Lampros

So I guess the shield is there not to melee but to give him higher survivability. He's still almost predominantly a caster. So ultimately you trade some ranged auto- attack damage in favor of greater survivability. If so, I might actually pursue this path instead, because the implement damage was pretty negligible up to level 6. (Does it get better later?) But then, my Might was only like 3, as focused on CC and survivability. Do you use a "puller" to bring enemies to open spaces then? And if so, who pulls and how does the puller avoid getting focused down before he gets to safety? I understand the principle of stacking movement speed to avoid melees, but couldn't you still get nuked down?

Since I am completely re-starting due to loss of all saves anyways, I am also considering a Druid. But one quick question: Do Druids have to use the transform ability to be effective? Since I will likely use Arwen in this role, it won't be thematic - and it also adds another micro-management aspect, which I detest.

Sigh. I did not know getting caught stealing would turn an entire building inhabitants hostile. And since I downloaded the IE mod that prevented autosave, I had no back-up saves any more. So I have to start from the beginning anyways...

I noticed - to my surprise - that a lot of caster builds I have seen here are "spellsword" builds where the casters are toting a 1H and a shield (and sometimes even dual wield or reach weapon wield). The same seems to be true of the builds I found here: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=416939844 I am really puzzled about these builds: To begin with, wouldn't having so many "melee" characters cause a melee congestion? I already had to give one of my three melee characters a reach weapon to alleviate the issue, and I cannot imagine having all my casters go melee as well. Or is it that these spellsword builds are really not melee but equip shields (and the corresponding talent) for defensive purposes? Or are they very specialized "solo" builds? Someone please explain to me why there are so many these seeming hybrid casters - and what benefits you get out of it relative to the traditional ranged caster builds.

Hmmm, stats affect bound spells, too? Wow. Is this the case of spells that are bound to items, too? That is very interesting.

Got it. In that case, I will have to decide to either make Gimli Barbarian or continue as a Fighter soon. Taking a story NPC is un-thematic and would break immersion anyways.

Got it. I've been using Corrisive Siphon a lot already - as well as Chillfog lately. So I will add Combusting Wounds on top of them. Another question: Some folks on various forum mentioned that it is useful to have Lore way up so that you can use max level or near-max level scrolls. Is this wise? If so, on which classes should up Lore high in general? I noticed that very few folks post their Skills distribution, so I am fairly clueless here.

Huh? What's that? A companion. She is a Barbarian. Ah, ok. That's what I may do. I hope she has reasonable stats. Can I retrain non-custom NPCs?

Huh? What's that?

No, if your MC is lvl 6 you can hire adventuerers of lvl 5. They will be actually higher of level than your actual hirelings. Oops. I mis-spoke. I meant my main is level 6, and the companions are almost level 6. So I will get "fresh" level 5s - which means I will lose progress. I thought Barbarians are good interrupters so they need to dual wield? Or at least one of the other threads on the interrupt war hammers led me to believe that. What benefit do Barbarians get from reach weapons?

I will use a pike Paladin. It makes more sense to think that Aragorn could have used a reach weapon before he got Anduril. Besides, Gimli is perfect for the Barbarian role What good AoE spells do I have at my disposal - or will I have at my disposal - in terms of dealing with huge swarms like the one found in the Ogre cave (12-plus, I think).

All right, guys. I am sold then. I will do a dual wield Barbarian and a Pike Paladin (main character). Since all of my companions are almost level 5, I will lose an almost entire level on the Barbarian though. That is going to suck.

But guys, how do they compare to a DPS Fighter in terms of overall group benefit? Do they do more damage? Are they more survivable? What other major pluses and minuses are involved here when comparing the two?

More temptation to make a Barbarian...

Hey, hey, I am a crappy player but I am not so bad where every fight is a "hard" fight! There are still more fights where I am not resting!

My main is level 6; and the rest are very close to level 5. If I hire a new Gimli, then he will be level 1, right? I think that's too much to catch up. No, you can hire an adventurer at MC-lvl minus 1. So he would be lvl 5. Costs more money though. Ah, ok; that's far more tempting...

Oh, so DPS Barbarians are not as good as DPS Fighters in a group context? I am also tempted to switch out the Wizard for the Cipher. Mind affecting spells are driving me nuts.

My main is level 6; and the rest are very close to level 5. If I hire a new Gimli, then he will be level 1, right? I think that's too much to catch up.

Sigh. Gimli cannot have a sword. Maybe I have to restart a Forgotten Realms group instead of a Lord of the Rings group and make a Wulfgar the Barbarian!

Barbarians can solo? I thought they were fragile?! They are basically the opposite of fragile because they have insane hp (5x endurance). Early game nobody has huge defenses, so the barb isn't even less of a "tank" than other classes. Ofc that changes quickly and the barb is never actually a tank (he just compares well with other tanks early game) but at level 5 you get One stands alone and your almost one of the best soloclasses immediately and at level 11 you get Heart of Fury and all of a sudden the chanters 1st place at best solo looks kinda shaky. Damn, you are really tempting me to switch Gimli from a DPS Fighter to a Barbarian. I have to restart to change classes, right?

Barbarians can solo? I thought they were fragile?!

If it only wasn't per rest. Well, I am at Normal for now, so I can afford to rest after every hard fight!

Also what about this for Health restoration? https://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Wound_Binding A "must" for every class?

Solo? What class?

Yup; I have been abusing Withdraw since I read about it yesterday! Thanks; I will look up those skills. But what do you mean by "a backline rogue nearly always receives crits if he gets attacked"? Is it because he is focused down or because there is an aspect of him that makes him more susceptible to crits?