Zaruthustran

Thanks for the feedback. If he's not necessary, then it comes down to which dialogue and personal quest is more interesting. And I keep hearing that Durance's quest is superior. So, I think I'll keep Durance. Sorry Kana. Your Skeletons are cool, but you're just not compelling enough to boot my Fire Godlike Barbarian, or little Rogue. I'm totally taking your gun, though.

I'm playing Pillars on normal difficulty. I enjoy building characters, so have created a Barbarian and a Rogue. I just got the Keep and found Kana. This puts me over the max party size of 6; someone has to go. So my question is, is a Priest mandatory? Here's my party composition: Cipher (PC) Fighter (Eder) Wizard (Aloth) Custom barbarian Custom rogue X (either Kana or Durand) The Cipher and Wizard are about enough micro-management for my taste. I like the appeal of Kana's "hand's off" Chanter gameplay; Durand seems to demand too much attention. And once a party member other than Eder or the Barbarian gets hurt, it seems they drop almost instantly--no chance to heal. So... am I just playing Durand incorrectly? Can I get away with using Kana? Is a Priest mandatory?

Can you elaborate on the free talent? What is it, and what make "free"?

How does bow (or wand, or other fast ranged weapon with no reload) compare to blunderbuss, for focus gain? Blunderbuss is 6 shots at once, but it seems that during the long reload time you could get off several bow shots.

There's a big caveat here: you're comparing two different builds. In other words, you're assuming the Aumaua build has a Might score that's two points (3 points?!) higher than the Hearth Orlan. That's an apples and oranges comparison. Your calculations are no different than comparing a 18 Might Human to a 16 Might human. Or a 6 Might human to a 4 Might human. Yes, a 2 point difference in Might is a 6% damage difference--this information is not a revelation. If your build has them both at 17 Might (after all racials and culture have been applied), then the only benefit of Aumaua is "anti stun/anti knockdown" or "extra weapon set". Which is strictly worse DPS than +10% hits to crits. Not every build will have max Might. If your build is about Deflection, or attack speed, or duration and AOE, or health--if it doesn't have max Might--then the Aumaua racials don't even move the needle (from a pure DPS perspective).

I'm thinking Cipher is my class, because it's useful in so many situations and can fill so many roles. I enjoy dialogue options so I'm going with at least a 15 Resolve. Damage is important, so Might is at least a 15. The class is all about Focus and that takes hits, so attack speed has to be high: 15 Dex. Wood Elf bumps Dex and Res to 16. Background bumps Might to 16 (probably Old Vailia; I'll dump the +1 Int to bump Might). I think I can safely dump Con to 4 to boost Perception; Ciphers have low health anyway so the % minus isn't that many actual points--and it's better to not be hit in the first place. The radical idea that I'd like an opinion on is: can I safely dump Int, to boost Dex? My reasoning is that his AOEs are small to begin with, so he's not hitting more than 2, maybe 3 enemies anyway. And I don't care about duration because I'm regaining Focus so fast, I can just re-cast. Is dumping Int on a cipher (just to 8 or so) to raise Dex to 18-20 foolish, or wise?

What about the RP differences between the races? I'm talking in-game RP, here: dialogue and quest options. I'm curious if Godlike pays off with some unique storylines. I think I've settled on a Cipher for my main, and Wood Elf seems like the best Cipher race... but it sure seems like the weird Godlike must have some kind of major story payoff, given the hints of what I've seen so far. Which is not far at all: just the first town, with the tree--which I've reachd with over a dozen characters (and counting). What can I say, I like experimenting with characters.

Right, but the question is: for things that affect your next attack (like certain class abilities), do those apply to the dual-wielder's first attack only? Or do they apply to the dual wielder's full attack? In other words, "next attack" would actually be a dual-wielder's next TWO attack rolls, one for for each weapon. I'm away from my game PC this evening or I'd test it myself. I'm thinking that any reference to "attack" or other singular blows in descriptions actually means "full attack." For example, from the wiki entry for Barbaric Blow: Description: "The barbarian deals a massive blow, causing additional Crits and extra damage on Crits for both the blow and any resulting hits from Carnage. Carnage also hits a bigger area." Wiki box entry details box: "Area/Target: Single enemy Full Attack + Carnage" The Rogue has a ton of talents and abilities that are also limited/active use, or otherwise with a singular fluff: Crippling Strike, Blinding Strike, Riposte, Finishing Blow. If those apply to both swings of a 2W Full Attack and not just one swing of one weapon, that's worth knowing.

There are a bunch of abilities and talents that modify an "attack." For example, Blinding Strike or Flames of Devotion ("The paladin's next melee attack inflicts 50% additional burn damage if it hits."). I've heard it mentioned that abilities like Riposte are best with a 2H weapon, because if you make a Riposte attack it may as well be a hard-hitting one. But the Wiki for Riposte says "attacks that target Deflection and Miss have a 20% chance of allowing an Instant Full Attack Riposte." It's that phrase Full Attack that confuses me. The Wiki says a Full Attack uses both weapons, if two weapons are equipped. So the advice about a 2H being best for Riposte doesn't make sense; a Riposte by a 2W wielder would be an attack with both weapons--and based on what I've seen of the various math threads, 2W and 2H are pretty comparable. So... are *ALL* references to "attack" actually references to Full Attack? Does Blinding Strike's 1.25 damage mod apply to both weapons? Just one? If so, which one? Is the "Blinded" effect a separately-rolled attack, or does it proc on one--or either--weapon's attack roll? If just one, which one? Because if it's main hand, maybe you want a +ACC weapon on that main hand.

I enjoy building characters, but I also enjoy experiencing all the content that a game's devs have thoughtfully created for me. Seems like some of that content will be dialogue and personal quests of named NPCs. So, I don't want to "waste" time building a hired Fighter if, for example, there's a cool named NPC fighter that I can pick up. Like Eger. Is there a list of NPC companions for PoE? Don't need names, just classes.

I too am curious about party XP. For example in the prologue, is it more XP efficient to let the rogue die right away? And then to murder the fighter ASAP? In other words, are those two NPCs diluting your main character's XP from the prologue?

Seems like Fire Godlike is the way to go for a Barbarian. Their ability triggers at 50% Endurance. Barbarians have low Deflection, so they quickly reach 50% Endurance. But they have a lot of Endurance, so after the DR kicks in they will stay in that "less than 50% more than 0%" range for quite a while. Each time they get hit, they deal fire damage. With a Barbarian's high Might, that damage will add up quickly. In other words: with any race or ability that triggers at 50% Endurance, you want to reach 50% Endurance as fast as possible, and then stay in that sweet spot. So, open combat with Frenzy (for the Deflection penalty) and get the crap beat out of you until below 50%. Then stay there with the added DR from Fire Godlike. Multiply the efficacy with the Blooded ability (+ damage when below 50%). This bonus should apply to both the Fire aura and Carnage, as well as your main attacks. I haven't tested that, but: does the above seem correct?

Can you elaborate on this? Seems like Might's % bonus on damage would be more useful on a high damage weapon (2H weapon). Same reasoning applies to the speed bonus on a weapon with high speed. PoE's systems are unlike anything I've seen, so I appreciate any insight/advice.