jtbehnke

Really? What greatswords do you mean? All the other ones look either super-plain (Effort and Queen's Rule) or like no one bothers to clean them (Distraho and the Sanguine Great Sword).

Is there a way to utilize this WITHOUT Whispers of the Endless Paths as Pallegina's weapon? Say, like if your Watcher wanted that sword for themselves?

I think that's what I'll go with then! Thanks for the advice!

I see. I've got two real ideas for how she got going: As a theologian, she got frustrated with the many unexplained things about the gods and their nature, and her decision to go to the Dyrwood was motivated by wanting to learn more about how and why Eothas was killed, so she's not looking to settle in Gilded Vale, but planning on moving on towards the border between the Dyrwood and Readceras to explore the battlefields of the Saint's War and use her Cipher powers to learn more about it and find insight into how a god could die, a plan that ultimately gets sidelined when she awakens as a Watcher and needs to investigate that in further detail for her own sake and sanity, though along the way she learns more about the Gods and their nature than she ever expected to As a visionary (pun intended), she's more of a Luke Skywalker type of person, wanting to do the right thing and being motivated by her visions in the sense that, "I can't keep the vision out of my head, they're my friends, I gotta help them!" So when she has visions of the Dyrwood, she knows where to go to help, but no real clue who or why, and so once she actually gets there, she has no real idea what she'll do next, which is answered by her Watcher powers awakening and her realizing just how in over her head she's gotten. So...which seems "better written," so to speak?

That's a very good point, I'd forgotten that a Pale Elf is going to stand out in the Dyrwood, since you don't see them outside the White often. Out of curiosity, what was your character's class, considering you said a theologian seemed too "scholarly" for them. And the ascetic version would clearly work much better if I was playing a Monk.

Something I've been indecisive about recently has been the origin of my Pale Elf Cipher, a Mystic from the White that Wends. I can't decide in the conversation about it with Calisca whether I want her to be a theologian or have visions, and how those to connect with the later narrative of her past life. She's from the White that Wends because that's where the majority of Pale Elves come from, and Mystic makes the most sense for a character focusing on magical powers like a Cipher. The theologian option, where she feels frustrated at the lack of information about the gods, would sort of echo her past life with Iovara and Thaos, since from what I understand, the big moment in the Watcher's past life is when they approach Thaos and ask him a single question: "Are there no gods?" The vision option, on the other hand, synergizes well with her status AS a Watcher and as a Cipher, especially when you get prophetic dreams about the Eyeless to wrap up Part I of The White March. The question, after that, becomes whether she came to the Dyrwood because a vision said so or she didn't want to be used by people and came to the Dyrwood seeking anonymity. And in turn, that informs what she plans to do upon reaching Gilded Vale. If she came to the Dyrwood because of a vision, then she should probably say she wants to continue wandering, presumably until she gets an update from another vision. Contrasting, if she left the White that Wends because factions wanted to use her, and she wants anonymity, then she probably wants to stay in Gilded Vale to "lie low." That also ties in with the past life, since Iovara and Thaos both sort of want to use her to further their agendas. All of them kind of work in a narrative sense, but I'm having trouble deciding what would make the most compelling one for her origins. What do you folks, who've played the game in its entirety, presumably multiple times even, think? Which way should I take the Watcher's backstory in?

What kinds of humans would be most common in Rauatai, if any?

Huh. I see! Thanks for the info. What would be better to wear as a two-handed, melee-based Cipher? Should I go for lighter Durgen-Reinforced armor to reduce my recovery penalty as low as possible, or should I go for the heaviest armor I can wear and use the Durgen-Reinforcement to mitigate that?

Here's a few examples of what I'm talking about: Boeroer's Engineer Fighter uses enchantments to add Shocking Lash and Durgen Refined to Blesca's Labor, but doesn't increase it from Superb to Legendary, like I presume you'd want to, and only adds Durgen Refined to Old Gerun's Wall. His Counselor Ploi build doesn't upgrade Cladhalíath from Exceptional, instead adding enchantments like Burning Lash and stuff. Why don't these builds upgrade their primary weapon to Legendary?

Having looked at some of the builds here, I had a question on upgrading the gear you find in the game. Some of them recommend upgrading an item (especially the build's weapon of choice) only to Superb rather than Legendary (obviously, Soulbound items don't count, since you can't really mess around with their enchantments). I know that there's a limitation to how MANY items you can do this to in that you get a limited number of enchanting resources, but would you not want to upgrade your primary weapon to Legendary if you had the option to? Is there some kind of hard limit to how high you can enchant a weapon that's already got an increased quality "enchantment" on it (apart from the number of "anvils" a weapon can have)?

Touché! I suppose the proper thing to do that would please both gods is to play the game and see for myself!

Thanks again! This definitely covers the broad strokes I already knew from the wiki, but some details I wasn't aware of, like the large population of coastal aumaua in the Living Lands or that you can find Boreal Dwarves in the Valian Republics! That's the sort of things I'm interested in looking into with this thread: figuring out the kinds of population distributions in places we haven't seen like the Living Lands, or what people live in Rauatai BESIDES the two types of aumaua, or in the White that Wends BESIDES the pale elves. Let's speculate!

I was indeed told to makes sure to do the WM stuff BEFORE the animancy hearings so I can temper the Eyeless, if what's you're referring to. What kinds of items are you referring to? You have NO idea how reassuring that last statement is to me.

Something I've been wondering is about the demographics of the different Kith in the playable backgrounds in the game. Some of these are pretty obvious, like Aedyr or the Deadfire Archipelago, which are explicated in the books, but I'm wondering how likely some combinations would actually be. Like, Pale Elves are most commonly found in the White That Wends, but are there any places it'd make sense to find them in, if I wanted to play a Pale Elf with a background exclusive to one place (like Philosopher being unique to the Ixamitl Plains, or Clergyman being exclusive to Aedyr)? Do Boreal Dwarves live anywhere BESIDES Naasitaq? Some kith obviously can be found all over the place (Mountain Dwarves and Meadow and Ocean Folk, for example), as I've designed characters I've wondered if characters of certain kith coming from a specific places make sense with the setting's lore, and there's really only one homeland that has a specific breakdown of kith demographics that's playable, and that's Aedyr (the other ones are all non-playable, like the Dyrwood, Readceras, Eir Glanfath and the Vailian Republics). What do you folks think?

This was very good advice, thank you! So I think I have some idea of what I'm doing now. I've got a skeleton of a build in mind, but it's mostly broad strokes. As I said, I'm sticking mainly to Easy or Normal difficulty, so I'm not looking to do anything like Path of the Damned or stuff. Class: Cipher (I like this class just from looking at it, especially as it feels like one of the most unique character concepts in the setting) Race: From what I've read, if I'm looking to play a generalist kind of character, this isn't too important as it would be in one of the more optimized builds. I'm personally looking play a Pale Elf myself. Background: Like I said in my first post, the way to get a point in each skill right out of the gate as a Cipher would be to take the Slave background, being from Aedyr, the Deadfire Archipelago, Old Vailia or Rauatai. That said, I've also gotten indications that the boost to skills from backgrounds is really minuscule. Pale Elves come from the White that Wends, and the Mystic background really works well with the Cipher class. This is one of the areas where I'm really waffling. Attributes: MIG 14 CON 10 DEX 10 PER 15 INT 15 RES 14 I copied this from Boeroer's Backlash Bedlam Cipher build, since I'm angling to play a Cipher using a two-handed weapon (namely Abydon's Hammer, a weapon that's IMPORTANT to the storyline, like how the Silver Sword is in Neverwinter Nights 2), and I figured it'd get most of the job done, assuming I utilize things like accessories, resting bonuses and food. Talents: Biting Whip Draining Whip Weapon Focus: Soldier Two Handed Style Savage Attack Superior Deflection Greater Focus I've been led to believe that this would be a good core of talents for this character, and other things like Apprentice Sneak Attack and stuff would be icing on the cake. Powers: Mental Binding Borrowed Instinct Amplified Wave Time Parasite My understanding is that these are some of the best Cipher powers I could take, and then the following are ones I saw in Boeroer's build that would probably be solid with this concept: Antipathetic Echo Psychovampiric Shield Ectopsychic Echo Pain Link Body Attunement Mind Lance Equipment: This is ultimately where I'm sort of lost. I mentioned previously that I wanna use Abydon's Hammer for story reasons, and I know I want items that will push all my stats high enough that I can make all the skill checks, but I'm not sure what combination to go for, but I also don't wanna look like a clown. I like the pictures in the Let's Be Stylish thread (that's what actually brought me to these forums in the first place!). I know the basics, like I should go for the lightest armor possible, enchant things to be better and with Durgen Steel, but I'm not sure how much of that stuff TO do or how it works (some builds only seem to enchant items up to exceptional or superb rather than all the way up to legendary, which confuses me, and besides that I won't really be able to enchant Abydon's Hammer as it's a soulbound item).

I'm not just worrying too much, am I?

I see! Could you elaborate a little more, please? I don't mind spoilers, I'm actively seeking them here.

I have a bit of a hang-up with games like Pillars of Eternity: I get really, REALLY anxious when I run into a "skill check" or something and my stats aren't high enough in one area to achieve success in it. The best example is probably Neverwinter Nights 2, which was my favorite for years. I tended to want to play high Intelligence, high Charisma characters, even if that wasn't the key stat for my class, because I didn't want to fail Diplomacy, Bluff or Intimidate checks, since my own character was the only one in the party who could USE those skills, and I also wanted to be able to select conversation options from other skills like Acrobatics, Lore, and Spellcraft. This led to me using cheat codes so my Shardbearer could basically make every skill check in the game by themselves. My admittedly limited experience with Pillars of Eternity, both in the game itself and from reading the builds on these forums, indicates that this game is gonna drive me crazy. Each of the checks I've seen in the introduction sequence alone requires a stat of at least 15, and there's literally no way to make a character with a 15 in each stat. There IS a way to get 1 rank in each skill starting out by picking backgrounds that fill the gaps your class has (a Cipher/Slave, Fighter/Drifter or a Monk/Merchant or Scientist). And all the builds I've seen insist on dumping one or more stats down to the bare minimum to get their core combat stats as high as possible, so they can do things like Solo or Path of the Damned, which I've really got no intention of doing as I'm here for the story. So where does that leave someone like me who doesn't want to get a bad outcome to a quest because one of my stats wasn't high enough, or where the kid in Defiance Bay loses some fingers because my Survival wasn't high enough by the time I reached him in the game? I'm a real perfectionist/obsessive-completionist when if comes to the RPGs I play, and I'm well aware that I can't do EVERYTHING in this game (the Knights of the Crucible, the Dozens and House Doemenel are mutually exclusive), but I want to get the best possible outcomes in everything I do, and I'm not sure how to build a character capable of doing that with ANY class...

My vote goes to the Huana. They may have problems, but the Deadfire is their home, and the other factions are looking to exploit them and their resources. Colonialism and imperialism are nasty things, and I don't want to aid and abet them.

From what I understand, this isn't the case. If you completed her quest, you get a letter from her in Deadfire stating her kid is healthy and wants to meet you someday, regardless of which ending you actually chose, which makes sense since the reason the Hollowborn stuff is happening is because of Thaos' active meddling, and once that meddling stops kids can be born as normal. That said, Hylea's up near the top of my list, though I think Galawain is probably the best choice for the Dyrwood. On the other hand, I also do feel a bit of a tug towards Wael, mainly due to Hiravias, though I'll probably avoid his request because it implicitly asks you to break a promise to another god, an act guaranteed to cause more suffering and just not cool if you roleplay your Watcher as a real stand-up person, like I plan to do.

I see. And do you pick Wael's option for the souls in the end? I agree with you that Wael's encouraging of kith to seek answers on their own is admirable, but it seems like the only way to do what he likes in the end means guaranteeing more suffering because you have to break a previous promise to one of the other gods, and I don't WANT to cause more suffering or break promises.

I'm wondering about the True to Form sidequest for Hiravias, and just which direction to steer him in in the end. While I'm inclined to follow Galawain's request in the end and send the souls to strengthen the Dyrwood, Hiravias seems happier in the end if he sticks with Wael instead of going back to Galawain. If I encourage Hiravias to follow Wael, though, he'll also encourage me to break my promise to Galawain and do what Wael wants, which will mean the Dyrwood will suffer (and the dragon fights in Deadfire will harder, from my understanding). What's the more ethical direction to encourage Hiravias in? What way did YOU steer him in and why?