Eldram

Biting whip and draining whip seem to be must have talents. As far as powers go Eyestrike and Puppet Master are amazing. You should check out Sensuki's build guide for a melee Cipher, some great info! Sorry I don't have the link handy.

What is everyone's plans for skill selection? I'm thinking mechanics and lore with a couple points in athletics. I'm choosing a melee Cipher (Thanks for such a great video on the build Sensuki!) so the scrolls won't be of great use, it's more for the bestiary unlocks and dialog options. Mechanics for finding hidden stuff and unlocking everything, this way I don't feel the need to bring someone with a high mechanics value all the time. What do you plan on focusing on?

Thanks Sock, that's kinda what I was worried about. Maybe Cipher is the wrong pick, I really like the skill set and playstyle though. I have a feeling a melee Cipher will go down tons due to aoe, ranged, etc. And I do want to make use of the badass weapon and armor selections on my first playthrough.

Was looking for some input on a viable character, my ideal class is melee based with a nice selection of active abilities or spells that allow for flexibility. To this end the Cipher class has been very enjoyable in the beta, I really like the idea of using a 2 handed sword over the reach weapons (personal preference really, I just love the look of the giant 2 handed swords) for damage/focus generation and medium armor for a bit of defense, but I'm worried playing on hard through the full campaign may give the build a fair bit of trouble. I do not plan to take hits but want to be in melee range to generate focus so I plan to drop CON to 3 and max out DEX, INT, and MGT. Will this be a viable build or should I be looking to a different class, such as the Paladin? I just do not want to have to rely on scrolls to make the class active and flexible.

Thanks Ark Evensong! Didn't realize Pillars of Eternity Guidebook: Volume one was the same as the Full Color Printed Hardcover Project Eternity Collector’s Book, would have been disappointing when I had 2 copies of the same book arrive lol. Could not resist the hardcover guide though even though the digital version is already included.

I am really enjoying the cipher class, if you give them a bit of CON and some medium armor they can take a few hits and a 2 hander gives good damage and soul return for spells. Some of the later spells really boost your defenses while destroying your enemy. Defenitly not a tank class but can stand toe to toe with some big bruisers for a time if the right spells are used.

I am having tons of fun with the cipher class, you definetly have to watch your placement but running in with a giant 2 hander to lay the smack down while building your spell pool is an awesome playstyle. Also once you reach higher levels you get spells that buff you dt and defences substantially all while weakening your enemies. Not casting spells constantly also allows for a bit more armor, I'm running with medium now and as long as a tank character has the enemies focus the slow down seems worth the extra defence.

Sounds like the only way the cap would be reached is by completing all side quests and content, it's a benefit to the way exp is granted. Kinda makes doing all the content mean even more, I always have to hit that exp cap.

You walk down a path and find a concerned woman standing near a door to a cellar. When you ask her what is wrong, she tells you she has a bug problem but a passerby offered to help her. She says he went down but has not been seen since. When you ask about his name she tells you he was a young man called Sensuki. When you click on the door to the cellar, you get a message "Sensuki: Don't worry good sir, I got this! Only 999 bugs to go!". So much this! This would be an epic addition!

Someone give this person a medal! So much this I wish I could like a post more then once!

What I'm suggesting is to have around 4 talents for each skill. The talents would be tiered 1 through 4 for each skill and require you to pass on a combat talent in order to select a skill talent. This would lead to balanced combat/skill characters who have talents in both areas, combat focused characters who decides to pass on all skill talents in favour of combat talents, or even a character who forgoes most combat (if not all) talents in favour of skills, making them far weaker in combat but more of a non-combat bases character.

Not sure if this was mentioned in the past and cautious to post anything regarding the skill system considering the rage it tends to generate lately. What about simplifying the skill talent merger to talent skill tiers. What I mean by this is remove skills linked to talents and simply have different tiered talents that give you access to the skills you want. Such as basic athletics > intermediate athletics > advanced athletics > master athletics. This would allow you to make balanced combat/skill characters, combat focused (no skills) characters, or even a more passive skills based character (with little to no combat talents). I think it would be simple to implement and allow for varied and flexible builds. Any thoughts?

Excellent! Can't wait to see the update!

Awesome, thanks for the update update!

To be fair it must take time to load that much awesome! Thanks for the update, looking forward to the build!