Arthain

It'd be nice to replay the game several times, but that's not really any option, as I've said. There's just too many games these days for me to be able to do so. I've got until January to finish my backlog of games before we get a massive storm of titles. Anyways, if Pallegina doesn't work, who is a good companion to have alongside Eder, Aloth, Xoti, and a Cipher MC?

Thank you for the information. I didn't know Xoti and Pallegina could be in the same party. I thought we'd have a Mass Effect or Baldurs Gate scenario where I had to choose one over the other. Having Pallegina as a Herald really fills that second melee niche I was hoping to have so that the other three could stay range. I'm not entirely sure I want to make Aloth a Battlemage, I'd have to look into how that plays, gameplay wise, before I commit to it. Battlemages have typcially never really been done very well, at least not how I've envisioned them. Basically they've all been 'cast buffs on myself and then go ham in melee' which doesn't really seem like an interesting gameplay style. Anyways, I don't intend to do a speedrun. I'm a completionist. When I play a game, I do everything, which means games often taken twice as long for me as the average person. It's why I generally don't have time for a second playthrough. Anyways, thanks for the help. Now I just gotta figure out how to build my Cipher. I'm thinking a 12/10/16/19/18/3 stat spread.

I need help building a party and choosing a class in this game. I don't intend to play this game through more than once, I don't have time, so I want to be able to experience as much of the game as possible in a single play-through. Unfortunately I've hit a road block at the character creator. How odd, it seems this is a difficult boss to overcome. I want to create a character that complements my party, so no doubling up on classes unless it's multi, but at the same time, I don't want to play a character class I dislike. I hate monks/barbarians/chanters and while I don't mind druid, I'd never want to play one, all else is fine. There are a few things as well. There are 3 characters I've decided WILL be in my party, two for nostalgia's sake. I've beaten PoE1 and its expansions so Aloth and Eder are almost a guarantee in my party. That and I love Iselmyr. The third companion I've decided upon is Xoti, because I wish to romance her. If having her with Eder prevents me from romancing her, Eder will get the boot, please let me know if them being in the same party will cause a conflict with me pursing her. Aloth - Pure mage, although subclass is possible. Eder - Meat shield, no idea on class composition and am taking advice. Xoti - Pure Priest for heals/support. As for the fourth companion, I'm undecided at the moment, but I have been looking at a dual-class Scout Maia Rua. I'd go with Pallegina, but she and Xoti will not get along so that unfortunately locks me out of a second melee because I wish to romance Xoti. As for me? I don't know what I wish to be. There are the classes I will not be, as stated in the second paragraph. There are also roles I do not wish to be. I don't wish to be pure support or pure tank. I'm the hero and I want to be able to throw down with the best of them. Which brings me to my personal favorite class, the Cipher. In every CRPG or RPG game I ever play, I always try to go the caster class. Was this way in the Baldurs Gates, WoWs, FFXI, FFXIV, etc, etc.,. In PoE1, I was a Cipher and I loved it. I really want to be one in PoE2, but I'm not sure how well it'd fit with the above group composition. That's a lot of range, and only Eder to deal with melee (unless I swap out Maia to include a second companion for melee?). The above being stated, I'm not opposed to being a Rogue or an offensive type Paladin, but I'd rather make the Cipher work. Also taking suggestions on Cypher subclass (if any). I prefer to play a spell slinging, battlefield dominating caster class through a combination of both debuffing and raw damage. Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks.