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Hello, I am in act 3 just before entering in the pits in the Court of Penitence, but my quest progress for the Trials of Durance is still on ID 10002 "I had a dream about Durance. My eyes seemed unable to focus on him, and a blinding light burst from his staff. Something about the dream seemed all too real - as though something in his soul was revealing itself to me. I should ask him what I saw." I searched around and found out that I am way behind on this quest and I have already seen the second vision about the twelve fading circles on the staff. Looking at previous forums, I figured out that I need to talk to him and discuss some key topics of interest to him i.e. where he got his staff, the Godhammer, and the name Durance. And even after doing those I still cannot get a prompt to ask him about my dreams. My plan now is to play the White March and hopefully have him prompt a conversation with me so I can ask him about the dream and further progressing this quest, but hopefully someone has some experience with this issue can help me out.

Hey guys, this is my first time playing Pillars, I have XP with RPG's (Baldur's, NWN, Fallout's + I'm an D&D Master, so I'm playing on Hard). I created a Meadow Folk Aedyr Dissident Wizard, and since I wanted to roleplay I tried to not min/max attributes (I was also very lucky to discover that Might wasn't STR otherwise my wizard might have gotten that attribute below 10). I have Mig: 12, Con: 9, Dex: 13, Per: 14, Int: 15, Res: 12 I only got a 15 in Intelligence, because it was only used for AoE and Duration of Spells, which didn't sound very appealing.. Also I didn't want to get low Resolve, since a Watcher and a Leader needs to have this atribute above average. Well, my first mate was Aloth, which wasn't great (2 wizard seemed really squishy), luckily I then grabbed Eder, later Durance and after that Kana. I'm lvl 5 atm and going down to Endless Paths of Od Nua 6 after killing the drake, though I should probably go to Defiance Bay (haven't been there yet). Now, I would like to know two thinkgs: 1) Is it possible to use my mage as a Spellsword? I want to differentiate it from Aloth (which I want to do the CC) since now both mages look very similar (both have Arcane Assault and Scepter, and a Rapier as a 2nd weapon. I got talents in Blast & One Handing Style and Aloth in Blast and Weapon Focus: Noble. If it's possible, can you link a spellsword build? Also, Aloth is using his Armor which has like 30% recovery and I'm using Rundl's FInery (15% recovery but +2 Int). But If I want him to do CC and me to do some rapier work, I should change those items, right? If Spellsword isn't recommended with those stats, what is? 2) I like my party, having Durance is a little like having Edwin in BG1. He restores endurance and does some dmg (I'm still using his staff and robe and the talents I took were Brilliant Radiance and Inspiring Radiance). Eder tanks everything (Weapon & Shield + Hold the Line with Ilfan Byrngar's Solace and Resolution or Gaun's Share & Larder Door. Me and Aloth do some dmg. And Kana chants, summoning stuff (Ancient Memory + Beloved Spirits, and he either gets the 3 skeletons, the white worms and has some cc on The Thunder Rolled..) with Justice as his double handed sword. But I noticed their stats are somehow polarized, so I was trying to get best builds for them. Is there any guide for their best talents and abilities? Thanks!!!

I played through the game up until the point where Act 4 starts. Durance has been a member of my party all this time, but the quest has not progressed past the following quest description: I never went through all the dialogue with him until after I realised this at the end of Act III. His special dialogue was present for the piece of the Godhammer, as well as during the conversation with Magran. But I cannot seem to trigger the quest to continue on. I have tried resting 6 times in the wild, moving from location to location in between each rest. I have gone through all the dialogue 3 times. Nothing seems to help. Any idea on how to get this quest to continue, or how to manually edit the save file to trigger the next part of the quest?

Hello! Please help me understand Durance the Priest. I've completed PoE+WM1+WM2 twice, both in Russian and in English, and I understand all my companions, their inner conflicts and usually I am eager to help them to feel better. But I really failed to understand Durance, his inner conflict and his ark in general. The writing for Durance is very strange, being smart enough (I hope so) I completely sink in his speeches and lose all sense of reality And I rage, lose my interest and spend the rest of the game like "Just do your support stuff and shut up, and we'll be fine, okay?" So, can you please explain what the hell is wrong with him, why is he so angry and frustrated, what is his conflict, and in general - how do you "feel" this character? What I managed to understand: 1) He has a serious inner conflict shown by his sleepless nights, looking into one point, attempts to avoid the topic in dialogues and overall angry and aggressive behaviour. 2) He has huge troubles with his deity Magran, and even if Magran blesses aggressive and passionate behaviour his attitude towards her seems way too much even by her standards (words he uses to call her and his judgements of her are very rude and seem uncommon among other Magran followers so I guess it is not a style of worshiping her). 3) He played a big role in the creation of the Bomb, and Magran responded to his prayers and gave him enough of her energy to channel into the bomb. So at this point she was with him, answered his prayers and all was well. 4) After the detonation something happened in Durance's mind - he somehow re-evaluated both Magran and the Bomb, now feeling bad about this deed. 5) He turned away from the deity and curses her, but she seems unwilling to abandon him - when talked to at Magran's Fork he manages to lit the statue up, and this can be performed only by priests with great faith and Magran's favour as we learn from the female priest in the city, he is not losing his powers, his staff burns indicating Magran presence in him, and he says "I saw you in flames", which imho means "in a spiritual link with my deity". 6) And after learning all that I completely sink in his dialogue lines and can not form a picture. I thought - maybe Russian localisation lacks something and for my 2nd run I went in original. Once again I understand every companion and feel empathy for their troubles. But Durance is again annoying and crazy. How do you understand his story and conflict and what is your opinion on him? Why did he suddenly change his attitude towards Magran so radicaly? What needs to be done to calm him down and balance "the angry one"? Why is Magran tolerating his behaviour and keeps aiding his powers? I always get this feeling that I talk to a madman and try to understand what lacks any sense. Thanks in advance

Greetings community! I've been playing Pillars on and off since release. I know, it's been quite some time now and I'm still on my first playthrough! My party is level 10 and I've gotten to the Pit, though I have not gone in. I also did some of the White March quests but I've hit a level wall there. Anyways, my current part is as follows. Charmain (Wizard) Eder Sagini Kana Grieving Mother Aloth I've done all the NPCs quests, I think up to this point. I was pretty set on this party going until the end, but one thing I always wanted was a priest. I don't use walkthroughs or anything so I just now bumped into Durance doing a bounty. Now I'm in dilemma. Priests can heal and have other valuable defensive powers. I feel this is lacking in my group and this is why I'm unable to progress in certain areas, but I'm not sure. I've read around and some people say a priest is invaluable and a must-have and others say priests are unnecessary in this game. So my question to the community is this. Should I take Durance? Would a priest really help this group out? If so, who should I leave at the keep when I take him?

Hi guys, thanks for checking out my topic. I'm a new player and I just picked up PoE last week. I've gotten to the first town and messed around a bit but I'm having a bit of restartitis since there's a lot in this game to consider. I'm a very "Plan my play through" type of person so I want to know what build, items, party members, etc that I'll be going for. I play like this because the worst feeling for me in a game is regretting that I didn't make a different choice. Here's an example: I start playing a fire based Paladin only to find out that Paladin's main abilities are blue fire, which doesn't mesh with the aesthetic I want (true story). So I'd like to take some advice from you veteran's if you're willing to give it, so that I can actually get into this game in earnest. The first challenge is the party members. I'm very partial to story companions in games like this, so I do not want custom companions. This is a challenge because I prefer my groups to be diverse (race, gender, class) and to make sense in terms of gameplay (Even mix or range/melee, tank, healer, etc). The companions I am interested in are Eder, Aloth, Hiravias, Sagani, Pallegina, Durance, and maybe Grieving Mother. I really like Eder's personality, and I enjoy those with unique aspects (Pallegina, Hiravias, Sagani). Aloth, GM, and Durance are all being considered more because I've been told that they are important to the story than for any other reason, although I do think it necessary to have wizard and healer type characters in my party. Note that if I leave out Durance or Aloth it will most likely be due to me replacing them as I'll get to in a moment. So I ask you guys, what do you think a reasonable party is for me? Are Aloth/Durance/GM important enough to keep around? Or can I leave them in my stronghold and occasionally talk to them to get the same value? The next challenge is my class, which I've been having a ton of trouble with. Paladins are my bread and butter, I play them in every game where they are an option, and the next closest option if they aren't. This is my first experience with a game that messed up paladins so badly for me that I'm being forced to go elsewhere. Blue fire when every other bit of fire is orange? All of their best gear is bright green? No spells? It seems like their only role is to be a tank support, but if they are up front tanking then the only person receiving support is the fighter, and if they are in back supporting the ranged then their tankiness is somewhat wasted. Paladins in this game just feel like a drunken thematic rainbow that has no solid direction. /rant With that in mind, you know that I want to play the closest thing to feeling like a paladin from other games as I can get. I've narrowed it down to Barbarian, Wizard or Priest. Note that I like spells, and I especially like Firebrand, so that will be a staple of my character. The ideas are as follows: Barbarian: Off-tank using Flames of Fair Rhian and Dragon's Maw, switching to Firebrand to deliver the pain when needed. Interested in the ring of combusting wounds and other spellbound items/armors since Barbarians lack spells entirely. I really like the orange ability effects of the barbarian and their AoE nature. However, as a paladin "main" I find I have a great distaste for being known as a barbarian, and I find it hard to shake that feeling. I see their icon of crude weapons crossing a blood red skull and I throw up in my mouth just a little. Wizard: Self-buffer melee build with nice spells and Firebrand, probably a scepter or something before I get in melee. I'm very mixed on Wizard because most of their spells I have no interest in using, but the ones I like give me vast amounts of pleasure. Citzals Martial Power in particular looks amazing. However, their reliance on "blue" buffs like DAoM, arcane shield, etc turn me off greatly. The more I look at this the more I think Aloth could pull off a blue ice themed build with the spirit lance much better (though his starter spells are rubbish). Priest: Not entirely sure, but something like Abydon's hammer for spells into Firebrand when I need to conserve spells or when I run out. Priest seems like the logical alternative to Paladin, but I have similar or perhaps even greater issues with them as the wizard. I don't like having a bunch of spells that I have no interest in casting. I suppose the benefit of priest is that most of their spells fit a single theme (unlike wizards with frost/fire/arcane/corrosive/etc) but still. I'm not really sure how good priests are at buffing themselves vs supporting the party, but I think it would be nice to play one so long as I'm not just a buff bot for everyone else. So what do you guys think? As a barbarian all the party members I'm interested can be used, and as a wizard/priest obviously Aloth/Durance are no good. What class do you think will sate my paladin lust best? Which party members do you think will work best both for that character and story wise? Thanks very much for any help. If you have questions for me I will do my best to answer. Edit: I'm playing on Hard by the way, I tried POTD but it was a little too much. Also, Mobile was unkind to me when I typed this, there might be auto correct errors.

Disclaimer - my real life heart was broken two months ago so I am legally free to discuss this thread. I hope there wasn't this poll yet but, well, if there was a romantic activity present in this game, which of team companions would become a Chosen One for you? ^^ I think every option would offer something interesting story-wise. Treat sexes/orientations/racial issues however you want. Eder - default choice for female hetero player characters, as polls have shown he is regarded often as the coolest NPC in this game. Also he looks like a Bruce Willis and romance with him would be quite interesting. Aloth - secondary choice for gals. He is handsome and strangely cute with his awkwardness, not to mention the bonus of his rude 'friend' - I think a combination of these two could led to this romance being a comedy gem. Hiravias - kinky! Kana - hard for me to say anything here as he was somehow repulsive enough for me to kick him out of team, not to mention romance. Pallagina - I still am bored by her character but she seems to be attractive in some way. Sagani - well this could be a potentially very interesting stuff from the perspective of moral... ambiguity. She has a husband and children but not seen for at least five years. In real life I would never ever engage here but in game it could be interesting option for morally ambiguous/jerk character, as well as an option to enhance Sagani's mildly interesting personality. Grieving Mother - screw Sagani, this is where it becomes really interesting. GM is strange as hell but in the same time weirdly attractive for me, plus her telepathic link and distanced personality could provide interesting romance story. Durance - After imagining sexual intercourse with him I immediately curled under my desk into embrional position and started crying uncontrollably.

Hi, I was hoping someone could help me with this. I met Durance, a bit late in the game, right before the auction, but after I reported to Webb that I got the invitation. So, I went into a dialogue with him, I don't remember what I chose, but I managed to recruit him. Then, this is where things get weird, after I've recruited him, he wasn't available somehow, apparent by his disappearance on the party members UI on the bottom left. But when I checked on the roster UI (where you dismiss and recruit people), he was there. Thus, I swap Durance with someone else, but nothing happens. Now, whenever I add Durance to the party, and change my party afterwards (whether dismissing or recruiting someone), my party doesn't change, the roster UI doesn't reflect what my actual party members are. There's only two way that I know of so far that restores it, it's either adding a new hire, or restarting the game. Also, whenever Durance is in the party, he can't do anything except attacking and moving, basically like a character with no class. All of his skills are faded out or unusable, the icon shows for some of them, like second wind, and those spell tabs with roman numerals (but nothing happens when i hover them). There's one instance when I'm able to access the spells, like see them and everything, but I can't confirm whether i can use them or not, cause when I entered a battle i can't access them anymore. Anyway, I've attached the save files, player log, and my spec. Hope this can be fixed soon. https://www.dropbox.com/s/q5652atr5ymlcux/PoEDurance.zip?dl=0

I am trying to complete Durance's quest but I have no idea to convince him that Magran is trying to kill him. I went through every possible dialogue tree (I think) but can't seem to trigger his responses. I am right at the part where I jump into the burial pit and don't want to go in before Durance's quest is complete. I finished every other quest including white march part 2. I understand this triggers the end game when I jump in so I must be missing something... I tell him "I believe magran is trying to kill you" but the only option I have to tell him is "I don't know...". Can someone tell me the step-by-step dialogue options to press to get him convinced? Much appreciated.

Description: After being dismissed, Durance will reappear at Magran's fork. He will be transparent and there is no dialogue option to allow him to rejoin the party. He does not appear on the party roster at the stronghold. Steps to Reproduce the Issue: This seems to have occurred early in the game. Shortly after meeting and recruiting Durance and exhausting his dialogue options I decided I did not need him along with me at that point and dismissed him. I then recruited a custom cleric in his place. Durance never, to my knowledge, appeared on the party roster in the tavern afterward. I went on to construct the Stronghold, and at some point he reappeared at Magran's Fork. At no point has he appeared on the party roster at the Stronghold, or reappeared by the Chapel as I've read he is supposed to do. I went and rebuilt the Chapel just in case, and that does not appear to have done anything either. Important Files: Here is a link to a .zip file holding the following files: My last save with Durance in the party. The save immediately following. Current game state, with party located next to Durance's location. Picture of ghost Durance. DxDiag. Output log.

Hello all, I would like to get some help on how to properly level up Durance. I would also like to get an idea of what his items should revolve around. I am new to the game and played till level 5 but then restarted. My party is currently: Main = Chanter focused on off-tanking and chants. 3 Might, 4 Dex. Party face role. All other ability scores maxed. Working very well so far. Tank = Eder. Used the respec option with IE mod to get him focused on what I wanted out of him. Working very well so far. Melee DPS = Paladin. Custom made to be a last hit buffer with auras who's all about damage with reach, two handed weapons. Working very well so far. Ranged DPS = Cipher. Arbalest user and damage dealer extraordinaire. Broken strong so far. Caster = Aloth. Respec option used here as well. Working on getting him all the spells for utility. and finally my 6th slot is going to Durance for now. He's used because Holy Radiance can be used outside of combat to buff pre combat and it can also grant a bonus to accuracy. Priest buffs are also incredibly useful. However that being said, I need help to figure out where to go with him. Currently just hit level 4 so a talent is available. Now for some questions: 1. Is upgrading his staff worth it? What weapons should I use with him to keep him useful? 2. What talents should I grab as a priority at this point? Thanks to all who post. Noc

NOTE: POTENTIAL SPOILERS ITT. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK. So I was reading through the CE strategy guide after I finished my playthrough, and I noticed there were a couple of things in Durance and GM's stories that I hadn't encountered, or even seen hinted at. Like, at all. One of them was pretty major, namely the reason that Grieving Mother is called as such (iirc it is implied in-game that she has forgotten herself, and not explored further). It's possible that I just somehow managed to pick the wrong conversation options or otherwise somehow not satisfied the requirements to get these stories, but being as I hadn't seen any hint of them at all, I thought I'd post here. The guide has this to say about Durance's character, and his internal conflict: Similarly, for the Grieving Mother: These characters' stories seem to have substantially changed between the time that the guide was written, and release (so, potentially fairly late in development). Here is a list of the things that I have found to be inconsistent with the story I experienced in my playthrough: In my playthrough, GM never made a comment about Durance, or vice-versa (although it would make sense that Durance would not initially address GM). In-game, Durance does not seem to initially be aware that his colleagues were killed. This is a revelation to him relatively near the end of the game. Grieving Mother is not blamed for the birth of Hollowborn children, but fears that she will be blamed, and her story is based around the steps she took to ensure that she would not be blamed. There are hints of ending the Hollowborn crisis causing "other problems", which was not implied in the final game. The fact that Durance's soul is damaged (and he is therefore undetectable to Magran) in-game would be totally explained by the fact that it was damaged by the GM. In the release version, Durance does not seem to be aware that his soul is damaged. I think it is explained by Durance saying that while the rest of his colleagues were killed by the Godhammer, he survived and his soul was only partially destroyed. There are no mention of GM's children in the game. This is the big one! Interestingly, I managed to dig up this interview with Chris Avellone before release. It's quite a long interview, so I'll quote the relevant part:

Hi guys, I know there's a lot going on about Durance. I checked around and I can't find what I'm looking for. This guy has been bugged for me since the get-go. Nobody seems to be talking (or at least there's too much to sift through) about how to trigger Durance's 2nd dream. -I got the first dream triggered with a manual patch from this forum (I think a dev posted it temporarily). -Then eventually the patch came out that supposedly fixes Durance (which overwrote the overwritten files). -I'm in Act II and I'm trying to trigger 2nd dream, but no go. So... how do you trigger 2nd dream sequence? I am pretty sure I exhausted all dialog options, although the two dialog options to tell me about "Magran" and this region and its "history" is still highlighted. What do I do? Thanks!

Hello, I know this is jumping the gun given that the game doesn't have all of the expansion packs, and given that a modding framework hasn't been devised yet(and may be difficult given certain design choices). However, I know that a lot of people have wanted romantic options in the game given the lengthy romance threads, and it seems likely that if romances will exist in Pillars of Eternity, that modders will have to add them at some point. Because of this, it seems reasonable to maybe start thinking on the groundwork of this, particularly the idea of modding a Durance romance. After all, Durance has a lot of the qualities needed for an interesting romance: complicated emotions, deep internal struggle, passion, you name it. There has never been a character more ready for romance in any IE style game in history than Durance(Look at all of the problems the BG2 chicks and Anomen had). Here's what I'm thinking: Requirements: -Female (I'm getting more of a traditionalist vibe from him) -Orlan (obviously) -Priestess of Eothas (again, obviously) Major themes would likely be his deep abiding love of Magran, and his sense of guilt at killing Eothas, where the romantic protagonist helps Durance overcome these feelings and find peace in switching over to becoming a priest of Eothas(I'm not sure how hard that'd be to change, or whether gameplay-rp separation would be necessary). Obviously any suggestions would be helpful. (My apologies if this is the wrong forum)

The spell is grayed out and refuses to work. I tried resting, stripping him of his equipment, kicking him out the party and hiring him back, but so far nothing has worked for me. I'm afraid saving the game after the last fight has mad that condition permanent and the only other save game I've got is about 10 hours less than the recent one. That sucks big time! Is there any way to fix this?

Due to my own stupidity, I was stuck in a situation where I had no choice but to remove Durance from my party after recruiting him. After removing him, I cannot find him at all. I've checked in Brighthollow, the stronghold, and the inn in Gilded Vale, and nada. His quest still shows up in my quest log, so I'm assuming he's still alive somewhere, but he gave no inclination as to where he would go in his departing lines, so either a) I can't find him because I'm overlooking something, b) he's no longer available and the quest is erroneously in my log, or c) he's supposed to be available but is not actually present. Can provide save games and/or screenshots if necessary.

uh... It's barely affect the gaming experience, that when I was reading the combat records, in the page where shows you which companion got most crit hits, the strongest enemy defeated, damage taken...etc. I noticed Durance, for some reason, sent most hits in my team, who mainly do buffs like holy radiance then shoots his pistol, which has a very slow hit rates. While my player character has two more hours in combat, sent 35x hits, Durance had sent 13xx hits out. So uh... does the game count buffs on companions hits? Kinda weird.

So I'm about to level Durance to level 6, and there's a nice talent that modifies his attack per-battle ability (forgot the name) The one that makes all enemies in AoE Dazed. Now the talent says that it modifies the spell to do weakened, what im not sure is does it add the effect or replaces dazed? If i take it and look at the tooltip of the spell, it still says dazed only. If i look in his char sheet i have ability that says it modifies in the top. Anyone has any idea?

SPOILERS AHEAD I can speak to Durance about him helping creating the godhammer, and I do this anywhere, i my case, while in town, i just initiate a conversation and speak to him about multiple things and thats one of the things he say. After hours later, I go to sleep, and I wake up to a vision of him holding the staff and light eminating from it, and after speaking with him about it he "reveal" to me he helped shape the godhammer. And my response is - "You helped build the Godahmmer?" Which I already know he did ... maybe its a bug that I shouldn't be able to speak to him about it before I get this scene.

So whenever I order Durance to cast a spell, and about 50% of the time when I ask Aloth to cast a spell, the character instead runs away. They go to some random spot, such as a corner, spaz out and slide sideways for a few seconds, and then cast the spell. However, they don't cast it on the target, they cast it in some second random spot, such as a wall or outside the map. I have no idea what might be causing this. Has anyone seen this? Is there fix? It's frustrating me because I can't beat the enemies without casting the occasional spell.