AndreaColombo

I'm really curious whether this bit: refers to TWM pt. 2. It would make abilities like "Into the Fray" finally viable.

Ah. Well, then. Would be interesting to have an update from whomever is handling it now.

EDIT: nvm.

Last I checked, you cannot have more than one x-proofing and one attribute bonus on the same piece of armor. Kinda sucks that the DR bonus from Tempered Helm gets suppressed by armor enchantment, though. I mean, who's going to keep their armor "plain" on the off chance to get +5 DR for a limited time after killing a foe? I'll take +4 all the time from Exceptional any time of day or night.

Full play through. I enjoy trying out new builds, but the purpose is always to decide on a full party for my next play through. I never test builds for the sake of testing builds.

So, I've been running more ... experiments (read in a David Warner voice.) It is indeed true that when the Monk is naked, no DR is ever gained from Wounds with Iron Wheel; I provide files and repro steps below. I could, however, consistently obtain the correct number of DR from wounds while wearing armor. I have tried with monk outfit (unenchanted), scale armor (unenchanted), and Husk of the Great Western Stag (unique), all of which can be found in the Monk's inventory in my saved game below (the stash contains all kinds of other armors to test if necessary.) SAVED GAME: link OUTPUT LOG: link REPRO STEPS: Load the attached saved game. Select the Death Godlike dudette and access her character record. Observe that she is a Monk and has the Iron Wheel class ability, which gives +1 DR per Wound. Go to her inventory and observe she is currently wearing no armor, and her DR is 0. Back in game, select the four lone dudes and make them walk southeast-ward to meet a group of enemies and enter combat; leave the Monk dudette and the protagonist behind. Once you've entered combat, have the protagonist attack the Monk dudette and pause the game after every attack to check the Monk's DR. Observe that the Monk is never gaining any DR from Wounds. My best guess is that the code is looking for a base DR value to increase and fails to recognize 0 DR from wearing nothing as a legit value to increase (but I'm in wild speculation territory here; I'm no programmer and I have no idea what the code handling this looks like.) You'll see there are three other armors in the Monk's inventory with which to test. I have consistently got correct DR values from Iron Wheel while wearing those. Other armors are available in the stash. EDIT: A Barbarian's Thick Skinned ability appears to apply correctly to naked characters.

This is working fine for me. I've just tested this in 2.03 and I do get +1 DR per wound up to +10; it shows both in my character sheet and in the combat log.

But this project alone was/is too small to sustain a company like Obsidian, and IIRC Feargus said so explicitly in interviews. Of course more ambitious, money-grubbing projects would have probably been unfit for a KS campaign, so it was a matter of balancing the company's needs, the game they wished to work on, and the means they had chosen for financing.

Think AG has been buffed to 20% as of 2.03 actually.

Armored Grace only works if you're wearing armor. I'm sure 'cause I tested this in game. Unless it was changed recently, but I don't think so. Will try tonight to confirm at any rate.

There are three ingots in Crägholdt and one in the Alpine Dragon's lair.

^ not sure it would work. Both Armored Grace and Durgan Steel explicitly state they reduce armor recovery penalty as opposed to recovery penalty in general. That said, I haven't tested this so it might as well work for all I know. If just seems unlikely.

EDIT: Figured I'd elaborate more. Vengiatta Rugia bestows a 20% recovery penalty on its wearer. In other words, it slows you down by 20%. Armored Grace reduces the recovery penalty from whatever armor you're wearing by 20%. Hence, if you're wearing Vengiatta Rugia and have Armored Grace, you suffer no penalty. Durgan Steel does the same as Armored Grace and stacks with it for as long as there is a penalty to reduce. In your case, you already had no penalty and therefore Durgan Steel won't make you any faster.

^ could you write that in my bug report so Aarik can have a look? Fairly sure that's unintended; he should be able to test it easily with my saved games.

@Abbzug - Why are you saying that Novice's Suffering doesn't work on Barbarians? It is a good talent if you want to go unarmed without being a Monk. It's not necessarily a mechanically optimal choice but it may suit your character concept (for example, I'm toying with the idea of a Rogue that looks like a Monk, fights like a Monk, but is really actually a Rogue.)

The reason why people suggest taking it if you don't have a Paladin is that it doesn't stack with Zealous Aura, and the latter gives +6 which is better. Of course a case can be made for ranged character who will, for the most part, be outside of the Paladin's Aura's range during a fight. I hadn't thought of that; a good talent has just become better in my eyes

You can buy them in Stalwart (though I generally simply console them in if I don't find them in Raederic's Hold, knowing you can have as many as two or three from there and the only reason you don't is RNG.)

So I was going through the list of multi-class talents as I really like the idea behind them, but was left with the general impression that most of them were lackluster and not worth taking. After some consideration, here are my thoughts: ACOLYTE'S RADIANCE Even though next patch will make it 1/encounter (source), this talent remains problematic. Its main issue is that the Priest ability it derives from is already weak and situational: I rarely waste my Priest's time with it—I definitely wouldn't waste a talent point on a watered down version for another character. A possible solution could be to make both the Priest ability and the talent scale with level. Thoughts? APPRENTICE'S SNEAK ATTACK This is a good talent. Much weaker than its Rogue counterpart, but with all the cheese we have in the game I certainly wouldn't advocate for a buff. Most melee characters end up taking it as is. ASPIRANT'S MARK Will be a good AoE debuff once it's made 1/encounter (source). Can be useful on support characters. ENIGMA'S CHARM Frankly, I do not know how to make this one attractive. I understand the idea behind it, but I just can't think of a character on whom I'd want it. There are better and more efficient ways to Charm opponents without investing a talent point in it. GALLANT'S FOCUS This one is good if you don't already have a Paladin in your party. Also works as a weaker Weapon Focus (+4 with all weapons instead of +6 with a specific subset of them.) I don't generally take it, but that's more personal preference than anything. NOVICE'S SUFFERING This one is good, although its utility is confined to specific character builds rather than being universal like, for example, Apprentice's Sneak Attack's. Then again, not all talents need to be universal OUTLANDER'S FRENZY If this too is made to be 1/encounter, it could be good for specific character builds. Josh didn't mention it in his tweet, so I'll ask. PRESTIDIGITATOR'S MISSILES This one is not particularly good because, frankly, who wants the minor version of Minoletta's Minor Missiles 1/encounter? You either have a Wizard in the party (and therefore don't need missiles on other characters) or you probably just don't care about arcane spells. However, I guess it could be good for specific character builds if it scaled with level (going from 3 to 4 to 5 missiles and gaining bonus damage.) Appreciate it would eventually become more powerful than Minoletta's Minor Missiles, but it would still be just 1/encounter. Otherwise, I cannot see it as worth a talent point. RHYMER'S SUMMON Not sure about this one; I seldom use summons. Seems very slow and becomes completely useless in the second half of the game. Perhaps if it was changed to 10 seconds (since Chanters are getting Brisk Recitation in 3.0) and scaled with level by summoning progressively better creatures? RUNNER'S WOUNDING SHOT Now that it is 1/encounter, I'd say it's actually good for ranged DPS non-Ranger characters (e.g. Cipher.) Thoughts? VETERAN'S RECOVERY Total waste of a talent. +1.5 Endurance over 3 seconds is tantamount to nothing and it's even on a timer. Putting the Fighter's ability on a timer was already a mistake to begin with imho. If the timer was removed and the effect was changed to 2 every 3 seconds, it might be something (but still unsure; the Fighter's ability is already fairly irrelevant unless you boost the heck out of with with items and Might, plus Fighter can invest another talent to boost it further, which characters with Veteran's Recovery cannot.)

So, I've run a test with an unarmed Rogue with a Might score of 10 (so Might wouldn't interfere with the damage calculation.) It looks to me like the damage bonus from Novice's Suffering is not being accounted for in the Rogue's ability descriptions, but it does apply to them when the Rogue attacks. I tried attacking my party members with Crippling Strike and Sap, and both times I got damage rolls north of 20 with a listed damage of 18-21 in my character sheet. Here's the bug report. ...and now the idea of a Monk-like Rogue that fights unarmed with Novice's Suffering is suddenly appealing. Rogues never really clicked with me, but I just might conjure up a build for a future play through (though I already have two queued up for when TWM pt. II drops, so not sure when I'd actually get around to playing the Rogue.)

SAVED GAME: link (before leveling up) SAVED GAME 2: link (after leving up) OUTPUT LOG: link REPRO STEPS: Load the attached saved game (n. 2, after leveling up) Select the bald dude with the Monk outfit and go to his character record. Observe the following: He has a MIGHT score of 10, granting no bonus to his damage. He has the Novice's Suffering talent, which grants him +13 Unarmed Damage / +16 Unarmed Accuracy. Go to his inventory and observe he is currently unarmed; further observe his unarmed damage is listed as 18-21 (coming entirely from the Novice's Suffering talent, because MIGHT score of 10.) Back in game, right-click his Crippling Strike ability and observe it says "Full Attack (5-8 Crush + 5-8 Crush)". Repeat the same with his Finishing Blow and Sap abilities. As you can see by loading the other saved game (before leveling up), 5-8 is the Rogue's unarmed damage prior to taking Novice's Suffering. Using the leveled-up saved game, have the Rogue use his abilities against a party member and keep an eye on the log. It looks to me like the abilities are actually using the correct damage, but their description is not reflecting it.

I love the idea of a mega dungeon per se, but I would prefer it was separate from the stronghold (and from the main story, which the endless paths are.)

Don't forget GoG, Steam, Paradox, and Origins are all taking their cut and part of their earnings were put toward the expansion. If the expansion broke even, they could probably do PoE 2 without crowdfunding (higher budget and many things already done on the engine and world building side) but I still wouldn't mind contributing cash toward stretch goals.

All of those are viable alternatives and much depends on what party synergies will be in place. If you want pure damage output, Estoc would be my choice because of the DR bypass. White Spire can also mass debuff via Carnage, which is pretty neat. Dual-wielding, on the other hand, opens up a whole world of fast, stun-lock opportunities (there are much better versed users than me on the matter, so I'll let them talk.) If you dual wield, you can probably wear heavier armor too as the speed penalty will be proportionally lower. All stats are potentially important so it depends on the kind of Barbarian you want. For dual-wielding mass stun-lock I would favor DEX, PER, INT; for damage output with two-handers, MIG, DEX, PER.

Hi, Afraid you'll have to stick to Steam for it to work.

Oralaina - one of the two games is Planescape: Torment, to date one of the best written games one could play. Not sure about the other. Stoner - Paladin and tanky characters in general benefit from RES. It doesn't help that RES governs Deflection, but Deflection had to go somewhere and RES had to contribute something mechanically. I like the fact that RES opens up many dialog options, and I say so despite never playing high-RES characters; it makes sense and it is rewarding for people who pump it (contrary to what usually happens to CHA in D&D games.)