Morte66

I've recently been using Wall of Fire, cast just beyond a couple of melee types in a doorway. It's glorious... until the frontliners kill something and run forwards through the wall of fire. The options just don't work. Turning off auto-attack doesn't stop them seeking a new target. Setting auto-pause on target destroyed doesn't seem to stop them running into the fire either. This is pretty bad -- I've always thought that realtime games with auto-pause could be as good as turn-based for tactical control and non-infuriatingness. PoE is near-missing, but \ miss is as good as a mile. You should have made the game turn based, if you can't make the realtime/autopause work right.

As a roleplayer, what I would really like is a PC optimised to get as many good dialogue options as possible, and interesting companions who can carry him in combat. Thus I would like the companions with dialogue/quests to be well built, or at least the option to read a "how to build decent companions" thread and respec them. Apparently this makes me an awful min/maxer.

Bonus question: which NPC classes synergise well with rogue, and why? Obviously: - Anybody who spams the debuffs that enable sneak attack - Anybody who tanks and holds aggro I'm finding the cypher quite nice, with the ability that makes enemies flanked. That's big AoE and long duration, even with Grieving Mother's stats, and foes only.

So I have a rogue, whom I made without any research as such, picking stats that probably made sense in D&D. I'm playing normal mode, with the stock companions; I'm now level 6-7 and I'm not having any trouble. I basically made a "traditional" rogue, but I'm curious how a more optimised PoE build would look. So... She's a wood elf from the Deadwoods Archipelago with the Drifter background. Her stats, base and (with gear) are: Mgt 14 Con 10 Dex 19 (20) Per 14 (15) Int 11 Res 10 Maxing Stealth and Mechanics, currently with +stealth/athletics/accuracy/deflection from items. Talents are Backstab, Shadowing Beyond and Two Weapon Style. Chosen abilities are Sneak Attack, Escape, Deep Wounds, Coordinated Positioning, and Blinding Strike. Currently wearing Fine Leather Armour and using a Rapier/Stiletto, with some other fast weapons to swap if I see high DR vs piercing. Exact gear changes as loot comes in. Tactics... Before battle I use her to scout, deal with traps/locks, and maybe set a trap. Then she normally fires one shot with an arbalest to pull and scoots back, while Eder and the ranger pet set up a melee line (preferably on a corner or doorway). Once battle is going I normally switch to dual fast weapons and look for backstabs and sneak attacks, either with actual flanking or various debuffs from the rest of the party. I always seem to have more than enough CC in the party. I enjoy this mobile tactical melee. I''ve hear rogue archers can be good but that's not what I want to do as my main thing. A couple of things occur to me as room for improvement: - Would she do more damage if I swapped might and dex? - I kind of assumed perception is needed for finding traps before you step on them, but is it? - I wonder if I should use a two hander for high DR? If so how do I know when to change? - Because I scout, I can swap weapons outside combat. But this gets old fast, and some fights have a mix of enemy DR. So if I went for more swapping I might spend a talent to get a third weapon set on hot swap. - Do heavier weapons with slower attacks in any way imply that heavier armour with slower recovery makes sense? - Something faster than the arbalest might get an extra shot in before melee starts, I often discard it when it's halfway through the epic reload process. But It would cost alpha strike. - Most ranged weapons are two handed, but does the Two Handed talent apply to them or just to melee gear? I'd appreciate any feedback on the issues above, or anything else you feel like adding.