Enoch

Update: A few minutes later, I noticed that the tooltips were back. Loaded a different save, gone. Went back to the first, gone again. But then I traveled to the World Map, and tooltips re-appeared. The conclusion of my experiments is that this appears to only happen when still within the area where a save was initially loaded. Entering buildings within that area doesn't fix it, but going to another zone does.

No mouseover tooltips are appearing in the "Attributes" section of the character screen for any of my characters on any of my saves. They appear everywhere else on the Character screen, but not between the "Attributes" and "Skills" subheadings. This includes the Attribute names, the values, and all the blue-text words in the effect descriptions.

Based on tooltips, no. Just Power Level, MIG, INT for duration of burn/shaken, and pertinent equipment/abilities.

All part of Obsidian's clever scheme to convince us that the Island Aumaua racial bonus is worthwhile.

Am I mis-remembering, or do new characters get 1 more Empower than they used to? Started a new game, Berath's Blessings off, and when Empower opens up at level 2, each character gets 3. I seem to remember low-level characters only having 2 before.

The related Reddit thread has some good reporting on specific item/ability changes.

The Leapy boots are in Fort Deadlight, in the area where Benweth/Aeldys hangs out.

I did the same, and have been rotating her and Aloth as my backline artillery. Takes a little while to build effectiveness in getting the right Grimoire and complementary spells, but she does OK. (Also, on a first playthrough, it took me a ridiculously long time to find an enchanted arquebus of any kind-- and I'm stubborn enough to avoid buying a "fine" one unless I know that I won't find better anytime soon.) For interrupts, I think Geomancer has an advantage over Scout, in that Thrust of Tattered Veils (priority #1 in selecting a Grimoire for her) is much faster than a weapon-ability attack. When you need something interrupted NOW, that's what you want in your pocket. The drawback of Geomancer is that her INT score (IIRC, 10) holds her back. Aiming AOEs is tough without much of a "safe zone," and her buff/debuff durations aren't fantastic.

The original concept of Paladins in this series was as a front-lines support class. If that means they're not the best at pinning down a particular opponent, I can work around that. It's not like the class is underpowered as it is! That said, I was trying to get by with Herald Pallegina on point, and, yeah, that was pretty tough when I tried it with no shield (and no Engagement slots). Getting the "Silver Knights' Shields" Phrase was a big boost.

Yeah, if you sail straight for Neketaka from Port Maje, you can go from level 5 to 7 just doing the normal meet-and-greets with the factions, companion recruitment, and the simpler noncombat tasks. That said, early cash is spent on skill trainers, not gear. Buy nothing in a shop until you're sure you won't find its equivalent as your next fetch-quest reward! (This did leave me hilarously under-geared, though. Level 7 characters, half of whom were still equipped with unenchanted weapons/armor.)

My experience was that a multiclassed Monk does better switching to weapons when they start finding Superior-quality stuff with interesting properties. (I lost some in Damage, but gained in Accuracy.) But I wasn't putting effort into stacking generic Power Levels for better Fist ACC/DAM/PEN. I imagine that doing so would make unarmed the more attractive option through the endgame, unless you're building around the properties of a particular unique item.

Have a party specialist in Mechanics, Athletics, Survival, and Stealth. The Mechanic focuses 100% on that until it's double-digits, others can dabble a bit. If you want to pickpocket, your Stealth person also builds that and Slight of Hand equally. Everybody should have a point or three in Athletics, both for the self-heal and for full-party scripted interactions checks. A few points Stealth across-the-board isn't bad, either. For weapon-using classes, Alchemy probably gives the biggest combat-effectiveness boost. Arcana and Explosives can be nice for caster-types, to give them powerful options to go to when spells run out or when the stuff they've learned isn't the right tool for the job. For Passives other than Survival, pick 2 social or academic skills for your main character to focus on. You might also want to pick one or two not to bother with at all. Otherwise, give everybody a few points in everything else.

A Priest of Wael gets a quite nice Rod as a Spiritual Weapon and has some of the Wizard's defensive self-buffs on their deity-specific spell list. Quite tanky against anything targeting DEF or REF. Can work single-classed as-such, but it multiclasses well, as all the key stuff is in the first 3 or 4 Power Levels. If there isn't already a Chanter in the party, Wael/Troubadour would be my first choice. For less defense and buffing, but better healing and more offense, a single-classed Druid is lovely.

I've found it useful to have one companion specialize in Survival, as that seems to be the passive that comes up most frequently in "pick a character" scripted interactions. It has more in common with Active skills in that regard-- every character having 2 or 3 ranks there isn't going to help much. Otherwise, it's probably a good practice to pick one or two of the talky skills for your whole party to not bother with. If you're a Bleak Walker who is never going to be picking Diplo options, you can have relatively higher skills everywhere else if you disregard Diplomacy across-the-board. To me, this makes some sense even for non-Pally/Priest Watchers who lack a mechanical reason to disfavor certain dispositions. Decide who your character is and own it.

As I understand the Power Level system, Illusion Power Level is not particularly important for a Waelite. Non-damaging/healing/bouncing spells benefit only in duration (5%/PL) and, if applicable, minimally in Accuracy (+1/PL). The PL 1-2 bonus spells aren't illusions (also true of PL8-9), and Mirrored Images and L's Displaced Image (the PL3&4 bonus spells, respectively) would benefit only in duration. Confusion (PL5) would get small ACC and Duration bonuses, as would Gaze of the Adragan (PL7). Ark's Wondrous Torment (PL6) would, too, and might also get extra bounces out of a higher PL (I think it should, but haven't tested). If so, that would probably be the only spell where a higher Illusion PL is noticeable to all but the most numbers-focused players.

The fix I expect is weakening Full Attack for dual-wielders. E.g., make it [Primary weapon damage] + [0.5*(Secondary weapon damage)].

Best approach with a melee-Wizard multiclass is to just pick the one spell you know you're always going to want in each level. This usually means that level's best melee buff/summon (1: Spirit Shield, 2: Mirrored Images or IwVE, 3: R's Repulsive Visage, etc.). That way, you can swap Grimoires in and out, without losing anything that is part of your core functionality.

Mostly true. The healing effect from Whiteleaf is the only drug quality (other than durations) that is affected by the Nalpazca bonus. Does it mean that Alchemy affects only the duration with the other drugs? No. Alchemy affects both the duration and intensity of drugs. And it can be significant-- Ripple Sponge at 0 ALC gives +3 to all three mental stats. At 20 ALC, it gives +8. Durations are affected by both ALC and Power Level (+5% per each). The Nalpazca bonus is +10 Power Level, which it why it influcences durations, but not effects. (Except for healing. This is consistent with how Empower works for spell effects, generally. See this thread, for reference.)

Mostly true. The healing effect from Whiteleaf is the only drug quality (other than durations) that is affected by the Nalpazca bonus.

Correct. Only 1 drug or drug crash penalty may be in effect at any one time. The game doesn't document drug stuff very well. Had to figure out a lot of the mechanics via experimentation. Which I suppose is thematically appropriate, but still rather annoying. Doesn't that make Nalpazca kind of.... bad? Only one drug for all the alchemy investment just for one drug. Not to mention many potions have from start as potent effects as mid alchemy drug. I thought you can be on several drugs at once :/ One is little....meh imo. Drugs can also be applied outside of combat and last long enough to cover several encounters. I'm not sure what potions you're comparing them to, but they feel pretty strong to me. At 10-ish alchemy, one shot of Taru-Taru or Ripple Sponge is equivalent to 3 1st-tier Inspirations; Svef gives Immunity to 3 different types of Afflictions (plus a high PER bonus); etc.

Correct. Only 1 drug or drug crash penalty may be in effect at any one time. The game doesn't document drug stuff very well. Had to figure out a lot of the mechanics via experimentation. Which I suppose is thematically appropriate, but still rather annoying.

I get good situational use out of the Rod from God (Wael). Wael makes for a nice multiclass with a melee class (due to access to defensive Wizard spells), and the Rod provides a strong option for when a ranged weapon would be tactically advantageous, without taking up a weapon set. In situations where Pallegina and Serafen can hold the front lines by themselves, my Contemplative calls the GodRod, actives Swift Strikes and Dance of Death, and PEWPEWs away.

I'm playing a Nalpazca-Wael contemplative right now. I recommend it-- the roleplaying fits nicely, the "free" Wound generation pairs well with opening combat with a Priest buff, and the defensive Wizard spells are always fantastic (especially with Dance of Death). I'm probably being a little too conservative with the drugs-- they're fairly plentiful, and the cost (they range from 80-250 cp/dose in stores) is pretty negligible by mid-game. The annoying thing is having to spend time in combat dosing up, in instances where the game throws you right into the fray from the travel map (e.g., ship battles). Alternately, with a full party, you can get by in a lot of fights in spite of the "not high, but not crashing" penalty. (The crash penalty, though, is pretty brutal-- after you've dosed once for the day, you pretty much have to chain doses until naptime.)

Halve the PL bonus for Nature Godlikes, and I think the end result would be pretty good. (I'm no great fan of Island Aumaua, but I doubt they're walking away from that after incorporating slog zones into so many area designs.)

Fighter/Wael for the Rod from God?