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In the recent PC gamer article discussing Avowed they mention a few points... You have an established role as the imperial envoy, but your "personality, appearance, and philosophy and vibe you bring to that role is up to you as a player to decide" You can play as a human or an elf, but not other races It's purely singleplayer—no co-op The world is lightly systemic: think water and lightning interactions, but not the ol' bucket-on-the-head trick You'll have two companions with you at a time, with their own combat specialties and, of course, personalities There are several ability trees to progress through, and you won't be locked to a particular class or playstyle You will level up, but the focus is on unlocking abilities rather than putting points into stats to grow stronger Two of these points stand out to an extreme to me... 1: You can play as a human or an elf, but not other races. I can understand this to a certain degree. The size difference between an Orlan and an Aumauan would make things difficult... But at the same time, no Dwarfs? No Godlikes? You better allow us to specifify Pale elf or I will go through the roof! This seveerely limits roleplay potential and significantly reduces my desire to play the game, I have to be honest, especially godlike as it was one of the most interesting aspects of Eora and not being able to play this is sad. 2: There are several ability trees to progress through, and you won't be locked to a particular class or playstyle I was GENUINELY afraid this would be the case. Lorewise it makes no sense for there not to be a class system, as multiple of the classes in Eora work through the act of lifelong practice. You can't just pick up a grimoire and cast fireball, that isn't how magic works!. HEck you need to be born as a cipher, you can't just learn those skills willynilly! Combined that with the fact that I am so ABSURDLY tired of ability trees. I am sick of them. They limit creativity, they are usually filled with boring filler and deliver no challenge! It is the issue with skyrim that almost everytime I play it I default to sneak + bow, because it is the most OP stuff in the game, why would I not do it here then? Classes also motivates multiple playthroughs and allows more unique interactions in game. IT gives the character... character. ANd it is so dissapointing to see it just being another BORING system of trees. I am GENUINELY dissapointed in these reveals As someone that genuinely adores Pillars of Eternity 1 and 2, does this feel like a massive fallout 3 moment (And no, this is not a good thing).

Right now, I am playing a melee Wiz with 14/8/10/15/16/15 base stats, and I - for the first time - defeated Raedric at party level 4. Lots of resting in the castle, but still, really powerful. Got me thinking, what other classes/builds make for great talkers that are also combatitive on PotD.

I’ve been playing Poe 1&2 and I’ve heard throughout the two games how significant animancy is to the overall story in Poe 1&2. I recently viewed Artificer of D&D Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, and this is a fitting description of Animancer. Animancers doesn’t function like the Wizards but they are more like engineers or tinkers. Instead of electricity, the animancer use anima or essence to power their animated vessel summons. The animancer doesn’t to be only a summoner. They can use essence to charge and enchant weapons and items. Animencers could have spells but since they are tinkers, they use spell slots to recharge items and discharge for spell slot. Poe world already had an artificer-like class minus the alchemy. Animancer would be the 12th class in future.

Hello everyone! i just started playing POE 2 and man, what a blast! in PoE1 i played Boeroer's paladin with a lot of item options and it was really fun! Now im playing a blood mage/Fury shaper fun but i want to make a second build,one with a lot of use of items like scrolls and bombs and stuff like Myrtillo's intelligent captains build. i would like to craft a lot! so, do you know what kind of class could i play to have a lot of fun with that? thanks by the way.

Edér was a Fighter on PoE, but before that, for a time he was a Rogue, in addition to that he could easily be a low level Eothas Priest, and his love for animals make it easy to view him with a pet as a Ranger, due to the flexibility of the Barbarian description, everyone could be a little Barbarian Pallegina is definitely a Paladin, may have some of other martial classes, and its not hard to make the connection with Chanter Aloth: Wizard++/Rogue-(Leaden Key) Edér: Fighter+/Rogue+/Priest-/Ranger--(just a pet) Pallegina: Paladin++/Fighter-/Chanter--(a few chants related to her ideas or birbs) Konstanten: Chanter+/Barbarian/Druid-(Boar spiritshift because Survivor) What do you think the companions would have from outside their classes based on anything the game mentioned or just a weird personal connection? Specially interested in Maia, Fassina, Vatnir and Rekke

Sawyer answers a question about spells in his tumblr. I though it was interestingomondo so I'm posting it here for those who want to know (some) stuff about spells and spellcasting. https://jesawyer.tumblr.com/post/163951614351/are-spells-going-to-be-revamped-or-changed-because

So at first what I understood from subclasses was there'll be 2 subclasses per class and we'll choose one of them. But now I learn that there'll still be a base class. I'm not familiar with "kits" or whatever so how will this work? It was easy to grasp when I thought a subclass is basically abilities/talents grouped together under 2 different concepts but base class' continuing existence is confusing me. So that was kinda the question and my concerns are: a) Wouldn't a class be spreading too thin over these base & subclasses? b) What does general/base class consists of? A bit from each subclasses? Why not drop it and make a third subclass instead? or drop it and make the 2 subclasses more distinct?

OK, I have found how to raise the level cap (very simple once someone shows you how) so my next challenge is to extend the various character class progression tables These live in ...\Pillars of Eternity\PillarsOfEternity_Data\assetbundles\prefabs\objectbundle in files like barbarianabilityprogressiontable.unity3d, chanterabilityprogressiontable.unity3d etc. How do I edit these files, or extract the tables, edit them, and recompile them? Thanks Chris

Hello All, I am making this post because the other post were kind of ended up as a spam, because the edit time is low and i was forced to repost them. Therefor i am starting a new POST where I will have EVERYTHING in Each Post OF its OWN...ACT 1, ACT 2, ACT 3. Everything will be organized and easy to find. If this Guide Helped Please BUMP it =) T Thank you all again for Enjoying this Wonderful Game. ACT 1 A Moment's Respite ► Pillars of Eternity ► Act 1 ► Saving Heodan ► Quest Guidehttps://youtu.be/lmSEVG_YL9s?list=PLeusrXH_hwph8tkMqpKRX1njMaRY8gbza The Ruins of Cilant Lis ► Pillars of Eternity ► Act 1 ► Dungeon Guide ► Quest Guidehttps://youtu.be/kOBIbepM2eA?list=PLeusrXH_hwph8tkMqpKRX1njMaRY8gbza Vengence from the Grave ► Pillars of Eternity ► Act 1 ►Different Outcomes ► Quest Guidehttps://youtu.be/Np3-DOw557Q?list=PLeusrXH_hwph8tkMqpKRX1njMaRY8gbza Late for Dinner ► Pillars of Eternity ► Act 1 ► Quest Guide ► Saving the Dwaft ► Inn Discounthttps://youtu.be/NDlBrvbquI8?list=PLeusrXH_hwph8tkMqpKRX1njMaRY8gbza Against the Grain ► Pillars of Eternity ► Gilded Vale ► Act 1 ► Quest Guide ► Walkthroughhttps://youtu.be/wWaZq-yb41U?list=PLeusrXH_hwph8tkMqpKRX1njMaRY8gbza Buried Secrets ► Pillars of Eternity ► Gilded Vale ► Act1 ► Quest Guide ► Walkthroughhttps://youtu.be/4fsfnYsv1E0?list=PLeusrXH_hwph8tkMqpKRX1njMaRY8gbza Mother's Plea ► Pillars of Eternity ► Gilded Vale ► Anslog's Compass ► ACT 1 ► Quest Guidehttps://youtu.be/QPGRUVnJIHI?list=PLeusrXH_hwph8tkMqpKRX1njMaRY8gbza The Smith's Shipment ► Pillars of Eternity ► Gilded Vale ► Black Meadow ► Act 1 ► Quest Guidehttps://youtu.be/YF7jo8_3vN0?list=PLeusrXH_hwph8tkMqpKRX1njMaRY8gbza The Whispers and Visions ► Gilded Vale ► Valewood ► Act 1 ► Quest Guidehttps://youtu.be/YIn7XHYwzsQ?list=PLeusrXH_hwph8tkMqpKRX1njMaRY8gbza The Old Watcher ► Maerwald ► Pillars of Eternity ► Endless Path of Od Nua 1 ► Caed Nua ► Quest Guidehttps://youtu.be/GyWweTopND4?list=PLeusrXH_hwph8tkMqpKRX1njMaRY8gbza Lord of a Barren Land ► Pillars of Eternity ► Raedric's Hold ► Esternwood ► Act 1 ► The Dungeonhttps://youtu.be/oO2gOyoeyGA?list=PLeusrXH_hwph8tkMqpKRX1njMaRY8gbza Complete Quest Guides - Tutorials/Walkthrough - Pillars of Eternity - Act1 - Full Game Review (BETA and Release) - Playlist

I dont know why people say ranger class sucks? I think class is pretty good beacuse it has very good supportive sides and gameplay is so much fun. Before somebody comes with argue, that have i tried other classes. Yes i have. Every class has their + and - side. I know that ranger is little bit weak in late game and have less damage output than other classes. But ranger can be pretty effective either melee or long range battles. Personally i like ranger class and i want learn more about it than wiki can say. I want hear people differend experiences and opinions about rangers. And its sad, this isnt openworld game but no can do. Its so much fun to play anyway pillars of eternity and i really want marriage ending too for him. Like one of female followers would be good wife or you can find differend females and have romantic story until game ends and you get marriage ending too. Another way is make own follower which you marry and you can make for custom companions somekind backstory or depending player choises, they have backstory already done when yoou choose, where they are from,race, were they slaves or mech etc. There is so much potential have man other things too. I love long story-driven rpgs and they are my number one games. When i bought pillars of eternity, i was so excited and i didnt had disappointed except bug where as example dun gets stuck and laggs there forever. So u need send him away. But if custom companion stucks, you just need load last save which is annoying if its before bossfight and companion got stuck between walls while in fght. So how you can send custom companion away if that happens? But this game isnt too hard, neither too easy. I like how challenging it is and how costly bad engagements are. If you make good engage, you get good price from it. if you do bad, it might cost you whole fight but most misplays you can even fix thanks to pause option and time to think. Its just too fun play this game. Obsidian: I love your game and i hope there will be more games like pillars of eternity. <3

Hello All, I am making this post because the other post were kinda ended up as a spam, becuase the edit time is low and i was forced to repost them. Therefor i am starting a new POST where I will have EVERYTHING in Each Post OF its OWN...ACT 1, ACT 2, ACT 3. Everything will be orginized and easy to find. If this Guide Helped Please BUMP it =) T Thank you all again for Enjoying this Wonderful Game. ACT 1 A Moment's Respite ► Pillars of Eternity ► Act 1 ► Saving Heodan ► Quest Guidehttps://youtu.be/lmSEVG_YL9s?list=PLeusrXH_hwph8tkMqpKRX1njMaRY8gbza The Ruins of Cilant Lis ► Pillars of Eternity ► Act 1 ► Dungeon Guide ► Quest Guidehttps://youtu.be/kOBIbepM2eA?list=PLeusrXH_hwph8tkMqpKRX1njMaRY8gbza Vengence from the Grave ► Pillars of Eternity ► Act 1 ►Different Outcomes ► Quest Guidehttps://youtu.be/Np3-DOw557Q?list=PLeusrXH_hwph8tkMqpKRX1njMaRY8gbza Late for Dinner ► Pillars of Eternity ► Act 1 ► Quest Guide ► Saving the Dwaft ► Inn Discounthttps://youtu.be/NDlBrvbquI8?list=PLeusrXH_hwph8tkMqpKRX1njMaRY8gbza Against the Grain ► Pillars of Eternity ► Gilded Vale ► Act 1 ► Quest Guide ► Walkthroughhttps://youtu.be/wWaZq-yb41U?list=PLeusrXH_hwph8tkMqpKRX1njMaRY8gbza Buried Secrets ► Pillars of Eternity ► Gilded Vale ► Act1 ► Quest Guide ► Walkthroughhttps://youtu.be/4fsfnYsv1E0?list=PLeusrXH_hwph8tkMqpKRX1njMaRY8gbza Mother's Plea ► Pillars of Eternity ► Gilded Vale ► Anslog's Compass ► ACT 1 ► Quest Guidehttps://youtu.be/QPGRUVnJIHI?list=PLeusrXH_hwph8tkMqpKRX1njMaRY8gbza The Smith's Shipment ► Pillars of Eternity ► Gilded Vale ► Black Meadow ► Act 1 ► Quest Guidehttps://youtu.be/YF7jo8_3vN0?list=PLeusrXH_hwph8tkMqpKRX1njMaRY8gbza The Whispers and Visions ► Gilded Vale ► Valewood ► Act 1 ► Quest Guidehttps://youtu.be/YIn7XHYwzsQ?list=PLeusrXH_hwph8tkMqpKRX1njMaRY8gbza The Old Watcher ► Maerwald ► Pillars of Eternity ► Endless Path of Od Nua 1 ► Caed Nua ► Quest Guidehttps://youtu.be/GyWweTopND4?list=PLeusrXH_hwph8tkMqpKRX1njMaRY8gbza Lord of a Barren Land ► Pillars of Eternity ► Raedric's Hold ► Esternwood ► Act 1 ► The Dungeonhttps://youtu.be/oO2gOyoeyGA?list=PLeusrXH_hwph8tkMqpKRX1njMaRY8gbza Complete Quest Guides - Tutorials/Walkthrough - Pillars of Eternity - Act1 - Full Game Review (BETA and Release) - Playlist

WARNING - some spoilers. (not many though) Secondary Warning, fairly lengthy. Bugs---- So far I've encountered relatively few bugs, and none of them have caused me any real headaches. I generally look in the steam discussions (forums) for answers to whatever I'm looking for. When this inevitably fails, I head to Obsidians forums (this generally fails as well), but this means I'm constantly alt-tabbing in and out of the game, which may be why some of these appeared. I'll list em, starting with the worst of them. - After alt-tabbing quite heavily I went to save my game in case I'd forgotten before I alt-tabbed out. All saves for my current character (except the autosave) had disappeared. Quite frightening. I now have a backup of my saves. - While attempting to use my keep page, the scroll down somehow got stuck. Nothing I did would allow its normal function. Closing the game and re-opening it fixed this. - Every once in awhile, my characters will lose most of their ai. Highlighting everyone and telling them to attack a target will generally result in 2 out of 6 of them attacking said target while the rest stand there, forcing me to manually click each of them and force attack the target individually. At the same time their pathing seems to disappear, and if the target/location isn't available as a straight line, they will cease to move/attack again. - While in the inventory screen highlighting certain items on the character (generally the head/necklace/belt slots) will be blurry and shift side to side a pixel or two rapidly. - NPC's (Eder) have unnaturally high hp, and some stats of npcs dont match up with created characters. - Not sure if bug but after a mission from the keep, it says to check your halls chest for rewards, there are no rewards. As far as I can remember, that is all the bugs I've seen. Thoughts/Suggestions Stats-- Now I've not gone heavily into testing stats but it seems to me that currently Con is the weakest. Just thinking out relatively straight numbers Con could be changed to a flat 5 hp and 1% hp and end per point. Early on, this is a small increase to anyone who uses the stat over the current Con, later levels would have a slight decrease for anyone with high hp/end. Also, I saw a suggestion on these forums for Con to effect armor recharge reduction, which I'd like but am currently unsure if it's needed based on; Armor-- I've generally run the game so far as having the flimsiest armor I can reasonbly live with for attack speeds (Mage/priest in robes, tanks in plate/heavy everyone else in between). I had just reached Dyrford Ruins and the boss battle (the first shot at it) killed all my characters in under 10 seconds (well, 3 of my party was dead in 4 seconds, no way I could win after that). Based on this, I decided if they are hitting me this severely, I will put EVERYONE in high DR armor, and be damned with the reduction in speed. This caused the fight to drag out barely. It also caused me to win with nearly no health lost at all. Since, I've been running around in heavy armor (without realizing it at first, because I had forgotten I switched their armors out) and I have been surviving FAR better. I have not noticed (and if I have, it's a small change) to my speeds. While I like being able to survive everything on everyone now (for the most part) I feel this is very unbalanced, especially for roleplaying. Weapons-- After playing with multiple characters, and especially on my rogue, I began noticing that certain weapons just didn't cut it. My first rogue used stilettos, and did very subpar damage (yes I had spikes) but in general I'd see mainly 4's, with a bit of spikes in the 6 range, when the stars aligned I'd get 10-15's. After making a new rogue based on new information about stats and weapons, I began using maces. I still attack almost as quickly as stilettos, but I do 15 average, with high spikes. Where I'd stab about 3 or 4 times to take off 1 little diamond (I assume 20% of the enemies hp/end?) on my first rogue, I take off two, sometimes 3 of the enemies 'diamonds' (40-60?%) in one hit using maces. I'm also more accurate, somehow. I just feel weapons in general need a bit of love here. Weapon speeds-- I've seen it crop up here before, but having an actual number for weapon speeds instead of relative terms (average, slow) would greatly help in determing what we wish to use in our builds. Classes-- My latest playthrough has no Wizard. Looking through my old parties to see weak links, the weakest was the Wizard. So I looked at them compared to other classes. Yes I like the Wizards renamed Magic Missle, I always have, its a staple for a reason. But other spells, aside from actually either doing nothing or missing all the time (not sure which) or causing harm to everyone made me look at the druid. Now granted, they have a plethora of spells I'll never be able to use because 75% of spells in this game affect everyone (or so they say/aoe circles look like) but they have quite a few spells I like, that I can use, and they have some endurance heals. They also feel less squishy than a mage. Plus, in a pinch I can shapeshift (I've heard people say the shapeshifts are terrible too, but once I feel I'm good on spells it's always been a dps increase for me) At the moment, my Druid outperforms my Wizard in every way. And Lastly, Damage-- In my current playthrough, my party has; Rogue - 22000 damage done Fighter - 5000 damage done (tank) Barbarian - 8,500 damage done Druid - 8000 damage done Priest - 2,500 damage done Paladin hasn't been in long enough to formulate All other members have been in there since the very earliest I could get or create them. Just based on this, I feel rogues damage is either quite a bit high, or everyone else (except for the tank/s) are quite a bit low. While it is my personal opinion, I feel Wizards or pure magic using fold in general should be very near a rogue if not surpassing them. In general, I just feel that classes are too... random. I'm sure if I had chosen other talents and whatnot I'd get much different results but in general I feel dps classes, outside of spikes, should be fairly comparable damage wise, or at least damage/survivability wise.

just got the game and need hep picking good characters. Not in terms of actual in combat effectiveness, as I know that I would do strikers with might and dexterity as high as possible, tanks with whatever is best for them, etc. what I want to know is which classes fight best for each of the races: Humans are tanks? Dwarfs seem like fighters and barbarians maybe? Aumaua seem to best fight the barbarian Elves uh magic? rogues and rangers? Orlan seem like less melee types Godlike are unknown right now.

I unfortunately lack access to the backer beta, and so in my research to figure out what class I'll play on my first runthrough of the game I'm finding myself wondering about how 'active' some of the classes are. Specifically I'm interesting in rolling a more melee oriented character, however I'm concerned about how many of the abilities on the melee classes actually involve active use vs. giving passive buffs. From what I can tell it seems like the Fighter and Paladin, for instance, have a lot of abilities that just buff their own combat capabilities or that of their party whilst having relatively few abilities which are actively cast. Any suggestions on what melee oriented classes are the most 'active' to play?

I excluded Priest from the poll due to the 10 choice limit per question. I figure that as the only true healing class most party's will include one regardless of usefulness. That said, please feel free to tell everyone if the Priest is awesome or terrible in the comments!

I'm thinking: 1: Priest (party healer) - Fire Godlike (for the DT bonus to keep the squishy priest around) 2: Fighter (obvious tank is obvious) - Coastal Aumaua (Resistance to stun) 3: Rouge (DPH and all dat stealth skillz) - Hearth Orlan (dat crit bonus + sneak attack) 4: Wizard (Crowd control and AoE) - Pale Elf (nothing really "screamed" wizard soooo... burn and freeze resist i guess) 5: Paladin (second-liner and party buffing) - Moon Godlike (heals everyone when pally takes enough damage= aaawwww yis) _____________________________________________________________ Would love to hear some feed back on what would make the best party! What about you guys, what's your "power-five"?

Hello, I would like some help in choosing a class for my main character in Path of Exile. I usually enjoy playing as spell casters, using spells for AoE damage and support. The thing is, I really don't like the spell system in D&D, in which we pick a few times to use a spell per rest and that's it. This lack of flexibility is the main reason why I couldn't bring myself to play Baldur's Gate 2, despite how Planescape: Torment is one of my favourite games (since it has relatively few fights, so the magic system didn't bother me THAT much). From what I have heard, the wizard magic system in Pillars of Eternity is a bit less rigid - we have a number of spell casts per level, as opposed to being able to use only specific spells that have been previously readied. But I'm not sure I'm going to enjoy that new wizard system either. Is there any other class with a playstyle similar to what I enjoy? As in, a magic user with area of effect damage and support? Or should I just try the wizard anyway?

This Might come off a bit later but, it seem like a good (less to me) I have been read up on wikia and something just hit me A new class: The Mechanic I know it seem a op at first, because when mechanic comes to mind people jump the steam-punk. What I thinking is more Adra-punk (The game hasn't come out yet, so I'm only using the information that is currently available). the mechanic I'm think of inspired da Vinic and some of guild wars (Kill me XP) I don't know too much about "Adra", but I know its is a living mineral, and that it is ORGANIC (much like animals and plants). In the world of Eora, would be ethical or (even possible) to use Adra as a power source for machines and trinkets without the shunning for the uneducated . some nations are going through a renaissance period with "animancers" and i'm probably guessing adra is use as recipe for foul... I mean progression magics Mechanic would fit the role well as the amour use mob ruler, and mechanic's abilities can focus around gun, adra-powered traps, mobile and immobile turrets (or some mechanical construct some kind) . Mechanic can be skill oh yeah Mechanic and Survival or lore. adra acts as pool of soul magic to power the trinkets of the mechanic. comment

The Paladin is by far the class I've played the most, and since paladins are generally the class I favour the most, it is also the class that I have the most thoughts on. The Paladin class has a number of outstanding issues that I'd like to raise, but first, let's go through what the Paladin gets, level per level. Character creation. At this point, the Paladin gets to choose between Flames of Devotion, a 1-per-encounter Ability that does Weap.Dmg.+100% Burn Dmg. and Lay On Hands, a pitiful 3-uses-per-day HoT (Healing over Time) Ability. The Paladin also gets Faith and Conviction, a passive bonus to all defences that depend upon your Behaviour/Reputation; the Paladin also gets to choose an Order that defines what Behaviour improves or diminishes the bonus from Faith and Conviction, however, what disposition is celebrated or condemned by each Order is not actually explained or expanded upon, which is just all kinds of odd. Finally the Paladin gets +1 Lore and +2 Athletics, which strangely implies that the Paladin is more Athletic than even a Fighter. Skill Points and a Talent. Nothing special, which makes perfect sense and it's alright. All Paladins get to choose between a number of unique Talents, same as any other Class, really. Skill Points and a Class Ability. Apart from the aforementioned Flames of Devotion and Lay On Hands, the Paladin now has three more Abilities to pick from; Zealous Charge, Zealous Focus and Zealous Endurance. All of these are Modal Abilities that can be toggled, with a incredibly short range of 2.5m, acting as Auras, and as of v392, only Zealous Focus is remotely worth considering. Skill Points and a Talent. Nothing to see here, same as everyone else. Move along. Skill Points and a Class Ability! This time, the Paladin adds the following to his list of choices: Inspiring Triumph, a passive Ability that triggers a defensive bonus to all allies within 5m every time the Paladin downs an enemy; Sworn Enemy, a once-per-rest Ability that targets a single enemy and gives the Paladin (and only the Paladin) a damage and accuracy boost until that one enemy dies; and finally, the first "Command"-style Class Ability, called Liberating Exhortation, a once-per-encounter Ability that lets a single ally ignore Hostile Effects for 15 seconds (they will resume afterwards). Skill Points and a Talent! Skill Points and a Class Ability, go figure! Again, the Paladin gets to choose from all the previous Abilities that hasn't already been chosen, and adds Deprive the Unworthy and Reviving Exhortation to the list. Both are "Command"-style Abilities, but for some strange reason, the offensive Deprive the Unworthy does not follow the same pattern of being named as an Exhortation. You'd think they'd at least come up with something analogous, such as Depriving Judgement or something. Anyway, Deprive the Unworthy is a straight-up offensive version of Liberating Exhortation, and it suppresses the Beneficial Effects of a single enemy for 15 seconds. Strangely, the Paladin only gets two-per-rest of Deprive the Unworthy, whereas Liberating Exhortation is once-per-encounter. Reviving Exhortation, also added at this level, is also a once-per-encounter "Command"-style ability that allows the Paladin to revive a fallen ally with a modest amount of Endurance restored, much of which will be taken away from him after 15 seconds. Guess what. Skill Points and a Talent. Booyah. Skill Points and a Class Ability! Another two Abilities are added to the list; Righteous Soul, a underwhelming passive Ability (why are passives even offered up as Class Abilities?) The exact nature of this passive is questionable, because the wording of the Ability is ambiguous at this point, but it supposedly makes you resist all Poisoned, Diseased, Charmed, Dominated, Frightened and Terrified Effects, as well as reducing their duration by 5 seconds. Potentially powerful, but again, why would passives even be offered up as Abilities? Passives are by their nature and definition passive, and even if powerful, definitely not contributing to interesting choices in combat. Second, Reinforcing Exhortation, a twice-per-encounter Ability that increases the Deflection of a single recipient ally for 20 seconds. Another "Command"-style Class Ability. Skill. Points. And. Talent. Skill Points and... Class Ability! This time, only a single Class Ability is added: Hastening Exhortation. This is unsurprisingly another "Command"-style Ability, but this time it's three-per-rest, and it multiplies the attack speed of a single ally by 1.2. Final level. Skill Point and a Talent. Final stop. Everyone get off the rapetrain, it turns out that it's got brakes after all. Now, after going through all that, let's take a look at the available Talents as of v392: Critical Focus; Improves Zealous Focus. Deep Faith; Improves the defensive bonuses of the Order-dependent Faith and Conviction passive. Greater Lay on Hands; increases the healing of Lay on Hands. Intense Flames; Increases the damage of Flames of Devotion. Untroubled Faith (Paladin); negates some of (removes?) the negative effects from Reputation on Faith and Conviction. At the very least, this should be renamed, because it really stands out with that "(Paladin)", since no other Talent is class-marked like that. There are also several Order-dependant Talents, all which affects either Flames of Devotion or Liberating Exhortation (for some damn reason), or triggers on kills: The Black Path, Bleak Walkers; similar to the Inspiring Triumph Class Ability, except it Frightens all nearby enemies whenever the Paladin kills someone. Remember Rakhan Field, Bleak Walkers; nearly identical to the Intense Flames Talent, except it adds 50% Corrosion Damage instead of 50% extra Burn Damage to Flames of Devotion. Inspiring Liberation, Darcozzi Paladini; affects Liberating Exhortation, and gives the target ally a bonus to Accuracy in addition to the normal effects. Fires of Darcozzi Palace, Darcozzi Paladini; affects Flames of Devotion, giving the Paladin a Flame Shield upon using it. Enduring Flames, Goldpact Knights; causes Flames of Devotion to also cause a Burn-dmg DoT equal to 50% of the total damage. Bond of Duty, Goldpact Knights; whenever the Paladin uses Liberating Exhortation, the target ally also gets a large defensive bonus against Charmed, Confused and Dominated. Strange Mercy, Kind Wayfarers; again similar to the Inspiring Triumph Class Ability, except nearby allies gain Endurance every time the Paladin kills someone. The Sword and the Shepherd; Kind Wayfarers; every time the Paladin uses Flames of Devotion, all nearby allies heal a trifling amount of Endurance. Shielding Flames, Shieldbearers of St. Elcga; similar to the Kind Wayfarers ability above, it grants a small deflection bonus to nearby allies every time the Paladin uses Flames of Devotion. Shielding Touch, Shieldbearers of St. Elcga; again, the target ally gains an Accuracy bonus when the Paladin uses Liberating Exhortation. Yawn. Now that I've gone through all of that so that everyone gets a more or less clear picture of what the Paladin has and can get, several thoughts and ideas have occurred to me based on playtesting paladins in v392 BB. In no particular order of importance, here are some issues and potential solutions. Mileage may vary. • First of all, the paladin suffers from a lack of combat options. This is particularly glaring for the first 5 levels, which in the context of Pillars of Eternity is a figurative eternity. The fact is that at the moment, Flames of Devotion doesn't just appear to be a default assumption made by the developers that the Paladin is expected to have (judging by Talent support, more on that later), but it completely obliterates Lay on Hands. So while every (almost?) other class gets either multiple uses per encounter of one ability or another, or gets something that hinges on being deployed tactically, the Paladin gets a once-per-encounter ability that is swiftly blown (because there is often no reason whatsoever to not use Flames of Devotion almost immediately, or even attempt to initiate with it) and is then relegated to autoattack. At level 3, when the Paladin gets to pick a new Class Ability, all that is offered up are auras. Now, likely to inflate the sense of combat options artificially, Auras have been turned into a "Combat Only"-Ability, but it doesn't functionally change the fact that it is completely passive. It is not until level 5 that a Paladin can even think about doing anything in combat that isn't healing 3 times per day, or use flames of devotion once per encounter followed by auto-attack. • Second, the supposed core abilities of the Paladin is seemingly lost in translation. It is my understanding that a few aspects of the Paladin was intended by be part of his core concept, primarily Commands (Exhortations + "Deprive the Unworthy") and Auras. Due to the way ability gain has been modeled, however, it is entirely possible to opt out of these things completely. This isn't necessarily something bad, and it depends largely on what the developers want to do with the class, but it is definitely something that should be discussed. What is the concept of the Paladin, what assumptions are made? This ties into a third point. • Third, the Order-specific Talents are somewhat out of whack. Why is it that the Order-specific Talents all favour either Flames of Devotion or Liberating Exhortation specifically? There are two notable exceptions, The Black Path (Bleak Walkers) and Strange Mercy (Kind Wayfarers), both which gains on-kill bonuses to nearby allies. It is still a very strange, lop-sided favouritism that seems to assume that these two abilities are part of any Paladin's core skillset. The Paladin-specific Talents need to be looked over, and spread out to apply to more or different Abilities. Not a single Order-specific power affects Lay on Hands, for example, even though you'd think that such a thing would fit the Kind Wayfarers like a glove. Even though there only exists two different Paladin abilities that can be taken on creation - Flames of Devotion and Lay on Hands - only one of them is consistently affected by Order-specific talents. This is very odd and jarring. This also goes double for Liberating Exhortation. If Flames of Devotion seems to be a default assumption of the class that can conceivably be missed, it is currently very unlikely that anyone would. Liberating Exhortation, however, enters the scene when there are multiple possible abilities to choose from, and it is entirely possible to build a Paladin completely without picking up Exhortations. • Fourth, the oddity of the 2 Athletics, 1 Lore starting Skills. It is odd that a Fighter would be notably less Athletic than a standard Paladin, but I also think that there is a missed opportunity at play. I would suggest that instead of cementing the starting Skills of the Paladin, make the starting Skills 1 Athletics, 1 Lore, and 1 Order-dependent as such; http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/69902-v392-class-skills-starting-skills/?do=findComment&comment=1553094 • For some concrete suggestions, partly based on personal preference and interpretation: Revamp and look over all the Order-specific Talents, to diversify them based on more open-ended assumptions. It should not be assumed by the entire system that you end up with very specific Abilities, unless these Abilities are specifically granted. There are many Exhortations, why only favour one? There are two starting abilities, why only favour one? Lay on Hands need to be considerably buffed. In earlier versions, healing was stronger than it is now, and it was supposedly nerfed across the board. I do not think it would be inappropriate for Lay on Hands to be a premier healing Ability that blows others out of the water; it is per-rest, and potentially a core ability of the Paladin class as a whole. It should also not be a HoT; it should be instant. The Greater Lay on Hands Talent could add a HoT to the Lay on Hands ability instead. For some reason, there is no "Extra Lay on Hands" or "Extra Flames of Devotion" Talents. This should be rectified, and the former should add two additional uses of Lay on Hands per day, and the latter should add one extra use of Flames of Devotion per encounter. It is not interesting, but it is useful and consistent with what other classes can often get. Make Auras a core part of the Paladin concept; on Level 2 or 3, allow the Paladin to choose one of the three auras independently of other Abilities. Additionally, there should be Talents to support all Auras, not just Zealous Focus, an aura already well-known to currently be the only worthwhile one. Rebalance the auras. Especially Zealous Charge is utterly useless due to the Engagement system's current implementation making movement in combat largely meaningless. Also, auras as "Combat Only"-abilities (if "Combat Only" is to be a thing at all, rubbish as the concept is) is utterly ridiculous, an artificial buffer at the initiation of combat meant to inflate the feeling that the Paladin is doing something worthwhile besides auto-attacking. Stop it. Auras are passive modals that should be on at all times if the Paladin wishes it to be so. Rework the Exhortations (including the oddly-named Deprive the Unworthy); ideally, they should similarly be part of the Paladin's core skillset in some capacity, possibly being granted outside of the regular choices offered to the Paladin. Additionally, they should all either be Per-rest (preferably not) or have a similar Per-encounter use (preferably). Them being so conceptually similar as to share names almost across the board, but mechanically dissimilar feels odd and contrived. Instead of making the core functionality between them different, balance them based on the assumption that their functionality is conceptually similar, such as "2 per encounter", "1 per encounter", or "3 per day". Create the framework for how the concept is meant to work, and balance it based on those assumptions afterward. If all Exhortations would be offered outside of the normal Paladin Ability choices, all of them would ideally be offered up at once, instead of the odd progression that they go through. There is no conceptual reason why Liberating Exhortation should be offered before Reviving Exhortation, and I believe this to be a vestigial holdover from a time when the Exhortations were granted at given levels, rather than as a choice amongst a plethora of different abilities. Righteous Soul is terrible. Complete passives should never be offered up as full-fledged Class Abilities. This feels much more like a high-level Talent than anything else. The Paladin already suffers from combat option(s) starvation, and while flavourful and perhaps powerful, this is a bad choice not from a player perspective, but from a development perspective; it should not be offered like this at all. Inspiring Triumph should be made into a Talent. There are several Paladin-only Talents with the exact same functionality, but with different effects, and this has no business being a Class Ability to begin with. It would be much better served being turned into a Talent. Doubly so not only because of it's relation to how other Paladin-specific Talents already work, but also because of the aforementioned "passives are bad as Class Abilities, especially for Paladins"-issue. That is it for today, and I hope that this doesn't read as an enormous wall of text. I did my best to avoid it, but I'm not sure how successful I was. I hope the relevant developers take the time to read this brick, and any thoughts not just on my thoughts but also on the Paladin class in general would be greatly appreciated. It is not uncommon for large posts to kill their own threads, but I hope people instead see it as cause to discuss the Paladin class and possible perceived issues with it. This is by no means an exhaustive list, and is just some thoughts and notes on my perceptions of the Paladin class and issues I've discovered during play or from subjective analysis.

Hello everyone! I've previously posted one of my video about the general lore about the world of Pillars of Eternity (http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/68500-pillars-of-eternity-lore-in-video/) and today I'm bringing you the next one focused this time on the different classes. Let me know what you think. As always, feedback and constructive criticism are always welcome ^^ "Pillars of Eternity 101 : The Classes" => p.s.: In case you have a hard time understanding me (i'm french), there are subtitles available in both english and french.

So, as a beta participant I wanted to create a video for each class showing off some of the abilities and going over thoughts on the class. I decided to wait until all the videos were finished prior to starting this thread as I wanted to keep things as neat as possible. I have avoided spoilers. I talk to no one. You will see some NPCs, and some mobs, and the areas they inhabit. Nothing else. So, here we are... Druid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdycyffrGYw Ranger https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CR5Z2kVRWj8 Barbarian https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qttMLP_3uC8 Monk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47sAeSe8Fdw Paladin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zd3_g0uKElQ Priest https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAyIf7fD8M8 Cipher https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wM29I_kfb1I Chanter https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_1-zjj0dLI Wizard https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cfSS9_Qa_Q Fighter https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yu0ekwQo64M Rogue https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbQH8H-RBO4 I hope you find these videos informative, and I am willing to answer any questions that I can. Also, I am sure I am wrong about a few things in these videos... so corrections are always welcome. If I miss anything in the video that you are curious about I will do what I can to answer. I will even make the class again and get any information that I need.

On another thread, a poster suggested the option of letting players rename classes. I thought it might be interesting to see what custom names people would pick. Warrior monks can be really interesting. Tendai Buddhism had an army of warrior monks, and the idea of Buddhist monk fighters has an appealing paradoxical air. But I can't shake the association of "monk" with "peaceful monastery dweller," so I'd rename them. Perhaps "hermetist," since there's something to their mechanic that fits one definition, "impervious to external influence", though there's no real connection to hermeticism. It doesn't fit perfectly, but "hermetist" is just a funny word. On that note, I'd work in "theurgist" too. Maybe the clerics. I'd probably change the names up on different playthroughs.

Since there's an influx of new posters on the forum after the Backer website going live and this is (ironically) the forum that receives the least information, I have updated my class primer that I posted a few months ago. I was going to do a longer one with the general mechanics as there's some stuff in here that doesn't make sense without the context - such as Melee Engagement. This information is up to date as of 14/12/13. There have been some changes to the Fighter, Chanter and Barbarian classes and some new information about Rangers, Rogues and Druids. Information on class abilities can be found on the wiki. This is a summary of the class roles, mechanics and default playstyle. All classes will be able to be built differently to described here through attribute, skill and talent selection. Fighter The Fighter is Eternity's primary Tank class. They are a melee focused character that will make up the front lines of your party's combat setup. They gain a bonus to Melee accuracy and they have a modal ability called Defensive Mode that sacrifices this bonus for melee defense, it also allows them to engage up to three opponents in melee combat and this is their primary method of protecting your other party members from melee characters. Fighters have a high deflection score and many defensive abilities that make them very hard to take down. They are the only class that gains passive stamina regeneration in combat which can be augmented by an active ability called Surge that increases their stamina regeneration rate for a short amount of time. Fighters are not very good ranged characters, because most of their abilities are melee-oriented. You could sacrifice your alternate weapon slot and open up fights with a ranged weapon such as a pistol or a blunderbuss and then switch to a melee weapon and wade into combat. Rogue Unlike their pre-4E D&D counterparts, Rogues are not a skill-monkey character. They are the primary damage dealing class in Pillars of Eternity. Rogues have the highest single-hit damage potential of all of the classes and they have a lot of ways to qualify for Sneak Attacks which are a passively applied large percentage-based damage bonus. There are no creature type restrictions on Sneak Attack and it's automatically triggered by a lot of different conditions on the target. Additionally, rogues gain more and more ways to cause those conditions. Rogues can be played as a melee character or a short-ranged ranged character (as most of their abilities require them to be close to the target). They are one of the most effective classes with firearms (second to the Ranger). Rogues are fairly paper, but have a high reflex defense and a couple of abilities that help them escape melee engagement. Priest Priests are primarily a ranged caster class. They are closer range casters than Wizards. Unlike wizards, priests have access to their full spell list though it is less extensive than the wizard's. Priests have the only non-self Stamina regen spell(s) so far that we know and they are the go-to class for support style spells though they also have a few crowd-control and single-target strike spells. The party benefits from priests being in close proximity to allies to give them their Sacred Circle passive accuracy bonus, but if there are no allies in range they get it themselves. Priests have a high Psyche(Will) defense that makes them harder to hit with Mental attacks such as charm and confusion. Wizard Wizards are primarily a ranged caster class. They are the go-to class for dealing ranged AoE damage. Wizards cast spells through the use of a Grimoire, which is a heavy tome that they carry in their off-hand in combat. Wizards can only cast spells from their currently equipped Grimoire. Grimoires currently hold four spells per spell-level. Wizards can swap Grimoires in combat, but have to wait until they align themselves to the new one before they can cast spells from it (essentially a short-medium cooldown). Wizards gain an accuracy bonus from using implements (rods and wands) which are long-range, low-damage weapons. Wizards wand/rod attacks do damage in a small AoE around the target. Wizards gain access to a small list of spells upon level up and find the rest in the world. Like the Priest they also have a high Psyche(Will) defense. Monk Monks are Eternity's other Tank class. The mechanic that makes Monks a tank and sets them apart from other characters is they have a mana-like resource called "Wounds" that can only be filled by taking damage in combat. A portion of that damage fills up the Wounds resource that powers their class abilities which are primarily status-effect based. Monks have to spend Wounds to prevent the damage that they initially resisted, otherwise it is applied as a ticking DoT effect. While under DoT effects Monks gain a passive fire-damage bonus to their attacks. Monks benefit from being unarmed and unarmored. They deal special unarmed damage and need to take damage to power their abilities. Being unarmored means they take damage faster and attack faster. However like all characters, monks can wear armor and all of their status effects are applied to all weapons, so they can be built to wear armor and wield any melee weapon. The Monk, like the fighter is not really a ranged class, since they need to take damage to fuel their abilities and some of their attacks do not work with ranged weapons. There is a class update on monks . Cipher Ciphers are similar to the Soulblade class in D&D. They have a resource that is the inverse of the Monk's, and is generated by dealing damage using the Soul Whip modal ability which deals reduced damage but lowers the Psyche(Will) defense of the target. Ciphers can use both melee and ranged weapons to generate power. They spend their power on Powers (essentially spells) that include range of status effects, telekinesis, mind-influencing effects and temporary ability draining powers. Ciphers are the third highest damage dealing class by nature (behind the Rogue and Ranger) and have a high natural Psyche(Will) defense. There is a class update on ciphers. Paladin Paladins are a support character that are used most efficiently when positioned near allies as their primary mechanic revolves around the use of passive short-range modal auras that give different benefits (such as bonus to accuracy, or attack speed) to party members in close proximity. Paladins have naturally high defenses, powerful single-target buffs and an ability similar to Smite. Paladins can also revive a downed party member in combat and give them a temporary stamina boost through the use of Reviving Exhortation. Theoretically, Paladins are a useful melee or ranged character as long as they are positioned near the bulk of your party members. There is a class update on paladins. Ranger (There is not much information available on this class at present) Unsurprisingly, Rangers are the most effective ranged weapon users in the game. They are a high damage dealing class that can mark a favored enemy once per encounter to receive a damage bonus (and maybe an accuracy bonus?) vs. that opponent for the duration of the encounter. Rangers have an animal companion that shares the Health and Stamina pool of the Ranger. Animal Companions are very durable and have a variety of uses such as engaging opponents that try to slip to the back to attack the Ranger. The bond between the Ranger and the Animal Companion is terminal and they will both be knocked unconscious if they lose all their stamina and suffer the same fate of being maimed or dying if they lose all their health. Druid (There is not much information available on this class at present) Druids are primarily a ranged caster class. Their spellcasting takes the same form as the Priest and they are the best class for AoE crowd-control. The main class feature of the Druid is the ability to shapechange into anthropomorphic animal forms, more like lycanthropes in appearance. This is a limited use ability that gives them special powers and gnarly claw attacks based on the creature type. They can cast spells while in this form, but not use weapons. Druids are likely best played using a ranged weapon such as a Longbow, staying at the back flinging spells. Their Beast form and their Firebrand spell (flaming sword that attacks Reflex) gives them some limited-use melee power. Though they will probably have Talents to augment their shapeshifting and melee capability. Barbarian (There is not much information on this class at present) Barbarians are melee-based AoE damage dealers. They have a passive ability that gives small AoE damage to their melee attacks. Barbarians take less Health damage than other classes and are more durable across the adventuring day. They have a Wild Sprint ability that allows them to charge across the battlefield ignoring impediments and an attack that targets Fortitude instead of Deflection. Recent information on them is conflicting. Past statements say they are good at dealing with creeps/scrubs but have bad Deflection and will suffer vs stronger enemies. The most recent statement says they have good personal defense. It is possible that the Barbarian concept is developing over time as previously they sounded like a weak class. Look forward to a class update on them in the future. Chanter (There is not much information available on this class at present) Chanters are supposed to be pretty versatile, they can be melee or ranged, have good accuracy, average defenses and they chant while fighting to give buffs to the party or debuffs to enemies. These chants are made up of 'phrases'. Chanters learn phrases on level up and can learn more in the game world. Chants have a large aura range compared to the Paladin. After a Chant reaches a certain amount of 'ticks', Chanters can unleash an 'invocation' which is a powerful spell. Invocations cannot be used at the start of a fight. Disclaimer: Some of this information is assumed, some of it is based on old information. If there are any discrepancies I'm sure the developers will chime in to correct me.

Hello, I am a big fan of not being a fan of floaty combat, magnetic weapons etc. Things like this may not bother everyone, but i know alot of people really hate it. It should really be a thing of the past by now. That is why i obviously think combat should be made impactful, and with this type of game i feel it should be easy to achieve. Impactful, what do you mean? A few examples; - Shield block: When a strike is blocked you can see the weapon hitting the shield, and the shield bearer receiving the impact. - Parry: both weapons hitting simultaneously, sparks flying - Humanios vs humanoid actions: If a rogue-character dealt the finishing blow on an opponent it could result in for instance a backstab animation (% chance of happening?). - X vs humanoid actions: Animation of a humanoid getting pinned (stunned) by a dog etc. - Spells resisted: Perhaps some sort of mental sphere pulsating for an instant. Many of these things was done successfully (to an extent) in DO:A (2009) Small things often have a very large effect! Also we need a voidwalker-ish thief/wizard class that can blink-backstab.

I originally posted this over at the RPGCodex for a few of the newcomers to the P:E mega-thread over there, but I've noticed a lot of class related questions around the place, so here's a quick primer based on the current information: (Some of this may be wrong/out of date, but I'm sure if it is, I will be corrected) Every class will be good in combat. Josh Sawyer wants to remove as many traps in character creation as he can because he hates it when players stop playing games because they made a bad choice. He also wants as many builds and party combinations to be viable as possible. The classes are being designed as role-ready, which appears a little bit pigeonholed on paper compared to D&D 3E, but we'll have to see how we go. If you play characters out of role, they will be more inefficient filling a role that another class is best at (75% - 90% efficacy roughly) and depending on the game difficulty level you may run into trouble, but it should be viable to do it at least some of the time. From the way Josh Sawyer has been describing it, classes have natural counter-classes as well. Rogues and Rangers are the damage dealing classes. Rogues have the best single target single-hit damage of all of the classes, Rangers have very high DPS (particularly against their per-encounter favored enemy). These characters will probably not hold up well to being beat on though, a Fighter's sticky abilities counter a Rogue. The Ranger shares health pool with it's animal companion. We do not know if you get bonus health/stamina from this link, but a Ranger also has to be careful that their animal companion doesn't get trapped ... kind of like Lone Druid in DotA 2 except a lot more terminal. Barbarians will be good at dealing with trash mobs and squishies. Barbarians will be tough as well and can take a lot of hits from average enemies, but they will probably suffer if targeted by high DPS characters because their deflection sucks and they are 'peaky' characters. Fighters and Monks are the characters you want out in the front being the tanks, soaking up the DPS. Fighters have high Deflection and can hold people to them with their class abilities, Monks want to take damage to power their status effects which you can use to hold people back from your squishies. The original Fighter description in the very first class update read that "And while fighters are often thought of as being primarily melee-based, they can specialize in a variety of weapons, including bows, crossbows, and even firearms.". In a recent statement Sawyer said that using a Fighter as a ranged character is playing against type because most of their abilities are melee based. You could still probably specialize in a Ranged weapon but you'd never get the chance to use half the class abilities. You can probably build a Fighter as a non-tank and play one like a Ranger or a Rogue, but you'll be doing it at 70-80% efficiency compared to the class that fills that role. Wizards are designed to be versatile spell casters. Their spells will probably let them do everything, but their Grimoire limits the array of spells they have access to per encounter, so rather than having a spell for everything available in an encounter you have to pick your spells correctly. Sawyer has also said that while Wizards are versatile their spells will never be as effective as another classes ability if they are similar. Paladins are good when positioned near allies. They will never be able to 1v1 a high DPS class and win, but if you stick them in melee near your Fighters/Monks etc their short range auras will benefit them, and likewise if you set them up with a Bow or an Arquebus and stick them near the Rangers and Wizards, and use the short range auras to buff their attack speed or accuracy etc. Chanters are supposed to be pretty versatile, they can be melee or ranged, have good accuracy and average defenses and they chant while fighting to give status effects to the party and/or themselves. The Chants have a large aura range compared to the Paladin. After a certain amount of ticks, the Chanter can unleash a (usually offensive) roar, which probably has to be close range to either damage/stun/slow etc a group of enemies. Chanters look like they'll be one of those classes that can 'fill' any role with a varying degree of efficacy loss. For example: You could tank with a Chanter, it would be less efficient than using a Fighter or a Monk, but better than using a Rogue, Ranger, Cipher or Wizard. They might have an aura that makes them more 'tanky' and they might have a Roar that does an AoE cone stun, but they will never be as good as a Fighter or a Monk and if you use a Chanter as the tank they will run out of Health over an adventuring day faster than a Fighter or a Monk would and they wouldn't be able to last as long in an Encounter if being beat on by tough guys. You know about Ciphers from the latest update. Priests and Druids are primarily spell caster classes and have access to all of their spells rather than relying on a Grimoire, but their spell list is not as extensive as the Wizard. One could assume that you can build a melee or ranged Cleric or Druid but according to recent information they might be most optimally played as a ranged/reserve melee character. Druids have the limited ability shapechange into "anthropomorphic animal forms, more like lycanthropes in appearance". You can cast spells while in your animorph form but you can't hold weapons. You could have a Longbow Druid, shapechange into a Man-Bear and then wade into melee with Claws. Priests have the only non-self Stamina regen spell(s) so far that we know. Priests also benefit from being in close proximity to allies to give them their Sacred Circle passive accuracy bonus, but if they aren't they get it themselves. Josh Sawyer stated today that "(PE) priests have shifted away from the original concept of them being melee/caster hybrids. They are closer-range casters than wizards, but they aren't particularly strong in melee (paladins take on the role of close-combat support). Their spells are designed to be on par with wizards' in overall power, but they have a different flavor and trend differently. E.g., wizards have some nice personal buffs but virtually no area buffs. Priests have a few personal buffs, but have a lot of huge AoE buffs." The class 'role' design overall sounds pretty robust, it just plays against a few of the traditional archetypes that some of us are used to. For me the Paladin and the Barbarian are in the frey, toe to toe with the biggest monsters just as much as the Fighter is. Wizards are also nerfed quite a bit. Ciphers are more "Soulblade" oriented than the well known "Psion" class.