scythesong

The problem with a lot of these posts is that their logic seems pretty wonky to begin with. You fight and kill your way through Raedric's loyal underlings and you were actually expecting him to be more accommodating when you finally meet him? Sheesh. Actually, if you sneak your way through the castle (feel free to kill any undead, monsters and even Osrya) and avoid fighting ANY of Raedric's guards he'll act more curious/calculating when you suddenly show up in his throneroom instead of wary/outraged. You can then discuss your terms with him. You don't have to accept Kolsc's offer in the beginning, even Bleak Walkers know better than to accept every job from random strangers. The smart ones (and the ones responsible for giving their organization its ruthless reputation) probably do their research. I mean seriously, if you're the type who takes your promises very seriously you'd also be very careful about giving them.

Think Italian Renaissance, with people being all conservative and bureaucratic and following the letter of the law in public while doing their damndest to break the spirit of the law behind the scenes. After all, you need to be really familiar with the law to exploit it. In Dragon Age the culture of Orlais (one of the strongest nations in the game) actually encourages this kind of ruthless behavior, so that only the best and most cunning politicians get to lead. Very Games of Thrones-y. This is the vibe I get from the Vailian Republics based on Pallegina's comments and in-game lore/events (like how they abandon Verzano to his fate after he takes a risky gamble and loses). I'd recommend Dragon Age: Origins if you like strategy games like PoE and with summer sales you can even get the ultimate edition (ie, base game and all the expansions/dlcs) for like 5-10 bucks. DA:2 and 3 are more like action games though.

By the time you get Korgak though you should be well into mid-game. It's really easy to generate money in PoE once you're done upgrading the Caed Nua. You're not supposed to keep a full retinue of "special" hirelings, you hire them temporarily when anticipating special events like an adventure or invasion on your next turn and then dismiss them. You only splurge if you really don't have anything else to spend your currency on. For static bonuses you hire the standard hirelings and a few of the cheaper unique ones.

You do realize that they have a voting system, a ducal congress and Pallegina even points out that her superiors love to debate stuff. The way they're presented in-game and in lore, they're basically the PoE equivalent of Dragon Age's Orlais.

That's how many old societies worked. Back when there wasn't anything like DNA evidence or even anything remotely like the western legal/justice system, you could get sentenced for doing something you didn't do simply because your accusers outnumbered you 10-to-1. So you better believe that fertility was a VERY big thing back then. "Congrats, you don't have children. BTW your neighbor and his thirteen sons are accusing you of having raped his wife. What, you can't offer any evidence to the contrary? Well, that's just tough. Your holdings have been confiscated pending an investigation (hah). See 'ya in the mines!" That's assuming the rival family doesn't kill you outright and blame your disappearance on some wandering vagrant. The law itself doesn't really have to do anything. Still, the fact that loopholes like that exist however do prove that although the society of the Vailian Republics is heavily skewed towards boosting the current population (which, if you read the book about all the dangers of Eora's seas and oceans, makes sense) the ruling body does not actually condemn infertile people. Seriously, Pallegina's superiors seem perfectly fine with the fact that she's a woman in a personal sense, as long as she does her job. One might even argue that her superiors probably took her exotic nature into consideration. Anyway given that society's propensity for laws and contracts and the like, you'd think they'd be putting more effort towards plugging that "little" loophole if it wasn't intended.

Despite the Ethik Nôl's core philosophy many of their leaders are still pretty power-hungry. It is really so surprising that they'd jump at the chance to curry favor with a powerful leader? Even a "good" Glanfathan would know better than to completely ignore such an opportunity, you need to up your game if you want to survive in that kind of primal society. Intent is not the only measuring stick for defining good/evil. Some of the most terrible acts in history were made by people who were convinced they were doing the "right thing".

Skills are straightforward. Everyone needs a few survival and athletics (4 is my personal magic number, though 2-3 can work depending on a lot of factors). You'll need someone who devotes most of the rest of their skill points in mechanics, and possibly someone else who does the same for stealth. Characters who spend most of their time swinging their weapons and dealing damage (like rangers) may also devote the rest of their points in survival. The rest can devote their points into lore for scrolls and athletics for the bonus heal. For lore 4 is a good stopping point for defensive scrolls, though you can push to 8 if you have extra points.

1) Because you're now in the middle of wilderness, and while here you carry your weight. You're sick but you're not infirmed. Yet. 2) Really? You suddenly gained the caravan master's vast knowledge about which roads to travel, which paths to avoid, what customs/practices to respect/avoid, etc? The Dyrwood is potentially a very dangerous area, where an innocent stroll in the woods could very well get you killed by Pŵgra or Delemgan and where ruins are often haunted. Just being near specific ruins could get you killed by overzealous Glanfathans. While the devs could arrange some kind of 1000-ways-to-die-in-PoE introduction, it should be obvious why they decided to skip that. As things are, your character probably has a near-death experience every other hour or so on your way to Gilded Vale. Once you reach the Gilded Vale, you'll be free to choose how you want to spend your time. 3) This was obviously meant to cater to players who feel compelled to kill everything in sight, because computer game. You are supposed to look back at the events of that night as just one crazy misfortune after another, or I suppose you could also call it fate or theorize that godly intervention was involved. Odema probably got a lucrative deal out of guiding so many potential immigrants/merchants/travelers through the area. As for why he did it, why wouldn't he? The details are never revealed, but Odema obviously seemed old and knowledgeable enough to have done this sort of thing many times in the past. In the world of Eora, the concept of the soul is different from the kind of mortal body/immortal soul concept of the real world. Just play the game.

He doesn't really offer any defense aside from "there should be..." though. I also want my character to have wings and throw fireballs at-will, but obviously we can't have everything we want.

1) Your character is supposed to be sick. 2) Your character lacks practical knowledge about the area/Glanfathans and does not have ability to predict the future, which is why you're deferring to Caravan Master Odema 's decisions. Otherwise you wouldn't be traveling with the camp in the first place. 3) The reason why killing everyone is an option is because you need to be a psycho to pull it off.

If you combine Iceland with Jumanji (from the cartoon series), then yes. If you read the in-game journals and various other pieces of lore, the Living Lands is implied to be a place bursting with life - usually the dangerous kind - giant insects, plants that try to eat you, massive trees, etc. It's a place that requires you to constantly be on your toes if you plan on surviving there long enough.

The Living Lands is like the Australian outback, except more valleys, forests and wild beasts instead of desert and wilderness. There are probably aristocrats there, pieces of them at least.

You'll need dev confirmation for specific words but many of the languages used in the game are based on real-life languages, so probably yes. https://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Glanfathan_Language

Likes -the fact that PoE gods are more like sentient manifestations of ideals/concepts rather than just petty, fickle beings with incredible power ala D&D/the greek pantheon. Because seriously, that much pointless drama only belongs in reality TV. If you're going to add drama, employ those on characters people actually care about. -the fact that magic boils down to soul energy, and that soul energy explains why even non-magic classes can do what they do (non-magic classes regularly performing superhuman feats in other games is a personal pet peeve). -the choose your own adventure-type interactions - there's plenty of room for improvement there too like narration, a bit of animation (even if it's only the interface), etc. These are great mini-games that also tell a story. -the fact that each culture in pillars seems to have its own unique idiosyncrasies, like how female godlike are not seen as women in the Valian Republics or how Twin Elms is in some ways actually more civilized than Defiance Bay or the weird thing they do with powerful landowners in the Aedyr Empire (see Aloth's dialog) -little things like people standing around smoking pipes and stuff. We need more of these IMO. Dislikes -the fact that whether the gods are "real or not" is supposed to be such a big deal. Is there a universally approved definition of "god" in Eora that we don't know about? So what if the PoE gods are not the equivalent of creator deities? These beings already care about issues that fall within their sphere of influence, they do have incalculable power, and they even try not to influence the lives of mortals directly. I mean that already puts them in the top 10 of "gods who aren't assh*les" list. -not enough NPC banter. I expect more from NPCs, even if it's only exposition (like Sagani telling you about possible logistical dangers while you're adventuring around in the White March, for example). -the item histories could benefit from better stories (convert a wacky everyday experiences into item descriptions if you have to), and there is hardly any flavor text for spells/abilities and the like. An occasional something like Fan of Flames: "Rumor has it that the wizard who created this spell, Ortagonus, was secretly a draconophile." or Chill Fog: "In the Valian Republics, Chill Fog is widely used on a mixture of churned cream, milk, sugar and eggs to create a popular frozen confection." was an unfortunate missed opportunity IMO.

Indeed, though some companions work together better than others. Durance and Devil of Caroc, for example, which is hilarious because they hate each other. And then there's companions like Hiravias who work well as a complement to any party.

I personally love traps, they're a nice extra source of currency for those game-changing early game purchases like the Blunting Belt. I also enjoy wondering what the mobs down at the Raedric sewers/etc. must think when I storm their territory only to steal the traps and leave.

That link is legit though, and I've heard a few good things about that mod.

I like them as stabby characters, personally. It's always nice to see the smallest person in the party do massive melee damage. Hiravias doesn't count, he turns into a monster when he needs to hit things.

Well I'm pretty sure there'll be consequences like if he waits too long and ends up finishing the Court of Penitents quest first, for example. They did make an ending specifically for that.

It is implied that just because he becomes the leader of the Leaden Key doesn't mean he'll be as ruthless as Thaos in defending the "secret" of the gods, whatever that is. His ending is open-ended enough that you can infer that he leads the organization in a way that reflects his experiences with you. So if your watcher was a crazed, power-hungry egomaniac or something Aloth will probably end up sitting on the the "throne" of the Leaden Key smiling evilly and rubbing his hands together while mumbling "My precious...".

There is no set order to completing quests in Pillars, but your choices will have consequences in the epilogue (especially if you leave major sidequests like Lord of a Barren Land unresolved for too long). If you have want a quest completion order guide feel free to ask, people have different tastes but you can just pick the general quest order that makes the most sense to you.

For the record, I think you do get access to almost every wizard spell in the game through looted grimoires. It's more important to get the spells which are immediately useful to you (see list above or similar topics) or spells you can't get through loot. With Ciphers, you can just respec if you don't like something.

As a general rule if you have opposing predispositions (ie, benevolent and cruel) that are both relevant to a particular dialog check, the game favors the negative one (cruel, in this case).

Writing stuff down is a nice way to use your journal, and as pointed out there are numerous camping supplies in the game. Ultimately a better system should just be created that rewards proper character ability/skills/endurance/HP/etc resource management (like the inn bonuses, which only stick around for a limited number of rests). But this is one of those things the seem "pretty obvious" mostly n retrospect.

The next time an event pops up, see if you can manage it from the stronghold interface first (like this one). Usually the only events that you personally need to see to are visits from infamous people or dignitaries.