JerekKruger

There is a scroll of boosting mechanics (no idea of the name) like there is for each skill. I think it gives everyone within a certain range of the caster +3 mechanics for 300s.

Tidefall is a brilliant weapon, possibly the best two-handed weapon in the game, but for various reasons I rarely actually use it. In my next run, and my first run on PotD difficulty, I intend to rectify this and make it my Watcher's primary weapon. I've also wanted to play a Paladin for a while now, but have been putting it off until Faith and Conviction was fixed for the Watcher. Well patch 3.02 did just that so I feel like now is a good time to start a Paladin as well. Hence I'm going to start a Paladin who wields Tidefall. Order: The first question that arises is which order to pick. At the moment I'm leaning towards the Kind Wayfarers (second would probably be Darcozzi Paladini). The question I have is how good is Strange Mercy? I imagine a Paladin, even one built for damage, is going to struggle to reliably get killing blows; is the healing from Strange Mercy good enough to justify it anyway? Race: Race wise I'm probably going to go with an Elf, probably Pale but perhaps Wood. This isn't optimal I'm sure but I like them aesthetically and their racial abilities aren't bad: the Pale Elf will give my Paladin some extra protection against fairly common damage types and the Wood Elf would improve any arquebus alpha strikes and provide a little extra protection from archers and mages at a distance. If I decided to go for a Darcozzi Paladini I'm almost certainly go with Ocean Human for role-playing reasons, and their racial is semi-decent for a melee damage dealer. Attributes: Attribute wise I'm currently thinking of something like: Mig 18 Con 8 Dex 10 Per 16 Int 16 Res 10 My reasoning is as follows. I want high Might as the high base damage of a two-handed weapon benefits the most from it (as will an arquebus shot), I want to up my Perception to make up for the Paladin's relatively low accuracy, and I want high Intellect to benefit Sacred Immolation as much as possible. Given I am planning on doing damage I can't really afford to drop my Dexterity much, and since I am going to be in melee I don't want to dump Resolve at all. I figure, not being a primary tank, I can afford to drop Constitution a little without much danger. This also has the benefit of giving all my saves the same attribute bonus so I won't have any weak points there. Any thoughts or suggestions? Abilities: Here's where things become more difficult. Paladins have a lot of nice abilities, and not enough levels to take them all. Here's what I'm thinking at the moment (in the order I'll take them): Lay on Hands Zealous Focus Flames of Devotion Sworn Enemy Hastening Exhortation Aegis of Loyalty Sacred Immolation ??? Lay on Hands is so good I feel like I have to take it, but perhaps this is a mistake? Zealous Focus seems like a no-brainer. Flames of Devotion allows for a powerful alpha strike with arquebus and also works well with the high base damage of a two-hander. Sworn Enemy is a big buff against tough enemies, though if I intend to go the Kind Wayfarer's route my Paladin should probably focus on squishier targets first so perhaps this is a bad pick? I have to admit I don't know if a Paladin can exhort themselves, and if they can't then perhaps this isn't the greatest pick, but it's still a great buff for other damage dealers in the party. Aegis of Loyalty gets picked for the lovely synergy with Sacred Immolation rather than for its damage dealing potential. Finally Sacred Immolation gets picked because it's brilliant. Abilities I'm wondering whether I should take: Inspiring Triumph: this once again depends on how reliably I can score killing blows. Thoughts? Liberating Exhortation: this is a very popular ability amongst people on this forum but I've never used it much when I take it on Pallegina. Presumably I'm missing something about it but I'm not sure what. Reinforcing Exhortation: if I can exhort myself, then this might be a useful emergency button. Even if I can't it's a useful ability. Righteous Soul: I can't decide whether this is any good, it's a big buff to the Paladin's charm and dominate saves which synergises well with the Aegis of Loyalty + Sacred Immolation combo, but perhaps Paladins have sufficiently high saves already? Behold the Martyr: I can't decide whether this is worth taking or not. I guess it depends on how often other members of my party go down. Talents: This is a fair bit easier to pick. Obvious choices are: Weapon Focus Soldier Two-Handed Style Savage Attack (annoyingly bugged at the moment) Vulnerable Attack Scion of Flame (for Sacred Immolation and Flames of Devotion) Critical Focus Intense Flames That leaves one going spare. I'd be tempted to skip Savage attacks given the current bug, though the extra damage is very nice. Other talents that might be worth taking would be The Sword and the Shepherd and Bloody Slaughter (if I go the killing blow route), and perhaps Superior Deflection for a bit more melee survivability. Deep Faith used to be really good value for money, but it's new incarnation seems a bit lacklustre. Other Questions: I like to build Eder as a Lady of Pain, do you think that'd still work or should I build him as a sword and shield fighter for a bit more tankiness? Also any thoughts or suggestions are most welcome.

To add, I did reload specifically because I actually reached Gilded Vale before resting, opened the chest to find a Ring of Deflection, then reloaded and rested just to see what I'd get the next day.

Huh, I just got the mantle from the Gilded Vale Inn. I can't say exactly which day it was, but it was exactly one rest after the start of the game, so the second earliest day you can arrive in GV.

True, although if you can reach zero recovery (by whatever means) then that half recovery from dual wielding becomes irrelevant. If I understand the way it's calculated correctly, a durgan refined BotEP with Swift Strikes activated is at 27.5% recovery. Throw in another decent speed buff like hastening exhortation and you reach 2.07 recovery which allows you to wear durgan refined padded armour with no recovery. I think a potion of deleterious alacrity of motion will allow you to wear unrefined plate I think. All that said, I might be making a mistake with respect to my calculations and what stacks with what. The Greenstone staff seems an obvious backup weapon for when your primary damage type doesn't work. The paralysis proc for the monk is actually pretty nice.

I think the main weapon I'd consider using with the Monk instead of his fists would be the Blade of the Endless Paths. With a lash and two-handed style its damage will be close to that of max level fists, the DR reduction puts it over the edge and the attack speed enchant means you're not losing out on two weapon style. Perhaps Tidefall as well given how amazing the wounding ability is. Indeed, pikes are a formation fighting weapon and would probably be a liability in the type of combat in PoE. At best you'd get one chance to hit your opponent as he closes, but if he parries you he can very quickly make your pike useless. That said, the "pike" in PoE is more like a spear in length, and wielding a spear two-handed, whilst not ideal, can be a decent duelling weapon (the shorter length allows you to use it as a quarterstaff if the enemy closes). At least poleaxes makes sense as is. I've seen some people argue that they should have reach but I think they're getting confused between halberds and poleaxes. Poleaxes were (relatively) short and more of an individual combat weapon whereas halberds were longer and a formation fighting weapon.

But as mentioned, unless the Watcher is specialising in mechanics the only companion who can reach high level mechanics early on is Devil of Caroc who is also the last companion most people get, and even then if you are low enough level you might not be able to disarm or even detect some of these traps.

Whilst this is true, it does require two things: (i) you have to have Devil in your party since she's the only companion who starts with 2 mechanics (which saves you 12 points getting to 12 mechanics compared to someone who starts with 1 mechanics) and (ii) the gloves you describe are random loot so it's very possible to never get them.

This is my preferred way of running melee rogues now, and with appropriately chosen weapons and armour you can get close to 0 recovery still, making them close to if not as good as dual wielders.

Really? A level 1 Cipher gets a large AoE prone, and gets an even larger one at level 11. Seems perfectly reasonable.

I'm in favour of all but one of the changes, namely the rogue's smoke cloud. To my mind that change doesn't really fit, though I agree smoke cloud needs to be buffed somehow.

I believe the game deals with fractions all the time. If you read combat logs for damage in detail you'll see fractional damage results. I don't know how this is applied to a character's endurance, whether they are rounded or the fractions are tracked under the hood, but they're there.

I posted this bug and got a reply that it was already known

That would be fine for me except how would you decide what abilities and talents to cut? I would actually prefer a party that starts at midish level, equivalent to 5 or perhaps a bit more in PoE.

Just spread the experience gain out, make it take longer to reach max level.

Thankfully this happens fairly rarely in PoE. I remember being very annoyed by it happening all the time in DAO.

Does high level scaling also scale the mechanics requirements? In my last play through without scaling I found it with 10 or 11 mechanics, though I had to walk close to it in scouting mode.

Yup, if they keep the same ruleset then I'd agree that this is the way to go.

I'd prefer a new character starting at a (relatively) low level, but as MaxQuest says, both options would be good if done well. The reason for my preference: (i) I feel like the Watcher's story is complete; (ii) I feel that an import option will force Obsidian to keep the ruleset the same and, whilst it's in no way a bad ruleset, I feel it could be improved; and (iii) I feel like level 16 in PoE is pretty damn high level and I feel that continuing on from that point will reach ridiculous levels of power, epic levels are cool but I feel they'd be better done rebalanced around a new progression.

Everything that can be used at a distance so spells too.

Wait, they do? I just rolled a level 1 fighter and he had 30 deflection. Am I missing something?

I too thought it was a good portrait so I tracked it down to here if you're interested: http://skyzocat.deviantart.com/art/Ethea-Commission-517835181

Also true. I think (though I'm not certain) the +2 con on Whispers of Yenwood is a new addition. I swear it didn't used to have it. That said, I'd prefer to duplicate something other than WoY myself.

That's true. I feel that it being a soulbound weapon its bonus should be higher, perhaps +8 accuracy and +30% damage, but I can agree that the destroy vessels proc is, perhaps, a little too powerful. Another solution would be to make the judges immune or make them not vessels (similarly for eyeless). Yeah, the Bartender's Ring is great.

A high level Paladin armed with St. Ydwen's Redeemer does this job well. His sword deals with vessels and he can take the new Abjuration ability to deal with spirits.