Ophiuchus

Here's a mod that prevents iroll20s from disabling achievements. https://www.nexusmods.com/pillarsofeternity2/mods/356 Huh. Seems like a big oversight considering players can import/export characters through Steam workshop - wonder if anyone has had their achievements disabled by mistake?

I've been enjoying the hell out of Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen the last few weeks. It's definitely got some cracks in the seams, but I find the combat and character customization fun and engaging.

Awesome to see the community still engaged in this endeavor. I've been out of the loop for a while - so I should get the new community patch + @Elric Galad's polish mod? Thanks for adding Frost to Spirit Tornado. I've wanted to play a Warlock or Tempest that's not Fire or Electric based so that small bonus is welcome.

Late to the game on this one, but I feel Obsidian marketed too much to Pillars 1 fans and could've spent more time highlighting Deadfire's advancements - like imagine a multi-class trailer that shows prospective players the difference between a Fighter and Swashbuckler to get them excited for the system. To get into these details, you'd have to have watched the Twitch streams or been part of the beta. Perhaps this was Obsidian just getting swept up into this new era of gaming where the pre-order customer is the beta tester.

Hey gang, After 14 months of delving into other RPGs, I've returned to Deadfire; I'm having some trouble readjusting to these mechanics, so I'd appreciate it if you can steer me in the right direction on a build I'm eager to try. I'd like to run a staff-wielding Ascendant/Shattered Pillar, largely because I want to play with the Community Patch and its companion, Balanced Polishing Mod. The biggest changes impacted by these mods are Biting Whip (adds a +20% raw lash to attacks) and Shattered Pillar's Wound cap raised from five to 10 (alongside a fix to Lesser Wounds). As a point of reference, I'll be playing this on Hard/Veteran (technically PoTD spawns with Veteran stats and Deadly Deadfire). Ideally, I'd like to play my character as a hybrid that can go from casting enhanced Cipher powers (Mind Blades, Disintegrate, Amplified Wave, Silent Scream, Borrowed Instinct(natch)) to utilizing Ascendant's +40% attack damage bonus. Wielding a staff should help me avoid losing Dance of Death and I can flip on the modal while casting. With Turning Wheel, Ascended and Borrowed Instinct will last longer. For fun and some AoE Focus, I'd also like to include primary attacks Raised Torment and Skyward Kick. Hammering Thoughts, Penetrating Visions, and Thunderous Blows add PEN. You know the score. My dilemma is in navigating these options while being able to generate consistent Wounds and Focus and maintaining good damage. The considerable lashes this build offers (+20% Raw, +15% Shock, +20% Burn, plus more from Herald Pallagina and Chromoprismatic Staff) is really tempting on top of Ascendant's damage bonus, but I wonder if they're enough to match Draining Whip's strong Focus generating power. I'm also wondering if Swift Strikes would be a better choice than Lightning since Borrowed Instinct will dole out a big spoonful of accuracy. With a slower weapon like a quarterstaff, and considering Focus and Wound generation, would the Shock lash be better than the Swift Strikes proc? Of course Heartbeat Drumming will find its way in later. Also, is Lesser Wounds useful on a Shattered Pillar? I've heard it's not so hot generally, but haven't tested it with this subclass and its modded form - is Shattered Pillar's Wound generation contingent on simply hitting the enemy or is there a damage component to it? Cipher/Monk has a wide spread of abilities so I'd like to cut down the fat whenever possible. (Cat accidentally posted this prematurely - will finish the post in an edit.)

Good to see a build that utilizes Explosives. Looks slick, thelee.

I finally got around to Neverwinter Nights 2 (complete set on GOG) and have been playing the original campaign off and on the last few weeks. Some aspects like the camera, inventory management, and commands have aged awfully but I think I've discovered how to navigate around them. The story is baseline and simple, but I'm cool with it since deconstructions and in-your-face meta-commentary have been done to death at this point. I'm also getting ready for the next Diablo 3 season (my old college buddies and I traditionally play it every November) as well as my yearly Final Fantasy 3/6 run: another tradition in that I've played through it once a year since '97.

Thanks for rejuvenating my addiction to interest in Deadfire, Elric. I especially dig those Barbarian changes, and I'm grateful you brought Mage Slayer from meme status to legitimate option. Just scanning through the thread here and there so two thoughts: 1) When adding those +ACC bonuses to Spiritual Weapons, would you consider changing Magran's version to dual Swords or dual Pistols? The current implementation is clunky. 2) With keywords, would you consider adding Elements, Frost, and/or Storm to Spirit Tornado?

I feel you, homie. I'm considering selling my plasma so I can afford a new GPU for TOW...hehehe.

It's going to be a looooong time before I can play TOW and restartitis is killing my ability to finish Deus Ex so I've been going through the Bioshock series in order of release. I finished the original (remastered) last weekend with a fire-based build and completed a full savior run. It's aged well, and it was nice to finally play it at a high frame rate (on release my narmy HP usually hit a buttery smooth 27 fps). As for right now right now, I'm about 3/4 through Bioshock 2 Remasterd and have been enjoying the hell out of it. The story isn't as strong or memorable as the first, and certain elements like Sofia Lamb's character and the Eleanor communiques feel ham-fisted, but holy crow is the gameplay phenomenal. Compared to the original, it feels smoother and more responsive, and it cuts out a lot of the fat that stifled the original's pacing (namely pipe hacking and swapping between weapons and plasmids). There's such a wide variety of builds and playstyles to choose from, and plenty of tricks to keep a build junkie like me entertained for future playthroughs. Currently I'm playing a "Big Frosty" build that runs around freezing and bashing/drilling everything to gory, slushy pieces. I'm using a gene tonic that disables ranged weaponry but significantly lowers EVE usage - not a big deal when I can summon three security bots. My favorite aspect is setting up traps and combining different effects into sequences, and I adore the Cyclone Trap plasmid - forming a lattice of tripwires and/or trap rivets and propelling a foe into them is good fun. At level 2, you can charge it with other plasmids (and their upgrades) for some sick combos like Electrobolt in water, Incinerate! near oil slicks, or hive grenades via Insect Swarm (that also turn enemy corpses into proxy mines). Add the Scout plasmid that lets you hack and use plasmids as an invisible, astral form, and you can cause capital chaos in short order. With all this freedom and flexibility, I'm not looking forward to Infinite.

Wishing Obsidian the best on this release. As others have expressed, they've made some of my favorite titles and they deserve every amount of praise that goes their way. Unfortunately I doubt I'll ever be able to afford a machine that can run it well so it will be some time, if ever, before I can experience it.

Work's been nuts lately so I've gone into casual mode with The Sims 3 and an assortment of expansions and mods. Frame jerks aside, it still holds up well with solid gameplay and plenty to keep your imagination satisfied. Right now my game revolves around two brothers/roommates, loosely based on our real life parallels: one is a quiet, bookish type that works from home as a writer (Gerald) and the other is an outgoing, more mechanically-minded doctor that sculpts in his spare time (Paul). I'm planning on the brothers starting lineages that are devoted to improving the town: right now they're working toward purchasing the library, and from there, I'll have Paul gussy up the property with custom sculptures and topiaries. At some point, they'll both do the marriage and kids thing, and their descendants will build community gardens, art studios, parks, hostels, museums, and other venues.

Figured it was the D&D equivalent to "abominations": the weird motley of enemies that doesn't fit into other categories.

After recovering from crippling restartitis, I went back to Deus Ex and committed to a stealthy build (pistol and crossbow with high Computers and Lockpicking) . I'm at the helipad mission - thinking it's 1/4 of the way through - and have finally starting hitting the right stride (stealth takedowns are wildly different in other games). This is simply a masterpiece.

For me, Tayn's Chaotic Orb is another cool spell. It reminds me of something made in Bryce.

A while back a poster mentioned that Chanter Living Illusions can summon as well. A whole armory of enchanted weaponry would be fun.

Most of my IRL friends from adolescence are RPG virgins so I've been slowly introducing them to my favorites - we're getting too old to play twitchy clown fiesta games so they've finally developed an interest. Lately I've been streaming VTM: Bloodlines on Twitch to show them a worms and all experience: that a game can still be meaningful and fun while overtly threadbare. I'm running a stealth and melee Malkavian and am nearing the game's final chapter... fearing the Griffith Park encounter. It's been a fun ride showcasing a game I've played through an embarrassing amount of times, and I've often gone into detail on some of its more esoteric lore hooks, along with its production history and cult status.

I like the initial damage as well. Should probably mention I have mods that add +Decay stuff. Also wanted to add the Cloak of the Phantasm summons: I've had a blast using it on a ranged character with Frostseeker, preferably a Cipher for foe-only Powers en masse. It was super spicy when paired with Combusting Wounds.

Kinda surprised Autumn's Decay doesn't get brought up much. It scales wonderfully with PL, and with enough INT and MIG, you can spray a group, load up on defensive effects and healing, and just watch everything melt.

Probably a more boring example but Secret Horrors is my favorite ability in the game, especially on a Beguiler: it packs in so much value within half a second and is available early on. Concussive Tranquilizer is up there too. I'm a sucker for disables and interrupts.

A Geomancer, probably Wizard/Arcane Archer or Ghost Heart with the Black Bow always seemed appealing.

I was just about to ask this...haha. Seems there's some anti-synergy with Warden: Claws aren't considered weapons so they wouldn't benefit from Devoted, Confident Aim, and the specializations; Unbroken is out due to shield focus; Black Jacket can't swap, obviously. Tactician could be an interesting choice though the Brilliant seems less impressive on DoTs and HoTs since they would simply get overwritten. Rapid Recovery and Robust stack, yes?

Deadfire Tweaks mod's Wizard modules add a +1 spell cast per spell level for non-Blood Mage subclasses. I haven't played with it much so can't vet whether or not it's OP.