Darth_Gandalf

Seems like a terrible shame to me. She was such a unique character concept. Now, instead of a strong, armored priestess with a blunderbuss, we get a wild-eyed loon in a dirty robe carrying around a stick. In fact, it seems like there's very few female companions right now: just the eskimo dwarf, the feathered paladin and a potentially dead or insane woman. Please bring back Cadegund.

Thank goodness! Please tell me they've had the good sense to bring back Cadegund!

I still don't see how it makes sense for stamina to be healed by magic and elixirs while health is healed by resting. Seems to me like it should be the other way 'round.

I guess I just really liked the flexibility to create your own party dynamic by matching different combinations of characters. With a limited number of companions, your party dynamic is a little bit pigeonholed as well.

I wish there were more companions than just eight. Baldur's Gate 2 had something like 17 companions. Even Neverwinter Nights 2 had 12. I know we can create our own companions too, but they won't have personalities of their own like the main ones will. Finding a new companion in BG2 always felt like a reward. I think there's something to be said for that.

I believe some people really may be resting that often in PoE, hence my suggestion to prolong the time between rests. Of course, if you put it off too long, your companions could die of their wounds... Bandages and elixirs would only be a temporary solution: literally putting on a bandaid.

Much has been said of the dualistic nature of the health system in this game: health vs stamina, how healing only replenishes stamina and how resting is needed to restore health. This seems a bit counterintuitive to me: magic and medicine can only rejuvenate your energy, but a good nap at an inn heals all wounds? That seems like the reverse of how things should be. Now, rather than proposing a drastic revamp of the whole system, I would like to suggest one new idea. It seems like some people are frustrated at having to rest more frequently to heal their melee characters. Why not simply include healing items that only temporarily restore health? When a character is grievously wounded in combat, why not administer aid with bandages, poultices and healing elixirs (like might happen in a real life situation)? These could temporarily restore health, allowing the player to carry on a little longer without resting. They would have a time limit, and would ultimately expire, forcing you to then rest. There could even be a deleterious effect for using too many bandages or elixirs without taking a good rest. What do you think?

Make sure to share the wealth. If you use a custom portrait for that character, please upload it! I'm sure there are many others who would agree.

If each attribute contributes something worthwhile to every character class, then that certainly opens up a lot of new character possibilities. I hope it ends up being as awesome as the hype would have us believe.

Another idea I've been bandying about is the Assassin, a stealth-focused class that would excel as a "striker" in combat. Where the fighter class has a choice of weapon specializations, the assassin could specialize in his or her preferred type of target. A battlefield assassin could specialize in killing unwary warriors in the melee without drawing attention, whereas a wizard-slayer would focus on spell-resistance and tactics for eliminating casters (including firearms, I would expect).

I know this is a little premature, considering that the vanilla version of PoE isn't even out yet, but I figured, what the heck, why not engage in a little XP brainstorming and speculation. Ever since PoE's class lineup was announced, I've been toying with some additional ideas for character classes that could be neat. I especially liked the creative spin that the developers have placed on the new Chanter and Cipher classes, and I think those two classes should set the tone for the kind of classes that would be potentially playable in future incarnations of PoE: a new intriguing take on an existing archetype, but each with a unique aspect to them that you wouldn't find in the other classes, and not too over-powered, unbelievable or too cliched. For starters though, I like that PoE's classes represent core archetypes. There's no funny-sounding "Arcane Dragon Psionic Swordsage" classes and I think it should stay that way. But I do think there are a few more archetypical niches that could easily be filled. I'm especially interested in what other kinds of special skills these new party members could bring to the table. After all, Robin Hood's band included more than just fighters, rogues and a fat cleric, you know. Here's a few ideas: The Tinker First of all, please discard any thoughts you may be having about goblin or gnomish steampunk engineers with funky mechanical gizmos. This term has a bit of baggage thanks to the Warcraft universe, but there's still a genuine medieval trope under the surface. The original tinkers were itinerant smiths, handymen and petty inventors who traveled the countryside offering their services to townsfolk in need. I think this could been an excellent "crafting" class. The tinker could repair existing items, forge new weapons and armor, maybe even design a few items himself. This class could be particularly useful if item deterioration is ever added to PoE as the devs were considering once upon a time. The tinker could also function as a brawler, whether using his smith's hammer or any of the renaissance era tech he's tinkered with. The Alchemist This is another crafting-based class along the same lines as the tinker. However, instead of tinkering around with metalwork, the alchemist focuses on creating potions, explosive powders and magical talismans like the mythical philosopher's stone. The alchemist could learn to make everything from healing draughts to deadly poisons. He could buff the party with herbal elixirs to improve physical attributes or provide poisons for coating blades and arrowheads, or design some crude explosive or incendiary devices or traps. Imagine what kind of wicked gunpowder weapons an alchemist and tinker could come up with together. The Shaman Here's another class that's been sullied a bit by the Warcraft mythos, but I think that's easy enough to overcome. I want to step away from that kind of elemental magic and create a character that's more like a cross between a witch doctor, a medicine man, and well, Gannayev-of-Dreams. The shaman would be a spiritual caster like the druid, but rather than drawing his or her magic from the ambient souls of nature, the shaman would walk the lines between light and darkness, life and death. The shaman would be able to cast healing magics but would also commune with the shadow realm. I'm thinking the shaman could engage in tribal rites, cast hexes and wards, create totems to harness spirit energies, summon or otherwise control a few creepy crawly minions, like locusts, serpents, toads or spiders, and commune with ghosts, spirits and so forth for buffs and the like. The Mystic For this class, I'm thinking of a mage/cleric crossover, that blurs the lines between the arcane and the divine. The mystic would not derive his or her abilities from the studying of tomes or the worship of deities so much as from meditations, mantras, self-discipline and scrying in the spirit realm (with his or her spiritual third eye, perhaps). The idea is to have something sort of like a monk, except one who doesn't focus on physical disciplines or martial arts, choosing instead to hone his mind and his soul. The mystics could belong to any number of orders seeking different ends, from enlightenment or transcendence to asceticism, or even the acquiring of greater knowledge or power. The mystic could cast both powerful arcane incantations from harnessing the powers of the spirit realm as well as engaging in divine activities like blessing buffs and healing. The trade-off would be that the mystic would not get as wide a selection of spells as either the wizard or priest could get on their own. This character is a jack-of-two-trades, but a master of neither. The Necromancer This is of course another casting class, but the necromancer eschews the learning of wizards in favor of darker pursuits. Necromancers definitely focus on the darker aspect of animancy. Given the new lore of the PoE world and mythos, a think there's a number of directions this class could take. As always, I'd prefer to err on the side of caution and stay away from the Warcraft versions of these archetypes. No ice or frost spells if possible -- I think the necromancer's magic should only be based on shadow, darkness and death incantations. This class would definitely involve summoning undead minions of various kinds (such as skeletons and zombies, etc.). I think there's a lot of potential to redefine the class as well though. I'd like to see various curses and life-tapping spells alongside the traditional dead-raising abilities. I've also been toying with new ideas for the Bard, the Sorcerer and the Warlock, but I haven't exactly perfected those yet. This is primarily because I want them to be more than just so much rehashing of old D&D ideas. In particular, I would like bards to not be as lame as they tend to be in the Forgotten Realms. They either end up too weak, too diversified, or just playing on a lute while their friends fight. There's got to be a way to redeem that class. The sorcerers also need a more diverse back story than merely "casting from their own soul energy rather than from a book." I wasn't overly fond of the NWN2 lore for warlocks either, but I think the trope could still be revisited. Feel free to contribute any character class ideas of your own! What would you like to see in a PoE XP?

If I create a second character at the Adventurer's Hall, I'd be tempted to use this portrait for a chanter, wizard, priest, druid or cipher.

Template For Character Creation: First Name: Godwine Last Name: I'll make something up later. Appearance: Race: Human Age: 30-ish Height Above Average Weight: Average Eyes: Blue Hair: Dark Blond/Light Brown Facial Hair Style: Short Beard Personality Profile: General Health: Generally healthy Deity: Will wait and see what choices there are. Initial Alignment: Neutral Good Profession: Lesser Nobleman/Adventurer/Loremaster (sort of like a medieval Indiana Jones...) Base Class & Proposed Development: Chanter with some emphasis in melee combat Habits/Hobbies: Archaeology, Book-Learning, Performing Random Quests for Random NPCs Languages: Aedyran, Glanfathan, Eld Aedyran, Engwithan Weapon of Choice: Swords, sometimes Maces, maybe a Crossbow for when he's feeling lazy Background: An itinerant scholar from a lesser noble house, seeking forgotten knowledge of the ancients. He is also disappointed by what he perceives to be his society's injustices and seeks to rectify such whenever he can. Goals: Following the main plot of the game while learning as much as he can and helping as many people as possible. (Same as real life, I guess. ) Possible Plot-Hook Ideas and Misc Facts: Looks like the picture I posted in the custom avatar thread.

I almost always start out as a Paladin, but I'm now strongly considering starting out as a Chanter from what I've read about them. As for my party, I'm sure I'll be swapping companions in and out of the party as needed (at least for the first playthrough), but I expect that I will bring along Eder, Cadegund and Pallegina for much of the time.

They can just put sepiatone over their existing concept art, and there you go: fancy lore tome.