Sebmono

Dude, you are posting in a NO SPOILERS section, bringing up the end boss of the game like that is a spoiler.

@VahnXIII for the tactics you describe, a skirmish/DPS Cipher, swap your Int and Dex and you're good to go. Cipher is squishy, no getting around that, so just make sure you use in concert with a tank and you'll have fun; that's essentially the same build as me. The two things I would also emphasize, 1) when dual-wielding go with stilletos as the DR bypass is key since they are low damage weapons and 2) go with Draining Whip instead of Biting Whip since you're trying to get more hits to get focus.

AOE size multiplier of 1.15

Oh very interesting, thanks!

I've also recently been experimenting with a full on dump stat so you can actually get 18/18/18. I'm trying an off-tank paladin (sword and shield) with a focus on personal damage and accuracy buffs. Kind of a low-int fighter with better defense but no endurance regen. Working well so far and my stats are 18/8/12/18/3/18. Curious to see how it develops, but I've got a huge deflection score so far which should only improve with equipment and abilities and that'll hopefully offset the lack of endurance regen that a fighter has. Solid accuracy so far with the initial modal and my other defense scores are all good due to the paladin abilities, this helps offset the Int dump. Damage has been pretty good, not hardhitter good but far better than a standard tank and with better than hardhitter survivability. I suspect that in the long run it'll still be sub-optimal compared to a similar fighter build due to the lack of endurance regen, but the goal was to play as a paladin since I really wanted to be a damage dealign Bleak Walker and this allows me to do that.

This happended to me as well when I first got him, it came to a point where I was really confused about how the Chanter class works. Any way then I went down into the Od Nua endless dungeon under Caed Nua, and the amount of enemies per engagement meant he had the time needed to sing the necessary three chants to get to 3 points, and now I love him (or rather I love his skeletons ). I agree with Baleros about the tank/offtank comment. At first I used him ranged with his standard rifle, which worked fine enough. Now I have him in plate armor, shield and sword. That combined with getting him to a higher level where I can prepare two different sets of chants: 1 defensive giving loads of buffs to defense and 1 offensive giving buffs to offense, means he is fast becoming the most useful companion I have. I'm basically on the first half of your progression, just giving him the rifle and leaving him in the 2nd row so his AoE chants impact front liners and backbencher casters, but I feel like the slowness of the rifle is hurting him (although the opening volley is great). Do you know if weapon speed/recovery impacts chants? I know it would impact the casting of the invocation after 3 chants, but does it affect the speed of the chants themselves?

There's a ring that gives this as well, pretty sure I found it in Eothas's temple in the Gilded Vale (either that or Raedric's Castle). I'm curious if there is stacking or suppression with this though? It doesn't appear to be suppressed based on the character sheet, but it definitely sounds like a buff that would be suppressed.

I can also confirm, picked up Pally last night and was confused as to why equipping her with DR14 Fine Plate (which worked correctly on Eder) only gave DR12. Unequipped and notice the negatives. Definitely a bug as I've seem no mention anywhere in or out of the game as to why someone would have a negative DR modifier like this (or it's a "feature" of the avian godlike in which case kill it fire).

Your right that race matters mostly for it's effect on the attribute cap, race abilities are relatively minor (although do have an effect). I went with wood elf both for the increased Int cap and the defensive bonus at range; given the inherent squishiness of the melee cipher I wanted to improve my defence against ranged enemeis (don't want a squishy engaged in melee AND getting peppered by bows). If you're focusing on a 2H cipher then aumaua would definitely be fun, just max Might and Int.

Yeah the stiletto's have been good for me especially because by not maxing out might and using fast weapons I noticed my rapier damage was getting wiped out by armor early on. The stiletto DR bypass really helps with that a lot. I too was also considering flails and will most likely try it out, both for the graze conversion as well as the double blunt damage, but could see an issue with the speed difference as they are only average speed weapons. It may end up being a situational thing, but not sure yet. I'm thinking that fast weapons should be the go to with dual-wield, in general it seems like maximizing your given advantage is the way to go; so if you have high might, you want to take advantage of the damage multiplier by using higher base damage weapons, whereas by using dual-wield you are implicitly taking a speed approach (can't dual-wield 2H weapons......yet ) so would want to maximize the speed advantage and the % speed bonus from dual-weapon focus. What you are trading with speed is damage which is why making as many hits as possible is beneficial (also DR bypass is huge). I too have liked eye strike and soul shock, but would add mind wave as very good as well. Low focus cost, fast cast time, and raw damage dealing makes it ideal in close combat when already melee engaged (although I haven't found the knockdown portion of the spell to be working, but haven't been paying too close attention). Haven't tried whisper of treason yet but the longer casting time has deterred me so far. Have fun with the game! I'm having a blast in my limited time so far and will definitely be pulling an all nighter tonight

You can start using it immediately, nothing the mod does will cause conflicts with a current game save. Messing with console commands may much stuff up but the mod itself simply makes optional gameplay/ui changes. nice, thanks!

Thanks for this Bester, your effort is much appreciated, will be trying out once I get back from work. One question, will there be any problems with using the mod on a game in progress or should one start a new game once mod is installed?

You should be fine with that build, I'm running a Might-14, Dex-16, Con-9, Int-19 build and has been going well for me so far. My build is a little more casting emphasized than yours but I'm going in with dual-stilettos and spells a blazing and having a blast, although only like an hour in so far (killed the 3 dwarfs imprisoning the cook with no trouble). With your higher might I would suggest going with a 2H weapon, probably the Estoc due to it's DR bypass (for weapon focus go Adventurer so you can switch between Estoc with piercing damage and Poleaxe with slash or blunt damage, both 2H), that would maximize your Might % bonus. I'm going for more speed hence the stilletos, also whereas I'll take Draining Whip (since it's a focus bonus per hit and I'll be making many hits) you should take Biting Whip (since it's a damage multiplier). Your type of high-might 2H build was actually the second option I was considering going with but the wife prefered speed As for armor, you'll probably want to stay pretty light, so cloth or hide. I'm running leather right now since I'm already very speedy with dual-weapon focus bonus but will probably consider moving to light once I get more party memebers to tank for me and also when I get the chance to enchant some lighter armor. You're going to be squishy no matter what (especially at the beginning) so I think it's better to just not try and compensate that dimension and just maximize your spells and damage dealing instead. The other build type I was considering, but not sure how effective it would be due to how the Dex-based speed bonus apparently works (or doesn't), Would be a cipher built around 18 or 19 Dex, with might and int around 16 (so con, per, and res would have to be 9 each) and having them wear full plate and go 2H. I think it would be too slow though, especially on the spell casting front. The mental image though I love and may try it out as an experiment!

Thanks! I'm not overly concerned with min/maxing, just like the idea of such a build and want to play it out if viable (I don't want to be reloading every five minutes just to progress). Hopefully, the squishiness can be addressed through a bit of armor as well as keeping stuns/knockbacks at the ready for getting out of trouble when death comes knocking. Very excited to try this all out tomorrow!

There's some incentive to go for a wood elf (for the ranged combat bonus) or an island aumuauauauaua (for the extra weapon slot). Aside from that, you're pretty much on the right track, although Might is more important than Dexterity. I'd max all three stats, so it doesn't matter much. Stay away from any kind of armor, use an arquebus, and have fun. I saw in one of Sensuki's videos that he had a Cipher wielding a great sword; this is the kind of build I am looking at but most people I'm reading from keep saying arquebus or fast dual-wielding melee. If a 2-H Melee Cipher wears some medium armor (scale maybe) and has some Dex poitns to offset the recovery slowdown, shouldn't this be a viable (not necessarily optimal) build?

Sorry for kind of jumping into this discussion late, but I had been thinking about the viability of a 2-H Melee Cipher build, with Maxed Int followed by Might and Dex. If kept in decently light armor (so still squishy), would this be a relatively viable (not necessarily min/maxed) build? The rationale would be to keep some of the hard hitting nature of the blunderbuss but keeping it melee to avoid weapon switching and taking advantage of stealth skills to get close as an opening move. Feedback greatly appreciated!

Yeah the time/resource issue is obviously legit, especially at this point. My question then would be, what is the alternative area to spend the resources? If the choice is between party AI development and implementing a queue then hands down I'm in favor of queue because a given set of resources could result in a queue much more easily than a good AI system from scratch.

Queues can only be beneficial, if you don't like queuing because you think combat situations change too fast, don't use it, simple. On that same note I'm curious to what extent people think queues extend, its not like you would queue up 12-20 actions in a row and then think "oh I need to change something! ". For one thing, the queues would be limited to 3-5 actions, like in KOTOR, and for another you can always jump in and change the actions. The key here is that you have the OPTION to queue or not to queue, you're not forced into pausing every 1 or 2 seconds and essentially turning the game into a pseudo-turn based.

+1 as well, I'm usually a firm believer that as many functions as possible should be able to be hotkeyed in some fashion or another and this one in particular seems like a great addition to usability.

I agree it sounds like in general that Godlikes are a little gimped considering that they are...ahem, God-like. While we still don't know to what extent the no-helmet restriction will be an impediment for a Godlike character (will have to have a full-game understanding of helmet equipment options) nor do we know what the non-combat ramifications or being a Godlike are yet, my instincts tell me that the lack of an armor piece should be balanced our by additional abilities/attributes.

Has anyone had enough Cipher experience to weigh in on this? I'm very intrigued in playing a High DPS Melee Cipher but unsure as to how the best way to build that would be.

Yes boxed in feeling with logical LOS limits would be most desirable for me.

+1 for queues! Love what that adds to the flow in games like KOTOR. As an added benefit (over the current implementation and old IE ways) you don't spend all of combat staring at the portraits timing when a spell finishes casting and can actually spend some time looking at the nicely designed characters fighting. Queues are an excellent and elegant way of easing away some unnecesary micromanagement while still allowing for one to micro as much as they desire.