FlintlockJazz

So how do monks play out in practice then? Are they best unarmed and unarmoured like they were originally intended or can they be sensible and have weapons and armour without screwing themselves up?

Are they self-made NPCs or companion NPCs you picked up like Eder?

That is not dead which can eternal lie, And with strange aeons even death may die

That's something I forgot to mention as well, that the Wizards get spells that give them weapons anyway so would they feel the need to have a magical weapon anyway.

We all know the archetype: Wizard and his big staff with the knobbly bit on the end. But does a Wizard in Pillars have any special synergies with staves beyond what everyone else gets? While there is one or two magical items referred to as Wizard staffs their powers could have theoretically have been put on any weapon. The class talents for Wizards that apply to weapons all apply to implements, not staves, and all the starting equipment options available by culture are all equipped with implements, not staves. The Wizard companion you pick up also seems to prefer rapiers for the close-in action, starting with a rapier equipped and portrayed as wielding it in many of the artwork. In fact, the only casting class that can start with a staff is the Druid, whose spells quite often require him to be closer to the action such as many of their healing spells. Then again, so do many of the wizard spells, and the lore does speak of wizards and their staves in various places. What are your opinions? Is there any reason for a Wizard to pick a staff over other weapons? Is there any reason why a Wizard SHOULD be given a synergy with staves in Pillars to encourage the traditional look or should they actually avoid it? Do Druids make better use of them? These are random musings I thought I would share, not serious questions but something I like to ponder in those free moments in the office.

POINTY HATS!!! I cannot believe they included a range of hats but not one pointy hat! They will naturally need to make up for this by providing a wide range of pointy hats in the future, from the wide floppy brim version to the narrow rigid version, floppy point to the rigid point. I mean, who would not want a magely hat like this? I am being serious in wanting them though, a properly designed pointy hat is a fine addition to any wizard's wardrobe and a viable alternative to the preponderance of hoods all those wannabes wear.

Good point, I completely missed that. Um, maybe this whole thread should be moved to one of the spoiler forums...

I think men on average absolutely are, whether they realize it or not. Personally, I find heels repulsive because I know what they do: it's nauseating to think about a shoe that can warp a person's legs and spine so dramatically with protracted use. I also find them almost painfully stupid on action-adventure characters, because they would be impossible to fight in. Hell, even running shoes do weird things to your legs. If you actually want shoes to fight in, some nice low-end sneakers or cheap basketball shoes are good (if you're going high-end, you may as well go in for martial arts shoes or combat boots), ideally thin-soled and with as little difference in elevation between the ball and the heel of the foot as possible. Heels are the opposite of that. Come **** Me. It's a turn of phrase for tall stilettos. Ah, like come **** me boots! I guess I just found them redundant with the rest of the clothing. Plus like you I don't find them appealing for similar reasons.

SPOILERS DUDE!! This is the general forum, I haven't even started Craghold, but you just majorly spoiled it.

I agree with AnjyBelle, the apparent 'requirement' to have a dragon to fight and kill has been done to both figurative and literal death. Not only would it be refreshing to fight something else now but it's kinda lessened the power and mystique of the dragon and turned them into the cartoon villain that is constantly being defeated by the heroes every week. I mean, look at Skyrim: dragons actually get turned into little more than farmable mini-bosses that you actually farm for their souls! And people talk like you are awesome and done the impossible when you bring in yet another dragon head, when really it felt more like a case of Cecil the Lion... Though at least they fly every now and again instead of just staying on the ground so you can kill them... I don't like killing dragons. When I heard you could be a dragonborn in Skyrim I was hoping you could team up with dragons! I'll admit it now: I want to ride a dragon! I love the winged magical creatures!

I don't like the idea that there is a specific god for each class, feels restrictive to me and prefer the gods to represent more nebulous, bigger picture and abstract ideals that appeals to people of any class. When you officially (I know no one is doing it here I'm talking generally) assign a god to a class, even if you are still free to pick any you like it kinda pidgeon-holes the classes, putting a certain perspective of a class as the norm rather than as an option, and also pidgeon-holes the gods as well. I'd like a greater look at the pantheon and how it all works, possibly meeting them in a physical sense like you do with Bhaal in Mask of the Betrayer. But not in the way the main plot line does it, without going into spoilers I kinda feel they broke some of the potential mystique there. They were definitely done too early in the setting for the 'impact' to be, well, impactful.

There were no builds in the IE games except for IWD2 (which used 3rd ed D&D rules). I don't like your idea I'm sorry to say, it sounds counterintuitive as you pick all your skills at the start, leads to a lot of bloat... no sorry it's just unnecessary padding that wouldn't bring anything of value and would make it harder for them to then develop the higher levels in Pillars 2 when you import your character. Sorry, but slowing down the progression so that you gain levels slower would be a better option to this.

God yes, and they make even less sense in the "Why did they put that in the game?" Boobplates and bikini-mail at least makes sense in that they are there to titillate men, who are the stiletto heels intended to appeal to? What, men today aren't titillated by CFM shoes? Wow. Who knew? CFM? Just sayin', if they are going for titillation and already got boobplate and chainmail-bikinis in then the stilettos don't seem to add much. Of course I could be wrong I make it no secret that I am weird and wrong in the head, and I don't find boobplate or the other stuff appealing anyway so maybe I have no clue.

God yes, and they make even less sense in the "Why did they put that in the game?" Boobplates and bikini-mail at least makes sense in that they are there to titillate men, who are the stiletto heels intended to appeal to?

This is what the wiki says, dunno if it's correct or not as the wiki seems outdated in many areas. http://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Attack_Resolution

As Torm said, it's nice to actually experience your final build for more than the final battle. Also, due to the number of OPTIONAL side quests that don't scale you would end up even more overleveled as it is, or you would get the inevitable power creep. The power creep issue is especially important as they do plan on continuing the story in the sequel with the option to import your character with all levels. If reaching max level is such an issue for you then I suggest you ask for the levelling to be slowed down rather than open the metaphorical genie, especially as they haven't really had a chance to work on the higher levels for balancing and suchlike.

I think this is the problem though: people don't WANT the property! Stuff gets knocked down? Why should they care if they chose not to take it over? They didn't accept ownership. They are not being lazy but you are right in that they don't care what happens to it, that's what people are saying. If you are rebuilding it then fine, that's what I do too (even though the Stronghold needs serious work since it's not fleshed out enough), but it's the people who are not interested in rebuilding it that have an issue: they are unable to avoid paying out for it because they get charged for a ruin being attacked... I think it's fair that if someone ditches it then they don't have to pay for it's upkeep, they are choosing not to get invested in or benefit from that part of the game.

No. It is the dialogue choices that you make that affect the disposition, an attribute might unlock an option that affects a disposition but there won't be any links between attributes and dispositions. ok so another way: for example game desc says about attribute int that affects situation like deduction problem solving,which is similiar to disposition like "rational",so I suppose that higher int stat higher chance of unlocking rational disosition in conversations and that's my question: what specific attributies have influence on precise dispositions as like as int on rational disposition None. Vast majority are available regardless of stats. Higher int will have no more likelihood of unlocking a conversation choice for rational than any other. There is zero point to pick an attribute based on dispositions, as it won't make any difference.

Larian Studios is actually asking that? As much as I liked Divinity Original Sin, their depiction of female armour undermined it, couldn't find a single piece of armour for female characters that wasn't some form of boobplate or bikini mail, so I'm surprised they have to ask. Not that the build for male characters was any better, my male mage looked like he was steroids...

Okay, Satan. Always a good feeling when someone recognises you for your work!

I think we should be able to make use of the baby. After all, we are carrying it around feeding it and changing it's nappy the lazy little ****, it needs to pull its own weight! For instance, when at the Well of Souls you should be able to test out if you'll survive the fall by being able to drop kick the baby down it first and listening out for the splotch.

No. It is the dialogue choices that you make that affect the disposition, an attribute might unlock an option that affects a disposition but there won't be any links between attributes and dispositions.

I agree for the most part altho there may be some times when you might want to do so for RP reasons - In BG for instance Imoen might sneak away and work on her pilfering skills while not under the watchful eye of her Paladin party leader who frowns on such behavior or then there's Kahlid who sometimes walks off in a fog and enters a random house someplace never to be seen again... Now whatever could Imoen be getting up to that her Paladin friend would get upset over? I agree for the most part altho there may be some times when you might want to do so for RP reasons - In BG for instance Imoen might sneak away and work on her pilfering skills while not under the watchful eye of her Paladin party leader who frowns on such behavior or then there's Kahlid who sometimes walks off in a fog and enters a random house someplace never to be seen again... Ah, yes, Khalid and his odd tendency to leave the party while he's stuck somewhere that he can't talk to the PC to take Jaheira with him. How strange of him! I always felt like Khalid got a bit of a bum rep, I never really had much issue with him. Would ditch them both for the dwarven priest you get later in the mines in a heartbeat though, he was always badass in my party. First, because it is not very believable, that a group of six armoured people could climb up a house, without anybody noticing it. Second, because I don't want these guys to be around. They could get caught by a randomly walking guard, while I am busy sneaking around the house. I could select one of them by accident and he walks into a trap (These kind of things are really happening to me). And I am better at sneaking, when I know, that I am ****ed, if I get caught. So when I am thiefing, I prefer to thief alone. Can I ask, what do you find unbelievable about six armoured people climbing and stealthing? Is it due to the misconception that things like plate clank? They don't and the sound you hear in films is actually SFX put in specifically because people cannot accept the reality that it is so quiet and leather armour squeeks horrendously. Is it the number of people? Because burglaries and usually committed by groups throughout history, it's actually unusual for someone to work alone. The rest I can understand, I was talking about the realism of a rogue working alone but of course playstyle and game rules trump this when actually playing. I personally always make sure that all of my party has some degree of stealth I consider stealth an essential skill that all adventurers should have just as it's generally accepted that every adventurer should have some degree of combat skill or ability. Doesn't necessarily have to be stealth just as combat skill doesn't necessarily require martial weapons skill, depending on the system it can be invisibility spells for the mages etc. I just always remember that in both the books and the film, while Conan was a barbarian, he quite clearly stealths his way around Thulsed Doom's pad to get into position before all hell gets unleashed, and even ninjs his way up at the end to take Thulsed by surprise. The 1980s Conan the Barbarian film is very much how I see a realistic adventuring party working (since in real life having a massive fight with fireballs would not go unnoticed two rooms over).

I tried this with Hiravias and if I tried to rescue both he would drop the woman on the way out and then black out if he tried to pick her back up again, regardless of how much I boosted his con by. Managed it with Kana who had zero Survival but more Athletics and he managed it first time. Didn't see any checks against Athletics but I suspect each option reduces your stamina by a certain amount like it would in battle regardless of whether they pass the test or not.

Well it looks like both from being swayed by arguments and the poll results itself I will be creating a Nature Godlike Paladin! Thank you all for your advice, it was as close in my head as it was in the poll, you all put forward your reasonings well and a Fighter will be a future class I intend to play in the future (possibly Orlan Fighter). Oralaina, I agree that first look at them would probably make people think ranger or druid, which is kinda the reason I want to go something else with them, not to be deliberately contrary (that would be some sort of tech character) but different. Plus, their racial doesn't really seem to lend itself well to a Druid or Ranger ironically enough, dunno if that's intended or not.