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Trusty noqn can probably help you more, but have this for now: Pillars of Eternity II\PillarsOfEternityII_Data\exported\localized\en\text\conversations\06_neketaka_slums_district\06_si_bm_alleys.stringtable has all the text you will see there.

Do you like the idea of having great defense and healing, and the knowledge that time is on your side? Do you like having like, all the auras, and selecting like all the defensive talents? Then this guide is for you. This is a setup that I keep playing; I've easily done it over a dozen times by now. Every time I do it, I try to find a way to squeeze more offense out of it, while staying true to time-is-on-my-side. So while this composition can always fall back on whittling enemies down, there is often the option to race towards the inevitable by blowing them up. Context I play in No Rest mode. I build my characters to pass nearly all skill checks, without having to change equipment or use consumables (because I'm lazy). I run all of Berath's Blessings. I like tall races. I like two digit stats, even if they're not useful. The entirety of the guide is based on these sometimes rational, sometimes aesthetic reasonings of mine. If any of this is not to your taste, you can still draw inspiration from this post. The following mods that I use are also relevant: No Forced Rests Deadly Deadfire (Hardcore) Out With The Good (no balance impact, I just super recommend it for No Rest) Waukeen's Berth Binary Opposed Dispositions (and Vindictive Ship Battles, but I can't find it) Meet The Party IMPORTANT: All five are multiclassed paladins of the Shieldbearers of St. Elcga order. The listed classes are their second class. Heals: Chanter (Troubadour) - this should be your Watcher. Skill point suggestions assume this is the case. Sabres: Chanter (Troubadour) Tank: Fighter (Tactician) Staff: Fighter (Devoted) - second best choice for Watcher Brilliance: Cipher (Psion) Pillars 1 Background You want Aloth to have become the Leaden Key Grandmaster, so you can get this hat. You want Devil of Caroc to have spared Harmke, so you can get this armor, though you won't be wearing it forever. You want to have pledged to Hylea and followed through on that, because we do not play No Rest without by far the best dish in the game. Having sacrificed someone to the Skaen Blood Pool is fine as long as it's not Aloth/DoC. Having absorbed the souls at Heritage Hill is fine too. General Build Info As Shieldbearers, everyone gets Lay on Hands for free. We do not take Inspired Defenses because it doesn't stack with Stoic Steel. If you want to take it early and then go through the respec hassle, you can. Base stats do not include racial/background bonuses, so you'll have more points at character creation. Skill point assignments assume you're following the rest of the guide strictly. It also means doing Cignath Mor Galawain's way for everything to add up. If heeding the skill point suggestions, go for Stealth -> Athletics first on Heals and Tank. This is so they can Party Assist the others. Sleight of Hand is just for some late game checks unless you want to run around pickpocketing. Heals Heals is your typical Herald providing large amounts of passive healing. She is also an off tank and she wears enemies down with Brand Enemy. Race: Wood Elf Culture: Old Vailia - Aristocrat Food: Hylea's Bounty Base stats (endgame stats in parentheses): 18 (26) Might 11 (19) Constitution 4 (13) Dexterity 6 (13) Perception 18 (27) Intellect 18 (24) Resolve Skills (as the Watcher you have lot of "fill the gaps" duties) Alchemy 3 Athletics 8 Sleight of Hand 3 Stealth 5 Diplomacy 3 Insight 6 Intimidate 2 Metaphysics 5 Survival 3 Talents by level 1: Sworn Enemy, Blessed Was Wengridh, Not Felled 2: Deep Faith 3: Free pick 4: Weapon and Shield Style, Zealous Aura (use Endurance) 5: Divine Purpose 6: Free pick 7: Ancient Memory, Brand Enemy 8: Bull's Will 9: Bear's Fortitude 10: ...Nor Flame, Exalted Endurance 11: Mental Fortress 12: Iron Gut 13: The Bride Caught, Righteous Soul 14: Practiced Healer 15: Snake's Reflexes 16: Tough, Uncanny Luck 17: Clear Head 18: Free pick - I suggest Reviving Exhortation 19: Set to Their Purpose, Stoic Steel 20: Mercy and Kindness Proficiencies Dagger, Medium Shield, Sabre, then whatever. Equipment Helm: Blackened Plate Helm Cloak: Cloak of Greater Protection Necklace: Baubles of the Fin (can also wear Bone Setter's Torc and give this to Brilliance) Chest: Furrante's Breastplate (Love of Life, Vigorous Protector). You can trade armor with Brilliance. Before you get this, you can use Devil of Caroc Breastplate. Gloves: Gauntlets of Ogre Might Ring 1: Ring of Minor Protection Ring 2: Chameleon's Touch Boots: Footprints of Ahu Taka Belt: Physicker's Belt Pet: Nikki - I like accuracy. You can use another pet without breaking anything. Weapon Set 1 Sasha's Singing Scimitar with Refreshing Finale and Companion's Prelude. Start with a dagger for the parry modal. Lethandria's Devotion with Sheltering Light Weapon Set 2 Sasha's Singing Scimitar from set 1 The Weyc's Oracular Focus with Lasting Channeled Shield Playstyle Until you get Ancient Memory, chant Blessed Was Wengridh with Brisk Recitation. Then chant those two without it. Lategame, replace Blessed Was Wengridh with Mercy and Kindness. When you get Brand Enemy, DoT up important enemies, and then less important ones. Keep 1 or 2 Zeal in case you're needed for an emergency Lay on Hands. Keep up Not Felled by the Axe. Later, keep up The Bride Caught Their Ruse. If you judge it's too annoying to do these, that's usually ok. If you're at max phrases, your scimitar aura is at max strength. Sabres Because one chanter just can't get the job done. She also helps bring down bosses by debuffing them. Race: Wood Elf Culture: The White that Wends - Explorer Food: Hylea's Bounty Base stats (endgame stats in parentheses): 10 (10) Might 11 (15) Constitution 16 (21) Dexterity 9 (11) Perception 18 (19) Intellect 11 (11) Resolve Skills Athletics 19 (for the armor) Bluff 6 Metaphysics 4 Survival 9 (do this first) Talents by level 1: Flames of Devotion, At the Sight, And Hel-Hyraf 2: Deep Faith 3: Sworn Enemy 4: Two Weapon Style, Zealous Aura (use Focus) 5: Divine Purpose 6: Weapon and Shield Style 7: The Shield Cracks, Shared Flames 8: Bull's Will 9: Bear's Fortitude 10: The Bridesman Slew, Exalted Focus 11: Silver Knights' Shields (anyone using a dagger can replace it now - dagger modal doesn't stack with this) 12: Mental Fortress 13: Snake's Reflexes, Righteous Soul 14: Iron Gut 15: Clear Head 16: ...Each Kill Fed, Tough 17: Sworn Rival (you might take this earlier - this is needed so that Sabres and Staff can be angry with the same target) 18: Free pick - I suggest Reviving Exhortation 19: Uncanny Luck, Stoic Steel 20: Free pick - Spell Resistance if you want to stay defensive Proficiencies Sabre, Medium Shield, then whatever. Equipment Helm: Thaos' Headdress Cloak: Cloak of Greater Protection Necklace: Cog of Cohh Chest: Contender's Armor (Heavy Mobility). Iridescent Scale is okay before you get that. Gloves: Aegor's Swift Touch Ring 1: Ring of Minor Protection Ring 2: Ring of Minor Protection Boots: Pathfinder's Boots (can trade with Tank if you want Might affliction resistance, but then she has to spend a free pick to compensate) Belt: The Undying Burden Weapon Set 1 Scordeo's Edge with Adaptive and Blade Cascade (before you get this you can just steal yourself Grave Calling) Tarn's Respite with Brittle Frost Weapon Set 2 Tarn's Respite from set 1 Any medium shield you want (I use Mundane Shell) Playstyle Until you get Silver Knights' Shields, chant At The Sight with Brisk Recitation. Then chant those two without it. Turn on Brisk Recitation to keep trying to land The Shield Cracks on tough opponents. If shields don't need to crack, use the Brideman/upgraded version invocation. Keep swinging - you lower enemy deflection, that's fun for everyone! Shared Flames will not only help your party's regular attacks, it'll also help Staff do more damage with her scrolls. This will probably feel like your squishiest character, because she is in melee but doesn't wear a shield by default. Sometimes you'll just have to suck it up, swap to weapon set 2 and endure it. Tank Tank is your tank, but she is not entirely dedicated to that task. Resist the temptation of making her a slightly ambulatory brick. If you make an immortal tank, well that's nice and you will love it early game, but later on two things will happen: you'll fight bosses who just attack other party members instead while she stands there looking stupid (and if Heals dies, you'll notice Tank is not immortal), and you'll be tough enough from gear/levels that you won't need every bit of tankiness you can get from other sources. What we need for Tank is for her to be tough enough to tank groups of monsters, and for her to still be useful when bosses decide to just attack someone else. Race: Pale Elf Background: The White that Wends - Explorer Food: Mohora Wraps (up for discussion what you feed her, but don't you dare spend a Hylea's Bounty on her) Base stats (endgame stats in parentheses): 10 (16) Might 15 (17) Constitution 13 (17) Dexterity 13 (15) Perception 10 (11) Intellect 14 (15) Resolve Skills Athletics 6 Sleight of Hand 6 Stealth 7 History 19 (for the cloak) Talents by level 1: Flames of Devotion, Disciplined Barrage 2: Deep Faith 3: Knock Down 4: Fighter Stances, Weapon and Shield Style 5: Determination 6: Divine Purpose 7: Bull's Will, Bear's Fortitude 8: Snake's Reflexes 9: Disciplined Strikes 10: Fearless, Mental Fortress (now we have negated both Tactician debuffs from her getting flanked) 11: Iron Gut 12: Unstoppable 13: Conquerer Stance, Righteous Soul (she is usually in Defender Stance, but Guardian Stance isn't much of an upgrade to it) 14: Clear Head 15: Mule Kick 16: Tough, Uncanny Luck 17: Vigorous Defense 18: Free pick - I recommend Armored Grace 19: Free pick (Spell Resistance, Superior Deflection, Unbending, One-Handed Style, Body Control so you can give away your boots...), Stoic Steel 20: Free pick Proficiencies Dagger, Medium Shield, Club, Rapier, then whatever. Equipment Helm: Pearlescent Rhomboid Helstone (not important) Cloak: The Giftbearer's Cloth Necklace: Wise Teeth Necklace Chest: Blackened Plate Armor (Death in Life, Usher's Visage). Start by stealing her a Patinated Plate Gloves: Woedica's Strangling Grasp Ring 1: Entonia Signet Ring Ring 2: Ring of Minor Protection Boots: Boots of the Stone (can take the Body Control talent and give these to Sabres) Belt: Free pick, can be Blunting Belt or Nature's Embrace for example Weapon Set 1 Kapana Taga with All Comers and Lone Champion - wear any dagger before you get this Nerian's Ward with Father's Masterwork Weapon Set 2 Shattered Vengeance, nothing in the offhand Weapon Set 3 (the third set comes from the cloak) Rännig's Wrath, nothing in the offhand Playstyle You're the tank. Stand in front with your first weapon set and Defender Stance. If you're fighting a boss and you've killed all its goons, swap to Warrior/Conquerer Stance and spam (because as a Tactician you're Brilliant when flanking all targets - do you still want her to be Unbroken? ) Mule Kick/Flames of Devotion with Shattered Vengeance if you haven't stacked the debuff yet or you want the club modal, otherwise with Rännig's Wrath for the crazy accuracy you get with the rapier modal. Club modal is good for helping Brilliance (the Psion) contribute offensively. I strongly suggest you stick to the recommended enchantments for Kapana Taga. You're the tank and you use that weapon to survive. Staff will deal five times your damage, and the only reason you get that close is because your armor radiates damage, not because your attacks are powerful or would be powerful with different enchantments on Kapana Taga. Staff Here's the dam! While the Brand Enemy spam from Heals is good for wearing down multiple enemies, Staff can focus down a single enemy, or destroy groups by using scrolls. Race: Wood Elf Background: The White that Wends - Explorer Food: Hylea's Bounty Base stats (endgame stats in parentheses): 11 (11) Might 9 (11) Constitution 16 (22) Dexterity 18 (21) Perception 10 (11) Intellect 10 (11) Resolve Skills Arcana 19 (and you will love it) Metaphysics 19 (for the staff) Talents by level 1: Flames of Devotion, Disciplined Barrage 2: Deep Faith 3: Sworn Enemy 4: Fighter Stances, Two-Handed Style 5: Determination 6: Divine Purpose 7: Disciplined Strikes, Bull's Will 8: Bear's Fortitude 9: Snake's Reflexes 10: Fearless, Mental Fortress 11: Iron Gut 12: Clear Head 13: Conquerer Stance, Righteous Soul 14: Weapon Specialization 15: Knock Down 16: Tough, Uncanny Luck 17: Mule Kick 18: Armored Grace 19: Weapon Mastery (this does really little so you could consider it a free pick - take Vigorous Defense here and then whatever at 20), Stoic Steel 20: Vigorous Defense Proficiencies Quarterstaff - who wudda thunk? Equipment Helm: Cowl of the Piercing Gaze (mostly because I'm obsessing about high perception) Cloak: Cloak of Greater Protection Necklace: Strand of Favor Chest: Gipon Prudensco (No Fool, I) - can start with Benweth's armor Gloves: Firethrower's Gloves (possibly The Left Hand of the Obscured later) Ring 1: Ring of Prosperity's Fortune Ring 2: Ring of Focused Flame Boots: Boots of the Stone Belt: Free pick Weapon Set 1 Chromoprismatic Quarterstaff with Enthralled Blights and Entropy Shield - start with The Spine of Thicket Green or Superb Xaurip Quarterstaff Weapon Set 2 Sungrazer (empty offhand) for bosses, or a non-crushing weapon for bog oozes Playstyle Use Warrior/Conquerer stance unless you're playing at a low difficulty. Prefer to attack from the safety provided by your extra reach. Sometimes you and Sabres will hunt down enemies who don't want to be on Tank. In those cases, remember to move closer so you can flank your victim together. When fighting a boss, use Sungrazer until you land a crit for the debuff. Staff has great accuracy; it won't take long. If you get in trouble, turn on the quarterstaff modal and/or Defender Stance. Shields are taboo; you don't even have the modal. This character is supposed to pump Arcana, so you also have the option to obliterate hordes of enemies with Scrolls of Great Maelstrom and such. And the higher level you get, the less the party will mind if they "accidentally" get caught in those. Fun fact: Because of high Dexterity, Perception and her armor Gipon Prudensco, she will have the highest Reflex save and you can use that if you want to make AI cast spells on her (I use it to make Brilliance give her Ancestor's Memory). Brilliance Here is the final ingredient for all the longevity you'll ever need. Lategame she has two jobs - Pain Block and Ancestor's Memory, and being reluctant to spend her own Zeal because she's the only one who can't replenish it. If you can get her to 24 int, she'll have 29 with a Smart buff from Heals, and this will make Ancestor's Memory tick 4 times instead of 3. You can achieve this with less, but then you need a Potion of Ascension. Race: Pale Elf Background: Old Vailia - Artist (yes, she is on mechanics duty) Food: Shark Soup (which is why we're not taking Iron Gut) Base stats (endgame stats in parentheses): 15 (17) Might (for Robust healing from Pain Block, not for damage) 13 (17) Constitution 8 (12) Dexterity 9 (11) Perception 18 (24) Intellect 12 (13) Resolve Skills Athletics 3 Mechanics 13 (might not need that much) Stealth 3 Diplomacy 2 Insight 12 Intimidate 5 Talents by level 1: Flames of Devotion (she won't really use it), Whisper of Treason or Eyestrike 2: Deep Faith 3: Iron Will 4: Psychovampiric Shield, Zealous Aura (use Charge) 5: Weapon and Shield Style 6: Divine Purpose (due to her food, only the Resolve boost matters) 7: Bear's Fortitude, Bull's Will 8: Snake's Reflexes 9: Free pick - Recall Agony has some lategame relevance, but Puppet Master can be pretty fun 10: Pain Block, Exalted Charge 11: Mental Fortress 12: Clear Head 13: Borrowed Instinct, Righteous Soul 14: Practiced Healer 15: Farcasting 16: The Empty Soul, Tough 17: Uncanny Luck 18: Free pick - recommend Lingering Echoes 19: Ancestor's Memory, Stoic Steel 20: Free pick - recommend Greater Focus Proficiencies Wand, Large Shield, then whatever. She will be using a flail, but the modal won't really matter. Equipment Helm: Heaven's Cacaphony Cloak: Cloak of Greater Protection Necklace: Charm of Bones Chest: Magnera's Chain (Magnera's Commitment, Outlaw's Instincts). This gives +10 to all saves; if you don't love this, how did you get this far in the guide Gloves: Burglar's Gloves Ring 1: Kuaru's Prize Ring 2: Ring of Minor Protection Boots: Boots of the White (rather whatever) Belt: Free pick, I have Girdle of Mortal Protection Weapon Set 1 Keeper of the Flame with Sweet Aroma - this is a really late game item and assumes you just stand around providing the aura. If you attack, you invite enemies to attack you back; also, no one needs the reflex debuff from the modal. Any wand you like before that. Shining Bulwark Weapon Set 2 Anything without a shield - this is your "no accuracy penalty" set for spellcasting. Dual wands for example. Playstyle You are a Psion. You generate focus as long as you're not taking damage, so don't make yourself an attractive target. Stand in the back with a large shield, possibly with the modal on (especially in ship battles). You will get harassed by enemies who are scripted to just go for the farthest target. It's up to Sabres and Staff to convince them of the error of their ways. When trying to facilitate longevity in lategame battles, use Pain Block and Ancestor's Memory (on party members who need it to cast defensive spells like Lay on Hands) only. Note how you need no accuracy for this. When trying to help bring down tough enemies, Psychovampiric Shield followed by Psychovampiric Shield again is a good opener. They have less Resolve after it's landed once, so the second one will last longer and land easier. Follow it up with Recall Agony. Borrowed Instinct can be used on goons, sigils, barrels... any pointless target can boost your accuracy so you can land the good stuff on the boss. Or if the boss has a low will defense, you can of course go for it directly. If you picked Eyestrike at level 1, note that blinded enemies are considered flanked, and if all enemies are flanked, Tank becomes Brilliant. This will probably never happen in a situation where it makes a difference, but it's a cute synergy. Whisper of Treason has more uses, but requires you to get closer. General Strategy You are Shieldbearers, so remember to pick Honest/Diplomatic dialogue options to boost your Faith and Conviction, while avoiding Aggressive/Cruel. If you want to kill someone but starting the fight requires Aggressive behavior, you can either provoke them into starting it or, ahem, diplomatically manually attack them outside of conversation. Or let's call it an honest display of hostility? Lay on Hands makes the target briefly unkillable when cast by a Shieldbearer on someone else, so try to have your party members cast it on each other and not themselves. The best one to cast it is whoever can do it the soonest, not the one who has the most +healing. Remember that LoH lasts longer than the unkillable buff, so you're not immortal in the last 2-or-so seconds. Lay on Hands is usually a far better use of Zeal than Flames of Devotion. Use FoD to remove regeneration from trolls, or because it's a trivial encounter, or because you really need your target to die fast, or because you know you won't need the Zeal to heal. A disproportionate amount of enemies are immune to fire damage or even heal from it, so Brand Enemy can't win every battle. You are a powerhouse of auras, chants and invocations. Stick together so everyone benefits! Combat Example - Boarding Battles Boarding battles really bring out the essence of this party. Lately, my strategy has been to wait until level 10, then clear the seas of bounties. Level 10 means Exalted Endurance and Pain Block, both significant for your outlast capacity. So how do we do them? First of all, we ignore anyone not in the party. They will run off on a silly adventure and get knocked out, at best buying us time. We can't even cast Lay on Hands or Pain Block on them. We don't take inspiration from their ideas to go after some easy targets either. No, we get in this formation: Note how it's playing to our party's strengths: Heals is in range to cast a lot of Brand Enemy, while also presenting her tanky self as a target. Tank is slightly in front so that only one enemy each can elect to melee Heals or Sabres. Staff and Brilliance are tucked away nicely in the back, with Staff still being able to hit people on the stair (or just in front of the tanks) due to her reach. A bunch of enemies aren't doing anything but waiting for those in front to die. Everyone is enjoying all the auras and all the chants! The downside is that enemy gunners (who tend to be a bit glass cannon-y) get to keep shooting you for free, since you have no way of reaching them until you've cleared out the throng in front of you. Sometimes they'll be in range for Brand Enemy, but Brand Enemy is not a fast killer. Brand Enemy is what we will use here anyway, on the captain and on any "tough" target we can find. Avoid using it on casters like druids; by the time it kills them, they will have run out of spells anyway. Chanters, ciphers, pistoleers and anything with a lot of skulls make good targets. It's very much possible to have enough Arcana for Great Maelstrom at level 10 (this guide has enough at 9), which means if you can afford the scrolls (Waukeen's Berth will let you buy the ingredients en masse without camping any merchants) you can make ship battles a lot faster and easier. Or just exchange cannon salvos, but I think if you want to make this kind of party, you want these kinds of battles too, with or without the scrolls. No Rest - Getting Started An easy way to get the ball rolling. Upon reaching Neketaka, purchase the food for Tank and Brilliance, or the ingredients. With my recommended Waukeen's Berth mod, you can buy them in Queen's Berth, otherwise you may have to sail to Sayuka. Now, with all five dishes ready, leave Neketaka (by land or sea). At this point, HARD SAVE. There is no starting over with No Rest. You aren't getting more Hylea's Bounty. If you mess up, you have to make a new character or use the console. Okay, so you hard saved. Now let's go. Rest, with everyone eating their assigned dishes - Hylea's Bounty for Heals, Sabres and Staff, Mohora Wraps for Tank and Shark Soup for Brilliance. Return to Neketaka, enter the mill in Queen's Berth steal all the dust and crates (these will get you an easy Tarn's Respite). Make everyone a Luminous Adra Potion and drink it. You can buy Reagent/Solution in Queen's Berth with the mod (hell, you can even buy the dust itself there), otherwise in Periki's Overlook. With the mod (I hope at this point you've given up and installed it) you can also buy wardstones in Queen's Berth. Get one of each and use them right away. No mod? Go to the orlan merchant in the Brass Citadel, take your crew off duty and wait. A lot. Until she has sold you all five. Or postpone this part - you generally find wardstones in the same areas where they are actually needed. Take a bath at the Luminous Bathhouse in Periki's Overlook. While you're here anyway, steal (uh, I mean, diplomatically steal) all the things from the Dark Cupboard, Marihi's Metalworks and the Iolfr's Raiments, and buy gloves from the last shop. You still want to get Dawnstar Blessing from Port Maje and Nature's Resolve from outside Tikawara. A bit of a trip, but no fighting involved unless you get attacked by enemy ships. You needn't rush this step or the next ones. You want Ngati's Blessing (+2 con) from Te Hika Fishing Pools (let the creature pass) and Amira's Blessing (+2 dex) from the burning house random Neketaka event (enter the house and flee it). The first one you can grab right away, the other you have to wait until it happens. You also want a buff from a courtesan. This guide assumes Irwena in Dunnage. You don't have to rush there; with 3x Hylea's Bounty and 5x Luminous Adra Potion, you're not about to fail any skill checks. And later later later on, you want Alchemic Brawn/Guile/Wits from the northwesternmost island... and Magran's Blessing from Ashen Maw... that'll be all the No Rest benefits, I think. Okay, you're an official No Rester. Remember if we get injuries, we can't rest them away without losing our one-time goodies, so what do we do? We drink Luminous Adra Potions. The End I was going to format it harder and use more links, but damn am I exhausted right now. And mildly terrified of losing all this work. So, enjoy! Might add more.

I've figured out how to mod it so that it's not just a 90 degree angle. But before I go nuts with this, I just want to confirm it's not already been done. Welp, the answer better be no, because I couldn't wait And here we are!

Systems-wise I'd say Deadfire is the best RTwP party-based RPG out there. The mechanics are good (and I like to partially attribute this to "not forced to imitate some tabletop rules") and your character can be fairly nuanced. I could really do without the Polynesian archipelago setting and the gods behaving the way they do though. Since you're looking for story, go with BG1/BG2.

Perhaps the solution then is to simply disable gibs. Not like they carry any advantage anyway.

Could be, because I think I've had Edér (as an outside-party deck battle participant) permadie in a ship battle with no challenge active. Might have been gib, because with my parties I can't really suspect friendly fire.

Fair. I will accept a deal of them staying out of battles period, regardless of Berath's Challenge. You know, I am the captain. I'd punish them for their insubordination, but given they're dead all I can do is ask Berath to give them a miserable next turn of the Wheel.

That's one way to look at it. Another is "if they're going to permadie, why can't I tell them to stay out of the battles".

@Noqn might know. I'm guessing if you look in the right file you'll find some JSON that dictates the pickpocket difficulty as well as what treasure you get.

Gorecci Street @ASAP

Yes, well, cough, when I said I did that, I meant I used the back entrance and just agreed to cooperate with Wymund, and then pillaged the dungeon. I can't remember the last time I bothered to fight my way through

Gee, and here I thought I had cosmic brained Raedric's Hold by rushing to Nedmar so I can rest all I like... It all did work out on the second attempt. Did EP5 and Dyrford quests before ever going to Defiance Bay. Felt like seasoned adventurers coming in to help the puny citydwellers with their trivial problems. It won't be anytime soon, but stay tuned nonetheless for my megalomania causing me to try Searing Falls before DB too.

Since I love having all these buffs I have a bunch of them in my party. Sasha's Singing Scimitar (action speed) Lethandria's Devotion (saving throws and healing) Baubles of the Fin (damage) Cog of Cohh (damage) Shining Bulwark (armor) Keeper of the Flame (a few to choose from, I use accuracy) All the auras I'm filtering in my own mod, so probably a quite exhaustive list:

As far as balance mods go, only Deadlier Deadfire.

This is what I do every damn time. Do you want the spreadsheet with skill point assignments? No? Ok. All five are multiclassed paladins, specifically shieldbearers. Paladins have nice defensive bonuses, and Lay on Hands is awesome, even awesomer as a shieldbearer. Herald 1 Shieldbearer/Troubadour High might and int Chants: Ancient Memory + Mercy and Kindness (Blessed Was Wengridh before that) Sasha's Singing Scimitar + Lethandria's Devotion Brand Enemy, Zealous Endurance Hylea's Bounty Herald 2 Shieldbearer/Troubadour High int Chants: Hearts Grew Bold + Silver Knights' Shields Dual sabres - endgame it's Tarn's Respite and Scordeo's Edge. Keep a shield handy because this character is a popular target. Zealous Focus Hylea's Bounty Crusader 1 Shieldbearer/Tactician (or Unbroken) Tank, but when fighting a lone boss that feels like ignoring her, swaps to Rännig's Wrath and spams Mule Kick (easier to spam as a tactician) Kapana Taga and/or passives negate tactician penalties Mohora Wraps Crusader 2 (Watcher) Shieldbearer/Devoted (quarterstaff) Bringing the dam. Hylea's Bounty Inquisitor Shieldbearer/Psion High int Keeping the outlast game going with Pain Block and Ancestor's Memory. Wand + Large Shield, lategame it's Keeper of the Flame + Shining Bulwark without actually attacking Zealous Charge Shark Soup Playing no rest, feasting on immunity/defensive talents. An important tactic is that the answer to "Who should Lay on Hands?" is usually "whoever can do it the soonest", because death immunity and all that. I could write a whole essay here because I play this setup over and over as I really enjoy outlasting my enemies, so it is very refined for that purpose. It used to be that Herald 1 was the Watcher and that there was no devoted in the party, but, well, some killing power is nice to have...

For background, my parties are always five multiclassed paladins. If I play the game again, it's with some tiny (or no) adjustment to the same party. The other multiclass half of that party has been, for years, two fighters (one devoted, one tactician or unbroken), two chanters (both troubadours), and one cipher (psion). So let me tell you about that inquisitor of mine... The awesome thing about a psion is you have very reliable resource generation. You're not dependent on doing damage, only on not taking it. Paladins have great defensive bonuses and you can get a hilariously high will save with this multiclass (178 on my latest save, out of combat). Soul Mind is also fairly generous with its functionality. It doesn't get cancelled by DoTs. So, you're not an attractive target, and you thrive on that. Why risk it by playing a fighter or monk? Sounds like you want to get into the fray, where you make a more tempting target than someone standing with a large shield at range firing wand shots. Your ranger? Well, probably won't have the shield. As for spells, late game there are only two that matter: Pain Block and Ancestor's Memory. I always play for the long game, and so this healing and resource replenishment means time is always on my side. You'll notice they don't even require accuracy. There can be cases of debuffing mobs with Borrowed Instinct, Psychovampiric Shield and Recall Agony, but frankly if I can spare the resources to cast those, I'm already winning and these are just speeding it up (I might say they matter for Belranga). It's fun to use them, but not required. I haven't played other cipher kits so I can't say how the resource generation compares, but I get the feeling from your post you will be happily surprised by how fast it goes for a high level psion. Either way, I think if you want to play one, your multiclass of choice should be one that works well with not drawing attention to itself. If you want to jump into the fray of melee combat, you might consider some other cipher kit.

Troubadours have longer linger on their chants, so yes, only 20 needed.

I also say troubadour. With 20 int, a troubadour can have full uptime on two chants, and this pleases the master.

It used to be I waited with Raedric's Hold until I was like, level 7. And let me tell you, even with that degree of caution, one or two ToI runs have ended there. Sometimes I'd also wait with the temple in Gilded Vale until after some Defiance Bay adventures. Now, one of my principles is that everything available before Caed Nua is to be done before Caed Nua - even though this is mildly negative for powergaming. This has been working well, even though it means doing RH with my Watcher at 5 and the others at 4. Today I asked myself, what about doing Endless Paths before going to Defiance Bay? Since this is PotD + ToI I obviously mean all the way to level fifteen five. Now, this was very different from clearing those levels in the midgame as pure chores to get to the interesting ones. There were a lot of narrow victories, narrow escapes and avoiding head-on fights, but every level was cleared... and then I accidentally double pulled at the entrance to level 5 and wiped. It wasn't my first accident, just my first accident that I couldn't fix by retreating. I think on my next playthrough I will manage it, and then probably wipe in the spider cave because I decided to do Dyrford before going to Defiance Bay too. Anyway, does anyone else have a route through the game they just have to follow every time?

No, if you cured the Rotted Lady on Motare o Kōzi you can ally with them as any class.

I don't know what you're trying to say. You have Returning Storm right there. Are you going to nitpick that I mixed it up with Unrelenting Storm? Yes, adragans can petrify. No, the adragans did not petrify me. Incidentally though, Prayer Against Imprisonment would have been a good thing to use for the lagufaeth hubris that ended a run two hours ago...

By stunned I mean stunned. I got stunned by the dragon's stomp and Unrelenting Storm.

Against what? They have their uses, but I don't see how they will help my figurines not get oneshot or myself out of a corner.

Rather than trying to arrive at containers on the right day, I just do dungeons when I want to, and when I reach a "random" loot container, I check the wiki for what can be in it. If I don't want any of it, I just pick whatever's there. If I want something, I console it in and leave the Item of the Day in the container. Rather than save scumming adventures and keeping low prestige (because I really want Wyrwood Ring), I give myself the items I want with the console and cancel a few adventures to compensate. Who's with me?