HawkSoft

All you need to add to that is some kind of rod/wand/sceptre for emergency missile flinging (EG whilst the druids AOE does its stuff) and the forgemasters' gloves - excellent for those difficult situations when something is immune to crushing.

On my first play-through I also found the lore dumps to be off-putting but as I play the game more I am discoveiring more depth to the game world as pieces click into place, a bit like like how a casual acquaintance can become a friend. In contrast with games like Torchlight 2 (which I still enjoy playing) I find the thin coating of lore rapidly dissipates like morning dew leaving the game mechanics fully exposed.

At the risk of dragging this thread completely off topic, what's the Steam Controller like to use please?

@DocTerry, congratulations of getting so far in the Endless Paths. My advice now is to forget about the Master Below (it's a VERY dangerous side quest) and work on the Main/Defiance Bay quest line,

The Infinity Engines games had a few tomes that raised a specific attribute by one point and there were a few story points at which attributes got tweaked otherwise they were fixed at character creation.

I like all 3 and generally like the incremental improvements they made to the UI and gameplay with the exception of matrix play. Adding *twitch* to a turn based cRPG was *silly* in my opinion. The matrix needed a retread but not by imposing a different style of gameplay that ignores character abilities and focusses on player reflex skills instead.

Like I said, a good name generator is a lot of work The mechanics of grabbing a name from a list is trivial, I'd expect anyone capable of playing PoE to be more than capable of it If your imagination fails you than crib one from a suitable book.

I would guess that they never got around to it. Also the IE games didn't have it. that's a bummer. it's a basic fundamental in character creation. Since when? Ok, I do have game which will *suggest* names for you but they tend to be action-RPGs rather than lore focussed. A good name generator is a lot of work and I wouldn't want to see dev time wasted on a bad one.

Sorry, can't help, but if you think the PoE ones are bad they have way more character than those in Divinity: Original Sin.

A good lord or steward would have a good idea of how make a specific improvement should benefit security as it's (was) a basic part of the job, bit like a ship's captain being able to steer a ship so I'm OK with this being expressed as numbers. I don't want to see exact probabilities for the benefits though, those wouldn't have been calculable and lead me to try and play the system rather than the game. One thing that might be possible within the scope of a patch would be to have *echoes* of all the gold NPC you interact with appear in the stronghold, I admit this isn't a *best* solution but it would add a bit of life to the place without requiring too much work by the devs.

I'm against re-specking the companions for role playing reasons with the one exception of removing Defender from Eder, it's not a L1 pick so you can get rid of it. Defender can be effective but it requires a decent damage output which is hard to achieve with a low level fighter.

Did you mean sandbox or litter tray ? I think that Divinity: Original Sin is more of a sandbox game than PoE given its vast crafting system and elemental rock-paper-scissors combat system but you have virtually zero control over the rambling stronghold in that game.

How about a broad class that encompasses soul-pairs, rangers with their (summoned) companion and shape-shifters where 2 bodies share the same soul (not sure if this explanation works) ? This would allow for a much wider exploration of what makes a ranger different from a ranged fighter with a pet. EG, what if the ranger and their companion shared a common health pool?

I dislike druids but I've got no problems with some suitable buffs to spiritshift however I'd prefer them to be go along with combining priests and druids into one class with 2 distinct forms but which shared a common talent/ability pool. Spiritshift could be an optional talent for any worshipping class with god worshipers getting some kind of avatar form. It might also be interesting to combine the 2 mental/mystic classes, ciphers and monks. In general I don't like AD&D style multi-classing and dual classing as I think it leads to too many builds that simply exploit the system and/or experience cap (I've done it many times). I would much prefer a few well designed class groups than more classes or cross-classing.

Stalwart is delivered by messenger to the steward. The Steward tells you about Cragholdt as the same time as she talks about Stalwart.

I don't get barbarians as a separate class, the IE games needed it because the AD&D class system runs on rails. The barb frenzy associated stuff could be additional talents and options for a broader based fighter class. I understand why Obs tied the barb abilities to Int from a game mechanics point of view. It also makes some sense from a real world perspective as boxers and other fighting sportsmen may not be wise in the same way a scholar is but they do need a lot of mental discipline. Skilled fighters are not dumb/stupid although they may not value book learning.

I checked this today, the dialogue that originates the quest contains a strong warning but the journal entry is an urgent call to action - mixed messages. I think it would be reasonable for the mercenaries for the mercenaries to give several warnings unless the party is high level and that the warnings which should be very matter of fact (no bragging or boasting): *Go away, we are busy and don't have time to deal with unimportant matters* A few corpses about the place might help too. It might be simpler though for the quest not be given until the party reaches a suitable level or acquires a strong reputation in Stalwart.

Then I look forward to my talking sword. Far more natural in the PoE setting than in Ad&D as it could be a soul bound weapon that contains fragments of the souls of those killed welding it. It could have some sort of warped Second Chance ability.

I've not even seen the keep ! For most parties the besieging mercenaries will be bad news (tough and decent scripting).

I equip Devil with spear (for accuracy) and shield then use her for nailing prone and blinded foes.

I agree with the evilcat that Craghold needs some kind of warning sign and I don't just mean the one-time *buzz off* dialogue you get. At present the quest the quest basically says stop this lot or they will trash your stronghold I'm nibbling away at the mercenaries on my way to and from the White March. With (a lot of) care it's a reasonable source of semi-decent trade fodder.

I think I'll retire Zu San to be the Caed Nua guard captain and then play my next game were her as the protagonist. I intended this play-through to be about exploring how a ranger tag team (Freja + Sagani) can work together.

Lots of ideas so far, many of which I agree with The best thing about the PoE stronghold is its location, Caed Nua is well located at a minor communications hub and it's easy (quick in game time) to stop off there when traveling from (EG) Defiance Bay to the White March. By contrast many of the BG2 strongholds were out in the sticks with little reason to visit them. Mages and bards had a major advantage here as theirs were actually in the main city. I'm OK with a single stronghold for all classes but maybe there could be class specific pot plans or other details? Resting characters should be able to contribute to the defence as well as your hirelings.

I too like the idea of PoE2 starting in the Valian Republics with a ship as your mobile stronghold. No to romances, I'm OK with romance mods but I'd prefer development time being concentrated on the core story. I was disappointed with both Twin Elms and Stalwart, to me they both feel like re-enactor camps/fairs (random collection of architecture arranged for appearance) rather than towns where real people lived. Ondra's Gift is excellent and I'm OK with First Fires but it should have had some kind of shady back street for the *real* discussions of state to happen in. A few soul stories could be linked into quests and/or tasks. I'm OK with the backer NPCs but I'd like something more to be done with them. EG, get the backers to organise themselves into clusters, each of which has to create a network of interlinked soul stories. As a watcher the protagonist gets a small amount of experience for reading each soul story plus a bonus for discovering linked stories. A single soul-NPC might be in more than one network with soul fragments that manifest at different times (is this lore compatible?) Soul stories are recorded/tracked in the journal. I didn't like the backer memorials at all, *Vanity* content is OK so long as the backers put some effort into being lore-friendly, the memorials are just graffiti. Dunryd Row has been trashed but there is no reason why PoE2 could not be set in the past to allow for a Dunryd Holmes or, if we are in the Valian Republics, a Falcón Cipher as major quest guide. Without knowing how it changes in WM-2 I'd ask that Survival should affect hostile effect durations plus health, Athletics could boost defences (reflex?) as well as endurance. There are no dump abilities in PoE, there shouldn't be any dump skills. I'd be OK with PrimeJunta's suggestion of merging the fighting classes into one to allow more creative builds. In general I don't like multi-classing and think that an open-class system (mostly like PoE) is more suitable for a party RPG than a classless (skill tree) system. I don't like druids (blame Jaheira) but agree the class concept needs work, at present I don't feel the class has any soul, I feel it's a bit me-too. Maybe priests and druids could be merged? Shape/soul-shifting could become a class talent/ability. Rangers coulkd play-up the kith-animal bond thing, not just be a ranged fighter. Possibility for a minor animal swarm summons in suitable surroundings as a per-rest ability. Animancers? should this be a class or a background since many are charlatans… The reputations system is great, maybe local reputations should have 2 dimensions, friend-foe plus unknown-respected. As a game option (to side step balance issues) they might be influenced by background, race etc.

I never did this btw... OTOH I start-scummed the hey out of it to get godly stats for the PC. I set aside a (very) long evening to rolling up my *ultimate* Icewind Dale party. The *traditional* IE character creation process was a real chore