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.

Would you agree that Deadfire has some serious reactivity problems tho? I wouldn't call them problems, simply because that implies Obsidian should fix them. It'd be NICE if this was changed, but I don't blame Obsidian for not doing it. Deadfire is IMO significantly above what I expected for reactivity TBH. I would LIKE more vocal acknowledgement of 'OMG, it's X person who did Y amazing thing', but I can also see why it has to be rather limited, so that people who haven't played just 2 and not 1 don't feel left out.... Also money. As for the above post.... Not just Chanter Summons, I've used Figurines to cheese my way into places I shouldn't be getting into, just to get the gear piece I wanted for my build. I personally love the first game... Except for the per-rest stuff. Wizards felt basically useless, to the point that I don't think I finished Aloth's quest, or even took him, more than a handful of times. Potions, aside from healing, I agree on. Not just potions, but buffs. Many of them, even with significant INT scaling, are such a small duration it doesn't feel worthwhile. Those that are worthwhile and actually have a decent base duration are immediately seen as amazing just because they can actually be USED reasonably. And I would definitely have loved something like the Endless Paths for 2. AFAIK it was VERY well recieved from 1, so I'm not sure why it wasn't included here. Maybe SSS was meant to replace it? Not sure.

Reactivity IS indeed both a boon and a harsh limiter. They can only add so many options, and so many differences IN those options, before things are just plain untenable, logistically. Deadfire honestly gets away with a bit more player choice than most, because of its particular ending being unavoidable regardless of the path you choose. Being able to go for Solo, Huana, Rautai, or VTC, is already four paths, that's usually around the limit of what you can pull off for main story options. Even with all the reactivity of Deadfire... You notice how people don't react to your other accomplishments? You clear out a cursed isle... Nobody says anything. Murder a undead dragon? There's one mention of it. Kill a dragon beneath the biggest city in the region? Only one reacter. There's hard limits to just how much you can pull off. If a triple A game studio put its all into a game with reactivity, they can push it a bit further simply because they've got the money to throw at having more voice lines, more development hours, and what not.... But even they'd still be limited by sheer file size, after a while your game just gets TOO big to be reasonable.

You're not wrong, some people would be overwhelmed. The thing is, though... Lore heavy, epic fantasy... Is kinda the niche POE 1 and 2 both fit into. Now, granted, I don't know of any games that are mechanically similar to this, that aren't epic fantasy. There is pretty clearly an opening for something like what you're asking for, and it'd be interesting to see Obsidian try their hand at such a thing.... but it wouldn't be POE 3 at that point. It wouldn't really... Fit, with the rest of the series. You ever played the Dragon Age games? 1 doesn't play like 2, and 3 doesn't play like 1 either. The lore carries on, but the games themselves don't feel all that similar. They're a series, but also kinda not, because the kind of player that's attracted to 3 isn't the same kind of player that's looking for 1. I'd be all for something less epic, less dramatic, with a similar gameplay style.... But not for POE, because it wouldn't really match. Come to think of it, though.... Sci-Fi settings really don't lend themselves well to this kind of gaming do they? After all, all the unique weapons we have in POE... It's because of magic. In a Sci-Fi setting, what excuse do you have? A better material? So you're not getting anything unique then, just upgrading to something more expensive. It would totally remove the gearing system from relevance. Can't really justify too many magic power equivalents either. Mass Effect pulled the 'Biotics' card and managed to make that sort out, but that was still very limited in scope compared to the vast variety of magical powers and things that POE offers. Shrug. You might just be stuck with Epic Fantasy just to justify the systems that give POE all its replayability.

Of Figurines specifically, or ALL summoning things? I assume you mean all because of your reference. The Wiki's Figurine list is correct AFAIK. As for OTHER things... I believe there are two necklaces, the bow, I know there's an armor that lets you summon a Blight.... I think that's all?

This'd be nice, if only to get rid of Wild Mind on Serafen. I've never experienced him as a Cipher... And I never will if that doesn't go. Random good is fine. Random bad isn't, I'll just hire an Orlan cipher and name them Serafen.

IDK about TB mode specifically, but... Priests as a whole are not weak. Priests THEMSELVES are. Why do I say it that way? Using a Priest for DPS is a bad idea. Using a Priest for a tank is a bad idea. They are very weak in either role. Xoti specifically can finish people off with Blessed Harvest, and that's really good... But she's an oddity. Priests are strong overall, because those buffs are AMAZING. If you want to use a Priest for anything but a buff bot, and occasionally killing people.... Don't? Just, don't. It's not that it's sub-optimal, I've done crazier things... It just doesn't really FUNCTION. If you use them as a tank, you slow down their buffs, and they still aren't as good as a regular tank. Their offensive spells are visibly weak, so DPS from spells isn't happening, and they don't have any self melee or ranged buffs for DPS that way. TLDR Use them as intended, buff bots, they're good. Outside... Don't use them. (Granted, TB mode has different needs than usual, maybe the above mentioned duration thing will get patched)

The midochlorian example was an example of an answer being provided that made things worse, not better. I agree that we don't need to know why Godlikes exist. I simply disagree that we needed a new Godlike simply because Obsidian decided Moon Godlikes weren't fishy enough. "Because Reasons"... Isn't a good answer, to anything, really. And right now, the reason for Ocean Godlikes exist is either "Because Reasons" or "Because we wanted Moon Godlikes, but Fishier". Neither of which are really great literary excuses, or a good reason to put time and money into development. "Hey you know those assets we already have for people touched by Ondra? Yeah we're not using those, or anything like them, we're gonna spend our energy on making a NEW one. What, a reason? I want FISHY man, that's all. A lore reason? Nah, we don't need one of those in our heavily lore-driven game, players aren't even gonna ask, despite the plot being all about Gods and this guy being an oddity among the God-touched characters." <- Does that sound like a good conversation to have when making a game like this? It doesn't to me, but as is stands that seems to be what went on. Nobody needed to explain Klingon head ridges because they meant basically nothing, only serving to identify Klingons. It also served to make human actors look sufficiently alien, so that they could actually make a science fiction television show without needing an excuse as to why the aliens looked exactly like humans. That's a common issue with science fiction in general, especially at that time, because if the aliens all look human, the show really doesn't function well. You can't tell who is or isn't an alien, you can't really tell what's going on. It was a simple and effective method that accomplished what it needed to, and at the time they didn't have CGI or anything of the sort to provide an alternative. Godlikes, however, DO mean something, because the entire plot of both games revolves around the Gods, so anything to do with the Gods can't be shrugged off. ALL the Gods have multiple duties... But the only with multiple aspects is actually Berath. Ondra is just Ondra. She's called multiple names, they all are, but she's always Ondra at the end of it all. Berath is the only one that actually has separate aspects, the Pallid Knight and the Usher. Again, different names at times, but Berath is the only actually split God. Berath could justify having two Godlikes, easily. Two aspects, two Godlikes. Ondra... Is always Ondra. What's her excuse? If Ondra was a particularly frivolous God, the excuse could be 'Because she felt like it', and it'd be acceptable because it'd fit with a frivolous personality. But Ondra doesn't have any such personality, and as such that doesn't work in the slightest.

Contradict something else in the story... You mean Moon Godlikes?

If a story, regardless of presentation, leaves someone asking a question, there's an issue. That said, if you wanswer questions people don't ask, you have issues... See Midochlorians for proof of that. It's a delicate balancing act, but it's needed all the same, for all types of stories. In this case, it raises a LOT of questions. Why wasn't just a moon godlike enough? Why IS he special to Ondra? Why is sea better than moon as far as she's concerned? She never cares if the Watcher is Moon Godlike really. What's the deal THERE? Does Deadfire not have Moon Godlikes? Are they less special despite belonging to the same god? Some ambiguity is one thing. We have that at times. I don't mind that we don't get an explanation on 'Why do Godlikes exist?' I wouldn't mind knowing, but I don't need to really. In this case, though, it really bugs me that we have this random extra type for the same god, especially because it's never addressed. I feel like the devs gave him a special look on a whim and never bothered to actually care if it made sense in world. I don't like plot holes, and this feels like one in an otherwise well fleshed out lore. It's like when you see a beautiful mural, and it randomly has a big dent in it showing the brick underneath. It's great, until you see that, and then the dent keeps drawing your eye, distracting you from enjoying the full thing. It's a jarring juxtaposition against an otherwise wonderful backdrop, but it draws focus and diminishes the whole thing just by being there.

.... Yeah, people who want to actually make MONEY, they don't get to go 'Tough cookies, IDC if my customers don't like it.' That's... yeah no, you don't get to do that, especially not in a competitve industry. Maybe if you were the only donut shop for fifty miles or something, but Obsidian sure as hell doesn't get to do that.