2MuchWatching

Yep. Definitely

In my parties i usually take Eder as Fighter and Xoti as priest. The ramaining slots i tend to rotate Aloth, Serafen and Tekehu. These are my favourite NPCs and those I think give the best banter. I agree that Rogue is a great choice for the first playthrough. The game is practically begging you to pick rogue and you get some funny lines from bluff and shady conversation options.

Proficiency allows one to use the associated modal ability of a given weapon or shield type. With unarmed main hand and Tuotilo's Palm in off-hand, the wielder can benefit from either or both Binding Block and/or Haymaker abilities. Haymaker modal confers +2 penetration to attacks with Tuotilo's Palm in off-hand and fist main hand. I didn't specifically test Confident Aim with the shield but it is treated as an unarmed attack and everybody gets unarmed attack proficiency automatically (Haymaker modal ability).

I would be interested to know how you get on. I'm close to end with Nalpazca and I may delay finishing my priest run to try forbidden fist.

haha i'm supernoob - made me laugh out loud Just to add - i reached lvl 16 this morning, which put me at PL8 and I didn't do ashen maw, crookspur, splintered reef, nemnok or any dlc yet. There is plenty of game left for the higher power levels i think

tuotilo's palm + binding block + transcendent suffering + haymayker = high velocity chunks of flesh flying everywhere

Yeah agreed. I sometimes don't pay too much attention to tactics so its good to have some "oh sh--!" options I dunno what I must've been doing for so long. I restarted the game so many times trying to find a good build to fit in the front row next to tank. Monk fits perfectly and is so much fun. I made a run with no subclass first and I'm now into the last third with a Nalpazca, it seems almost exactly the same so far.

I quite enjoyed Berzerker but since I disovered monk there is no looking back. It ticks all the right boxes and for me it is the most fun for melee. Plain old savanna human from ixamitl. No subclass or Nalpazca. Maybe will try forbidden fist some time.

Search this forum with "helwalker" and "mortar" and check recent comments by Boeroer.

Also, Devoted is getting extra penetration and critical damage, which is nice with the Intuitive (?) inspiration from Disciplined Strikes and all the accuracy from Ranger skills. The Great sword modal is adding 30% damage then you get a bit more from weapon proficiency/specialization. It'll definitely work and you'll have a sturdy damage dealer who can stand at the front. Other combos may give you some more damage and extra guff to play with. Decide whether or not you want all that.

I guess hunter is one of the few combos that can stack enough accuracy to be effective with the great sword modal. Is great sword hunter optimal? No idea. Does great sword hunter look cool as ----? Hell yeah

I played single class Trickster Rogue through to mid-late game with the regular companions. A few levels in it becomes quite strong, once you are able to cast some useful spells. The sneak attack scales so damage is good. The issue I had with Trickster was spending too much Guile on non-offensive abilities and some redundancy between MC and Aloth, who I usually like to take along in wizard role. My preferred playstyle in melee role is more suited to barb/fighter/monk but single class trickster offers decent damage, crowd control and has some tricks to help survivability. I ended up playing it a bit like a wizard with sneak attack.

I don't really know what works and what doesn't in turn-based mode so I can't really comment there. In regards to Xoti, unless I have another priest in the party, I'd play her as priest if only for Devotions of the Faithful and all that goodness. That's just my preference and others may have smarter suggestions.

Good to know. Thanks. I don't use the shield much tbh. I usually switch to it when I feel like i am taking a bit too much of a beating. The Balanced Shield enchantment should help

Sounds good to me. Thanks for your insight