Nssheepster

"Servant of Entropy" sounds dramatic, but it doesn't make a ton of sense with Frost PL. I'd either rename it... Or, make it an on-hit chance to cause a base tier affliction. Other than that I'll have to give it a shot in game if I get time.

Worth mentioning, a renamed Concelhaut's Missiles thing would fit with Berath. Not sure CC specifically needs to be the theme, just because Death is, you know... Death. Death is terrifying, yes... But when it comes for you, you're kind of too dead to care. 'Holy Terror' seems more Skaen's thing. Keep in mind, also... You aren't a priest of Death, or The God of Death... You are a Priest of BERATH, specifically, with all the characterization that implies. Both halves of Berath seem to be aware that they inspire fear, but don't go out of their way to use it or cause it, it's just ... there. Berath is very no nonsense, and not inclined to mucking about with uneeded things. Pretty sure if she wanted you dead, she'd kill you, and nothing else.

That's a Mino-lotta! That is a terrible pun but I love it anyways.

Now I'm dreaming of a 'Minoletta's Apprentice' subclass, where you get all the Minoletta spells on level up, you get extra casts of them, but can't use any other spells. It'd be far too good with multiclassing, but.... I do love Magic Missiles.

Mage getting an extra CAST would probably be too good. Mages getting one extra power level, just across the board, would be fine... That's basically the Prestige talent anyways. I like the +2 PL on the Spellsword.... I think because of items with elemental PLs, it'd be too good for elementalist overall. Elementalist, though, COULD actually work with the current subclass idea of 'You can do X but not Y', because elemental spells are so diverse. Or, you could make it a foe only AOE increase.... Oo, no, better, make it so that Elementalists cannot damage/affect allies with elemental spells. 'Their mastery of the elements allows for fine control, even of the most uncontrollable explusions of power'... Or something like that. Being able to use Delayed Fireball freely? Nice stuff.

I don't think stepping on Wizard's SUBCLASSES is bad, in regards to the PL.... Mostly because Wizard's subclasses are really pretty bad, and you don't really want to use them in most cases. Blood Mage is a bit unique, but the school subclasses aren't really great.

If people don't find it interesting, that's up to them. Your judgement, however, seems rather suspect on the matter. As for changes to the normal rules... Do YOU actually use these things in a normal playthrough? Because these items are insanely RNG, cause artificial build constraints, and really aren't all that good.... So unless it's standard practice for you to use these things in your runs, then yeah, it IS a change to the normal rules.

So.... Do that? The 'challenge' is that you don't have a real amulet, don't know what weapon you'll have, don't know if the weapon will be any good because some of them ARE garbage, AND your first action in every fight is lost to gain either a buff you won't care about, a debuff, or possibly a buff you can make use of. That's 2-3 gear slots and precious time lost, because of how you're choosing to use items in the game. It's not meaningless. Besides which, the point is, as stated, less about the difficulty of the run and more about building a character that can work under these restrictions and still contribute significantly. I did also specifically state that it wasn't terribly challenging, just interesting. So instead of being 'that guy', the pedant... You instead managed to be 'that guy', that tries to call someone out on something they already made clear they were aware of and doing intentionally. Nice job? Is that what you were going for? It didn't seem to be.

Had an idea for a challenge run that I thought sounded fun enough to do. Figured I'd share it here, for others who might like it... Also because I expect there will be amusing moments throughout such a run, and I wanted a thread for people to throw such amusing moments in. The idea is simple. Take the Berath's Blessing for 50K Gold. Take the World Map Unlock. As soon as you leave Port Maje, hunt down Captain Thaenic and the Deck of Many Things. Purchase the Deck of Unlocked Possibilites and the Necklace of Unlocked Possibilites. The Watcher MUST wear those two items for the rest of the game, and MUST use the Deck at the beginning of every combat, no matter what. You CANNOT reload a fight simply because you got a bad roll on either the Deck or the Necklace. You MUST have your Watcher be using weapon attacks. You MUST have your Watcher be using the weapons FROM the Necklace. No going Monk and just weapon swapping. Is it super difficult and challenging? Not terribly so, no. Is it interesting? Yes. The challenge is in figuring out a build that can use any weapon that comes from the Necklace, and withstand any negative that comes from the Deck. Since you can't reliably use any of the weapon style passives, or use a shield at all, many subclasses and styles are removed. Since you aren't purely melee or ranged, that too denies many things from being fully useful. Since you cannot simply ignore the weapon and be a caster, that denies many of the remaining options. So what then, do you choose to go with? I'm still plotting my own run (And am a smidge busy for now), but I'm thinking Paladin, for Resistance to the afflictions that can come out of the deck. Anyone got another idea? Maybe a multiclass suggestion, or some subclass idea I'm not thinking of?

Goofy... OPTIONS. That's kinda the keyword. Nobody's forcing you, and if you feel it breaks immersion to do it, don't. Having the option appear on an already immersion breaking class selection screen can't really be claimed to be breaking immersion more.

And that is literally the only reason I ever take him, and even when I do, I ONLY take him on the needed missions, nothing else. He's a fun character, but not fun enough to put up with a terrible subclass.

Fighter goes well with basically everything. So does Paladin. Rogue goes well with most everything. If you're going for a bodyguard feel... Paladin/Fighter one of them, use Cadhu Scalth and stack Athletics, then wear Furrante's Breastplate for the bodyguarding passive. Or pure Fighter with same items for that late PL bodyguarding ability. Have someone stack Diplomacy and use the shield from the slaver island, that's pretty bodyguard-ish. Other than that.... I can't think of any items that are specifically good for that kind of RP or super-tank feeling. Fighter or Paladin as the base will grant you a LOT of base goodness though. Not a ton of damage, but you can get that from the multiclass.

I can understand making companions choose a lore subclass, IF they have one, OR no subclass. It'd be nice to have the option to NO subclass even with those lore companions... Because of Serafen, mostly. On the other hand, if a companion doesn't have a lore specific subclass for all its options, it'd be nice to add that. Would it really break lore if Pallegina was Darcozzi Paladin/ Bellower Chanter? No, but it's not an option.

Part of it I think is the party based system. If you stripped all the party based systems and mechanics from the game, that'd take a LOT of weight out, and allow more time and space for reactivity. There are a lot of interactions and mechanics that are quietly only there to either balance the game with parties around, or only exist for parties to use. OFC, it IS a party based game, so I doubt that's liable to happen, but it'd certainly be possible.

Iconic Projection? The slow moving line spell that does a negligible amount of freeze damage and a tiny, tiny heal? THAT is a great ability, at L2? 16 damage, if you hit an enemy with it, OFC you don't have pen for freeze.... or 20 HP for whatever allies you catch in it. 20. That's it. That's one hit for a non-tank character in my playthroughs. I would severely hesitate to call THAT, of all things, great. As well as some of the others you listed.