Odd Hermit

Wild Orlan Paladin tank build 2 might 18 con 3 dex 20 per 15 int 20 res That's what I'm rolling with anyway. Chose Kind Wayfarer for goody-two-shoes options going to faith and conviction bonuses.

This. They're meant to be more "generic", imo, in order for more people/playstyles to at least find them usable. Not everyone min/maxes or even min/maxes in the same way, and with the limited number of written-companions, they're going to be more general types (even if they do have a bit of initial focus) so they can be altered with equipment/leveling choices etc. to fit in with as many playstyles as possible, for those that want to experience their stories/quests. Idealized, super optimized parties is what the creating your own hirelings function is for. This might make a small amount of sense for the tankier melee classes such as Fighter and Paladin. For the casters tough, there's just no reason you shouldn't have high Int on any caster build. Any. Might and Dex are only slightly more debatable, but realistically...no, you want 17+ Might and Int, 15+ Dex - you can pull that off without dumping any stats too dramatically. Of course the easiest solution is to just let us choose to build the companions, keeping class/appearance but the rest being fair game. People who don't want to tinker with a full 6 characters could opt out, while the character building junkies can go nuts. Sure, you can hire adventurers, but that's a lonely experience and you miss out on a fair amount of content. I don't see why we can't have a system that allows for both fully custom parties (sans Monk/Rogue) while still having the extra quests, dialogue, etc.

/shrug I'm not taking it that's for certain. I'll be skipping Ancient Memory as well. It cost two talents for an okay constant HoT and now it's just not worth the 2 talent investment. If they just combined them and it only cost 1 talent I think that'd be ideal.

I've already got Durance Durance Mig- Con- Dex- Per- Int- Res 14 - 15 -- 9 -- 9 - 13 - 19 to Durance Mig- Con- Dex- Per- Int- Res 14 - 13 -- 9 -- 9 - 15 - 19 It's better but it's still not great. I also got Kana, but he has no change(which is fine, he was one of the better ones already). I was considering burning through to grab them all but I started on PoD and I have a few things to do today so I don't think I'll go after the rest.

Durance too. They were pretty mild with it though. Aloth lost some Per and gained some Dex but still has a whopping 12 Mig Eder just got -3 int which went into Per/Res Durance got a couple points moved from Con into Int, still has 19 Res Talents don't seem to've changed. From the look of it none of them are PotD worthy for me, unfortunately.

Not really an overpowered combination. Barbs are one of the weaker classes honestly. Melee damage is nice on lower difficulties and at low levels. Everything else casters and tanks rule IMO. Melee glass cannon builds just get KOed too easily. You can get your damage in AoEs, from safe distances, from casters along with tons of utility and control. Casters are just more versatile. More types of damage, spells targeting varied defenses, buffs, debuffs, and CC galore. When things go poorly casters can quickly adapt tactics. The physical damage can't really do much. Granted, some people just don't like to micro that much, melee is fine on hard and below for those people.

The companion attributes are being changed/buffed(or so they say) when next patch hits hopefully tonight. I'd wait until then to decide which ones are worth taking. Hires will no doubt still be better, but I'm planning on finally taking a full party of 5 companions for the extra content they provide. Don't be afraid to dump perception down to like 5 or 7. It just doesn't do anything for a caster except deflection which can be made up for with gear. Getting maxed int / might is definitely worth it. Dex is good at 15-17. Consider giving your druid hatchet + small shield while you're not using a ranged weapon for extra deflection, possibly even taking weapon and shield style for the bonus to reflex which a lot of AoE targets. I do this for all my casters on PotD eventually. Take Secrets of Rime first. The high damage lower level spells are freeze damage. Winter Wind and Blizzard - which also have situational utility, knock back and reduced attack speed debuff respectively. Level 1 Dancing Bolts is just garbage, even with Heart of the Storm - Winter Wind is just way better damage and has an additional effect. It's only slightly harder to use since it's a cone. Sunbeam is decent for the Blind if not the damage(there's lots of undead though that fire is decent against). Worth using Nature's Mark debuff on PotD. Level 2 Blizzard is pretty much the only good level 2 spell IMHO, though Blights can provide distraction sometimes. Level 3 Beetle Shell is good to put on a tank holding a chokepoint. Infestation of Maggots is good for the raw damage vs. high DR enemies. It also targets Fortitude, notable as most early druid spells target reflex. Stag Horn is alright vs. single targets, it gives -20 deflection and reflex which is awesome. The trick is hitting with it, since it targets deflection itself so pfft - such is life in PotD. Returning Storm is great and one of the best spells for the class on PotD. Level 4 Moonwell is great constant healing. Calling World's Maw is a decent prone + damage Hailstorm just does lots of damage Overwhelming Wave targets Fort and Stuns and is one of those narrow spells good for corridors or whatever. Wicked Briars is nice AoE field that rolls many times over its duration so will reliably debuff and damage enemies where a single roll is unreliable. Blight can be an okay distraction Level 5 Wall of Thorns is nice for same reason as Wicked Briars, just even better. I found it very useful. Plague of Insects does lots of raw damage and applies sicken debuff Relentless Storm basically same deal as Returning Storm just bigger AoE and more damage. Level 6 Greater Blights are pretty decent Venombloom is good for same reason as Plague of Insects Sunlance is good single target burst if you think you can hit with it ____ Overall I found Druid excelled at dealing smaller amounts of constant damage and applying debuffs / CC with spells that go off multiple times over their duration. Against high defense enemies it really helps getting several chances to do even small amounts of damage and/or apply debuffs that you can take advantage of. COMBUSTING WOUNDS! Amazing on PotD and synergizes well with AoEs that deal lots of small damage ticks. Chill Fog is an amazing level 1 spell to pair with it. Bewildering Spectacle is also very nice, Confusion is overpowered honestly. Also, since many things have high defenses, definitely use Eldritch Aim to buff your accuracy by 15 before casting important spells. 15 is a big boost. It's worth it. Level 3 Expose Vulnerabilities is good, and I also like Noxious Burst - good damage and a debuff(debuffs are important on PotD I will say it again) Level 4 get Confusion(Confusion = OP) and Wall of Flame(AoE field with lots of ticks = good) Level 5, Wall of Force, Malignant Cloud, Call to Slumber Level 6, Gaze of the Adragan. Good pick, Inspiring Radiance is a great extra source of accuracy. Definitely grab Scion of Flame too. Priests get +15 accuracy to a bunch of fire nukes that are pretty strong. Aggrandizing Radiance will also be pretty nice post-patch. Level 1 Withdraw is good to amazing(doorwayslol) if you don't mind cheese. Blessing good as you mentioned. Barbs of Condemnation occasionally decent vs. tough single targets. Level 2 Iconic Projection is like my favorite priest spell. Great burst healing, and deals decent freeze damage sometimes. Suppress Affliction is great for removing debuffs temporarily, especially if you don't have a Paladin to do it. Divine Mark is an okay single target nuke/debuff. Concentrated Ground good as you mentioned for longer term healing. Level 3 Pillar of Faith for proning and owning strategy. Despondent Blows is a good defensive debuff. Dire Blessing is okay for damage output party-wide. Level 4 Devotions for the Faithful good buff for you and a good debuff on enemies Shining Beacon great burn DoT and debuff to all defenses Searing Seal good preemptive damage+blind spell Level 5 Champion's Boon gives a huge Might and Perception buff(+10) Pillar of Holy Fire wrecks. Salvation of Time is pretty substantial duration extension for buffs Revive the Fallen if you don't have a Paladin to do it Level 6 I haven't gotten a Priest to level 11 for long enough to really try these. Durance was level 10 when I finished the game. D:

Game isn't balanced around tank 1vs1s. Paladin is a strong tank/support character. Fighter tanks have higher accuracy and their own regen but that will rarely matter while they're being supported by a party. Paladin support OTOH is invaluable for helping your lower defense characters with dispels, lay on hands, revives, and of course an aura. Although I will say for PotD especially I could really use a fast mode for combat sometimes, when I have only a tank and one enemy left with the rest of my party down...ouch. It can be painful watching high deflection low accuracy things battle it out. Also, it'd be nice if Paladins had a little more options for damage builds than mostly just 2x Flames of Devotion. You miss one or two of those and you just want to cry.

I've found mechanic checks for 11 and I think even 12. 11 for certain. Also once patch hits, you're getting 50% rather than 25% bonus XP for solo. It'll be good small parties too, or anyone looking to eek out more XP by doing easier stuff with smaller groups. Or going around lockpicking everything.

Your DPS doesn't need to tank. They need to CC things fast. They don't make good tanks. None of the caster classes(unless you count chanter) can really "tank" anything for long without becoming useless at their job through trying to stack excessive deflection. Medium levels of defense/deflection just don't do a lot. So it's better to just make them as good at their job as possible. Dex increases your casting speeds which makes up for low resolve/deflection to some degree when it comes to getting spells off in a pinch.

PotD is just kinda dumb like that, everything gets such high deflection/defenses you have to stack accuracy with spells and/or consumables before being able to reliably land many hits or even grazes in some circumstances. There's no purpose to many builds that aren't carefully crafted to handle the particular ways in with PotD skews the combat system.

Replace Priest with Rogue and Wizard with Druid and you'll be fine. No, his party is good as is. Priest is actually quite strong because they can buff accuracy of the whole party(among other buffs), and they have some +15 accuracy spells that are great against bosses. I've hit dragons for some crazy numbers with my priest. Way more valuable than a rogue, especially late game, IMO. Wizard is stronger control/debuffs. Druid is stronger nuking and generally easier on hard and below. But both are good but Wizard is more "essential" for me on Path of the Damned. Honestly, Priest and Wizard are probably the two classes that feel most essential to me now. Druids eventually get Moonwell which is a strong over-time heal that has a big AoE and can be targeted. It's a fourth level spell though, so you don't get it for awhile. It's also not spiky healing, so you can't emergency heal with it so much. They eventually get some non-over time healing that's easier to use but that's even higher level. So I'd keep the priest if you use a lot of healing. They have great low level heals and support spells.

Here's my level 3 PotD Paladin's Faith and Conviction Bonuses: http://i.imgur.com/fFCIe3i.jpg +8 deflection and +16 to all defenses. And that's early in the game. Of course I'm picking all the dialogue choices that buff it but still. Fighter just can't beat that IMO.

Cipher design wouldn't work with Wizard since Wizard does terrible weapon damage and has poor base accuracy. You'd run out of "mana" quickly, then be useless most of the fight.

This would be in addition to spells per rest. Though spells/rest could be reduced a bit to compensate and not give too many for boss fights and so on. Otherwise we'd get way too few spells relatively.

There's also the fact that there were 25 joinable NPCs in BG1. If Obsidian had written 25 NPCs for Pillars of Eternity, I think the sheer amount would have made everyone find enough interesting companions. They focused on quality over quantity. I recall them saying they didn't do a lot of companion stuff until after getting the story planned out, so they could have them interact and respond to it in more interesting ways. In my opinion it paid off. There were a few very good conversations over the course of the game that are of memorable quality and I don't think that would've been the case had they split the love between 25 rather than 8. Perhaps we'll get more companion options in the expansion and/or sequel. You also have to consider that while times have changed many things in video games, writing hasn't really that much, other than voice acting being more limiting if you go typical full-voiced AAA game style which I'm very glad they didn't. And I'm pretty sure PoE had a much smaller budget than BG1 or BGII especially if adjusted for inflation, and a smaller team. Hopefully the success means bigger and better things are coming, but all things considered I'm very happy with what we got.

Spell levels per encounter = Character level minus 1 A level 1 spell costs 1 spell level. A level 2 costs 2. Etc. So at level 6, you could cast 5 level 1 spells. Or you could cast 2 level 3 spells. Or you could cast 1 level 1, 1 level 3, 1 level 2 spell. This provides diversity rather than spam, and encourages wisely choosing your spells per encounter rather dumping, say, 4 Winter Winds and/or Blizzards on every encounter on your Druid because they're the best free source of damage you have. It'd require a small UI addition keeping track of your spells levels per encounter. Probably not gonna happen, I just thought it seemed like an elegant solution. Returning to my bored tinkering while awaiting the patch...

I prefer subdued to absurd. Less is more, when it comes to personalities usually extreme characters feel fake to me. Pallegina was my favorite companion in PoE. Jaheira was my favorite in BGII. I did like Durance as well but I didn't find him nearly as extreme as some BGII characters. Granted, some races and classes and so on have more reason to be extreme than others, and it's nice to have options.

We'll have to wait and see. The ideal is still something like the level 1 NPCs mod that was available for BGII. It'd be much more fun building the whole party and still getting the whole companion dialogue experience than having to choose between them.

I agree. Same reason I didn't like Heart of Winter. It skews the value of so many things. I wish they'd have found a better way to increase the difficulty. Hard was too easy for me, using 3 custom + 3 companions, and now they're supposedly making the companions better plus I know the game better.

That does sound like a much better system. The early BB's were a bit of a mess though, I didn't play them that much since combat was buggy chaos and I got BB access to experiment with builds and have a clear idea of what I wanted to play once it released. What difficulty are you playing rogue on? I'm doing mostly PoD at the moment, and I've found spells are just better than physical for whittling down tougher enemies. Melee rogues do great damage, but melee damagers feel much more likely to draw attention and get KOed quickly.

I would prefer scrapping it and just having class-specific cost system for the derived stats. Obviously, AoE and duration are more valuable for casters than a fighter who has only a few abilities with durations and pretty much no AoE. They aren't equal in value for all classes and shouldn't be treated as such. I think the goal to make a simple, easy to understand system was the bigger fail. It's very difficult to make a compelling system while trying to keep it simple and avoiding lots of exceptions and specifics. Then, dialogue can be separated from attributes which would make my day like nothing else. I would rather define my character's personalities than have them tied up in combat stats limiting my dialogue options. Skills, background traits, culture, etc. are much more suited for dialogue check stuff. I actually think both Barbarian and Ranger have some major flaws. AoE melee is just less reliable than ranged, and melee damagers in general aren't as valuable as tanky ones - they aren't that amazing damage output wise, while they take a lot more damage and get hit by more CC. Ranger pets are also kinda lackluster, and rangers don't have many outstanding abilities to use nor do they do great damage. You'd think they'd be good single target, but they're not compared to a caster unloading. I found them just as weak on boss fights as on trash. Rogue IMO is also a bit weak due to fragility. They're neat for solo antics but their escape tools don't hold much value in a party setting and in melee they're a liability while as ranged they don't contribute a lot aside from single target damage which just isn't an important enough role for most encounters. At higher levels especially, casters just outshine melee with their sheer versatility and all the synergies between the available spells. Wizard does also have some serious issues, though they're saved from their bad spells by their good ones at the moment. Padded - Hide range is pretty decent. You're not always chain casting. The big problem is that armor doesn't scale very well at all with damage. It's great at lower levels, but at higher levels, even 10+ DR is just nothing against the heavy hitters and high level spells. The DR system just doesn't work. Armor goes from mitigating maybe 30-80% of damage taken at low levels, to more like 10-30% against serious higher level encounters. I'm making those numbers up but you get the idea. Mortification of the Soul is my favorite useless talent haha. Every time I build a Monk I look at it and think "wat". 3 wounds per rest, wow. Bull's Fort can actually be a decent way to "fix" a character that's dumped con and might, which some builds actually could be good with. I don't think it was a good pick on Durance, but it's nice that it's there actually. The defense gaining ones don't do a lot for non-tanky builds though, as I've been saying with beta deflection/defense feel a little too "go all out or don't bother".

Okay, so if I am willing to go below 50% Endurance and accept that its going to happen, its fine? I was thinking a Nature Godlike Barbarian and combining the stat increase with Blooded. Sure, maybe a Fire Godlike might be better (and I plan to make a Fire Godlike Barbarian too at some point), but I just thought I'd try it out. Also, if its really that extreme where you either don't get hurt or you are already dead at 50% Endurance anyway, that's a bit ridiculous to me and needs to be tweaked. Although I guess what people are saying is that racial abilities arent everything to a class and that it shouldnt be built around those abilities? I dont know - I like the idea of the Nature Godlike Barbarian - He rages in combat and after he takes a certain amount of damage, his rage deepens, increasing his attributes accordingly as his body tries to protect itself. Kinda like an automatic berserk mode. Probably still going to play it, just wondering how it'll turn out and how useful/effective these racial abilities actually are. Depends on difficulty setting. And it depends on whether you're a damage build or a tanky build. For damage builds, on harder difficulty, intentionally staying at low endurance is a terrible idea. The bonuses from race are minor, and the risk of getting KOed is high. High risk, low reward = bad. You will want to be healing up and keeping strong defensive buffs on your party. If you want to RP it, I'd play on normal difficult where it could be played that way - it's very far from optimal but normal is reasonably easy.

^ I agree with ErlKing. At least one Paladin is always nice for revive, dispel, accuracy buff. And they're best as PC - the Faith and Conviction bonuses from dialogue choices can get pretty high making them very good as a tank choice. Plus, a tank needs high Per/Res, which are good conversation attributes to have. They're the ideal choice for a PoD PC IMO. It's what I'm using currently, though I think I'm going to restart once patch comes and try out the altered companion builds.

Think it's a typo. It was x0.8 in the beta. And I've used a lot of Blizzard and it doesn't seem to reduce attack speed that dramatically.