AndreaColombo

^ 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.)

I normally keep RES in the 14-16 range on my pure-support priests and drop it to 7 on most other builds, except Wizards where I dump both CON and RES to either 5 or 3. In general, for a TC run I wouldn't want too many characters with 3 RES in the party as you'll face enemies in waves and they can flank you and mass interrupt your characters (as well as hit/crit often if your Deflection is too low.) At higher levels it's much less of a problem, but at the beginning of the game you definitely want some more protection. I am not sure a pure tank would serve you well; I know for sure it wouldn't have in 2.02, but 2.03 brought along some changes in engagement that might make pure tanks more viable (I do not know.) I suggest looking into KDubya's Juggernaut Monk build to fight alongside the LoP, and perhaps Boeroer's Cipher build (though DPS ranged Cipher with Stormcaller can be pretty strong too.)

I'm making a new post to answer Alex so he gets a notification and sees my answer I had originally replied under the assumption you'd make a TCS run (for which I would strongly advise against this build) only to realized you explicitly mentioned a TC run with a full party of six. In that case, the LoP is absolutely viable. At the beginning of the game, it should be fairly easy for you to keep both Heoden and Calisca alive during the ambush; their presence should get you through the dungeon with ease. Once you're out of the dungeon, you can make it to Gilded Vale without any other encounter and gain a level through non-violent quests. Then you can recruit Edér and Aloth to keep around as fodder until you can recruit the rest of your crew. As for the LoP's low CON and RES scores: 2.03 increased Fighers' base Deflection by 5 points, making them the highest-Deflection martial class. This means the LoP with 7 RES in 2.03 is the same as a Fighter with 12 RES in 2.02. Pearlwood Chicken gives +2 CON for a fairly long time and is available for purchase already at The Black Hound inn in Gilded Vale for 10cp a serving. I recommend using it as much as possible at any stage of the game (though of course its effects are going to be felt the most during the first few levels.) Using a shield for the first few levels will increase your survivability a lot; the Accuracy penalty won't be much of an issue with 16 PER. Until 2.0 PER was giving Deflection, which means everyone's Accuracy was generally lower and monsters' Deflection was generally higher. Monster stats were not re-balanced around this change, so using a shield with 16 PER is absolutely viable. Selecting The Living Lands as your homeland, as I suggest for this build, conveniently makes you start the game with a large shield you can replace with a smaller one in Gilded Vale (if you want a milder penalty to Accuracy in exchange for some Deflection.) Additionally, you can take Disciplined Barrage as your 1st-level ability to get +15 Accuracy for 10 seconds 1/encounter, which helps making up for the shield. As KDubya rightfully points out, Vigorous Defense is a great ability to have as it is practically a single-target Scroll of Defense 1/encounter. You can take it instead of Clear Out without undermining the melee prowess of the build.

Edit - misread the message I was answering. Will write again from home in a few hours.

Hi Alex, I didn't dump INT to 3 because I didn't want to shorten the duration of my Knock Downs, as well as because I don't particularly enjoy extreme min/maxing. If those are not a concern for you, you may certainly dump INT to 3 and further optimize the build as you see fit. Of course the build really shines as you gain access to the cool buffs, potions of DAOM, and equipment; however I personally find the latter the least important of the three with the exception of Shod-in-Faith, which can be acquired relatively early in Act II. I typically start my play throughs on Normal and switch to hard at level 5; PotD on level 9-10 (this requires the IE Mod.) This way, low RES is never a problem. If you play on harder difficulties from the get-go, you'll need good micro to avoid getting knocked out for the first few levels (you hit hard but you get hit often.) A tankier version is something I would not consider out of personal preference, but YMMV.

Will run a few tests as time allows and open a thread in the tech forums thereafter.

I would probably go for the same tier as I did for PoE, but I would likely need to back at a lower tier first and up it later through the backer portal.

^ Not necessarily. It's hard to think they didn't see this coming when they designed the Siphoning weapon enchant, or that they didn't test it. Besides, as you said, there are more powerful combinations in this game; this is not an instance where you go, "wow this is broken" It's not like they're out looking at our build posts to nerf the eff out of everything we find to maximize combat efficiency, eh Even though... link #tongueincheek

With TWM pt. II coming in January there should hopefully be a bout of revived interest in the game. The chances of hitting 1,000,000 by the end of the first year from release are looking good, and I'm happy for that (it means our chances of seeing more RTwP party-based isometric RPGs are also looking good)

They are attaching wounds to knockouts as an option in patch 3.0

Yes. The Siphoning weapon enchant was originally named Draining, and overrode the original Draining enchant. It has since been fixed so Tidefall is back to its original form, which was pretty rad to begin with

Look what you've done: https://instagram.com/p/-eFI8dJxzt/ Also, LOL. Also: Whoa, they're really listening to what we say!