Enoch

Tayn is the "eccentric Aedyran Wizard" who invented this spell. Concelhaut and Llengrath were in Pillars 1, and Ninagauth was referenced. We know that Deadfire has multiple Archmages, to include Arkemyr at the least. The other people who have Pillars 1 Wizard spells named after them are Minoletta, Kalakoth, Ryngrim, Maura, Caedebald, Citzal, and Tayn.

So, there's this Boho Evil Spock guy. It appears to be a reference to the SA-based "Zybourne Clock" meme. (New Vegas has a "Wild Wasteland" reference to it, too.) That said, a character with headshot art is still going to be organic to the setting in some way. So I'm guessing he's an Archmage. That magenta glow and funky pince-nez suggest magic, and they've said that their archmages are some of the wackier characters in the game, so if you're going to cram an internet-joke reference into your otherwise sooper-seerius RPG, that's a good place to do it. His necklace is made of orbs, so I'm saying that this guy is Tayn. Also, the line that is mostly cropped out of the pic appears to say "The Lincoln is too stronk. I am sad I cannot s[???]"

Update: Direct link to the rope kid post about Confusion.

Ugh. Really? Rubbish. So you go from a qualitatively distinct state which introduces new gameplay elements, to a trivial annoyance that half the time won't even be noticed by half the players (so it doesn't really matter if your Rogue built for single target damage dealing is 'Confused'). Terrible choice. Keep in mind that afflictions are tiered in Deadfire. 1 Hobbled-type affliction gets you Hobbled, 2 get you Stuck, 3 get you Held, etc. (Note: I'm making up the specifics here.) Confused is likely a first-tier affliction. There may still be higher-tier ones that approximate "Confusion" effects in Pillars 1 and D&D rules. Or maybe not-- it led to a lot of challenges with respect to friend-foe AoE effects in Pillars 1 (e.g., confused enemies benefiting from party buffs) and was generally a pain in the rear for the player to deal with (such as in having to specifically order enemies re-targeted after they were hit with a Confusion effect), so there are some reasons to leave it out. At the moment, no. It was in a SA post, which is blocked from my present location. If you follow Infinitron's link in this thread you should be able to find it somewhere in p 4-6 of the results (IIRC).

To be clear, the challenge for the PC isn't just that she/he is a Watcher-- it's that she/he is an awakened Watcher. Awakening in general can break a lot of minds (see: the folks in the Sanitarium), and apparently it gets even harder to separate your present life from your past ones when you're also seeing and interacting with spirits on a regular basis.

Yes, Josh said somewhere that the "Confused" status effect now means -5 INT and all AoE effects are just AoE, with no discrimination between friend and foe. Which is to say that it no longer changes the combatant's classification as an ally/enemy.

This is the likely explanation that they're going to go with, but I note that this is not mentioned at all in the accounts of Aedyran history in the in-game books (1, 2) or in the Guidebook. Actually, look at the last paragraph in the first one: "Conflicts with Kulklin continued, escalating into a minor war in 2398 AI. Afterward, a treaty was signed and the Kingdom of Aedyr merged with Kulklin to form the Aedyr Empire. With the political and military strife now settled, the Aedyr Empire would become an economic powerhouse. Able to provide resources that were hard to find in other parts of the world, their trade routes became some of the most lucrative in the world." They were a major trading nation for a while before they declined for whatever reason and Rauatai and the Vailian Republics filled in the trading power vacuum. it doesn't straight out say that they were a world spanning trading empire, but it does imply that they were a powerful trade powerhouse at one point. And to be fair, the histories are pretty focused on the Eastern Reach and the Aedyr Empires dealings and history in the region, not their past as a trading powerhouse. Good catch. Serves me right for skimming. If the earliest overseas trading posts in most regions was Aedyre, it makes sense that the language hung around, even as Aedyre trading declined. The new traders from the V Republics or Rauatai or wherever probably wouldn't have known the local language at first, but would have common proficiency with the locals in Aedyran. The history is pretty clear from there-- instead of maintaining/building its trade advantage, the Empire poured its resources into its colonies, and appetite for foreign entanglement, in general, declined after they lost all of those to independence revolts.

This is the likely explanation that they're going to go with, but I note that this is not mentioned at all in the accounts of Aedyran history in the in-game books (1, 2) or in the Guidebook.

I don’t think he understands when people speak “commmon,” or he would also be able to speak it. I don’t think the Watcher is barking orders in combat either. I know it’s probably not common or galactic basic, I don’t think they ever say what language it is. The "common" language used in the Dyrwood region is actually Aedyrian (since it was formerly a colony of the Aedryran empire), which is english for all practical gameplay purposes. However, since the Aedyr empire isn't a trading empire like the Vailian Republics and doesn't have any sort of presence in the Deadfire archipelago, it's not likely that Aedyrian would be the common tongue, lingua franca, trade tongue, or galactic basic if you will. And yeah, they haven't said what language Rekke does speak since they don't want to spoil things too much. There are at least some indications that Aedyran is used as a common trade language throughout known Eora. For example, the PC starts Pillars 1 knowing it (as do non-native NPCs like Sagani and Kana), regardless of his/her background/homeland, and this in-game book opens with the statement that "The sun does not set on the Aedyran language. Those of us who commune with this proud language, or some derivation of it, populate every corner of Eora." That said, I agree that, based on what we know of Aedyran history, it's not clear whether (and, if so, why) Aedyran would be a widely-known language in places like the Deadfire. This is the sort of question that would likely inspire a 3-paragraph discourse from Josh, if asked on Tumblr/Twitter/Reddit/SomethingAwful. Somebody should do so.

Several threads in the Obsidian General subforum.

I've read the update, associated discussions here, Josh's relevant Tumblr posts, and his Twitter feed. Please refer me to where, specifically, it says that a Companion cannot be multiclassed into a 2nd class of the Player's choosing. This Tumblr post, for example, refers to "multiclassing options" for a character like Eder. EDIT: See also this tweet & replies.

I get that all the choices are now made at character creation and/or when you first recruit an NPC. But I don't think they've changed the ability of the player to pick whatever second class they want for an NPC, if they decide to multiclass them.

This itself presumably no longer applies though, since it is no longer possible to choose a second class when levelling up. I suppose that means that if you multiclass him one of his classes will have to be a mage. But you don't "multiclass" (verb) now. A character is either multiclassed or they aren't. For example, Eder. When you first meet him you can choose for him to be a fighter, a rogue, or a fighter/rogue. No other options are available, and if you choose fighter he can't at some future point become a fighter/rogue (unless there is a full respec option). IIRC, it's more flexible than that. Eder can be a Figher, a Rogue, a Fighter/[Anything] or a Rogue/[Anything]. Probably doesn't make much sense, character-wise, to make him a Rogue/Priest of Magran, but I think the philosophy here is that it's better to allow players to make these kinds of character-inconsistent decisions and live with the cognitive dissonance than it is to start ruling stuff out.

Bonteru and Radora have gone the way of Cadegund. Rune-head is "Konstanten" and the sneery lady is "Fessina"

I made a world state based on what would be interesting hooks for the future, then backed out to a character who would make those choices. That means: Wael's Choice. Chekov's gun is loaded for wackiness. Abydon restored. "Tempered" gods are boring. Ondra's crazy ex-monks freed. Animancy research allowed to continue. The Master Below "freed." Aloth leading the Leaden Key, with help from Iselmyr. Eder in the Night Market. I didn't have a strong preference on Pallegina being a hero or exile, so I went with her decision (resulted in exile). Other companion quests completed, except for GM's, because, seriously, who has the patience necessary to do that more than once? Orlan protagonist, because they're the only interesting race. That lined up nicely for a Priest of Wael. I probably should've had the cojones to break a vow and anger one of the other gods, but it just didn't feel in keeping with the character to make the promise. Still, I'm expecting that Ondra's resentment stemming from the events of the White March will make things interesting enough for a seagoing adventure in the Deadfire...

Here's the link. Here's the internet translation. It's janky, but pretty easy to get the pertinent information:

Sawyer's Tumblr post the other day on Waelite abilities suggests that the special cross-class spells are going to be select spells, rather than access to an entire school. Eothasians are probably just getting the opportunity to select thematically appropriate elemental spells like Sunbeam and Sunlance.

Pffft. END BOSS: [Climactic monologue] EDER: *Barfs on Serafen's head* What more are you looking for in a GOTY candidate??!

Clearly. But what kind of person observes this behavior and concludes that this is a bug that needs to be fixed?

https://twitter.com/jesawyer/status/912359589126873088 I assume that "bug" here refers to the disease, rather than to the results in the game.

That said, the Gaun aspect of Eothas that Xoti specifically worships includes defense against injustice. Eder talks about this in dialogue, and it shows up in some item descriptions, but otherwise isn't explored much in Pillars 1. (Or even why some deities have multiple aspects and others don't.) This is one reason why I expect Xoti's subclass to be a generalist, with access to all Priest spells. (The other reason is simply that she's going to be the only priest in most players' parties, and the developers will want to allow players the flexibility to user her in a number of ways.)

Yes. (Sawyer has a post on this in his tumblr, but it really doesn't say much more than a "yes" to this question, so I'm not going to bother seeking it out to link here.)

Wait what? If that's true, that's bloody stupid... And i might have to replay PoE 1 as something else now, because a Priest of Eothas is what i have prepared for my PoE 2 playthrough... Bloody hell... See the descriptive text accompanying the most recent update. Each subclass (i.e., deity) has one type of Priest spell that they cannot learn. Priests of Berath can't learn "Condemnation" (presumably debuffs); Priests of Magran can't learn "Restoration" (heals); Priests of Skaen can't learn "Inspiration" (offensive buffs, I guess?); Priests of Wael can't learn "Punishment" (I burn U); and Priests of Eothas can't learn "Protection" (defensive buffs, most likely). And you can't play a generalist.

They had better come up with something good to compensate for playing a Priest who can't cast "protection" spells.

Low-level summons will probably remain the domain of the Chanter and Druid. The Conjuration spells at those levels will probably be inanimate stuff-- weapons, Slicken, Binding Web, etc. The "Phantom" spells might even be classified as Illusions.