Silvaren

Cool idea about that monk-wizard! Put on Stag Helm and use Binding Web + Ryngrim's Repulsive VIsage and he could go into the fray. That's why both PoE games are awesome. There are so many posibilities. I have updated first post. Btw. Your Cauterizer's trick about killing summoned skeletons for triggering Blood Thirst works with paladin's Inspiring Triumph

Chanters! I knew I had forgotten something! I will test invocations tomorrow. I will check Wrath of the Five Suns too but I wouldn't be surprised if it won't benefit from Penetrating Shot. Eg. Minoletta's Precisely Piercing Burst has inherent 10 DR Bypass and don't gain addiiotnal 5 from DR bypassing talents. I will check Grimoire Slam too - anyone use that? I remember first gameplay demo of PoE at Gamescom (iirc). It was set in Cliaban Rilag and Josh showed Grimoire Slam for the first time and I thinked - wow, that's pretty cool move! Now? Meh. My knowledge is rusty too. I didn't play Pillars last year. I have only 800h in both games combined. I'm digging up old posts from the forum and compile something like ultimate guide with all that hidden secrets and things which the game doesn't explain. I'm half way through (and I would like to make separated guide for each class). Meanwhile I will catch up on Deadfire and compile second guide.

It's sad irony that Josh Sawyer repeats during nearly every panel (at GDC, Digital Dragons etc.) that as a game director or designer he has to make a game which players want. A game that players will like and play - not the game what he would exactly like to make or play - unless he buy 2 milions copies of that game. He said that so many times! He laughed of it. Whenever someone ask him eg. why he made Sawyer's balancing mod for New Vegas and not incorporated it into base game as deffault. He said it changes what he thinks could work better but not for broader audience. So he shaped Deadfire mostly upon feedback from PoE 1 players. With some exceptions ofcourse - like Obsidian managment forcing full VO very late during development process. The only one thing he made of his own vision was took the action to exotic part of the world. Deadfire setting is less familiar (but many players I know didn't even see a difference about PoE 1 beeing more renaissance world than medieval ). What I observed while reading polish forums - people in my country didn't like Deadfire from one of two reasons. 1. "Pirate" setting (I would say it's more about explore and colonisation than pirate stuff). Seriously, even die hard fans of first PoE (like professional journalist/reviewers) were displeased by tone and atmosphere of exotic world. 2. "Divinity: Original Sin II is better than Pillars!" - It's the second argument. I finished first game and I was borred to death. I started D:OS 2 two times and both times I abandoned at the end of Act II. Maybe some day I will force myself to start over for the third time and finish it, but I doubt it. These games has very simple ruleset and repetitive combat. But Divinity OS 2 sold 5 millions copies? Maybe it's me who just don't enjoy it, maybe it's good game. Imo it's great pseudo-hardcore cRPG for casuals with full 3D graphics, console release and coop - so it's popular & awesome & fun for people who probably never played something more complex than AAA RPG. You know - like "Witcher 3 is the best RPG ever made", repeated by people who never play RPG (or only most popular AAA RPG). So many people are saying about new standards set by Witcher 3. When I think about standards in RPG, I think of Fallout in 1997. But maybe it's just me. What I mean exactly - PoE II Deadfire is niche game. I would say that Pathfinder: Kingmaker is more popular thanks to the p&p RPG build upon displeased fans of D&D 3.5 when 4th Edition hit the stores. It's very popular RPG, so it's computer adaptation - basically the first one - is huge for many fans and players arround the world. Both D:OS 2 and Kingmaker are less niche games than Pillars. I observed even third reason - but it was on polish forums back in 2015 when first Pillars came out. Many players didn't like first game as much as Baldur's Gate II. Most of them didn't play BG II since 2000. Rest of them are members of the church of the one true game and its name is BG II and nothing can be better even if it's better in some way. They just don't want anything new. It is the same situation with Heroes of Might & Magic. People who started with the third game in the series and never played first or the second or any of the newer instalment will despise anything what isn't HoMM III. Even if some gameplay changes in IV, V, VI and VII are for the better. Even if HoMM III used blurred sprites from M&M VII (or was it MM VIII?) and has nothing similar with artstyle of first two HoMM games. /sorry for bad english EDIT: So PoE was designed for fans of the Infinity Engine Games and most of them don't want anything new. Afaik there is big group of people on RPG Codex (I don't visit that place) and few different forums I actually read who just don't like RTwP because it's SH!T! They use phrases like: "Good RPG, RTwP - pick one". They took hate for RTwP to another level.

I did some test to verify old data because I'm writing guide for Pillars of Eternity (but it's in my native language). I will share results of optional means for increasing spells damage (via DR bypass talents): PENETRATING SHOT Chanter: Seven Nights She Waited While the White Winds Wept (3), So Singt thy Biting Winds o' Eld Nary (4) Cipher: Mind Blades (2), Mind Lance (4) Druid: Stag's Horn (3), Overwhelming Wave (4), Firebug (5), Avenging Storm (8), Tornado (8) Priest: none Wizard: Minoletta’s Minor Missiles (1), Thrust of Tattered Veils (1), Necrotic Lance (2), Rolling Flame (2), Crackling Bolt (3), Minoletta's Bounding Missiles (3), Minoletta's Concussive Missiles (4), Chain Lightning (6), Tayn's Chaotic Orb (7), Kalakoth's Freezing Rake (8), Minoletta's Piercing Sigil (8) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Pallegina: Wrath of the Five Suns Talents: Prestidigitator's Missiles VULNERABLE ATTACK Cipher: Amplified Thrust (2) Druid: Sunlance (5) Priest: Barbs of Condemnation (1), Divine Mark (2), Pillar of Faith (3) Wizard: Jolting Touch (1), Kalakoth's Sunless Grasp (1), Flame Shield (4), Concelhaut's Crushing Doom (7) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Abilities: Grimoire Slam

And then undead Raedric can kill you and get back both swords

I've seen this topic some time ago and it looks like Penetrating Shot affects some cipher's powers and wizard's spells. I will test if this is still valid. Probably only a part of it. If Crackling Bolt is affected by Penetrating Shot it's shame that Iconic Projection isn't. I guess it's because fixed damage vs 25% DR.

I did some tests of all priest's spells with Penetrating Shot and Vulnerable Attack. Barbs of Condemnation, Divine Mark, Pillar of Faith benefit from Vulnerable Attack. These spells are good as debuffs so I would skip Vulnerable Attack and use different source of damage like Shining Beacon.

You mean Iconic Projection? Its damage has to overcome only 1/4 of DR (all spells which deal fixed number of damage do that) so it's pretty good option. Shining Beacon is DoT effect - those don't work with Scion of Flame, Secrets of Rime etc and don't gain bonuses from slayer talents too. Shining Beacon is great damage spell though. It's stacking with itself, so you can cast it several times in a row. Cleansing Flame will twice the damage from DoT effects. Enemies will melt quickly. Cleansing Flame has to overcome only 1/4 DR too, thanks to fixed damage. Best option to scale spell damage: incrase your Might. Penetrating Shot talent will overcome 5 DR so it is 5 more damage most of the time - it affects spells which hit only one target (can do splash damage near the target) and spells which hit in the line (eg. Crackling Bolt, so I guess Iconic Projection qualify too). Best part of Penetrating Shot is that recovery malus doesn't affect your recovery while casting spells, only base weapon strikes. You can use Vulnerable attack for spells like Divine Mark in the same way - it will decrease enemy's DR too for such spell. I've read that Glanfathan Stalking Boots and similar items increase spell damage too, but I didn't checked it. You have to flank the target by 2 party members or cast cipher power - Phantom Foes to activate damage bonus.

I often wait until my priest will cast all buffs and while waiting for oponents and setting up ground (placing Chilling Fog) some characters can use arquebuses for initial salvo. It depends mostly on the distance. Sometimes is better to use selfbuffs, figurine and summon some help or use any different items like potion, scroll or spell granted by equipment.

On lower levels accuracy can be your biggest problem. Inspiring Radiance talent will allow your priest buff acc in every fight. Blessing spells and later Devotion of the Faithful will stack with Inspiring Radiance. You also gain +3 acc per level and additional +1 acc per level while using abilities or spells. Rogue has many active abilities working as full attack, so most of the time dual wielding is the best option unless you know how to reduce recovery to 0 or you prefer to use basic attacks with some passive bonuses.

Dirty fighting has 10% chance to convert hit into crit. If you use only Azureith's Stileto without any offhand weapon or shield you should get +12 ACC (better crit chance) and with One-Handed Weapon talent another hit to crit convertion. Jolting Touch should be triggered pretty easily but only once per encounter.

There are different types of DOTs in different way afected by Int for eg. but in case of Wounding Shot and Runner's Wounding Shot - these stack. They are better with high damage range weapons. Details about DOT:

One important thing about lashes is that they are not affected by minimal damage mechanic, so damage from a lash can be eaten completly by high DR. Normally if your damage is affected by high DR you will deal at least 20% of your damage score, so if you deal 30 damage but enemy has 28 DR then you will deal 20% of 30 so 6 damage (instead of 2 damage) - it has minimal damage afix in combat log. Lashes don't work that way. They can be reducted to 0 damage by that 1/4 DR they have to overcome separately.

Damage formula is: Base Damage * (1 + coefficient 1 + coefficient 2 + ...) You add 0,5 from critical hit and substract -0,5 when you graze. Damage displayed by tooltip are already affected by weapon enchantment (superb) and bonus from your Might. Iirc Arbalest has base damage range 22-32. So you have a number from range 22-32 multiplied by: (1 + 0,45 from superb + your % from Might Bonus + 0,5 from critical hit - 0,3 Crit Damage from Arbalest multiplier) Final value is lowered by DR. Lash damage are multiplicative and calculated from final value before aplying DR and lash damage must overcome 1/4 DR. Eg. +25% fire damage is your damage result (before DR) * 0,25 and then apply 1/4 of Fire DR. It's possibly huge damage boost so lashes are important enchantments. I don't remember if Slayer Enchant/Talent is additive or multiplicative +25% but I would guess it's additive with the rest of the bonuses. Correct me if I'm wrong.

I'm huge games artbook fan, especially if the game has unique or interesting aesthetics (like Dishonored, Bioshock Infinite and more). I think that the Outer Worlds has very appealing graphical design. It would be cool to get another book published eg. by Dark Horse in the form of very insightful artbook with tons of concept arts, showing how different gear, branded goods, areas, ships and other stuff with important characters developed to the final design. I like details from the graphical standpoint with some interesting bits of knowledge about inspirations. It's great if these type of books shows evolving concept arts and brings commentary from devvelopers. I own both Pillars of Eternity Guidebooks, so I know that you did similar books (or rather any kind of books) before. I hope you can make another deal with Dark Horse or different publisher.

I didnn't even know about this bug. I had solo PotD run with fire godlike monk but I invest mostly in survival skilland didn't bother with Second Wind. I guess it saved my skin

@Boeroer Was it retaliation barb? Congratulations @thelee !

I'm playing this build right now. I called my barb Guy Monntag. I guess it fits because he was burning books (absolutely barbaric!) and originally barbarians were people who didn't speak greek (uneducated - maybe it's oversimplified) but I think fire theme is funny in that context.

I know basics but I wasn't sure about DOT weapons and focus generation but thanks anyway. Is psychic baklash still working against dragons?

I don't have much experience playing ciphers. I would like to roll a cipher for my next run. Any interesting synergies with items or abilities? I know Firebrand is pretty good for this class but maybe something else could be fun?

It took me 38h to complete the game for the first time. I did every quest and I did everything I could to avoid the fights. I explored Monarch before doing any quest there so most of the places on that moon I visited at least twice so there is my unnecessary time sink. Anyway this game is designed for multiple playthroughs thanks to reactivity, companions and gameplay choices so anyone who whines about Outer Worlds being too short - make another, different run. You know, it's like Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines or Fallout. First Fallout is about 13-18h length. I watched Tim Cain's postmortem on Fallout during GDC 2012. He said that slideshow at the end of the game was reason for many players to start the game over and over again to see different outcome of their choices. Because you know - it's computer (or console) RPG, so it's not like you play once and it's done. Maybe I'm partialy insane becasue there are games which I finished 20-30 times and I stil enjoy playing them. So judging the game about its length - stupid idea. There are open worlds RPG with less content than Outer Worlds because some designers thought that copy-paste question marks fillers are good. No, it's waste of player's time. It's good to see that Obsidian's dev team still know how to make interesting content. I hope that Leonard & Tim will stay with hub-areas design for sequel as he said during the interview with Eurogamer. Anyway - the Outer Worlds is very good game. I didn't enjoy it as much as other Obsidian's title (mostly because of the combat, which is fun, but some areas could work better with less combat). I took XBOX Game Pass for PC for 1$. I could start second playthrough right now, but I don't want to spoil the fun. I will probably wait until the game launch on Steam and I need to buy better GPU because my gtx 1060 isn't enough to enjoy stylized visuals of this game with stable performance. When it hit the Steam - it's instant buy for me. I hope that DLC (if there will be any DLC) won't be time-exclusive.

I would buy an artbook for my collection to see how concept arts from Outer Worlds evolved into final design of characters, areas, items and other stuff.

So it's working like that in turn based? I tried build such character in 2018 but Terrify didn't trigger disengagement attacks (at least in RTwP).

Can Wael challenge hide number of stacks?

I enjoy it more than todays AAA RPG. It plays like timeless classic but I like D&D in any form and I like Forgotten Realms. Very faithful adaptation of AD&D first edition. Audio is almost absent and graphics are prehistoric but there is nice amounth of digitalized pictures from Monster Manual. Story is decent, combat is fun and sometimes challenging. Interface require some time to get used to but after 2 hours it becomes intuitive to the point that you can use it with closed eyes. Narration is interesting (paragraphs in printed journal which inspired developers of System Shock to create audiologs). Every area in the game is in some way unique, adds something new. Boss fights are great. There are huge battles with dozens of enemies. It was probably the first cRPG with battles on that scale, where every monster or NPC was graphically represented on the battlefield - and even battlefields are representation of corridors and rooms from exploration map. Large and bigger monster take more space on the battlefield - so there is atention to detalis and rules. You can parley with monsters, intimidate them, make them flee. Finding treassures is exciting - all those chests grant experience for entire party. There are even scripted interactive events. I was chasing thieves, they split and one of them lure me right into the ambush. Really cool stuff. Pool of Radiance is one of Josh's Sawyer favourite game of all time. I can see why. It's funny that turn based combat from Deadfire reminds me more of Pool of Radiance than Temple of Elemental Evil. Casting time is very similar. Some spells are instant, some can be cast, but the end of casting comes after round of other characters. Anyway, great game. I'll complete entire gold box series in the future for sure.