SaruNi

You can always use the console to add exp to level. They should definitely keep that feature. Of course that turns off achievements, but if you're the type of competitive gamer who cares about showing off official achievements you're probably going to do multiple playthroughs anyway.

Unless they also remove/reduce the duration of the affliction. Sure, you have to avoid letting it get cast on the priest (or item or scroll user if they remain options) after entering combat... maybe by having a tanky character with resistances scout ahead and initiate, or by first scouting ahead and then taking out-of-combat consumables / equipping items that boost defenses. (A Rogue or Ranger or Paladin subclass which gets extra resistances to afflictions could be interesting, especially if it can be used in conjunction with party AoE to avoid friendly fire.) There are also drugs etc. that grant resistances.

The frost trap chant was one of my favorites; they shouldn't do away with chants like that just because they're not pure buffs/debuffs. (It also went well with summons---the fast-moving dragons laying traps, or the slowness of the skeletons and ogres getting mitigated by the hobbled enemies.) Seems like an unnecessary limitation. A chanter who focuses on damaging invocations isn't going to use The Dragon Thrashed anyway, and having that build flexibility already present within the class build is a virtue. Forcing us to choose between different possible directions for a class isn't necessarily a bad thing and shouldn't be limited to subclasses (which so far appear to be more idiosyncratic departures from the ordinary class possibilities, like the Ranger who sacrifices having a pet at the beginning of combat for being able to summon a presumably more powerful undead pet). It's not clear yet how per-rest Empower points will effect Vancian casting. It could be that the former Vancians can only cast very weak versions of their spells without using Empower points.

JS has said there will be fewer trash mobs and fights will last longer. So unless you have an extremely DPS oriented party you'll have more opportunities to use invocations. (For many people, invocations and Vancian casting were probably used with about the same frequency---just in difficult fights. Sure, something like Spell Mastery for Chanters might have been nice.) Bear in mind, a lot of people don't want to have to do a lot of micromanagement, especially for companion characters. So having a "passive" option isn't such a bad thing, provided the class also has a more active option. Definitely don't want chants to be limited to pure buffs/debuffs, that would be boring, and a chant-focused Chanter should still be viable and interesting. "It's all peace, joy and pancakes." Peace, joy, and blood pancakes (which are actually much better for you than "normal" refined carb-and-sugar pancakes---and less bland, and much more savory). http://www.slate.com/blogs/atlas_obscura/2017/02/08/blood_pancakes_are_exactly_what_they_sound_like_a_flapjack_made_with_blood.html

Why make the drug-using character a Monk? 1. Why let the Ghost Heart Ranger be the one with undead animal pet (rather than the more stereotypical wizard/necromancer familiar)? Sure, these are unconventional---that's what makes them fresh and interesting. And they have lore / substantive narrative to go along with them. (Incidentally, blotter, props for that user pic of lingchi---the guy dying from the death of a thousand cuts is actually an excellent example of ecstasy through flagellation/wounding in East Asian cultures. He was also given opium.) (Same holds, to a lesser extent, for the Black Jacket---it's unconventional, the matching weapons to target / switching weapons in the middle of combat could just as easily be a Rogue (or Assassin) ability, and the name implies there may be special PoE-specific lore to go along with it.) 2. The PoE Monk purposefully takes injuries (and injures himself) in order to gain power. So those who are opposed to drugs because they can be harmful (a form of self-wounding) should agree that Monk is actually the most appropriate class---even moreso than Rogue or Barbarian. (Though multiclassing Monk - evasion Rogue or Monk - leaping Barbarian will probably be great options for more of a "conventional" unarmed martial arts master type.) 3. I agree that it could be boring if the drugs, their side effects, and their combinations aren't especially interesting. Some of the drugs from PoE 1 had negative side effects (boosting one stat will diminishing another, or negative effects kicking in after the drug wears off) or potentially interesting effects on gameplay (+speed, immunity to affliction, etc.). But as Boeroer pointed out it depends on what the drugs end up being (and how much of an effect they have on this Monk).

There are also real-life examples of present-day martial arts masters who attribute some of their abilities to smoking a lot of pot: Joe Rogan (United States Tae Kwon Do national champion, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Black Belt, widely recognized as one of the best mixed martial arts commentators and the best of the UFC), renowned jiu-jitsu master Eddie Bravo, and high-ranked mixed martial arts fighters Nick and Nate Diaz. Also consider all the great martial artists who have tested positive for Performance-Enhancing Drugs in the last few years: Anderson Silva Lyoto Machida Jon Jones Vitor Belfort Royce Gracie If PEDs weren't currently banned, almost all serious high-level martial arts fighters would take them. In Eastern monastic traditions, use of intoxicants is discouraged, but use of stimulants (mostly green tea) is encouraged. The goal is to become more awake and more perceptive. There was just a huge meth bust at a Buddhist monastery in Myanmar (Burmese Buddhism has been tremendously influential, and Myanmar has a fantastic martial art called Lethwei that is like Muay Thai but with headbutts and they compete in it as a full-contact sport): https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/06/buddhist-monk-held-meth-pills-found-in-monastery-myanmar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lethwei As for drug use in canonical fantasy and the mythology/religious practice that it's based on: Tolkien - Pipeweed, lembas Robert E. Howard - Black lotus (origin of the MG:T card?) George R. R. Martin - Milk of the poppy, shade of the evening, sourleaf Steven Erikson - D'bayang, Durhang, Kaff, Khall leaf, Neth berries, Uthurl Michael Moor**** - drugs used by main/title character Elric (one of my childhood favorites) Dune (scifi as well as fantasy, but I'd count it) - the Spice Robin Hobb - drugs used by main character Prince Regal in The Farseer Trilogy Patrick Rothfuss - Sweateaters, denner resin Brian Saunderson - Firemoss R. Scott Bakker (possibly the best fantasy writer now) - Chanv, qirri Almost everybody - Alcohol Norse mythology - skáldskapar mjaðar Ancient Greco-Roman - Alcohol to achieve ecstatic trance in worship of Bacchus/Dionysus Sanskrit - Soma Also, Deadfire Archipelago is supposed to be more multicultural, and there are plenty of examples from around the world---Mayan warriors chewing coco leaves, shamanistic practitioners eating or smoking plants, etc. But as a fan of the classic backstab stealth rogue archetype, I can empathize---PoE 1 really lacked a good Assassin class, and I missed it. So while the Assassin subclass isn't as unique or creative as the others I'm happy it will be in the game. Maybe they'll make one of the subclasses interesting/unusual and the other more like the stereotypical fantasy class, for classes where that's lacking, like a Chanter who's more like a Bard and a Monk who's more martial arts focused (... she prones her opponents by taking them down and breaking their arms... if they have arms).

Summoned monsters didn't remove fog of war in IE games so I don't think they could really be used for scouting. Quite so, "scouting" is perhaps an exaggeration. But the monsters could go in first and take the arrows for your party. If you party is already engaged with the enemy by the time the summoned monsters appear, then they're not very good arrow fodder. Also, summoning in advance allows spellcasters to solo (to a degree) since the summons can be their shield. 1. Send goblin summons in. 2. Enemy gather around goblins. 3. Hurl fireball 4. Repeat Ha! Good fun! But I guess I'm fighting a lost cause. If they're making all abilities "per encounter", that means that the abilities can only be used *in* the encounter. In PoE 1 you could have one character with boots of speed and good ranged / spell defenses or immunities initiate combat at a significant distance away from the rest of your party and time it so that when the enemies arrive your summons will be cast in their path. That's how I managed a lot of Concelhaut despite being at a much lower level than I should have been. Since they're making all abilities at least per-encounter, they're probably going to make items like the figurines per-encounter too, right? (Maybe they take up Empower points or have a limited number of charges.) So a Summoner could take a talent that gives bonuses for figurines (maybe they take less Empower points or get additional charges) that would allow her to summon even before getting enough invocations. And some wearable items, weapons, or scrolls could give bonuses for summoned creatures. (Maybe even a high-level talent which allows the summoner to create figurines out of costly materials.)

1. These are the drugs in PoE. Do you see Coffee, Alcohol or anything else which is legal in the western world? Look at the drugs' effects---they're all either stimulants or aids to clear-headedness (resistance to fear, confusion). Pretty much the opposite of the stereotypical negative effects of getting "stoned" on pot. (There is one which aids perceptiveness which you could argue is slightly like pot, I'd suppose.) Blacsonn looks similar to alcohol. Coffee, tea, tobacco all come from plants, and yes, other plants with similar properties are legal in "the western world". I don't use "pot" myself (it gives me anxiety and makes me very drowsy), but most of the neuroscientists and biochemists I knew from the Ivy League universities I went to for undergrad and graduate school actually did use illegal drugs, including pot. And pot has become either legal or decriminalized in many places in the Western world, as it rationally should be.

Or maybe: Summoner/Invoker - chants are weaker / don't stack, but summons (or invocations in general) cost one less. Perhaps need to learn the stories / lore of the entities being summoned. (Just as the Black Jacket matches weapon specializations and items to particular enemies' weaknesses, or the monk subclass consumes drugs for bonuses... the under-utilized in-game mechanism for Chanter could be based around learning lore, and also encourage people to read more of the "flavor text" and learn about the setting.) Maybe also special higher-level Summoner talents, like summons last for a short time after the end of combat, or a weak summons at the start of combat, etc. Bard-like / Chant-focused: chants are stronger, invocations take longer or are weaker. Perhaps can compose new chants based on learning new lore and get more chant overlap time. (For spells, can use scrolls, and take advantage of bonuses. Maybe learns lore about fire and composes a chant which gives +fire damage and has a long linger time.)

If that means duration or effect I can't say. I can say, however, that I'm very dissappointed in this subclass. I'll never play a character that does drugs from a roleplaying point of view, and since I want to play more diverse monks, this is a definite loss of options for me. I don't mind controversial themes on companions, but having specializations with controversial themes is a really limiting option. The other subclasses so far also represent popular fantasy archetypes, which is not exactly the case for potheads. And on a mechanical level, its also boring - following joshs description, if you never use drugs in the first place, nothing changes to playing that character, whereas every other subclass implies a necessary change of gameplay. The lore of monks has been changed massively from the DnD version, so I'd much prefer a subclass that lets me get back closer to the original martial artist. 1) Just turning the fist bonus into something for weapons would grant an easy DnD2 Kensai. 2) A subclass that increases deflection when no armor is equipped and lets you get wounds by evasion rather than being hit would be mechanically cool. 3) There are also a dozen of interesting archetypes for monks in pathfinder alone (Zen Archer, Sensei, Four Winds and Ki Mystic alone come to mind) I don't mind drugs being in the game, and I wouldn't mind having some kind of optional talent that makes their use more efficient. But why do we need to waste one of the few available subclass slots for something which is (imho) not really a popular archetype, with powers that won't necessarily change the way you play, and is tied to a controversial theme? 1. Coffee is a drug. Alcohol is a drug. Drugs aren't just pot and heroin. The vast majority of people use drugs of one type or another. 2. One of PoE's strengths is its unique lore. They're not just the stereotypical D&D rip-offs. Monk is a relatively non "popular" and non "archetypal" character in this genre to begin with. 3. Wounding oneself---self-harm---is also a very controversial theme. 4. Monks still have plenty of customization options.

1. Isn't Animancy most closely connected with Ciphers? (According to the Wiki, Galvino is a Cipher.) Though the engineering aspect (and illegality) could relate it to Rogue, or the Lore aspect could bring us back to Chanter (forbidden lore, in this case). 2. Ninjamestari - Chanter already has a lot of abilities that go well with summons: AoE buffs, debuffs, and heals, foe-only AoE... it's already been designed for use with summons. A Summoner subclass could add the ability to have two summons at once (including summons from items or other classes when multiclassing). 3. Ganrich - The difference between Chanter as Summoner and Chanter as bard-like could be made clearer through adding a bard-like subclass. This could focus on Chanters as "storytellers and repositories of ancient lore from myriad cultural traditions" who gain specific bonuses from learning stories or lore (reading or hearing, maybe turn what they're reading into a chant or just embody it or channel the spirit of it when they chant). Could be enemy type-specific or element-specific, or weapon-specific, maybe even the stories of unique items, etc. The focus on Lore and spirits could also clarify the connection between the Summoner Chanter (ancient lore) and bard-like Chanter.

The drug monk and the Black Jacket are focused around a game mechanic that many people don't use or under-utilize. Making the mechanic more powerful but limiting it to a subclass probably makes it easier to balance and might encourage people to use the mechanic more generally once they get in the habit. Also, the focus on a class of items lets a few changes to their usefulness nudge us towards a huge amount of variety. The need for more, and specific, types of external items and micromanagement then becomes part of the subclass's drawback relative to the base class.

So long as it's a sufficiently powerful ability, it could be a replacement for Sneak Attack? The class would be a duellist I guess, and sneak attacks never really fitted with that archetype to my mind. 1. In PoE, Rogue "sneak attack" hasn't been primarily about attacking from hiding or backstabbing---it's been about attacking when opponents have been partly incapacitated (hobbled, blinded, stunned, etc.). So the concept of a Rogue Duelist/Swashbuckler type who hobbles/off-balances/trips or blinds opponents to land sneak attacks makes perfect sense. Think of the classic Duelist/Swashbuckler who disarms his opponent or knocks him off balance or dodges out of the way and trips him, etc., then attacks when he's vulnerable. Improved riposte, evasion, and CC could be balanced as with the Black Jacket or consumables Monk by making Sneak Attack and/or Backstab have weaker base damage (except maybe under certain conditions---weaker unless in the form of a riposte, or Backstab weaker unless the opponent is also incapacitated). Or base Rogue abilities could cost more or be delayed until later levels (for example, Shadowing Beyond, which if it returns will no longer be once per rest, but instead based on Empower points). 2. One difference between base classes and subclasses might be that subclasses require more micro and/or more item use. For example, Black Jacket requires switching between different weapons to match specific opponents (quickswitching when fighting multiple opponents of different types). The monk subclass uses drugs. The ranger subclass requires more micro because she needs to summon her pet during combat. 3. But with the exception of assassin and shapeshifter, the new subclasses are comparatively unique (and awesome because of it). Duelist/Swashbuckler has been done before. Traps were underutilized items in PoE 1, and multiclassing probably takes away the main advantage of using traps (CC for fighters, etc.)... but trap-centric rogues have also been done a lot (a Ranger subclass based around traps + archery might be more interesting than just another typical Archer Ranger... maybe the pet can walk over the Ranger's traps without triggering them, and the Ranger can take a talent which allows for one or two additional traps at a time, but the subclass gets fewer overall Empower points per rest and has to take points in Mechanics to lay traps effectively). Something unique and relatively unexpected for the second rogue subclass would be best. 4. Of course, the pirate theme might make people want a piratey subclass, like a Swashbuckler, but preferably something more original and lore-specific. Maybe a nautical theme---resistance (or eventually immunity) to prone / hobbled / stuck and elemental AoE (from being on the tossing deck of a ship, or on ships during storms, fires, even resistance to confusion, or if we think of the ancient myth of the sirens perhaps resistance to charm too... maybe even resistance to rare poisons from around the world), to create synergy with "friendly fire" from other classes (and/or the Rogue's own use of items/scrolls/traps)? (Or, like the Black Jacket's extra weapon specializations, maybe this Rogue could start out with bonus resistance to prone/hobbled and choose extra defensive abilities. Perhaps get an added defensive bonus against enemies that are hobbled or have similar afflictions---like a defensive bonus whenever Sneak Attack would apply, including within a few seconds of the beginning of combat or after coming out of stealth/invisibility.) An evasion / riposte tanky rogue with CC (maybe including distraction, decoys, etc.), good battlefield movement, and optionally enhanced traps or item usage too (pirates and booby-trapped buried treasure, pirates and ancient arcane treasures...). Aside from traps, are there any items or interesting item-related mechanics that most people probably didn't use much in PoE 1 that would be interesting for a pirate-like Rogue? A Duelist could then be more of a Fighter/Rogue multiclass than a pure Rogue subclass.

I agree; the ranger Ghost Heart subclass is another great example. The specialization already present within classes can already be achieved by choice of abilities. It's okay to have a few obvious, typical subclasses like Assassin (especially since PoE 1 was lacking in a good backstab rogue), but I'd also like subclasses which add to lore and either significantly expand strategies that people might not otherwise try (like the Black Jacket, who apparently focuses more on switching between different weapons for different opponents) or add new dynamics beyond what the classes can already do in PoE 1. (They're optional, after all.) Sure, Ghost Heart might represent a "more powerful" pet, but since it has to be summoned during combat (and presumably can't scout ahead like other pets), and it's undead, it also changes the dynamics (and lore, and character concept) in an interesting way.

Many (possibly most) magic systems that involve summoning also involve chanting invocations. As pointed out, the Chanter is not necessarily a bard. In PoE, the Chanter is also associated with Lore, which is generally closely paired in fantasy with learning how to summon entities. And summoning rituals usually take more time to cast than ordinary spells. So, provided additional in-game lore is added, a Chanter Summoner sub-class makes perfect sense. Perhaps, like the Ranger Ghost Heart subclass, additional mechanics could be added to make Chanter Summoner have more necromantic elements... maybe involving sacrifices. (Additionally, priests could be given summons specific to their deities, so a chanter could supplement Summoner summons with priest or druid or wizard multiclassing. Maybe even give Ciphers an Animancer subclass that involves summons and engineering or "animating" special equipped construct items.)

Chanter Chanter/Druid Chanter/Wizard (if there are more Wizard summoning spells) Chanter/Ghost Heart Ranger Chanter and/or Wizard subclass? (not to mention summons from items) But lore-wise I would love a Summoner subclass.

I like "Berserker" for Monk + Barbarian because Monks in PoE condition their bodies for punishment and gain their powers from wounds---a traditional Celtic Berserker is known for being able to take many wounds when they're in their berserker rage (which Barbarian Frenzy is based on). "Skald" is a great call(ing) too.

It could be that what used to be Vancian casting now relies exclusively on Empower, with maybe a per-encounter limit on top of that. This could end up being very similar to Vancian casting, except instead of a set number of spells from each spell level, you have per-rest "empower points" that can go towards spells of different levels. So you might be able to cast 1 level 5 spell or 5 level 1 spells, etc.

One thing the old BG games lacked was the ability to multiclass Barbarians, Monks, Bards, Paladin, Sorcerors---some of the classes I most wanted to multi-class with! (Especially because I love the speed boost.) So I'm looking forward to Barb/Monk/Chanter/Paladin/Cipher multiclassing....

Wow. I wish they'd made the other soulbound items more powerful, rather than nerfing one of the few worth the trouble (and The Unlabored Blade is a lot more trouble than most of them). Why not have a separate mode for people who want "balanced" abilities? And even aside from class balance, if a weapon is overpowered, people can just choose not to use it... PoE isn't well-suited to the tiny contingent of hardcore competitive gamers anyway (no real competition modes), and you could restrict the nerfs to a special new hard mode (everything cheesy or remotely OP nerfed for bragging rights, etc. etc.). I get that tweaking a value is easier than fixing a bug, but it's really irritating that serious bugs exist (+movement speed effects have completely stopped working on my current installation, and my playstyle was heavily dependent on them), but the staff spends time making the game less enjoyable. I won't be getting Pillars 2 or Tyranny unless there's significant evidence that they've improved. (Instead of spending time obsessing over nerfs, why not add content---like character dialogue and lore? Or rewrite some of the dialogue and lore to make it better and more interesting? The lore is one of the weakest aspects of Pillars of Eternity which is a shame, since it has potential for world-building.)

In combination with a priest and a tank, it might be interesting to see an invisible, non-tank version of this based around Withdraw and "crit me" (Cape of the Master Mystic, Shod-in-Faith, Sanguine Plate), dumping res instead of dex and focusing on offensive talents instead, a sort of dragon-like poison/firearm opening (Bloody Slaughter and Interrupting Blows for the Dragon Thrashed, quick switching firearms to end easy encounters early / decrease health to activate Bloody Slaughter and using runner's wounding shot to increase damage from Combusting Wounds, Envenomed Strike if you need raw damage, etc.). "Crit me" chanter might benefit the most of any build from using Withdraw...with spell mastery basically the only per-encounter invisibility ability other than Cape of the Master Mystic. And using the invisible chanter to block narrow openings.... With high Dex you can get off a lot of invocations and/or item and scroll castings after coming out of Invisibility / Withdraw, and then return to Withdraw. With an unkillable tank, the priest could even use Withdraw on himself too, so that he emerges from Withdraw just after the chanter does... could even do that two or three times. So the chanter becomes an invincible interrupting AoE "glass cannon", so long as he avoids AoE effects while using the Cape's invisibility and doesn't get killed in between castings of Withdraw. And the Consecrated Ground from Shod-in-Faith (with up to 30 might counting resting bonus, items, and Frenzy, and a huge AoE with Ring of Overseeing) is constantly healing all allies in a huge range. (Or maybe dump most of Con too and use <50% endurance spell / encounter armor instead of Sanguine Plate? Dire Blessing from Ryona's Breastplate, or Wicked Briars from The Colored Coat. Provided you have enough endurance to avoid being one-shotted. Or light armor, maybe something to reduce the chance or duration of getting stun-locked, and Outlander's Frenzy. And of course if you're doing the "crit me" part you can substitute Swaddling Sheet for the Cape and kill everything faster.)

If you're in a very small party or solo (and have gotten Black Sanctuary from the Alpine Dragon), you can use Withdraw to become invisible, end combat, and reset all your per-encounter abilities, including the Cape of the Master Mystic and (really late in the game) Feign Death. So even before getting Feign Death, with x2 withdraw you could have up to 14 backstab attacks (1 stealth, 3 Shadowing Beyonds, 3 invisibility capes with summons or party member, 3 uses of the other proc on crit items too) even in situations where you can't run away. (And of course, while you're invisible, Deep Wounds is still working, including on anyone who hit you if you've got retaliation.) Then once you get Feign Death you can theoretically use it 3 times solo without fleeing, if you can time the summons. (Edit: if running out of item slots for summons is a problem, you can get the multi-class talent that gives you a per-encounter summons and/or the talent that gives you an extra item slot.)

If you mean the darts in WM1, don't they cause Paralyze? Tempered Helm gives +25 defense against Paralyzed attacks. Of course there are other stun attacks.... Cape of the Master Mystic is WM1, which I thought of as more mid-game... though maybe not if you're doing a solo run. Can always wait until you get the proper items and re-train....

It's unfortunate that being invisible while solo just resets combat if you don't have a summons out. Though there are a few moments when you're invisible before combat resets, probably enough to initiate another backstab, though I haven't tested it yet. Could traps work? The Gaze of the Adragan trap seems very nice, and of course you can set traps without coming out of stealth. Maybe use boots of speed to set a trap before being spotted and then switch boots to Steadfast or Echoing Misery before initiating the backstab? Or do you still get spotted too quickly / are the good traps too rare?

So long as you click "attack" while you're in stealth/invisibility, it doesn't matter if you come out of stealth or invisibility before the attack happens. Your first two strikes are still backstabs. +movement speed can help too, though it's currently bugged on my installation after I experimented with +6 movement speed and died a bit (before it stopped working, though, it seemed almost like teleporting). And of course Cape of the Master Mystic does give you one invisibility per encounter, if you're willing to get crit. I like the idea of a rogue as a sort of living bomb, baiting enemies into attacking....