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Karranthain

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Posts posted by Karranthain

    The Trials of Durance

    in Pillars of Eternity: Stories (Spoiler Warning!)

    Posted

    Great, thank you. That's very helpful.

     

    Eric, should we send the tickets through the backer portal support option (it's fairly specific: Please note: This service is only intended for customer support issues relating to your pledges, purchases, and fulfillment)?

     

    Hope we can help you get to the bottom of this as Durance's one of the most interesting companions.

    The Trials of Durance

    in Pillars of Eternity: Stories (Spoiler Warning!)

    Posted

     

    After resting, I've received a vision and the quest prompts me to discuss it with Durance - but the option isn't available in the dialogue tree.

     

    Is there any way to fix this, other than loading?

     

    If this is a bug I'd like to get it fixed ASAP. We haven't seen anything like it internally. I'll explain what should be happening. If it isn't happening for you, let me know what you are seeing, and also, if you could, it'd be very helpful for you to file a support ticket and submit a savegame to our QA team if you've got one. Thanks. And bear with me here... the dialogue is kind of a rat's nest, structurally.

     

    The way it should play out is, you talk to Durance and he says one of four things (they cycle):

    [spoilers]

    "Thought I felt your eyes on me. Now come the words."

    "And what must you say now?"

    "Does something ail you?"

    "Your face is full of need." Durance snorts. "It looks to burst if you didn't speak."

     

    Then you should say:

    "I had questions I wanted to ask you."

     

    He responds:

    "If doubts and curiosity plague you, you're skinning your knuckles on the wrong door."

     

    You should have the option:

    "I had another vision of you. One of the symbols on your staff - it was dying."

     

    One of two things can happen after that. If you've already been asking him questions, he'll shush you and you'll need to rest to approach him again about it (using the same dialogue choices). If you haven't asked him anything yet since the last rest (more likely since you just rested), you should get a response that starts:

     

    "Durance looks at you, challenging. 'You see many things that aren't there, Watcher.'"

     

    At this point you should have one of two options:

    1. "It was the Godhammer symbol. I saw twelve circles. Eleven faded away."

    2. "I saw a symbol with twelve circles. What does it represent?"

     

    If you see option 1 and choose it, you should get a quest update right there and we're good. If you see option 2, it means you haven't asked Durance about the Godhammer symbol on his staff before (so your character doesn't recognize it on sight). When you choose it, you should see:

     

    "Durance frowns, and the words come slowly. 'That symbol. The Godhammer.'"

     

    You should see the option:

    "Then it was the Godhammer symbol I saw extinguished on your staff."

     

    If you pick that, it should update the quest. There are some other options there, and if you accidentally take them you'll go to other places in his dialogue, but you should be able to get back to either of the above journal updating paths by choosing "I had questions" when it's available (i.e. same place in his dialogue that comes up when you first talk to him).

     

    Anybody experiencing this issue, please give that a try and let me know if and where you go wrong, and if you do, let me know what you're seeing instead. Thanks!

     

     

    Hey Eric, thanks for answering. Here's how it looks for me:

     

    The way it should play out is, you talk to Durance and he says one of four things (they cycle):

    [spoilers]

    "Thought I felt your eyes on me. Now come the words."

    "And what must you say now?"

    "Does something ail you?"

    "Your face is full of need." Durance snorts. "It looks to burst if you didn't speak."

     

    Then you should say:

    "I had questions I wanted to ask you."

     

    He responds:

    "If doubts and curiosity plague you, you're skinning your knuckles on the wrong door."

     

    After that I'm getting only these responses:

     

    1. Why were we supposed to meet?

    2. I wanted to ask you about the region and its history.

    3. Tell me about Magran.

    4. I wanted to know more about you.

    5. So you constructed the Godhammer?

    6. Let's keep moving.

     

    I'll send the ticket and a savegame.

    Player character clinic.

    in Pillars of Eternity: Stories (Spoiler Warning!)

    Posted

    Can I ask for some advice too?

     

    I have the idea pretty set for the character (Orlan, Barbarian, Philosopher/Iximatil Plains). Going to be more of a smarty, not very good in combat, dude with some anger issues (Greater Frenzy = +6 Might and +6 Constitution :p).

     

    I don't know if I should put my MIG and CON all the way down to 4 and put as much into INT, DEX, PER and RES. Or if I should keep MIG and CON up at 8. As Frenzy is Per Encounter, with 4 MIG and 4 CON I'd get it up to 10 MIG and 10 CON when need be. Or up to 14 MIG and 14 CON if I put it at 8.

     

    Basically, would 4 MIG and 4 CON be too low? (He is a small little Orlan after all)

     

    Advice? Can you do lots of interrupts even if you have close to zero damage output?

     

    EDIT: Nevermind, I figured it out :)

     

    I reckon you'll probably do fine with such low Constitution, but equally low Might would definitely severely reduce your character's effectiveness. That said, since it's a party based game, I believe you could pull through. Might not be pretty, but if it fits your roleplaying concept, have at them!

    Player character clinic.

    in Pillars of Eternity: Stories (Spoiler Warning!)

    Posted

     

     

    You cannot dual-wield pistols.

     

    Yeah, I know. That's why I picked Arms Bearer in conjunction with Quick Switch - to fire one shot, switch to a second pistol, fire another one and finally switch to a Greatsword and go to town.

     

     

    Ah, fair enough. :p In my defence you did say "greatsword and dual pistols" and I know people have wanted to do that before.

     

    I would definitely try to fit Intense Flames in there somehow, to synergize with Remember Rakhan Fields, but I cannot for the life of me think of what Talent you should drop for it. If you really want two pistols and fire both before engaging with your Two-Handed Sword, I would definitely not drop Quick Switch, especially if you intend to use heavy armour.

     

    I would also question the choice of Resolve for a non-tank, since you won't really be benefiting from it that much at all. That being said, I assume it is important for your core concept, so it's understandable.

     

     

    Yeah, I wish we were able to do that. ;)

     

    I suppose I could drop Bloody Slaughter, though not sure whether it's worth it. Intense Flames would seriously improve the alpha-strike capability, but Bloody Slaughter is likely to be a larger benefit in drawn-out fights. About Quick Switch - I did some light testing in the beta build, but with a bow and a pistol, so not sure whether that's reliable. Didn't seem so bad without it.

     

    Regarding Resolve - it's mainly for roleplaying purposes (as it's supposedly checked when you try to intimidate someone, which goes perfectly with the Bleak Walker modus operandi), but I'd also like to be able to tank in a pinch.

     

    By the way, what do you think about dropping Perception and Dexterity in this build, did I go overboard? Originally I thought that 18 Intelligence would be tempting in this build, but I was afraid I'd handicap this character too severely to achieve that.

    Player character clinic.

    in Pillars of Eternity: Stories (Spoiler Warning!)

    Posted · Edited by Karranthain

    You cannot dual-wield pistols.

     

    Also, note that Flames of Devotion have been nerfed and made into 2/Encounter, but we're not entirely sure what's changed or how. This was intended to kill the super-blaster-bleak-walker build, because Paladins can't have nice things and not even Blackguards are allowed to build for damage.

     

    Yeah, I know. That's why I picked Arms Bearer in conjunction with Quick Switch - to fire one shot, switch to a second pistol, fire another one and finally switch to a Greatsword and go to town.

     

    Shame about the Flames of Devotion - hopefully it'll remain viable.

    Player character clinic.

    in Pillars of Eternity: Stories (Spoiler Warning!)

    Posted · Edited by Karranthain

    Revised Bleak Walker Pistoleer build:

     

    Bleak Walker Pistoleer

    Human, Aedyr, Paladin

    Armed with a greatsword and dual pistols. The basic idea is to have a frontline character who can support the group but also deal respectable damage. Unload both pistols at the start of combat and then switch to a Greatsword. Reload after combat.

    Talents:

    And for the pistols:

    Pistols are a personal preference, the build would obviously work better with an arquebus. I'm still torn over Quick Switch. I think I'll pick Intense Flames instead, which combined with Remember Rakhan Field will boost the Flames of Devotion nicely.

     

    What do you think?

    Greatsword vs Estoc

    in Pillars of Eternity: Stories (Spoiler Warning!)

    Posted

     

    Ok. Well, at least the weapon has an ability now, even if it is a boring one. 

     

     

    Greatsword is my weapon of choice. I actually really like two damage types (pierce/slash), especially for two-handers. I'll generally put a crushing weapon in my second slot, sometimes with a shield. Greatsword for most encounters, but when I need defense or crush damage, switch to my secondary slot. Works pretty well.

     

     

    Estoc has that cool half-swording animation going for it ;)

     

    I'll go with a Greatsword myself though, seems more flexible.

    Player character clinic.

    in Pillars of Eternity: Stories (Spoiler Warning!)

    Posted

    How would you build a priest of Eothas? I'm going Death Godlike for RP purposes. 

     

    I was thinking at least 16 might and 16 intelligence. 

     

    From what I understand priests aren't exactly like clerics where they function well in melee, but the bonuses to weapons for priests of Eothas are for the flail and morning star. 

     

    Originally I wanted to use flails with a shield and medium to heavy armor. Would the penalties from the armor hamper my recovery speed too much? Would letting the front line fighters engage followed by the priest flanking work? 

     

    For talents I was planning on focusing mainly on the priest ones, plus the accuracy bonus to flails (whatever group that's in) and the sword/shield style. 

     

    Edit: I'd also like to avoid any penalties. I see some builds which take severe ones, but I'd be worried about how that would effect my chances during the story book instances. There are also the penalties to other defenses which could have a big impact later on in the game with tougher enemies who use a lot of spells especially AOEs. 

     

    I'm not sure you should be building Constitution as a Priest. The benefit is much lower than for the other classes (such as Barbarian, Fighter or Paladin). So you'll probably want to avoid direct confrontation, especially since Priests have very low accuracy. That doesn't mean you cannot fight in melee - but a reach weapon (such as a pike) or a two-handed one (Morning star or a Pollaxe) would serve you better. Let the Fighter or a Paladin take the enemies head on while you remain in the back, casting spells and attacking from a safe distance.

    Particle effects - enchanted items and modal abilities

    in Backer Beta Discussion

    Posted

    Ever since I've played Neverwinter Nights (both parts) I've grown to dislike the glowing particle effects that the magical weapons have. Had a similar problem in ToEE - fortunately there were mods which disabled these.

     

    Modal abilities (such as Vulnerable Attack) and certain item enchantments (Corrosive Leash) use similar visual effects (thanks for the video, Sensuki!):

     

    https://youtu.be/1aMA3RRNcJ4?t=2m50s

     

    Unfortunately there's no toggle to be found in the game settings - so I'm wondering how difficult it'd be to simply mod it out?

    Player character clinic.

    in Pillars of Eternity: Stories (Spoiler Warning!)

    Posted

    I haven't actually played the beta, but I've been watching a lot of vids and scouring the wikia and I came up with what I'd like to play.

     

    Hearth Orlan Dual Wielding Rogue: 

    Armed with two Stilettos for fast attacks that bypass DR, along with a Pistol for opening combat with major Dmg. 

     

    Attributes:

    Might: 17

    Con: 9(4?)

    Dex: 18

    Per: 16(18?)

    Int: 3

    Res: 15(18?)

     

    Talents:

    Vulnerable Attack: +5 DR bypass on top of the +3 from the Stilettos makes for decent DR bypass. Also results in -20% Melee Attack Speed which should be negligible.

    Two Weapon Style: +20% Melee Attack Speed, which will negate the reduction caused by Vulnerable Attack.

    Vicious Fighting: +10% of Hits converted to Crits.

    Deflecting Assault: Reduces the loss of Deflection from using Reckless Assault.

    Bloody Slaughter: +20% of Hits Converted to Crits for enemies with low Endurance, as well as increase crit multiplier by +0.5.

    Weapon Focus Ruffian: +6 Accuracy for Stilettos and Pistol(May want to drop that and use something else like Superior Deflection or Bull's Will for better defense since Acc bonus is quite minimal. As well Interrupting Blows could also be useful, though Stilettos have a weak interrupt, but every second counts and I jacked up Perception pretty high which comes with +18 Interrupt.)

     

    Abilities:

    Crippling Strike or Blinding Strike: 1.25 dmg multiplier and applies status effect enable on enemy for Sneak attack dmg bonus.(CS can be use 2x per encounter while BS can only be used 1x, but BS is more useful as it decreases enemy Accuracy for a time as opposed to Hobbling like CS which doesn't really help out a melee character)

    Reckless Assault: x1.2 DMG multiplier, +8 Acc with a cost of -8 Deflection. 

    Dirty Fighting: +10% of Hits converted to Crits.

    Deep Wounds: Adds Raw Dmg over time to strikes.

    Adept Evasion: +50% chance of converting incoming Grazes to Misses.(Coordinated Positioning is also a good option)

    Deathblows: Melee/Range Dmg x2 when enemy has 2 or more conditions that allow for Sneak Attack.

     

    Class Talent:

    Sneak Attack: x1.5 Dmg on from Stealth and on enemies that are Blinded, Flanked, Hobbled, Paralyzed, Petrified, Prone, Stuck, Stunned or Weakened. As well as any target struck within 2 seconds of combat starting.

     

    Racial Talent:

    Minor Threat: +10% chance of Hits converting to Crits when attacking same target as Ally.

     

    So all in all this character will have a +30% chance of converting Hits to Crits, a relatively high attack speed, decent DR bypass, a wealth of DMG multipliers that, not even counting weapon enchantments, can get as high as x3.66 when all possible multipliers are active.

     

    Intellect isn't all too important, I think, since there's only one active ability with any kind of duration effect and that is mostly there for the Dmg bonus, obtaining Sneak Attack bonus will mostly be achieved through status effects brought on by your party members with things like Flanking being key, especially because of the Minor Threat talent and it's +10% Hits to Crits when attacking an ally's target. Con might be an issue, or might be something to decrease even more to buff up Res and Per more. I'm not familiar enough to say though. 

     

    For me this feels, on paper at least, to be a solid build combat wise and something I'd enjoy playing, as well as an providing compelling options RP wise. Overall I'm pretty happy with it. Would love to hear people's more experienced opinions on it, especially the Attribute spread. I'm curious if I could bring Con down to 4 so that I could boost Res and Per to 18 each, or that would make me too much of a glass canon. 

     

    I'm not an expert, mind you, but it looks solid to me.

     

    I'd probably drop Deflecting Assault since you'll want to avoid getting hit altogether anyway. I'd replace it with Vicious Fighting, which further increases crit chance. And I'd keep Weapon Focus Ruffian.

    Player character clinic.

    in Pillars of Eternity: Stories (Spoiler Warning!)

    Posted · Edited by Karranthain

    Quite frankly, it depends on your play style. If you're going to fire off one shot and then engage in melee, then you probably wouldn't even gain enough to devote talents to improving your ranged ability. If you want to be primarily ranged with melee for backup, even then that's questionable with there being no penalties for using ranged weapons in melee. If you're going to spend any talents improving ranged, it really should be to lock you into that role. Talents are rare and some are very potent. To get the most impact from your choices, you'll want to focus on abilities that are always valuable, not just situationally.

     

    If you're going to mix weapon classes (pistol/greatsword), just focus on improving what you'll be doing primarily. I wouldn't take Ruffian over Soldier if you're planning for heavy use for the greatsword, though.

     

    My flexible characters tend to focus more on developing the melee side of things, using ranged only when tactically viable. As a result, I don't spend any talents improving what is meant to be a back up weapon.

     

    Mixing weapon classes does put a pretty big dent into your effectiveness, moreso with a paladin which doesn't have top base accurarcy to start with. If you want a pistol, pick a melee weapon in the same class.

     

    Check out Sensuki's build videos. He made a wack blunderbuss build which maxes out the weapon slots, thereby getting around the very long reload problem. With the other bonus stacking he basically murders any four enemies at the opening, then stands around twiddling his thumbs for the rest of the encounter. I think three blunderbusses and a melee weapon would be a reasonable compromise.

     

    Thanks for the tips, much apppreciated. As a compromise I'd go with:

    And for the pistols:

    An arquebus would obviously work a lot better, but I really like the Greatsword/Pistol combo. But if neglecting the appropriate Weapon Focus will put a big dent on the character's effectiveness I guess I'll have to reconsider using the arquebus.

     

    The basic plan is to open combat with two pistol shots and then switch to melee. Hence the Quick Switch and Arms Bearer. Not sure whether the former is realled needed, though.

    Player character clinic.

    in Pillars of Eternity: Stories (Spoiler Warning!)

    Posted

    But with your build is there any specific reason you wanna use guns as a paladin?

     

    I just find the concept interesting - mainly because it's somewhat atypical for a paladin. I envision Bleak Walkers as very un-romantic, if you will, pragmatic to the core. Firearms seem to fit that image quite well.

     

     

    Just a note: Pistols are 2 handed, so unless you were switching between them to get the shots off, I wouldn't bother with pistols. Go with the greatsword and the arbequs, they are both in the same weapon class, and the arbequs has the highest single target damage, which would allow you to get the maximum benefit from Flames of Devotion.

     

    This would be an effective build for a paladin. I've considered it myself, but I prefer a more active character for my main character. As it stands, paladins have one active ability and then an option for up to 3 more reactive abilities.

     

    Aye, the plan's to switch often - hence why I'm considering picking Arms Bearer in conjunction with Quick Switch.

     

    I know that an arquebus would be far more efficient, but I definitely want to go with pistols (just a personal choice even if not entirely rational in this case). Do you absolutely need to have Weapon Focus in order to deal good damage in melee? if not, I'd go with something like this:

     

    What's your build idea, by the way?

    Player character clinic.

    in Pillars of Eternity: Stories (Spoiler Warning!)

    Posted · Edited by Karranthain

    In preparation for the imminent release I thought that it'd be nice to have a topic in which we could gather interesting builds and/or ask for advice regarding character creation. Since the topic's placed in the Gameplay section, the aim is to primarily concentrate on the mechanical side of the process; though some lore background certainly wouldn't go amiss if anyone's inclined to provide one!

    I admit I've been out of the loop for quite a while, not having played the beta extensively - so I'll start off with some questions of my own - any help from the beta veterans would be greatly appreciated!

     

    Bleak Walker Pistoleer

    Human, Paladin

    Armed with a greatsword and a pistol. The basic idea is to have a frontline character who can support the group but also deal respectable damage.

    Talents:

    • Weapon Focus Ruffian - the bread and butter of the build, increasing accuracy with pistols.
    • Close Shooter - should serve the build well, I intend to wade into melee quite often.
    • Penetrating Shot - decreased attack speed shouldn't hurt at all, since the plan's to unload both pistols at the start of the combat and then continue fighting with a greatsword.
    • Arms Bearer - to increase the synergy from all the aforementioned talents.

    As for the remaining two talents, I'm having some doubts. Which would you pick?

    • The Black Path - fits the character concept well, not sure how useful it is in actual combat, however.
    • Two-Handed Style - to increase melee power.
    • Quick Switch - seems to go well with arms bearer; not sure how big of a benefit it would be to this particular build.
    • Weapon Focus Soldier - might be mandatory due to the lack of melee enhancing talents.

    Disclaimer:

    I've have had very limited experience with the beta, so this build is probably terrible. Admittedly, I'm not to worried about its power level (in singleplayer games I tend to forgo min-maxing) - all the same, would really appreciate pointers, tips and comments!

     

    So, without further ado, let's see your build ideas!

    Sorry if such topic already exists - I've searched but couldn't find one.

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