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"Maybe I can't die - but I will not stop trying. The only antidote to mental suffering is physical pain!" Burl Marrax, about 500 years old, immortal and world-worn Vailian pirate, conquerer and colonist, cursed by a native shaman after mocking his religion... and slaughetering his tribe. Or the other way round. "Some kith kiss me, some kith hug me I think they're okay If they don't give me proper beating I just walk away. They can slap and they can smack But they can't see the light 'Cause the boy with the cold sharp blade Is always Mister Right. 'Cause I am living in a martyrial world And I am a martyrial Burl You know that we are living in a martyrial world And I am the material Burl." Burl Marrax in one of his rare happy moments, singing in the bathtub =================================== The Immortal Martyr =================================== Difficulty: PotD v. 3.02 -------------------------------------------------------------- Solo: ahahaha... no! -------------------------------------------------------------- Class: Barbarian -------------------------------------------------------------- Race: Ocean Folk -------------------------------------------------------------- Background: Old Vailia - Colonist -------------------------------------------------------------- Stats: MIG: 19 CON: 03 DEX: 15 PER: 18 INT: 19 RES: 04 -------------------------------------------------------------- Skills: Stealth 1, Athl. 4, Lore 6, Mech. 0, Surv. 14 -------------------------------------------------------------- Talents (a=auto, r=recommended, !=important) Accurate Carnage ® Weapon Focus: Ruffian (!) Savage Attack Two Weapon Style ® Vulnerable Attack Bloody Slaughter Barbabric Blow ® Greater Frenzy The Merciless Hand ® Dungeon Delver ® Abilities Carnage (a) Fighting Spirit (a) Blooded (!) Frenzy ® Heart of Fury (!) One Stands Alone (!) Dragon Leap ® Barbaric Retaliation Threatening Presence Vengeful Defeat (!) --------------------------------------------------------------- Items (*=additional echantments by me; !=important, r=recommended): Weapon set 1: Purgatory(!) (*Legendary, *Burning Lash, *Durgan Refined) & Resolution(!)(*Legendary, *Shocking Lash, *Durgan Refined) Weapon Set 2: 2 * Club (*Exceptional, *Corrosive Lash, *Kith-Slaying) Boots: Boots of Stability or Boots of Speed Head: Rugged Wilderness Hat Armor: Robes of the Tidebringer (!)(*Durgan Reinforced, *PER +2) Neck: St. Borragia's Tears or Glanfathan Adraswen Belt: Belt of Chimes ® Rings:Gwyn's Band of Union ®, Ring of Wonder ® Hands: Celebrant's Gloves ® or Rabbit Fur Gloves Quick slots: Scrolls & Potions --------------------------------------------------------------- First of all: turn off Knockout Injuries! Seriously, this build is no fun with that. The thing is, this build is build around Vengeful Defeat, an ablitly that will give you a very powerful Full Attack - but only if your endurance drops to zero. Since most people try to avoid that, this ability seems to be a bit circumstantial. But what if you want to go down all the time - what if you want to play a character who's sick of life but can't die - wouldn't Vengeful Defeat be a great ability for this character? Or the other way round: isn't this a good excuse to abuse the heck out of Vengeful Defeat? Secondly: we need one or more party members who can revive in order to get the most out of this build. Sure, you can have items with second chance (and we will use those), but if you want to be revived more than once per encounter (and I recommend that), you need a paladin, priest or chanter. Or somebody who knows how to read revive scrolls. Because we want our hero to go down, we can dump CON and RES and don't even need to have a sore conscience about it - because it's proper roleplaying, that's what this is! All those points go into maxed MIG, PER and INT and the rest into DEX. You see - Burl had a lot of time to train and develop great stats - he had a lot of time to read and do crossword puzzles (hence his high INT), to slaughter some native tribes (high MIG), watch some hummingbirds make love (PER) and do some vaillian dancing (DEX). But he's so sick of life and he couldn't care less - so his RES is really bad and his CON also - because he drinks and eats all those unhealthy things that would give others diabetis, a heart attack and liver cirrhosis. But as I mentioned: he couoldn't care less. Now we have the perfect glass cannon. Time to explain how this works: the plan is to toss this guy into the middle of a mob and start swinging. Because of his abysmal deflection and low DR, most foes will immediately turn towards him. While he does good damage via carnage, he will get hit a lot. Because his Concentration is really bad he will get interrupted all the time, which is bad. I mean he couldn't care less as w know - but WE do care, so we put on the Belt of Chimes which gives us +25 concentration. We also put on the Celebrant's Gloves because those will not only increase the carnage area by 10% but also cast Holy Moly Meditation if we get hit a lot - which is another +30 concentration on top. Suddenly it's very hard to interrupt us - but our deflection is still awful - which is awesome! Because we want to use Vengeful defeat a lot, we can also take all those (normally) lackluster abilites and items that do something when our endurance drops under 50% or even when we co unconcious. That's also why I chose the human race: the bonus ACC will come in handy and I'll explain later why. So, pick up Blooded and so on. We want to accumulate a lot of such effects. The Martyr enchantment is very powerful: for 30 seconds you haste your friends - while dying and doing lots of damage. This is not "Behold the Martyr" - that paladin ability is a different thing. It ends when you revive the Martyr. The enchantment however triggers an AoE haste spell that lasts for 30 sec - it doesn't matter what hppens with the Martyr after it was cast. But "Behold the Martyr" can be of use with this build, too. Another nice effect is second chance + Holy Radiance (see the neck slot). Holy Radiance gets triggered after Second Chance - so you get healed a bit AFTER your second chance comback. And your fellows get healed too! Nice! The ring ist also great on this char. Not only does it boost our carnage AoE because of +4 INT, but also dazes enemies around you once your endurance drops below 80%. And who doesn't know that daze is a superpowerful debuff? I chose those two famous sabres because they combine high base damage with Annihilation. High base damage is good for carnage - and Annihilation is aweseome for Vengeful Defeat (and also Heart of Fury and Barbaric Blow). Those abilities not only do full attacks (hello dual sabres), but also give you more crits AND higher crit damage. If you are the main character and trigger HoF or Vengeful Defeat while standing in a mob of badly wounded enemies - with those fully enchanted sabres - you can get the following max crit damage multiplier: +0.5(crit)+0.5(Annihilation)+0.3(durgan steel)+0.3(Merciless Hand)+0.5(HoF or Vengeful Defeat bonus)+0.5(Bloody Slaughter)+0.1(Dungeon Delver)+0.1(Rabbit Fur Gloves) = 2.8 crit damage multiplier. Sadly, it doesn't really work as a multiplier - it seems it just works like any other damage bonus. So I assume it's more like +280% base damage. But hey - also not too bad. I enchanted those to legendary but it also works with exceptional or superb of course. Legendary just happened to fit exactly into the 14 enchantment points pool. Axes also work fine with this. Especially We Toki. And Hours of St. Rumbalt is also nice. the damage is lower because - you know - full attack and so on - but the prone effect makes up for that. Another very powerful option would be Firebrand - but it didn't fit the theme so I didn't try that. But I can imagine a fire godlike with that flaming sword and Vengeful Defeat. Those crits are the reason why I want to have a lot of ACC. This is done easily with camping bonuses. WIth the rugged wilderness hat you have 16 survival - which will give you +18 ACC against a chose creature type. ON top of that we have the hit-to-crit conversion of Vengeful Defeat (or HoF) that is 20%. +20% from durgan steel results in 40%. So a lot of crits will occur if you use those. Add some Fighting Spirit (human racial ability) and you're good! The best thing about VD (Vengeful Defeat) and HoF is that you do a full attack at all enemies in range. The range is your carnage area plus a little bonus. All those hits from the full attack trigger carnage. So the more enemies you can reach, the more damage every one of them will get. Damage's growing exponentially if you manage to hit 5 or six foes at once. If you have a priest in the gang you need to use Crowns of the Faithful. It can do so much for this Martyr Barb. Now you may inkle why I wanted to build a character around VD. If you go KO and are surrounded by enemies, your VD will be nearly as powerful as HoF. You will be like living bait: all the mobs will be drawn to you because you are such a squishy. Don't hesitate to cast a lot of AoE damage spells onto your Martyr. You will hit him of course, but also all those mobs around him. Be like King Edward Longshanks! And don't be silly because of frendly fire - this barb loves that! Just keep a reviver nearby for the time the second chance is used up. I can't emphasize this enough I guess: using this build as a decoy will make your life so much easier in hard fights like bounties and stuff. He can buy you some time while you buff/debuff. He's like a living CC effect that doesn't have to rely on ACC or doesn't have to overcome defenses. He's just there and draws enemies towards him. And while being punished for that he really can do some harm. One of he best spells with this is Pull of Eora: the foes will be drawn towards the barbarian and will be whirled around and form a really dense pack: great for your HoF and VD. And while they all try to smash the Martyr, they don't bother the rest of your party who can just fire away. Oh, and I nearly forgot: VD always triggers: if you are prone, stunned, petrified - doesn't matter. Once you go down, you will trigger WD. So your barb can do lots of damage even while disabled. "Thanks for knocking me unconcious dudes!" Another great spell for this is Baring Death's Door. It used to be a pretty useless spell for me - but with this char it's golden. If his health gets really low (will happen after some fights) that's not a reason to stop dying (aka resting)! Cast Barring Death's Door and see the magic! He jumps into the crowd with his 1 HP and *boom* Vengeful Defeat. You revive and *boom* Vengeful Defeat... and so on. Just don't revive when Barring Death'S Door wears off: then he becomes the mortal martyr. His dps drops a lot then if you ask me... I (once again) did the (upscaled) Nalrend quest with this guy for a last test. So that nobody can say this guy is just a funny toon but not playable (I did a whole playthrough with him by the way): two paladins and an invocation-based chanter only stood nearby and revived when he dropped. The bounty was over pretty fast (and Nalrend dead). I still had 1/3rd of health - despite the fact that I had a quadrizillion stings from Plague of Insects. Oh, speaking of bugs: Why don't ants go to curch? Because they are in...sects. Have a nice pray! p.s.: I guess a Fire Godlike barb with a retaliation item would cause even more harm while going down - but I'm a bit fed up with godlikes these days, so... Edit: Here are some impressions if you want to build this as a suicidal genie and as the eternal candle:

I made a character to try and finish the game with as few kills as possible, and I got to 23, but after thinking about some of my kills and reading some comments by MadDemiurg I managed to reduce to the count to 12, PotD difficulty solo I was encouraged to try again by some ideas I had for the factions and the problem I had of not being able to reproduce my stealth through Ciliban Rilag, so I felt a do-over would be appropriate. (see http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/78862-relative-pacifist-achievement/) I enjoy this approach to games so I hope anyone else out there like me will benefit from this. Thank you Obsidian for making this approach possible Although there are a few places where the dialogue does not match up, like telling the looters in Madhmr Bridge that I killed their two guards, or telling Saeda that I killed his parents as "Honest" options when I sneaked past them Any Class can do pacifist run, but I think only a Rogue can get to 12 kills due to skills and talents and a priest will follow closely behind (waiting on MadDemiurg for his thoughts on that ) I will give a few tips of stats, items, skills, talents, and how to navigate certain areas with a rogue if anyone else wants to try it. For me the joy was figuring it out, so the guide is nicely sectioned into areas which will allow you to only read the info you want and not spoil anything you want to figure out. Without trying to spoil anything however, I would strongly suggest in investing in benevolent and aggressive dispositions for Stormwall Gorge. Overall the kills for me were 4 in the starting encampment, 5 in Heritage Hill, and 3 when fighting Thaos and his two statues. Everything else can be avoided even if some of it is a bit cheese to get below 19. Purnisc does not count as a kill, so go ahead and complete the quest related to him that way. In terms of XP, you will have enough to get to level 11 but not 12. Before jumping down the pit I had 50050 xp and just before fighting Thaos I was at 60747 xp which included disarming three traps. So there is a little over 10 000 experience down there if you want to skip a quest you can calculate if you will make it to level 11 before fighting him. (Very Important, if you are still level 10 and want the last bit of experience to level up then walk slowly towards the area which triggers the last fight, a few meters before the conversation trigger you get awarded a large lump of xp) General Tips for how to deal with encounters: Switch Auto Attacks off, your character attacking from Shadowing Beyond will make you cry, and you want to avoid your summons killing anything. Generally speaking you can Stealth though everything. Even at 9 Stealth with sugar you can do the Temple in Gilded Vale and at 10 Stealth you can do Dyrford Crossing. Engagement works in a funny way, once an enemy has selected you for an attack it has to touch you to realise you are invisible. Due to this mechanic using Shadowing Beyond can be quite tricky since you have to make sure you have allowed all enemies to disengage so that no one is following you. Also once combat ends, so will Shadowing Beyond, so sometimes you need to use a figurine to lengthen combat so that you can run the full distance while invisible. Choice of Race: Wood Elf seems to be the ideal racial choice since I basically built a ranged rogue and I have a strategy for keeping my distance from Thaos. In my first game however I played a Human because I wanted max resolve and it worked out really well, so I am guessing any Human, Aumaua, Dwarf, or Elf will do just fine I would avoid Orlan since you are getting +2 to Per which you do not want and the racial bonuses do not help you. I would also avoid the Godlikes since any of their abilities is not as useful as being able to wear headgear which grants whisper of treason. Character Statistics: Might: Fairly important to kill Thaos quickly. Fee free to max it and drop Con if you want but I was fine at about 14. Constitution: can be dumped, but I was more comfortable at 10 for when I got hit by mobs inbetween casting a figurine and activating Shadowing Beyond, but if Thaos engages you, you are dead anyway so it is really up to you. Dexterity: For quicker actions and recovery I highly recommend it. I was fine at 16, not sure about the parameters for this one and how dropping or rasing it will affect your game. Perception: Dump it, you never need this stat for engaging or avoiding combat. Intelligence: Very important for the duration of Shadowing Beyond and there is a 19 Int conversation check (which you can easy get to with +4 int rest and buffs). I was fine at 16, but you can Max it if you want. Resolve: I am happy at 18, but after looking at the checks you can get away with 16 if you are happy to rely on rest & items and even food to boost you. The hardest conversation check is 20 in Twin Elms. Equipment: Armour: Angio’s Gambeson is easy to buy in Dyrwood Villiage, and extremely helpful with the movespeed buff spellbind. It has no cast-time or cooldown so you can use this and Shadowing Beyond basically at the same time (there is also some strange behaviour which allows you to cast the buff without going visible while in Shadowing Beyond). Rings: In both playthroughs I forgot about rings, so apparently you will be fine without them. Basically you don’t need Deflection or Saves because you are avoiding combat, even in the last fight you use charm, confusion , and figurines to keep the attention off you. So anything which gives stats or useful skills is awesome. Amulet/Cloak: Glanfathan Adraswen for the lore bonus. Sadly it is random loot and I did not know this, so I have no idea where I picked it up. If you did not find this you can still get a scroll which increases your lore in the upper floor of Hadret House for the last battle (see Skills). +3 Dex cloak from Deomenals should be a fine alternative, same as the rings in reasoning, try find something which increases stats or gives utility. I did not wear anything useful and did fine in my second run. Boots: Stealth Boots which can be bought from Doemenal merchant for rogue, or there is a pair open to any class in Raedric hold dungeon in the trapped container in the room which lets you up to the captain of the guard on day 20. I only swapped these out when I got boots of Speed for the final fight. Gloves: Gloves of Mechanics for most of the game and then Rotfinger Gloves for last battle. I consistently found the Gloves of mechanics in Lord Readric’s study on day 19 on all my games, and I do not think this run is possible without them. If you want to avoid killing Nedmar for the key you will need to have 6 mechanics (which you give points to asap), a rest bonus, and some lockpicks, this allows you to get past the door in time without compromising your stealth ability for other quests. Rotfinger gloves on the other hand is great for the debuffs to allow for deathblows vs Thaos and to slow him down to keep your distance. Weapon: I used fine hunting bow for most of the game until I picked up Lenas Er. I like the debuff the weapon applies and the fact that it has rending and fires quickly Headgear: I used Munacra Arret for the Whisper of Treason which works really well against the Headsman in the last fight. Belt: Same as rings, used belts which increased my stats in both games. Talents: There is no particular order for taking these (I think this was my order?), take Fast runner and Shadowing beyond asap and you should be fine: 1. Crippling Strike: (very useful, helped me a lot even in the last fight) 2. Fast Runner (very useful all the time, helps you keep your distance from Thaos too) 3. Escape: (Very limited application since it breaks stealth and it seems to have a long recovery time, but I would still take it for a few encounters where it works really well to get on the other side of enemies, soonest application for me was in Sewers where Shadowing Beyond was not enough) 4. Shadowing Beyond (essential obviously) 5. Deep Pockets (makes the last fight possible) 6. Reckless Assault (Helps with Accuracy and damage vs Thaos, same as Weapon focus) 7. Weapon Focus Peasant (helped I am sure, still missed 50% of my shots even with this). 8. Deep Wounds (also super good in last fight, won’t say no to free damage) 9. Marksman (since I am keeping my distance it makes it easier to hit Thaos) 10. Finishing Blow ( Very useful: In combination with deathblows I got 88 damage on Thaos with this skill. I find Thaos hard to hit and the added accuracy on this skill makes it easier to finish him off. Used it twice in a row when he was badly wounded with the rotfinger debuff and killed him) 11. Deathblows: Makes the most of the Rotfinger Gloves’ debuff. Envenomed Strike looks tempting, but I really wanted to max out on my accuracy. Skills: Stealth: 9 (+Rest +Boots can take you to 12) Lore: 7 (+ Hylea Boon & Glanfathan Adraswen will give you to 10, or you can use a scroll) Mechanics: 6 (+1 from rest and +2 from Gloves of Mechanics gives you 9) Choosing a background which gives you stealth is highly favoured in my opinion: Dissident was my choice in both games. Invest in stealth and mechanics till both a 4. Raise Mechanics to 6, Invest in stealth every level until you are level 8. Then invest in Lore until you get to level 11. At level 8 I had a base of 9 Stealth, 6 Mechanics, and 3 Lore which is just enough to get though Cliaban Rilag and it is the max level you can be for this area on a pacifists run. Because of the skills a rogue starts with favours this I am unsure of whether you can avoid this fight with another class. I never found a scroll which increases my stealth, so if anyone knows of a spawn point that would really help. Cliaban Rilag is the hardest stealth area and you need 12 stealth, for everything else you need 10 stealth. It is a huge investment for those extra two points, so a scroll would really help you pass that one area and allow other classes to get through. In terms of Lore I would love to know where Glanfathan Adraswen spawns, but I used a Lore scroll for my fight with Thaos my second time around and it lasted long enough. The Lore scroll can be found in the upper levels of the Hadret house in a room the far left. It is random loot and I found mine on Day 55: 11 Preestu Mechanics suffered a bit in my second playthough, but I was fine with these numbers and a large amount of lockpicks. You absolutely need the gloves of mechanics since the situations where you need the skill are too spread out to rely on a scroll. Quests and Areas: Here is a list of the quests I did Main Quests: Encampment/Starting Area -Thank you MadDemiurg Fairly simple area but with few unexpected ways in which you can avoid kills. Loot everything and sell to Heodan before going to the wolves (feel free to strip Calista since you do not need her to fight). Calista has no stealth so do the sneaking on your own. Sneak past the wolves and gra the berries, immediately go into stealth once conversation ends and hide Calista in the corner. Stealth all the way to the water skin for her sake and once you click on it she will appear next to you at the stream for combat. You can avoid killing the first two Glanfathan by using Calista to stall them and running away. Combat will end when she is knocked out even though it does not seem like it, so you can sneak past the three Glanfathan who are mid-way. The Final 4 Glanfathan who surrounds Heodan you have to kill. I found it easy flanking and focusing the same target with two rogues. Inside the cave I disarmed some of the floor tiles for a bit of extra xp to clear the way. Send Calista ahead to engage the two spiders which block your way and run past the entrance they block into the room to your right. Either keep sending her into te spiders or send her into the traps until her portrait disappears and sneak out of the cave. Caed Nua & Maerwald (at Level 3) – Thank you knownastherat You want 4 mechanics and 4 stealth for this (think I had 5 stealth) Strategy for getting past the shades: Sneak to the door, conversation will break stealth, so summon Animat quite close to the shade approaching (it tended to tag me) close the door and run to the stairs. Combat should end once Animat is dead. Sneak Past Spiders & Rest. For Mearwald you are lucky that he gets stuck behind his blights so he is really slow. Run out of the room once combat starts and summon Animat in the door to get them to swap to engaging it. Hide yourself in the far corner by the stairs to try avoid engagement. It is tricky not to have them loose interest while also pulling the beetles or spiders to the middle of the room, but it is possible, just practice. Once Mearwald is out of his room room run past them and close the door and hide in the corner. Make sure Auto-attacks are switched off so you do not hit any of them and get the kill. Defiance Bay: The Three Factions – Thank you Kaigen42 The Dozens has an easy 1st quest which is bloodless. The Doemenals need to be joined via Ondra’s Gift. Go to the warehouse for the delivery quest. Choose the option to kill him for Danna once your delivery is complete, but instead of attacking use Shadowing Beyond and go hide. The Doemenals will clear the warehouse for you for zero kills. Now you can get information about the letter and collect the diamond without any kills. The second quest for the Doemenals is the logical choice from here, since it only involves one kill, but you can get past it for zero kills: Agree to side with either Doemenals or Dozens and then attack someone close to the door. Use Shadowing beyond and figurine for a pull and wait by the door for combat to end. You have now burned all your bridges and Lady Webb will give you the invitation you need. Sanatorium Fairly easy, this is where Angio’s Gambeson comes in. Use the +4 Int rest. Food if you want for +2Int. The trick to this area is extending combat for long enough so you can get out. I active my speed buff and rand to the side and cast a figurine and activated Shadowing beyond asap to run away. The reason for the figurine is that if you just used Shadowing beyond straight away combat would end before you are even out of the north ward, which will end Shadowing Beyond’s effect, the figurine helps you extend combat for long enough to run all the way out. While I am here I usually also do the ‘kill’ for the necromancer in the Sewers. Since you do not kill the animancer it does not count, and I pull the Witch thing to the guards or a flesh golem to kill for me. Heritage Hill Fairly easy area, just stealth well and use sugar. A few notes though: On the first level of Heritage Hill tower it is impossible to sneak past to the stairs, and once you trigger combat it will not end until you kill the enemies involved. I asked whether this infinite combat loop is intended and it seems like it is: http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/79710-heritage-hill-tower-level-1-infinite-combat-can-devs-please-respond-whether-this-is-intentional/ When coming down from level 3, the conversation will break stealth for the transition, so go down one level in order to avoid the infitie combat drawing more enemies on level 1. You will attract a mob, but use a stealth boost and Shaowing beyond and cancel engagements as needed. Can be tricky, but very do-able. Then Stealth down to level one. In order to get the Adra Beetle you need to get the key. Go into the manor and you do not need to stealth. Trigger combat and summon shades or Wood Beetles close to the door on the left which contains the key, and use the summons to pull them to the exit. Be careful to keep them all engaged. Use escape to jump over if needed and you will probably need Shadowing Beyond to get to the key. Combat will end with them all still near the exit, which is just enough time for you to grab the key before they get back, and you can use your 2nd Shadowing Beyond to exit. Once the tower is deactivated the way to the crypt will be clear. Cliaban Rilag Very simple, you can sneak past quite a lot and use Shadowing Beyond to get to the room with the sporelings. You might need a figurine to extend combat (see Sanatorium) and make sure the ooze does not perma-aggro by not disengaging him. To get through the rest you will need Mechanics: 8 = 6 + 2 (Gloves of Mechanics) and bring a lot of lockpicks. Stealth: 12: 9 + 2 (Boots) + 1 (Resting Bonus) The stealth will get you through the sporelings with some sugar, and the 8 mechanics with some lockpicks will get you through the 2nd level. To have this balance of skills by level 8 I think you need to play Rogue since there is no more xp to level up to 9 (see skills) Stormwall Gorge (Ambush) - Thank you Xaratas If you have 2 Aggressive and 2 Benevolent and a Dungeon in your Stronghold you can avoid this fight Pleasing the Gods I want Hylea’s Boon for the Lore and it is super easy to go and talk to the Sky Dragon and tell her she may have her young there. I also highly recommend Rymrgand. Pray to him to get the shard. Sneak into NoonFrost (mechanics rest bonus for 9 total if you want to save lockpics and disarm the traps) and stick to the left and it is super easy to reach the breach without detection. Give them the shard so that they all leave. Now you can rescue the prisoner and loot the place. If you have 19 Intelligence you can convince Rymrgand that it was a good idea and you get loads of quest xp. Down the Pit (the final Dungeon) The first area is full of traps so you will need a few tries to figure out a safe route. Go left and engage the Spectre with a figurine. Shadow Beyond and run with Speed buff. You want to go through the door by the spectre on the left and then turn right avoiding the trap and then turn right again past the animats. You might need 2 Shadowing Beyonds if you were not lucky enough to get boots of speed before this. Feel free to rest there are plenty of camping supplies and you need minimal resources for the next area. In Sun and Shadow you should find a pair of boots of speed. Very simple to get through, you can simply escape with Shadowing Beyond for the first Drake, and for the 2nd one I use shades to pull the mob down the stairs opposite the door. Getting them to the bottom of that staircase is enough time to go through the door. Defeating Thaos Equip 5x Confusion Scrolls, 10x Maelstrom Scrolls, 1x Adra Beetle, 1x Obsidian Lamp, 5x War Paint (or more scrolls). Wait for the Judge to get pulled towards you a bit. Shadowing Beyond to escape. Summon Adra Beetle. Hit The Headsman with Whisper of Treason. Join battle with scrolls and send beetle in for his AoE. Keep your Beetle between you & Thaos and keep an eye on the charm/confusion durations. I basically used MadDemiurg’s video as a guide as to how to fight him: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIDjoea4aHY Other Areas: Lighthouse – Thanks to knownastherat You can do this at level 4 and you do not really need to sneak. To go up is fairly easy, stick to the wall on the left for minimal aggro, use Shadowing beyond the moment combat starts. Through the door and close it behind you. Getting out is far more tricky. I like to use stealth so I have some time to position myself before combat, and the way the enemies behave differs a lot between attempts. You might be able to use escape, but take note that there is a bug with the door which appears open but it is actually closed. You need to summon something, I used Wood Beetles, in order to hold enemy aggro while you position yourself at the exit with Shadowing Beyond. Combat will end with them killing the bettles at the staircase giving you enough time to get out. Dyrford Crossing & Skaen Temple You can stealth to get the egg, and you need 10 stealth + sugar to do the troll (use resting bonus if needed) For Skaen Temple, you can open the way quite easily with enough stealth, but will need to use Shadowing Beyond to escape the encounter and sneak back to get down. I recommend getting a rest to boost mechanics to 9 with gloves with a base of 6 and bring like 18 lockpicks. Fairly easy to get through, you cannot sneak past all of the guards, so in the room just before the leader you will need to use Shadowing Beyond to get into the door. After the conversation they all go friendly and you can loot the place. Northweald Fairly easy area with two quests you can do. Dungeon helps you here once again with resolving the stalemate. Very Importantly, the Stealgar by the body in the north will lock you into infinite combat if you did not receive the quest “Hunter Brother” from Hearthsong. I tested this extensively, and it is very important to get the quest before coming here to avoid kills. I lied in the hearing for the bow. Endless Paths Seems a bit silly to do this, but I was curious: It would appear that if you have Boots of Speed and 12 Stealth and some scrolls, that you can complete the endless paths on a pacifist run without worrying about your kill count, only 18 in total, 19 if you kill the Dragon Hunter. It is worth noting that you can get though 10 of the levels without shadowing beyond or combat, just good stealth and speed Not much in it in terms of items so it would be a bit pointless. I did not explore how accessible various treasures are but you will get the dragon's stash at least. 50865xp before I started, 64467xp after helping the dragon, so about 14 000 xp in the run. Here are my findings for the Endless Paths: Levels: 1: 0 kills 2: 0 Kills 3: 0 Kills 4: 0 Kills 5: 1 Kill (Drake) 6: 2 Kills (2 Dargul in room across the bridge) 7: 0 Kills 8: 0 Kills 9: 0 Kills 10: 0 Kills (12 Stealth, boots of speed and sugar, and understanding transitions is key) 11: 0 Kills 12: 0 Kills 13: 15 Kills ( So much fun! Cleared a room solo on level 11 PotD which I struggled with as a Party on Hard ) 14: 0 Kills (Resolve 20 and Int 17 Needed) 15: 0 Kills (Easy sneak and made a deal with the Dragon) Getting from level 3-8 is definitively the hardest because of all the resources those levels need to get though, and you cannot use the main staircase on level 5. Levels you can bypass without Shadowing beyond, but up to 12 stealth, sugar, and boots of speed: 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14 Some you needs less stealth, or as the case is in level 12 no stealth. Quite simple. Levle 8: you will aggro the Vampyr on the throne when you go down, but just give them a summon and run away. Don't even need SB. Level 9: Got though the spiky room, and use sugar, fast boots and 12 speed. For getting past the Vithrack and the Spiders you need to get as close to the petrify trap as possible to disarm it halfway and and stick to the bottom wall of the passage. Level 10. Same as 9 sugar et al. Shades in the 1st room wont detect you. The stairs are blocked by spiders but you can transition down without touching them. You just need to remember that you character takes a few steps while thhe screen fades to black so you need to give him/her the room to do that so you do not start combat. Level 11 is another master staircase I needed a mechanics scroll to get through. I know there is a spawn point for one in Doemenal Mansion on the second floor in the room right by the staircase. Levels you need Shadowing Beyond and a figurine pull. 4, 7 Level 4 is a pain, and you need to get the seal in the room to the South. You probably will need escape, 2-3 Shadowing Beyonds, and a lot of figurines to pull, and any speed boosts you can make use of. Also helpful to boost Int. Level 7 you can de-activate every shrine and get the key, mostly just with stealth and fast boots. Earth blight room you need to use a figurine or a SB , and you cannot do the Rain Blight Room, which is fine because of SB down the the next level anyway and the spawn is not a problem. Levels that need combat: 5, 6, 13 Level 5 is pretty easy. do not wear boots of speed and then you can pull the drake away from the Xaruips into the little room next to the pool. You need to kill him for combat to end. Level 6 is a pain as well, you can get the seal on the left by hugging the wall once you are in the room. The seal on the other side of the bridge I also doubt is possible with a full sneak, but observed that only 2 Dargul are in visual range of the one corner. Killed them and used SB to escape combat and sneaked back in. To go down you will need SB since putting the seals in the door breaks stealth (11 stealth needed) Level 13 is pretty Straightforward. Killing animats in the room the the right is easy enough and then the ghost appears. Then using a figurine to extend combat and running to the room with all the Cean Gwla, cast confusion from stealth, use Adra Beetle and maelstrom. Spirit 2 appears. SB back to main door and make sure you have boots of speed and sugar and 12 stealth to go down to 14.

This is a tank build for PotD. It's designed to be an unmovable object, putting up with any punishment your enemies throw at you, while providing a modicum of support for your party. It does very little else. If you want a tank you can micromanage, or one that can deliver a respectable amount of damage or CC, you need a different class. Also, I would recommend this build only for the Watcher, since Faith and Conviction is currently bugged on hireling Paladins and you need those extra defenses. Note: There's a lot of discussion on this board about whether Paladins are weaker than other classes (yes) and what should be done to improve them. I'd prefer if that discussion remain in preexisting threads and not migrate here. This is for taking the Paladin class as it currently stands and making the most useful tank of it we can, not for debating what the class should and should not be. Race: Wild Orlan has the best ability bonuses for pumping Deflection, and Defiant Resolve gives you a nice defensive buff when Will gets targeted. As an added bonus, Orlan PCs seem to get more race-specific dialogue than other options, thanks to Fantasy Racism. Your other good options are Coastal Aumaua for the bonus against Proning and Stunning attacks, since those break your engagements, or Moon Godlike if you want some extra healing for you and your party, though later in the game you might find that your Endurance doesn't dip much or very often. Pale Elves are also nice for the added DR against Fire and Frost. Order: I recommend picking based on how you want to roleplay your character. If that's not a factor, you could consider them based on order-specific talents, but to be honest, most of them aren't useful for this build. Of the talents that are useful, most of them are only useful for getting through the early game and don't scale well beyond that. Since the Darcozzi Paladini have the one order talent that's useful the whole game, I recommend them if you don't care about roleplaying factors. If all you want is to get Faith and Conviction up quickly, however, you might go with the Goldpact Knights, as Rational and Stoic seem to be very easy to raise quickly. Attributes: The build I used for my PotD run was Might 2/Con 15/Dex 3/Per 20/Int 18/Res 19. After seeing how little use I got out of that extra health beyond the first few levels, though, I'd be inclined to swap Might and Con for better healing off of Lay on Hands. In fact, since the base durations on a lot of your abilities are pretty high to begin with, the best route might be Might 17/Con 3/Dex 3/Per 20/Int 15/Res 19, though that might give you trouble extending your aura over the whole party. I wouldn't bother with Dexterity in any case, as you don't have the melee damage to care about attack speed or enough active abilities to worry about how quickly you can fire them off. You can't dump Might and Con or your Fort defense will be terrible, and if you dump Intellect you're weakening Lay on Hands and might have problems getting your aura to stretch over the party. Skills/Culture: Take either Aedyr or Ixamitl Plains for the extra Resolve to keep Deflection and Concentration high, and grab your favorite +2 Lore background. Your stats and lack of anything better to do make you one of the better options for scroll-user in the party and it gives you more dialogue options. You've got a good baseline in Athletics already, so if you want to pump that too for scripted interactions, you're in good shape. Survival unlocks a few dialogue options if you have it in the 4-6 range (though I spotted one at 9) and can provide a nice boost to the duration of food and potions if you have points to spare, but I'd rely on someone else for scripted interactions with it. A little bit of stealth is nice for positioning, but otherwise skippable (I've only seen one dialogue option unlocked by Stealth, and that was at level 4, for the record). Abilities/Talents: Now to the nuts and bolts of the guide. I'll go level by level. Level 1: Lay on Hands. The tooltip on this one is misleading; it's actually one of the more powerful heals available in the early game, especially if you have high Intellect to boost it. It's single target, so only really good for helping a party member who's getting focused, but for that job it's better than what Priests or Druids will be able to provide for several levels. It can even be used on yourself if you need it. Level 2: Hold the Line. You need that extra engagement to tank properly, end of story. Level 3: Aura. This comes down to preference and party composition. The elephant in the room is the Priest; two of the Priest's bread-and-butter buffs, Armor of Faith and Bless, don't stack with the bonuses provided by Zealous Endurance and Zealous Focus, respectively. I prefer Zealous Endurance anyway, because it's only slightly worse than Armor of Faith, and that makes for one less spell your Priest needs to cast. If, for some reason, you aren't running with a Priest in your party, you might want Zealous Focus instead to make up for the missing accuracy; you can also take it and the Critical Focus talent if you want to stack hit-to-crit conversion. I prefer holding choke points to kiting, so I don't see much use in Zealous Charge, but if it fits your tactics, go for it. Level 4: Weapon and Shield Style. Cornerstone tanking talent which gives you a nice boost to deflection and shores up your Reflex defense, which is hurting a little from dumping Dexterity. If you're playing a Shieldbearer, you might consider Shielding Touch, as the deflection bonus is still pretty useful at this level, especially since you're already using Lay on Hands on allies getting focused by melee or ranged attackers, in all likelihood. The bonus doesn't scale, though, so it will become negligible later on. Level 5: Liberating Exhortation. This is not a very good ability. Most debuffs are AoE, so this is like trying to put out a forest fire with a tea cup full of water, and you can't even use it on Charmed or Dominated party members. At best, you can use it to negate a paralyze or stun on a party member you need active, or neutralize accuracy debuffs on one of your casters before they fire off some CC. If you're playing Darcozzi, though, you're about to get a talent that will make it worthwhile. Level 6: Inspiring Liberation (Darcozzi). +10 to accuracy for 20 seconds (boosted by Intellect) twice each encounter is nothing to sneeze at. The fact that it also cancels any debuffs on your ally is icing. If you're not a Darcozzi, just move up the schedule of defensive talents, or you could slip in Critical Focus if you grabbed the Zealous Focus aura. Level 7: Reviving Exhortation. The best of a bad lot. It's an encounter revive, which isn't bad per se, but the ability is currently bugged. It'll get your ally back up, but it'll probably drop them back down after the duration is up thanks to the massive Endurance penalty it inflicts. The only other option here that's worth anything is Deprive the Unworthy, which is useful in a couple of fights, but most of the tough enemies you encounter aren't tough because of their buffs, and you probably have someone else who can suppress buffs. Edit: Alternate Pick: A few people recommend taking Sworn Enemy here as an accuracy boost and a way to slip in a bit more damage. It works well if you've got a weapon property that debuffs on a hit/crit, like Disorienting or Stunning. If you're not playing a Darcozzi, you could even take this at level 5 instead of Liberating Exhortation, in case you want Deprive the Unworthy or are holding out for a bug fix on Reviving Exhortation. Level 8: Cautious Attack. More deflection. Level 9: Reinforcing Exhortation. Once again, the best of bad options. Your Paladin probably doesn't have anything better to do, so dropping a Deflection buff on an ally taking heat is something at least. Assuming your Priest can't be bothered to lay down a Circle of Protection or the like. You might consider going back for Deprive the Unworthy instead, if you need that buff suppression. There's also Righteous Spirit, but enemies don't seem inclined to try to Charm or Dominate your Paladin in the first place so it's somewhat marginal. Level 10: Superior Deflection. More deflection. You might actually be doing pretty well on deflection by now, in which case you can swap this one with the level 12 talent. Level 11: Hastening Exhortation. Finally something good. Attack speed buffs aren't that common, and now you've got one that lasts 30+ seconds. Level 12: Deep Faith. Rounding out the defensive bonuses here. Now, if you aren't playing Darcozzi or didn't pick up Critical Focus or any of the other order talents, you have a spare talent here. There's really not that much left that's useful. You could take Greater Lay on Hands, but you probably stopped relying on that ability a long time ago. You could take Fast Runner or Graceful Retreat for those times when you really need to re-position your Paladin, but that doesn't come up much at all. Your Fortitude defense is probably still lagging behind your other defenses, so you could always take Bear's Fortitude. This is why I'm not too opposed to taking an order talent that helps you out in the early game but doesn't scale; once you've got those core defensive talents, there's nothing else to take, really. Equipment: Grab a hatchet early for the extra deflection and use the best shield you can find. Your weapon damage is unimportant, so look for something that has a good support special. Shatterstar and Measured Restraint both have Guarding to give you an extra engagement and can be obtained relatively early. If you think you're just fine with two engagements, you could use something with Draining, but you probably don't hit hard enough or often enough for that to be significant. Look for something with Disorienting or Marking (assuming that one actually works) to help your allies out instead. After you retrieve the stolen shipment for the blacksmith in Gilded Vale, you should buy the Outworn Buckler, strap it to your arm, and never take it off. The Herald ability provides a +5 bonus to all defenses, including Deflection, to your entire party. That makes it a +13/+5/+5/+5 shield. Make it Fine/Exceptional when you get the resources and level necessary, and it will treat you well. Aside from those considerations, try to keep your Paladin equipped with the best Of Deflection/Protection items you can find, and prioritize Resolve and Perception boosting items while also boosting Might and Intellect if you can. The best Resolve/Perception boosting items go in the Neck slot, so focus on getting Rings for your protection items. If you need to stretch your aura further, the Boots of Zealous Command can be bought from Winfrith in Dyrford. There's not much else that's useful for you in the Boot slot, so you may as well. There you have it, a tough tank with some situational support abilities that you can point at enemies and forget about. If anybody can think of a good talent I've overlooked for that last non-Darcozzi talent slot, let me know.

Can Admin Delete? Somehow I double posted? (Browser crash) See this one http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/79761-12-kill-run-class-build-and-guide/