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Had some time while commuting, and nothing else to do except imagining what new subclasses there could be) I've liked some ideas and decided to share them. Just because Reaver (Barbarian) Sonance (Cipher) Bladesinger (Chanter) Keeper (Druid) Battlemaster (Fighter) Disciple of Thousand Dreams (Monk) Fellows of St. Waidwen Martyr (Paladin) Priest of Abydon Duelist (Rogue) Aspecter (Ranger) Archivist (Wizard) And am curious now: do you find any of these interesting?

Part I: The Umbral Mystic Knights Overview: The Umbral Mystic Knight is a lonely inquisitor with the power to manipulate shadows. Umbral Mystic Knights lose access to many paladin abilities but gain a list of abilities when they reach specific power levels Description: The Umbral Mystics are a branch of the Mystic Knights paladin order that rose to prominence in tandem with Animancy in the Aedyr empire. The Umbral Mystics wear black clothing and armor. They are involved in covert operations against rogue animancers and dark creatures that result from their art. Shadows rise in servitude to their willpower and zeal, they coalesce to form their shrouded weaponry and armors Dispositions: +Deceptive and Rational -Honest and Aggressive Ability gained per power level: Shadow Strike: Adds more damage and accuracy to next attack Shrouded Blade of the Mystic Knights: Summoned weapon Shadow Walk: Invisibility Umbral Strike: Shadow Strike also blinds Rymgrin's Repulsive Visage Shadowing Beyond Rymgrin's Enervating Terror Summon Shadow: Summons a shade Form of the Umbral Knight: Ultimate Transformation (Two Umbral Swords and Umbral Plate Armor) Drawback: Loses access to Fire, Heal and Light Paladin abilities Download my mod here: https://www.nexusmods.com/pillarsofeternity2/mods/169

Here are some screenshots for the new subclasses. I'll replace anything that changes during the Beta. There is discussion in another thread, in case anyone missed it. Barbarian - Furyshaper: Chanter - Bellower: Cipher - Psion: Druid - Ancient: Fighter - Tactician: Monk - Forbidden Fist: Paladin - The Steel Garrote: Favored Disposition: Rational, Cruel. Disfavored Disposition: Benevolent, Diplomatic. Compatible Priest subclasses: Magran, Skaen and Woedica. Priest - Woedica: Favored Disposition: Rational, Cruel. Disfavored Disposition: Benevolent, Diplomatic. Compatible Paladin subclasses: Bleak Walkers, Goldpact Knights and The Steel Garrote. You can check the spells here. Ranger - Arcane Archer: Rogue - Debonaire: Wizard - Blood Mage:

I feel the main purpose of subclasses is to provide alternative playstyles, but some of the current ones could do better in achieving that outcome. Some suggestions to boost weaker ones, to provide greater differentiation between subclasses, and to align their boons/banes with their concept: Fighter - Black Jacket Concerns: The weapons master. Giving up rapid recovery for quick switch + 1 more proficiency seems like a poor deal. Weapon switching doesn't occur often because enemies have static ARs, so for the same enemy there's no point switching (disregarding unique effects of weapons yet to be seen). This subclass has been used for all-out first-striking with triple sets of dual pistols, rapidly switched, but this seems like a niche application. Suggestions: Centre this subclass around weapon modals, and switching to utilise these modals. - Advanced Proficiencies : Penalties from weapon modals are halved - Alternatively, gain proficiency in all weapons automatically. Instead of choosing proficiencies, choose Advanced Proficiencies (gold instead of blue icon) in selected weapons. Ranger - Stalker Concerns: The melee ranger, but the radii are forgiving enough to allow use to ranged weapons as well. Bonus makes the ranger & pet marginally more tanky, but that doesn't quite gel with the subclass name (and the bonus itself isn't too interesting) + the issue of no melee-compatible abilities Suggestions: Rangers are primarily single-target destroyers. Other than making abilities usable in melee, - Gain +1 engagement (vs 0 for rangers, I think) - Attacks against enemies engaged by both stalker and pet apply Marked Prey without cost - Ambush : Exiting stealth within 3 range of an enemy applies a small short-duration Action Speed buff (to add stalking element without making high stealth absolutely necessary) - Penalty - The Stalker deals less damage to enemies not engaged by both stalker and pet (including when pet has fallen), suffer bonded grief when outside 5 range. Wizard Subclasses Concerns: Chance-based (Evoker, Illusionist's empower) and random bonuses (Conjurer) feel unreliable. Ultimately the playstyles between some are not that much different beyond the selection of spells. Suggestions: Alter bonuses to provide tactical considerations - Conjurer - Empowered conjuration spells also conjure a decently strong familiar/creature based on element or type of spell (e.g. weapon conjuration summons a self-acting, weaker copy of the weapon) - Evoker - No passive bonus to power level. Elemental Momentum : Casting an evocation spell of X element increases the Power Level for evocation spells of other elements. Each spell cast provides separate "Momentum: <Element>" buffs (effectively up to 3 given 4 elements), with all Momentum lost when a spell of the same element is cast again, or a non-evocation spell is cast. Small note on single-class's relative weakness - Perhaps power level can be made more impactful for both passive and active abilities, making the difference in power level above multiclasses characters more pronounced.

So, I wanted to create a thread to consolidate all the subclasses we know about, and a brief description of them. I plan on keeping this updated, but I'll rely on you all to give me links to sources I may have missed. EDIT: $2.8m stretch goal is adding a 3rd sublcass to each core class. So, I am adding spaces accordingly. Even though Priests and Paladins are using Deity and Order as their subclasses I'm still adding a 3rd slot to them for the time being. Barbarian 1) Corpse Eater is one subclass for the Barbarian. 2) 3) Chanter 1) Beckoner is the subclass focused on summoning. (Mentioned in Twitch stream on last day of campaign) 2) 3) Cipher 1)Soulblade is a melee-oriented cipher subclass. They gain additional Soul Whip damage with melee weapons and defeating an enemy with a melee attack boosts their Max Focus and grants Concentration. The tradeoff is that their Max Focus is lower by default, meaning their starting Focus is also lower. 2) 3) Druid 1) (No name) A Druid focused more on Spiritshifting. 2) 3) Fighter 1) Black Jacket - a fighter with lower accuracy, but more weapon specializations. He gains damage and penetration when using a weapon that his enemies are susceptible to, and has quick swap. 2) 3) Monk 1) Nalpazca - gains greater duration from consumables. While their wound threshold increases which makes them slower to build their resource while under the effects of consumables. 2) 3) Paladin - (they will be the choice of an Order, but we don't have details) 1) 2) 3) Priest - (they will be the choice of a deity, but we don't have details) 1) 2) 3) Ranger 1) Ghost Heart - Animal companion is a spirit trapped in the Between, and requires summoning. It won't suffer from Spells such as Charm Beast, but it will now suffer from Abjuration and skills that harm Spirits. 2) 3) Rogue - more durable than PoE1. 1) Assassin - squishier rogue with great damage potential. Requires positional awareness. 2) 3) Wizard 1) 2) 3) This article covers the Ghost Heart, the Black Jacket, and the Assassin: http://www.mmorpg.com/interviews/pillars-of-eternity-2-deadfire-new-info-including-release-window-1000011527 PS - I feel like there was one I missed, but I can't find the article mentioning it. So, any help would be grateful.

So, in the last update (https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/93848-update-40-multiclassing-part-ii/page-1) a list of early concepts for the subclasses has been shared. I would like to open this topic to discuss what you guys think of them for now, in terms of differences, balance and creativity. My quick opinion: Honestly, I kind of understand now why they used Corpse Eater and Ghost Heart as examples in previous updates. They are the most exciting for me, simply because they are the most different. It's like Josh said in the update:"Subclasses all have trade-offs, though some subclasses change the core playstyle of the class more than others" The obvious problem that can come from this is that the subclasses that change more the playstyle (I believe Corpse Eater will even have different animation for when he's eating corpses I guess?) will end up more interesting than others that are a mere tweak in the main classe's skills/resources.

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?