Aoiren

I already had an ongoing run with the party I described while writing that post. I went with Shards of Woedica because it's cheap and quickly available, but also because of the club modal - whatever the Fanatic hits gets Will debuffed to ensure afflictions go through and the healing from afflictions is sustained. Also, increasing single target damage via the bonus helps with the self-healing by hitting afflicted. I haven't actually taken Lay on Hands, or any other heals. Using Watchful Presence from the Priest is plenty, though for most fights the Fanatic doesn't even reach Bloodied because of the self-healing. For the tougher fights so far, the self-healing is enough to sustain more than long enough for the Priest to cast Triumph of the Crusaders or Watchful Presence, because the fire Godlike AC bonus also triggers at that point. In case of emergency, the Fanatic is also wearing the Eothasian amulet thingy that gives a heal on near death. Funnily enough, I put the Unbroken/Trickster in a leather armor because he wasn't pulling much aggro even when running into the fray upfront and before the Fanatic, but mobs still tend to congregate on the Fanatic with the Unbroken in Leather Armor... I picked Stalker/Beguiler as a way to have a melee/ranged/caster char who can run to the front, off to the side, shoot from the back, or cast away CCs and afflictions as needed. Hybrid is the keyword for this fellow. Went Stalker for the tankiness as I wanted a hybrid who could do both melee and ranged - I don't actually need the AC to do anything on the battlefield, so he just sticks with the Stalker if he's hanging back and shooting / casting away. Went Beguiler for the better party synergy. Deceptions > Shreds for putting out afflictions ASAP and consistently. As he's half Ranger, this char does plenty of single target damage already without Soul Annihilation. Because of the affliction focus of the party, he's always generating a ton of focus, and as an accurate Ranger, he gets the full soul whip bonus on pretty hard hitting attacks (attacking sneak attack vulnerable is never a problem). Also, Soul Blade would come at the cost of Max Focus and starting focus. Overall, this char fits super well into that role. With the pet, he's tanky enough to go do some flanking, or intercept anything headed to the backline. With the ranger + Beguiler soulwhip, he constantly generates focus. Usual set-up is Eyestrike, Marked Prey, Normal Attack, then more CC / afflictions depending on what's needed. I'll definitely try that Stalker's Patience / Magistrate's Cudgle combo. He's outfitted with the Spine of Thicket Green for now, I haven't been able to find info on whether the +beast enchant on it works for beast tagged abilities from the Ranger. Not sure if that's been tested already.

Haven't actually ever finished the game. I only play on POTD, not always upscaled (depending how powerful / RP the builds are). That 1st build looks like fun, though I generally try not to use summon gimmicks with chanters etc.

after a good majority of my 350 hours spent in character creation, lurking these boards, and theorycrafting, I figured I could start posting here. First of, many thanks to Boeroer, Shai Hulud, thelee, kaylon and elric for all the builds and info posted in here. Came up with a Woedica themed party, because I've always wanted to do a hardcore "Lawful Evil alignment" RP run. Went custom for class flexibility and because I'm not a fan of whining companions whenever I do cruel things. The party: [CORE] Berzerker / Steel Garrote Fanatic MC with Shattered Vengeance & any other weapon Dual Wield Trickster / Unbroken Swashbuckler Hireling with sword & board for disengagement or 2 blunderbusses SC Priest of Woedica Hireling with a pistol or fists [SIDE] Stalker / Beguiler Seer Troubadour / Psion Spiritualist The standard tactic: MC runs into a big group, frenzies, and hits stuff with Shattered Vengeance (mainly for Shards of Woedica RP flavor) and other weapon dual wield. The unbroken/trickster tanks if needed, but can escape to enemy backline to get shooters, or behind grouped mobs on the Fanatic, casting additional afflictions like the Ryngrym's Repuslive Visage. The Priest of Woedica uses Writs to add afflictions, buffs party, and can cast Triumph of the Crusaders or Watchful Presence on the Fanatic. Took Fire Godlike to allow the Fanatic to stay Bloodied longer with the +1 armor rating. I didn't min-max the Priest, so it can also run in and punch mobs with Spiritual Weapon when things go well (because why not?). I really like the interaction between SC priest buffs and the Fanatic. Haven't had the Fanatic go down once. Side chars, I just added afterwards to have more buffs (from Ciphers and Caster) and have a melee/ranged flexible guy with pet in case I want to set off the Fanatic and Swashbuckler off into the fold, so the Seer can quickly take down any enemies that make it past the frontliners. I've been having a lot of fun with this party, though it's steamrolling things a bit too well. I'm pretty sure the [SIDE] chars are completely superfluous...I'm not much for playing solo but I might try a reduced party. I really want to find a way to make a 'Spanish Tercio' & Alatriste-inspired build, where the gear would be the same as in Spanish Tercios, but the roles similar to Alatriste's band of rogues, i.e. some sword and board infantry, pikes, crossbows/arquebus gunners, a duelist with daggers or rapier, and 1 priest (because nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition). Anyhow - my questions are: what are your experiences with creating party synergies? Have you come up with any fun RP inspired party builds? How would you go about creating a party around Steel Garrote + Woedica Priest? Any ideas for a cool small party with lots of synergy?