The NPCs of PoE and their classes

[rjshae]

 

I think it's likely that the core four classes(priest, fighter, mage, rogue) will all get one npc. If my guess is right there are only two unknown classes.

 

I think this quote from the pcworld interview confirms a priest as a party member. (The other character is likely eder).

 

So... most likely there will be an Aumaua character of some type. Perhaps a crabby Aumauan priestess of fish and chip shops?

[Osvir]

All of the companions from the Kickstarter are subject to change except Edér and Pallegina IIRC. Those two are the only ones that has been "confirmed" (with name and all as well). Sagani, Edair, Aloth, Cadegund and Forton might not be companions, they might be V.I.P NPC's in the world instead.

Is Edair scratched and replaced by Edér? Or is Edair still in the game?

Edited April 20, 2014 by Osvir

[Osvir]

I know Sharp_One, but did they really say "Edair is Edér now" or did they simply present Edér and we assumed it was a name-change? I don't remember 100% if I read a dev comment/update on it or not. Like, literally hearing them say that or if it was only insinuated upon. If the latter, then it isn't entirely true that Edair is scrapped. He could appear as a guardman, an adventurer of some sort, or a captain in barracks somewhere... maybe a warband leader... maybe even Edér's twin brother.

I always thought Edair was going to be a Fighter character, a worn-out officer of some kind. Like Captain Basch from Final Fantasy XII. Then Edér appeared and he was a Rogue, and he kind of looks like Edair. I think there could be a potential Sabin/Edgar type of story/plot. Edér is the cool, slightly chaotic guy, a thief from the lower class districts.

And Edair, the more lawful character/brother is on the other side of the Law, as an officer of a guardshouse or part of the current "police" force. In that case a detective.

Maybe Edér is Edair but he's undercover?

Some researching stuff~
Edair is not even mentioned in Update #71 (Kickstarter) when Edér was uncovered. I can't access the [4]th reference (Something Awful), but I looked a bit here (forums.obsidian.net./best-content/ search for "Edér"), and also a little bit over here (SA). Here (Page 21, Devtracker) it is translated to Edér. It is the only place where Edér is mentioned.

 

This quote (Codex/Rock Paper Shotgun/) is the interviewer's own words and assumptions, not Obsidian's words. It's at the bottom of the interview/post:

"The interview also has some new information about the companion Edér (formerly known as "Edair"), who is apparently a rogue and not a fighter as was widely assumed. RPS have another interview coming up tomorrow, this time with Feargus Urquhart, which will be about Obsidian's next Kickstarter(!), so stay tuned."

 

Are we to assume that Edér is/used-to-be Edair based on the Rock Paper Shotgun interviewers words? It's not cited by anyone from Obsidian, it is cited from Nathan Greyson over at Rock Paper Shotgun.

Edited April 20, 2014 by Osvir

[Hormalakh]

If I'm not mistaken, I thought I read that Eder's name was changed to follow the language conventions. It's the same guy with the same unwillingness to have things known about him - and now that's clear because he's a rogue.

[Osvir]

I'm trying to attempt to get some more flesh into the story

I'm flirtingly speculating that Edair is Edér... like, literally and physically and not just a name-change. Edair being an undercover dude and Edér being the undercover title. I'm probably way off but it would be awesome imo! It's something that imo isn't entirely impossible, but I agree that it might be a bit far-fetched.

Multi-faced companions that can take different forms on different playthroughs.

@Sharp_One: Indeed it is! And I agree with you that "It's on the official wiki so it should be correct". But is the thing the official wiki pointing at (referencing) saying the same thing? If it isn't, then there's a gap in there that could potentially be filled with some interesting stuff.

@Hormalakh: That makes sense. But is a detective or an undercover officer someone who would want things to be known about him? See what I'm getting at?

It is of course 100% speculation and some inserted (and hopeful) inspiration.

[Silent Winter]

I'm 90% sure Eder is just a name change based on language convention.  Not some in-game ploy to have him undercover (though that's a cool idea - his class change to rogue wouldn't make sense though).

 

Personally I'm glad they changed the NPC from Kickstarter, besides Aloth none of them looked appealing to me. Changed Eder, orlan cipher and Godlike Paladin sound more cool.

Aloth looks ok, but for me, Sagani is more interesting.  Boreal Dwarf Ranger v. Elven Wizard.

Orlan Cipher detective dude does looks interesting though.  And from what we've heard of Pallegina, her story sounds interesting too.

[Lephys]

What I hope about party members is we don't have to start with another Imoen. I'd hate to ditch them out in the wild right after the prologue.

 

My point is, you want me to get a starting companion, invest in making them familiar to me beforehand.

Indeed.

 

A couple of interesting things I think, regarding such an early "I'm just known-to/with the main character" companions, are:

 

A) Have the story just say "Okay, player, I know you don't really know this person yet, but, your character is like BESTEST friends with them!", then, when shyte hits the fan, have the two of you forcibly become separated. Now, you don't just have Best Friend Bill following you around all day, since the dawn of gameplay, commenting on how you already know him because he's your bestest friend. It's just kind of interesting. Or can be.

 

B) Like you said, actually quickly allow the player to get a feel that they know this person pretty well.

 

C) Have them be someone your character actually doesn't know, but just meets very early on (instead of having grown up with them, etc.). So that, even if you're feasibly sort of forced together and end up having to trust each other very quickly (or you both die, etc... that type of situation), you still don't really know each other, beyond that you can each trust one another. Then, you get to learn about them from the beginning of the game, just like your character does.