DozingDragon

You should be fine to proceed. The conversation with that character, while interesting, is entirely optional.

Valygar? Valygar's post-recruitment quest was cut from BG 2, so I would definitely consider him a "sidekick." Additionally, if you look at the actual quantity of the content of the BG2 companions very few had substantial quests. For example, Keldorn's quest did not use any unique locations, and the only outcome that resulted in any change to his character was achieved by releasing him from your service. To be honest that's about the level of content and reactivity I expect from a sidekick's recruitment quest. The only BG2 companions with substantial content associated with them were the romanceable companions, Sarevok, and Imoen (in ToB only, she had very little content in vanilla BG2). All of the other companion quests were very brief, used recycled areas, and had no real reactivity associated with them.

Oops, thanks for the heads up! I edited my questions accordingly.

Oops. Scratch the old question! New questions: Will playing as a fire godlike elicit strong reactions from the native Huana? Will there be instances where we can convince appropriate NPCs that we can trigger volcanic eruptions? Will the state we left Stalwart in impact the availability of Durgan steel in Deadfire? We encountered Helig, Pandgram's assistant, in Pillars. What are the chances we are going run into Pandgram in Deadfire? Just how unstoppable is an Effigy? Just how important was Od Nua to the advancement of animancy during Engwithan times? In the Endless Paths we see souls being turned into blights, full scale production of animats, and machines that resemble the ones used by the Leaden Key. Was Od Nua essentially acting as a patron for the development and refinement of these techniques?

To veer into the realm of speculation, I think there is a good chance the finale of Deadfire will actually take us to the territory beyond the Deadfire Archipelago. "Seafaring expeditions heading south and east go no farther than the Deadfire Archipelago. The chain of active volcanoes poses less of a threat than the shifting landmasses and warm water that it fosters. In addition to being virtually unmapped and unpredictable, the low-visibility currents swarm with sea monsters that are rumored to constrict, splinter, and swallow vessels whole." Guidebook, Vol. 1, p 14. "Many consider the Deadfire the last frontier on Eora, since the waters beyond swarm with deadly monsters that have halted even the most determined expeditions." Guidebook, Vol. 1, p 56. We have already seen a god, Ondra, use a sea monster to safeguard something that she wanted to keep secret. So, the question is, are the sea monsters that prevent further exploration beyond the Deadfire Archipelago there to keep something else secret? And why did Eothas head in the direction of the Deadfire Archipelago as opposed to returning to Readceras? One final thought: why does it seem as if all of the factions that we can ally with in Deadfire all seem to be able provide a large number of ships? Perhaps that is how the different factions will be more integrated into the resolution of the main plot for Deadfire, because we need the ships of our allies to venture into the treacherous unknown?

So, a huana moon godlike, that begins as a druid or chanter? Hopefully we will get an eighth companion as a stretch goal as well.

What? You can solve that encounter peacefully? I googled a way to do so and could not find it. How did you do it? The wiki provides the relevant details on Llengrath's page. You also get the special grimoire and bog dragon scales with this approach. http://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Llengrath

Llengrath offers a substantial attribute bonus if you take the nonviolent approach to that encounter.

For the first issue, better than human sacrifice and cannibalism is a pretty low bar to meet. I personally suspect that the two Druidic orders in Twin Elms are the remnants of pre-Engwithan belief systems, as they both engaged in human sacrifice to rejuvenate or prolong the lives of their leaders. If that's true, then the moral calculus is how many lives are you willing to sacrifice to preserve an artificial belief system that prevents the harvesting of souls en masse by pre-Engwithan belief systems? The Engwithans were clearly comfortable with the ends justifying the means in that regard. As to how the Engwithans concluded that the gods they believed in did not exist, I suspect that was likely revealed while they researched the "in between" that souls pass through between lives. Hopefully we will find out for certain in Deadfire.

Perhaps the Black Isle Bastards are mutineers from the crew of the Aedyran privateer Heedless Herve, who the bastards left headless? Too on the nose?

We also already saw the fallout of the colonization efforts in PoE 1, as Dyrwood and Readceras were both former Aedyran colonies. As far as I recall Aedyr didn't have any other substantial colonial holdings, but don't quote me on that. And who knows, maybe the Huana prince has the backing of Aedyr or another power.

I loved the combat in the White March! It actually required me to utilize a broad array of my party's abilities pretty consistently.

1. Will you reveal at least one Wizard subclass for the stream? 2. How will the switch to per encounter abilities affect the balancing of passive class abilities (like constant recovery)? 3. Will the state we left Stalwart in impact the availability of Durgan steel in Deadfire? 4. Speaking of Durgan steel, is there any chance you will be implementing a materials system for crafting, so we can finally revel at how wonderfully ordinary our Wyflan steel daggers are? 5. It was mentioned that food is directly incorporated into the Rest interface, would you provide an example of a bonus food will add? 6. Do you have something special designed to account for a game state where the Master Below was never defeated? Thanks for your time!

I think the bonuses will be fine, as others have already pointed out they can simply be ignored. However, because we don't have the full scope of this feature documented yet I am very hopeful that the developers will include things that remix or tweak the gameplay in multiple ways. The composition of enemy encounters could be tweaked (e.g, a 20% chance vessels will be included in every encounter) or enemies could gain undocumented new abilities (e.g., fission blights that have to be countered with an opposing element).

Maybe this will be implemented with a material system? Maybe this is how March Steel will be superior to Wyflan? In that case, maybe we will be to upgrade the materials?

Here's a few guesses: Wizard and Priest: Hierophant Wizard and Cipher: Cryptomancer Wizard and Chanter: Spellshouter Wizard and Paladin: Armiger Savant Rogue and Barbarian: Executioner Barbarian and Priest: Iconoclast Barbarian and Paladin: Fanatic

I think a multi-part treasure hunt with island hopping would be preferable to another mega dungeon, but that's just me. In terms of other content that would be good to see: -High difficulty optional fights that are supported by a more detailed narrative framework than the bounty fights in PoE. Not that the narrative framework has to be that elaborate, but something more than a large group of enemies who just happen to be hanging out in a zone you cleared out some time ago (compare that type of setup to the Twisted Rune fight or the Slaver's Compound in BG 2). A band of vithrack pirates traversing the sea on a giant diving bell spider might be appropriate here. -Spell/Grimoire Creation: It's a bit odd that we're told in the lore that powerful wizards will develop spells for their own use but we cannot do that for a player character or party member. So getting the opportunity to have a quest to craft at least one powerful and customizable spell and/or grimoire would be great. Additionally, similar subquests could be implemented for the crafting of a custom trinket for each class. -Improved in-game lore books: where appropriate, some extra text or added illustrations (or illuminations) would be a great addition to the in-game reading selection. Throw in a whole quest requiring a hunt for rare books to solve an in-game historical mystery and that might just be the best thing ever.

How would it really differ from Ranger, though? A mage familiar would probably get into similar territory, but more magicky. To be more distinctive it would probably get more into Summoner-type territory. Which could be great fun actually, but might be tricky to keep balanced (maybe tie the Endurance of the summoner to that of his creations to some extent?). Might be interesting to have the animancer/necromancer actually *be* a construct-ish/undead character (akin to Helig). I see where you are coming from, but I envisioned more of an Animancer/Sorcerer/Etc. with a pet that would allow for a different range of abilities for a pet than the ranger (or at least the ranger pets we have now). An animancer for example could have a tank-like Flesh Construct with the ability to engage multiple opponents and perhaps with enough investment detonate on command, something that wouldn't make much sense for a wolf to do. Animats might be able to use more spell-like abilities like energy discharges and focus on DPS style builds, etc. Beyond a newly opened range of abilities for a pet for an animancer, the combo of a sturdier pet with a more frail character might also open up some design opportunities for either high risk/high reward close ranged abilities for an animancer, focusing on spawning skeletons from fallen enemies which might be buffed if in proximity to the pet, etc. Similarly, like you point out, a sorcerer might be a bit like a wizard, but if the familiar is a centerpiece of the class design it can open some new design opportunities. If I recall correctly at one point in development wizards actually had familiars as a class feature or option, and allowed remote casting of spells from the familiar. While that may have been a bit much for the already versatile wizard power set, a class which focused on casting through a familiar might be more reasonable to balance along with the existing classes. A sorcerer might focus more on mobility as well, perhaps being to able to freely swap positions with a familiar on the battlefield. Again, these are just loose ideas, but I see some areas to allow for interesting pets, powers, and abilities that do not seem to currently fit thematically with the ranger class. However, I like your idea of allowing for construct/undead characters of some kind, either as a player option or a unique NPC.

Here's a few: 1. An additional "pet" focused class, where the pet is the main focus of the class. This could be an Animancer with constructs or animats, or maybe even a take on a Sorcerer or Warlock with a familiar. 2. More sequences like the finale from the White March Part II. 3. More optional high difficulty areas and fights tucked away throughout the game. While the bounty fights were generally enjoyable, they could have benefited from better narrative integration with the surrounding areas.

Ausir's interpretation is the conclusion I arrived at. The Watcher's flashbacks provide evidence that Engwithans were the backbone of spreading their faith. In the flashbacks there are references to the works of the Engwithans, Thaos speaks of his people in a present tense, and Iovara explains she learned the secret of the gods by eavesdropping on Engwithan missionaries. So, there might be something about the eastern sea, but it really seems like the timeline went something like this: 1. Gods are created, many Engwithans sacrifice themselves in this process, but the Engwithan civilization survives the process. 2. Engwithans begin their mission work, spreading their new faith across the other cultures in Eora. 3. Some point after Iovara's death Ondra decides to destroy Engwithan civilization. Again, Iovara stated that she learned the secret of the gods by eavesdropping on Engwithans, therefore the best way to keep this a secret is to eliminate the only ones who know the truth. Abydon intercedes and as a result some traces of Engwith survive. 4. It's probable that the impact that wiped out Engwith had far reaching effects on the rest of Eora, wiping out the civilizations that Engwith converted. Hence there is no mention of Creitum, etc. during PoE.

This was intentional. I found this in the support forum.

I have had the same issue since launch. I am also on a laptop with specs that can easily handle the game, and the screen tears when I scroll the map. No graphics issues occur when the map is not being scrolled. The issue is way worse with VSynch enabled, the higher I set my framerate the less noticeable the tearing becomes even though my monitor is capped at 48. I have continually updated my drivers for both the integrated intel chip and my mobile nvidia gpu, and have repeatedly ensured that my nvidia gpu is set to preferred for running Pillars.