Auspex Hexprone

Yeah, this is pretty persuasive. On PotD I'd rather have consistent damage and reliable CC than a high-damage spell that could whiff at a crucial moment.

I thought I had my character pretty well planned out: an Ascendant/Ghost Heart Seer. But I hadn't really taken a hard look at the Ranger class skills before starting, and now that I have -- too late, fifteen hours in at level 5 -- I'm pretty much convinced that Cipher/Ranger really just means "gimped Cipher". Other than the passive that increases accuracy on distant targets, I really see very little in the Ranger abilities that makes me better as a ranged attacker or faster at building up Focus. Even the level 7 abilities I'll eventually access are all centered on the "empower" button, which I don't think much of anyway. I'm fond of my ghost lion, but he's not that amazing -- not compared to giving up the top two ability tiers of my primary class. What, if anything, am I missing? I'm playing PotD, so even though I'm still close to the beginning, getting back to where I am won't be all that quick, and I'm not eager to restart if I don't have to. Help me to love my Seer again -- or to face the bitter truth that he's got to be scrapped.

I'm planning a Seer with Ascendant and Ghost Heart, and I'm trying to choose a weapon type. I'm primarily interested in Focus generation to get to Ascended immediately, but damage matters too. What's my best ranged weapon choice? I was thinking of starting fights with Arbalest and then switching to warbow or hunting bow. Good choice? (I understand Arbalest will give somewhat less damage than Arquebus for my opening strike, but since this character will be focused on CC, I like the extra knockback and daze effect from the Arbalest.)

I'm replaying PoE before I start Deadfire both to get a good save and to give Obsidian a chance to patch a few more times.

I flaked on the backing period for Deadfire because Fig was new and different -- and now I'm super mad at myself because I really like the mockup of the Od Nua statue. Have people received those yet? I imagine there's no way to buy one separately after the fact. Is my best bet to just start trolling eBay for them in a few weeks, or is there some way to escape the consequences of my procrastination ?