Pillars of Eternity Beginner's Guide

[Bazy]

I enjoyed the video, though my preference for stuff like this is definitely text and not videos.  Sensuki has been a fantastic advocate for this game and I think Obsidian should comp him the 10K KS tier and use that visit for a job interview.  Look at what he has done on his own.  What would he do on the payroll?  

As much as the other QA people sitting next to him?

[bc1280]

Thanks for the tips and the awesome video you make.

 

Can't wait to play it NOW~~~

[CaravanMaster]

I will be playing a female dwarf rogue

[portedgoblin]

Thanks for the video, it was great! Nice to have something spoiler free to watch while waiting.

I am trying to figure out a good monk build using unarmed. How does unarmed work in the game and how would you build that monk? Since taking damage is necessary for doing damage I suppose I need to build him somewhat tanky?

[Sensuki]

Unarmed is considered Two Weapon Fighting, and is part of the Peasant Weapon Group. As the monk levels up, he gains an integer bonus to unarmed damage. One thing to consider is that currently you cannot enchant your fists, whereas you can enchant weapons, so later on magical weapons may end up being better.

 

Picking abilities and talents that synergize with your attributes and playing to the strengths of your build is much more important than what you put in your attributes.

 

You tell me how you want to play them, and I'll tell you how you can manifest that through their progression.

[Gairnulf]

I don't monetize my youtube.

 

I have a transcript of my video if you would like it.

 

I might post the transcript in spoilers for the next one, but I'll be doing in game demonstrations so it might be redundant.

Text guides are easier to search and transfer around.

[Sensuki]

Sure. I may write a DSimpson style guide for the game eventually, but one cannot necessarily guarantee time they do not know if they'll have in the future though

Edited March 24, 2015 by Sensuki

[portedgoblin]

Unarmed is considered Two Weapon Fighting, and is part of the Peasant Weapon Group. As the monk levels up, he gains an integer bonus to unarmed damage. One thing to consider is that currently you cannot enchant your fists, whereas you can enchant weapons, so later on magical weapons may end up being better.

 

Picking abilities and talents that synergize with your attributes and playing to the strengths of your build is much more important than what you put in your attributes.

 

You tell me how you want to play them, and I'll tell you how you can manifest that through their progression.

Yes I know about the enchanting, I guess I can have a staff as backup.

 

 

I was thinking of using Unarmed with Turning Wheel as main theme along with some CC skills.

[Sensuki]

Not a bad idea.

 

There's a funny build you can do as a Fire Godlike Monk with Turning Wheel, Soul Mirror and a few other talents. Basically what happens is when the Fire Godlike is wounded under 50% Endurance, enemies that hit him suffer fire damage attacks from him. Soul Mirror is also a similar retaliation ability. Turning Wheel adds bonus fire damage to those attacks.

 

You can pick a bunch of talents (Savage Attack, Vulnerable Attack, Scion of Flame, among others) that improve the damage of those passive attacks against enemies, so they are basically killing themselves. For that to work you need maximum Constitution and probably Plate Armor. There are also magical items with the Retaliation property as well, so I imagine that would be hilarious all stacked up together.

 

A standard Unarmed Monk build is great though.

[portedgoblin]

Not a bad idea.

 

There's a funny build you can do as a Fire Godlike Monk with Turning Wheel, Soul Mirror and a few other talents. Basically what happens is when the Fire Godlike is wounded under 50% Endurance, enemies that hit him suffer fire damage attacks from him. Soul Mirror is also a similar retaliation ability. Turning Wheel adds bonus fire damage to those attacks.

 

You can pick a bunch of talents (Savage Attack, Vulnerable Attack, Scion of Flame, among others) that improve the damage of those passive attacks against enemies, so they are basically killing themselves. For that to work you need maximum Constitution and probably Plate Armor. There are also magical items with the Retaliation property as well, so I imagine that would be hilarious all stacked up together.

 

A standard Unarmed Monk build is great though.

Sounds interesting! What is the standard unarmed build?

[Sensuki]

Well there isn't really a standard build. In the beta when I play Monks I usually pick Torment's Reach and Force of Anguish as my two first abilities. For talents I go Two Weapon Fighting and Vulnerable Attack.

 

You can swap gear around as you like.

[Ashen Rohk]

Damn this is in depth Sensuki!

 

My only slight concern is that it might be a tad overwhelming for people new to the genre, but you do a great job of explaining everything!

[portedgoblin]

Well there isn't really a standard build. In the beta when I play Monks I usually pick Torment's Reach and Force of Anguish as my two first abilities. For talents I go Two Weapon Fighting and Vulnerable Attack.

 

You can swap gear around as you like.

Thanks for taking the time!

[Sensuki]

Damn this is in depth Sensuki!

 

My only slight concern is that it might be a tad overwhelming for people new to the genre, but you do a great job of explaining everything!

Well, if you're a MOBA or MMO (or Diablo) player you will probably be familiar with most of the mechanical concepts that I talk about in the video.

 

The video is also chaptered and I clearly stated that if you want to skip bits you don't care about - go right ahead

 

I tried to include everything from role playing options to the hardcore calculations so that there'd be something for everyone.

 

I'm documenting the next part now, just have to try and remember all of the game's systems (there are lots). Gotta go and cook dinner but yeah maybe check again in 12 hours or something I guess?

Edited March 24, 2015 by Sensuki

[hiptanaka]

Thanks for the guide, it had some useful pointers.

I have a question regarding the role weapons play for the different classes. I'm assuming the weapon is an important part of the damage output for a fighter or a rogue, but what about more caster-type classes that still use weapons, like the cipher? Do abilities use weapon damage as a base, or is the weapon largely unimportant? I understand a cipher has to attack in order to charge his/her abilities, but as far as I understand the spells are what makes the class a heavy hitter.

More generally, which classes should I consider if I want weapons be an important part of my build, but still enjoy spell casting?

[Sensuki]

Re: Crazy Monk Build

 

[Sensuki]

Thanks for the guide, it had some useful pointers.

I have a question regarding the role weapons play for the different classes. I'm assuming the weapon is an important part of the damage output for a fighter or a rogue, but what about more caster-type classes that still use weapons, like the cipher? Do abilities use weapon damage as a base, or is the weapon largely unimportant? I understand a cipher has to attack in order to charge his/her abilities, but as far as I understand the spells are what makes the class a heavy hitter.

More generally, which classes should I consider if I want weapons be an important part of my build, but still enjoy spell casting?

Wizards should probably be using Implements, although I'm sure people will come up with other builds where they use other weapons instead. I haven't experimented with it so far because of their poor stats.

 

Ciphers are great with heavy hitting weapons because then they only need to make one to a few hits before they have enough focus to start casting again. A Blunderbuss is really good for this, so is an Arquebus. For melee I like them with a 2H weapon that is dealing a favorable damage type against enemy armor.

 

Spells are non-weapon based attacks so they don't have anything to do with what weapon you are using. However Priests, Wizards and Druids have a per-rest limit on their spells, so they will be making a lot of weapon attacks over the course of an adventuring day.

[Greensleeve]

How important would you say it is to match ones damage type to the DR of the enemy? Is the drop in damage significant from using, say, a great sword against plate armour? 

 

Also, it seems to me that the estoc bypasses many of those problem simply by virtue of its DR bypass. It seems to be as strong against plate as any crushing weapon would be. 

[Sensuki]

It's more important for lighter weapons. E.g., Clubs are literally just bad against any armor except Robe or Mail armor, really.

 

With an Estoc and Vulnerable Attack, you can bypass 10 DR on every hit.

[sparklecat]

Sensuki, in your fire godlike monk video you mentioned that you weren't sure if the passive damage you were doing counted as melee damage for one of your talents; do you know if that sort of passive damage works for the cipher building focus to charge their spells?  For that matter, can you do it with unarmed attacks?

[Sensuki]

I think it does, because Savage Attack and Vulnerable Attack seem to work, so the other abilities must work as well (because they all follow the same rules).

 

What was happening is all of those things I took were either being applied to the Fire Godlike passive attacks, or doing something similar (retaliation damage of some sort). The build was discovered by a guy called Athelas from the RPGCodex.

Edited March 24, 2015 by Sensuki

[hiptanaka]

Thanks for the input. I think I will try a cipher as my first character.

[Luckmann]

Man, Sensuki, that vid makes me want to play a Firelike Monk, don't do this to me. The only thing that would scare me off would actually be that by level 10, the abilities amounts to 2 Modals and Torment's Reach. But I still think the idea of a fire-monk is hilarious.

 

I'm a big fan of DSimpson's stuff from GameFAQs.

DSimpson is amazing. His FAQ:s are a one-stop-shop for almost everything IE.

 

Sure. I may write a DSimpson style guide for the game eventually, but one cannot necessarily guarantee time they do not know if they'll have in the future though

Doing a DSimpson Game-FAQ would probably take years. It certainly took years for him to perfect his. But you gotta start somewhere.

Edited March 24, 2015 by Luckmann

[Sensuki]

WTB a scribe, tbh.

[MoombaKnight]

I enjoyed your beginners guide Sensuki, keep up the good work =)

Edited March 24, 2015 by MoombaKnight