Debonaire/Priest Multiclass: Can it be Done?

[Gelatinous Rube]

Alternative title: Should it be done?

Long time lurker first time poster who usually plays PotD etc.

I'm still working my way through Deadfire after enjoying Pillars of Eternity. I find myself drawn into the myriad of options that Deadfire presents. I also really like priest/cleric characters in general and the idea of slamming a critical Pillar of Holy Fire on a group of charmed enemies. I wanted to get the communities read on this build concept.

Right now, I’m trying to build a character (most likely a priest of Wael) with some preacher/cult leader-ish vibes and I think debonaire provides an interesting twist on the usual rogue with Charming Smile and 100% hit to crit on charmed foes. This would definitely not be solo, and the character would likely travel with a Witch Serafen and a SC Cipher Ydwin to take better advantage of the Hit to Crit.

The idea would be to charm and then hit hard with some powerful spells (PoHF, Divine Mark, etc.)

In theory it sounds like an interesting build but I’m seeing some issues with implementation.

1) Zealots are not the most synergistic of class multiclass combos. Although, as thelee demonstrated with his Umezawa build, the combo can work wonders a zealot is not as intuitively synergistic as say a contemplative or a cleric.

2) Aside from Pillar of Holy Fire and Storm of Holy fire the priest is lacking in friendly fire AoE spells. This can be helped somewhat by scrolls but still presents an issue.

I still think this build could work and I like the flavor, but I’d like to workshop it a little before I commit to the bit.

 

[Chaospread]

Quick answer: why not?
It is a breath of fresh air besides the usual builds, and in a party you can overtake debonaire drawbacks (cowardice) easily, and with others "charmes" you can charme some enemies without giving them body inspiration. I think debonaire pro is a fair little good because when you hit a charmes enemy it turns in "not charmed" and you have no more convertions, but as you say, you can land a big damage spell on it

Anyway, Priest is a powerful class alone and also combined with other classes, so you can't worry.
Storm of Holy Fire is a great spell, only it is enough for a Priest, what a Priest lacks is non-fire AoE spells. If you wanna more AoE spell with other damage type you can take Berath for corrode (and you get SoT for free) or Rymrgand (with a mod of course), if you wanna more fire damage then Magran... but why Wael? For RPG purpose? I think Debonaire is already good in defense without Mirrored Image or Llengrath's Displaced Image, I'd go for other subclass as I said before

[Gelatinous Rube]

52 minutes ago, Chaospread said:

 take Berath for corrode (and you get SoT for free) or Rymrgand (with a mod of course), if you wanna more fire damage then Magran... but why Wael? For RPG purpose?

Wael was for RP and just general survivability but I was considering Rymrgand just because of the extra damage-types options it has. I'm not adverse to modding and play with the community patch so that's not an issue.

 

[thelee]

i think you might have to give up wael a bit if you want to take advantage of the hit->crit effect of debonaire.

though looking at the bonus spells, no one really has a great set of bonus spells for taking advatnage of that. cleansing flame and scrolls might be the best way to do it.

though as a slight suggestion - skaen might be a good mechanical choice. Escape (plus fast runner) and Shadowing Beyond give you really great options for de-aggroing enemies while saving rogue skill points (or at least guile). because the most busted thing the debonaire can do is sneak close to an enemy party, charm one of them, and then run/de-aggro the fight and let the charmed guy get wasted while burning enemy resources (and even maybe take one out). rinse and repeat. made the temple of woedica fight (really brutal on potd) extremely easy.

 

edit: i had a different debonaire multiclass one, and i honestly found arterial strike on the rogue to be a useful thing to hit->crit, at least as a finisher. frequently you're left with a single kith mob who's still charmed, i just get my party members away, do the arterial strike, and now i have an extremely long duration mobility debuff and they just try to chase me down and die.

Edited July 10 by thelee

[Gelatinous Rube]

Been a week sorry, been busy at work.

So after starting and restarting to test builds I think as per @thelee's suggestion Skaen might be the best choice. You get some rogue goodies without sacrificing too much even with Wael survivability and Rymyrgand's AoE damage spells. Especially early game when the only sources of charm (from NPC cipher or Roguish Charm) are single target. 

I don't think race matters too much so I'm going mountain dwarf (cause I like them) death or nature godlike might be good for shenanigans but I like wearing silly hats.

Stats I'm planning to use:

MIG: 10 (8+2 dwarf)
CON: 10 (9+1 dwarf)
DEX: 15 (16-1 dwarf)
PER: 18
INT: 16
RES: 8

Pretty standard, I'm not really into min-maxing and stats aren't omni-important in Deadfire.

For weapons I think estoc might be good especially Blade of the Endless Paths which has an on crit effect. If I was going the two-handed route I also like rods with a rogue because of AoE afflictions.

If going the dual-wield route I like both spiritual weapon and daggers (marux amarth).
 

 

[Chaospread]

16 hours ago, Gelatinous Rube said:

I'm going mountain dwarf

Why not Boreal if you like dwarfs? Resistance to CON affliction can be achieve easily otherwise, the miss to graze convertion of Boreal is better imho, specially early game
Rest of build is awesome

Edited July 18 by Chaospread
forget content

[Gelatinous Rube]

5 hours ago, Chaospread said:

Why not Boreal if you like dwarfs?

I actually really like this, it clicks together in my head and gives the build more advantages against non-kith (specifically wilder and primordial) enemies.