How do you allocate skills to your party?

Let's compile some tips and tricks on how people distribute skill points to their party members.

• Which skills are most worth having and which do you normally skip? Why?
• Do you put 10 points into 2 different skills or 20 points into 1 skill? Or some other distribution?
• Does it depend on the gear you plan to you use? If so, what gear will affect how you distrbute points?
• Do you take party assist into account for certain skills? If so, how does this affect your skill point distribution?
• Do you take your class skills into account when deciding which skills to give to which character?
• Do you take background choices into account? When selecting a background, do you try to maximize the class skills or diversify into as many different skills as possible?

I tend to think that it's good to be very good at 1 or 2 skills for each character.  For one thing, there are items that give bonuses based on how many points you have in a given skill, so being a total generalist doesn't help there.  Also, Athletics is a good skill for any front liner to be solid in for the sake of the Second Wind ability.  Furthermore, there are a good number of those both dialogs and story pages where there's a skill check.  Some are checks against the talking skills, while others are for skills like athletics, streetwise, survival, or stealth.  For any check that involves something athletic like climbing or swimming, athletics is checked, while if you're trying to identify something in the wild, perhaps survival is checked.

 

Overall, it doesn't hurt to have each party member be very good in a different skill.  But it's also good to have every party member have at least a 2-3 points in Stealth so that the party doesn't get spotted a mile away.

 

If you like stealthily going through a dungeon checking for traps and disarming them, mechanics is good, but you also need perception to spot the traps first.  I found that Eder as a rogue didn't really have the perception to spot traps, even though with strong mechanics, he could disarm them all.  So I used Maia with her exceptional perception (and good stealth) to actually lead the way through dungeons, only bringing Eder up to do the disarming as needed.

 

Side note:  Sometimes you end up in battles where there are traps in the middle of the battlefield.  You can disarm traps in the middle of a fight, and I would regularly do so.

 

 

Background choices.  Do I take them into account?  When I'm making a main character, I probably do.  I will say though that it's more important for mechanics than the other skills, but I happen to put a premium on always having a skilled traps and locks mechanic in my parties.

Welp... Mechanics is my number 1 priority. It's really annoying if you're in the middle of a dungeon and you can't open a door or chest. Everything else isn't really a big deal. I honestly just assign them in a roleplaying-ish way. Serafen handles streetwise, Aloth handles arcana, Xoti handles religion, etc.

You only really need Mechanics, else is for combat or is simply flavour. You can even pass many quests if not all without any diplomacy or similar skills and don't suffer for it at all.

 

I'd wonder if there is a single quest in the game that has major consequences if Watcher has some high dialogue skill.

I saw in another thread that someone recommend giving 2 mechanics to each party member that wasn't your main trap disarmer because party assist would contribute both of those points to the main one (so +8 mechanics to the person you have disarming traps).

 

I imagine this would work for every other skill too. But party assist has diminishing returns and only gives a 100% bonus up to 2 points per party member. This would be an argument to spread points around and let party assist buff them up.

 

But aren't there some situations where party assist isn't taken into account? Certainly this is the case with items that give a bonus based on skill level of the wearer.

All the important checks are dialog based, which only looks at your main character's skill + party bonuses, so focus one character on Mechanics and then you can assign anything you want to party members

it kind of suxs with this skill options. mechanics is a must else you wont able to disarm any traps in dungeon. for this you need to dedicate 1 character solely in taking that skill and nothing else. apart from that no other party members have high enough perception to detect traps which then further limit build options where is almost beneficial every character you build must have high PER.

the easiest thing is to level one skill for one character...the highest numbers you usually need are around 15-17

 

so here are the skills (or attributes) that you need in my view, that are the most useful

 

Most Useful

Insight

Survival

Athletics

Mechanics about 15 seems to be enough more or less

Diplomacy

 

Insight and Athletics get checked a lot on the watcher only...diplomacy also - shame cipher is so bad lol....but honestly MOST often the only thing you get is another dialogue option.

 

 

Also Useful but more situational

Stealth

Bluff / Intimidate

Metaphysics

Religion

Streetwise

 

here is a report that shows you all used conversation skills (SPOILER) https://wiki.fireundubh.com/deadfire/dialogue-options

Edited June 10, 2018 by Nemesis7884

I saw in another thread that someone recommend giving 2 mechanics to each party member that wasn't your main trap disarmer because party assist would contribute both of those points to the main one (so +8 mechanics to the person you have disarming traps).

 

I imagine this would work for every other skill too. But party assist has diminishing returns and only gives a 100% bonus up to 2 points per party member. This would be an argument to spread points around and let party assist buff them up.

 

But aren't there some situations where party assist isn't taken into account? Certainly this is the case with items that give a bonus based on skill level of the wearer.

You'll always get X mechanics the cheapest way by tunneling the skill on a single character, indeed due to DR on Party Assist. 8 from party gives 5 through PA, no matter how those 8 points are distributed across the party. However, if you have others take mechanics it means you can reach X skill faster which can be really useful if you plan to steal your way to the goodies and get an early power boost. Also frees up points on the mechanics guy.

 

From a powergaming PoV it seems the only real argument for even spreads on the passive skills is the possibility of interactions where

1) Party Assist is disabled

2) Everyone needs to have x skill or bad things happen

 

I do believe I've seen a case or two of the Watcher's skill alone counting, but that's about it.

 

With actives it's a different matter, for example I doubt Party Assist will amplify the effects of a potion (Alchemy) or scroll (Arcana). And as has been mentioned, if you want to sneak around, you're only as silent as your loudest party member ;p

Welp... Mechanics is my number 1 priority. It's really annoying if you're in the middle of a dungeon and you can't open a door or chest. Everything else isn't really a big deal. I honestly just assign them in a roleplaying-ish way. Serafen handles streetwise, Aloth handles arcana, Xoti handles religion, etc.

 

that is biggest issue i have. you have to assign 1 character and to max out the mechanics leaving him/her out gimped in other skills which are important and contribute to combat: athletics, alchemy, explosives. same goes with sleight of hand. whoever goes the roleplaying aspect for sleight of hand or mechanics they will see themselves gimped in combat. IMHO these skills are should not be optional for potd. also another drawback is scouting of traps are tied to PER which none of your party member has high enough to discover the traps themselves. this makes PER extremely important for any build which limits build diversity. obsidian is making an RPG and RPG is about giving options but obsidian likes to restrict you by giving you less options.

Watcher: Focus on Diplo and Insight at least to level 10. Bluff and Intimidate also good.

TrapMonkey: to 15, however could have two trapmonkeys and then can be lower by 1-2 points. 

Everyone: Athletics 3, for skill checks and healing

Pure Caster: Arcana 15 to scroll if run out of spells

Other Pure caster: Explosives

Each companion: passive skills to 7, two skills for each companion, so i have all covered, then increase even way.

Overall: 7, 11, 16 is interesting values to have as party bonus.

Edited June 10, 2018 by evilcat

Let's compile some tips and tricks on how people distribute skill points to their party members.

• Which skills are most worth having and which do you normally skip? Why?
• Do you put 10 points into 2 different skills or 20 points into 1 skill? Or some other distribution?
• Does it depend on the gear you plan to you use? If so, what gear will affect how you distrbute points?
• Do you take party assist into account for certain skills? If so, how does this affect your skill point distribution?
• Do you take your class skills into account when deciding which skills to give to which character?
• Do you take background choices into account? When selecting a background, do you try to maximize the class skills or diversify into as many different skills as possible?

It's not necessary at all to put so many points in individual skills. Most skill checks are at 4 points or lower.

 

 

Welp... Mechanics is my number 1 priority. It's really annoying if you're in the middle of a dungeon and you can't open a door or chest. Everything else isn't really a big deal. I honestly just assign them in a roleplaying-ish way. Serafen handles streetwise, Aloth handles arcana, Xoti handles religion, etc.

 

that is biggest issue i have. you have to assign 1 character and to max out the mechanics leaving him/her out gimped in other skills which are important and contribute to combat: athletics, alchemy, explosives. same goes with sleight of hand. whoever goes the roleplaying aspect for sleight of hand or mechanics they will see themselves gimped in combat. IMHO these skills are should not be optional for potd. also another drawback is scouting of traps are tied to PER which none of your party member has high enough to discover the traps themselves. this makes PER extremely important for any build which limits build diversity. obsidian is making an RPG and RPG is about giving options but obsidian likes to restrict you by giving you less options.

 

I never needed to do that and I still open all chests and remove all traps.

 

it kind of suxs with this skill options. mechanics is a must else you wont able to disarm any traps in dungeon. for this you need to dedicate 1 character solely in taking that skill and nothing else. apart from that no other party members have high enough perception to detect traps which then further limit build options where is almost beneficial every character you build must have high PER.

Party assist counts when finding and disarming traps. I usually spread out skills on each and every character and I've yet to find a trap or dialogue option I cannot pass. Mechanics is the only skill I put more than 10 points in though, because those skill checks are very high in some areas. But there's equipment and buffs that can increase those skills too. Everything else is somewhere from 2-8 on a character where I feel it is appropriate from an RP pov.

i was wondering how much explosives and alchemy is required. i have one character maxing out explosives not sure if it helps anything. alchemy for my main character. since it's increase acc i guess it's good for even caster?

i was wondering how much explosives and alchemy is required. i have one character maxing out explosives not sure if it helps anything. alchemy for my main character. since it's increase acc i guess it's good for even caster?

Explosives are really useful on casters early in the game since it lets them fall back on throwing bombs when they run dry on casts. Beyond that though I don't really use them all too often but bombs do seem very promising if you're willing to stockpile a bunch of them.

 

Alchemy does boost the accuracy of anything with the Poison keyword so its really great to have on casters. A Wizard packing Noxious Burst and a high Alchemy score can rip through enemies like they're made of paper, even on PotD.

Edited June 16, 2018 by Wolken3156

Agreed on explosives, having a dedicated or semi-dedicated grenadier can be very useful indeed. Alchemy also considerably boosts the effects and durations of drugs and potions, and the potency and accuracy of poisons (and indeed on several spells, though I wouldn't be entirely surprised if that gets nerfed at some point). And really, same deal with Arcana as well.  

i was wondering if alchemy or arcana contribute to party assist in combat?

They don't, no. As far as I can tell party assist does not work on anything inside of combat (which makes sense of course, people are probably otherwise occupied).

The real question is how to get most of party assist. 

 

If you spent 4 points on  all 4 companions you get a total of 16 points = +6 party assist bonus.  

this equal 5-7 skills (from 9 passives and all actives) depending on the caracter and if you multiclass him or not. 

Also there is berath blessing. If you get 2 classes with pretty different skills you can get a pretty big bonus as those +2 apply to all skills your classes have. 

(for a total of +20 free skills points).

 

and finally.  Remember rest + permanent + temporary items.   You can get +1 to +5 points in most skills allowing you to breach those really high checks as long you know where they are or don´t mind a reload. 

 

With a bit of planning  you can have a +6 party assist + 3 watcher skill (multiclass + Berath) for 9 skillpoints on 10 skills.  (of 16 total) 

 

put a +3 buffs from items. (So you dont have to run to rest).   And you have +12 on those skills. 

Still far from some skills like diplomacy.  But more than enough for other skills like religion. 

Edited June 17, 2018 by sterrius

I almost always feel the need to ensure that Insight is up there, secondly but not as high, diplomacy. Just fits how I imagine a watcher travelling to a new land enlisting help would be. 

sometimes i think insight is so needed for this game that i would recommend the devs to put it inside perception and remove it for something else.  

 

Diplomacy winning over bluff/intimidation is normal and more about how you're going to play. (Hero? Villain? Crazy? etc). 

 

Edited June 17, 2018 by sterrius

Thanks, everyone who posted here. I was looking for info like this.

 

I guess a lot of the questions I've formed on my head are in fact in prior threads!