Personal Rulesets. Do you have one?

[chalsengi]

I would like for us to share and discuss here any personal rulesets you may have, whether generally or specific playthroughs.

 

I play on POTD exclusively, and it is hardly a challenge. So I must implement a personal ruleset to give challenge and flavour. Does anyone else do something similar?

 

I've read here of people soloing, doing 2, 3 or 4 man, all priests, and that sort of thing. It would be cool to develop community results to follow and to share our experiences around.

 

Originally I thought solo would be my thing. When I first killed the Valewood bear solo on POTD at level 2, I thought it was a great accomplishment. But I used Fan of Flame scrolls to do it. I soon after realised it was cheap and Fan of Flames was essentially a win button.

 

For my current game I use and enjoy* the following rules:

 

1. No magic abilities. No summons. No spells. No scrolls.

2. No healing. No potions.

3. Wipe reloads, but no character death reloads. (Obviously its not Path of Iron).

4. Restricted classes: wizards, priests, ciphers, druids, and chanters.

5. Restricted abilities: anything non-restricted classes have that is overtly magical. For example the Rogue's Shadowing Beyond is not allowed.

 

If you're still reading (amazing), I'll elaborate further.

 

No magic is a tough one to fully define. Not because of the obvious things, but because of the more subtle things. I'm unsettled about the Barbarian's Carnage and the Paladin's Auras, Condition Breaks and other buffs. There may be others that are questionable.

 

A solution to the Barbarian's Carnage might be to not go beyond base Intellect, and only use sweeping two handed weapons. This would be more like the Barbarian is actually swinging a large weapon and hitting multiple enemies with each swing. Piercing weapons could potentially go through one enemy and into another, but that would be more like a narrow arc than a circular AoE.

 

No healing doesn't change the dynamics a whole lot except in the most difficult encounters. Even with healing available, characters can drop and you have to consider the outcomes. Sadly I typically just resort to running away when the group begins to cave, but running away is not always possible.

 

Another question Ive yet to answer for myself is whether the Fighter's endurance regeneration counts as healing. What do you think? Since switching to the 2.0 Beta I dont use a Fighter anymore, but Im still curious about this. If I dropped Barbarian (because Carnage is too magic-like), I'd probably not feel right replacing them with a Fighter.

 

I prefer a softer form of Path of Iron (Path of Pillows?) because invariably Im going to make some inventory related mistake, or just bone up some decision with custom characters, and I hate repeating the tutorial. For a restart, I'd rather just reload my fresh to Gilded Vale save.

 

But no character death reloads is tough. With custom characters I dont tend to became attached to them, apart from their usefulness in combat. But when they die it still sucks. Their replacement will be playing catchup with levels. And replacing them with a carbon copy of the old one feels wrong, and no better than reloading.

 

And lastly OP classes. Rogue is one of them. I have a rogue currently. I feel like dropping her because the crit rate and damage is absurdly high. I feel like at high levels it'll be a One Rogue Show, and the rest will just be decoys the rogue is using. I guess I just shouldnt use a rogue.

Edited August 12, 2015 by chalsengi

[Raven Darkholme]

I think if you place that many restrictions on yourself, you might be better off soloing.

I personally don't use healing other than paladins LoH, I try to do even the tougher fights without figurines (currently party of 3, soloed two times before that).

I try to avoid scrolls, most of them are cheesy.

I try not to use the kind of spells, people say help you most in a fight, for example paralyze or worse petrify.

 

But I am a damage BITCH, so I never could get over the restrictions you place on yourself, I love seeing foes in pain, lol.

[alexis13]

Sounds a bit boring if I'm honest lol, so what do you just auto attack?

 

I guess I solo if you consider that a restriction, but as for things being "OP" well you are already on PoTD, have you fought shades?

 

You are already on the hardest mode, and even all that stuff you mentioned barely even equalizes it, if it even does, I don't think its unfair to use all the tools you got, if anything even when you do you're still at the disadvantage.

Edited August 12, 2015 by alexis13

[chalsengi]

Yep, I've fought shades. They are a real pain under my ruleset. But if I could use anything they'd be easy. Theyre weak to fire, and pale elves can take a lot of hits from them. My entire group is pale elves currently and almost all of them have extra perception (for accuracy and interrupt), so Im hoping that will help a lot. I've killed them in the Temple of Eothas with a group of level 2s (main was 3), but yeah its not easy. Arbalest and Arquebus focus fire can help a lot there.

 

Whilst my main character was still only level 2 and the 5 other companions only level 1 I managed to dismantle the entirety of the soldiers on the exterior of Raedric's hold. I had to use cheap knockout and split tactics and it took quite a while... But I really needed the money! I think the most I had to fight at one time was 4. Got some good armor and sold most everything else. Trying to make some money before I claim Caed Nua.

[Raven Darkholme]

Idk, before I waste my time on cheesy split tactics I'd rather have 1 spellcaster.

[Killyox]

I have 1 rule or maybe 2. I don't minmax/cheese and I always make chars I can RP with through the story and make different decisions. So I never ever take 3 in a stat. Quite honestly the most I would reduce most of the time is 8. Maybe for Barbarians more in some stats but that's about it. I don't minmax with races/classes or cheese with abilities. I do try to make good teams but not to cheese through.

 

Next play for 2.0 I want to make more hmm Living Lands party. Druid, barb, rogue/hunter. Maybe monk or something.

Edited August 13, 2015 by Killyox

[chalsengi]

Idk, before I waste my time on cheesy split tactics I'd rather have 1 spellcaster.

 

With Chill Fog or similar AoE I could probably do it at the same level without splitting, but I'd still need to use terrain funneling. The only AoE ability I have is a Barbarian with 3 Intellect

[Psychevore]

I always make pairs of characters, who come from the same area, are the same species (most of the time) and, if in any way possible, have 'couples names' (like Ereshkigal and Nergal, Sumerian Gods who got married or something)

 

Then you get parties like this:

 

 

 

But that's as far as I go. My 'rules' are pretty much pure RP headcanon.

 

 

Which reminds me.. I have 12 days to finish that run before that party becomes completely useless because of a lack of perception

Edited August 13, 2015 by Psychevore

[chalsengi]

Yeah, I do like to add a little RP flavour. My group is all pale elves, and although the two Paladins are from different regions (Deadfire Archipelago and Rauatai) they are both Bleak Walkers.

 

My group is essentially a Raedric hit squad, who also intend to take over Caed Nua (first weakening Raedric as a potential threat to their initial occupation). They're raiding Raedric's Hold at only level 2 (main character level 3), so you could assume they came to the Dyrwood being familiar with small-scale warfare (most of them are raiders) already.

 

Speaking of raiding his hold, once inside the hold its been a lot of fun and not too punishingly difficult. The groups inside are smaller, and easy to manage through doorways. All the gear Ive picked up along the way has helped a lot, and I currently have 11,000 coppers. I found a blunting belt also, which was an awesome find for my main tank. My highest damage dealer is a paladin with a pike and warbow.

 

I still have a rogue, but I self-nerfed her with 3 might and I wont take any crit talents or deathblows.

Edited August 14, 2015 by chalsengi

[wanderon]

I have 1 rule or maybe 2. I don't minmax/cheese and I always make chars I can RP with through the story and make different decisions. So I never ever take 3 in a stat. Quite honestly the most I would reduce most of the time is 8. Maybe for Barbarians more in some stats but that's about it. I don't minmax with races/classes or cheese with abilities. I do try to make good teams but not to cheese through.

 

Next play for 2.0 I want to make more hmm Living Lands party. Druid, barb, rogue/hunter. Maybe monk or something.

 

Yeah this is kind of where I am at  just a couple roolz...

 

1)I don't min max - nothing lower than an 8

 

2) I like to RP my character - it's somewhat disappointing that nothing you choose to do ever seems to piss off any of the companions which IMO would increase role play value/fun (I am looking at you Eder) but the gist of it is I choose my actions/answers based on what I think my character would do not necessarily on what I think will bring the "best" response/outcome

 

3) I rarely use adventurers (so far anyway) other than as "placeholders" while I wait for a companion to be available without running ahead to get them but I can easily see games in the future where I might have a mixed bag of companions/adventurers altho I am less likely to go with all adventurers unless I get into "themed" parties that companions wouldn't really fit.

 

4) So far I also seem to be operating under a rule of not going beyond chapter 2 before starting another interesting character but I am currently debating trying to finish one of those games before the expansion comes out.

[Nobear]

 

I have 1 rule or maybe 2. I don't minmax/cheese and I always make chars I can RP with through the story and make different decisions. So I never ever take 3 in a stat. Quite honestly the most I would reduce most of the time is 8. Maybe for Barbarians more in some stats but that's about it. I don't minmax with races/classes or cheese with abilities. I do try to make good teams but not to cheese through.

 

Next play for 2.0 I want to make more hmm Living Lands party. Druid, barb, rogue/hunter. Maybe monk or something.

 

Yeah this is kind of where I am at  just a couple roolz...

 

1)I don't min max - nothing lower than an 8

 

2) I like to RP my character - it's somewhat disappointing that nothing you choose to do ever seems to piss off any of the companions which IMO would increase role play value/fun (I am looking at you Eder) but the gist of it is I choose my actions/answers based on what I think my character would do not necessarily on what I think will bring the "best" response/outcome

 

3) I rarely use adventurers (so far anyway) other than as "placeholders" while I wait for a companion to be available without running ahead to get them but I can easily see games in the future where I might have a mixed bag of companions/adventurers altho I am less likely to go with all adventurers unless I get into "themed" parties that companions wouldn't really fit.

 

4) So far I also seem to be operating under a rule of not going beyond chapter 2 before starting another interesting character but I am currently debating trying to finish one of those games before the expansion comes out.

 

LOL nice, just a few points:

 

1) I do min-max, but just my main character, or temporary adventurers that I replace ASAP with companions. Sure, boo at me, but I'm soloing now where every little thing counts.

 

 

2) Have you ever tried telling Eder, after finding the records of his brother in Defiance Bay, that his quest is basically pointless and you won't go with him to Cliaban Rilag? He will leave you permanently. Also, there is a quest in Act 3 (that I won't spoil for you because you say you haven't gotten there yet) which will cause Grieving Mother to leave you permanently depending on the choices you make.

 

 

3) Same here

 

4) Wow, remember I used to have this problem too, but I finally beat the game with a full party on PoTD, and am experimenting with soloing PoTD on expert (but not Trial of Iron yet) with a melee wizard in one save and a melee cipher in another. It's pretty cool: stats, food buffs, potions, scrolls, figurines, and every little thing can really often make the difference between life and death .

 

Keep in mind that the expansion will add mid-level content and won't AFAIK change the game ending, so you don't have to beat the game before it comes, though I found it both awesome to unravel the whole mystery of the story, and useful for purposes of planning future playthroughs with the intelligence I've gathered as far as item locations, types of enemies, best order to complete things easiest to toughest, etc. But the expansion content is aimed for parties starting around level 7, so you could continue one of your partial playthroughs into the expansion if you wanted to.

 

The one rule I will mention that hasn't been mentioned here yet is that I won't do anything too meta-gamey, that my characters couldn't possibly have knowledge of, like use the list for locations of "random" items. If I find a duplicate item, sometimes what I do is reload from a recent save and write a note that there's a hidden item in such and such location, to come back and check later. I admit, though, even this is a bit cheesy compared to just taking what I get.