[CLASS BUILD] The Ceaseless Siren - never stopping spell spammer of extreme versatility

[Boeroer]

This build was created for a collaboration with @Aestus who runs the Youtube channel Aestus_RPG. There will be a video in the near future where we talk about this and other builds. Please check it out. I will post a direct link to the video right here as soon as it's online. This is build 2 of 5 from that collaboration.
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This build is mainly meant for inspiratation. You don't need to follow it in detail to have fun. If you understand the key features - the basic idea what makes this build special - you can usually deviate from my non-core attribute-, skill-, gear- and ability selection and form the build to your own likings and ideas. 
I do not try to produce the most powerful uberbuilds (often those are the most boring to play in he long run) but to focus on having fun while playing. Usually that means the build is powerful - but it's not the main focus. If you like to read about my personal requirements for "fun to play" builds, you can jump to a list below this post
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orn a slave, Miccaela Shorsh grew up in the shadowed quarters of Ancenze in the Vaillian Republics, where art, politics, and wealth flourish - at least for the free. Her mother Borschtscha was cleaning the dog kennels for one of the wealthy families, and Miccaela seemed destined for the same life of subjugation and shἱt shoveling. However, even as a child and despite her little frame, her voice was unlike any other, an voluminous sound that could either stir hearts and calm tempers or incide discord and altercations. Unbeknownst to her, her gift was more than mere sound: Miccaela possessed a rare psionic talent, woven into her voice.
Her abilities first manifested during a punishment because she refused to wash the stinky fur of the owners' favorite hound Beangobbler the Volatile. Terrified and in pain, Miccaela sang a phrase so powerful that it brought the overseer to his knees, clutching his pearls.
Word of this strange power spread quickly through the household, and Miccaela was soon seen as dangerous, but also a potential tool. Her owners realized her voice could be used for their advantage in politics and business, so they forced the little Wild Orlan to perform at grand galas, her melodies subtly manipulating the minds of listeners. But the Wild Orlan's rebellious nature kicked in: at a big dinner event she planted a simple longing into all of the female guests: to stab their partners or patrons with a greasy shashlik skewer as soon as they started to talk obnoxiuos stuff. As a tumult erupted and people who looked like shashlik porcupine fell over each other, Miccaela managed to flee the scene - and the Vaillian Republics althoghether on a trading vessel which was headed for the Deadfire Archipelago.
As Miccaela grew older (which happens pretty quickly with Orlans, min you), she learned to conceal her abilities behind the guise of mere performance. Although cleaning the kennels, Beangobbler the Volatile and the whole slavery shebang was behind her, she longed to fight for freedom for all sentient beings: every note she sang became a coded message of rebellion, a call to anyone who would be susceptible to the power of her voice.
Now, Miccaela is no longer just a performer, but a covert agent of resistance, using her voice to bend minds, influence rulers and subtly shift the balance of power. In secret and with a philosophy similar to that of a Bleak Walker, she will use all means to free the oppressed and gather those who would help her tear down the chains of slavery, always with a song on her lips and her psionic power in her little yellow furry head.

"I won't let you down
I will not give you up
Gotta have some faith in the sound
It's the one good thing that I've got
I won't let you down
So please don't give me up
Because I really, really don't want to wash that hound..."
- Miccaela while freezing some killers stiff -



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The Ceaseless Siren
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Difficulty: PotD
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Solo: untested
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Class: Spiritualist - Psion/Troubadour
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Race: Wild Orlan (or any)
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Background: Old Vaillia (or any) - Slave (or any)
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Stats (w/o Berath's Blessings, ★=recommmendation)
MIG: 10 (11, -1 Orlan)
CON: 10 (do not dump)
DEX: 12
PER: 15 (13, +2 Orlan) ★
INT: 19 (18, +1 Old Vailia) ★★
RES: 12 (11, +1 Orlan, do not dump) ★
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the unique icons for all passive abilities are part of the Community Patch mod

Abilities | Skills | Proficiencies  - (!=important, r=recommended, a=automatic)
00. Brisk Recitation (! a) + Telekinetic Burst (a)
01. Whisper of Treason + If Their Bones Still Slept + Blessed was Wengridh | Dagger + Large Shield
02. Lingering Echoes | +1 Stealth (->1), +1 Intimidate (->1)
03. Soul Shock | +1 Stealth (->2), +1 Intimidate (->2)
04. At the Soud of his Voice + Mental Binding | +1 Stealth (->3), +1 Insight (->2) | Small Shield
05. Weapon and Shield Style (r) | +1 Stealth (->4), +1 Intimidate (->3)
06. Phantom Foes | +1 Stealth (->5), +1 Insight (->3)
07. Ancient Brittle Bones + Puppet Master | +1 Stealth (->6), +1 Bluff (->3)
08. Secret Horrors | +1 Stealh (->7), +1 Intimidate (->4) | Sabre
09. And Hel-Hyraf Crashed | +1 Slight of Hand (->3 ), +1 Insight (->4)
10. The Shield Cracks + Pain Block | +1 Stealth (->8), +1 Bluff (->4)
11. Spell Shaping | +1 Sleight of Hand (->4), +1 Intimidate (->4)
12. Penetrating Visions | +1 Sleight of Hand (->5), +1 Insight (->5) | Club
13. Rapid Casting + Borrowed Instinct | +1 Mecanics (->2), +1 Bluff (->5)
14. Keen Mind | +1 Mechanics (->3), +1 Intimidate (->6)
15. Farcasting (r) | +1 Mechanics (->4), +1 Insight (->6)
16. Quick Summoning + The Empty Soul | +1 Mechanics (->5), +1 Bluff (->6) | Scepter
17. Disintegration | +1 Mechanics (->6), +1 Intimidate (->7)
18. Greater Focus | +1 Arcana (->2), +1 Insight (->7)
19. Many Lives Pass By (r) + Ancestor's Memory | +1 Arcana (->3), +1 Bluff (->7)
20. Called to His Bidding | +1 Arcana (->4), +1 Intimidate (->8) | Pistol
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Items (!=important, r=recommended)

Weapon Set 1: Sasha's Singing Scimitar (r, +Refreshing Finale, +Shocking Prelude), Shimmer Scale (+Warped Scales, +Thermal Ablation, +Legendary)
Weapon Set 2: Lover's Embrace (use modal at all times), Shining Bulwark (+Rear Guard, +Legendary, use modal when shot at)

Head: Pearlescent Rhomboid Helstone (or any other)
Back: Cloak of Greater Deflection (r - helps to demotivate enemies from attacking you)  
Neck: Charm of Bones (r - for the added INT -> bigger AoE and durations)
Armor: Casita Samelia's Legacy (+Legendary, +Ardent) or Nomad's Brigandine (+Tail of the Column, +Tactical Withdraw, +Legendary) or Gipon Prudensco (+Legendary, +Fight Another Day, +No Fool I)
Waist: Girdle of Eoten Constitution
Hands: Bracers of Greater Deflection (r - helps to demotivate enemies from attacking you)  
Rings: Chamaeleon's Touch (+1 INT & +1 PER) or Ring of Protection or Deflection, Kuaru's Prize
Boots: Boots of Stability or Boots of Speed
Pet: Loki (+15% AoE size) or Animancy Cat (when using summons a lot) or whatever suits your spell selection 

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What is this build about:

• endless generation of resouces: you gain focus and phrases for your spells without having to do anything. That also means your resources fill up while you cast, run around etc.
  Using the Psion (focus gain per second, scales with Power Level) and the Troubadour (phrases elapse twice a fast with Brisk Recitation -> double the phrase point generation) gives you a caster who never runs out of spell resources and has almost no downtime: excellent action economy
• no need to actively use your weapon (which you are not good with anyways)
• immense versatility with all sorts of great spells: healing, reviving, disables, damage, buffing, mind control, summons - you can do it all. Pick what your party needs and you’ll be good at it. You can then also alter the gear to your needs. For example: if you wanted to play a Ceaseless Siren as a damage dealer who is spamming shock spells (Her Revenge + Soul Shock) nonstop you could pick up Deltro's Cage instead of the armor I listed above. If you want to take a support role (casting Pain Block and singing Ancient Memory or Mercy and Kindness etc.) you could use the Physikers Belt and a pet that does +15% healing and so on. The most potent combination might be to focus on mind control on the Psion side (Whisper of Treason, Puppet Master, Ringleader) and on summons on the Troubadour side (Animated Weapon + Many Lives Pass By), but constant CC spells are also very impactful: spamming Killers Froze Stiff + Mental Binding lets you completely disable and control whole groups of enemies pretty early in the game.
• independent from special unique items, this build can free up gear for other party members who might need it more. Sasha's Singing Scimitar is great, but even without it this caster is very effective. So if you want to include another chanter in the party who might make even better use of the weapon (for example a Bellower) it's not a problem.
• attributes can be allocated freely fitting your role. For example a damage dealer wants more MIG, a summoner or supporter/healer wouldn't need a lot of PER. 
• one of the very few class combinations that beat the Ultimate challenge without the "endless duration of buffs" exploit - which shows how powerful it can be.
• I chose a mix of CC, damage, healing and summons so that there's always an answer to most situations. While playing you will quickly find out which spells you like to use the most - just can alter your choices of abilities and gear accordingly. 

Issues:

• when you get damaged (or critically hit when using the Community Patch mod which I recommend) your focus generation will stop for a short time. Unconditional focus generation is the Psion’s forte. While phrase generation stops briefly after an invocation the Psion’s focus never stops growing until damaged (or critically hit with the CP mod). Without this costant focus generation the Psion is bad. So you want to avoid getting attacked! You automatic ability Telikinetic Burst can help of course. But there's other ways to reduce the risks:
• stay stealthed at the beginning of combat. You want to load up on focus anyway - and when enemies have settled on your party members (like your tank) you are lot less likely to get attacked.
• having good deflection and/or immunity against disengagment attacks lets you get away without damage. 
• you shouldn't build a glasscannon but have to invest into defenses. You can also use summons and mind control/disables to avoid damage to great effect - but more importantly (because it works without much effort and micromanagement) raise your deflection and armor and don’t dump your CON (health). There are lots of enemies out there that specifically look for weak party members in terms of low deflection, low armor and low health (like rangers, rogues and barbs do). Using a shield and putting on decent armor deters most of those enemies from picking you as their favorite target in the first place, giving you an easier time.
• sacrifice some offensive prowess for defense. It will help to let this character play a lot more smoothly than maxing your offensive potential. Unusual for a caster but it works. The best offensive stats mean nothing if you cannot cast because you lack focus. Another great way to prevent getting attacked (without having to actively do anything) in the later game is to sing Many Lives Pass By at all times - a weak skeleton that pops up every 3 seconds and forms a group of skeletons with its buddies quickly draws attention away from you and shields you from almost all attackers.
   

Why is it fun:

• because of the endless and fast resource generation there’s always something to do, very little downtime. Opposite of low level Wizards, Priests or Druids who have very few spells in he early game.
• the spell selection is great
• always good impact, powerful right away bc. of summons, great CC and so on
• extremely versatile. There are Very little situations where you cannot contribute. The swiss army knife of casters
• because of the rel. good sturdyness (to avoid focus stop) little frustration from getting knocked out etc. which is great for inexperienced players.
• does not depend on items - this can help to attain a special look or theme/background a lot more easily without the feeling you have to sacrifice performance.

 

Hope you enjoy!
Cheers!

Edited September 12 by Boeroer

[Boeroer]

What makes builds fun for me?

• they are powerful/impactful (enough) - there's no fun if your character feels like a millstone around the party’s neck
• they don’t need late game gear to function - although getting late game gear to improve them can be a motivation. But having to wait forever in order to make your character click for the last hour of the game can be frustrating
• you don’t have to wait for late game abilities for them to be fun to play ad impactful (same as above) - although having the goal of reaching a great high lvl ability can add to the fun and motivation. Even at lvl 20 (if you have DLCs installed) there's still a good amount of game left to enjoy the highest lvl abilities
• they don’t need a lot of repetitive setups in every fight - that's not as much of a problem if that’s easy to script though (although I personally don't like to use the AI with my MC) but for example: if you need to manually switch several grimoires at the beginnig of the fight the fun will not last and you will stop doing that quickly. If your character's performance relies on that switching you most likely won't feel okay with this character
• No overpowered 1-trick ponies (at least not too early in the game). It’s okay if that happens in the late game, but it ruins the playthrough if you can win every fight with the same trick and the same character - while the rest of the party is only there to watch (looking at you, Grave-Calling Berserker/Beckoner)
• Good reactivity - it gets frustrating if the character plays like a slowpoke but would profit a lot from being more reactive. This can also mean using a reloading weapon is better than using a recovery weapon (reloading can be stopped for other actions, recovery cannot)
• fits the party - best if it fits a lot of party compositions and doesn't need a party build around it. But sometimes that can be fun, too. Anyway: it's no fun to use a build which mechanics don't blend into the others'
• not too much micromanagement - but also not too little. For companions low micro can be great - for my MC I like to (reasonably) micromanage and use active abilites manually.
• this leads to plenty (or even unlimited) resources. I personally like it if resources can be refilled somehow or costs can get refunded. Can also mean the resources are fixed but there are great abilities that aren't too expensive
• general versatility - being good at/useful for more than one single thing
• craftiness/creativity of the build (something to be proud of when a build idea does indeed work)
• out-of the ordinary/original (there's not much exitement when taking a well-trodden path)
• good character story (at least in my head) so it’s not a blank slate. An emotional connection does help a lot. And no - the silly stuff I write at the top of my build posts are not the stories I use.  
• thematically coherent and somewhat believable
• stylish/cool/badass
• good/entertaining sound effects (surprisingly important!)
• good vfx (without crashing the game or destroying the performance)   

Edited September 9 by Boeroer

[yorname]

Does +1PL from food stack in unmodded game? It's kind of a big deal for psion especially MC. It's one of the few cases that nature godlike is really good: food + racial can raise PL from 7 to 9, so focus generation grows from 4/s to 5/s

[yorname]

Also maybe a bit nitpicking here: the playlist page of the ultimate run specifically said SoF exploit was part of the run. I haven't watched to see how much exactly they relied on it, but the class is definitely not that powerful.

CP soul mind is just something else. Without it I had to position much more conservatively and gear towards defensive stats to the point that offensive chanter spells felt bad to use. Even the "infinite CC loop" on the cipher side only worked once in a while.

Edited September 9 by yorname

[Elric Galad]

4 hours ago, yorname said:

Does +1PL from food stack in unmodded game? It's kind of a big deal for psion especially MC. It's one of the few cases that nature godlike is really good: food + racial can raise PL from 7 to 9, so focus generation grows from 4/s to 5/s

Sometimes yes

Sometimes no

That's how unconsistent the save/reload bug is. By defaut it does not stack and no one has exactly figure how to obtain the stacking. 

3 hours ago, yorname said:

Also maybe a bit nitpicking here: the playlist page of the ultimate run specifically said SoF exploit was part of the run. I haven't watched to see how much exactly they relied on it, but the class is definitely not that powerful.

CP soul mind is just something else. Without it I had to position much more conservatively and gear towards defensive stats to the point that offensive chanter spells felt bad to use. Even the "infinite CC loop" on the cipher side only worked once in a while.

BPM Soul Mond is on Hit, which excludes Grazes but allow non damages hit to stop Soul Mind. Just a little bit more for giving than vanilla. 

[yorname]

5 minutes ago, Elric Galad said:

BPM Soul Mond is on Hit, which excludes Grazes but allow non damages hit to stop Soul Mind. Just a little bit more for giving than vanilla. 

Yeah I played on BPM. It was quite rough. It was a good support but I couldn't get enough focus safely to be as offensive as I like, so maybe that's their niche use. I can only imagine vanilla would be even more so.

8 minutes ago, Elric Galad said:

Sometimes yes

Sometimes no

That's how unconsistent the save/reload bug is. By defaut it does not stack and no one has exactly figure how to obtain the stacking.

I guess that means nature godlike is less important for non-BPM. If food PL happens to not stack, on top of 7+2(potion), their +1 racial can't increase focus gain.

[Boeroer]

I didn't know he used the SoF exploit because in those megaboss fights I watched of that run that exploit didn't play a role. The main thing the char was doing was to send in endless waves of summons - where endless buffs aren't really that helpful. I didn't watch the whole run though - but I guess SoF made the middle part a lot easier. I'm very confident it's doable without that exploit since I see no reason why it wouldn't.

I soloed several Megabosses with this class combination just to try it out (without consumables as I nearly always do). First was Belranga which was ridiculously easy because of endless summons (just hid behind the rocks and send in animated weapons) - and Huani was also easy because of summons + Disintegrate.

Imo it is one of the easiest class combinations to deal with Megabosses - and since it doesn't operate with weapons and doesn't rely on other gear much - and doesn't tank - it's also great for circumventing some of the nasty god challenges.

Ofc. being great solo and suited for killing Megabosses doesn't necessarily mean it's equally impactful in a party setup. Some solo characters aren't. But this is imo.

The versatility makes it so that it fits almost any party composition and it's impact on party performance is undeniable. Some would argue that Ancestor's Memory alone makes it worthwhile to bring into most parties. But on top you have the two most impactful mechanics in the game rolled into one character: mind control + summons.

And even if you want to play it as pure support it's great imo: you sing the resistance songs with Brisk Recitation and clear all afflictions 6 secs max, you could heal passively + actively with Ancient Memory + Mercy and Kindness + Pain Block and so on.

Concerning Power Level: I played a SC Psion in a party with the same defensive-minded setup as this build (unmodded game) and had zero problems. The PL scaling of Soul Mind was more important then because I only had focus as resource. I took Prestige because of that. Being able to get over the hump and squeeze 1 more focus per second out of Soul Mind can make a noticable difference then.

But with a Psion/Troubadour the PL scaling of Soul Mind isn't that crucial imo - because focus is not your only resource. It's not even that bad if you get damaged every now and then because phrase generation continues anyway. But when staying stealth first, using summons + mind control then I don't get attacked most of times. Summons like skeletons make great bait because tier defenses, AR and health are low. Mind Control takes care of enemies who might still be inclined to attack you.

It also helps to not attack enemies right away. If you deal a lot of damage to enemies who are not disabled you will get attention and get attacked. I usually first pup out summons from stealth, then use CC and only if I must I will deal damage (for example if the enemy is vulnerable to shock and my other party members don't have that atm).

I like to leave the damage dealing to other party members because I think keeping lots of enemies disabled and controlled all the time is a lot more useful than dealing mere damage with this multiclass.

Stuff like Killers Froze Stiff + high INT + Spell Shaping has enormous reach. Combine with a cast of Secret Horrors and enemies won't do much at all. 

Of course it's way more convenient to play with the Community Patch. But the vanilla game is why I recommend to stack especially deflection quite high (for a non-melee caster) as I did here. 

Edited September 9 by Boeroer

[Boeroer]

2 hours ago, yorname said:

I guess that means nature godlike is less important for non-BPM. If food PL happens to not stack, on top of 7+2(potion), their +1 racial can't increase focus gain.

You can use Stone of Power to get over the hump. It usually stacks with other PL bonuses. And when you have two of them you can use it in every fight (stack the 0/rest one with the 1/rest one in your stash, separate the two and they both have 1/rest). 

Edited September 9 by Boeroer

[yorname]

I see. Megabosses are more "controlled environment" that avoid being hit isn't too hard. I was mainly thinking about SSS fights, those with ranged enemies are tricky.

I got the impression that dealing damage or low defensive stats attracts enemy attention, not sure about CC effects tho. Focusing on CC/debuffing might be a good idea.

Stone of Power trick is nice! Neck slot is generally not as good as head, it's a good trade.

[Boeroer]

23 minutes ago, yorname said:

I got the impression that dealing damage or low defensive stats attracts enemy attention, not sure about CC effects tho. Focusing on CC/debuffing might be a good idea.

Yeah you are right, CC effects also attract enemy attention (all attack rolls seem to) - but if it's a potent CC effect and the enemies become successfully disabled (or even mind-contolled) it doesn't matter that much.   

 

[Elric Galad]

3 hours ago, Boeroer said:

You can use Stone of Power to get over the hump. It usually stacks with other PL bonuses. And when you have two of them you can use it in every fight (stack the 0/rest one with the 1/rest one in your stash, separate the two and they both have 1/rest). 

I don't think so, it is active AFAIK.

It doesn't stack with Acute/Brilliant and Potion of Ascension.

It stacks with Nature Godlike and the few other stackable PL (such as Pike of the woodlord or whatever it's called). 

[Boeroer]

Hm, yeah maybe. I know that it used to stack with everything in the early days but I now remember that I saw suppression with some active PL bonus (don't remember which). 

[Bogdan of Buck]

I like it a lot. This build kinda gives me Diablo 2 necromancer vibes. It also fits very nicely into my Chillfog(thanks for another fun build) Chanter who is a Pale Elf from Nasitaq, who started his adventure by wanting to collect tales of near death experiences (you might say he was bit ifluenced by his slight affinity towards Berath and Rymrgand). After becoming a Watcher he could collect the tales of ACTUAL dead people and if my understanding is correct when the Chanter gathers the tales and deeper understandng of them, it increases the power of said individual as a chanter. After getting *REDACTED* in Deadfire the Watcher abbilities (which helped him gather all the tales of the dead) and the act of *REDACTED* caused him to awaken Psion abbiliteis as he gained deeper insight into all the soul stuff. 

Definitly using this build for my MC. Thanks!