Alesia_BH

Thanks! I did notice the B on the dagger. (We never found the killer because we never looked for him.)

Arcadia, Moon-Godlike Wizard: Ondra's Gift Surprise, surprise: Despite my best efforts, Arcadia's updates have fallen behind her progress, mostly due to an absurdly long (and entirely regrettable) playing session. I apologize for this, everyone. And when I say everyone, I mean you, dear readers, but also Arcadia and her crew. Arcadia yet lives, but she has suffered a few bumps and bruises- all of which were unequivocally my fault. In my short PoE career, I have noticed a clear trend: the quality of my play decreases as the length of my sessions increases. This is due to two factors: 1) in long sessions, my computer over-heats, causing lags; 2) in long sessions, my brain over-heats, causing lags. I intend to spend the morning uploading catch-up posts. You'll note a steady and then precipitous decline in the quality of my play. Hopefully this experience will nudge me back into the pattern I had developed earlier in Arcadia's run: short sessions, focused play, brief but detailed posts. That's clearly better for me, for you, and -most importantly- for my characters: none of them deserve to die because I couldn't fall asleep. Anyhoo: Where were we? That's right: Ondra's Gift. Inspired by Serg's post on Ondra's Gift, I decided to complete the area's quests for the first time. I think I got them all. Let me know if I missed anything. First, Supply and Demand. Since I wasn't expecting this fight, our initial positioning was off, leading Cassia to Withdraw herself at the very beginning of combat, before she could get injured. Once we got that squared, everything went fine. Here we see Pallegina, Eder and Arcadia fighting in melee while Alikae and Alena provide ranged support. No injuries of note here. After dispatching the thugs, we settled the quest with a dialogue option, using our intelligence score. Apparently there is another side to this quest, involving the Doemenels and bitter squash seeds? We never saw that. Next, All Hands on Deck. In keeping with the nautical theme, we went over-board with spells here (I know: I'm not punny). Onto Clandestine Cargo. The most remarkable thing about this quest was that our pet cat followed us into the water. Seriously: when does that ever happen? The first animat fight went smoothly. The second, which I wasn't expecting, was a little messier because we had fewer spells and pulled the adra animat earlier. Alena, who had pulled the adra animat, preemptively withdrew herself. No worries after that. Finally, The Wailing Banshee. I'll just cover the more interesting first floor battle here. This went well. We opened by dropping beetles, gathering together, and then buffing. The wizards have their veils and illusions. Alena is wearing Rymgrand's Mantle. The only vulnerable one is Cassia. We had her tap L3 early, in the event that she needed to Withdraw herself. She also had her shield and Llengath's potions at the ready in the event that she was threatened but needed, neither of which happened: she was never threatened and we didn't really need her. The spirits came for Cassia, predictably, but the priests handled that, with a minor assist from Arcadia. Alikae and the adra beetle, meanwhile, focused there attentions on the main enemy group. The priests are safe now. They refresh our Inspiring Radiance and begin pumping Iconic Projections. Into cleanup phase. More updates soon. Best, A. PS: We did Brave Derrin, too, although we never found the killer.

I don't know. I, too, would appreciate an answer to this

Great work, Enuhal! Looking forward to your Thaos post! Best, A. Btw, I'm impressed with your barbarian. I may have to try one soon!

@Enuhal. Sorry for the loss of your NPC. Your mishap sounded extremely similar to Ashoka's close call in Through Death's Gate. Counting Semiticgod's unpleasant Infestation of Maggots experience, we've now had three. That threat needs to be on everyone's radar. Anyhoo, great work! Looking forward to your new post!

To be clear: my comments weren't directed at your Aloth build, but, rather, the Zeblastian Hurtstacker. And for the reference of those who haven't clicked the link, the build skips Arcane Veil and uses the Nature Godlike race, with the intent of leveraging Neverending Wellspring by perpetually hovering between 50% endurance and death- with a con of 3. The description calls it a "pure-glass canon." The merit of the build being that the author "enjoyed the thrill of being in constant danger." That sounds awful to me. As mentioned earlier, I appreciate the appeal of a ranged physical damage dealing wizard- so long as one doesn't sacrifice too much in the interest of achieving that. There are certainly sensible ways of approaching that. I'm sure your Aloth strikes a better balance My full statement was that the build "compromises the wizard class's greatest strengths, defenses and vancian casting, to maximize its greatest weakness, physical damage dealing." The distinction between Arcadia and the Zeblastian Hurtstacker is that Arcadia's build does not compromise defense and survivability or vancian casting in the interest of additional physical damage. Rather, it seeks to leverage the wizard class's innate flexibility and defensive strengths to grant the party a third tank, if and when that would be desirable. Arcadia spends most of her time casting and then flips to melee when her party needs her to. Her talents and abilities emphasize defense and casting. Best, A.

I'm the same way. Style matters to me. I'm comfortable with the Outworn Buckler with some paladins, less so with others. With Ashoka, for example, the Outworn made sense. Ashoka was a Kindwayfarer who operated independently, as is common in the order. The Kindwayfarer order is on the roguish side as paladins go. Kindwayfarers are also travelers by nature. A practical, light, party protective shield fits perfectly. It makes less sense for Pallegina. She strikes me as a practical, no-nonsense warrior, but she's also on the elitist side. The buckler does seem a bit déclassé for her. I agree that she looks best with a two-handed sword. Best, A.

Defenses, certainly. It is, as Boeroer freely acknowledged, a glass canon build. It also skips talents that enhance vancian casting. It could be fun to play with, I'm sure, but it basically compromises the wizard class's greatest strengths, defenses and vancian casting, to maximize its greatest weakness, physical damage dealing. It's definitely not a direction that I'd be interested in pursuing, at this time. Your Aloth build is more sensible than the linked build. Best, A.

That surprises me. I appreciate why Jaheiras Witness used Yenwood with his solo chanter, but in party play Shame or Glory seems a better choice, in most circumstances. At present I have Pallegina wielding Shame or Glory. It's great. It allows her to carry a shield while significantly increasing the efficiency of her off-tank who can be specialized for damage. With Shame or Glory + Coordinated Attacks, she can toss a +20 over to Eder, radically increasing his hit and crit percentages. And those bonuses can be applied to whatever weapon we choose, including weapons with on crit effects, such as Starcaller or weapons with +0.5 crit damage modifiers. I'm tempted to respect Eder with Ruffian + dual-wield, in the interest of seeing what he can do with Resolution + Purgatory +20 Acc. I think it would work nicely. Best, A.

That makes sense. If you are operating with rest restrictions, the Blast line becomes a reasonable choice. I've been striking a balance. I don't allow my team to leave mid-quests to rest or proffer camping gear, but I do allow them to rest during quests, in dungeons. With that approach, I haven't felt a need for the Blast line. With additional rest restrictions, I might be inclined to try it. That looks awful... (I appreciate the appeal of a ranged wizard who relies on physical attacks, but that build makes way too many sacrifices) Best, A.

Interesting! That's good to know.

There are seven marking weapons that I'm aware of, of which only 6 may be used in a given run. St. Garam's Spark, Shame or Glory and Cladhaliath are the easiest to find. Cladhaliath and Shame or Glory are mutually exclusive. The other easily acquired one is the Spectacular Spetum, found in the Club of Refined and Distinguished Gentlemen (barf!) on the second floor of the Salty Mast (barf again...). The final three are more difficult to acquire. One is available in a bounty quest (apparently those are hard). The other two are deep in the Endless Path. The Blade of the Endless Paths is one of them. Marking will only effect one ally. Specifically, the one closest to the wielder. Reports suggest that it does effects targeted spells, although I haven't tested that yet personally. It does stack with other accuracy bonuses. I like to pair St. Garam's Spark with Forgiveness. If you point the attack sword from a distance, the pistol wielders will end up standing next to each other, meaning you'll toss a +10 to the +20% speed bonus weapon. St. Garam's should pair well with Ducanale as well, although I haven't tried that. Best, A.

Btw, I feel like I'm the only one who likes Marking weapons. Is there a reason why others aren't fond of them? Best, A.

That's a point. I haven't tried Blast yet. To my eyes it seems like a make-easy-battles-easier ability and I've never been fond of abilities like that. I know Serg is a Blast backer. What's you opinion of it, Enuhal? Best, A.

I'm glad you're enjoying yourself, Semiticgod. It's a pleasure to have you here. Your contributions and insights are greatly appreciated! (I, too, would like to thank everyone for joining. Thanks!) Best, A.

Where did that black dog come from, Serg?

I agree. Additionally, priests can use Gyrd with their deity specific weapon bonus, which gives them a +10 to acc. On tactical ground alone, I would have given Gyrd to Cassia, whose priest of Eothas bonuses don't include a ranged weapon. I only gave it to Arcadia because it matches her color and looks good on her. Best, A. Btw, great work, as always, Serg!

Arcadia, Moon-Godlike Wizard: Party Status Update II! Ok! It looks like I'm going to do periodic party status updates, rather than embedding them in each post. I prefer the latter method, but it's PITA. Kudos to Serg for doing it! A few comments first: 1)You'll note an increase in the proportion of damage done by the warriors. That's largely due to the fact that we fought so many battles without using per rest abilities. Also, we've started letting the warriors use their two-handers in per encounter ability fights, increasing their damage. 2) Damage taken numbers continue to look good. We've still only suffered one knockout (Eder, L3, Temple of Eothas) Best, A. Eder, Fighter- (lvl 6): Stealth:0; Athletic:8; Lore:4; Mechanics:0; Survival:4; Abilities: Knock Down, Confident Aim, Disciplined Barrage; Talents: Weapon and Shield Style, Weapon Focus: Adventurer, Rapid Recovery Character Record and Inventory https://imgur.com/BedN0bE https://imgur.com/z7FFU4C Pallegina, Paladin- (lvl 6): Stealth:0; Athletic:8; Lore:4; Mechanics:0, Survival:4;; Abilities: Zealous Focus, Flames of Devotion, Liberating Exhortation; Talents: Weapon and Shield Style, Weapon Focus: Knight, Veteran's Recovery Character Record and Inventory https://imgur.com/JcsSXVf https://imgur.com/oSVTHDy Arcadia, Wizard (lvl 6): Stealth:0; Athletic:2; Lore:8; Mechanics:0; Survival:4; Talents: Arcane Veil, Hardened Veil, Weapon Focus: Noble Level 1 - Concehault's Parasitic Staff, Chill Fog, Minoletta's Minor Missiles, Eldritch Aim; Level 2 - Curse of Blackened Sight, Infuse With Vital Essence, Merciless Gaze, Bewildering Spectacle; Level 3 - Llengrath’s Displaced Image; Deleterious Alacrity of Motion; Minoletta's Bounding Missiles; Expose Vulnerabilities Character Record and Inventory https://imgur.com/XLF5BCP https://imgur.com/u18qgr8 Alikae, Wizard (lvl 6): Stealth:1; Athletic:0; Lore:3; Mechanics:8; Survival:3; Talents: Arcane Veil; Hardened Veil, Weapon Focus: Ruffian Level 1 - Fan of Flames, Slicken, Eldritch Aim, Minoletta's Minor Missiles; Level 2 - Binding Web, Concelhault's Corrosive Siphon, Combusting Wounds, Mirror Image; Level 3 - Fireball, Expose Vulnerabilities, Kalokoth’s Minor Blights; Llengrath’s Displaced Image Character Record and Inventory https://imgur.com/hRgtH10 https://imgur.com/EHSyK5w Alena, Priest of Wael (lvl 6): Stealth:0; Athletic:2; Lore:9; Mechanics:0; Survival:4; Talents: Interdiction, Inspiring Radiance, Deep Pockets Character Record and Inventory https://imgur.com/rZsGJj5 https://imgur.com/CXnTpid Cassia, Priest of Eothas (lvl 6): Stealth:1; Athletic:1; Lore:8; Mechanics:0; Survival:4; Talents: Interdiction, Inspiring Radiance, Deep Pockets NW: Cassia's Stealth score has declined because I realized that I had forgotten to subtract out her Footpad bonus) Character Record and Inventory https://imgur.com/3BT4OW4 https://imgur.com/qOItnAY

There are a lot more damage bonuses. I'm not in a position to provide an exhaustive list at this time. A superb weapon alone would bring the damage per hit bonus from a point of might to ~2%, while the damage per crit (150%) bonus would be ~1.5%. Stacking additional damage modifiers and increasing the crit multiplier would dilute those further. Annihilation, a weapon enchantment found on Dulcanale, Purgatory, Resolution, Sabra Male, Shatterstar and The Hours grants a 0.5 bonus to crits. Battle axes also get a 0.5 to crits. Merciless Hand from the Doemenels adds 0.3.

Godlikes are infertile. Arcadia thanks you for bringing that up.

Arcadia, Moon-Godlike Wizard: A Voice from the Past Ok! We're almost upto date. All we need to do is cover A Voice from the Past and I'll be ready to play again. Let's do this! First we had to deal with some oozes left over from The Queen That Was. We let the armored warriors handle this- no need to let anyone get hurt here. Note Pallegina's Consecrated Ground. That means we went shopping. We picked up Firebrand, too. Happily, it works with all weapon focuses, so Pallegina, who will wields swords and morning stars, can still use it with bonuses. Let's kill some skeletons. Opening. Progress. Endgame. Finally, Mekrath (Oops! I mean that other subterranean soul-slaving wizard. What's his name?) Knocked him on his butt with Slicken Kept him on his butt with pillars. He made nary a peep. Party status update soon! Best, A.

Arcadia says that you sound like her parents. She's not happy.

Arcadia, Moon-Godlike Wizard: Missing Sentries I remember the first time I fought this battle on my very first play-through. We were murdered: we didn't have a chance. I found myself thinking that I had wandered into the PoE equivalent of a lich battle. We never went back inside. Now that I know what I'm doing, I understand that there is little to fear from Leyra, with proper preparation. Maybe it is a lich battle after all? To the fight. Seeking revenge on behalf of my very first character, we went resource heavy here. I like turning tables. Our opening was Eder, wood beetles; Pallegina, adra beetle; Alikae, Arcane Veil->Eldritch Aim; Arcadia, Arcane Veil->Eldritch Aim; Cassia, Scroll of Defense; Alena, Scroll of Protection Arcadia follows up with a Scroll of Paralysis. Table turned. Eder had been frightened. And while his accuracy isn't relevant here, we let one of the priests counter that while the rest of the party unloaded on Leyra. The adra beetle brings Shocking Blast- not a good time to be wearing plate, eh justiciars? Leyra falls. We prevail without injury. Best, A.

Arcadia, Moon-Godlike Wizards: Undying Heritage Part 2 When we left off, Arcadia and her crew were ready to enter the tower. With two sets of camping equipment left, and one reserved for Missing Sentries, we chose to complete the first floor battle without resting. This battle was fun because it gave us a chance to practice one of our contingency plans. The opening went smoothly enough. We took our buffs, muzzled and eliminated the ranged caster, and then turned our attention to the frontline, using Curse of Blackened Sight->Combusting Wounds->Concelhault's Corrosive Siphon With Alena tapped at 2 and 3 and struggling to be relevant, she found herself approaching the line to apply Divine Terror. Unfortunately, she got too close and attracted the attention of a dargul. Pallegina was free by this point, but the casters had a plan in place for this possibility and now seemed like a good time to put it into action. The priests' standard method of dealing with backline chargers, double divine marks, wouldn't work here, given the dargul's endurance and ability to paralyze. Instead, Alena immediately broke for Arcadia. Arcadia, in turn, fired up her Arcane Veil, a free action, leaving her positioned to follow up. Arcadia applies Gref's Authority, via Gyrd, stunning the dargul, and granting Alena time to equip her shield, drink her emergency Wizard Double potion, and fade. Arcadia adds a Llengrath's and Pallegina closes. By the time the dargul wakes up, he's faced not with a vulnerable priest but with a paladin and a full buffed wizard. He's also on fire, thanks to Alikae. Meanwhile Alena, wizard doubled, is casting at a safe distance. Hooray for teamwork. The final first floor battle was fought with per rest abilities only. Eder charges the backline to neutralize the casters while Pallegina controls the frontline. The casters flank to join Eder as soon as it's safe. With the crew fully rested, the floor two battle is a slaughter. We rescued Saeda, freed the slaves, and destroyed the machine. With one last set of camping equipment, we're ready for Missing Sentries. Best, A.

On might v perception. Thank you for your perspective on this, Semiticgod. I'll suggest, however, that your model needs additional detail before we'll be able to draw a conclusion. You need to consider: 1) the relative value of might with increasing damage bonuses (you've only considered the case of a damage bonus of 0%, which is the optimal case for might; might becomes less valuable as damage bonuses increase, since the might bonus is additive with, not multiplicitive with, other bonuses) 2) the effect of crit multipliers 3) the class of the character and thus the damage and crit multiples available Were you to do this, you'd likely find perception relatively important for rogues, and might relatively important for wizards (focusing on damage only) Of course, there's also the less easily quantified matter of disablers and effect on crit abilities Best, A.