Alesia_BH

Agreed. Expert mode isn't burdensome if you've developed expertise. In BG I would have no use for the targeting circles and enemy information PoE provides. I intuitively know the range of each spell and I'm aware of the resistances and immunities of my enemies. Due to my comparative inexperience with PoE, however, the additional feedback and data are helpful- very helpful. Or so it seems. The only thing I'm wondering is if the feedback may be slowing my development as a player. There is a distinction between knowing something and needing to look something up. Both allow one to make informed judgements, but retained knowledge does a better job of empowering creativity. I'm tempted to try Expert Mode relatively soon , in the interest of nudging myself into memorizing relevant combat information. I suspect I'll play smarter once the information is in my head, rather than on screen. Best, A.

Welcome, welcome, welcome, Ivanfyodorovich! I've been noticing your name in the reader field. I've been hoping you'd join us. I look forward to Aures's run! Best, A.

We'll use Shadowing Beyond at some points, Escape at others. The advantage of Escape is that it let's Alora safely clear hazard AoEs, and bypass chokepoint engagement areas, meaning we don't have to fight in the open or restrain our AoE casts to use EE. Escape is also per encounter, not per rest. Take this test, for example, where we paralyzed our foes first to further insure Alora's safety. We're engaged at a chokepoint. Alora activates Escape. Alora is safely through the engagement zone; she receives the beam. It works. And the logic would be the same if there were stationary AoEs in place. Alora can jump over those, too. Best, A.

My understanding is that Combusting Wounds triggers on hits, but not DoT ticks. It originally did work with DoT ticks, but it was nerfed so as not to sometime in 2017. It works nicely with spells and weapons that hit multiple time, such as Minoletta's and blunderbusses. Stationary AoE's and wall spells also work. It should work with beam spells, too. In Alyssa's run we're currently developing safe usage conditions for Ectopsychic Echo. We've been keeping it simple thus far. Relatively soon we'll work in fineries. We'll be trying Kana, Touch of Rot (via Rotfinger Gloves); Aloth, Chill Fog; Pallegina, Combusting Wounds (via Ring of Searing Flames); Durance, Iconic Projection; Alora, Escape (over kill zone); Alyssa, Ectopsychic Echo (on Alora); Alora, Ray of Fire (via scroll). That should kill some folk. Best, A.

Alyssa, Wood Elf Cipher: Entry 6- Raedric Hold Revisited After gaining a few levels in the D, we returned to Guilded Vale to end the reign of our esteemed lord, Raedric VII. In retrospect, we should have rejoined Eder for this. If anyone should kill Raedric, it's him. I'll skip coverage of the minor fights in the sanctuary and cut straight to Raedric. As mentioned earlier, Alyssa was affected by a glitch here. Despite repeated attempts, she failed to cast a single power. Nonetheless,our party prevailed with ease. Here's our opening: Kana, Nautilus of Ogrammon; Pallegina, Oaken Scarab; Alora, Scroll of Defense; Aloth, Llengrath's; Alyssa, Psychovampiric Shield; Durance Scroll of Protection. The scroll use here was wasteful: a Circle of Protection from Durance would have sufficed. Most of the damage was done by Chill Fog + Combusting Wounds + Iconic Projection, as usual. Note that after abandoning an attempt to cast Psychovampiric Shield, Alyssa has moved on to Phantom Foes. That order, too, failed to resolve. No matter. Honestly, there wasn't much Alyssa could add to this conversation. The AoE stuff had us covered. That Eyestrike, though? Yup: That also failed to resolve. Kana wins the race to the finish. We win. Yay! But remind me to do this earlier next time: L6 is way too late.! Best, A.

That's annoying, isn't it? It happens predictably when you give a character two orders (with one being a modal or insta-cast) during a single pause. Arcane Veil + spell is the most common cause, in my experience. Cancelling all orders, unpausing, and then reselecting a new order, seems to fix it. On occasion it happens for other reason that are harder to understand and remedy. It happened to Alyssa repeatedly in the Raedric fight: she couldn't get a single power off. I'd appreciate commentary from someone more familiar with the Unity engine. Has anyone else noticed this issue? What are the best practices for avoidance and remedy? It may be a minor issue in the context of reload play, but it's kind of important for us. Best, A.

(And, btw, I, personally, think you deserve an Honorable Mention for spelling Nizidramanii'yt so many times)

We respect your decision, Semiticgod. More importantly, we support whatever choice helps you roll your own joy. If you're not feeling this run, set it aside. I made a similar decision with my solo rogue, Arista. She had met with success in the early game, in a challenging endeavor. But I saw troubles ahead for her and, more importantly, I felt I still had things to learn in the context of conventional party play. I think that was the right choice. We hope to see a new run from you soon! Any thoughts on what that might look like? Best, A.

We haven't used it yet. I've merely noticed it. For Alyssa, who primarily uses her cipher powers to disable, it seems unhelpful. For a cipher relying on single target damage spells, including single target DoT spells, it would seem to make sense. Best, A.

Cipher fans! I have a question: Carrow golan: yay or nay? Best, A.

Condolences, FNG. I imagine that encounter would be tricky for a low level melee party, fighting in the open field. I'm glad you learned somethings though! Congrats on that! Best, A.

Exclusively ranged. Her shots from Forgiveness have good kick: she routinely reaches the 60s, sometimes the 70s. With the +20 speed factor, Sure Handed Ila, padded armor and a high Dex, firing rate isn't terrible. Gunner and Deleterious Alacity of Motion, soon to come, should help further. She builds focus quickly while staying safe. I like it. Best, A,

Nice work, FNG! I like your use of Whispers of Treason. It makes a lot of sense in the context of your battle plan. Best, A.

Alyssa, Wood Elf Cipher: Entry 5- Defiance Bay, Part 1 By the time her party reached Defiance Bay, Alyssa, who once struggled to be relevant in combat, began to find her groove. In per encounter ability fights, she often took the lead, along with Kana, disabling foes to the benefit of the party. And in per rest abiltiiy fights, she had found a valuable niche: disabling front line enemies, relieving pressure on our tanks. In our per rest ability fights, we use Chill Fog + Combusting Wounds + Iconic Projection-> Concelhault's Corrosive Siphon. That's a lovely combo. Chill Fog + Combusting Wounds does wonders on low level group, disabling and killing. Concelhault's Corrosive Siphon adds additional damage for foes with more staying power. The Iconic Projection add yet more damage, while also restoring any health lost by tanks. But what if enemies can apply pressure to the tanks faster than Iconic Projection can heal it? That's where Alyssa's cipher powers come in. Mental Binding is a perfect tool fo relieving pressure on tanks. Mind Wave can help, too. Mind Wave also has the side benefit of enhancing the efficacy of Iconic Projections, via Reflex penalty. The system works, as seen here in The Queen That Was quest's focal battle. Note that damage is negligible- including cumulative Heath damage to our tanks. Conserving spells in the endgame, the party let Kana and Alyssa finish our last enemies. Mental Binding-> White Worms. As it turned out, we still had a few stragglers to dispatch. A slight miscalculation, resulting from the unexpected presence of a troll, led to a first use of Escape from Alora. Escape is a much maligned talent, but I expect to get good use out of it in this run. Escape will allow Alora to safely leap over our kill zone and deflection wall, letting her facilitate Ectopsychic Echo use without compromising AoE spell deployment or tactical positioning. Surprise, surprise: there's another troll. That's great. Two is perfect: one for Alyssa, via Mental Binding and another for the Fabulous Mr. Daret. Next, we completed a series of side quests, starting with His Old Self. An opening arbalest from Alora and a Mental Binding from Alyssa prevented Nyrid from getting off a spell. Due to positioning, we skipped Chill Fog this time, using Combusting Wounds (from Alora, via ring, as always) + Concelhault's + Arcane Assault + Iconic Projection. Mind Wave pulses relieved pressure and helped the Iconic Projections along. On the second floor we were free to use Chill Fog. Note the cumulative health damage to Eder here. Surprising, isn't it? That was a consequence of letting Eder solo the straggler guards on floor 1. In my prior run, I had allowed Arcadia to do that, full buffed, wielding Concelhault's Parasitic Staff. She cut through them with ease. Eder had far more difficulty. Up to this point, the majority of the damage our party had taken was due to allowing one character or another to solo one critter or another. I'm okay with that. This is not a minimal damage run, although we have been striving to keep everyone happy and healthy most of the time. On to Built to Last. Alyssa, wearing a robe, took some damage from an arrow here. I didn't like that. Our near term solution was Psychovampiric Shield. Long term, we'll be equipping Alyssa in pierce proofed hide. Due to hide's +20% positive adjustment via piercing, it takes pierce proofing well, leading to a high piercing DR, relative to the speed penalty. Later, we'll switch to padded armor, starting with Jack of Wide Waters. We deliberately minimized spell use in The Parable of Wael. We tossed a Chill Fog to muffle the ranged fighters and used Mental Binding + Divine Mark to dispatch a backline threat, but we deployed little else. The damage to Alora, seen here, post partial heal from Holy Radiance, was due to a reckless melee engagement, ultimately terminated via Escape. While I hope to keep Alora standing in as many fights as possible, her personality and portrait were both selected to encourage dangerous and daring assaults. Next, At All Costs. We sided with the Doemenels, on account of Alora's insistence that they would prove valuable allies. Alyssa wasn't sure about this, but when in doubt, she follows Alora's lead. And now for the hard part: letting go of Eder. Eder has accompanied all of my PCs, in all of my runs. It saddened me to see him go. Until next time, big fella! Have fun with those off screen adventures! Best, A.

Quick Note on Alyssa: Now that she has Phantom Foes + Bonus v Flanked + Apprentice Sneak Attack + Biting Whip + Draining Whip + Sure Handed Ila + Forgiveness she is starting to kick butt. I'll post a progress report soon.

Wonderful! I'm glad to see the thread trending towards serious role play. That's great! Best, A.

Blind! I'd love to have a group of us start together, most of us blind. That sounds fun! I'm onboard to start whenever everyone else is. Can we tentatively plan to have a group of 4: Semitigod, FNGR, Jaheiras Witness, and I? Best, A.

Awesome, Jaherias Witness! RPed playthroughs are my favorite. I'm looking forward to it! Best, A.

@Jaheiras Witness. Sorry for your loss. Every soloist losses a character early at some point. There's no shame in that. I hope to see you back in action soon. Until then, please do continue to read and share. We appreciate your insights and perspective! Best, A.

Congratulations, FNGRenegade! I'm thrilled that you made it. Well done! Please do submit Mithlean's info to Serg for entry on our Hall of Heroes/Honorable Mention list. She deserves a place! And I'm very excited for your next run. I can't wait to see a melee cipher in action. Best, A.

That's helpful, Enuhal. Thanks. I do look forward to experimenting with high level cipher abilities. And to be clear, my comments on the class were restricted to a specific set of circumstances: in the early game, in a caster heavy party, absent severe rest restrictions and with frequent auto-pauses. In that context, ciphers can find themselves at a comparative disadvantage, relative to peers. They can be effective, nonetheless. Best, A. Btw, Alyssa is holding her own. Priest don't get credit for damage dealt with Iconic Projection. Setting that complication aside, Alyssa is the party's damage leader. She has also taken little damage herself. Her crew is knockout free, currently at Level 6. She's doing well.

Yeah. Mental binding is my fav, too. We haven't really needed it yet, but it's obviously a great tool.

Alyssa, Wood Elf Cipher: Party Status Update Now seems like a good time for a party status update. I'm going to try a pictorial one, since it saves time. Eder Kana Alora Durance Alyssa Aloth

Alyssa, Wood Elf Cipher: Entry 4- Caed Nua Alyssa and her merry band of misfits have reclaimed Caed Nua. They are currently en route to Defiance Bay. And while Alyssa still struggles for relevance in all out barrage fights, she made a significant (albeit superfluous) contribution in the fight against Maerwald. After dispatching the will-o-wisp, and harvesting some primal flame, we rested in the interest of taking our +10 v Spirits. We then claimed our corner in preparation for the Main Hall battle. Alora, Durance and Alyssa are in the backline; Eder, Aloth and Kana the front. We opened with Durance, Armor of Faith->Inspiring Radiance; Aloth, Wizard Double->Arcane Veil->Eldritch Aim. The rest of our team held position. Ok. They're here. Show time: Aloth, Chill Fog; Alora, Combusting Wounds; Durance, Iconic Projection. This won't last long. A follow up Concelhaut's quickly got us into cleanup phase. Aloth finishes with an Arcane Assault, seeking to conserve spells for the spiders. By the third wave of spiders, Alyssa and Kana began to take the lead (In retrospect, we probably should have pulled back for a White Worms cast, just for kicks). At this stage of the adventure, Alyssa and Kana offer staying power, in not firepower. The trouble is that we'd win these fights without them. We used our second set of camping gear just before the Maerwald fight. Lacking golden celery, we proceeded without Bulwarks potions. Happily, that had little effect, since Maerwald never landed a spell. Maewald took an unusually long time to get through the door, granting us time to buff together, and then scatter. Eder prepares to intercept. Maerwald's choice of Fan of Flames causes us to scatter further still. Eder, with his Sword and Shield Style enhanced Reflex, shrugged off the assault. Time for the finish. Kana, Reny Daret's; Aloth, Minor Missiles; Durance, Iconic Projection; Alyssa, Mental Binding. Alora gets the kill. We're off to the Goose and Hound! Best, A. PS: Alyssa is, I believe, in need of a respec. Her cipher powers are fine, in and of themselves, but they don't really fit our game plan. The problem is that I don't see many alternatives that would work better. Her powers are Whispers of Treason, Eyestrike, and Mindwave at L1; Amplified Thrust, Mental Binding, and Psychovampiric Shield at L2. Whispers of Treason just slows down our kill rate, by protecting one enemy from party friendly AoE spells; Eyestrike is often redundant on account of Chill Fog and Curse of Blackened Sight; Mind Wave is marginally helpful, since it lowers Deflection and Reflex, increasing damage in the kill zone, but the duration is short. Mental Binding will prove itself, I'm sure, although it hasn't really been helpful yet; Ampilified Thurst is ok, I guess, but the inability to apply it over the enemy front line limits its use (Whispers of Treason offers a way around that, I suppose, but we usually don't want friendlies in the kill zone); Psychovampiric Shield seems like a must have, even if we haven't cast it yet. The only avenue for improvement that I see is to swap out Amplified Thrust for Phantom Foes (for the long duration -10s to Reflex and Deflection in the kill zone and the synergy with Alyssa's Survival points). I'm open to other suggestions.

Alyssa, Wood Elf Cipher: Entry 3- Minor Quests in and Around Guilded Vale, Part II Down, down, down we go, into the Eothasian temple. On the first floor most of our enemies were killed by Alora, one by one, or by Alyssa and Alora working as a team. I'll take a moment to illustrate a teamwork kill. Opening fine arbalest shot by Alora. Eyestrike by Alyssa. Fine hunting bow shot by Alyssa. We used our per rest abilities in two first floor encounters: the skuldrs by the fine sword and the large spider group. In these fights Aloth and our new recruit Durance did the heavy lifting, although Alora contributed a solid opening shot, and Alyssa added some disablers. Alora's opening 64. Durance tossed us an Armor of Faith before moving on to Iconic Projection. Alora and Aloth got to work immediately with Combusting Wounds + Concelhault's Corrosive Siphon. With naught but a baby skuldr in contact with Eder, Alyssa chose to reserve her Focus and build more. Now that Eder is facing an adult skuldr, and has moved forward to a position where he is at risk of being flanked, Alyssa chips in with a Mental Binding. We prevail without injury, and with enough spells remaining to finish the first floor. Alora, Combusting Wounds; Alyssa, Eyestrike; Durance, Blessing; Aloth, Arcane Assault; Eder, stand around looking tough Durance added an Armor of Faith later, after Blessing, which was the right call, considering the details. With Eder in contact with one disabled spider, it made more sense to amplify the efficacy of our opening spells, rather than worry about Eder's DR. We could work Armor of Faith in later, when Alora was ready to engage and the Eyestrike was in danger of wearing off. We lost very little endurance here, but Alora has by now suffered some cumulative health damage from poison, on account of soloing spiders earlier. Onto L2. We contemplated letting Alora solo this level, but since her stealth score, as a merchant, is 5, significantly lower than that enjoyed by my successful solo drifter, Arista, we decided that was an unnecessary risk. Instead, we recruited Kana and handled this as a team. Our party did well, taking less damage than previous groups, despite our comparative weakness. Before we move on to the area's focal encounter, let's talk about traps again. Now, I know, I know: traps are under-powered. But go slow. Consider this cheapy, for example: This little ditty, a Poison Dart Trap, imposes a -20 to both Will and Fortitude. That could substantially increase the efficacy of a follow up disabler. I'm coming around to the view that traps are not, as many would assert, useless. You just need to have a plan to leverage them and that plan must mind the minutiae. The circumstances here aren't conducive to trap use, because it's hard to pull the exact enemy that you want to target, but we'll give it a try. Here they come. The phantom, already Blinded, has a -20 to Deflection on top of Alora's trap accuracy adjustment. That -15 on the Poison Dart Trap is no longer a concern. Our trap has an excellent chance of hitting. Ok. We got the lesser ooze instead: that's a bummer. As I said, this is a tough encounter for trap deployment. We'll get it, though. We'll make effective use of traps before long. Let's get back to the heart of the action. Alora, Combusting Wounds; Aloth; Arcane Veil->Concelhault's Corrosive Siphon->Arcane Assault; Durance, Armor of Faith->Inspiring Radiance (we respected Durance between L1 and L2)->Iconic Projection->Consecrated Ground. Note that the non-standard sequencing of Durance's spells was once again deliberate. Details matter and variations on theme can make sense. We had opportunities to cast before the enemy had a chance to land effective attacks, so prioritizing accuracy over a healing buff made sense. Alora adds a Fan of Flames, via scroll, but it is Durance's Iconic Projection -which had been targeted to bounce off the nearby wall repeatedly- that does the heavy lifting. We're crushing this. Alyssa, sadly, can't keep up. We send in The Fabulous Mr. Daret for the finish. We prevail without injury. Fun stuff! Best, A.