AndreaColombo

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!

^ I doubt they would continue this particular series as TB as it would be rather suicidal. It's more likely that they'd consider spin-off games set in the world of Eora that have TB combat.

Achilles - Not necessarily. Not everything in the game has to be powerful; drugs exist in Eora and they have an effect but that doesn't mean every character should use them to gain an edge. That said, some more exploration of the theme would be good in a sequel (not as a main plot hook.)

^ the Penetrating Shot thing sounds like a bug. A bug you'd probably want to stay, I suppose?

Fairly sure there isn't. Everyone can use everything and take any WF talent; starting Accuracy is the only thing that differentiates classes in terms of their ability to hit/crit, but it does not discriminate across weapon types.

Indeed I was referring to that one. I have since been using it as a secondary weapon on my Monk characters

I would say before slaying the dragon. Resting outside of his visual range should trigger the upgrade already. Just link to your saved game (and your output.log file; QA will ask for it anyway, so it's well worth providing it upfront) and write up repro steps like Load the attached saved game. Select character X and go to the inventory. Observe they're wielding Stormcaller; right-click the bow and observe that sleeping in a Sky Dragon nest is the step required for unlocking the next level of the soulbound weapon. Back in game, observe you are in the nest of the Sky Dragon. Rest. Observe the weapon does not upgrade. Aarik will see it and drop a comment during the week (probably already tomorrow.)

You can drink potions of Deleterious Alacrity of Motion to attack faster, but I wouldn't waste them on leveling Nightshroud. Use it against a party member out of combat; it should work.

I would, but the forum won't let you edit your own posts after a certain amount of time has passed LoP was posted in July so that last edit in May couldn't possibly capture her Juggernaut, Fulmineo, Backlash, and Schemer should all be there too.

I see what you did there.

^ Confirmed, I've just successfully repro'd. If your Druid is wearing Sentinel's Girdle and Spiritshifts during combat, once he returns to his regular form the belt's gone.

Did you try them, though? I too generally dislike Monks in this kind of game, but PoE Monks are quite different from D&D Monks—and they're all kinds of fun to play (also pretty strong.)

^ It also doesn't stack with Scroll of Accuracy. That's the reason why I never rely on a Paladin's Zealous Focus—I tend to use Scroll of Accuracy a lot and it just suppresses the aura. However, the argument in favor of Gallant's Focus still stands whenever you don't have or don't use Scroll of Valor / Blessing in a fight. Flexibility in exchange for 2 points of Accuracy is not a bad deal

So Veteran's Recovery + Trollhide Belt isn't really worth it in general? A build like the Backlash Beldam could definitely use some regen, and to an extent so could Fulmineo Prondroni. It would be a shame if Veteran's Recovery + Trollhite Belt weren't enough to make a difference as a talent slot + belt slot are pretty hefty price.

One thing to consider is that when turning to Kickstarter, developers cannot know in advance how much interest their project is gonna generate. Keeping the original goal "low" is a way of playing it safe and ensuring the game can get done even if the project earns relatively little interest* (Obsidian were in dire straits when they pitched Project Eternity to potential backers so this was definitely something they considered.) Then of course if your project gathers interest, there is more stuff you can add to the game with the extra cash than you had originally planned for the smaller budget. I don't see it as dishonest; more as erring on the safe side. * Little interest in backing a game on Kickstarter doesn't necessarily translate to little interest in purchasing the finished product when it's out. The idea of paying a few years in advance for a product that, by Kickstarter's own terms and conditions, might potentially fail doesn't click with many people who may well be willing to pay for the game if they can have it right away and risk-free.