rheingold

One more bug, merciless hand overwrites merciless companion. No idea why but sadly it does.... Edit: could it be something as simple as using the same name for coding?

Well, I wasn't really thinking of dumping it, I normally leave it at 10 for a Druid. I was just wondering if it's worth pumping up to the 12-14 range. Still not sure, it seems like diminishing returns for a Druid, in the beginning it makes quite a large difference to their accuracy, but at higher levels the 2-4 extra points doesn't seem that useful?

Ah ok, so it's not really worth raising perception by a couple of points then. Maybe if I was a bit more of a min/maxer... Thanks

Hi all. Just wondering if a Druid would benefit from the perception/accuracy buff recently. Has it changed their ideal stats at all - is it worth raising or not? I'm also not entirely clear on how accuracy works with spells. Does it work off your equipped weapons accuracy, if so I'd presume using a spear would help? Or does your spell casting just work off your base accuracy?

I've managed it with Hiravias. As far as I can make out (I could be wrong), he needs minimum 5/6 in both athletics and survival. I had 6 in both. I think he cast winterwind first to free the man and then saved the lady. The only other thing is, (which I can't quite remember) I might have given him a +2 constitution boost either through food or via an item. Oh and he also needs a crowbar. As far as I can recall that's it. Recap 6 athletics and survival. Cold spell (winterwind). Crowbar. Maybe + con item?

I'd go with Elric on this one, six Druids would be tough to beat. I know there was someone who took a pack of rangers and bears through a playthrough. That was pre 2:0, so I'd imagine it would be so much easier now with the incredible pet buffs. Would be interesting taking 6 rangers each with a different pet. Could call the party "the menagerie" in honor of Kaelyn the dove and her everlasting battle to free the souls from a certain wall....

Do they make that much of a difference? As far as I can see it's pretty much for convenience more than anything else. You can rest before every big fight which would make per encounter spells useless no? Overpowered, not entirely convinced. BTW the major issue is really that wizards have better 3 rd level spells, so they tend to benefit more than the other casters. No need to nerf all casters because wizard gets haste and fireball.

And in other news, Sven (larian studios) is asking "where are all the lady fans?" Seems like devs really need to follow gaming forums - they might actually understand why, oh anywhere between 30-40 percent of their customer base are sometimes in hiding. Witcher cards not tacky, sexist. Really! I mean really? Fck me sidewise.

The two main schools of thought are to use your wounds as fast as you get them via Torment's Reach - a full attack cone AoE with a small debuff - or to save the wounds to fuel Turning Wheel - which adds +5% burn lash to your attacks per wound. Also the new Iron Wheel gives you +1 DR per wound. For me, YMMV, I prefer the Torment's Reach approach. Wounds only last for ten seconds I think and the fire lash is applied against 25% of the targets armor so you need five wounds just to start to gain. Fists work great as weapons, they do Average Speed damage but at the Fast Speed attack rate. The only downside is they can't get enchantments like weapons can. I tested a dual fist monk against a two handed weapon monk, both level 12, with a superb, kith slaying, burning lash Great Sword. They did virtually the same DPS against identical targets who had the same DR versus crushing and slash/pierce respectively. For stats I like to go with high Might - I can get a lot of speed boosts so I like to go for damage - base dex, high con, high perception, base intellect and base resolve. I like heavy armor with a fist & shield on switch for when I need more deflection. Don't think of Bruce Lee in robes, think of heavy armored guys with big spiked gloves, more like a Templar. Awesome thanks for the response. Think I will go torments reach. It's a pity because turning wheel sounds great but seems like it doesn't quite work in practice.

Talking about monks, what abilities are the must haves? I have never used a monk before so I'm mot sure which abilities/ talents to go with.

OP Fair enough, if you don't like a game you shouldn't have to justify it. I must be honest I like the game, story and combat. The story and world building are fairly original, certainly as far as fantasy goes, and some of the writing is exceptional. Regarding the White March expansion, I think the changes they have made to the stats, combat and classes are very good on the whole. The game seems to be improving on a regular basis, so I'm definitely looking forward to Pillars 2. (Hopefully.) Having said that I am disappointed with the story for the expansion. I like the region itself, but the narrative and plot are not great - it just seems completely divorced from the main plot. I have a hard time from a role playing point of view justifying wandering off north to do the expansion. But it is similar to "Tales of the Sword Coast", so they have produced exactly what they promised. It's just not what I wanted...

Come on guys, no dwarf love!

Nature godlike - easy peasie. Ranger with stag animal companion. There solved. Don't need to thank me

Yeah, I think it's important to differentiate between the hacks and the genuinely talented writers. I really don't have a problem with Martin - I personally don't like his books but he is a good writer. Sapkowski I have not been impressed with - maybe I am being unfair - it could be a bad english translation. But the writing style is not so much a problem, rather his plotting and narrative that's not great. Good writers are derivative but they tend to do something more with their books, you get the impression you are not just reading the same stories over and over. The worst offenders I have read happen to be Terry Brooks and some of the D&D books. Brook's "Sword of Shannara" was hideous, and I have never understood how Tolkien's estate didn't sue him. My original point is just that I am somewhat amused that the OP accuses Obs of plagiarism by using as examples, books which are not any way original. That's all.

Ah that's my problem here, how they pulled it off. It feels, I don't know, cliché. Not to mention the quests do not show overmuch originality (although if we're going to be honest, all your basic quests will always be kill/escort/deliver timesinks). Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I've played Torment, Kingdoms of Amalur and Divinity Original Sin, all of which have a soul-based storyline, and I still believe PoE's vanilla story is 100% original. I'm sad that the expansion's isn't. Oh and by the way, on the topic of clichés and tropes. I believe Dragon Age Origins did an absolutely magnificent job at avoiding them. Yes you do have your classical dwarves and elves, but are they different than what you usually expect ! Shame they ruined the franchise with DA2 and DA3 I guess. Dragon Age Origins is Trope Central! The few things that aren't were stolen from somewhere else (elves being treated as scum being stolen wholesale from The Witcher books and game, Grey Wardens were a dumb version of the Night's Watch from A Song of Ice and Fire...) To be honest there is not a huge amount of original writing around. Neither Martin or Sapkowski are original either - they also copied freely from those who came before them.

Awesome thanks guys, you rock.

Hi all, just a question. I am unable to get carnage to do anything with my rangers stag companion. I've checked the combat logs and he is definitely not using carnage. Not sure if this is a bug or just a miscalculation - animal companions have really low intelligence and carnages area of effect is influenced by intelligence. Either way it would be nice if you guys could have a look at it.

Well I'm biased, I like Rangers. But they are really good. As long as you remember to take some of the animal talents for the pet. To be honest unless you are playing Potd take the characters you want. Just be aware that to benefit from the class there is a substantial amount of micro managing the pet. But as I said earlier, if you want an archer go ranger, if you want a rogue go melee. Or alternatively just play what and whom you want. The game is easy enough.

I kinda agree except all classes can make use of them Having said that I guess that some classes benefit more than others, as far as I can see rangers are the ones to benefit the most from high lore, while oddly enough spellcasters benefit the least. It is all rather strange.

Re the stats, rogues don't really require high might, or at least that's true with melee rogues, could be different with ranged, maybe some one with experience could chime in. I also don't like lowering scores below 10. The latest, and most fun version had M10, Con 10, Dex 18, P 15, Int 10 and Res 15, Though I may be out by a point or two, if there is a mistake resolve would be 14. It's really nice if you have the points available to have some resolve for conversation, role playing and some small deflection. Perception gives interrupts and accuracy. To be honest you could even drop dexterity down to 16 and not make much of a difference to dps. Which would free up 2 more points. Guns and arbalests are really slow, I'd imagine you definitely would want gunner. There is an arbalest in the first town which has a 20 percent speed increase. It's quite expensive but well worth it. Another underrated option are crossbows, they do more damage than bows and fire quicker than guns. Personally if I play a rogue I'd play melee, if I want an archer type character I'd go ranger especially with the pet buffs and new sneak attack talent.

Dunno about you but my barb does insane dmg and is remarkable tank. He has a lot more endurance and health than paladin, strong self heal and so on. With survival his healing over time potions also heal a lot. All monk needs to be as strong as paladin is Lore and being able to cast aoe heals + moonwells. If you want your Paladin to also be offensively useful then give him 2H The Grey Sleeper. On every hit/crit he has a chance to cast Twin Boulders and summon undead (even darguls). My paladin is good with that 2h, some FoD fous but not 100%, lore (with armor giving +2 has 10) and uses fireball scrolls, paralyze scrolls and so on when I need more oomph. Lore is very very good as a support skill to making good paladin. Then you can always have Fan of Flames (since he is frontliner) and a lot of other things. Making a great all arounder. Paladin is not bad. At all. He is actually really really good if you make him so. Paladin with high Lore and his innate abilities/talents is great character that has answer for many situations. Tbh my Pallegina has so many things she can do xD Got like 12-14active skills/spells that I can use with her. It's a lot like warrior in a lot of ways but better with Greater Lay on Hands and other skills. Paladin > Fighter most definitely imo. I also love this aura +6 Acc, 15% graze-to-hit, 5% hit-to-crit aura. PS My Devil of Caroc(rogue) is tough as nails. 90 deflection, 120 reflex ~90 in other 2. She also does 100 dmg per hit with her 1h. Tried her DW, 1h + s and like her best with Durgan Steel Resolution Saber (amazing for rogue #1 imo). Definitely not squishy. Also gave her a cloak that when she is critted she becomes invisible for some time (can still move around and iirc attack while invis and cannot be targetted). Just Health is lower but that can be covered with +40%/20% health talents from more supportish classes. Mm ok, well not to start a fight or anything but mentioning that a monk or barbarian just needs lore to be better than a paladin, does not obviously take into account that said paladin can also take lore and use scrolls I'd also add that your rogue must be really high level which is great, but bear in mind that for a substantial amount of the game she is going to be lying face down. Sure, at high levels with the right gear a rogue can have some deflection, just like a tank class can do some damage. Obviously no one is suggesting that a paladin can come remotely close to a rogues damage, but to be fair nothing can. I've just started a play through with a pally for the first time and I am quite impressed by his dps. Sure it's not up to some of the other classes but it is good, really good. And the advantage is that his defense is great, so he does not need a huge amount of micro managing. It's also important when comparing dps to take into account how long each character ends up face planted. If you are unconscious your damage output tends to suffer... One more thing, stats don't always tell the truth, shock, horror. Rogues are one of my favourite classes and I've had a couple of playthroughs with them. They are absolute beasts when it comes to damage, but in my experience a substantial amount of the damage they do, which is reflected on their character sheet, is wasted damage, it's overkill. It looks great and impressive and all that, but hitting a kobold for 100 hp damage when he only has 10hp left isn't actually that useful. I suppose to some extent it could average itself out, but not entirely.

Mm pretty sure the term "tank" predates MMO's by some way?

Thanks for the response, thing is I dual wield a rogue which works really well, but rogues normally have high dex and sneak attack. I just hadn't seen any paladin builds with dual wield, they all seem to be more traditional 2 handed or sword and shield. What concerns me is Paladins are not really about damage so is it worth it to go dual wield and get the talent (20% speed) or it just to much of a compromise trying to make a paladin into something it's not?

Hi all, just looking for some advice. I'm starting a paladin run for the first time. I have used Pellagina, though normally with an estoc. I have noticed that Flames of devotion works with both equipped weapons if you dual wield. ie it hits twice each time. Has anyone played a dual wield paladin before and had any success? I'm not a power munchkin by any means, but is it worth it dual wielding? Just to clarify, I'm not interested so much in sword and board. It would be a choice between 2 handers or dual wield.

This x1000. If people want well written stories they really need to avoid any d&d novels. Most of them (and I'm being charitable here) are rubbish. If you want great writing stick to great writers - it helps. And yes, just about everything has been done before. Tolkein himself copied freely from people who came before him. So hammering Obs for a lack of originality as opposed to some hack who wrote a few d&d novels is odd. Sorry when it comes to most fantasy literature, I tend to be a cynic - even more than usual.