Samugol

That actually helps a lot :D. The thing is, that if I take a whole lot of Rational and a Couple of Cruel options, I do not think it will affect the defenses of a character that much. Even if it would be something like 10 in all defenses vs 15 in all defenses, I do not think it would be worth it, role play wise. I also do not plan to play on the highest difficulty, so it will probably work out anyway...

Thank you very much sir, and yes, I may have been misinformed about the PoE1 dispositions a bit. I want to play The Steel Garrote paladin. I actually really like "rational" but I am not a huge fan of "cruel". I do not mind being cruel to some bad characters, or to those that deserve it. What I am worried about is that the "cruel" disposition = puppy killer disposition. I remember in PoE1 you could attack a child and kick him on the ground... That is not a nice option. It is great to pick the safe neutral dispositions though. I will check the math you posted, hopefully, it will become clearer. Thanks agains sir.

Hi, I am about to finish PoE1 and I am close to starting Deadfire. Since I decided to play a Paladin multiclass (based on some nice feedback from the lovely people here). I do have some question about the paladin's Faith and Conviction, more specifically: There are some dialogue options in PoE1, where it is simply impossible to choose the right conviction answer. For example if I play a kind wayfarer in PoE, whose favorite dispositions are Benevolent and Passionate, I am not able to choose these in some conversations as only Cruel, Rational, Aggressive and Stoic options are available. Since the negative ones for Kind Wayfarer are Deceptive and Cruel, I avoid those and choose one of the Rational, Aggresive or Stoic and it does not affect the Faith and Conviction. Furthermore, in PoE1, dispositions that are "neutral" - not favored or disfavored do not play a role in Faith and Conviction. Also, it is possible to max out the Faith and Conviction bonus with just a single one disposition, let us say that as a Kind Wayfarer you only choose Benevolent, but not passionate, you are able to max the Faith and Conviction bonus. Is this the same in Deadfire? What are the differences? Is it possible to mas Faith and Conviction with only one of the favored dispositions? Do neutral dispositions play any role? How about negative dispositions? I always try to roleplay, so I want to know what I am getting myself into. If the Faith and Conviction would be too limiting, I may rethink what paladin order I play. Thanks for any info on this.

Mmmmm is it not what I wrote? "so adding simple crafting system was a great addition". I did not play too much of the game yet (I am waiting for all the DLCs so I can get the GOTY edition) I was under the impression that you can only add some things to weapons from what my friend told me (like a scope or something). If you can completely craft new things, it just underlines the point I was trying to make If decent crafting can be in a budget title, it sure can be in a much bigger project.

Since we are talking about crafting, I would like to offer my two cents. I have some experience to offer, as I have created a few mods and I feel that since I started playing, I have experienced pretty much every crafting system there was in an RPG. I agree with people here: 1. If done poorly, it is just a resource hog and it hurts the game more than it helps. 2. I completely get, that some players love it and would die by it, and others do not care whatsoever, maybe even to a point that the existence of a crafting system insults them. Since I have been an advocate of "try to satisfy as many people as possible", I think that crafting should be part of the game, I personally like good crafting. The question is then, how do you make a good crafting system? There are quite a few things that I believe really help: Crafting needs to optional, the game needs to be perfectly beatable without spending any time on crafting. The moment you force something on someone, it does not end well. Crafting should be that little extra something some people want, to fit the build better or to maybe get a sword with a couple of unique enchantments that fit a more unique playstyle. Crafting needs to be locked behind certain things. Let me explain. In an elder scrolls game, where you kill the dragon, get some bones, spend an hour or two grinding crafting and voila you have the single most powerful armor in the game. This makes exploration very much meaningless because now, you are guaranteed to never find better gear than what you crafted. Instead you lock the strongest crafting recipes behind materials, that are only obtainable through some serious exploration and conquest (you want that sweet demon sword? guess what - go kill a demon, that is probably way too hard for an early level) or get that special schematic that is guarded in a high level dungeon with lots of undead etc. It cannot be a grind. Crafting stuff over and over to get better at might be the real work thing, but in a game, I would rather shoot myself. You want to craft better gear? Lock it behind a skill on a level up, make it so you can only learn it from an NPC that first needs to be found or needs to complete some quest. There are plenty of ways to progress crafting without the tedium of boredom. Under no circumstance, should a player be over-burdened by thousands of ingredients found everywhere. It makes a lot more sense, to have a few key ingredients that are harder to come by and need exploration. Good example is from Gothic 2. You could create powerful alchemical potions, but the main ingredient was a very rare herb "Kings sorrel" I believe it was. You could find at only a few locations, usually either very hard to find or guarded by a tough enemy. This way, player does not have to pick up 500 flowers and other nonsense. Instead there is pure joy in finding something truly unique. This may not be very high for most people, but for me "fashion souls" is extremely important. I always hated the fact that in some games I was forced to wear a ridiculously looking equipment because of this or that stat. I remember that in Dragon Age Origins the best armor for an arcane warrior was golden plate... I am sure it had its fans but GOLDEN PLATE? REALLY? I felt like a medieval pimp showing his swag. Give player options to dye armor, to put unique effects on various items of clothing and armor. Make it really possible so the players are able to express themselves. I fully realize, that this may be hard as there are many models, but at this point it is a AAA game. I saw some amazing armor on artworks already so I am sure it would be doable. Make crafting accessible even to players who do not heavily invest in it. For example, if a player finds unique ore, he may choose to bring it to towns blacksmith and choose things from a crafting menu (the type of weapon, some stats, shape of the blade, pommel etc.). Of course dedicated craftsmen would be able to create a similar sword but say +20% better as a reward from the skills or talents they spend on crafting. This would create so many options for different playstyles. A mage for example would craft his scrolls and enchant items but would happily pay to create some unique armor, as he would not have the appropriate talents, but would still be able to take advantage of the system. There may be characters that would like to craft everything, bus as they would spent all talent points on crafting, they would lack in some different regard. One way to not make this too OP would be to simply increase price for some stronger late game recipes. The player would have to choose carefully how to spend their hard earned money. I am for example not a huge fan of Dragon Age Inquisition, but crafting there was very good. And if a game such as Gothic 2 is able to make a meaningful and fun crafting system, I do not see how a AAA developers 20 years down the line would not be able to do the same. I agree with Boeroer. Video games are different and they cannot easily do that. But even PoE1 had Caed Nua, which was a lovely addition. I am sure that it took quite a bit of time to do, but it was an amazing addition that I liked. Hiring a troll to defend my own castle YES PLEASE. It was one of the many cool moments I had in PoE1. I think it is exactly about how you manage your resources and set priorities. I think that with that specific example it was a good addition. Crafting, creating player homes, riding horse can be amazing and not so resource heavy when done well with experience (which Obsidian has). I agree that there have not been too many games that managed to do relationships well. For me the top was Fire Emblem Awakening and Mass Effect maybe But yeah, I totally get that. This is so much true. I mean working on some crazy crafting system when combat, visuals, magic and other core systems are not done well is utterly pointless. However, if these things are done well and the team has resources. It would be a waste not to do it. Take Outer Worlds. The game had great core elements, so adding simple crafting system was a great addition. I think that choosing to only alter some statics and not make completely new things was a brilliant decision. And honestly if a game like Outer Worlds can have crafting with a FRACTION of budget Avowed has, it fills me with great hope that we will not only see great crafting but other non traditional elements, that we might not even fathom at this point.

So would you say that I should play the turn based mode? How is it? Divinity Original Sin (both 1 and 2 ) are turn based, the new Baldur's Gate 3 is going to be turn based. PoE1 is not, so I suppose it would feel a bit strange. That is a perfect summary I totally want to be that unkillable battlemage standing on the front line. I always feel that in the world of magic, where you can rupture the sky with your thought, create earthquakes, summon demons...etc. Why would you even have a weapon? It should be nothing but a back up for those "I cannot cast no more" moments or maybe some powerful artifact giving you some rare ability - like life leech or something. Also, armor makes sense because it makes you more unkillable. I would also like to thank you for all the kind words that made me realize what kind of build I want to play. Also your assassin/bloodmage build is super awesome, I am just not sure I would be able to never die in Iron Man

Is there some specific way to build this guy? How does he deal with health loss? Having the siphon spell cannot be enough... I feel he would be too reliant on the other party members (which is not necessarily a bad thing). I am decided on this. Playing Iron Man is my favorite, playing self sustaining caster is my favorite, I like armors,,, It just looks too nice to play anything else. Is there a good way to build any of those? Like The Steel Garrote + Whisper parry blade. Steel Garrote seem pretty evil (they are tight with Woedica). Would another paladin work? Lay on Hands, White Flames, Draining weapon? Would those work similarly to the Steel Garrote Paladin or not really? How about that fighter? Is there a way to make the fighter similarly tanky and also self healing like the paladin? I do not need a specific build or a stat spread, I am just looking for a push in the right direction I really love the Steel Garrote concept, it is pretty much what I am looking for, I am just a bit worried because I would be playing an evil character so I am looking for similar, not so evil paladin/fighter alternatives. I am sorry for all the blocks of text, and for all the begging. I am just seeing the playthrough more clearly now. It would be a shame to stop. Also all the help is very much appreciated. Not only Boeroer's but everyone's. This community is just splendid. Not at all toxic like some others (I am looking at you Counter Strike Global Offensive).

Would you care to share how exactly you played your bloodmage? I am decided on a bloodmage at this point. Do you think this would work with a fighter's unbending? I mean wall of draining + unbending should be lots of HP...if I understand the effect right. Also you suggested a fighter multiclass with bloodmage and I am starting to think it might be even better than the paladin.

I have been looking at some ways to keep blood mage non-reliant on healing from others. So far I have: 1, Draining Concelhaut's Corrosive Siphon - a wizard spell that heals so it is automatically available 2. Steel Garrote + Whispers of the Endless Paths combo @Boeroer suggested 3. Shield bearer paladin and their lay on hands 4. Kind wayfarer paladin and their white flames 5, Fighter and their unbending, which maybe could prolonged with a wall of draining... no idea if this could work, I am just looking at the ability + spell 6. Using Concelhaut's Parasitic Staff - that could also heal And I am sure there are more ways, I am just playing around any other thoughts?

I thought a lot about it yesterday. Since I actually have not played the game, these assumptions may be wrong but here I go. regular single class wizard ADVANTAGES: probably the best AoE damage can one shot some of the bosses with empowered spells (so single target is also great) can destroy trash encounters easily gets strong spells earlier DISADVANTAGES: can have issues with managing spells in a prolonged fights like mentioned megabosses has to be a lot more selective when using spells, because of their limited uses more difficult early-mid game, as I assume the spell selection is not that deep if evoker is chosen, gives up some of the great spells Now a blood mage multiclass ADVANTAGES: stronger in prolonged fights because of virtually unlimited resources when some sort of healing is available ability to spam the favorite spell over and over DISADVANTAGES: lack of empower (does not matter as much because has infinite spells) lack of tier 8-9 spells if multiclass if more spells are used, cannot really choose which spell he gets back (can by circumvented by spamming one specific spell) needs some form of healing I still feel that blood mage is more interesting to me. I really like managing resources and this is one cool concept. So is there any advice to build a blood mage multiclass? I like Boeroer's build of Steel Garrote + Bloodmage. Are there any other bloodmage builds? He mentioned helwalker + bloodmage, but I think I am a bit more inclined towards classes that can work by themselves. Heal themselves without the need to rely on the party healer. Also Steel Garrote seems to be a bit more on the evil side, so I am looking for other viable non-evil options

Man the more replies the better I am going to check those out. I wanted to hear Boeroer's opinion but I am happy you replied. The lich seems interesting, but being at the edge of life and death in iron man... hmmm not sure how I feel about that.

Wow, so many great ideas Damn, I am not sure what to pick now I will ask Boeroer since he is the GOD of PoE games (I am not dimishing other people's knowledge, but this has been giving me awesome advice since I started playing PoE 1 on PS4 His life draining cipher is to this day my favorite cipher build). So in your opinion, which wizard combination is (and since there are many answers) 1. Most overall powerful 2. Most fun and synergystic 3. Most castery (heaviest casting of spells) 4. Most survivable 5. Most thematic in some cool way 6. Most suited for iron man run, but in a party Thanks I think I will just pick based on this, because it is becoming clear to me, that most of these builds are amazing. And it is more of a personal preference than anything else. (I kinda like the idea of choosing a wizard in PoE1, giving him dangerous implements - to signify his blood magic and advocation of self harm to gain power and then go some cool blood magic combo that plays well in a party).

Both of you guys I really appreciate the advice. I do not mind the text, just keep it coming. For me the fun is exactly this process of creating a fun thematic build, thinking about what is cool. What plays best. I am well aware of the fact that the game is totally beatable with a single class, just playing reasonable but... that extra depth, synergy, that is the gravy. Since I have no knowledge in Deadfire here is a PoE1 example: wizard with a wand is OK...casts spells and uses wand a bit add blast talents... it is better now, because it affects foe AoE, cool but nothing great add a cool weapon that capitalizes on this such as a wand that has a chance to charm foes, but now, we blast a lot of them... so insta charm all the time add venomous strike... yeah it works with blast, suddenly that little blast thingy kills mobs of enemies with a single wand attack add kalakoths minor blights... it is a summoned wand, that capitalizes on everything said before, doing insane damage On top of that, you feel like a death wizard, using wands and curses to destroy enemies (suddenly you have your own Harry Potter twisted fantasy). and you go from "doing little wand support when saving spells with a bland character" to "destroying mobs of enemies like a death eater". I am looking for something like this. This... hidden awesome synergistic(it is a word) build that is just joy to play.

Not at all my friend I totally welcome the information. I am sitting here, pondering what the best course of action would be. I am deciding now: 1. Pure wizard - I get reasonable survivability because of defensive buffs, I am able to unload amazingly strong spells. All round an interesting choice. 2. Wizard/paladin - (be it kind wayfarer or steel garotte). Much more more survivable than just a wizard, sacrifices some spells. Giving up wizard casts to buff oneself instead of offense may be a problem. 3. Wizard/fighter - pretty great from all the reasons you described above. The thing is I really like when there are as many things packed in a build. I really love great synergy between abilities. While a single wizard is really powerful I feel that the build is lacking character. I get awesome spells.... yeah that is pretty much it. Compared to wizard/fighter or wizard/paladin where there are abilities that really work well together. Where I can look forward to epic heavy armor and awesome swords as well as the wizard spells. metagame extra offense is not necessarily my cup of tea, but the idea of a character doing tanking, healing itself, using weapon, spells... doing everything seems really intriguing. I am not sure whether a build like that would work out of the gate though, cause I really do not like builds that are awesome...for the last 10% of the game. I like builds that are strong throughout the game, where there is always some nice expectation be it next level, better gear or something. I am completely undecided at this point I welcome any advice regarding this.

Tough like really hard to kill and tanky? Or tough like really hard to pull off because it makes little sense :D.

You said that no subclass wizard. What about paladin subclass. I think I read something from Boroer who mentioned Blood Mage and Steel Garrote as an interesting build. I always try to think of builds in terms of how much is gained vs how much is sacrificed. For example (this is completely made up) if make the single most powerful evoker wizard, with all gear and everything focused on damage and he does 10000dmg to a boss that has 1500HP. That is nice, he can kill the boss in one shot, but because of all the offensive sacrifice, he would be one shotted (again, not sure if that is how it works in the game). Compare that to a wizard that does 1000dmg, but is extremely survivable, can CC and support the team. He is still very effective vs the boss (2 shots will kill it) but he is also a lot better in many other situations. What I am getting at, how much does the overall survivability and damage of multiclass wizard compare to a single wizard. If the answer is A LOT in any regard, would you elaborate? If not... well then it is more of a roleplaying decision.

@Scrapulous Thanks. I did not realize buffing is so fast in Deadfire, it takes a while longer in PoE1 (even insta cast Arcane Veil can take a few seconds because of recovery time from other action, but having 0.2s and no recovery... yeah that is insane). I am definitely leaning towards single class wizard. Unless someone makes an interesting alternative suggestion. I am off to study which wizard specialization locks what school. That said I always love jack of all trades characters, so no specialization wizard is appealing.

@thelee Thank you very much man. This is very helpful and insightful. I was thinking of doing an evoker wizard as well. The thing I am a bit worried abouth though is survivability. I just hate when my character goes down in ironman mode. I usually also play with a self imposed rule, that the main character cannot be downed in a playthrough. I do not plan to stand on the front lines, but having the ability to off-tank is really handy. Especially since there are many encounters that I am not aware of and it may prove difficult to survive at that particular instance. Running around and kiting is definitely an option, but tanking/evading can be cool though (the note about Deleterious Alacrity of Motion is very useful). Also, since multiclassing does not exist in PoE1, I was somewhat looking forward to it. I mean playing a single class wizard that is really powerful is perfectly fine, but I just wanted to hear a couple of examples of how a wizard would pair well with other classes (fighter, paladin, you name it... just something).

Hi, when the Avowed announced I had a sudden urge to play both games. I wanted to create a human character, that would be a powerful caster (by powerful I mean lots of cool spells, but great survivability ). I played every caster in PoE1, but I have never played Deadfire (I have been saving it as I know it is awesome and there are periods of game droughts). The thing is I would like to complete both games with a character that is both the same race and same class. By same class I mean that if I start a wizard in PoE1, I could be pretty much any wizard multiclass and or subclass. I would like to choose either a wizard or a cipher as they are my favorites in PoE1. Since I have no experience with Deadfire, I am looking for some help about what to pair these with and if at all. From what I read, tactician seems like a very interesting subclass that pairs well with both blood mage and cipher's beguiler or ascendant. However, bloodmage/tactician has been mostly mentioned in solo runs, which I do not plan to do. Getting that brilliant effect might be hard when all party is engaging enemies. Cipher + tactician could definitely be interesting, but I have mostly seen it as a debuffer, which is not my preferred playstyle. I also do not mind single classes, I know sin tee posted a solo PoTD run with a single class wizard a while back. I am sure the game may have changed since then, got some DLCs etc. so I am really looking for a bit more up to date info. On a final note, I am not a power gamer, I like to roleplay and choose what I like rather than what the meta is, I may even choose normal/expert difficulty with full party instead of some crazy PoTD solo shenenigans, I do not need the all powerful super build, just something that is really fun, feels strong and is based on wizard or cipher. Also I pretty much always play on ironman mode, so I prefer characters that... do not die (hence the survivability). I do not need help with PoE1, I have plenty of knowledge there. Any help would be much appreciated. Just share your cool builds based on cipher and wizard :D

Adding portrait would definitely solve the problem, unfortunately I do not believe that to be possible on PS4. That is why I started this nonsense in the first place.

Thank you very much sir. That is exactly the info I was looking for. Funnily enough, only 2 out of 3 male death godlikes heads are shown in the video. But I saw the third one somewhere else so it doesn't matter. The third one (the one with horns not shown there) looks a lot like the death godlike in the PoE1 and the portrait as well. So I guess I'm gonna go with that one. Unless someone can suggest a character that: 1.looks almost exactly like a portrait 2.looks very similar in both games 3.is a male godlike(death fire moon, not nature) or male human I'm sure someone thought of this before I have so if you have anything feel free to share. Maybe even for other characters (not only my personal preference listed above), so other people can find it here if they ever look for it. Also thanks for the info on blights. I always felt it is kinda cheesy in PoE1. I mean, the only reason it works with a blast talent is because it is treated as a wand in-game. The lore or mechanic should have nothing to do with blast talent. So I'm going to avoid using it this time around. I think it is clearly a designer oversight rather than an intended mechanic. Which your info on PoE2 seems to support.

Hello dear community. I am planning a double playthrough of PoE 1 and PoE 2. As PoE 2 has not been released on consoles yet, I have some questions. I wanted to play a death godlike wizard. That would look and play very similarly in both games. 1. Is the character creation very different in PoE 2? In a sense that I want to have as close looking character in PoE 2 as in PoE 1. Meaning that if I choose the death godlike (I like the one with the red horns) will I be able to have the same look? (I tried looking online but I do not know how the death godlike presets look like and if they are very different from PoE 1) 2. The spell kalakoth minor blights is very effective with blast talent in PoE1, but it is implemented as a wand. Is it also possible to build a blast build in PoE2 and is the kalakoth spell also a wand? Or is it implemented like an actual orb of energy(like the description of the spell says)? The thing is that it is extremely effective in PoE 1 especially with combustive wounds, and I like to use it, but I would like to build without it, if its not in PoE2. 3. Are there some big differences in playstyle of wizards? Is it explained in the story that main character forgets everything? Or do you simply play as somebody else, not the watcher (with as little spoilers please)? These questions might feel stupid, but I wanna have one cohesive playthrough of both games, which would be almost impossible if the character looks completely different and uses completely different spell mechanics. Thanks in advance to anyone who has played both games and can answer. It is much appreciated. BTW: I posted this in both PoE 1 and PoE 2 builds sections, because it is related to both, but I have no idea which one this should be in and whether I am breaking any rules posting in both. If I am it is not intentional. So apologies in advance.

Hello dear community. I am planning a double playthrough of PoE 1 and PoE 2. As PoE 2 has not been released on consoles yet, I have some questions. I wanted to play a death godlike wizard. That would look and play very similarly in both games. 1. Is the character creation very different in PoE 2? In a sense that I want to have as close looking character in PoE 2 as in PoE 1. Meaning that if I choose the death godlike (I like the one with the red horns) will I be able to have the same look? (I tried looking online but I do not know how the death godlike presets look like and if they are very different from PoE 1) 2. The spell kalakoth minor blights is very effective with blast talent in PoE1, but it is implemented as a wand. Is it also possible to build a blast build in PoE2 and is the kalakoth spell also a wand? Or is it implemented like an actual orb of energy(like the description of the spell says)? The thing is that it is extremely effective in PoE 1 especially with combustive wounds, and I like to use it, but I would like to build without it, if its not in PoE2. 3. Are there some big differences in playstyle of wizards? Is it explained in the story that main character forgets everything? Or do you simply play as somebody else, not the watcher (with as little spoilers please)? These questions might feel stupid, but I wanna have one cohesive playthrough of both games, which would be almost impossible if the character looks completely different and uses completely different spell mechanics. Thanks in advance to anyone who has played both games and can answer. It is much appreciated.

Thanks, gonna try something similar. I really like godlikes though, so either death or moon godlike.

Thank you good sir. Would you care to explain some details of the wizard approach? I can see a shield and a hatchet so probably weapon and shield talent. How about the stats? Spells of choice? Maybe some gear suggestion? it is very impressive video so I would like to know a bit more.