Vitalis

Does anyone have any decent female Death/Fire Godlike, Island Aumaua, or pale elf portraits?

To me it seemed similar to the Japanese treatment of its Manchurian territories following the Meiji restoration: assimilation by "raising fellow aumaua/asians to the level of your own culture". Aside from that, Imperial Rome under the Julii-Claudii dynasty (I assume you mean this with Caesarean) isn't the best example, as they generally left the areas it conquered alone, so long as they paid imperial taxes/tribute depending on status, honoured Roman laws and acknowledged the divinity of the emperor. Romanisation occurred, but this was overall a gradual, non-deliberate evolution caused by the creation of colony cities in conquered territory for unsettled veterans, and the induction of local leadership in the Roman elite: both of which caused Rome to be influenced by the people it conquered just as much, as visible in local building templates, the gradual induction of superior local weaponry such as the gladius, and the rise of the local elite in the Roman Hierarchy. 20th century thinking largely imagined Romanisation to be more deliberate due to the experiences of the past century: this is generally seen as a mistake by modern researchers, though the debate on it'll probably never fully be resolved. My comparison to the Julii-Claudii dynasty (thank you for that) was more about the way the army was at the time, filled with engineers and still loyal to the Empire. Of course, their loyalty as still higher to their General thanks to Marius and Sulla, and was later used by Caesar to devastating effect on the Republic and later the Empire by other Generals. However they had the decency to keep the appearance until Caligula and Nero. The assimilation involved is more American which, as I mentioned, is evidenced by both Sayuka and the Orlan Peddler in the Brass Citadel. The Orlan indicates that she grew up under Rauataian(?) rule, she had no concept of what life would have been like before. The only ones that do are her parents and the other "elders" that were defeated by Rauatai, and they lament the loss of their culture while realizing they are powerless to stop it. In Sayuka, there's a fight between the Huana over the loss of their culture if they continue staying in the long house.

I'm not sure I understand why. The Bleak Walkers are mercenaries and siege experts - they believe in ruthlessness and preemptive use of force as a way of bringing conflicts to an end quickly and preventing drawn-out fights. Does some part of that doctrine fit better with one or the other of the Principi factions? Furrante's goal is to finally establish a homeland on Ukaizo, in order to do that it would make sense to employ a Bleak Walker. Aeldys' goal is piracy for piracies sake, she doesn't really have a goal. What would a Bleak Walker bring to that equation? Aeldys has fun raiding, a Bleak Walker would be brought in to either force the other side to surrender or devastate them. A Bleak Walker brings nothing to the ttable that scenario. The other reason working with Furrante makes sense is that he's the one that initiates contact with the PC. As such, he offers the first contract and if accepted the contract would be binding for the Bleak Walker. As evidenced by the quest in WM2, the only way to stop a contract would be the death of the Bleak Walker, which is unlikely to happen. So if a Bleak Walker were working with the Principi, all of Fort Deadlight would be massacred because of Benweth, all of the Wahaki would be massacared, and Aeldys and her crews would become the second massacre of Fort Deadlight.

Exactly, it's more evident that the nations in PoE were based more off of history, but in order to recognize it you need to know something about history. From a design perspective, it would be easier to base in game cultures on real cultures because it's far easier than creating one from scratch. Old Vailia can partially be associated with Spain/Portugal in that they have colonies, but the only similarity to Italy would be the accents. Of the history we know of Old Vailia, the Empire collapsed due to a combination of economic decline, conflict with Aedyr, and infighting of its "states". The colonies that make up the Vailian Republics seceded and refused to take in the nobles that would create the Principi sen Patra, which is why both factions are antagonistic. Returning to Old Vailia, an influence can be seen to the fall of Imperial Rome combined with the infighting of the late Empire as well as that of the Holy Roman Empire. The Republics however have similarities to the Italian City states of the Renaissance era combined with modern capitalism. The name Republics may be more of a misnomer as, from the information we have, they may just be a Republic in name only. We know they are a collection of city states, and the Republics are ruled by five Ducs, but how are the Ducs chosen? Are they inherited, voted on, or seniority succession? Unlike the colonies of Spain/Portugal, the Vailan's are not trying to completely obliterate the culture/lives of the Huana; which is also in stark contrast to Rauatai, who seek to do so. As for the White that Wends and Living Lands we still lack any concrete details of what each is like. I have yet to play through BoW, but I have a feeling that will expand sonewhat on the lives of the Pale Elves. As for Rautai being similar to Japan, geographically yes. They do seem to lack any source of food production, which in turn drives their expansion, but their expansion also includes forcibly assimilating those they conquer. Which in turn leads us back to Caesarean Imperial Rome, the Ottoman Empire, and America.

Rauatai comes across as a mix of Caesarean Imperial Rome, American Manifest Destiny, and the Ottoman Empire. Their soldiers are experienced with engineering, if not engineers themselves; they are highly expansionist as evidenced by the Orlan Peddler in the Brass Citadel; they are big on assimilating the cultures they conquer, again shown by the Orlan Peddler as well as Sayuka; the Roman military was always focused on advancing the Republic/Empire until Nero was overthrown; and their views on how conquer the Deadfire are very 1800's America. The Ottoman comparison comes from the fact that their entire army revolved around gunpowder. They conquered Eastern Rome with their cannons, they were the main reason Constantinople fell to them. Gunpowder may have originated in Asia, but it became what it is today due to Europe and the Ottomans. Gunpowder was developed by Magranites yo conquer the power of wizards. It is implied that it is one of the reasons the Aedyr Empire went into decline. Iximatl is a mix of Mesoamerica/Native America and the Buddihist/Taoist traditions of Asia. This is evident with Zahua from PoE WM and the description for the Monk class indicating they originated in Iximatl. The presence of scholar monks is also more associated with Asia than Arabia. The Huana are heavily influenced by the Polynesians, and I'd go so far as to say the Kahaunga represent the last Hawaaian Queen. As for the rest of your analysis, it seems more influenced by pop culture than actual history.

This disagrees: https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/104571-companion-build-tāwhirimātea-the-god-of-storms/#entry2082617 Tekehu also gets a summon at PL1 with his druid subclass.

With a decent Intellect score, Infuse with vital essence runs out around the same time as Frenzy. The only other second level spell to consider would be Mirror Image, and if you have the need to use it it would be best to switch to Vaporous Wizadry for the extra cast. Since all three casts are almost instant you shouldn't suffer from an interrupt while casting.

That sounds more like a player problem than a game problem.Maybe. But it's damn near impossible never selecting Honest or Rational decisions. Maybe you'd do better with Shady. Then don't play a variant that restricts using those options.

That sounds more like a player problem than a game problem.

Yes, there ist. That Grimore turns EVERY damage that you receive into an interrupt. SO you either have to be immune to interrupts or not get hit at all. Yep, I missed that detail on one of my Warlock attempts. I couldn't figure out why everytime I tried to cast a spell it got interrupted. It made me give up on that character and consider filing a big report, until I re read the description for the grimoire and felt like a moron.

Horns of the Bleak Mother: +1 Per.Wise Teeth Necklace: +1 Int, never bothered to change it although I should. Chameleon's Touch: +1 Res from Priest Gauntlets of Ogres Might: +2 Mig Undying Burden: +2 Con Eviee: +2 Res Boots of Stone: +1 Res, +1 Dex, also didnt bother to change. Is Eviee one of the new trinkets? Cool. Hopefully those aren't too hard to come by. I'll at least factor that into the build when I do a more complete version. Gauntletswise... Yeah, the Ogre's Might are probably my best bet. I can get them early, and I've no idea where the Deflection bracers are/the Cloak is better. It's the dog in Muhai's Estate in Serpent's Crown.

Horns of the Bleak Mother: +1 Per.Wise Teeth Necklace: +1 Int, never bothered to change it although I should. Chameleon's Touch: +1 Res from Priest Gauntlets of Ogres Might: +2 Mig Undying Burden: +2 Con Eviee: +2 Res Boots of Stone: +1 Res, +1 Dex, also didnt bother to change.

Aw dang. I actually REALLY wanted the saber she gives you for siding with her. Well as a paladin tha best weapons. For you would be the ones that boost fire damage for FoD. Which leaves Modwyr (day), Sungrazer, Sun and Moon (day), and finally Magran's Favor; a sword, two flails, and an axe.

You'd fit in with Furrante's branch of the principi more than Aeldys'.

See, that's what I'm saying. For a Paladin, whose whole fighting style is BASED on their creed, dumping Resolve makes no sense. And when you say 14-15, do you mean before or after Blessings and racial bonuses? I'm definitely thinking Bleak Walker for my subclass. Either. I think with my Templar I went 14, 11, 10, 15, 14, 12. With blessing and assorted items I'm at 20, 14, 13, 18, 19, 20.

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. Just worried about trap spotting, but I guess I have Maia for that - and I can't imagine there are that many traps you can't spot with an 18 Perception. And I do like the more balanced approach... So, Might: 12 (6 Base +1 Human +1 GotM +1 Chameleon's Touch +2 Berath's Blessing +1 Permanent Stat Boost) Con: 12 (9 Base +1 Effigy's Resentment (Durance) +2 Berath's Blessing) Dexterity: 16 (12 Base +1 Deadfire Archipelago +2 Berath's Blessing +1 Chameleon's Touch) Perception: 18 (16 Base +2 Berath's Blessing) Intellect: 18 (16 Base +2 Berath's Blessing) Resolve: 18 (16 Base +1 Human +2 Berath's Blessing) I'm not opposed to low Might, and it's not like I'm taking a penalty to Fortitude - at least at first. Put the remaining points into Dexterity. Trying to decide how much is enough, since the only action speed buff is if I pick Streetfighter. A Streetfighter/Bleak Walker does sound pretty cool though, but Trickster offers so much extra Deflection. Edit: Streetfighter's Action Speed buff is far from guaranteed. I would place Resolve at 14-15 and might at 13-14. It's not difficult to find +Resolve gear, and you really need around 18 to get most of the checks. I know Resolve is commonly considered a dump stat by many, but since it represents your characters internal drive, fearlessness, and determination which would be important roleplay wise for a Paladin. On Darcozzi Paladins, I never saw that they had many interactions with anyone based on their order. I know they didnt have any with Furrante or Aeldys for the early quests.

Have you done this quest already? Can you end it "diplomatically" without getting the diplomatic disposition? Yes, I just noticed I made a typo that wasn't fixes. It should be without it being diplomatic.

I once tried to build a character build around the Spearcaster and Chromoprismatic staff, it sadly did not get very far.

I'd say, yes. My issue with it that dispositions are not bound to factions/NPCs (Tyranny didn't have dispositions at all, only reputations with factions/characters). As it is, they look too similar to D&D alignments, where you tried to guess what the developers thought the dialogue options meant. Is it a lawfully good (well?) to choose to fight bandits (thus preventing them from attacking anyone else) or is it more LG-ly to convince them to let you pass without violence? (From an encounter in PoEII, by the way. At least one option to attack was disposition-neutral). Yeah, I actually really liked how the disposition system was handled in Tyranny (Now if only the companions didn't make me want to chuck most of them off of the Spire. Especially Kills-in-Shadow). I'm looking at playing a Paladin now so that I can have a bit more of a focused experience with the disposition system. Play a Templar so then you have four dis/favored dispositions. I'm currently playing a Bleak Walker Priest of Magran, which is Aggressive/Clever/Cruel with Passionate/Benevolent/Diplomatic as negatives. The in game description says that Bleak Walkers generally are not sadists, they just employ cruelty as a tool to force conflict to end. If paired with a priest of Magran, perhaps with a bit of Durance added in, the character can see themselves as a forge to put people to the test. For example, the character wouldn't necessarily decide to brutally murder the Bardatto's and/or the Valera's unless they advanced the plot far enough to get to that point; they could instead, try to get a deal going between the families, perhaps with a bit of minor head canon going on. With a high enough resolve there's even an option following the intimidates "ENOUGH" that goes "I think you are forgetting who I am. I went out of my way to arrange this meeting. State. Your. Terms." which accomplishes the same as the diplomatic response, with it being diplomatic. It also fits with something a Bleak Walker would say without it being a class response, I'd actually argue that forcing the two to compromise based on being a Bleak Walker should be an actual dialogue choice in it's own right. This character can also be Stoic and Rational as well. I find Stoic kind of goes with a Bleak Walker given the orders preference for never giving up on a job regardless of the employer changing their minds, a la the White March Part 2. Shady and Honest is a bit situational as there are times that are best served by either of them. This turned into a mini rant about why Bleak Walkers don't have to be Chaotic Evil, so I hope it gets the point across on dispositions. I have no issue with disposition points being spread out, but the game doesn't and can't recognize the details of why such a disposition spread exists.

I can't wait to see how Skaen gets you to sacrifice companions in Pillars of Eternity 3. Probably the same way he does every game, offer boons for a sacrifice only to have a *insert weapon here* shoved down his throat.

If you don't have a web link you can upload it using the attachment option.

WHOOOOOA, SHINY! How'd ya DO that, Boeroer? Due to a bug, if you used the summoned weapons and armor, saved and exited you would create a permanent copy. It was patched out in 2.0.

The problem is the moment they take out leveling you will compare the game on the story you get. And I do think PoE really doesn't want to be compared on story with witcher/DoS or even Tower of Time just to name a few. The story in this game doesn't really live up to Obsidian standards, that's true for the DLC as well.They did a very good leveling/class system which takes the game on its back and makes it fun. Let's be honest, the story (even in the first) is mediocre at best - it's in the ballpark of TESO and that's an MMO. They offer a product. I gave feedback on that product. It's no different of leaving a review of a restaurant where the side dish is killing the main course. Nothing wrong with giving feedback. The level of respect you show with this feedback ultimately says more about you than about anything else. I disagree on the quality of the story, but it's your prerogative to believe whatever you want. It's much easier being a hater. Best thing about arguing with fanbois is if you happen to disagree with them you are immediately a hater. And I agree, the method you are trying to take the edge out of arguments instead of reasoning tells a lot about you. If you so much liked the story, could you tell me a cathartic/awesome experience you had? I'm seriously interested, apparently I didn't read it thoroughly enough, because for me it was lukewarm and clichéd. I can confirm AeonsLegend is not a fanyboi.

I don't think she cares.

Maybe its just a mechanics case. Having a full blown Fampyr in the party would probably be OP. I always took her being a cipher as their compromise for not being able to give her full Fampyr abilities. She could probably get pretty close as a Mindstalker though. At least as far as cool Fampyr-ey abilities. Can you imagine if they actually gave her the full Fampyr immunities and everything though? She'd be ridiculously OP. This is also the result of her not being a full companion. Imagine the possibilities of actually engaging a fampyr that isn't going to try to murder you in conversation, besides the ones from PoE.