Companion's Builds, ouch.

[Odd Hermit]

I disagree - on anything but PoTD - you don't need to min/max. You can make them work and earn their keep. Middle of the road int hurts a bit on casters and I will never ever put GM in my group because lol those stats, but for an average normal run there's nothing wrong with the generalist choices for most people.

 

Of ourse, on PoTD you will want to minmax anyway so off to hiring adventurers we go.

 

You can make lots of things work, that doesn't mean they're good.

 

Even on PotD you can make it through with companions.

 

The thing is though, it's not fun using boring, ineffective, unfocused builds. It's fun having a well composed party which also means having the individuals be well built for their role. The companions aren't built toward any role - even the ones whose classes are only really good for one role.

Edited April 4, 2015 by Odd Hermit

[basketofseals]

 

 

edit:  This is to Luckmann

 

You're all over the place;  Eder losing a couple points of intellect because a couple of his fighter abilities lose duration is breaking the character and a travesty but Durance gaining a couple points of intellect which increases the duration of basically every spell he has is breaking the character and a travesty.  I'm not sure you're looking at this fairly.

You're not reading his point right. Moving any stat points from character RP vision to satisfy their mechanical needs (Eder more tanky. Durance more aoe-y) is travesty against the RP.

 

Not said that I agree with it though, as for me the attribute distribution of companions is more of a testament to the fact their stats were set before attribute changes of post-v435, not because of RP only. So they do need minor tweaking. But some stuff should not be touched (eg. being Durance's 19 resolve which crucially ties to the way his character behaves).

From RP point I don't mind Eder losing some Int, he has his wisdom but in the end he is a bit of a half-wit farmboy.. Nor do I grieve after Durance losing some PER, not really what determined him as a person, being perceptive.

 

 

I disagree (obviously); Durance is actually quite perceptive, but he doesn't care for the arguments or merits (or de-merits) of the issues. He calls them as he sees them and is adamant as to the solution and direction. This might not be entirely true, at the end of the day, considering his clear crisis of faith, but it is how he presents himself and it is.. well.. his character.

 

The fact that he has problems dealing with these things is precisely because he's not an intellectual, he's a firebrand.

 

The same goes for Edér; he's not an academic, but he's clearly a person that does think a lot, and sometimes comes across almost as a philospher, wondering if it was all worth it, and considering what could've been, and so on. The exact thinking that Durance absolutely do not convey, at least not at first, and at least he has a harder time dealing with it.

 

The Attribute System should've been fixed, not the characters compromised.

 

Keep in mind that intelligence in this game is a combined wisdom/int RP wise. I see no reason why Durance gaining more into is breaking character.

 

Hiravias's current int score goes against his character, and his new stat spread fits him better. He was formally trained in a circle of druids, why would his intelligence be one of the lowest?

 

Sagani's new stat spread make her a more efficient ranger, which is something she is. Her new perception I feel matches her alright. She can see the details others gloss over, but she blinds herself when she believes something she suspects is false.

[HozzM]

 

For folks that are concerned about the companion stats aren't retroactive, why not just use the command line to update the stats to patch the new official stats (I think it': AttributeScore charname attribute value)

I'll second this.  If that disables achievements, you can always grab the mod here which allows you change stats and not disable achievements. 

 

http://www.nexusmods.com/pillarsofeternity/mods/1/?

 

I would like to change my pre 1.03 saves to the new Companion Attributes but do not want to disable the Steam achievements.

 

I looked at the mod page and the instructions here http://rien-ici.com/iemod/

 

How does using the mod to change attribute scores not disable achievements?  It looks like you do it the same way, having to enter iroll20s to unlock cheats (which, allegedly, disables achievements...)

 

Thanks

 

edit: OK it looks like you do not need to enter 'Iroll20s' to use some commands with the IE mod.

 

It seems like some characters have a different name in the console though?  Durance, for example...is GGP?  Was testing on him initially and it was not working...

 

edit2: Man the way the game handles numbers seems really obtuse.  I am editing Eder and have unequipped all his gear and made sure there were/are no buffs on him...despite that, when I set his Resolve to 13, it shows as 15 in his character sheet.  Why?  Hiravias, similar issue setting his Con.  No matter what value I enter he has +1 from that on his Character Sheet.

Edited April 4, 2015 by HozzM

[Minttunator]

edit2: Man the way the game handles numbers seems really obtuse.  I am editing Eder and have unequipped all his gear and made sure there were/are no buffs on him...despite that, when I set his Resolve to 13, it shows as 15 in his character sheet.  Why?  Hiravias, similar issue setting his Con.  No matter what value I enter he has +1 from that on his Character Sheet.

 

Race and culture bonuses are added to the number you enter.

[gandalfrockman]

 

 

 

edit2: Man the way the game handles numbers seems really obtuse.  I am editing Eder and have unequipped all his gear and made sure there were/are no buffs on him...despite that, when I set his Resolve to 13, it shows as 15 in his character sheet.  Why?  Hiravias, similar issue setting his Con.  No matter what value I enter he has +1 from that on his Character Sheet.

 

  

Race Bonus.

[HozzM]

 

edit2: Man the way the game handles numbers seems really obtuse.  I am editing Eder and have unequipped all his gear and made sure there were/are no buffs on him...despite that, when I set his Resolve to 13, it shows as 15 in his character sheet.  Why?  Hiravias, similar issue setting his Con.  No matter what value I enter he has +1 from that on his Character Sheet.

 

Race and culture bonuses are added to the number you enter.

 

 

Ah, yeah, thats it.

[don Zappo]

Sagani's pet stats: Might 10, Con 8, Dex 15, Per 15, Int 5, Res 12, dunno what they were before.

Oh, I didn't realize her pet got buffed with the patch.  That's a pretty significant change, there.  Will have to respec that as well!

[don Zappo]

 

 

edit2: Man the way the game handles numbers seems really obtuse.  I am editing Eder and have unequipped all his gear and made sure there were/are no buffs on him...despite that, when I set his Resolve to 13, it shows as 15 in his character sheet.  Why?  Hiravias, similar issue setting his Con.  No matter what value I enter he has +1 from that on his Character Sheet.

 

Race and culture bonuses are added to the number you enter.

 

 

Ah, yeah, thats it.

 

Welcome to the wonderful, and fiddly, world of console commands.  

[sanpats]

Did a run to collect the companions on easy

 

Sagani

• Mig- Con- Dex- Per- Int- Res

• 13 - 14 - 11 - 18 - 11 - 10

to

• Mig- Con- Dex- Per- Int- Res

• 15 - 12 - 15 - 13 - 13 - 10

Pallegina

• Mig- Con- Dex- Per- Int- Res

• 12 - 13 - 11 - 15 - 13 - 14

to

• Mig- Con- Dex- Per- Int- Res

• 12 - 13 - 11 - 14 - 13 - 15

Hiravias

• Mig- Con- Dex- Per- Int- Res

• 14 - 15 - 14 - 13 - 11 - 10

to

• Mig- Con- Dex- Per- Int- Res

• 14 - 13 - 12 - 13 - 15 - 10

Grieving Mother no change

 

I think your Sagani's stats are wrong. There is no change to Sagani's stats, only her pet.

[sanpats]

 

Did a run to collect the companions on easy

 

Sagani

• Mig- Con- Dex- Per- Int- Res

• 13 - 14 - 11 - 18 - 11 - 10

to

• Mig- Con- Dex- Per- Int- Res

• 15 - 12 - 15 - 13 - 13 - 10

Pallegina

• Mig- Con- Dex- Per- Int- Res

• 12 - 13 - 11 - 15 - 13 - 14

to

• Mig- Con- Dex- Per- Int- Res

• 12 - 13 - 11 - 14 - 13 - 15

Hiravias

• Mig- Con- Dex- Per- Int- Res

• 14 - 15 - 14 - 13 - 11 - 10

to

• Mig- Con- Dex- Per- Int- Res

• 14 - 13 - 12 - 13 - 15 - 10

Grieving Mother no change

 

I think your Sagani's stats are wrong. There is no change to Sagani's stats, only her pet.

 

My mistake, your Sagani post-patch attributes seem to be correct, only the pre-patch is incorrect.

[Peaceful Anarchy]

I think your Sagani's stats are wrong. There is no change to Sagani's stats, only her pet.

 

Did you start a new game or are you going from an old save? The stat changes weren't retroactive to pre-patch saves. I just did another run in case the hotfix changed anything, but no same as what I got before. http://i.imgur.com/seoqkN4.jpg

[mammasaura]

Sagani
    Mig- Con- Dex- Per- Int- Res
    13  - 12  - 14   - 18  - 11 - 10
to
    Mig- Con- Dex- Per- Int- Res
    15 -  12 -  15 -   13 - 13 - 10
 

Itumaak

    Mig- Con- Dex- Per- Int- Res
    10 -  10 -  10  - 10  - 10 - 10
to
    Mig- Con- Dex- Per- Int- Res
    10  - 8    - 15   - 15 -  5 - 12
 

Edited April 5, 2015 by jasminizer

[Daemonjax]

At least the pet attacks without the ranger having to give up his own attack action, unlike D&D 5th edition RAW, and this game does have more ranger abilities that involve the pet.

Edited April 5, 2015 by Daemonjax

[Vesimas]

So just to be clear, if you use IEMod you can change stats to npc and re-level them from 0 without disabling achievements?

[Minttunator]

So just to be clear, if you use IEMod you can change stats to npc and re-level them from 0 without disabling achievements?

 

Yes!

[Vesimas]

Ok tank you, I started finally a game (hard) with a ranged Cipher and i'm going to recuit: eder, sagani, hiravias, aloth and durance

[Zwiebelchen]

Aloth, Eder, Durance, and Kana I can all get at level 2 by rushing past as many enemies and quests solving as possible. Sagani, Pallegina, Hiravias, and Grieving Mother unfortunately require me to get past Caed Nua and fix the road East, and the battles there kind of need a level 3-4 party unfortunately (don't know if a level 3 party could do it to be honest as I haven't tried that).

 

From my testing, it's possible to get Sagani and Grieving mother as early as level 3. You can stealth-bypass most of the battles on the transitioning maps, aswell as a lot of shadow battles in Caed Nua. Bring 1-2 custom-made NPCs for the battles you can't skip in Caed Nua (this also reduces the XP gained for every temporary party member so that you don't accidently hit level 4 before picking them up).

[ErlKing]

They still haven't added Athletics skill to Sagani's fox (or other companion animals). You have to add it through console, or fox ll get fatigued ten times faster than rest of party.

 

I have managed to beat Caed Nua at 3 lvl with default party (no adventurers) on hard.

Edited April 9, 2015 by ErlKing

[KennethTopp]

I feel like it would be waste to make another thread to ask this, but I have been wonder how important is the presence of a priest in your party? Either you have Durance or perhaps your PC or player created Adventurer. is it consumables all the way if you disregard Durance or another priest in the party?

[Zwiebelchen]

I feel like it would be waste to make another thread to ask this, but I have been wonder how important is the presence of a priest in your party? Either you have Durance or perhaps your PC or player created Adventurer. is it consumables all the way if you disregard Durance or another priest in the party?

 

If your maintank is a fighter (like Eder) with constant recovery, you can run without a priest. You might want to add a paladin or druid, though, as those have some healing spells aswell.

[TinyBitHandsome]

It's true, the NPC's builds are.....meh...
I always like having the NPC's in my group to interact with, role-play, and experience their story, see their point of view on things, and feel like I have friends. (I have no friends in real life)

 

But....they're so useless.

There's no incentive to have the NPC's in your group when you can just hire story-less mercenaries that are much more effective. 

 

At least give them unique abilities, talents, or something that a hireling you create would not be able to access...or better yet. let us rebuild their skills and talents.

[Vesimas]

I recruited Edér and he was 3rd level with two talents: rapid recovery and weapon focus ruffian, is it normal? Tryed to relevel him from 0 but i could choose only one talent so i left him like the game give me :V

[Kaigen42]

I recruited Edér and he was 3rd level with two talents: rapid recovery and weapon focus ruffian, is it normal? Tryed to relevel him from 0 but i could choose only one talent so i left him like the game give me :V

I noticed that too. Rapid Recovery isn't normally a talent I'd pick for a Fighter, but I'll take it if it comes with a free Weapon Focus, even if the weapon selections there aren't exactly ideal either.

[HozzM]

I recruited Edér and he was 3rd level with two talents: rapid recovery and weapon focus ruffian, is it normal? Tryed to relevel him from 0 but i could choose only one talent so i left him like the game give me :V

 

This has been brought up a few times already in this thread.  Eder has Rapid Recovery if you recruit him at level 2.  If you recruit him at level 3 he has, additionally, Defender and Weapon Focus: Ruffian.  Seems like a bug but no comment from Obsidian that I have seen.

[Xiraiya]

Yeah it's been known for awhile Eder get's a 7th Talent at 3 onwards, this isn't true at some later levels however.

I did some experimenting because I found out the Companions are generally at the level you are at when you recruit them. So I had an idea, since I didn't want to think too much about how to build them, I set my self to level 12 before recruiting some of them and then through that got to see what Obsidian built them to be like at the max level, I was planning to build the companions the same way Obsidian did to see how well they'll work over the course of the game (After taking note of their stats I'd reload my save).

A couple of things, if you recruit Eder at level 12, he won't have the free 7th talent, like he would at level 3, this is because they have a set build for each level, they aren't really progressing, so the game looks at your level and is like "Okay the player is level x" and applies the skillset made for that companion at that same level, they aren't spending points, they have a set build at every level, which is why you get mistakes like an extra talent here or a duplicate skill there.

Here we go, this is what a few of Obsidian's companions look like Maxed out. (Obviously their attributes stay the same)

Aloth Level 12

Skills
Stealth: 2
Athletics: 2
Lore: 13
Mechanics: 1
Survival: 2

Abilities
Arcane Assault
Arkemyr's Dazzling Lights
Arkemyr's Wondrous Torment
Blast of Frost
Chain Lightning
Combusting Wounds
Confusion
Distant Advantage
Fan of Flames
Fireball
Kalakoth's Sunless Grasp
Llengrath's Displaced Image
Llengrath's Safeguard
Miasma of Dull-Mindedness
Minoletta's Minor Missiles
Minoletta's Bounding Missiles
Minoletta's Precisely Piercing Burst
Minoletta's Concussive Missiles
Ninagauh's Freezing Pillar
Rolling Flame
Wall of Flame
Wizard's Double

Talents
Blast
Grimoire Slam
Dangerous Implement
Penetrating Blast
Mental Fortress
Bloody Slaughter



Eder Level 12

Skills
Stealth: 3
Athletics: 11
Lore: 1
Mechanics: 0
Survival: 4

Abilities
Confident Aim
Confident Aim (This is not a typo)
Constant Recovery
Defender
Fighting Spirit
Knock Down
Unbroken
Weapon Specialization: Ruffian

Talents
Rapid Recovery
Weapon Focus: Ruffian
Hold the Line
Superior Deflection
Bloody Slaughter
Body Control



Durance Level 12

Skills
Stealth: 2
Athletics: 1
Lore: 7
Mechanics: 9
Survival: 0

Abilities
Armor of Faith
Barbs of Condemnation
Barring Death's Door
Blessing
Champion's Boon
Circle of Protection
Cleansing Flame
Consecrated Ground
Crowns for the Faithful
Despondent Blows
Devotions for the Faithful
Dire Blessing
Divine Mark
Divine Terror
Fighting Spirit
Halt
Holy Meditation
Holy Power
Holy Rediance
Iconic Projection
Instill Doubt
Minor Intercession
Pillar of Faith
Pillar of Holy Fire
Prayer Against Bewilderment
Prayer Against Fear
Prayer Against Imprisonment
Prayer Against Restraint
Prayer Against Treachery
Repulsing Seal
Restore Critical Endurance
Restore Light Endurance
Restore Major Endurance
Restore Minor Endurance
Restore Moderate Endurance
Revive the Fallen
Salvation of Time
Searing Seal
Shields for the Faithful
Shining Beacon
Spark the Souls of the Righteous
Suppress Affliction
Triumph of the Crusaders
Warding Seal
Watchful Presence
Withdraw

Talents
Bear's Fortitude
Inspiring Radiance
Two-Handed Style
Scion of Flame
Body Control
Bonus 4th Level Spell



Kana Level 10 (He caps out at 10, he apparently has no level 11 or 12 build)

Skills
Stealth: 3
Athletics: 0
Lore: 12
Mechanics: 0
Survival: 0

Abilities
At the Sound of His Voice, the Killers Froze Stiff
Gernisc Slew the Beast, but Soon Faced Its Kin
And Hel-Hyraf Crashed Upon The Shield
If their Bones Still Slept Under the Hill, None Can Say
Marsh of the Kamoa
My Son, Do You See your Sisters Across the Moor?
Armed to the Teeth
The Thunder Like Waves on Black Seas

Talents
Ancient Memory
Field Triage
Mental Fortress
Beast Slayer
Quick Switch

That's all for now.

Edited April 13, 2015 by Xiraiya