1TTFFSSE

Yes vanilla PotD: Res can be at 4 for all I care. Con should be around 8-10 though to have enough hp not to get insta killed. With deadly deadfire I keep resolve around 7-8 and con 9-12 (with buffs) on ranged units

yeah those or gatecrashers - gatecrashers are +1 Might but 15% chance to knockdown on crit and a 1/rest ability to knockdown in aoe

I mean Fassina and Ydwin are no "dogooders" from what I've learned traveling with them. Fassina seems to have had a pretty abusive relationship with Arkemyr and is pretty angry inside. Ydwin only got to the deadfire because as she stated "stole from a dead man what she needed" but she did not say anymore about it.

If your ai scripts are set and everyone in your has gear boarding is pretty easy. Ai will always rush your low deflection toon though but you can use escapes/buff them - it is something you can plan for. Here I boarded "captain level22 Thanick" for fun...but the loot was not that good

with streetfighter you are basically a more survivable marauder but not a tank with trickster you can stack enough deflection to be a tank.

above post is pretty accurate from Tagaziel Xoti can go full chaotic evil with right dialogue choices - it's a shame and a bit immersion breaking though that she is still "nice" when talking to you and some scripted interactions that way but her random lines are then pretty dark (make her keep souls etc) Maia is a "neutral" mercenary character she will be a yesman/woman and just follow what you do Fassina in general is pretty neutral/ self centered from what time she was in the party Ydwin is not evil per se but she has a pretty detached view of life Serefen is a pirate so killing is right up his alley it's just he takes exception to slavery

you can do all of that and finish the game on your own ship but I don't know how much XP you will get because you won't complete any side quests only the main quest I guess.

Ai in deadfire is pretty aggressive in seeking out the most "squishy" character in a party. 0% Robes are in general are I find too light until maybe the very late game where there are very strong party abilities to keep everyone up, but leather armor especially when upgraded is good and there are some really nice unique ones. So I use leather armors on ranged toons or padded/gambesons, but leathers have the better uniques. On pure melee units I just give them the fastest 35% scale/breastplate armors I can find. Although there is an exception in the "Pale Hide" unique armor which is lighter 20% but is really good. Certain items like bounding boots (grant leap) and cape of the magnificent escape (grants escape when bloodies) are great on squishy ranged units. Also potions of invisibility to throw aggro off.

yeah something like that. If you have a problem with only 10 might you can lower perc, intellect and resolve all to 18 in your final calculation - it is fine then you have 6 more points for a balanced stat distribution I usually run around with zealous arau+upgrade it to hit to crit conversion so you'll be getting a boost to perception from that anyways.

Good info, thank you. Though personally I'm more inclined to pick (double) knockback vs everyone rather then the specific vessel targeting ability. But now I'm really glad I didn't pick the latter. I don't take either of those upgrades anymore. Killing a vessel outright is nice but not needed. Knocking enemies when playing in a party is annoying because you knock target away sometimes which are engaged by your other members resulting in slower kills.

Would you recommend dumping Resolve for Might, then? Or should I keep Resolve as is? 12 Con 10 Dex 17 Perc 18 Int 17 Res whatever is left into might. with weapon scaling of +60% in legendary tier having +6% might bomus or +20% bonus is no bif deal, you are not a spellcaster. You can easily get +20% or +40% on top from The Red Hand alone.

Ascendant is currently always better because they get more starting focus and focus per level and the -1 powerlevel malus to when not ascended does not affect your cc/control spells really only -5% damage to dame spells. On the other hand when ascended it is like +15% damage on spells. At high levels an ascendant can cast like 5-6 level 6-9 spells for free when ascended (at high dex+time parasite maybe even more) and that is like 500 focus for every 270 focus generated (at level cap I think you need about 275 focus to reach ascended state).

-You don't need blinding strike if you take glorious+inpiring beacon. Instead take finishing blow+upgrade to have a nice single target finisher after spamming criplingstrike+fod. -Two weapon style is enough in party based PotD since you will be using a dagger in offhand with deflection modal if needed. If you do go weapon + shield it requires a bunch of talents: two weapon style, monastic unarmed training and weapon and shield style so you can use the monk shield and a weapon. not worth it unless you solo play -shadow step cost way too much to be worth it imo just take escape it is enough instead take something like evasive roll or something else at that level I think tough is not worth it on any build, you are better of taking something like uncanny luck+improved critical later but definitely tough not worth it. And all the bulls will talents etc are overkill for party potd. If one of your defenses is behind to the others (usually fortitude) take that but only that. -If you are very high int and that is the most important stat on Holy slayer consider Withering Strike+ upgrade if you switch to an aoe cleave weapon when facing a bunch of enemies. usually you can start a fight with sword+shield and buff your defenses via spells and once your deflection is sky high you can switch to an aoe weapon without taking hits. The new greateaxe is great as well as the old Wohai Poraga.

Eder can leave if you steal the gems from Children of the Dawnsters on the first isle I think. If a companion is really annoying you you can also sacrifice them to skaen's on that one eastern island.

The Oneye Troll / Eyeroll is perfect for Aloth!

I think for poison you actually have to use poisons, unarmed training+cobra strike and the few abilities you get from that mask that drops from the Kraken. Anyways since poisons and raw plague abilities got abused so much they got the nerf hammer.

Any good Saber+pukestabber and +penetration food is fine.

berserker has confusion but extra armor rating and penetration during frenzy. Confusion means your aoe attacks damage foe and friendly targets alike. It is not the biggest of problems generally unless you are a spellcaster and a priest can cast "supress affliction" on you to get rid of the confusion. The extra penetration really helps with hunting bows.

Hmm, alright. Man, it's kind of funny how Trickster became more or less the go-to Rogue class after it got buffed. And, I think you've beautifully addressed what I was looking for - someone to set the encounter. With my Marauder, I was letting Eder engage, and having to dance around with the rest of my party to avoid getting hit. Now, important question. Would I still be able to get away with Scordeo's Edge and Pukestabber? Because that weapon set just SCREAMS pirate. Pukestabber is excellent on trickster based Holy slayer because the Dagger modal gives +10 melee deflection and if you are doing a build around riposte which you probably should if you are a melee Holy slayer that is excellent. As a fast weapon it is great in the offhand for full attacks too. The only problem with Pukestabber is one damage type and not the greatest penetration. But Scordeo's Edge, although an excellent weapon also suffers from this penetration problem on PotD sometimes. This is mitigated by Razor Hot Skewers food I think, which all in all is probably the better choice of food and more healthy than alcohol.

I think I need to admit to myself that I WANT to play melee DPS. I like that role. I suppose what I'm wanting isn't so much a class that has something in his toolbox for every situation, moreso one that fills the role with a certain degree of panache and style. A "roleplay build" that's fun to roleplay. With all of that said, I've more or less narrowed my choices down to three potential builds, all based off of different aspects of the thematic pirate. Marauder: The dirty, half-toothless brute pirate who just gets more and more excited as blood gets spilled. Shadowdancer (Nalpazca/Streetfighter): A constantly drunk, constantly high barroom brawler. The "Edward Kenway" approach to piracy. (Scordeo's/Pukestabber) Holy Slayer (But GOD do I hate that name) (Darcozzi/Streetfighter): The "Man of wealth and taste," exemplifying Furrante's ideal of the exile noble type pirate. (Scordeo's/Grave Calling) -- Only thing stopping me here is that Darcozzi's LoH buff doesn't seem that good. What's consistent throughout is that I want to play a Streetfighter, so at least we've determined that. It's just a matter of figuring out what I want to pair with it. At least I've narrowed it down somewhat. Well out of those Holy Slayer is the most versatile. You won't be the primary dps class on a well built team put you will be able do a lot of things especially if you go trickster on rogue. For Paladin you can go Darcozzi for "lawful evil" or bleakwalker for "neutral evil". But bleakwalker is more of a merc and less concerned with pirate traditions. You'll be able to tank as necessary, put pressure on targets through good attacks through rogue and even control the battlefield with some illusion spells. Offensive tank is generally a good class to main because you "set" the encounter with them. With marauder you kind of let the encounter start and then go do your thing ie flank/kill squishies like mages priests druids and archers.

It's hard to say they are very similar also in the numbers they will pull. I am assuming you will go /berserker or /helwalker? I personally like berserker because it has a faster setup: you hit frenzy - which gives you both attack speed and extra penetration all in one and you are ready to pewpew (and you need that extra penetration on a hunting bow - and you should be using a hunting bow either Aamina's Legacy or Animancer bow as they generally perform better damage than warbows). with monk you need to hit lightning/swift strikes and also tenacious blows which you get later to get the attack speed and penetration. I think "overall" monk has the higher potential if all the stars align on a crit ability etc while berserker is more baseline consistent. You'll be able to do some amazing things with monk at later levels through ability synergies whereas with berserker it is a more passive but efficient playstyle.

I think any "build" when complete kind of focuses on certain roles when all is said in done like if you are a rogue or marauder or variant thereof (monks fall in this category as well) you fall in line of being a fast melee unit that prizes themselves of being able to take out dangerous targets quickly and efficiently. You can do that with the support of alcohol and drugs with certain classes and items but it does not change the fact you are still there to do what you are most efficient at by design. A healer would prize themselves at buffing the rest of the group and keeping people up etc. The most versatile classes in deadfire are probably wizards and paladins as they can do a lot of different things because they have skills and abilities in their ability trees that offer the most variety. Paladins because they are the best melee "generals" on the field who lead the attack on the enemies and also support the team with defensives. Wizards do the same as well but through a different flair of skills. Even ciphers and chanters eventually fall in line with more conventional categorization because ciphers skills make them very good aoe cleavers an ccers and that is what they eventually become and chanters buffers and to a lesser extent ccers. As for solo it is a whole different game of balancing out survivability + damage output in one character formula.

I like Fassina's "realistic" personality in the dlc like she had lines like "bro ftw are you doing arkemyr's manor was a more homey place than this". Other nice lines from Fassina are "I wish that dragon would land on Arkemyr's Manor next". Rymrgand is more "diplomatic" in his responses to you if you are kind of straightforward and earnest with him - but in the end I was just like "yo I am only here for the loot" (which I was) and you do get extra loots if you fight him.

If I was soloing with a cipher I think I would multiclass either with a tanky class ie paladin or fighter or multiclass with a class that can summon a "vessel" type spirit creature like a chanter can or a ghost heart then you can do stuff like use that level 7 cipher spell that does lots of damage to undead by targeting your summon, and you can use amplified wave as well.

So with new Dlcs we are getting a large variety of armors and weapons that can harmonize well for a good character look - both visually and effectively for some chosen classes. I'll start and here a few of my favorite outfit combos: "The Hermit" - High Harbinger Robes, Magran's Favor, Frostfall and Mantle of the Seven Bolts and the Antler helm - great for a druid or shaman "The Dualist" - Devil of Caroc Breastplate, Saber+Rust's Dagger, Fair Favor Hat and Cloak of the Obsidian order - great for any type of rogue "The Roman Centurion" - Hearth Defender's Scale, Heaven's Cacophony helm, Scimitar+Sickle, a red cloak for accent "The Savage" - Helm of the Aurochs, Pale Hide, Spear+Pickaxe "The Inquisition" - Casita Samelia's legacy in Black!, Thaoas Headdress, Oathbreaker greataxe, Badrwn's Cover cloak