Ehrgeix

Hi, I remember watching (?), reading (?), an interview/something when PoEt had just been announced. Anyway, in this interview the dev (I don't remember whom), talked about Planescape: Torment, and how the question that game asked was "What could change the nature of a man?". Then, he went into PoEt and summarized the question the game asked in a similar, one sentence thing. Does anyone know what I'm talking about / happen to have a link to the interview? Alternatively, what would you guys say the "question" of the game was? Cheers, Phil

I'm running through PotD with a Druid PC - haven't made any other PCs, just using companions. The temple below Gilded Vale was the hardest map so far (shades teleporting to PC/Aloth), and I'm in the middle (?) of Act 2 now, just cleared out the lighthouse, first real dragon (the one for the fragment of Godhammer quest), etc. I dropped Kana for Sagani, and haven't run in to Grieving Mother yet, but it's pretty much smooth sailing. I maxed out deflection talents on Eder, totally ignored any damage stuff, and did pretty much the same on Pallegina when I got her, with the exception of running Zealous Aura. Prioritized accuracy on Sagani, Aloth, and Durance and I have them backlining with good ranged stuff. My Druid is sort of midline now - I have a (freezing lash enchanted) hatchet + small shield with the weapon & shield deflection talent, and +cold/lightning/fire damage. In terms of required stuff, I think very little. Deflection on Eder, Fan of Flames on Aloth, and the healing circle thing on Durance (level 2 priest spell) are all you really need. It's just not really hard enough to require a crazy level of minmaxing.

Unsure how true this is later but I'm playing with a Druid PC and 5 companions (Pallegina, Eder, Aloth, Sagani, and Durance), and this seems not true at all up to the middle of act 2~ (on PotD). The hardest point in the game for me so far was the Shadow/Shade fights in the temple at level 3-4. Everything else has been easier, including Od Nua down to level 8. Druids are ridiculously good on PotD - the AE damage with Secrets of Rime and a (crafted) Freezing Lash weapon has made most fights pretty easy? Basically I just have a frontline (Eder and Pallegina), 1... sort of midline (Durance), and Aloth, Sagani, and my PC sort of backlining throwing spells around. On harder fights I have to micromanage Aloth to land good Fan of Flames, but mostly him, Sagani, and Durance are just shooting stuff with ranged weapons. Basically you just prioritize deflection and accuracy talent wise, pick up good items (Eder's starting armor and a ring you can buy in Ondra's Gift are especially relevant - they give Second Chance, which brings you back to life after knock out), and everything is fine.

I actually really like Eder's starting armor - the Second Chance thing seems kind of busted? Do you think the extra spell feats are better than +elemental damage feats for druids? (Are any of the +damage vs type of foes feats especially worthwhile?) Also, re: dancing bolts - I really like that I can just mash it over my party and it only hits foes. The frost cone thing is way better damage though, so maybe I should try to use that more in future. Thanks.

I want to use the default characters for interesting dialogue, though yes they obviously have issues. Also, thanks to everyone else for tips etc. =)

Hi, I'm Phil. I've been playing RPGs for a long time, and just recently picked up PoEt. I enjoy challenges, so I started on Path of the Damned difficulty and right now I'm level 5, I've done almost all of the starting block of areas (minus Raderic's Hold), picked up a full party (the sixth character is Sagani), and obtained Caed Nua/started the Endless Paths of of Od Nua (I'm at level 5 right now). Combat started off as surprisingly easy, then became incredibly hard (trying to do the temple below Gilded Vale at level 3 - the teleporting Shadows really destroyed my PC & Aloth, and Eder didn't really do much damage - I actually had to abandon that area and come back after hitting level 4 and recruiting Durance), and is now pleasantly challenging (areas around Gilded Vale, Caed Nua, and the Endless Paths). I'm really curious as to: What kind of PCs are people finding success with on PotD? (Especially interested in Druid builds!) What kind of builds for companions are people finding success with on PotD? What are people's common, go-to spells? Do my choices (below) seem sensible/optimal? Are there any tricks I'm missing? Cheers, Phil P.S - The characters I'm using are: PC - Druid (AE Nuker): Stats: I started with max Might/Int, but actually rerolled to 18 8 16 10 16 10 because spellcasting speed seemed like a really important thing. Being able to drop a bunch of Blizzards in a row is super great. I'm pretty sure 8 Con is fine, I have no problems with health etc, but I'm curious as to whether higher Per would be useful/how much interrupts matter. Race: Wood Elf for the +accuracy/deflection racial. Spiritshift: Bear Spell prefs: Dancing Bolts, Sunbeam, Blizzard, and Returning Storm. I also use the Paralyze Beasts spell quite a lot, and heal if in sticky situations. Talents: Scion of Flame, Heart of the Storm. I really feel like there are probably better options than these that I must be missing, but I'm unsure. Heart of the Storm especially seems great, and there're very few other talents that looked worth taking? Equipment: Clothing (Recovery time seems too important to give up, and I can spiritshift into Bear if someone is in melee range), Arbalest (rarely used, mostly spamming spells), Bronze Horn (from the first Blacksmith, summons an Animat who has been super useful for me). Eder (tank): I picked Defender and Wary Defender, as well as Vigorous Defense. So basically it seems like nothing I'm fighting against can hit him. Very useful frontline tank guy. Aloth (AE nuker): I picked Scion of Flame, which makes Fan of Flames even more ridiculous than it was already. All of the level 2 wizard spells seem garbage though, so I'm pretty much just using Fan of Flames. I also picked up Fireball/Minoletta's Bounding/Expose Vulnerabilities, but I haven't had much time to experiment with them yet other than to note that Fireball seems way worse than Fan of Flames (???). Durance (Healer): I picked Inspiring Radiance for the +accuracy bonus (accuracy/deflection manipulation seems super powerful in this game). Spell-wise, I'm mostly using Armor of Faith, Blessing, Consecrated Ground (the circle heal thing), and Restore x Endurance. He's sort of a midline guy behind Eder and my Animat, but in front of Kana and Sagani most of the time. I use whatever good ranged weapon I have on him. Kana (Ranged dps/buffer): I just got this guy recently, so the only choice I made on him was to pick up the +reload speed chant. This seems to have improved my party dps, but he does miserable solo dps and all of his spells suck? Not sure what I can do with him in future or if I'll keep using him. Sagani (ranged dps): Again, I only picked her up recently but she seems to do kind of reasonable ranged dps, and her pet is surprisingly useful on the midlines. Not sure what I plan to do with her in future or if I'll keep using her.

I'm not sure how much optimization matters compared to prior cRPGs - I'm playing on PotD using a relatively optimized PC (Druid), but other than that I've just picked up the standard NPCs (Aloth, Eder, Durance, and Kana Rua thusfar - first playthrough etc). I think positioning and spell use matter a *lot* more than builds in this game compared to anything else similar. So that makes Trial of Iron seem kind of rough on PotD - like, you misposition something and a bunch of shadows kill your Wizard and it's bad times. That said - pretty rough thoughts below based on optimzing similar stuff and reading things: I think all your melee guys should be Moon or Fire Godlike, all your ranged guys should be Wood Elves or Heath Orlan. Probably you do want a Druid in your group somewhere, because they seem incredibly ridiculous. Also a Priest for the DR/damage/accuracy buffs, and a Cipher since everyone seems to think they're incredibly busted. Probably a Fighter and a Paladin? So something like: Backline: Druid (spells only? guns/spells?), Cipher (guns/spells?), Priest (spells only? guns/spells?) Frontline: Fighter (1h & shield), Paladin (1h & shield), ?