Haplok

Yeah, Rapid Recovery is a strong upgrade for Constant Recovery. Think I'd pick Knockdown over Fast Runner. An Interrupt move can be handy. Also sometimes it is better to target Fortitude over Deflection.

AFAIR their lashes (Turning Wheel, I think Lightning Strikes also?) were hit pretty badly. Switf Strikes trigger chance was reduced too? Blade Turning is canceled on movement nowadays. Yeah, there were quite a few monk nerfs, I think. Doesn't stop them from being one of the best classes.

Yeah, base Crippling Strike is good enough. It accumulates a lot of Power Level bonuses and remains useful throughout the game. Confounding Blind could be nice to up the crit chance. Then again, it is a bit costly and in turn-based just how many single hits are you gonna land on a single enemy. Determination could be taken instead of Arterial. Rapid Recovery on 2nd thought, might not be as great in Turn-Based (not sure).

IMO you should really prioritize Unbending - get it ASAP at level 13, as its the biggest game-changer (unless you rely on Barring the Death's Door all the time). The difference between being an offtank/flanker and charging head-first into enemy ranks. I think I'd also take Rapid Recovery along the way. Determination is one of my favorite Fighter passive defense buffs. Not sure Arterial Strike is actually needed in melee - will you run away from wounded enemies? Maybe not worth upgrading Crippling at all.

Yeah, they got nerfed a lot. Doesn't stop them from being one of the top martial classes AND one of the best choices for caster multiclasses.

What hasn't really changed, is how useful Engoliero de Espirs is for a Bloodmage (though rogue weapon boosts certainly help a lot). Due to the more chaotic flow of combat, it is much more difficult to set up those impressive kill cascades that clear whole rooms. Perhaps for the best in Real Time, as gradual kills can cause a lot of healing over time trough Blade Feast special. During cascades, a lot of healing potential goes to waste because of "overheal".

Well, I probably won't be repeating the game. But I did switch the Turn Based mode into Real Time to do a few tests. First, the build is nowhere near as strong and sturdy as in Turn Based. Buffing remains pretty fast, but Blood Sacrifice has a noticable delay. So usually you can't really spam all the buffs and then recover all spell slots. But there are also positives. You can effectively hide with greater frequency (Shadow Veil costs only 2 Guile, if you use a grimoire with Arkemyr's Departure, that's another option). With Arkemyr's Departure, you can debuff enemies to your hearts' content. There are also spells which work better in Turn Based. Notably Delayed Fireball is quite awesome. Note you can hide after you cast it and before it explodes. Its also cool to use from Arkemyr's Departure. Ninagauth's Pillar also seems to work better (although it will break Invisibility after the hit). Also damaging Walls do break invisibility. Its all a lot more dynamic, risky, but possibly also more fun.

All these controversies and doubts are tempting me to try another game with a Spellblade Assassin - in Real Time - to compare and also try to use other spells a bit more.

Don't see Unbending or any of its upgrades. It's one of the best Fighter abilities. Also no Clear Out for aoe damage and aoe Focus gain? And no Cipher powers? Wow. Not even Borrowed Instinct? Secret Horrors, Ectopsychic Echo?

Well, Turn Based certainly is a favorable environment for an Assasin Spellblade. Also because how the ray spells have been translated to Turns. On the other hand, the action economy is more crucial in Turn Based. In Real Time there are more valid options I feel (and more varied action speed/recovery values). I never once used Arkemyrs Brilliant Departure or Smoke Veil. Simply because "wasting" a whole round just to hide seemed awfully inefficient.

I think one group of spells worth checking are the rays. For sure they are much trickier to use in Real Time with Assassination, but their behavior in Turn Based was interesting enough to warrant more testing in real time, I think. Notably the ray hits didn't necessarily break invisibility - as long as one stays outside enemy sight cones. I'm really amazed to read about some risk of breaking stealth with Fireball in real-time. In turn-based it was an Assassination staple (okay, actually Shadowflame was, but they are somewhat similar). I think one group of spells worth checking are the rays. For sure they are much trickier to use in Real Time with Assassination, but their behavior in Turn Based was interesting enough to warrant more testing in real time, I think. Notably the ray hits didn't necessarily break invisibility - as long as one stays outside enemy sight cones. I'm really amazed to read about some risk of breaking stealth with Fireball in real-time. In turn-based it was an Assassination staple (okay, actually Shadowflame was, but they are somewhat similar). Other then that, I can't recommend Minoletta's Precisely Piercing Burst enough Due to its unusually high Pen, with the Assassinate bonus of +4 Pen, it very often Overpenetrates for additional +30% damage on crit. I've used it like 70% of the time after I got it. Sadly its PL VI, so comes late.

IMO Swashbuckler is like the only proper way to build Eder. It hardly makes him any worse as a tank (well, by a tiny fraction, I suppose), but greatly improves his offensive capabilities and mobility.

We're getting slightly off-topic, but I'm becoming a convert of light shields. Tuotilo's Palm, mostly. My swashbuckler Eder has never been as good as when I used Palm on him along with Gipon Prudensco. This was Turn Based however and I've also used the small shield modal (+15 Accuracy for next attack after being missed in melee). Plus the additional Palm enchant that also has a chance to retaliate after a miss. Anyway, he became a real Riposte monster.

I'm glad you've found your answer. Regarding Turn Based, I hesitate to really recommend it. It cripples too many important aspects /mechanics of the normal game related to action speed (dexterity, armor, fighting style, cast time, weapon style, weapon/shield modals). Seriously upsets the martial vs spell balance. They should have made it individual initiative / personal round based. Alas, the devs went the easy way. Although if you do play it, a wizard is one of the best characters to do so

I don't think it's entirely exclusive. Just much easier and more convenient turn-based. Blood Sacrifice has no Recovery and 0,8 Second cast time. Maybe 0,5 sec with speed bonuses, I'm guessing. As do most other buffs (except Llengrath Safeguard - which I only used for longest, toughest fights).

Well, I've played a Spellblade (Bloodmage/Assassin multiclass), so its a slightly different playstyle (striking from stealth with the Assassinate bonus of +25 Accuracy, +4 Pen, +50% Critical damage). With high Accuracy and additionally stacked nearly 50% Hit-to-Crit conversion. Perhaps more importantly, I've played it Turn Based (lots of wizard "Free Actions" - including Blood Sacrifice). Notably I've made heavy use of Deltro's Cage Helmet, which provided a 30-140% shock lash in most fights (need to hit self with lightning first). Some advice on how I've built and played this character (as well as some pics ) can be seen in this topic: Concelhaut's Corrosive Siphon offers very potent healing when you manage to hit an enemy group with it. Late game I've also had a lot of passive healing on-kill from Engoliero de Espirs Estoc Ghost Blades with Blade Feast enchant, which restore as much health as they hit for (and they are boosted by weapon quality and all other damage bonuses, such as might, sneak attacks, deathblows, ranged weapon damage boosts and so on). Regarding Fighter's Unbending, it would certainly work fantastic with Wall of Draining. Also Fighter's active skills work nicely with some of the summoned weapons, most notably Citzal's Lance with Clear Out (although its also decent with Mule Kick for damage & CC in 1 move). Fighter has the clear advantage in the Engagement slots for tanking, if that is your cup of tea. His great defensive active buff (Vigorous/Refreshing Defense) doesn't stack with the Wizard's buffs, sadly though. Generally a Paladin is possibly more synergistic, if less interesting to play as a martial wizard MC (no interesting active weapon moves). His passive Faith defense buffs stack with Wizard's active buffs. He eventually gets sick Armor buffs which again stack with active wizard buffs. His Eternal Devotion damage lash works on spells also (after attacking with weapon). So I guess Fighter MC for a martial wizard that eventually wants to focus on weapon attacks and a Paladin MC for unkillable battlemage standing on the frontline, but focusing on spells.

Particularly in Turn Based mode, its really not the best choice to swing your sword once to hit one enemy, when you could use the same turn to hit 5 enemies with a Fireball for higher damage. Or better yet, Blind 5 enemies and continuously damage them for several rounds with Chilling Fog. First weapon combo that's kinda fun and competitive with spells on a Fighter/Wizard is summoned Spirit Lance (Conjuration school) with Fighter's Clear Out move. I guess earlier you can use the Lance with aoe Mule Kick... but that's still Power Level V needed to summon that Lance.

Plus Conjuration: Wall of Flame (combos great with Combusting Wounds - also Chilling Fog, another great spell you'd loose), Wall of Draining (awesome to endlessly prolong powerful but short lived effects), all summons and weapon summons. IMO not worth it. Blood Mage is great, tho Regarding Ninagauth's Teachings, it also includes 2 unique spells: Shadowflame - an OP combat opener that deals decent damage AND paralyses enemies it hits (use Dazzling Lights from Stealth prior to that to catch their attention and bunch them all up - but be careful not to actually hit anyone - as that'd break Stealth) and Death Ray which deals Raw damage and is arguably one of the best damage spells, particularly vs high AR enemies like golems and bosses.

Okay, its important what you like. For me it was painful that I needed to be stingy about buffs with regular wizards - particularly when they get so many good ones. Spirit Shield, Eldritch Aim, Infuse with Vital Essence, Mirror Image, Merciless Gaze, Deleterous Alacricity of Motion, maybe even Arcane Veil - and you've nearly spent your level 1 trough 3 spell slots. Actually that's more level 2 slots then you have as a non-Bloodmage. Meanwhile I also REALLY want to use Combusting Wounds, Chillfog, Slicken. Concelhaut's Corrosive Siphon is GREAT for group Health drain. But I could never afford to cast it as a regular wizard. Sometimes maybe I'd like to draw enemy attention with Arkemyr's Dazzling Lights cast from Stealth (quite often as an Assassin Spellblade, actually). I personally never used Miasma of Dull-Mindedness much, but its another powerful level 2 spell that competes with all those great buffs (and other great spells) for level 2 slots. So yeah, for me the versatile Bloodmage was a real blessing and only type of Wizard I want to play in Deadfire.

Well, I do disagree. Kinda. Although you're not wrong - it's less of an issue when you're high level and have 7-9 spell levels to choose from (except in long, drawn out fights, like you noticed). However at early to mid-game I've always found myself starved for spell-slots. And being eternally torn whether I cast all the awesome protections and self-buffs or actual offensive spells. Always low on Chillfogs, Slickens, Combusting Wounds. I kinda feel OBLIGED to use Grimoire of Vaporous Wizardry on non-Bloodmages for the additional spell slots. But there are other nice grimoires also... and GoVW kinda forces the use of Rekvu's Casque to negate interrupts, while for a nuker I'd much rather use Deltro's Cage Helmet... PLUS his Blood Sacrifice is really neat: +1 Power Level on a permanent basis AND in case you use a Human, you can also control being Blooded and having +7 Accuracy and +15% damage on a semi-permanent basis also. When fighting enemy groups, healing is a non-issue with Concelhaut's Corrosive Siphon.

Hm, okay, Ironman. That does change things. An Assassin multiclass can be pretty survivable, as he can be untargettable for large portions of combat. But of course, he can also die pretty fast. Heck, I've committed seppuku many times on my own by hitting myself with a Chain Lightning crit to trigger Deltro's Cage Helm crazy lash at below 50% health... and sometimes with the Lightning effect doubled by the Silk Slippers.

I'm a bit surprised Bloodmage gets so little mention here. For me its nearly a straight upgrade to regular wizards. The only case I were NOT going for one would be if I cared much about the Empower mechanic (which got some support from itemization in the DLCs, I guess). But as I never bother about per rest abilities.... Even the mighty Evoker, besides being spell-starved compared to a Bloodmage, sacrifices damn much. Too much IMO. Wall of Draining is great combo enabler. Wall of Many Colors is top tier CC. Ninagauth's Freezing Pillar is a top damage spell. Combusting Wounds a great damage multiplier when properly supported. Chilling Fog is an early staple, Slicken is an effective disabler for large, clumsy enemies and enemy casters. Then there are the summons and weapon summons. If you would like to experiment with multiclassing, I really enjoyed my Bloodmage / Assassin. Granted, I played it in Turn Based. But Assassinate works for spells (just the initial strike/explosion, so not great for multi-projectile or delayed effect spells), granting HUGE bonuses: +25 Accuracy, +4 PEN, +50% Critical Damage. These bonuses work in aoe, contrary to single-target Accuracy a ranger can stack. Plus, a wizard is quite safe when under the cover of stealth, which is kinda neat also. Shadowing Beyond is costly Guile-wise, but has no Recovery.

Its not so obvious with Disintegration, I think. Since you need to land it first. Then you can also crit for magnified effect. So the effect of extra Accuracy from human depends on you Acc vs enemy Fortitude values.... and the d100 roll. Of course for healing, support, defense, the PL bonus clearly wins.

Normal weapon attacks get no extra Accuracy from higher PL. Multiplicative damage bonuses are better. Significantly so, if you already stack notable additive bonuses. If you don't have many bonuses, then its a bit of a wash. Say, if you have +20% additive damage and +15% multiplicative, then you get 138% as a result (would be 135% if both were additive). BUT if you already have +100% additive bonuses and add +15% multiplicative, you get 230% as a result (would be 215% if both were additive).

That is ignoring the head slot - slight advantage at much higher risk. A bit more advantage to a few particularly well scaling abilities. Meanwhile, the helmet can be extremely powerful. Like immunity to Interrupts. Or up to +140% Shock lash (!)