I'll Describe a Character - You provide class suggestions.

[Cyrus_Blackfeather]

Hey guys, 

 

So, I'm wanting to bring one of my characters from other roleplaying campaigns into Deadfire - this is a character I've played, in one iteration or another, across several different platforms. I figured I'd tell you a little bit about him, and then ask for some feedback/input in deciding on a class for him. 

 

This character is a Vallian Pale Elf (Yes, I essentially cribbed off of the Ydwin character sheet, sue me. He even has a similar name in Deadfire, Yngve). In his overall canon, he's an unlanded member of the gentry through his service to the royal family's personal guard/espionage and security forces. He works as a spy and sometimes as an assassin, gathering intelligence from known or suspected traitors to discover plots against his home country and then eliminating the architects of those plots with surgical precision. In Guild Wars 2, he is a Mesmer - which is a class that uses illusions and other mind-influencing magic to devastate opponents. He tends to use swords or rapiers, for the style points, but is highly proficient with firearms. 

 

In Deadfire, he's going to be an agent of the Valian Republics, essentially working for the same 'team' as Pallegina, albeit maybe a little less overzealous. He's exceptionally pro-animancy, pro-intellectual, and is intended to go for maximum reactivity with both Beast of Winter and the upcoming Archmage DLC. 

 

Right away, I'm thinking of going with either Cipher or Wizard, leaning a little more towards Cipher since that seems to fit the bill of a magic using class that also utilizes weapons a little bit more. I've been looking at pure ranged Ascendant, and while Mindstalker would seem to fit thematically (As well as do more weapon damage), I think sticking with the pure Cipher offers better options in the long run (AoE size based on your Focus pool, Death of 1,000 Cuts, Prestige, etc.). Wizard is picked mostly under the assumption that there will be more reactivity to it with the Archmage DLC, but I feel like high Metaphysics/Arcana/Intellect characters would get the same out of it. 

 

Basically it boils down to Mindstalker or pure Ascendant, melee or ranged. 

[Xsanf]

Why not multi with Paladin if he is (actually was, then he came to Dyrwood and became Lord of Caed Nua, and...you know) a servant to the crown? Regarding dialog reactivity we have the following: in the main game the majority of dialogue checks are for Priest subclasses (Magran, Eothas, Berath, Skaen), then we have (descending, both class+subclass checks) Ghost Heart, Wael Priest, Fury, Cipher (pure & specializations), other Druid subclasses (Lifegiver, Animist, Shifter), Goldpact Knights, Ranger (pure, Stalker, Sharpshooter), Bleak Walker, Wizard (pure & specializations), Shieldbearers of St. Elcga, Assassin. Other Rogue options have even lower number of checks. In BoW there are many Priest checks and some Wizard checks, no other classes. Bluff/Diplomacy/Insight are heavily demanded both in the maingame and in BoW. Guess, in the Archmage DLC Aloth or Fassina will be your guides, so don't worry.

Edited September 5, 2018 by Xsanf

[Cyrus_Blackfeather]

I've considered a Priest of Wael with him, but I'm not sure what I could multiclass that with. 

[Taevyr]

Considering his overall canon as a servant/personal guard of royals, picking or multiclassing with darcozzi paladini could be interesting to show his connection to Vailia, if you don't mind their awful subclass bonuses. Or you could flip the playable marker of "Brothers of the Five Suns" to true to play as a member.

 

Aside from that, Cipher sounds like a perfect fit overall.

[Cyrus_Blackfeather]

Considering his overall canon as a servant/personal guard of royals, picking or multiclassing with darcozzi paladini could be interesting to show his connection to Vailia, if you don't mind their awful subclass bonuses. Or you could flip the playable marker of "Brothers of the Five Suns" to true to play as a member.

 

Aside from that, Cipher sounds like a perfect fit overall.

 

I do that using the Unity Console, right? What are Brotherhood's bonuses, aside from the "Sworn Enemy now shoots fireballs at the enemy" thing? 

[Taevyr]

I think that's it, but don't take my word for it.

[Cyrus_Blackfeather]

So right now I'm thinking either pure Ascendant Cipher (Ranged focus) or Inquisitor (Brotherhood of the Five Suns/Soul Blade) for melee. 

 

It's kind of a shame that the bonuses for Brotherhood of the Five Suns seem to suck so much. 

[Sherab]

Hmmm, based on your description, I think rather of some more common ideas, such as:

 

- rogue + cipher,

- rogue + ranger,

- ranger + cipher,

- rogue + mage,

- rogue + warrior

- warrior + cipher.

 

You wrote that in Deadfire he is mostly like a spy - someone who rather preffer to act in the shadows (?). If so, Rogue class feels to me to be most obvious choice. You've also mentioned playing tricks on enemies mind, hence I thought that combo with cipher would be nice. But mages/wizards also posses some CC spells obviously, with do target the will, so this is propably perfectly valid option too. You've mentioned also firearms profficiency, hence ranger proposition, but I assume, that this is rather secondary choice - and you haven't mentioned any furry friend of your character. And finaly, he was close to royal (ducal?) guards, hence he could recive some military training - hence possible worrior combination.

 

I can't say for sure for Deadfire - I've played to less so far, but In the firts PoE, while there was some single refferences to the class of our hero, mostly there was none. I think the choice of the background and origin had bigger (however still small) responsivity. Btw. we can choose Old Vailia only - there is no possibility to choose Republics, and this is not exactly the same. And of course, you should (if you are role-playing) remember, that your hero have also experiences from the first PoE behind him.

 

Anyway, I would argue, that class choice and it's build defines only (well, mostly if not only) what our hero do in combat situations. But it has a very little inpact on role-playing and interactions with NPCs. Hence I would rather choose something that more-less fits my role-play, but in first place I would rather wonder about the role my character is going to have in my party in combat situations.

 

Don't take me wrong - I like to consider the class of my character in my role-playing too, and it is very important to me personally. I only meant, that from point of view of NPCs responsiviy, class has minimal meaning.

 

Best wishes!

Edited September 6, 2018 by Sherab

[Hulk'O'Saurus]

Sounds like a trickster/wizard to me. 

[Cyrus_Blackfeather]

Hmmm, based on your description, I think rather of some more common ideas, such as:

 

- rogue + cipher,

- rogue + ranger,

- ranger + cipher,

- rogue + mage,

- rogue + warrior

- warrior + cipher.

 

You wrote that in Deadfire he is mostly like a spy - someone who rather preffer to act in the shadows (?). If so, Rogue class feels to me to be most obvious choice. You've also mentioned playing tricks on enemies mind, hence I thought that combo with cipher would be nice. But mages/wizards also posses some CC spells obviously, with do target the will, so this is propably perfectly valid option too. You've mentioned also firearms profficiency, hence ranger proposition, but I assume, that this is rather secondary choice - and you haven't mentioned any furry friend of your character. And finaly, he was close to royal (ducal?) guards, hence he could recive some military training - hence possible worrior combination.

 

I can't say for sure for Deadfire - I've played to less so far, but In the firts PoE, while there was some single refferences to the class of our hero, mostly there was none. I think the choice of the background and origin had bigger (however still small) responsivity. Btw. we can choose Old Vailia only - there is no possibility to choose Republics, and this is not exactly the same. And of course, you should (if you are role-playing) remember, that your hero have also experiences from the first PoE behind him.

 

Anyway, I would argue, that class choice and it's build defines only (well, mostly if not only) what our hero do in combat situations. But it has a very little inpact on role-playing and interactions with NPCs. Hence I would rather choose something that more-less fits my role-play, but in first place I would rather wonder about the role my character is going to have in my party in combat situations.

 

Don't take me wrong - I like to consider the class of my character in my role-playing too, and it is very important to me personally. I only meant, that from point of view of NPCs responsiviy, class has minimal meaning.

 

Best wishes!

 

Royal guards in his main canon - ducal guards in Pillars. Then of course the entire plot of the first game happened, so he had to deal with that for a bit. 

 

Cipher is definitely a crucial part of the build. I enjoy the focus of going pure Ascendant (Getting strong powers early, and being able to take more of a mix of damage and CC abilities), and lots of people have spoken to its versatility. Rogue would be a fine multiclass option if I wanted to go that route, but I'd lose out on some genuinely very good Cipher passives (Shared Nightmare, A Soul's Echo) and actives (Time Parasite, Death of 1,000 Cuts). So I'm definitely leaning toward that. If I weren't so caught up in Cipher's various mid-late game toys, I'd consider Mindstalker as a solid alternative.

 

And, unfortunately, he doesn't have any furry friends. He does have a cat though, but that moreso exists for passive buffs than actual fighting.