Hey everyone! Long time lurker, but I've finally decided to post because I need some help with an upcoming project. I'm replaying the Pillars duology as part of a grand "Let's Play" that I've wanted to make for years but have only recently found the time to do. I'm really excited, but I've basically got myself in a bit of a whirl trying to plan a character that will work well across both games.
In general, I'm pretty great at character building in the first game, which I have much more experience with. I've completed the game on Path of the Damned difficulty twice now, so I have no real worries about that. I'm more nervous about Deadfire -- I've played Path of the Damned up 'til the Forgotten Sanctum before, but then I had to switch it off because the enemies were just too tough and my builds just weren't good enough. So I'm pretty fine with any build for Pillars 1, but for Deadfire, I want something that will, ngl, steamroll the late-game content with any group of supporting characters (I play with story companions and usually bring the ones with the most reactivity, so party composition can be a bit... wild).
I'm trying to make this feel as "canon" as possible, which obviously varies for everyone, so for me it's the following:
- Watcher is fundamentally good and tries to get the good endings for quests (no blood pool!).
- Usually side with traditionalist Crucible Knights and give the souls to Berath at the end.
- Watcher makes good use of Abydon's Hammer in the first game and ideally, Modwyr in the second (and if possible, Whispers of the Endless Paths because I just think it's neat).
- Ideally, Watcher gets a lot of dialogue options, which means reasonable Resolve in the first game and probably Diplomacy skill in the second game? Honestly, skills totally confuse me in the second game, so if anyone has any idea what the optimal way of spreading skills is, I'd love to know.
- Watcher doesn't "step on" or "obsolete" a companion e.g., no "Sagani-but-better" or "Rekke-but-with-better-subclasses".
Ideally, the class would be something martial and melee, but I'm very open to suggestions. One class should carry through both games, but I'm open to multiclassing in Deadfire. I'd like them to be able to wear really cool armor, but I don't want a character that's a total tank and doesn't contribute meaningfully to damage in combat.
Some thoughts I've had:
- Kind Wayfarer makes sense in terms of accepting every single quest you get given!
- Probably not a cipher as I feel like that class steps on the "Watcher" thing a bit and also steps over Grieving Mother/Serafen having cool mind-powers if you also have them!
- I usually make Eder a swashbuckler, so I'm avoiding swashbucklers. Likewise, I usually make Rekke a brawler, so I'm avoiding those. In fact, my preferred classes are: Eder [Swashbuckler], Xoti [Contemplative], Aloth [Wizard], Tekehu [Theurge], Maia [undecided], Pallegina [undecided], Rekke [Brawler], Mirke [Shadowdancer], Konstanten [Howler], Vatnir [Zealot], Ydwin [Mindstalker], Fassina [Sorcerer].
I know this is a wild request, so honestly any contribution is hugely appreciated, even just an idea or two would go a long way to making me feel a bit more comfortable with the Deadfire leg of the journey. If you can think of broke builds that would be awesome too, most of the ones I have seen rely on "naughty" subclasses like Blood Mage or Steel Garrote which IMO doesn't fit the character vision very well. I'm very open to suggestions so let me know what you think if you get a chance, and thanks again!
