Ophiuchus

Oof. Yeah. Real life has been riddled with anxiety the last few weeks so me brain be mush. The penalty is something to consider, yes, but with a full party using CC, afflictions, inspirations, off-tanking, etc., I rarely notice the malus.

I never noticed it with Llengrath's, the Large Shield modal, and other tanky effects.

Yeah, they always start off one level beneath your MC, I should say. I generally play with Deadly Deadfire (reduced exp) and it takes forever and a day for them to reach the Watcher's level - unless using Unity Console, of course. That restriction on hirelings has always been ropey. Would've been cool to have a BB that sets it right.

It seems you need to fulfill the exact conditions in order to please him. My main Watcher strengthened the Dyrwood in PoE1, abstained from killing the Sayuka Druids, shut down the Engwithan machinery, and directed the Crucible souls back to the island; didn't have to fight the croc.

Mind that your hirelings will always be one level beneath your Watcher and start at zero percent exp towards the next so it's important to make them right after earning a level. It's also helpful to do the Port Maje side quests solo so the exp is concentrated on your MC.

Second. My first run was with an Ascendant/Ghost Heart designed around those weapons. Driving Flight gives you two chances to crit, which is handy.

An Unbroken/Trickster with a Large Shield, Llengrath's, and Adept Evasion is virtually impervious to AoE attacks: especially great if you have a damage-oriented caster in your team.

It's not exactly recovering resources but Marked for The Hunt bounces to an additional enemy when the target dies, and continues to bounce. It saves Bond in the long run.

I had a lot of fun with a Trickster/Skald (Harbinger) wielding Sasha's Singing Scimitar and the Palm; with Sword and Shield, Two-Weapon Style, and Monastic Unarmed Training. MUT isn't that great as stated above but I used the shield more for its style, crit potential for Invocations, and full attacks, translating to another chance to score a Crippling Strike, interrupt, and concentration removal. Trickster adds some solid defense and utility (free sparkcrackers) while Skald brings stuff that works well with Rogue: weakness, concentration denial, paralyze, AR reduction, etc. It served well as a jack-of-all trades kinda Watcher.

The Dark Souls stream went well and my friends and I had a great time watching me learn the ropes and make mistakes. I only died once to the first boss and learned how to parry quickly so it's been going well so far. Seems to me the game's brutally hard reputation is something touted by gamers who grew up with quest arrows, regenerating health, and other dross mechanics.

Ah, it's not the end of the world since the issue doesn't happen all the time but I appreciate it. Use Dance of Death manually from Stealth If not under dex inspiration -> Swift Strikes/Lighting/Flurry, ~20 second cooldown depending on INT. If not under mig inspiration, under dex inspiration -> Thunderous Blows ~15 seconds depending on INT If under 50 percent health, use Second Wind That's about it, really.

Not precisely right now but a friend bought me Dark Souls: Remastered a while back and I'm planning on cracking it open later tonight. My circle convinced me to stream it on Twitch and I'm planning on going in blind.

Yeah, this one has been around for a while. It's especially annoying on a Nalpazca.

Stardusk has inspired me to make my dream Mage Slayer, and I'm more than likely going to start working on it next month. As I'm going through I've been making smaller adjustments to various gamebundles and am figuring out how all the pieces fit together. I just released a small improvement to Steel Garrote's namesake ability: from 2 to 1 Zeal; from 0.1 range to 0.5; from 4.5 second recovery to 3.0. It's a simple change that makes the ability flow better, and I've been having good fun mixing it with Body Blow, Bleeding Cuts, and Toxic Strike for a strong DoT. https://www.nexusmods.com/pillarsofeternity2/mods/347/

Yeah, I have the same setup along with a chain that leads into Thunderous Blows. I think the issue happens after using Dance of Death: guessing something about the component triggers the AI even when in Stealth.

Same. I played around with a Helwalker/Streetfighter wielding dual blunderbusses the other night. It's impressive but the micro is super annoying.

I run a similar setup to masterty with cheaper, general purpose abilities and buffs set to AI. Generally I don't like relying on AI since I abuse use ambush tactics whenever possible and auto sequences often get ropey while a character is Stealthed: I've had several Monks drain their Mortifications fast, spamming Swift Strikes regardless of conditons.

Lately I've been hooked on carne asada with scrambled eggs, scallions, green pepper, and mushrooms. It's a solid go-to meal for any time of day.

Agreed. Shadowdancer can be played in so many variants. I like the mobility and burst: makes for an excellent backline harasser and sweeper. Finally got around to trying a Helwalker/Streetfighter with dual blunderbusses, pistols, and Instruments of Pain... supremely spicy.

It's hard to rank them but it'd probably be close to: Fallout: New Vegas Resurrected my interest in CRPGs. Whenever a friend asks me for an RPG recommendation, I point to New Vegas straight away. Guild Wars 1 God damn was this a build sandbox. My friends and I would spend hours into the wee morn coming up with weird and wacky combinations. Only online RPG where I dominated at PvP. Pillars 1/Deadfire Should be obvious. I've clocked close to 1500 hours between both. I much prefer the first title's writing, narrative, world, and pacing but I find Deadfire's mechanics and combat system more fun and engaging. Both games excel at crafting builds that are powerful and thematically pleasing. On a personal note, age and disability have left me unable to play WASD games much anymore and I didn't react too well when they started to hit. Pillars 1 helped me come to terms with it. Morrowind To this day it remains my favorite exploration game: so many odds and ends to discover and pathways that take you in different directions. I knew this was one of my favorite RPGS the second I threw Caius Cosades' orders into the sea and went on my merry way. The immersion was mind blowing to me at the time, and the story felt meaningful and rewarding. Playing around with spellcrafting captivated me for hours on end and I enjoyed making weird spells like an enemy AoE Levitate combined with a self Jump. Also the game that taught me how to install mods and new PC components. Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines One of those games where the music, setting, and thematic elements blend together so well to where the atmosphere becomes its own character. Entering Hollywood for the first time hit me with a vibe no other game has. Dragon Age: Origins Not the deepest experience but I had a blast. Divinity: Original Sin The classless system was well executed and the combat is super fun and engaging. Using barrels as weaponry never get boring. Icewind Dale 2 The first CRPG I completed. Eye of the Beholder My first CPRG. My older brother used to turn off the lights and frighten me at inopportune times. The way enemies just materialize onto the small view window is unnerving. Special mentions: Baldurs Gate 2 I played through it once as a kid with a limited attention span and little interest in using magic beyond blowing stuff up - used cheats since the mechanics were too complex for me at the time. I can't argue it's not legendary and I'd like to revisit it at some point. Planescape Torment Likewise. My brother bought it for me but it didn't grasp me at the time. Wasteland 2 Woo boy. My therapy after a difficult month years back. I've wanted to delve deep into this one but I always clock out after the Arizona sequence; and I find the stat system annoying, especially after enjoying Pillars' linear progression. I like the game's style but there's something downright flatline about its presentation and the dad humor is what it is. MCA's contributions are great, though. Storywise, my favorite bits were the canon four from the original: having never played W1, I felt a sense of legend behind them, and I like how they were portrayed. Neverwinter Nights 2 I got it on release but my machine didn't agree with it too well: lots of buttery smooth seven frames per second situations but I soldiered through the base game. Been thinking of revisiting it. Fable: The Lost Chapters I know, I know: old Pete sold us a lemon but this is my go-to game when I'm under the weather and want to turn my brain off. It's fun and whimsical: a solid fast food experience.

Big ups, homie. IIRC, there was some talk about changing Farcasting from a 20% range bonus to a flat +2m. Did that idea make its way anywhere?

Hope he's ok, too. He hasn't logged into the Nexus in over a month.

Tempted to go Stalker/Trickster for superb defense and offense, and synergy with that pet ability that deals extra damage to enemies affected by DoTs - plenty of escape tools and utility, too, like using Concussive Tranquilzer with WotEP or Arkemyr's Dazzling Lights for pulling. Amra would be a good choice since the multi doesn't have an inborn Action Speed boosting active, and combined with Takedown Combo and Toxic Strike (plus Deep Wounds!) should result in some spicy DoT action. I like Stardusk's work, too: they've put a lot of work and effort into making unique and interesting changes. Some of the changes can be a little overtuned (Priest of Eothas) but it's easy to tweak values.

I had this exact same issue a few hours ago. Re-verifying the game on Steam fixed it.