crdvis16

Yeah- killing Thaos to take his place as the true worthy champion of Woedica works for RP purposes- thanks for the suggestion!

I'm thinking about doing another playthrough so curious for more build ideas myself. To contribute some of my favorites from previous playthroughs (which are typically more along the fun/gimmicky side rather than OP/cheesy): https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/126860-die-and-res-barbarian-review/#comment-2304129

I'm considering doing yet another pillars playthrough but hoping to keep it fresh by RPing my character differently this time. I've already done the default relatively good guy approach as well as a semi evil/cruel character. I've sided with all factions in the Deadfire as well. First, a few ideas I have myself: 1) "Everything Bad" is a pre-configured option one can load up for Deadfire. I'm interested in possibly re-enacting this with POE1 and carrying it into POE2. Does anyone know what specifically "Everything Bad" entails? I've found some info on Wikis but it mostly just covers the big highlights (dead companions, gods pissed off at broken promises). I'm curious how I should resolve all other quests, though (maybe it's somewhat obvious to just try to screw everything up?). I'm also curious what kind of RP would lead to these outcomes. Someone with the personality of the Joker from Batman? Maybe a priest of Wael? 2) Woedica's henchman. I think in all my playthroughs I've been pretty hostile toward Woedica and Engwith so it might be interesting to ally myself with them. Though I don't understand how that would play out when the ultimate goal of POE1 is to stop Thaos? Maybe stopping him but still giving the souls to Woedica is enough (though why would my character stop Thaos to then do exactly what he wanted?). I assume you HAVE to kill Thaos but maybe not? Aside from these suggestions, does anyone have any particularly good RP playthroughs they'd like to share that worked out really well? I might have trouble bringing myself to do either of the above ideas so maybe there's another path that would be different enough to keep a new playthrough fresh?

Hello! I just published a mod for a variety of new choices for class/subclass/multiclass for all of the companions and sidekicks. These are just mods that I did for my own personal playthroughs over the years but I figured I would publish them on the off chance that anyone else might want to use them too. The link for anyone that's interested: https://www.nexusmods.com/pillarsofeternity2/mods/657 Edit: copying some of the mod description here directly: These are my personal class/subclass/multiclass modifications made to companions/sidekicks over the course of many playthroughs. I wanted to play lots of different combinations but don't like using hired adventurers so this was my solution. Included are: Aloth: Bloodmage, Transmuter+Tactitican, Unbroken+Illusionist, Priest of Woedica Eder: Blackjacket+Streetfighter, Tactician+Cipher, Unbroken+Trickster, Priest of Wael Fassina: Ancient, CorpseEater+Shifter, Evoker+Assassin, Shifter+Conjuror Konstanten: Beckoner+Berserker, Helwalker+Ghostheart, Mageslayer, Shifter+Nalpazca Maia: ArcaneArcher, Gunhawk+Assassin, Gunhawk+Cipher, Stalker Mirke: ForbiddenFist, ShatteredPillar, Skald+Debonaire Pallegina: Bleakwalker, Troubador+Goldpact Rekke: Berserker+Devoted, Enchanter+Bellower, Fury+Helwalker Serafen: Mageslayer, Psion, Priest of Skaen, Soulblade+Furyshaper Tekehu: Lifegiver Vatnir: CorpseEater, Rogue+Skald Xoti: Priest of Gaun+Streetfigher, ShatteredPillar, Priest of Skaen Ydwin: Beckoner+Soulblade, Beguiler+Trickster, Psion+Priest of Berath

I just modded a companion to be a Priest of Skaen and was also surprised at how effective his spiritual weapon is. It takes time to cast and doesn't last super long but while it's up it does nice damage.

FYI- the Assassinate buff only works with certain spells. Something like minoletta's missiles would only benefit on the first missile. Some spells that you'd think would benefit either don't or sometimes do (which is weird). For instance, Fireball works if you target the AoE very close to you but if you cast it far the buff often won't be included. From what I remember, Torrent of Flame and Precise Burst consistently worked. Edit: though there is the route of using Arkemyr's Departure and then casting lots of debuffs from stealth for the Assassinate accuracy buff (no benefit from the penetration of course). Brilliant Departure's stealth only breaks from causing damage.

So far I'm leaning toward: Main = Bleakwalker/Bellower. I don't know that there is any special synergy here but it's two subclasses that I'd prefer to multiclass so may as well combine them. He'd be a front line DPSer with chants tailored to his benefit and occassional big invocation casts. Maybe some healing too. Eder = Tactician/Cipher. Totally not in line with his personality but so it goes. Cipher should help trigger Tactician bonuses and the Tactician side would probably focus on controlling enemies with clear out, etc. Built as the tank and support. Xoti = Skaen. I'll pretend her Gaun worship is leading her down a dark path that ultimately turns her to Skaen (will encourage her darker character arc). She'll buff and then attack weaker enemies along with some healing. Aloth = Bloodmage. Nothing special but will make him feel a bit darker to go along with my dark playthrough. Serafen = Mageslayer going after the enemy backline casters. I'll cover healing by committee (a little from my main character, Eder's cipher side, and Xoti's Skaen). Will have lots of interrupts from Mageslayer and Cipher. Certainly not some optimized lineup but should do well enough.

I modded a companion (I think Konstanten) into a Shifter/Monk last playthrough that did something similar. Monk has all those active attack buffs (including a few lashes) that stacked with the Shifter's and it felt quite potent and the animal forms can use the Monk active abilities to knock back, etc.

I've played Assassin before and had some fun with it. Steel Garrote is another subclass I haven't played but I thematically don't really like being a Woedica henchman haha. Trickster seems to be so good pairing with almost any melee damage dealer.

I've always found it odd how effects from weapons can count as "weapon attacks". It seems to open up a lot of crazy results. MCing Mageslayer with Arcane Archer seems inconsistent in terms of theme (mageslayers are supposed to hate magic and all that) but that does sound like a crazy combo.

I'm looking for some help in utilizing a few subclasses that I've yet to play with. In case it matters, I plan to play with the community patch and BPM installed. I plan to have my MC be a Bleakwalker. I haven't done a cruel/aggressive type of playthrough before so I wanted to give it a try (as opposed to my usual good guy playthroughs). I'm thinking he will be an offensive focused Paladin rather than a tank or healer and I've heard that a Bleakwalker's Flames of Devotion hits hard. However, I've never been a huge fan of the Paladin's PL8/9 spells so I'm thinking I'd like to multiclass him with... something. I'm not sure what, though. I think I've read in the past that Bleakwalker/Assassin works well and seems somewhat thematic. Does anyone know of other recommendations for multiclass and does anyone know of items that are good to build around for an offensive Bleakwalker? Next, I plan to mod a companion or sidekick into a Tactician. Again, I think a multiclass would be nice here in order to give this character a built-in way to flank/interrupt enemies to trigger the Tactician bonuses. I know I could have other party members cover flanking but I like the idea of the character being somewhat self sufficient I guess? I'm leaning toward this character being a tank/support. I think a Cipher could be a good choice (lots of spells that can cause flanking and some interrupt spells too). I imagine multiclassing to Wizard could work as well? I think my plan would be to spam Clear Out with all the extra discipline I'd be generating? I've played a Bellower before but I don't think I really used it to its fullest so I wanted to try one again. I often feel like Chanters NEED to be multiclassed because otherwise they end up auto attacking between invocations. Better to multiclass and use that action economy for something better. However, a Bellower in particular is all about PL and multiclassing means your PL will always be lower than if you'd gone SC so I'm not sure. If I did multiclass I'm not sure what to go with- is there a multiclass that would build on the power level theme or that works well? Mageslayer is next. I'll be using BPM which I believe made Mageslayer stronger. I'm tempted to go SC as I think high level Barb skills are worthwhile. He would be the caster killer of course and seems pretty straightforward? Dual wielding for more interrupt stacks I assume? I also want to use a Priest of Skaen and would prefer SC to get those PL8/9 Skaen abilities. Skaen seems like it pushes you toward being a semi Rogue so I imagine he'd spend some time buffing and then killing. I'm interested in Bloodmage. My impression, though, is that their abilities are mostly suited toward long boss fights and for most encounters you really don't need those extra spells. BPM has potions of enlightenment so maybe it kind of makes Bloodmage less relevant? Last, I've always been interested in making Debonaire work but every time I've tried it just seems so clunky. Is that subclass just too wonky to use effectively? Any help would be appreciated! I've been searching for past posts on these subclasses and have found some discussion but often from a long time ago (other than recent posts on a solo Bloodmage build ).

I believe there was another post recently where it was confirmed that a bashing shield would benefit from both two weapon style and sword and shield style.

Hey @Elric Galad, any interest in a tweak for the Assassin subclass? As is, the straightforward way of playing a weapon-based Assassin (attack, stealth, repeat) isn't really worthwhile in most cases. You burn through guile and you spend a lot of time waiting to recover from using Smoke Veil. If you were to, instead, just keep using your guile on Rogue attacks (Crippling, Withering, etc) you would often do just as much damage in the same amount of time. From my testing, it seemed like the only cases where the Assassin bonuses were worth the time and guile opportunity costs were usually only if the bonus penetration got you out of underpenetration. You end up attacking far slower but hitting harder enough to make it just worth it. But just worth it in some cases isn't a great advertisement for a subclass DPS-Caster/Assassin multiclass builds (Evoker+Assassin for instance) suffer from similar issues but also have to justify the lost power level and access to higher level spells faster (or at all for pl8/9) compared to just sticking with single class caster. I've run a pure melee Assassin, pure ranged Assassin, and Evoker+Assassin and all 3 were similarly disappointing. One build that does seem to work is using Brilliant Departure for stealth because it does not break when using non-damage CC. In that build there are no issues with wasted guile or time spent casting Smoke Veil. So a Wizard+Assassin can CC to their heart's content with a nice +25 accuracy (buy gains nothing from the pen or bonus crit damage, of course). I would propose maybe reducing Smoke Veil's recovery by half or something similar, at least for the Assassin subclass if not in general. The change to 1 guile certainly benefitted Assassin but faster recovery might make it more viable for a pure weapon Assassin or DPS caster multiclass combo. You would still be burning through guile fast but the damage output would always be greater (at least in the short term before you burn through all your guile). It would be a "live fast and die young" subclass where you do a lot of damage quickly and then slow down and die when you're out of your main survivability mechanic (stealth). And it doesn't affect the Brilliant Departure build. Or maybe there's some other tweak to make it work better? Play around with the accuracy/pen/crit damage bonus?

I just played Fassina as the more straightforward Evoker+Assassin but I'm not sure it was really worth it vs just going straight Evoker. The spells hit well when stealthed from the bonus accuracy and penetration but you give up a lot to achieve that. Pro: extra accuracy, pen, survivability, and easier to use certain spells (Torrent if Flame or Minoletta's Piercing Burst that benefit from being surrounded). Con: takes half your time to repeatedly invis unless you're constantly tripping Assassin's slippers, multiclassed so missing out on PL and high tier spells. I think SC Wizard is probably just better unless in certain situations where you're desperate for penetration and the Assassin bonus or higher chance to crit and gain pen will make the difference. There's also a lot of finnikiness with invis where spells cast from invis would sometimes get the Assassin bonus and sometimes not. Torrent or Piercing Burst usually got it (but not always!) while other spells were very hit or miss (Fireball was like 50/50 for me). Things like chain lightning hardly benefit at all. The Brilliant Departure route is certainly smarter and more worthwhile. It just pains me because when I think of an Assassin I think of killing things in big Blows rather than CCing from the shadows Maybe Assassin could use some sort of tweak to help it? A subclass trait for zero recovery Smoke Veil would fix the "spending half my time recovering from going invis" problem. There would still be the issue of burning through Guile for invis but I think it could be worth it then. Assassin could be the "live fast and die young" Rogue where you either kill everyone before you run out of Guile or you get killed yourself. Edit: I'll post in the BPM thread so as not to derail here.

Also, Aloth as a Priest of Woedica was fun and interesting so possibly also underrated. I was going to make a separate review post but it really just boiled down to "Writ of War, Sorcery, and Mending are pretty good!" so maybe this little comment will suffice to encourage others to give it a go if they haven't already.