neotemplar

Have the same problem as you do. Once again, it is all about roleplay-powerplay conflict. My way of thinking over this: 1. The Rogue is the best damage-per-target class. Devs chose rogue-cipher (mindstalker) combo for Ydwin, her background pretty matches your description - educated, pro-animancy, progressive. So, rogue-cipher fits lorewise and is good combatwise. The only thing is to remember that in PoE Rogue is not equal Thief. 2. Ranger is obviously the 2nd choice, has synergy with cipher, but a bit strange lorewise. In late medieval times and pretty much through all later history progressive people lean towards cities. It is not early medieval, when remote monasteries were ahead in education and studies. So, educated and progressive ranger from the wildlands is hard to explain and roleplay. But he's good in battle. 3. Wizard won't do. Ciphers need to MC with classes, that add to damage output, or at least don't distract from "damage-cast-damage-cast" cycle. 4. I am thinking of trying Cipher-Chanter, but I am afraid it will be very weak. I like these 2 classes very much, but they don't add anything to each other. But at least chanting is done in background mode and won't distract from dealing dam and gaining focus. But so far I haven't seen any mention of this combo being of any success. In general, the most educated classes seem to be wizards, chanters, druids. We may also suggest that certain paladin orders and priesthoods provide general education (literacy and count at least). I'm not sure that ciphers were ever mentioned as educated in-game. As I get it, ciphers are more about inborn abilities and training, not systematic education. First ciphers were encountered among wild orlans and elves, who dwell in early tribal form of society, they are intolerant, closed, and not progressive in any way.

Paladins! Too much evil around? Can't stay holy? Take Tara Turu! (it is fake, the original text was about airplane guns)

Well, with current system it looks almost like propaganda Hey, drugs make you better. Then you sleep and all is fine) When in fact they make you think you got better. But advocating the guys I also may say that 3/5 of your list was created in industrial era via serious research. Eora's chems are pretty weak, all they are able to do is dry, make powder, make liquid, I think they don't change the original formula, only the form. So it is chewing coca leaves instead of cocaine and drinking papaver somniferum milk instead of heroin and drinking a mushroom tea instead of LSD. Doing raw, you can still remain pretty operational. Especially after some tolerance rise. We may suggest that their "fast" drugs are not stronger than good coffee, and their "slow" drugs may be of power level of barbiturates or weed, not more. That's why the huge numbers surprised me. To get such results you need to have advanced chemistry. +2 to metaphysics - no comments also inhaling gunpowder seems to be a bad idea

Pallegina is a very good tank-offtank-support and is a must on any diff. level. For PotD it is better to create mercenary companions (min-maxed) If your idea is to use only preset companions I would suggest 1st line... Eder (tank) - Pallegina (offtank-support) 2nd line...Durance (support) - you (chanter with pike using Long reach, there are good guides on such 2nd liners) 3rd line... Aloth (AoE DD) - Hiravias (DD, but pay close attention to his disables, he is a stunning machine) But I play defensively and feel comforted only with 2 good tanks, some go with 1 tank. Maneha is a very good DD barb, her stats are very high, she will "die" a lot, but will take many enemies. She is also a cool person. Sagani - meh. Kana - meh. I love them as persons, but they are not PotD material. Zahua - I don't use monks, people say they are good. I just don't see how a barehanded guy fights armoured knight, even in fantasy. Devil - too late, easier to hire a rogue. She has cool plot options, related to her mechanical state, but PotD is usually not about enjoying the plot. So, Pally for good control or Maneha for more offensive style. Hiravias for stuns. I also recommend to keep Maneha hidden, and suddenly raid enemy rears after the main mess has begun. She is able to take all enemy casters and missiles alone sometimes.

I am just trying to imagine... If my Arcane Knight takes them ALL after he casted all the enchanting spells (buffs) and switched on all his paladin abilities... "I will become death, the destroyer of worlds..." "Then I will just sleep in vomit "

"This product is rated M for Mature" Wow-wow-wow, thanks for the post. Bonuses are insane! If we won't get a really punishing system (the best for me so far being Fallout 1 & 2) with % chance of getting "Addicted to %drugname%" status and really hard times if addicted but in withdrawal/abstinence it will be just overkill. I myself had some bad times with drugs, not for long, but I may state that old Fallouts did it the best. You can not just "rest" addiction Heh. Strange that they removed timers of positive and negative effects. It was pretty good in PoE1. Like "bonuses for 160 sec, abstinent syndrome for 320 sec". They could add a % chance - not very realistic, but it is a simple way to do "the more often you take the more you risk" thing using standard math. I'm not asking for rise of tolerance, stages 1-4, overdoses, echo and advanced things, it is not a narco sim, but if you can get all this before a tough battle, then sleep through all the negatives, like not-addicted people do, and never-ever enter the stage where you can not sleep it over anymore - I see no reason not to eat, sniff or drink everything in range. Fallouts made you scared of narcotics (remember Jet, yes, not Bethesda Jet). And as there is no narcology in Eora, in fact addicted char should be pretty doomed. Anyway, good info to think about, thanks.

+1

Yes, chanters are 100% fine without any summons, if you wish so. Soft winds, Dragon Trashed, Killers Froze will do a lot of work, and high might will allow to deal mechanical damage. Summons are cool for tanky guys, hiding under the shield and relying on summoned DDs

Cipher is my fav class, but I can't say there are special areas where they shine, they get the most unique dialogue, but it is spread through the whole game, like general flavour. I remember doing Eder's personal quest with cipher and also some talk with Grieving Mother. Also maybe in Skaen's temple there is an option to interact more with a certain girl. But I can't say they are soooo wonderful with cipher and so boring with anyone else. Also the build is a bit strange. My ciphers usually go like max might, max perception, good int. Resolve, constitution and dex are dumped to min. Shooting things with guns for max damage, no armour, ignoring close combat completely. Picking abilities that are marked "fast" in description, so won't suffer from low dex. But it is your cipher, of course)

And if you want to be untrackable, unhunted pirate, I would suggest converting to islam, entering berber society and taking a career in mediterranean sea. You will have a huge northern Africa coast with lots of markets, full social support and Turks on your side and will be able to last until 19th century. Still you will hunt down small lonely unarmed boats with soap, but at least you will get some slaves and good cover. But be ready to pilot a small boat also. Still no lonely galleons packed with gold, of course. If Principi control something like a continent shoreline, yes, you can be descreet in Deadfire, ignoring gov. ports completely

Are we talking about romantic pirates from novels or about actual pirates of real dimension? Well, historically there were 3 main factors against "stealth" pirates, in a fantasy world they may work and may not a) each ship entering a government port was recorded, including cargo on board (cargo was also taxed), number of crew hired in that port to replenish losses, repairs done to the ship, and sometimes even the distinguishing features of a captain. This registries survived till nowdays. b) meeting a ship in 17-18 century was way more rare than in 19 century-nowadays. If you could show a chart of Atlantic navigation of Titanic days to a sailor of Tortuga era he will say you are insane and it can't be, the same for modern container routes. So each ship in a certain sector was a RARE occasion and attracted attention. Being a resident of a port, you could name all ships that will enter this port in a year. с) Sorry to disappoint you, but IRL your chances to meet a SINGLE galleon and get safely to 1 km distance to him were extremely low. Anything of any value was escorted. Ships almost never went alone. To attack a group of trade cargos + military or hired escort you need your own little flotilia. Even if this galleon was cut off by storm, is damaged and lost in space, it is still a tough target. Real pirates attacked small lonely ships, usually unarmed at all, took soap, bricks, wood, grain - anything of value. Their ships were usually in extremely poor condition, and their crew was rabble and panicked at any smallest threat, surrendered and was hanged. Of course, there were corsairs (capeers) but they are rare elite guys, usually acting openly, with huge flotilias, well-known across the seas and getting full support of their gov. ports (usually with military ship status, it means that the port repairs and refills you for free). Such guys didn't hide, in opposite - sometimes they used their name to make opponent panic. They are not even pirates, they are more like mercenaries. It was a VERY VERY unfortunate fate to be a pirate. They lived for several years, they were poor, they were trackable, they were hunted, and when european governments started to hire sailors massively, in mere century they all went to serve under the roof of law and piracy was ended. So no stealth raiders, sorry.

Well, it depends upon the level of your imagination and what you personally consider "dark". Let me explain. Of course, Bleak Walker is obvious. He is dark knight "from the box". No imagination required, he will be exactly what you need. He is agressive, cruel and likes violent approach. Then, "Muscle Wizard" (close-combat mage) was huge fun for me - uses draining summoned weaponry, parasitic staff avaliable at level one, then you switch to Lance, also you focus on protective spells (to survive) and "dark" leaching debuffs. Basically, if at level up you see something with the name of Concelhaut - you take it. Concelhaut is a pro in dark leeching magic, also you will have a chance to kick his ass in the very end of the game and become the ultimate badass mage (White March part 1 dlc required). But for me, chanter is a very grim and scary class, but to enjoy him you need to play on Hard, battles are very fast on other levels, and chanter is a "carry" class, he needs time to shine. Chanter is not a merry singing music box. Chanters use music to collect fragments of souls around them, enslave them, make them serve their will and they are in fact true necromancers of Eora. The idea is this. Imagine you meet a man, who starts to sing, or mumble, and you feel that this song drains your life power with every note (chant - "Come, come, soft winds of death"), after some time the song becomes stronger, and ghosts start to appear ("But the spirit shall not rest"), then skeletons rise from the ground ("Bones under the hill"), and you understand you are paralysed as they approach to get you. Chanter can do all this. Not mentioning: wyverns, ogres, skeletons that split in two and rise again when killed, drakes, debuffs like paralyse or destroying armour. He is like black metal singer, but all his songs become reality. To me chanter is way more intimidating then anyone else, as long as you learn some lore and have good imagination. The problem is that in PoE you meet Kana the chanter, who is very positive and pleasant, and playing at any levels below hard make you think he is useless. When he is ready to shine, the battle is already over And I also like the idea that art is a kind of magic.

I confirm As a commander of a military starship, carrying lethal weaponry, I became aware of Jack's instability. As there is no way in the game to send somebody to a competent specialist (and as she is not a crew member to be ordered to brace herself and do the job), I felt it was my duty to cheer her up. We had a long talk, in which she cried and thanked me. After some time I came to her to check the dynamic. Suddenly we "banged, okay". After this episode my Shepard signed himself to English courses at Citadel School of Linguistics

I agree, the lore of orders and their interaction with each other is not done deeply enough and you have to "close your eyes" sometimes. One more episode to add to yours, in WM there is a quest involving Bleak Walkers on a contract, and I was eager to see their dark philosophy in practice. But all I saw was pure sadism and... you know, like young thugs in bad districts, intoxicated by their "toughness". In my mind, walkers philosophy should be something like "atom bomb arsenal" philosophy. Yes, we create A-bombs, but we do so to avoid huge-scale world wars, not to unleash hell and feel cool for a moment. I turned their leader into a pig and Sagani shot him with a shotgun I still remember it with such pleasure... Maybe in Deadfire we will get more literature and even some institutions (HQs or local branches) in action. UPD: I thought for a while and I think such situations can be (poorly) explained in such a way: Eora is in late medieval stage, they don't have centralised post system, not mentioning telegraph nets or radio, so goldpacts may operate from a local branch, not connected (at least not quickly connectable) with other local branches. They don't have a uniform (once again, due to early ages), so when someone is running at you in full plate with bloodied axe you can't identify him as your fellow. So sometimes they clash, like real world soldiers attack friendly targets due to poor communication, or artillery setting friendly fire etc. In such unconnected world, the only way to operate a spread organisation is being like alchogolics anonymous - your central office issues core rules, sets principles and gathers statistics, but local groups operate on their own, with sometimes years for a letter to reach central HQ. When you see enemy marked as "Goldpact Knight" - it is in-game marking of the unit for the player, it doesn't mean that your party understands that it is one of their kind. Your experience in a private army corp is very interesting, btw.

Golden age BW KotOR Companion - Juhani (catlike lady). a) introduced in a time of personal crysis, initially shown as enemy, need to fight her, she will kill you without doubt. Still, if you drop your hatred you may save her, but it takes some will effort and jedi roleplaying. You get a lot of info on her before you meet her. b) has flaws, and serious - she latently leans to dark side and if unattended will move to it completely. injured her jedi teacher, went raging instantly, very unstable psyche с) she can be influenced in both ways, making her sith or jedi with really meaningful consequences d) is really hard to open, not scripted to wait untill you show interest and then instantly open her soul, mind, pants. Core motivation to interact - an urge to save a troubled soul, empathy to her. You behave like Luke, refusing to hate Vader, because hatred only destroys. Or you play like Palpatine, playing her like a doll and destroying her and her life. Appearance - average, no sexual traits openly shown, also half-cat (catonoid? Lesbian, but all of the "change" part is open to any protagonist, for males she will become a friend. The reward is her changes inflicted by your actions, not a cutscene of banging. Late BW. Andromeda, but ME2-ME3 also fits here Kora Harper (blonde biotic commando) a) introduced like furniture, as a part of your crew, you have no idea who the hell she is b) no flaws. yes, she is pissed that your father chose you as his successor, when she has been training her whole life and is second-in-command officially, but she drops it after one dialogue с) she will not change, your actions are insignificant. Yes, you can make her talk about hard days of biotic training, that's all. d) she is scripted to respond at once if you pick "heart" sector in dialogue Core motivation to interact - sex cutscene. It would be cool if she despised you and your motivation was to stabilise climate in your whole group, prove yourself and earn her respect. Remember troll specops lady from Shadowrun Dragonfall who was pissed by your career jump and blamed you of letting her beloved commander die? And being german KSK she couldn't make herself say anything warm? Appearance - "I am designed as a sex partner for straight male protagonist. I am a soldier of special forces, killing machine, but I have model body and behave like I work in office". The ultimate thing about relationships is that they mean "people become related", bonded, and influence each other. Bioware lost it, Obsidian still has it.

I always hated "flat" paladins of DnD (classic early editions, later they allowed them to be of any alignment), but I greatly enjoyed roleplaying goldpacts in PoE. When you really think hard, should you take the quest or not, don't feel shy to negotiate price, or refuse the quest completely, but if you take it - you do it no matter what. Like literally you "Let the whole Rome burn down, but the contract be executed". And if your employer refuses to pay or tries to change the terms on the fly... well, let's say... you better pay a goldpact

No, no, Bioware is a great and legendary studio and their part in developing relationship systems in gaming is enormous. They just had some degrading in latest titles, and freedom has turned into dating sim, sometimes with forcing the player to go into close relations without fully understanding it. My personal hate is only to nowadays Bioware+EA. Under EA they were forced to make best selling product, keep every possible gamer group satisfied. I really prey OBS will never fall into this. They are one of the last bastions standing. Only latest Bioware products turned their relationships systems into a meme, at certain time they were revolutioners.

As I understand the lore, being a PAL in PoE is being in a certain state of mind, and in DnD it is being on a certain side of morality scale. If you are very-very sure of your own morality code (even if it seems doubtful or completely disgusting to some others) you are able to "ignite" your soul and do some soul magic. So, it seems that in Eora you may be, let's say, extreme nazi, or religious fanatic, or small dogs hater, but if you are very sure that your cause is just, and better for the greater good, you will be able to do things, that in DnD are associated with "light side of the force". I really like the idea. Sometimes terrible people do terrible things, but their faith in their good cause keeps their psyche from collapsing and even gifts them great inner power. In DnD if paladin commits a certain act he is "fallen", and the kind of act is usually prerecorded in rules and judged by GM (or the game engine being the GM) = objective judgment. In Eora the paladin himself judges his or her acts, if you are ok with your soul, feel no regret - you are still a paladin = subjective judgment. That is more evolved and mature view of paladins IMHO. So, let's say I am a goldpact. For me a contract is holy. Even if this contract is to kill a group of robbers, and among them there is a pregnant thiefgirl. I kill a pregnant woman, but my view of my actions as "holy" actions is not doubted, so in my eyes I remain a holy warrior, have "something of LIGHT", etc. Makes sense.

You are mixing aestetics and sexual (romantic) impulse, and they are pretty unconnected. If certain gender is not sexually attracting to you, which is the root of any romance feelings, you are not able to rate people of this gender by their attractiveness. It is like saying that a deaf person is able to make top 10 songs of all times rating, or a colourblind is able to pick best colour for a car. Aestetic feelings may be, and often are, asexual. David's statue is a masterpiece because it is well done, with extreme knowledge of propotions that comfort the human eye. At the same time people like Celentano or Statham are adored by many women (and some men), while they are not so good in terms of pure aestetics and in most cases won't be picked up by sculptors as a prototype. I am not interested in SJW, I am interested in getting good content in a product I pay for. Good for me, not good for the society or some social movements. So in the topic "Player sexual companion" I state that I don't see a sexual companion for me so far. Based on info we are able to get so far. And I will be happy for those who do, for their game experience will be better. I, personally, am a bit upset about fem companions.

Yes, I agree that my view is not completely clear of 2x standards or stereotypical thinking, well that is just my view on the picture, it can be pretty distorted. The topic is about personal thoughts, not cold analytics Ydwin interests me only due to her scientific background mixed with rogue-cipher way of life, that was a very interesting preset to develop a cool character. Her appearance is maybe the worst. I am sure there will be a mod, the question is - will it have quality. It is hard to match pro-writers of Obsidian level. About male companions - easy, I am not able to evaluate their physical attractiveness, as I am not into males, so I focus more on their archetypes. As for ladies I also pay great attention to their personality, except only for Maia - we know nothing about her except she is Kana's sister, so they may share some common features, she is a noob captain, and she is an agent of Rauatai trade company. But that is about job, not about her personality. She may be Kana in skirt, or may be completely opposite. As I mentioned, feeling no interest in given set of female companions will only lead to more focus on the plot of the the game, relationships are cool bonus content, but not necessary at all. Besides, my default rogue-cipher is more interested in whores, and my secondary paladin-chanter is all about good deeds and duty. My RP style will not require romance at all.

If you change a portrait, you won't change a 3d model, which is set in stone and is even more detailed than in PoE1. It is not BG with a bunch of colored sprites. Most of the time you see your party on the map in good 3d, and things like Maia's size or Xoti's overall "latina" type will be there. Setting pale elf portrait to a char, who obviously has black hair and brown skin is strange and only breaks the immersion. My view of companions at this point is not based on supposition, all this facts have been stated by devs. Xoti will be religious, and it will cause conflicts inside the party, and it was stated by Sawyer multiple times, etc. There was a huge movement to add Ydwin as a companion, there is a huge thread here and it was even a goal for $5M kickstarter goal. The main motivation of people asking to add her was interest in such type of female character, not just a strange urge to have one more companion. About Xoti, a human girl, being statistically more attractive to a human male (average player) - it is basic psychology. People feel more attracted towards people, not aliens or strange creatures. We may go for exotic, but are still programmed to get attracted to our kind. This works even on the level of human races, when in most cases a partner is usually found among the same race.

How did you manage to convince him to do that? I saw people complaining that he wouldn't agree even after you finished his quest, and the only way to make him do the spoiler thing is to draw straws and have him lose (which is random and may take a lot of reloads). Yes, the straws and save-load. I really wanted him to be gone, but also to have clear hands. When he refused my direct order he signed his own sentence! I also had only him and PC in the party, so this random is 1:1 (not my first run, obviously, so I knew things ahead) UPD: I remembered that I didn't even save-loaded, the Great Random chose him at first roll. Maybe it is not even 50/50, maybe PC gets some lowering coefficient, I never saw the code.

I am pretty sure, knowing Mr. Sawyer's sharp and tricky mind, that things won't be easy with romance at all. At this point, straight males seem to be in disadvantage, just compare the pools Xoti - most attractive to average player, she is human, but may be "I-belong-to-God" type, she is also a zealot, maybe to the point of religious fanatism. Pallegina - second in rate, but she is godlike, and extremely difficult to get along with, with very complicated set of views. Maia is... khmm... of certain constitution... (hell, she is huge). Guys begging to add pale elf to companions list prove that the pool is not covering all types of preferences. Fanatic, half-bird and a giant... oh yes. And the girl's pool seems to be way better. Girls get calm macho man, intellectual sensitive boy, exotic local shark boy badass pirate guy This is how commercial boysbands are usually formed - one archetype for each possible fangirl. Even if I am wrong and some female players will say "I also don't see MY option", still the diversity seems to be greater. But. I am against Bioware's "we'll all bang ok" style and for my first run I am ok with no romance at all. In PoE1 I was charmed by Sagani, I really respected her and was driven to help her with her quest, but it felt ok that she had a pack of kids, a husband and so it is respect only. I was happy when she became a cool elder and reunited with her huge family. No such archetype in the sequel, so I better focus on the storyline

It is funny, but I tried to get rid of Durance in the end of WM, sent him to certain death (no spoilers how) and this sick bastard managed to survive! And he also got a good ending of his personal quest! I am such a perfectionist, sometimes it plays against me. I really hate him, but it is my problem, of course. So yes, if you are attentive to your mates, listen to all their crap and do some psychotherapy, you will fix his mind automatically. His quest is one of the easiest in fact.

After communication with all the Gods possible I became fond of Hylea. I hope there will be a mod to roll a Hylea priest. Hylea priest will be very good with Chanter, for she is a patron of arts and especially fond of singing.