HawkSoft

Sounds fun. I like it if the resting characters at Caed Nua could contribute to its defence as the hirelings are pretty squishy. Zu San is doing surprising well for a unplanned character, I'm even wondering if I should start a new game with her as the protagonist?

Fair enough.

You know how much it would slow my computer down if I tried this on PoEt? Of course not as I have no idea what the spec of your computer is i DO remember (just - it was a long time ago) how long it took to level up a party after a boss fight in BG1, you needed multiple re-loads and intermediate saves so as to get a reasonable number of hit points for each character In later years there were mods available to maximise HP at level-up and the current edition has an options setting.

In my opinion PoE is worth more than one play-through, there's so much to explore and do. Plus it takes time for all the lore to sink in and make the setting come to life. If you are expecting to run with an optimised party I think you might be better off playing a more mechanistic game or one where the story is less important. My current choices in those categories are Torchlight 2 and Icewind Dale. I don't believe there is such a thing as an optimised character or party build in PoE, my advice is to award yourself a *game off* and play on normal making intuitive decisions based on the story rather than on numerical analysis of the system. You can still come back to the game and do an *optimised* run later, once you have finished experiencing the story…

In early versions of BG-1 had the clerics' summon skeleton spell gave you half a dozen of the useless creatures but this could be exploited against lower level bosses. Use your sneakers to locate the boss fight, summon a load of of skellies on the enemy position, they won't do much (any) damage but they will force an engagement, simultaneously have your wizard drop a stink bomb (nauseous fog?) spell on them, this doesn't affect the skellies but makes your enemies faint repeatedly and weakens them. Shoot enemy with missiles until dead…

Standard practice in Infinity Engine games (EG Balders Gate) was to create a save file before each level up if only to avoid the dreaded roll of a one on the hit point dice. Those games originally followed the pen & paper rules so health gain was variable on level up

Be thankful you have cloaks at all, those of use using less favoured operating systems (Mac & Linux) don't get to see them at all (Not Obs fault.)

I found a paladin to be a good learning character, they play somewhat like clerics (decent all-rounders) from the old Balders Gate games rather than being holier-than-thou types. Boeroer talks about party composition being more important than character builds, I agree, even on normal you need to adjust your tactics and possibly load-outs to suit you party. However I think that almost any mixed class party CAN be viable on normal with suitable tactics. Don't be ashamed of playing a few scenes on easy until you get the hand of things, my first two parties got wiped out early in the story.

My latest play through is with a might-21 aumaua ranger called Freja with 3 weapon slots who will focus on firearms (which seems appropriate from Kana's backstory) when the party acquires some. Her companion is a bear to act as tank/bulldozer. At present Freja is using the fine arbalest you can find early on as opener (can one shot low level opponents) switching to a war bow for sustained fire. Her character is mostly benevolent except that she usually pick the might-enabled dialogue options (dirt-ball Copperlane dealers excluded, who wants some dodgy svef? ) so is acquiring a reputation for aggressiveness. She's recently become Lord of Caed Nua but, in her haste to get to Defiance Bay, had forgotten to deliver the hair tonic (or whatever it is) from Ranga to the expectant mother in Gilded Vale. The party rush back, deliver the placebo and find a note in the inn about an urgent adventure. What to do? there are no spare companions and no time to recruit another before the adventure expires (1 day). So I hire my first (ever) custom character, Zu San. a fire godlike, orlan form monk who is an escaped slave from Aedyr. I sent Sagani off on the adventure as she is more experienced and am interested to see how Zu San works out (early indications are promising - normal difficulty). I never intended to get a monk, I was thinking more of a rogue or barbarian but it just sort of happened. I HAD decided on a godlike, intending to hire a death rogue but then found the diminutive looking fire godlike female portrait and the story took over after that. Stat wise she has excellent dexterity and reasonable physical abilities but does not excel mentally. Ex-slave was my only game-play focussed choice as I wanted the skill boosts, I chose an Aedyran origin because I liked the costume. Does anyone else have any similar stories?

I, too, think respec cheapens the game and, if it must be in the game is ridiculously underpriced at higher levels. I could settle for something like the limited retraining in Torchlight 2 (an action RPG) where you can only unlearn the 3 most recent skills learnt and it relatively more expensive. I will admit, however, to respecing Eder to get rid of Defender which has been nerfed by the changes to how disengage works,

Why: I'm following up on what I perceive to be the basically realistic combat model (endurance + health) of PoE. <science stuff> I don't claim to be an expert on sports nutrition, just an interested amateur but my understanding is the ideal prep for an expected bout of activity is: A *good* meal a few hours before, Some time to digest the food and allow blood circulation to return to normal as during digestion blood is routed to the digestive system, Fluids plus low bulk, high energy foods during the activity. I was also told (some years ago) that the energy foods don't actually get digested very quickly but their presence in the stomach fools the body into releasing some of its internal energy reserves. </science stuff> So, yes, simulationist but I would want to keep play as streamlined as possible with the system prioritising meals to the characters that need/would get most benefit from them . I'd very much like to get away from the current (slightly) micro management system for food. I also find that the current system reduces my immersion: Scout reports what's ahead Select most appropriate menu from available ingredients (EG looks like Fampires, we need to boost will) Cook and eat meal just outside visual range and, we must assume, downwind Attack …

I like the idea of unique abilities for the companions but would prefer the development time to be spent on extending their personal quests or giving them each a second stage quest.

Plus a good selection of cheeses Sorry, couldn't resist it. As someone who plays with a full party I'd like food to have a combination of role playing and game value. Real world stuffing yourself before a fight (or sport) is bad news, it may make you sleepy and/or give you cramps hence my suggestion that it be combined with the camping mechanism.

…though I do want to disembowel Durance and put him on a pike in my new, shiny keep, He'd probably enjoy it

I've not seen it happen. My ideal solution would be to have some quick slots accessible to the AI and some reserved for player use only.

Old school. simulationist? guilty as charged. I agree about player laziness and I will admit it's a contributory factor to my decision whether to camp or return to an inn (plus role playing). I play on normal, in part, so I don't have to power game and can concentrate on the emerging story.

I like the rest system in PoE and think it's a vast improvement on BG1/2. Food seemed like a nice idea but in practice I don't find that it adds much to either gameplay or role playing. Given that the Survival is going to be revamped in NM-2 I'd be interested in seeing the following changes to camping in a future patch or mod: Resting outside an inn requires both camping supplies (which should be a bit cheaper) and meals for the party. Resting without a proper meal (just the iron rations from the camping kit) will limit the amount of healing a character gets from resting (halved?). Each character will have a favourite food (possibly determined by race and background), if they get to eat that then they will receive a small benefit that will last for 1 rest. I welcome your thoughts and counter suggestions.

I play on normal and don't usually pre-buff my party for role playing reasons (I found it a chore in BG1/2). In combat I often forget about quick slot items, particularly potions, in the confusion of a fight. I'd like an AI option to allow party member to use quick slot items in combat in a way similar to per-rest abilities. What do other's think please? - I'm hoping this is something that could be added as a patch or mod.

I'm not a fan of AD&D monks but Zahua was a revelation in terms of how the PoE monk archetype works. I've found him useful for breaking up enemy mobs and dealing with the results but so far (WM-1) his character has not developed much so I rate him alongside Kana as a companion. I think the Devil is a great character, in some ways reminiscent of RFS-81 from Wizardry 8 and as a party member she's very good at finishing off enemy cripples and making sure Aloth is left in peace to cast his spells. I can understand that her quest was kept *compact* so it could be completed in WM-1 however I was very disappointed with the ending. My protagonist is a benevolent cipher with a strong reputation for honesty and took her along to try and find a way to redeem her soul. I was expecting the scene with the wood cutters to give me a range of options, not just lie to DoC or slaughter all the woodsmen (with no reputation penalty it seems), EG: Mess up the dialogue, the woodsmen turn hostile and you either have to kill them (major reputation hit with Stalwart) or run in which case DoC leaves you to pursue her vendetta and you have to track her down. Duel, DoC and her nemesis (possibly with a couple of mates) fight it out, you have to tidy up the mess afterwards and possibly pay blood money to widows and orphans, You lie (badly) to DoC and she turns hostile - kill her - reputation boost with Stalwart (?) All goes fairly well but DoC now wants to kill the animancer… (comes with free *Dozens* badge ;-) Sweetness and light, full reconciliation.

Update, I've not had any more equipped weapons disappear over numerous area transitions and party reorganisations. I can't be sure but I think the problem went away once I was using save files created after validating the cache.

I'm a wuss and play on normal so can't comment on the balance at hard or above. What I have noticed is that in v1 you could lock enemies in combat now (v2), if they spot a squishy they just wander off and beat on their new victim. In the meantime your combat specialist is left standing there like a lemon unless you trust things to the AI or micromanage I like to play the game, not run the system, and this breaks the immersion for me Giving the combat classes some kind of boost/talent, maybe class specific, to their disengagement response would suit me.

Thank you for the reply, I had found that advice in another thread and verified the cache (no reported errors) between originally posting to this thread and then my edit about the disappearing arquebus. Since then I have not had any problems with items vanishing on area transition or reload (fingers crossed). This is not a problem that I had seen before travelling to the White March (120+ hours pre v2).

I have a similar problem but with the pre-generated characters. It's just started since I started exploring the White March. In my case it's Bittercut and sometime the offhand shield that disappears, Bittercut is the first WM unique I have equipped (by Kana). I have not used quick saves. UPDATE: I've tried using newly created saves, Bittercut has stuck around but now a fine arquebus has disappeared from one of Pellegina's slots after transition from Stalwart to the Russetwood.