StabbyMcGoodstab

I'll try to keep this succinct, and I'm really sorry for bothering you guys with this. I can't pick between a Priest of Eothas or a Priest of Magran. I get to Nekataka, do a couple minor side quests and start second guessing myself. Eothas : My main issue is that my character is basically a rehash of Eder so it feels like any unique perspective of the story would already be covered by him. The few class lines I've seen seem to imply that the character is fanatical about Eothas, which he isn't. I like that I can play this character without the reputation indicators because Shady and Cruel are easy to avoid (although there were some quests in PoE1 that sorta required Deceptive to be completed, which sucked). I feel I'm free to make whatever decision I want regarding the main plot - I don't exactly know what happens, but I don't feel like I would be railroaded into a specific decision by the green man or the other gods. I can more or less be a "godless" priest. Magran : Spicier. Can still be a benevolent character, but with a bit of kick to him when someone deserves it. Lots of Magran themed gear and fire keywords. But sometimes being a generous or helpful magranite just seems like I'm playing it wrong/metagaming, and I would definitely need the reputation indicators to avoid diplomatic and passionate options. I'll need to pump up Intimidate for dialogue, which might conflict with my "generally good" persona. I'm also going to run into the problem of asking "What would Magran do" in a lot of situations. Unlike Eothas, she's there and she's popular, so I'm worried I'll get to a point where I'll feel like I have to do what she says as opposed to doing what I feel is best. And as a side note, getting Torrent of Flame at 7 instead of Storm of Holy Fire or Cleaning Flame is kinda mean. So I guess the questions would be : is there any merit to RPing a priest of Eothas if I'm just going to be like Eder? Is playing a good priest of magran an oxymoron, or will I just be giving myself severe cognitive dissonance trying to justify it?

Only played until Neketaka. Between managing dispositions, acting in a way consistent with the god's philosophies, and the gods' relation to the main story, is being a priest a good idea for a blind playthrough? Especially if I'm not planning to be a 100% hardline supporter of the god? I love priest abilities, but I'm just a bit worried I'm going to be stuck having to choose between what I want to do and what the character would do in that situation, and end up constantly second guessing if my character is still valid. See, I once stopped a playthrough of BGEE and BG2EE because my paladin lied about the illitihium and I could never return to that character.

I just had a mild epiphany (sorry it took so long). This must work the other way around too, correct? One of my issues with the Lifegiver is that I felt I had to spend the Spiritshift time on spellcasting, thus not being able to use it for combat. This means I can cast HoTs then shift to fight and still gain the +5 PL bonus on those HoTs, right? Will it retroactively extend the duration too? How does the +5 PL affect Nature's Balm? Just extends the duration? Does PL have any effect on Nature's Bounty? I'm assuming no since it just creates potions.

Thanks again for the input everyone. So I'm getting the impression things aren't as extreme as I was originally thinking. I'm leaning a bit towards Shifter, but still not sure. I'm replaying PoE1 soon so I think I'll pay closer attention to how I play since I don't remember shifting much after the early game. Maybe Ancient or Lifegiver just fit my playstyle better anyway. Now, on to inane questions. Which healing spells are worth picking if I'm not a Lifegiver? Some tiers have a LOT of good competing spells. Moon's Light, Moonwell, Regenerate and Pollen Patch seem awesome, but are Cleansing Wind, Nature's Bounty, Garden of Life and Nature's Balm good in the long run? Is Lashing Vine just too redundant with Call to the Primordials? I feel like I should have more than one summon spell other than Oozes. Greater Blight, Fire Stag, or Aspect of Galawain? Are Returning and Relentless Storm almost mandatory like they were in PoE1? Unrelated to this, but is a Clergy background for a Priest redundant in terms of interactions? I spend more time thinking about playing than actually playing

I appreciate the input. I'm sad the summons don't seem to be that great. Oozes and Sporelings are nice but that's quite a few wasted spell slots. Lifegiver seems too much like the "correct" subclass. Its bonuses are so strong - gives all utility spells, and removes access to some mediocre spells, so remaining spell selection seems very straightforward. It really just seems like the other subclasses' bonuses aren't equal.

I'm going to apologize right now because I overthink things a lot and these questions are going to sound dumb and obsessive, because they are. I'm thinking of making a druid from the White that Wends who is a nihilistic asocial hermit who's not a big fan of the gods. I like the Lifegiver subclass, but I don't see how that fits with the asocial nihilistic hermit concept - maybe more a Shifter or an Ancient. Is a druid's healing still good without being a Lifegiver? Or is there a way for a Lifegiver to make sense? Does the Mystic background imply that the character has a favourable view of the gods? Might have to go to some backup idea otherwise. Are the druid's summons any good? I remember finding a thread about all the summon details but my brain is too fried to make heads or tails of it. Am I dumb if I make a Shifter who is mainly a spellcaster and only shifts when there's no good spells? Is Charm Animal or Hold Animal worth a spell slot? Is Rot Skulls still good? My 30 hours in the game consist entirely of screwing around in the character creator and maybe clearing the first cave. Option paralysis is real.

I have finished the game once before. I'm less interested in the gameplay elements, so the favoured weapons aren't really important to me. Casting fire and light spells when following the god of death feels a bit odd but there's not much that can be done about that. The roleplaying aspect is the bigger concern.

I'm having trouble picking a subclass for my priest, and I'm hoping someone can bounce ideas. I've already done one playthrough of PoE and I want this second one to be different. I have not played PoE2 yet. Berath pros: Was my first pick, Easy to manage dispositions, gives lots of flexibility The flexibility would make importing into PoE2 easier Berath cons: My last playthrough picked virtually all the same things a priest of Berath would pick Some weirdness with picking Scion of Flame since most priest spells are fire based while Berath has no link fire at all. More noticeable in PoE2 with the subclass spells. Many major decisions involve souls and it seems like there's only 1 appropriate solution for a priest of Berath Magran pros: Fire spells, fire goddess, Scion of Flame makes a lot of sense Lore would strongly encourage making different decisions Magran cons: Dispositions are harder to manage. Avoiding diplomatic solutions seems like it would limit my options, especially when importing After the Trials of Durance and the end game events of PoE, I'm not sure I want to follow Magran Potential solutions: Reasons why a priest of Berath might bind or destroy souls instead of releasing them to the wheel. I know that I can do whatever, but I try to be consistent with the lore. How Magran's disposition requirements (favours aggressive, disfavours diplomatic) aren't as restrictive as I think, especially for a blind playthrough. Why can't she just be nice to Durance

I appreciate the reply. It was helpful. For Maneha, would you favour two handed or two weapons? More specifically, pike + great sword vs dual battle axes vs dual sabres. What about Kana? I want to give him a shield to beef up his sturdiness, but I'm worried it would make enemies ignore him and rush the backline due to lack of damage.

I spent way too much time writing this because I suck. 1: How do you decide which frontliners should use Two Weapons, and who should use Two Handed? 2: I don't think I've seen any builds that use One Handed. Is it not worth it? 3: Biggest question - I want my party members to have a wide variety of weapons. My only playthrough so far involved my frontline having all greatswords and everyone else just using whatever I thought looked neat. I missed out on a lot of great weapons as a result and I want to get as many as possible this time. The problem is mostly the Weapon Focus talents discouraging me from mixing and matching. Well, that and great swords being great. I'm having the most trouble with Eder, Kana, Pallegina and Maneha. Can't figure out who should use two handed vs dual wield vs sword and board, or which weapons they should use in general. Should I stick with one particular style, like two handed, or could I have a two hander and a sword+board on the side? Or would I be stretching myself too thin?