FlintlockJazz

One thing to consider as well: this is White March Part One, it's one half of the expansion pack which doesn't even have Zahua's questline. I would not be surprised if there are 'upgrades' you are intended to get to her body, perhaps as part of her questline that is not yet in the game (people have said her questline seems rather short, maybe it's not actually finished yet). Either way, she seems fine to me, perhaps not the bestest rogue evar, but she gets the job done.

I have to agree, if they take up the same cost as two weapons or weapon and shield they should provide equivalent benefits. I never got the urge designers seem to have to penalise two-handers with speed or whatever penalties in order to make them 'equal' to a one handed weapon when a two-hander is already being penalised for having to use two hands on one weapon. A two-hander SHOULD be better than a equivalent one-hander because you are giving up a shield or second weapon!

I've never seen one before - no one has - but I'm guessing it's a white hole.

I didn't even know you could fight her at the Fox and Goose, the option never seemed to come up despite my attempts at agitation. Maybe I just ain't a good agitator. :D

thieve's should start with a bonus to it. There isn't a thief class though, it's Rogue which doesn't necessarily have to be a thief. As I said, it could perhaps be included in stealth, in which case Rogue's would still get a bonus to as part of their bonus to Stealth (as would Rangers and Ciphers and other classes with a bonus to stealth, but then there isn't any reason why they can't be thieves).

If they did put pickpocketing in I doubt it would (and shouldn't) be Rogue specific, it would (and should) be either a new skill or added to an existing skill, like Stealth.

I wondered about that too, I actually still have it on my current playthrough, will come across it in my inventory every now and again and go "What is this for??"

I humbly present to you: the Spelltongue That is an awesome mage weapon! I've never seen it before, I'll have to track it down, thanks! only one hint, since this isn't the spoiler section: White March. Thanks, suspected that may be the case as I haven't finished it yet.

It was constantly on him for no apparent reason for about 10 minutes and then it suddenly vanished. No sensible description fitting on character sheet. Strange Hmm no idea, normally if it was a spell effect or something an enemy has done to you it disappears when the battle ends. Sounds like something may have bugged out...

I humbly present to you: the Spelltongue That is an awesome mage weapon! I've never seen it before, I'll have to track it down, thanks!

Yeah, I better add that I'm fine with them being class-specific, just that the current options feel a bit limiting in who would benefit from them. I also agree this should have been posted in one of the spoiler forums instead of the no spoiler forum, I was just replying to the topic while it was here and didn't want to bring up the issue of spoilers again after feeling that I dealt with the last issue of spoilers badly in a previous thread so thought to leave it to better minds.

Ah if it was on the codex then that was probably why I didn't see it. Okay cool, well that proves it then I'm psychic!

(Obviously going to be spoilers here too) Yeah, my ranger is built to use slow weapons like arquebuses and arbalests, the bow is very restrictive in the type of rangers it can be used with as well. The staff also doesn't go with a implement-focused mage (and it was part of the reason why I started the thread on whether mages were intended to have an affinity with staves), though I'm thinking that will be solved with the addition of implement version in WM 2 (I get the feeling they were just making sure every class were covered in part 1 with a limited number of weapons they could get made in time).

I was going to suggest maybe Arcane Veil but I see you still have both uses available and I remember that it's blue now I think of it. Could it be the shield spell? Is it on all the time or does it only occasionally pop up? There are quite a few unconventional wizards actually: If you've done Raedric's Keep you'll encounter a large number of "spellswords" （they may be in other places too but I remember the keep best 'cuz there were so many of them). They are essentially melee wizards that spell caster-only buffs and attack you with a rapier (IIRC). Spellsword is actually one of the wizard's AI default. Also in Raedric's Keep you'll meet (spoilers) an animanccer who is really a necromancer. Most if not all Laguefeths too have natural mage abilities. They are extremely fast and will rush towards your backline and spam magic missiles. And then of course there are the orge matrons. Actually come to think of it, all but one of the above had a counterpart in AD&D. So even in AD&D the wizard class are not always Elminster-esque old man with a staff. Didn't think of those spellswords. Guess I just noticed the stereotypical wizards more due to standing out more as unexpected. I do think there should be a unique weapon or something whose history involved being made and/or used by a spellsword type mage in addition to the standard mage items you can find just for balance (and because it would be cool). This is where you then point out that there already is a weapon like that in the game that I've overlooked of course.

He said that himself quite a long time ago. Really? I don't follow their tweets much to be honest, it was just what people were discussing in the thread about it when he announced he was leaving and had not yet given a reason why.

That's what I mean, thanks to your post and link I remembered to back it before it was too late. Had completely forgot about it and would've missed it otherwise.

Oh and thanks for reminding me about this! Forgot to get round to backing it until now.

Now that is interesting! Kinda proves my theory that Chris leaving Obs was simply because he wanted to be a ninja-writer that ninjs down onto projects he likes. Cool that fan suggestions caused this meetup, kinda like when fans wish for a crossover between their favourite shows (like Darth Vader invading the Enterprise fantasies some people have).

Yeah in my current playthrough I have one pair of the boots that I have on the stealthiest character to scout and position like pi2repsion said, though I am finding that I need to take them off if stealthing as a group to avoid bootsy from running off ahead of the others or getting in their way.

I'm playing my first wizard right now. Wearing one of the unique hide armors (can't remember which), sporting one of the unique pistols and one of the unique staffs as weapons. Works fine with me, though I went a bit against the grain in creation as far as stats are concerned. Out of curiosity, what stats did you go for? I upped CON a bit, having in mind that I can up it even more with enchanted gear later on. I maxed might, upped INT and went for decent DEX while lowering RES one notch. There are so many will related items in the game that it doesn't make that much of a difference. The result is a pretty resistant wizard, who can hold her own even when in melee. Hmm interesting thanks, always curious on the different ways of building a wizard, especially a more frontline than usual type one.

I was just typing the same thing. In addition:

I'm playing my first wizard right now. Wearing one of the unique hide armors (can't remember which), sporting one of the unique pistols and one of the unique staffs as weapons. Works fine with me, though I went a bit against the grain in creation as far as stats are concerned. Out of curiosity, what stats did you go for?

**** taunts. They are not tactical, they are cheese bull****. *Breathes deeply* I'm sorry, I just find the idea of taunts and aggro frustrating. No one would attack the most heavily armoured guy on the battlefield simply because he called their mother a whore who had sex with Durance. I find them lazy encounter design that has become too common in this day and age, let the AI be intelligent instead of shackled to actions a player would never make.

Maybe they are just trying to say our mages are free to be different (see Aloth as the first mage you interact with in the game) but that doesn't mean they can't be the traditional robe & staff mage we all know and love?? Maybe. Just wondering where the "Great Arch Mage's Awesome Rapier of Mageyness" is. :D This has always been an area of interest for me. Fantasy games set in the "medieval-ish" often seem to half-embrace/half-rewrite literary archetypes without actually having any mechanics that apply to it. For example, Inns and Taverns are a staple of fantasy settings -- what could be more celebratory than heading to the Inn for food and drink after a wild adventure out of town? -- but in some fantasy games there's no point in actually eating anything at a tavern because the point of food is just a "buff" -- it gives two or three minutes of higher stats but the effect vanishes before you actually get out into a difficult situation. In the above example, the game is trying to emulate the story, but the game mechanics don't always emulate that story well. Usually, the best remedy is to make sure such affects mesh well with the game you're running -- have the buff last until the next time you complete a combat, or have it last for the next number of "in-combat minutes" or whatever. IMO, Obsidian does a much better job than most developers because it does have workable mechanics, like the "survival" mechanic in New Vegas or the "rest buffs" from inns. In the case of staves, however, the literary purpose is usually more utilitarian than the game allows. Magicians in most stories, for example, are older people who wield magical devices to aid in their otherworldly powers -- wands for focus, scepters for control, or, in the case of staves, something to rest on and keep yourself going. Of course, these are just examples, but they have an easy means of representation in the game. In the "AD&D" system that inspired Baldur's Gate for example, an older person would get buffs to certain stats that improve with age, and would lose the more physical stats as they got older -- strength and dexterity might go down, while intelligence and wisdom would go up. Arcanum brought this a step further by having items that helped compensate for those lowered stats -- perception could be remedied with glasses, and a staff could help stamina regen if you were generating a lot of fatigue. In other games, a staff wasn't just something to lean on -- it often could be more decorative, providing a minor raise to reputation, as a staff was often a symbol like a scepter or a crown. Pillars of Eternity doesn't yet have those mechanics -- it's a young title and still in the first game of its (hopefully long-living) series. It already has a reputation statistic that might be malleable with the right "garb" so to speak, and weapon stats have a lot of potential with new stats like "interrupt" or "deflection" versus simpler stats like damage and speed. Perhaps at a later installment, more magical or social stats will accompany the traditional flat combat statistics, but until then, I find the "wield whatever you want/wear whatever you want" options to be rather liberating. In short, a game's mechanics should emulate the setting of its story -- there should be a reason why magicians all tend to wear certain things just as there's a reason why a knight tends to wear heavy armor while a thief tends to stay light on their feet. Phew... sorry for the long post but it's a complex subject when it comes to way fantasy archetypes work so well in stories but only sometimes translate well into games. I like the wield whatever you like as well, I just felt like I was seeing a lot of the 'standard mage gear' being portrayed and along with certain bits and pieces (the soulbound weapon for mages being a staff, the Dyrford mage staff in the tavern, a certain ghost you see of an apprentice and his broken weapon you find, the first level spell that allows the caster to summon a staff) was a deliberate indication that staves were still strongly associated with mages and why that would be the case (whether simple tradition because the Bob the Great First Mage liked them and everyone was a slave to fashion or because like you said they were good for old men to use and a lot of wizards are crotchety old men). I'm not entirely sure why you feel the need to adhere to stereotypes when the game almost explicitly tells you not to. Mages can focus in any weapon group so groupings really doesn't mean anything. They aren't penalized to try any of them. Even magical implements aren't in the same group. So pick what you like. If you read the class descriptions you'd find that they almost never mean what they do in D&D anyways. Fighters for instance, aren't regular Joe's with martial training. They harvest soul energy too. It's all soul-based. I'm not. I'm trying to work out if the lore says the stereotype is still there or not. The game actually portrays many of the wizards stereotypically, I'm trying to work out why when the game also tells us that the wizards in Pillars is different. To work out whether it's intended or a case of 'old habits die hard' even amongst the designers of the game themselves. Most of my mages haven't even touched a staff as I didn't think they were supposed to mean anything, fancy rapiers seemed more their style.

Yep, this is pretty much what I thought, I guess the reason why I asked these questions is due to how the lore of the game seems to portray things differently (and sometimes contradicts itself) in this regard. You have Aloth who comes with a rapier not a staff and the division of the weapon groups putting implements and staves in different groups, but then you come across "The Mage's Staff" in a certain pub, references to mages and their staffs, and certain mages you meet (or find remains of) having staffs (and wearing robes). I'm not sure if they are either portraying the staff as a traditional weapon that mages just tended to use as a fashion statement or if it's a case of the developers themselves falling into old habits and forgetting that "our mages are different" kinda thing.