Pillars of Eternity Beginner's Guide

[Kyne]

Nice work, Sensuki. Although I'm a backer, I've been avoiding everything about the game since I don't like spoilers. This is an excellent introduction to get up to speed with things right before launch. Appreciate the effort!

Edited March 25, 2015 by Kyne

[Ink Blot]

Yeah, nicely done. This is great non-spoiler info and keeping me occupied for the last few hours of waiting. Cheers.

[Bazy]

This is so much better than all the crap and reviews from the "professional" community....

 

And worth it alone to realize that I should be playing in 1900 X 1080 instead of 1900 X 1200 :/

[Sensuki]

1920x1200 should be fine, you should play in your source resolution. Horizontally your screen is the same, so I don't believe the UI elements downscale or upscale.

 

It's just that if you have a low res screen or 1440p the UI elements won't look as good. The environments will look the same.

Edited March 25, 2015 by Sensuki

[Heijoushin]

Wow, so anyone can cast spells from scrolls if they have high lore? That's pretty awesome.

[Telmorial]

A huge THANKS for these guides Sensuki. I've watched parts 1 and 2 and they have taught me a lot about the game. And thanks for not putting in any spoilers.

 

I like to play a magic heavy party, so I think I'm going to go with;

Wizard (main/me)

Fighter

Chanter (will use as 2nd melee)

Priest

Druid

Cypher (ranged)

 

Do you think that's a good party balance for hard dificulty?

 

PS. I really hope the day 1 patch includes buffing the damage of the Wizard spells. I hate to think my Wizard would do less than some tree hugging hippy Druid!

 

Thanks again.

[Sensuki]

Should be fine. There is a companion for all of those classes that aren't your main. Should be pretty good for hard difficulty as long as you play to their strengths etc.

[Telmorial]

Should be fine. There is a companion for all of those classes that aren't your main. Should be pretty good for hard difficulty as long as you play to their strengths etc.

Great, thanks for that. I'll keep my eyes peeled for the 3rd part of your guides.

[sparklecat]

Can priests make decent tanks?

[Bazy]

Can priests make decent tanks?

Yes. Everything can.

 

In the Backer Beta the Priest was arguably the default tank. 

Edited March 25, 2015 by Bazy

[Sensuki]

Priests have a bad health multiplier, so fact remains if you make a Priest tank, they'll just run out of health real quick. They also have a crap deflection too.

 

For tanks IMO

 

Paladin, Chanter, Fighter, Ranger, Monk

 

Barbarian has bad Deflection, which makes them worse than those five.

 

I wouldn't tank with the other classes.

 

Personally I think the way Health/Endurance works makes it a bit limiting.

Edited March 25, 2015 by Sensuki

[sparklecat]

Maybe "decent" isn't the right word; I was more asking if priests have access to talents and abilities that play well with tanking.

 

Priests have a bad health multiplier, so fact remains if you make a Priest tank, they'll just run out of health real quick. They also have a crap deflection too.

Pity.  I'm set on my high Intellect/medium Perception and Resolve first character, but still trying to decide on class.

[Sensuki]

Most of the tanking talents are universal, I'm just saying that their low health multiplier makes the time that they are able to tank for during an adventuring day limited. There are several creatures in the game with high per hit damage, as well.

[Reever]

Thanks, this should be helpful, gonna watch it a bit later!

[Bazy]

Maybe "decent" isn't the right word; I was more asking if priests have access to talents and abilities that play well with tanking.

 

Priests have a bad health multiplier, so fact remains if you make a Priest tank, they'll just run out of health real quick. They also have a crap deflection too.

Pity.  I'm set on my high Intellect/medium Perception and Resolve first character, but still trying to decide on class.

Sensuki is right that that are probably not the absolute best tanks but they can still do a damn fine job and can fill some interesting niche rolls. They have the same health mult as chanter's which people use to tank and their deflection can be offset by thier "Divine Terror," "Circle of protection," and "Despondent blows" spells which all reduce enemy accuracy or increase ally deflection. 

 

With 2 of those spells up they actually have higher deflection/accuracy reduction than all other classes

Edited March 25, 2015 by Bazy

[sparklecat]

Most of the tanking talents are universal, I'm just saying that their low health multiplier makes the time that they are able to tank for during an adventuring day limited. There are several creatures in the game with high per hit damage, as well.

And on hard difficulty especially, resting frequently isn't really going to be an option, yeah.  Okay.  Is there any class/combat role that suggests itself to you, for that sort of attribute spread?

[Sensuki]

You'll be able to rest as often as you want, just not in the wilderness - you'll have to go back to town/stronghold etc haha.

 

Tank Chanter or tank Paladin fits that attribute spread perfectly.

Edited March 25, 2015 by Sensuki

[sparklecat]

 

Maybe "decent" isn't the right word; I was more asking if priests have access to talents and abilities that play well with tanking.

 

Priests have a bad health multiplier, so fact remains if you make a Priest tank, they'll just run out of health real quick. They also have a crap deflection too.

Pity.  I'm set on my high Intellect/medium Perception and Resolve first character, but still trying to decide on class.

Sensuki is right that that are probably not the absolute best tanks but they can still do a damn fine job and can fill some interesting niche rolls. They have the same health mult as chanter's which people use to tank and their deflection can be offset by thier "Divine Terror," "Circle of protection," and "Despondent blows" spells which all reduce enemy accuracy or increase ally deflection. 

 

Yeah, I think I'll most likely try one at least as an offtank sometime.  It'll be interesting too to see how well I can manage with a party that isn't set up with any tanks at all, for that matter.

[Sensuki]

IIRC, Priests have a x3 Multiplier unless they altered it. Chanters have x4.

[Bazy]

IIRC, Priests have a x3 Multiplier unless they altered it. Chanters have x4.

I think you are right. It used to be x4. Man that sucks for priests. 

Edited March 25, 2015 by Bazy

[sparklecat]

You'll be able to rest as often as you want, just not in the wilderness - you'll have to go back to town/stronghold etc haha.

 

That's okay, I'll pass :D

 

Tank Chanter or tank Paladin fits that attribute spread perfectly.

Awesome, thanks; feels a bit odd to go with a paladin when I know basically nothing about this paladin order I'll apparently be a part of, but at least I could be fanatically devoted to the "be nice to people" way of life or whatever.  Chanter looks interesting, though, and like it won't require too much micromanagement, so I may try that.

[Sensuki]

Yeah, no 3E Clerics unfortunately

[Urthor]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm assuming critical hits are calculated as d100+net accuracy calculation (total accuracy-targets defensive stat or thereabouts), and anything above 100 is a critical hit, +50% damage/duration.

 

Question is, can a big enough accuracy bonus be obtained that a critical hit focused build/strategy is a worthwhile strategy for any of the classes, for DPS or otherwise?  A 20-30% critical hit rate combined with a 50% extension of duration could lead to some very neat things.

 

 

Or does the fact bonuses don't stack up just mean those shenanigans won't really work, you just can't find a big enough boost to accuracy to make it worthwhile.   

Edited March 25, 2015 by Urthor

[Sensuki]

No, you can stack accuracy from a variety of sources but you can only have one from a particular source each or something. I really wish they didn't remove Accuracy from Perception because it would have been a great pick on everyone without being imbalanced due to the damage calculation changes.

 

If you were going a crit build you'd probs go single wielded spear with accuracy enchantments, some crit damage mults, weapon focus ... etc

 

I need to remember to look up the buff suppression rules and talk about them in my next video.

Edited March 25, 2015 by Sensuki

[juanval]

Hello Sensuki. Playing on expert Mode, what difficulty do you recommend to play in order to enjoy more the game? on normal or hard?

 

Thanks in advance and congrats for your great work for the PoE community.