, if you feel you're priest lacks offensive potential, find some wichts and use holy radiance.

Hm, I guess I can be the first to also post something about my stats and gear M 17 - Well, I am thinking of this more as magical abilities and "might", so for this well-educated fellow it makes sense for it to be high C 6 On one hand, he is old. On the other, dump stat D 14 just to make him better at casting P 16 same as above I valued p over d for rp again... I 18 well, obviously R 6 remember him becoming very unsure? Also dump stat He is a melee wizard, so he is getting out the concealhaut staff And crushes People to death. Being lvl 8 (not 9-no per encounter-staff sadly), in less though encounters he uses an estoc, because wf: adv. (due to the minor blights). When forced into ranged combat, he uses the best wand I can get, right now the endless paths lvl 7 one. However, this is practically not needed since I got an cape with the evasion skill from the rouge... Yes, there are more efficient Capes, but on hard it's good enough. So, he is my way of dealing with enemy casters/gunners while the rest behind the tanks take care of the front line. Also, it is very satisfying to spam fan of flames from Behind... He is also wearing a breastplate, for combat but mainly for rp, I like the valian touch. Although I am thinking of respeccing into ranged, for an old unsure man melee seems a bit far fetched... But respeccing wizard cost a lot of money

Yes, I do know about the blights... However, it takes quite a while till they become per encounter, compared to the staff. My question is aimed specifically at staff vs upgraded implements

1. Does it make the rod the best implement regardless of its slower "reload"time? 2. Does the dangerous implement + (penetrating) blast make the best "normal" wizard's weapon, especially when compared to a per-encounter-parasitic staff?

The de Daccis always were one of the wealthiest familys in Ozia, one of Vialia's richest and most important cities. With Jaquomo de Dacci starting as an small merchant with a small galeone about 300 years ago, the de Daccis have since been able to increase their wealth, ultimately owning a large trading company including a small fleet of ships. However, at some point the republics began to shatter, and the increasing political instability caused Aloferus de Dacci to sell his trading company but one ship and try to bring his family into safer realms. Never having aquired any sort of geographical knowledge (the de Daccis stopped sailing themselves a long time ago), he trusted on the expertise of a guide, Felippe. Aloferus wanted to move to the living lands, as he saw great economic potential there, and so Felippe headed there. During the time on sea, the youngest of the de Daccis, Niccephoros, came to know Felippe's son Fulvano. They soon became friends, and since Felippe had also planned to stay in the living lands and to continue work for the de Daccis, they stayed friends. When they grew men, both decided to study. Fulvano quickly took interest in History and Geography, and he often spoke of wanting to write an book in which he would include every major country and it's sights. Niccephoros however joined the scientists, and he quickly began to specialise in alchemy. At some point, Fulvano actually decided to set out to his grand adventure, and he first headed for Aedyr. Niccephoros and Fulvano still wrote letters once in a while, this was however quite complicated since Fulvano traveled a lot. But all of this was minor for Niccephoros, he was working on something big. He as an alchemist, a mage and an animancer formed a group. Their goal was it to create artificial soul esence, which then should be used to enhance the power of magical abilities. Nobody believed they could do it, but they tried and tried for years to come. But they failed, and at some point, the group shattered. Niccephoros had by then aquired great knowledge in all matters arcane, alchemistic and animancistic, as well as high mechanical skills. But the years of seemingly pointless work had left their traces: He quickly grew old, and he became a very insecure person. For a year or so he didn't know what to do with his life now, that his life goal became unreachable. But then one of Fulvano's letters reached him. He told Niccephoros that he was now travelling to Dyrwood, and he also said that there was a high number of animancers living there, as well as the powerful mage Conceilhaut. He also told Niccephoros of an young wizard from Aedyr he had met (Niccephoros could not quite recall his name)who came because a local Lord offered new settlers cheap land. Niccephoros de Dacci decided to move to the Dyrwood and settle there. Perhaps he would take an job at some sort of academie, or he would work with local animancers. So he took an ship heading to Saint's Rest in Readceras. From there, he joined a caravan heading to Dyrwood...