Best NPC for Mechanics

[Onuist]

Of the story companions, which do you think is best to teach mechanics, roleplay wise and gameplay wise?

 

Roleplay I'd say Kana. His family background and attention to detail make him my pick.

 

Gameplay I'd say Pallegina or Sagani. Someone with the hitpoints to eat a trap and not die, but whose HP don't pace resting. Maybe Durance because he starts with some.

Edited April 9, 2015 by Onuist

[LadyCrimson]

Eder actually isn't a bad pick, since one really doesn't need a ton of Athletics or Survival etc, even on a Fighter. 

 

Roleplay ... I have no idea. None of them strike me as very mechanically oriented. Haha.

[Koth]

Grieving mother or Aloth, both start with a +1 in mechanics, durance has 3 in mechanics already so most go with him, but at lvl 8, the other two take over. By level 10 mechanics durance has spent 49 skill points while, grieving mother / aloth will only have spent 45. Granted it's only a 4 point difference but every point counts on a mechanics character that also wants 3 points in athletics, 3 points in stealth and rest into lore for scroll spamming in combat. Can't help you on the role play front... Maybe grieving mother due to her not being noticed by others kinda stealthy mc pick lock pants.

Edited April 9, 2015 by Koth

[Onuist]

Grieving Mother seems like a great choice. High Per and Dex, used to more detailed work than any but Durance based on story and is used to seeing things no one else can. Plus her natural +1 is good mechanically. Good call maybe I'll assign it to her. Kind of worried about her HP, though.

 

I feel better with Eder's HP, and if I accidentally walk into enemies while scouting I'd rather it be him,  but I worry that if he eats a trap I'd have to rest and run out of supplies.

 

No way I let Aloth do traps. I love his voice overs, but last run I wiped in late chapter 2 finishing a dungeon with 5 after a trap crit him for 210. And he was my trapsmith... Path of Iron makes things so intense!

Edited April 9, 2015 by Onuist

[Infares]

You're probably best off giving an Adventurer Rogue 3 Mechanics to start via Laborer or Merchant/Scientist backgrounds (Prefer Laborer, you're probably going to want Athletics at some point anyways) and end up with 6 Mechanics at level 2.

I'd like to see some more backgrounds get introduced, but some may be overpowered, +2 mechanics or +2 stealth probably unbalance the Early Game and make for some exploitable scenarios later on.

[Onuist]

I do that for the first dungeon, but don't use any custom NPCs after that.

 

Also I prefer chanter - you have plenty of mechanics even -1 vs. rogue, but summons early game are crazy good, way better than rogues before itemization and talents, imho.

Edited April 9, 2015 by Onuist

[Luckmann]

Gameplay Min/Max, Grieving Mother or Aloth. Both start with +1 in Mechanics, meaning that in the long run, they'll have to invest significantly less points for that next +1 step.

Roleplay-wise, Durance. Not only is he actually not a bad pick Gameplay wise, starting with 3 points in Mechanics, but he's a Priest of Magran, a technically-minded goddess that's all the mechanics of warfare. That said, he'll still have to pay "full price" for his skillups, so even though he has Mechanics 3, he's still outdone by Grieving Mother or Aloth's +1 in the end.

[Onuist]

The more I think on it, the more I agree Durance wins at  mechanics for roleplay. Mainly that thing he did in that event you can talk to him about.  He's technically a world famous engineer...

[Luckmann]

The more I think on it, the more I agree Durance wins at  mechanics for roleplay. Mainly that thing he did in that event you can talk to him about.  He's technically a world famous engineer...

 

[Kai]

I'd agree with Durance for role playing reasons. Plus his initial points into it (at least on my first playthrough) makes him useful in it from the beginning. From a gameplay perspective though, I'd say either Kana or Aloth only due to their initial +1 bonus to mechanics (from their classes) which makes a lot of difference in the end if you want it as high as possible: (SORTA SPOILERISH)

 

Points spent for each skill point:

Skill:         1   2   3   4    5    6    7    8    9    10   11  12

0 bonus   1   3   6  10  15   21  28  36  45   55  66  78

1 bonus   0   1   3   6   10   15  21  28  36   45  55  66     

3 points   0   0   0   1    3     6   10  15  21   28  36  45  (a rogue with a mechanics background)

 

Since the most points a char can get is 66, that puts a nice cap to the skill depending on their bonus. IIRC you can get Durance, Aloth and Kana at lvl 2, which means they've spent up to 6 points already on other skills, meaning Durance can hit 10 and the other 2 can hit 11. And then you have an additional 5 points to spend somewhere else. And getting those gloves who boost mechanics isn't always easy to find (never found them on my first playthrough despite looting everything I could see), so having it as high as possible can be nice. Aloth is a bit squishy so I'll go with Kana for my next run. GM is usually a higher level when you get to her so not sure she can hit 11 which is why I don't consider her really.

 

I really wish one of the followers had at least +2 bonus to mechanics from the start, since a custom made rogue can always be 2 levels ahead of the best followers in it.

Edited April 9, 2015 by Kai

[player1]

Any NPC that has natural +1 bonus. That means Aloth, Kana or Grieving Mother.

 

Of course that also means that chosen character will hardly have any points left for other things.

 

Cons of choosing Aloth or Kana is that both characters are great for maxing Lore, since they only need 6 points to get to 10 Lore (+4 natural bonus).

 

Of course, you do not need more then single character with Lore 10, since there is only one Lore 10 scroll, so it is enough to have one dedicated Lore guy. Secondary Lore characters are OK with Lore 8.

 

Cons of choosing GM is that you gain here way to late. And if you keep autolevel rules, she will lag a lot, due to no mechanic points assigned to her.

 

 

With all said, if I need to pick one NPC, that would be Aloth.

He would get Athletics to 3, Lore to 6 (3 points to get +2 for total 6), and rest to Mechanics.

Edited June 30, 2015 by player1

[AshenPlanet]

It's more expensive for Durance, but he's the gameplay choice for mechanics.

He's the one that gets trap spells!

Those spells use his mechanics rating for their accuracy.

 

 

[Gromnir]

It's more expensive for Durance, but he's the gameplay choice for mechanics.

He's the one that gets trap spells!

Those spells use his mechanics rating for their accuracy.

seal spells is now treated as hazards, which makes no sense but does result in an impressive accuracy boost to the priest casting such spells.  regardless, there is no mechanics modification o' seal spell accuracy in 1.06.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[AshenPlanet]

seal spells is now treated as hazards, which makes no sense but does result in an impressive accuracy boost to the priest casting such spells.  regardless, there is no mechanics modification o' seal spell accuracy in 1.06.

 

HA! Good Fun!

 

 

Was this a change in 1.06 or earlier?

[player1]

I noticed similar behavior in 1,05 patch too. High accuracy of seals and no effect of mechanics.