Prometheus

I think the game map in the opening post doesn't show the Vailian Republics and only a small part of Eir glanfath, it only shows the parts of the Eastern Reach, that you can visit in Pillars of Eternity (the Dyrwood and later in the game Eir glanfath (source)). The whole map with the vailian republics is comparable to spain, not the game map. For the location of the mega dungeon, they removed raedrics hold and added caed nua to the world map last december, caed nua could be the name of the fortress above the endless paths. Culture(where are you from) and ethnicity(how do you look like) are different things. So you can be a meadow human from the vailian republics. BTW they said that you can't be from eir glanfath or dyrwood(source) I'm not so sure dyrford will be the beginning of the game, in the gamecrate interview with Josh Sawyer(around 1:05), he said that they were at the beginning. The interview is from february this year and dyrford is the village from the prototype.

There is no option to deactivate friendly fire for aoe spells, but some aoe spells will only hit enemies. Source: Difficulty level will not give players handicaps, it will change what and how many enemies you will encounter. In Path of the damned you will encounter all enemies from all difficulty levels. e.g. on easy you will fight against 3 wurms(baby dragons), on normal you will fight against 5 wurms and on hard against 1 drake. There will also optional sidequests/encounters that are harder than the main quest. On normal PE's difficulty should be similiar to the difficulty in IWD/BG2. source

Josh Sawyer said that you will have a wide range of colours for tinting.

An Anamfath is a leader of a glanfathan tribe. source

The last time we heard about talents they weren't implemented, but They said that there are no long talent chains and likely no attribute prereqs. source

There is no combat xp. Haven't we already seen a mockup of the character sheet with stats like most single target damage, most enemies defeated for the whole party(there is also tab for personal data). So it's likely in the game.

There will be no level scaling for side quests. There will maybe a little level scaling for the main quest, but last year level scaling for the main path wasn't implemented. from the pcworld interview:

about the disposition system or about what? for the disposition system, that's the made up conversation from Something awful forums and there is also a wiki article about disposition with all the other information from Josh Sawyer's posts. There was also an interesting conversation about aumaua, technology and godlike in the same thread: There are some clocks and a very small number of early watches. Animancers tend to be mechanical inventors and tinkerers since so much of animancy is only possible through technology. Animancy itself is not so much a fusion of technology and magic as it is a field of study that uses machines to examine essence, i.e. soul energy. I think the only character who currently has any tattoos is Sagani. It's not a big part of any of the cultures that are highly present in the Eastern Reach (this part of the world). It depends on local attitudes and personal beliefs. Devout people who truly believe that godlike are blessed may be extremely reverent around godlike characters. Some people think that godlike are cursed or may be hostile toward godlike "of" a faith they don't like. E.g. godlike associated with Eothas are treated badly in the Dyrwood due to the Saint's War. Godlike associated with Magran are received much more positively for the same reason. The godlike themselves have varying attitudes about it. No one actually knows for certain that godlike are created by divine intervention. Their appearances suggest strong alignment with certain deities -- e.g. there are godlike who exhibit physical properties associating them with the moon and water, which are both aspects of Ondra -- but there is no direct proof or divine confirmation. (all quotes(except the questions) are from Josh Sawyer from this thread in SA forums(behind a paywall))

This part of the world is called Eastern Reach. (source) I know the question is old but it Josh Sawyer has only recently posted this information and I found the information interesting and didn't wanted to make a new thread.

I'm against random powerful loot, in most games random loot means either grinding or reloading for the right "item". Also random loot can make character concept difficult to play, e.g. I want to play an archer but the enemies only drop good firearms. I'm also not sure how many people would replay a game to get a different item. I wouldn't replay a game because I get different items, I replay games because I want to play a different character and get different reactions. A system that I wouldn't mind, would be if all powerful items are randomly distrubuted in the world at the beginning of the game. You can always get the item, but in different playthroughs you would need to solve different quests/defeat different enemies. e.g: playthrough 1: quest 1 solution 1 reward powerful sword. quest 1 solution 2 reward powerful mace. quest 2 solution 1 reward powerful pistol. playthrough 2: quest 1 solution 1 reward powerful mace. quest 1 solution 2 reward powerful pistol. quest 2 solution 1 reward powerful sword.

I think it's likely that the core four classes(priest, fighter, mage, rogue) will all get one npc. If my guess is right there are only two unknown classes. I think this quote from the pcworld interview confirms a priest as a party member. (The other character is likely eder).

I'm surprised about the dragon, he seems too powerful for a level 12 party. I like the idea, because it could make it more important how you solved a quest/ what dialog option you choose. e.g. Threats only work if you have a high cruel reputation, lies don't work if you have reputation for beeing Deceptive. I think the best explanation I have found is the following forum post:(minor and average are just how much your reputation increases)

I said a single roll, if a spell is so powerful that if you hit you will win every fight, there is no tactic in the game you can just reload until the spell hits. Imo the random elements of a fight shouldn't change the outcome of a batlle from utterly defated to easy win. Imo What spells I use, who I attack etc. should always more imprtant as my luck.

I don't like it if combat is decided by a single roll, it eliminates all tactic from combat. charm and other debuffs will get reduced duration if they only graze and higher duration if they crit. for more information see here Josh Sawyer explains in the following quote why he doesn't like death spells and random skill checks in computer games:

both readceras and the dyrwood were aedyran colonies. and the revolution in readceras happened after the revolution in the dyrwood. The dyrwood wasn't that young the war happened 10-15 years ago and the revolution was a few centuries ago. (Edit: on the wiki is a timeline and the info used for the article) I think the main target of the bomb was the leader of readceras St. waidwen. He was described as a living vessel of Eothas, so it's likely that he was more powerful as normal humans and that could be the main reason why they used a bomb. For more information about the dyrwood military see quote below:

Yes for the area or the part of the area if the check is part of a difficult sidequest. Because if you are under leveled for just this check you must comeback for only this check and that's Imo bad gamedesign.

In Pillars of Eternity there will be resting boni to skills, items that increase your skills and probably weighted skill increase. So you could always increase multiple/all skills and try to pass the threshold with items and resting boni. Isn't that the best way? Why should there any skills you can't pass if you have invested all your points in them (Imo the only good reasons would be that you are under leveled or there is a different quest for this area at a later point in the game). source for weighted skill increase:

After the update I think my first character will be a wild orlan druid. I will likely play all races besides humans.

We talked about this indepth in other threads, this is the info we know so far. I never said it was 100% confirmed, but it was implied a couple of times by Sawyer when we talked about it. No it wasn't implied, they said that rogues and rangers are the best single target damage dealer not that they are the only one that deal "real" single target damage. see quote below: A paladin is always a good supporter, but you can build a more offensive paladin through talents. This paladin will not be as good as a rogue with single target damage, but he stll has good support abillities that the rogue doesn't have.

The clothing of savannah human is inspired by albanian and bulgarian clothing. See quote below. source(could be behind a paywall) Edit for different Ethniticities:

There will still be the reveal of the new/secret project. see quote below:

The portraits are for all people. description for 3000$ Kickstarter reward:

... is supposed to say "staves, scepters, and wands"? No it's rods scepters and wands. See update video around 6:20.

from Obsidian twitter account:

Is the Inn The Celestial Sapling in Twin Elms?