WIP Melee Mindstalker (Trickster/Soulblade) - Single Target DPS/Off-Tank

[Haplok]

It's a static -10%, so its effect diminishes as your number of damage boosts increases.

And sure, particularly the early Trickster powers are pretty awesome defense-wise.

Edited September 13, 2018 by Haplok

[Cyrus_Blackfeather]

Cyrus I'm looking forward to progress on this char because Mindstalker is my fav class but I've never been able to find that perfect chemistry.

 

Now in the long run will that -10% Sneak Attack add up? Is it worth taking a vanilla Rogue or is the utility simply that good for Tricksters?

 

My thought process on it is that, for old Trickster where you only got new spells every few PLs, it wasn't worth taking. But now, it's a matter of 50% compared to 60% (Or, with Deathblows, 100% compared to 110%) and then you take into account other bonuses like from Crippling Strike (25%), lash damage (Which is calculated after everything else), and I don't think you'd feel the difference much. The dual-wield nerf IS significant, but it turns a fantastic class into a great class, imo. If people got bent out of shape over every possible nerf, they'd never play the game.

 

I'm still a little undecided about race, and ultimately it comes down to aesthetics. I just haven't found as many good custom Pale Elf portraits that fit the kind of character I'm wanting to play, as compared to Humans, but I know that Bloodied synergy is something I'm not building around. 

[dunehunter]

Cyrus I'm looking forward to progress on this char because Mindstalker is my fav class but I've never been able to find that perfect chemistry.

 

Now in the long run will that -10% Sneak Attack add up? Is it worth taking a vanilla Rogue or is the utility simply that good for Tricksters?

 

Vanilla rogue is not worth taking, vanilla rogue is not worth taking, vanilla rogue is not worth taking. Important things need to be repeated 3 times

 

Imo old trickster is fine as a subclass, but many players complain it's so bad that they overtuned it. Now there is no reason take vanilla rogue because who cares the 10% damage difference? You get so many awesome spell-like abilities blah, bad design imo.

 

Same as Biting Whip VS Draining Whip, it's 10% flat damage bonus trade with significant focus growth. Anyone who has some game knowledge will know which to pick, I think Obs has a very weird attitude toward damage bonus, on one hand they make some ability purely bad, like fighter weapon specialization and weapon master, which makes me think they overvalue damage bonus. But, on other hand, they give streetfighter +50% damage bonus when bloodied or flank. Do they know how many weapon master that worth? The bonus worths 10 Weapon master or 5 Weapon specialization...

Edited September 13, 2018 by dunehunter

[Verde]

Hahaha. So what you're saying is...vanilla rogue is not worth taking?

[dunehunter]

Hahaha. So what you're saying is...vanilla rogue is not worth taking?

[Cyrus_Blackfeather]

 

Cyrus I'm looking forward to progress on this char because Mindstalker is my fav class but I've never been able to find that perfect chemistry.

 

Now in the long run will that -10% Sneak Attack add up? Is it worth taking a vanilla Rogue or is the utility simply that good for Tricksters?

Vanilla rogue is not worth taking, vanilla rogue is not worth taking, vanilla rogue is not worth taking. Important things need to be repeated 3 times

 

Imo old trickster is fine as a subclass, but many players complain it's so bad that they overtuned it. Now there is no reason take vanilla rogue because who cares the 10% damage difference? You get so many awesome spell-like abilities blah, bad design imo.

 

Same as Biting Whip VS Draining Whip, it's 10% flat damage bonus trade with significant focus growth. Anyone who has some game knowledge will know which to pick, I think Obs has a very weird attitude toward damage bonus, on one hand they make some ability purely bad, like fighter weapon specialization and weapon master, which makes me think they overvalue damage bonus. But, on other hand, they give streetfighter +50% damage bonus when bloodied or flank. Do they know how many weapon master that worth? The bonus worths 10 Weapon master or 5 Weapon specialization...

Street fighter is the only one I feel is super overtuned. Trickster has lots of spells, but they have a cost and some aren't that great, like Confusion.

[dunehunter]

 

 

Cyrus I'm looking forward to progress on this char because Mindstalker is my fav class but I've never been able to find that perfect chemistry.

 

Now in the long run will that -10% Sneak Attack add up? Is it worth taking a vanilla Rogue or is the utility simply that good for Tricksters?

Vanilla rogue is not worth taking, vanilla rogue is not worth taking, vanilla rogue is not worth taking. Important things need to be repeated 3 times

 

Imo old trickster is fine as a subclass, but many players complain it's so bad that they overtuned it. Now there is no reason take vanilla rogue because who cares the 10% damage difference? You get so many awesome spell-like abilities blah, bad design imo.

 

Same as Biting Whip VS Draining Whip, it's 10% flat damage bonus trade with significant focus growth. Anyone who has some game knowledge will know which to pick, I think Obs has a very weird attitude toward damage bonus, on one hand they make some ability purely bad, like fighter weapon specialization and weapon master, which makes me think they overvalue damage bonus. But, on other hand, they give streetfighter +50% damage bonus when bloodied or flank. Do they know how many weapon master that worth? The bonus worths 10 Weapon master or 5 Weapon specialization...

Street fighter is the only one I feel is super overtuned. Trickster has lots of spells, but they have a cost and some aren't that great, like Confusion.

 

 

Well when 'have a cost' becomes a drawback? Every ability/spell has a cost, and these trickster illusion abilities have quite low cost imo. And yes Confusion is bad, but u also get these very good ones, like mirror image, wall of many color, u are not forced to use confusion. I don't see why these are a reason they are not powerful. Trickster >> vanilla rogue with very minor trade, -10% sneak attack damage bonus.

[Verde]

I hate Streetfighter with a passion. People overlook the fact you MUST abuse the Blunderbuss model. So if you don't want to use a Blunderbuss, too bad. And also, Distracted is an affliction - you lose Perc. It's not completely harmless. And thirdly you need to also get Bloodied to harness the full power of the class. It's a huge pain in the ass and not worth trying to accomplish at all times.

[Cyrus_Blackfeather]

I hate Streetfighter with a passion. People overlook the fact you MUST abuse the Blunderbuss model. So if you don't want to use a Blunderbuss, too bad. And also, Distracted is an affliction - you lose Perc. It's not completely harmless. And thirdly you need to also get Bloodied to harness the full power of the class. It's a huge pain in the ass and not worth trying to accomplish at all times.

Yeah. And Assassin's benefit doesn't outweigh the negatives. Unless you're doing a Spellblade

[Verde]

But hey I'm no powergamer so I guess there is a benefit there for choosing SF. Personally I wont want to worry about all that stuff all the time when a optimized build can perform similarly.

[Cyrus_Blackfeather]

So, for races, I'm stuck between Human for aesthetics and Pale Elf for armor. Because there's more human portraits that look unique and varied than Pale Elf ones.

[jww]

So, for races, I'm stuck between Human for aesthetics and Pale Elf for armor. Because there's more human portraits that look unique and varied than Pale Elf ones.

 

You can add custom portraits. There are a bunch already made in the various portraits threads, or you can make your own. If you don't care about the parchment color in the dialogue portraits, you can use the Pillars of Eternity choice in the Baldur's Gate portrait generator here:

 

http://www.notra.fr/portrait

 

... to get you two of the sizes you need, and then you can just crop those to get the other two sizes you need. (I think someone's also posted a tutorial about how to get that parchment color, but I'm not a graphics person so I usually take shortcuts.)

[Cyrus_Blackfeather]

... Yeah, I'm going to go with Pale Elf. 15/15 Frost/Burn AR is choice. 

[Haplok]

I hate Streetfighter with a passion. People overlook the fact you MUST abuse the Blunderbuss model. So if you don't want to use a Blunderbuss, too bad. And also, Distracted is an affliction - you lose Perc. It's not completely harmless. And thirdly you need to also get Bloodied to harness the full power of the class. It's a huge pain in the ass and not worth trying to accomplish at all times.

 

You don't have to abuse BB to use a Streetfighter. In fact you probably shouldn't if you want to play it as intended.

I'm currently playing a Devoted/Streetfighter Swashbuckler and I don't use BB at all. Or Chill fog. Or any other abuse. Partially because I don't want to debuff my Fighter's mighty Intuitive Perception (+25%crit and 50% graze-to-hit) buff. Instead I charge/escape into a group of enemies and fight surrounded, often flanked, sometimes blooded.

Sometimes my char is slow, but often he benefits from Streetfighter bonuses - particularly when the heat is intense, enemies many and incoming damage high.

 

That said, I wouldn't risk such a playstyle with anything other then a Fighter, who can survive A LOT with Unbending active (or maybe a Pally, but then with a much more defensive build).

Plus there are alternatives, such as Barring the Death's Door builds, but those are too gimmicky/risky/relaying on short lived buffs for me.

Edited September 14, 2018 by Haplok