It's an awkward question after so many runs, do you favor companions over sidekicks for Hearth Defender's Scale?

[yorname]

Just finished a first team run in months. I intended to make full use of Hearth Defender's Scale's +2 AR, but underestimated how hard it is to get everyone's attitude to +2, especially since I had both Pallegina and Xoti and had to pick a side when talking about anything related to gods. I ended up with one +2, two +1 and Xoti and +0. This got me thinking if picking companions over sidekicks for this is worth it.

[Boeroer]

My confession is that I never really used that shield - although I mostly play with the companions (not with the sidekicks that much). 

[yorname]

I had the impression that +2AR makes a difference on PotD for companions in medium armor with teams buffs but not AR bonuses of their own, in practice it's still not enough (I also added that shield with +1AR aura)

[yorname]

I'm also confused because I couldn't get any change from Eder with anything but animals. Saying things supporting or antagonizing Eothas didn't do anything on him, at least when I tried. At the end I only have 3 attitude increases from being friendly to animals and nothing else.

[Elric Galad]

25 minutes ago, yorname said:

I'm also confused because I couldn't get any change from Eder with anything but animals. Saying things supporting or antagonizing Eothas didn't do anything on him, at least when I tried. At the end I only have 3 attitude increases from being friendly to animals and nothing else.

That's a bit the issue.

The Player Character dispositions are somewhat controllable. You tend to get disposition point by RPing around the right attitude.
Companion dispositions are a bit random for me.

Even then, having to max dispotions and companions reaction feel too much constraint to manage. So usually I completely ignore hearth defender.

But to be honnest, I even don't like dispositions having consequences on non-dialogue gameplay. I rarely even Deep Faith (yeah that's wrong).
I like RPing a bit, but not being constraint into RPing in a specific fashion.

[thelee]

1 hour ago, yorname said:

I had the impression that +2AR makes a difference on PotD for companions in medium armor with teams buffs but not AR bonuses of their own, in practice it's still not enough (I also added that shield with +1AR aura)

imo medium armor is mostly a trap on potd with upscaling*. the relentlessness of enemy PEN gain (already boosted by PotD) means that most of the time you're probably better off going lighter** for more responsiveness or heavier for actual protection. medium armor tends not to actually provide much damage reduction in practice (as it seems you've experienced). even heavy armor has trouble sometimes without additional help (AR buffs or something like dazed on enemies), especially early on where it's really hard to find/upgrade enchanted heavy armor but you keep leveling.

i think you'll probably get the most mileage out of hearth defender in conjunction with a couple allies in heavy armor. but like everyone else, i generally have never used it (it itself is a mediocre medium armor for the person wearing it).

 

*a handful of exceptions from the unique armors list, but hearth defender is not one of them. there is a exceptional scale armor that is very nice b.c. you can steal it from the dark cupboard very early in the game and it's very useful protection early on.

** ironically it feels like there's a bigger protection difference between cloth/robes and light armor than there is from light to medium. in my (admittedly very selective) memory, light armor can meaningfully help against overpenetration vs robes, but often times it seems like medium armor doesn't even help with that.

Edited December 8, 2022 by thelee

[yorname]

Besides Devil of Caroc there're several medium armor that provide defenses like fortitude reflex will, I was expecting them to help with CC, but it's hard to tell whether it's worth the trouble, as less incoming damage is always easier to manage

[omgFIREBALLS]

I always play mass paladins and like to admire my defenses. Ain't nobody gets to tell me not to wear Magnera's Chain.

Also, fort/reflex/will help with incoming damage too. Will perhaps only rarely, but OTOH it stops the worst kinds of CC.

Edited December 8, 2022 by omgFIREBALLS

[Not So Clever Hound]

9 hours ago, omgFIREBALLS said:

Ain't nobody gets to tell me not to wear Magnera's Chain

Yes, Magnera's Chain is awesome and gives you a real nice defense bump without having to invest in a skill e.g. Intimidate, History or Athletics like other items.

If you're willing to (ab)use WoD or SoT, Furrante's Breastplate and Duskfall are amazing items because First to the Fight (+10 All Defenses) and Drawing Parry (+15 Deflection) can be prolonged and stack with everything. With those an Arcane Knight can push all defenses in the 220s, which is the equivalent of a middle-finger to 99.9% of enemies in the game.

[Kaylon]

The armor becomes very good if fully upgraded (comparable with Magnera's Chain). The aura allows Pallegina to become basically the best tank in the game (while the ranged ones are less squishy). The easiest way to improve companions disposition (besides doing their quest in the best possible way) is to make compatible parties using people sharing the same trait - light hearted (Eder, Xoti, Serafen, Tekehu) or dutiful (Aloth, Pallegina, Maia) and adopt clever/rational attitude to get their approval.

Edited December 9, 2022 by Kaylon

[Kaylon]

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Edited December 9, 2022 by Kaylon