Soaren

They have not. But reloading the way you do wouldn't change a thing, your only out would be to shift your prestige before the adventure turn hits. For more context: https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/85392-caed-nua-adventures-how-what-level-when/?do=findComment&comment=1832708

No one quite knows how exactly all things over at the Stronghold work, but based on what we know thanks to some inquisitive folks it's safe to say that reloading right before you can trigger an adventure doesn't affect much on its own. The rolls are generally done some time in advance, and the only thing you could change at this point is to try to temporarily lower your prestige further (but a few points less may not do anything if your die rolls were sufficiently high, anyway; I don't think prestige can go to negative values either). Here is the link to the thread/post that deals with this aspect in more detail: https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/85392-caed-nua-adventures-how-what-level-when/?do=findComment&comment=1832708.

Something like this would require something very cheesy with little micro involved, and unfortunately (for some of us, at least) PoE is indeed full of potential cheese. Your third idea seems to be the closest to that. https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/93570-help-i-created-a-monster-6-chanters-vs-potd/ for one example.

Personal preferences come into play a lot. Given your appreciation for BG and PoE in the cRPG row (and not knowing what else you might've tried), it seems that party-based isometric titles with a fair focus on the story and controlled strategic combat hold more than enough appeal. I'll assume you are familiar with some of the successors of Baldur's, older or newer. The aforementioned Dragon Age also falls into this category (the first one is the most 'pure' in its essence, so to say). Elder Scrolls games (i.e. your Morrowinds, Oblivions, Skyrims) are just vastly different. A type of sandbox experience that will offer you a large open world and options to explore at will, but at the same time can be very unfocused. Bethesda isn't exactly valued for providing large amounts of memorable plots and great characters/dialogues, to put it mildly. The Witcher series, on the other hand, has a well-defined protagonist with his own history (but you still get to shape your choices as you go). Only the third one offers an open world experience, although it's not nearly as aimless as Skyrim's. If you wanted to look into it and value a well-told, mature tale, I'd fully recommend starting with the first one. This way you'll get much more out of the following two, as characters and the world will make even more sense. Both TES and Witcher are more actione-y in terms of dynamic combat. No party experience per se, though at least in the Witcher you've got some recurring friends. Or you could look into the direction of the sky, if you have somehow never stumbled onto Mass Effect series. And last but not least, the wonderfully underappreciated Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines. It was made by spiritual brothers and sisters of Obsidian folks (both studios having a fondness for making worthy titles, while also committing grand many atrocious bugs upon their creations).

Sure, you could count me in. That's one of my main areas of interest for any role-playing title. Incidentally, I've been taking various relevant notes on my current playthrough with something similar in mind, but it's still going to take me weeks - if not months - to properly finish it anyway. It would be nice to have a handful of people sharing their findings. I've also done my forum/web research back in the day, and while there are some useful pieces of info here and there, it's all very loosely scattered. It's also worth mentioning that a good chunk of "special" dialogue in Pillars (as it pertains to attributes, races, classes, backgrounds) isn't particularly hidden or easily missable, purely because we have this wonderful ability of enabling dialogue qualifiers through the options - something almost no other cRPGs of this kind offer. What isn't readily shown, however, are triggers that appear only during NPCs portions of conversation, or reactions related to various disposition levels. Doing certain quests in a certain way can also result in missed opportunities. And finally, companion interjections/interactions are sometimes mutually exclusive with one another, aside from not being too apparent. P.S. It should be noted you picked the wrong subforum for this type of thread, as the Stories section would be much more fitting (it also sees less traffic on average, so your post wouldn't drop off the first page as quickly). Might be worth pinging a moderator to have it moved.

In that case you should be fine, experience in navigating squishier characters certainly helps. Ciphers are similar to Rogues in their low Endurance/Health scores, but can be made more defensive with a nice early way to boost one's deflection. Not that you'll want to take hits on your ranged regardless. Mhm, Ciphers can get quite a few stacking damage modifiers, that's why even the ones running around with MIG 10 are capable of respectable damage. The stat spread looks pretty versatile, should serve you reasonably well. Yup, exactly. Aloth and Kana are identical in that manner, it's just that one is going to have far more active spells to cast. With certain scrolls given to Kana, he can alleviate your lack of a priest for more problematic encounters. Brisk Recitation is not something you can avoid picking, actually. It's an automatic class ability that you earn at lvl 4 and which improves every few levels. And sure, ranged works alright for Kana (you'll want to take some care with your positioning if your buffs are to hit both melee and distant characters); there is no harm in giving him a weapon and a shield in a separate slot anyway, if occassions arise where he needs to get more tanky. You should try the route you mention and see how you like it; it could prove to be more interesting/entertainting than the cheesier one-note path of chanting one certain offensive phrase ad infinitum.

I see. It's true, that comp would have some clearly defined strengths/weaknesses, and a certain set of limitations. Newer games like PoE can certainly spoil a person. I never missed AoE highlighting in old Infinity Engine games, since it wasn't much of a concept. But now it's hard to give up on. But yes, it's down to whatever suits your preferences with Expert Mode. I wouldn't worry about that much, because there are bound to be powerful multiclass options for just about anything. Especially something as versatile as Cipher. It's great fun to play. And should the worst case scenario happen, I understand you can still decide for your imported character to start as a different class. It works, if you are good at avoiding damage and shoring up your defenses. But any occasional ranged attacks/spells or anything that can't be fully avoided may spell dire consequences for your character. Thus 5-6 CON is slightly safer. RES of 11-13 works alright for dialogue checks, as long as you rely on your stronghold/item/Salty Mast boosters (then again with Expert Mode you won't be able to see the requirements anyway, unless your memory or notes serve you well). High MIG lends itself more towards damage dealing, but do mind it's not as crucial for a Cipher due to their innate % bonuses to damage through Whip talents. Personally I value having decent DEX for spellcasting and reasonable PER because accuracy is king on PotD, but I'm never obsessed with big numbers or rely on pure damage powers. So it's down to preferences again. More INT is always great, but as usual having anything this high will require some compromises elsewhere. You can end up with a combination of CC/Damage powers, but early on focusing on control has huge benefits. You'll be hard pressed to find any Cipher builds that don't mention Whispers of Treason, Eyestrike, or Mental Binding. Surely. Hiravias' areas of expertise will be slightly different by default, as nothing can really compete with a priest in terms of defensive support. With Kana you'll probably want to focus on Endurance regenaration early on (Ancient Memory + Beloved Spirits), and then decide which path to pursue(ranged/melee, offensive/defensive chanting, etc.). There is no shortage of ideas around these parts for just about anything (for example with freshly bumped chanter-specific threads on the first page of this subforum). 3 Melee + 3 Ranged is sort of a standard spread, so it obviously works fine. But so does 2/4 and 4/2, except for the fact that melee characters suffer much more than ranged when/if you are fighting in tight passages and they can't all get in on the action (or if they can't afford to be focused by multiple enemies, or stand too close to one another due to incoming aoe attacks). It's good if your characters can be somewhat versatile if an opportunity calls for it. I like Aloth as my mechanic, as you can focus mainly on that and Survival. Kana works too, but chanters tend to be a lot more passive than wizards or druids, and as such are a good target for increased Lore and thus scroll usage.

Are you certain about this decision to play with Expert Mode on, especially if it's your first foray into PotD and Hard has already proven to offer some challenges on its own? I suppose a lot depends on how much you've learned during your playthroughs, as that tends to make all the difference. I also suppose you can always disable EM if it proves to be too restricting for you, however you won't be able to enable it again for that particular run. Or you can simply enable/disable extra options in the menu as you see fit, as that's pretty much all the mode does: turns off all of them as a full package. Disclaimer: I am thoroughly biased here, since I consider Expert Mode more of an artificial difficulty rather than actual challenge. One that only adds to general tedium and annoyance and wastes your time by removing quality of life improvements. Like playing with a blindfold on. But that can be strangely compelling to some. I can talk about a Human Cipher focused on maximizing access to all potential dialogue options (well, perhaps 99,9% of them; Glanfathan Leader in the prologue gets a pass). There will be some variation in base stats based on whether you intend to pursue melee or ranged path, crowd control or raw damage dealing, and how exactly do you like to play: for example, you can get by with much lower Resolve (although this applies to all dialogue-related stats, this one gets sacrificed the most for combat efficiency) if you go take your stronghold - and consequently get access to Defiance Bay - before completing any/some of the quests in Gilded Vale and surrounding areas. Once at that point it becomes considerably easier to meet all desired checks, provided enough copper and no severely dumped applicable stat. Added bonus: a few more stronghold turns. Durance and Kana are fine picks if you end up going with MC Cipher, and want to have a relatively easier time on PotD. Although if you can't stand either or prefer to have Hiravias or GM along with you, they can more than carry their weight. White March additions can be trickier since they lend themselves towards some melee routes, just like Eder and Pallegina usually. Less casters would call for different strategies (fully doable of course, but likely harder). If you go with a different class, pick based on your preferences and/or weaknesses of your current party. You can always use more characters than 5 and slot them in for fights where a particular class might help you greatly, as long as you hold onto some gear for them. Re: Itumaak: that's an unfortunate (and likely rare) bug, something PoE is unfortunately very well known for. If you like having Sagani around, chances are it's not going to be a common occurrence. I haven't looked much into PoE 2, but which NPCs may or may not reappear seems to be anybody's guess and something dependent on developers' whims. The rule of thumb generally tends to be: if it's not a companion and can be killed, it's unlikely to have a grand defining role in the continuation. But they coud always have some minor side content. Unless Deadfire decides to break the mold and pull one over on people who enjoy leaving many a dead body in their wake. You can err on the side of caution, follow your usual preferences, go with whatever your character would be most likely to do if you adhere to roleplaying principles, or grab your precious loots without a care in the world. Never too late to pledge if it can help with the ongoing game development and one is interested in pursuing certain perks. I still hope to be able to do it myself later in the year. There should be no issues whatsoever when using PayPal or similar forms of payment, as the currency conversion is being done automatically (and you should be informed of the final value and current rates before having to finalize anything).

Interesting. Albeit not too surprising, as this would only be an nth example of a case where tooltips/descriptions are either incorrect, missing in parts, or omit some important information. It's a shame Obsidian couldn't be bothered to be more dilligent about it. I don't suppose there would be a simple way of correcting these strings for the game to properly recognize them?

You are also playing on a Mac, right? Perhaps it's implied, but best not to assume too much. What problems are you running into, exactly? I.e. not being able to locate the correct savegame files, transferred savegame files not showing up in your game, not knowing where to put them folders-wise, something else? Even if it ends up working, be warned that it might result in potential unexpected/unpredictable bugs and corrupted saves down the line. It's been quite a few patches since (not just minor ones), and at least from my experience PoE isn't too great at handling files from older versions of the game. But I could be wrong too, don't think there's been many accounts of this particular situation being tested.

There is no arguing with the power of a priest in a full party, but nothing is a must-have and absolutely necessary to progress in this game (at least not when you are not trying to meet the mark for solo runs or other peculiar requirements on the highest difficulty). If you are truly struggling with some encounters in certain areas, then it's a fair sign that you might have a lot of potential improvements to be gained through polishing your choices of equipment, talents, abilities, and perhaps the most importantly: picking correct strategies against whatever you are facing. There might also be more easy experience points for you to find through missed quests/places on the map/enemies not yet fully marked in the cyclopedia, if stumbling onto Durance only now is anything to go by. Which can help on its own. So while you should be able to find ways to move forward even without Durance, you might still find it worthwhile to test his usefulness and see if that results in an easier time. Could be instead of Aloth (since you already have one other wizard) or Sagani if you like your casters so much. Eder is another option down the line, depending on the amount of melee/semi-tanky characters you keep. Kana less so if you are after raw party power, as the conventional forums wisdom holds chanters as very powerful (if not borderline overpowered) at the levels you are playing at. You will want to keep GM for similar reasons i.e. the potency of a cipher.

In this game ranged builds are indeed extremely viable (even more so for classes like Rogue, which remain squishy for quite a while), sometimes perhaps a tad too viable for all the distinct advantages keeping at a distance confers. Often it can make your life easier (especially on higher difficulties), if careful micro-managment is not your thing as you say. I see you've already come across a ranged idea by one of the master builders of these forums. As for the general party composition: two fighters can feel a little boring, even more so if you opt to make them both somewhat tanky. While it should work just fine for low micro expectations, it may not be as fun (or even nearly as strong) as it would be with slotting in one of the remaining classes instead.

Unfortunately, you missed out on the latest applicable Steam sales during the summer (I know it was 75% off Paradox Interactive's titles, i.e. the publisher behind Pillars, almost two months ago). It will definitely happen again, the question is just when. Of course this isn't the only platform worth checking, as between GoG/Kinguin/G2A and a plethora of other sellers game deals occur fairly often. You can keep an eye out for regular quick overviews like this: https://www.reddit.com/r/GameDeals/hot/, or anything composing similar lists. I know the situation all too well, been there myself last year - impatiently awaiting some kind of PoE sale a few months down the line in the wake of the second expansion. And then it's easy to forget about it for a little while and only later find out you just missed out on a decent offer. As it stands, I guess the publisher just doesn't feel the need to significantly lower the original base price of the game and its expansions, despite the time that has passed. Which is a shame, especially if the dollar/euro conversion doesn't happen to be favorable for one. Maybe once PoE II rolls around (but I'd expect at least a few deals to come about in the coming months, anyway).

I wanted to give this a 'thumbs up' (so I guess I'm doing it in a roundabout way), minus that one or two politically/socially charged all-too-general statement. Because eh, simple black and white judgments never work too well mixed in like that; regardless of one's actual gripes or experiences.

Hmm, it doesn't seem like it (at least not through perfectly legal means, that is). It's rather weird that Prima wouldn't offer a digital copy (as that hardcover sure is pricey...) as a separate purchase on their site, since they tend to do that with many others - maybe there is some exclusive deal going on with the Royal Edition package. Have you obtained a Steam version of the game? There might be an option to simply update to Royal Edition by paying a little extra. I know the platform allowed this with several different titles, though I am unable to check how it works with Pillars due to not owning it there. Otherwise, you are probably out of luck. However, you do mention looking for strategy more so than the lore background (which I would argue is the biggest value of that book nowadays). It's worth noting that the original guide is now outdated in some places, as many things have been changed over the course of numerous patches. It still works as a general walkthrough and as a reference item, although it doesn't cover the expansion content. If you are just looking for resources to help you along the way, then you might want to take a peek at GameBanshee and gamepressure guides (free, easily accessible) for quests and general info. Besides that, you can pick up some valuable insights on either Steam, Reddit, or especially these forums - more so once you know what you are exactly looking for, or when having any particular doubts.