JerekKruger

Out of interest, is there any particular reason you picked a Wood Elf for this build, or was it just for aesthetics/lore reasons?

It's a shame, it would be nice if even a Bash 1 shield increased a character's DPS a little. It's also something of a new player trap. I certainly equipped the Larder Door on Eder in my first play through thinking that it would increase his damage output.

Agreed. Particularly for your first play through, and even more so if you're not playing on PotD.

Yeah I understand that, I guess I just figure if you're going to use the random loot tables to ensure you get items, then there's really no difference with simply using the console (other than no achievements). Honestly, you'll probably get most if not all the random items you want eventually, and dealing with the few you don't can be seen as part of the challenge.

Damn it Boeroer, my last full play through was as a Paladin, and now you make me want to play another.

If you're not going for achievements I'd suggest just consoling in any loot you particularly want. The end result is the same as exploiting the non-random nature of loot but it's a lot less tiresome.

Well I enjoyed KotOR well enough so that's not really a bad thing in my view.

Time for my dirty little secret: I've never played PS:T. I only discovered it a lot later (some time around 2008) and I just couldn't get past the UI. I really should sit down and just force myself to play it till I get used to it...

Interesting, I thought that, had PoE's story been executed a little better it could have topped BG2's. I am hopeful that PoE2 will achieve this goal and become my favourite CRPG. It's an underrated dungeon in my opinion. I liked Watcher's Keep, but I actually think Durlag's Tower was better. Interestingly, I feel like Durgan's Battery was quite similar to Durlag's Keep and is one of my favourite dungeons in any CRPG. As for Werewolf Island, all I remember about that was having only one +3 weapon and hating every fight against whatever the top level werewolves were, if for no other reason that I got sick of "my weapon has no effect" Yup. I've always preferred the hand drawn backgrounds of isometric style CRPGs. For whatever reason I just find them much more attractive. I do hope that the success of PoE and the hopeful success of Tides will mean we'll be treated to a whole raft of new isometric CRPGs. Huh, I've never played Jade Empire. Is it hard to get to run on modern PCs? If not I might give it a go.

I only use it if (i) a build really requires a specific piece of random loot and (ii) to get myself an early pair of mechanics gloves because I hate not having those. Otherwise I accept random drops as random.

Did you find the story of BG1 more interesting Raven Darkholme? I absolutely loved BG2, but BG1's story was not that great in my opinion. Moreover I'd say it's even more guilty of not really explaining what's going on given that the plot simply happens to your character till near the end. I love BG1, but primarily because it leads into BG2, not because the story is particularly great. EDIT: that and because Durlag's Tower is, in my opinion, a really well done dungeon.

Yeah sorry 'bout that Boeroer. The build looks great, I might steal bits of it for my tankier Barbarian play through. Also if you ever stop making PoE builds you should totally go into the fashion industry

I wish I had years of latin, stupid British education system getting rid of the teaching of dead languages *grumble grumble*. That seems like a likely route, and I guess that's also where the French "il" for he comes from.

It's not really a problem, PoE is just (probably) not for you. No matter how hard I try, I've never been able to get into Skyrim, yet it's a hugely popular game. Skyrim's just not for me. Don't feel bad about it, life's way too short to feel bad about the fact you happen not to enjoy a particular game. Games are supposed to be fun*, so if you don't find a game fun then play something you do. *This may come as a surprise if you've spent a lot of time on the internet, but they are.

"Illeism" well I just learnt a new word.

Well it's possible that PoE isn't for you. This isn't the end of the world, not every game is for everyone. That said, unless you absolutely hate the game, I'd suggest sticking with it for a bit. I'd also suggest trying to focus less on who and what your main character is, and more on soaking up the great dialogue, beautiful environments and the excellent story of the game. But if that doesn't do it for you it's not the end of the world, there are lots of other games out there. EDIT: also yeah, what Ben No.3 says: wait till you're character can literally set themselves on fire with sacred flames causing all nearby enemies to take terrible burning damage.

Yeah okay that makes sense. Bloody overpowered HoF always ruining my fun

Shouldn't both weapons be doing carnage hits given that HoF is a full attack, or does it not work like that?

As far as I recall you can't change the order of your Paladin through a respec, but I am not 100% certain of that. All Paladins can work well as a tank. In fact Paladins are arguably the best tanks in the game. You can go sword and shield or two-handed quite happily. Sword and shield will be tankier whereas two-handed will be a bit more damaging. Before level 13 your main source of damage will be your weapon, either via Flames of Devotion or your normal auto-attack, therefore you'll do more damage using a two-handed weapon. Once you reach level 13, you get an ability called Sacred Immolation which allows your Paladin to do fire damage to all nearby enemies (take this) and the weapon you're using starts to matter a lot less for damage.

Unlike the other playable Paladin orders, the Kind Wayfarers don't have a centralised structure and are less like the traditional image of a knightly order. As I understand it, Kind Wayfarers tend to operate alone, or in small groups, and go wherever their skills are required i.e. wherever there travellers in need of protection etc. As such, I think any culture and background could fit a Kind Wayfarer Paladin, but perhaps one with the Explorer background from a more wild culture (Living Lands, Deadfire Archipelago etc.) would fit particularly well. If you plan to have another tank in your party then you can afford to keep Resolve at 10 since Paladin's have good base Deflection. I ran a Paladin with the following stats Mig 18 Con 10 Dex 10 Per 15 Int 15 Res 10 who primarily used a two-handed sword and acted as a secondary tank, damage dealer and buffer, so I'm sure 16/10/10/16/16/10 would work fine too.

Agreed! I'd much prefer a weaker per encounter ability than a stronger per rest since so often per rest abilities never get used by me.

Oh apparently I can't read. This is really interesting. I already thought that a Citzal's Wizard was pretty interesting, but this adds some extra tricks.

Is there an item that gives Clear Out?

How are Monks less active than Fighters or Barbarians? In my experience they use roughly the same number of abilities in shorter fights, but a lot more in long fighters. I'd actually put them at the top of non-caster classes for the number of abilities you're using.

One thing to note is that the OP plans to play on normal, so neither class is at all essential. Out of interest what makes a Chanter so essential in your view? I really like them but I've never had the feeling that they are essential.