Last played pre-2.0 - LF help planning my PoTD run

[HoopleDoople]

I had a lot of fun with Pillars of Eternity in the past, but after completing a PoTD run I decided to give the game a break until the expansions were both out. Now that I've finally got around to buying the expansions I'm excited for another play through. As I plan out my party I could use some advice from players more familiar with the current state of the game.

 

The party I'm planning on using is:

• Paladin (PC)
• Chanter
• Barbarian or Monk
• Rogue
• Wizard
• Priest

In my previous PoTD run I used a full custom party for maximum effectiveness, but I will be using NPCs this time. With that in mind, I have a few questions:

1. To what extent can you customize the stats and abilities of the NPCs?
2. If you can't completely customize the NPC builds, would I be better off shifting my PC to one of the other classes to avoid using an inferior NPC?
3. Would you recommend Zahua or Maneha as a more enjoyable character and/or better fit for my party? (Please refrain from spoilers)
4. Would I be better off using my rogue (the Devil of Caroc) as a ranged or melee character?
5. Assuming my PC is a Paladin, which paladin order would you recommend as the most helpful to pair with this party?

Please feel free to answer as many or as few questions as you would like. Any other related advice is also welcome. Once I finalize my party composition I will have additional questions regarding attribute, skill, and weapon selection.

Edited April 23, 2016 by HoopleDoople

[Blunderboss]

I would switch either Rogue (Devil of Caroc) or Barbarian (Maneha) for Pallegina and use her build with firearms with her unique paladin talents . Also rogues and barbarians benefit a lot from proper build and will make great main character

Edited April 23, 2016 by Blunderboss

[HoopleDoople]

I would switch either Rogue (Devil of Caroc) or Barbarian (Maneha) for Pallegina and use her build with firearms with her unique paladin talents . Also rogues and barbarians benefit a lot from proper build and will make great main character

 

It is my intention to pick up a couple of the new companions as I haven't yet experienced them. If I thought it would work in my party I'd take all three.

 

Am I to understand from your comment that you cannot customize the NPCs at all? I thought I had heard the devs were planning to allow players to reset the talents and/or stats when NPCs are first acquired, though I may not be remembering correctly.

[DreamWayfarer]

Am I to understand from your comment that you cannot customize the NPCs at all? I thought I had heard the devs were planning to allow players to reset the talents and/or stats when NPCs are first acquired, though I may not be remembering correctly.

You can now choose their abilities and talents from level 2 onwards. Their attributes and level one abilities are untouchable, however.

[HoopleDoople]

 

Am I to understand from your comment that you cannot customize the NPCs at all? I thought I had heard the devs were planning to allow players to reset the talents and/or stats when NPCs are first acquired, though I may not be remembering correctly.

You can now choose their abilities and talents from level 2 onwards. Their attributes and level one abilities are untouchable, however.

 

 

OK, that makes sense. There isn't any unofficial methods of editing their attributes, is there?

 

Assuming that I don't figure out how to edit NPC stats, are any of the new companions weak enough that it would be problematic for PoTD difficulty?

[DreamWayfarer]

OK, that makes sense. There isn't any unofficial methods of editing their attributes, is there?

There are, but with most of them the attributes will end up reverting to the original values next time you load.

 

I think there is a method to permanently edit them, but unfortunately I can't point you to it.

 

Assuming that I don't figure out how to edit NPC stats, are any of the new companions weak enough that it would be problematic for PoTD difficulty?

Depends on how you play them. Zahua has nice stats for a Monk, and despite Manhea's stats not being optimaly distributed, they are probably decent enough.

 

Devil is trickier, due to mediocre DEX and armor you can't remove, but with her above-average RES and status-effect immunities from being a construct, you could give her a shield and a stun/prone on crit weapon so she could off-tank.

Edited April 23, 2016 by DreamWayfarer

[HoopleDoople]

 

Assuming that I don't figure out how to edit NPC stats, are any of the new companions weak enough that it would be problematic for PoTD difficulty?

Depends on how you play them. Zahua has nice stats for a Monk, and despite Manhea's stats not being optimaly distributed, they are probably decent enough.

 

Devil is trickier, due to mediocre DEX and armor you can't remove, but with her above-average RES and status-effect immunities from being a construct, you could give her a shield and a stun/prone on crit weapon so she could off-tank.

 

 

Unfortunately It doesn't sound like the Devil of Caroc is a good choice. With that in mind, which of these options sounds more appealing to go with Kana Rua, Aloth, and Durance:

1. Paladin (PC), Zahua, Maneha
2. Paladin (PC), Zahua, Sagani
3. Rogue (PC) Zahua, Pallegina

[DreamWayfarer]

Unfortunately It doesn't sound like the Devil of Caroc is a good choice. With that in mind, which of these options sounds more appealing to go with Kana Rua, Aloth, and Durance:

• Paladin (PC), Zahua, Maneha
• Paladin (PC), Zahua, Sagani
• Rogue (PC) Zahua, Pallegina

From those three, I'd go with the first. The third could work well too, but IMO it would end with a bit too much micro, since you'd have 2 casters, a Monk, a Rogue, and a striker Paladin (as Pallegina is better built for burst damage, because of her Wrath of The Five Suns talent for Sworn Enemy, which is further boosted by Scion of Flame and Penetrating Shot.).

Edited April 24, 2016 by DreamWayfarer

[HoopleDoople]

Alright then, I've got my party decided now:

• Paladin (PC)
• Chanter (Kana Rua)
• Monk (Zahua)
• Barbarian (Maneha)
• Wizard (Aloth)
• Priest (Durance)

With that in mind, let me start going through questions I have regarding character creation:

 

Race - my party already has plenty of Aumaua and I don't like my PC as an Orlan, so I'll probably go with a Moon Godlike or a Pale Elf. The question is simply if it is worth giving up a helmet or not.

 

Order - which is best for my party? I don't really have any objections to any order from a role-playing perspective. Shieldbearer or Darcozzi look to be the most useful for this party, but I'm open to other ideas.

 

Attributes - I assume Resolve is extremely important for a Paladin and I think Intellect is desirable for enhancing aura radius. Are any of the other attributes particularly important or useless for a Paladin?

 

Skills - I don't fully understand what the new skills. What is most important for my PC to have nowadays, Athletics and Survival? Which of my characters should pump Mechanics? How about Lore? Should everyone in my party get a little bit of stealth, only the front-liners, or is it something I should ignore entirely with no Rogue?

 

Once I figure this out I should be set to start my run. I'll definitely have questions about optimal weaponry and talent/ability selection, but that isn't an immediate concern.

[KDubya]

One of your guys needs to get to 13 or higher mechanics. You can find gloves that give you +2, resting at Caed Nua can get you +2 but that gets to be a pain plus you miss out on better bonuses.

 

With your team Aloth and Kana both start with 1 level of Mechanics. You'll need 66 skill points to get there without the gloves. Your PC Paladin can be the mechanic expert with the right starting culture you'll start with one level of mechanics. You can also get in game reward ability for another skill level which will leave you needing 55 skill points. A perk of being your own mechanic is that you can freely swap out team members instead of needing to always bring the one expert.

 

For Order I'd pick one that you can roleplay and stay in character. Pay attention to whatever their disfavored dispositions are. I like Kind Wayfarers the best but all are good.

 

For Race I really like boreal Dwarves and really dislike Moon Godlike. Pale Elves are a solid choice and Island Aumaua are great with the extra weapon slot, with immunities you need to have more than one weapon type.

 

Might and Intellect are both important for a Paladin, everything else is up to you. I'd avoid dumping anything below 10.

[HoopleDoople]

One of your guys needs to get to 13 or higher mechanics. You can find gloves that give you +2, resting at Caed Nua can get you +2 but that gets to be a pain plus you miss out on better bonuses.

 

With your team Aloth and Kana both start with 1 level of Mechanics. You'll need 66 skill points to get there without the gloves. Your PC Paladin can be the mechanic expert with the right starting culture you'll start with one level of mechanics. You can also get in game reward ability for another skill level which will leave you needing 55 skill points. A perk of being your own mechanic is that you can freely swap out team members instead of needing to always bring the one expert.

 

For Order I'd pick one that you can roleplay and stay in character. Pay attention to whatever their disfavored dispositions are. I like Kind Wayfarers the best but all are good.

 

For Race I really like boreal Dwarves and really dislike Moon Godlike. Pale Elves are a solid choice and Island Aumaua are great with the extra weapon slot, with immunities you need to have more than one weapon type.

 

Might and Intellect are both important for a Paladin, everything else is up to you. I'd avoid dumping anything below 10.

 

If I'm going to have Aloth and/or Kana in my party at all times is it fine to have one of them as my Mechanics expert?

 

Are Athletics, Survival, and/or Stealth worth investing points in on every character? If so, how many?

 

How impactful are the Kind Wayfarer bonuses? The endurance gain on Paladin kill in particular seems like it would be annoying to trigger.

 

What exactly makes you like the Boreal Dwarves and dislike the Moon Godlike? Is this a personal preference or is there legitimate power-gaming reasons?

 

I Resolve as important as I think or is it not very essential now that you can't stack deflection via multiple attributes?

[KDubya]

 

 

 

If I'm going to have Aloth and/or Kana in my party at all times is it fine to have one of them as my Mechanics expert?

 

Are Athletics, Survival, and/or Stealth worth investing points in on every character? If so, how many?

 

How impactful are the Kind Wayfarer bonuses? The endurance gain on Paladin kill in particular seems like it would be annoying to trigger.

 

What exactly makes you like the Boreal Dwarves and dislike the Moon Godlike? Is this a personal preference or is there legitimate power-gaming reasons?

 

I Resolve as important as I think or is it not very essential now that you can't stack deflection via multiple attributes?

 

 

Aloth or Kana can do the mechanics. Aloth might be better since kana is great at scroll reading due to a higher Might and Intellect. Only downside is keeping Aloth up near the front to find the traps.

 

Some stealth, 1 or 2 is good for everyone to have. I used to get it to 6 or 7 back when Survival and Athletics were not so good. Now I tend to keep both it and Athletics at 1 or 2. Survival is really nice now. If in doubt take survival, at level 14 you can get +60% healing which is great.

 

The on kill heal from Kind Wayfarer is AoE, scales with Might and level, and heals like 2/3rds of a LoH. You don't need to get every kill to make it useful, just one or two per encounter will make a big difference.

 

Boreal dwarves get a huge +15 accuracy against Primordials and Wilders. Lots of enemies, lots of tough enemies fall under this. It is especially powerful at low levels making it easier to handle trolls, xaurips, forest lurkers, ogres,  those woodsy druid things, mushrooms and the stunning fish people.

 

There are lots of great headgear now which makes Godlikes less attractive. At low levels the Moon Godlike heal is especially powerful. I just really dislike the godlikes in general and tend to not use any of them.

 

Resolve is great for the tough guy dialogue options but with some items, Caed Nua resting and even food you can buff a base 10 up to whatever is needed. I would not drop below a 10 for any melee. Deflection is easy enough to raise without investing in Resolve. It is better to pump Might and use a shield than to pump Resolve and dual wield or two hander if you want better deflection.

[Blunderboss]

Alright then, I've got my party decided now:

• Paladin (PC)
• Chanter (Kana Rua)
• Monk (Zahua)
• Barbarian (Maneha)
• Wizard (Aloth)
• Priest (Durance)

With that in mind, let me start going through questions I have regarding character creation:

 

Race - my party already has plenty of Aumaua and I don't like my PC as an Orlan, so I'll probably go with a Moon Godlike or a Pale Elf. The question is simply if it is worth giving up a helmet or not.

 

Order - which is best for my party? I don't really have any objections to any order from a role-playing perspective. Shieldbearer or Darcozzi look to be the most useful for this party, but I'm open to other ideas.

 

Attributes - I assume Resolve is extremely important for a Paladin and I think Intellect is desirable for enhancing aura radius. Are any of the other attributes particularly important or useless for a Paladin?

 

Skills - I don't fully understand what the new skills. What is most important for my PC to have nowadays, Athletics and Survival? Which of my characters should pump Mechanics? How about Lore? Should everyone in my party get a little bit of stealth, only the front-liners, or is it something I should ignore entirely with no Rogue?

 

Once I figure this out I should be set to start my run. I'll definitely have questions about optimal weaponry and talent/ability selection, but that isn't an immediate concern.

Bleak Walker and Kind Wayfarer are two best order imo , BW if going for dual wield damage dealer , KF if you want to go Triumphant path and stack on abilities that reward you after killing enemy ( 2handers are best for this , Starting with Firebrand then Redeemer and Abydons Hammer )

I would not pass helm on paladin , current playtrough i went with god like paladin and i regret it every minute since i went to WM .

Especially when Tempered Helm is so nice for triumphant build and looks paladin'ish too ( Then there is Maegfolc Skull which is amazing ) 

Unless u build full tank paladin ( dont do this with your MC thats boring ) the sole two stats that matter for paladin are Might and INT , as soon as you get Sacred Immolation it becomes obvious . You will get enough defenses from paladins faith and conviction so you dont need to rise RES . FoD and Priest in  party will give you more accuracy than you ever need so its safe to leave PER at 10 . I would never raise DEX over 10 for melee paladin ( unless building some kind of light armored Dual Vent Pick paladin ) , you can achieve 0 recovery without any dex with most weapons , especially if you are dualwielding . 

If going BW i would Max might as hard as i can and have 18 Int (+4 From Ring to make it 22 Lategame) , if going KF i would get atleast 20 Might and 24 Int (with items) Basically same stats just Bleak Walker continues to max might meanwhile KF focuses on having max INT . Starting stats for both you are looking at are : MIG 18+ , Con 10 , Dex 10, Per 10 , Int 18+ , Res 10 . Depending on your Race .

 

CON , PER , DEX , RES you can leave at 10 on any pala build honestly

 

My main advice would be , since your paladin is gonna be main character ( MC ) make it some kind of damage dealing knight , there is no point to take paladin as MC and build him as boring tank who does nothing except tank and some exhortations , you can use Kana for that . Paladins are most interesting to play when you make them into damage dealers . And they can and will cause mayhem trust me on this , both Dual wielding BW and 2 hander KF perform insanely well if built right.  Other orders are not really worth it , Darcozzi being most useless , Shieldbearers are nice for tanks , and Goldpact has decentish talent ( FoD leaves DoT) but its outclassed by BW and KF talents by mile . 

Edited April 24, 2016 by Blunderboss

[MaxQuest]

Alright then, I've got my party decided now:

• Paladin (PC)
• Chanter (Kana Rua)
• Monk (Zahua)
• Barbarian (Maneha)
• Wizard (Aloth)
• Priest (Durance)

With that in mind, let me start going through questions I have regarding character creation:

 

Race - my party already has plenty of Aumaua and I don't like my PC as an Orlan, so I'll probably go with a Moon Godlike or a Pale Elf. The question is simply if it is worth giving up a helmet or not.

 

Order - which is best for my party? I don't really have any objections to any order from a role-playing perspective. Shieldbearer or Darcozzi look to be the most useful for this party, but I'm open to other ideas.

 

Attributes - I assume Resolve is extremely important for a Paladin and I think Intellect is desirable for enhancing aura radius. Are any of the other attributes particularly important or useless for a Paladin?

 

Skills - I don't fully understand what the new skills. What is most important for my PC to have nowadays, Athletics and Survival? Which of my characters should pump Mechanics? How about Lore? Should everyone in my party get a little bit of stealth, only the front-liners, or is it something I should ignore entirely with no Rogue?

 

Once I figure this out I should be set to start my run. I'll definitely have questions about optimal weaponry and talent/ability selection, but that isn't an immediate concern.

 

- Race - I wouldn't advocate for a godlike on a main character with all those helmets around, unless you want to go for a full support role. In a party with many ranged characters I would advocate against Pale Elf as well. Because higher DR gives more reason to the AI to go after other party members. But with 4 melee, it should be ok. Another variants would be plain and simple: human, or boreal dwarf. These would be a better variant if you intend to go specifically for kind wayfarer/bleakwalker orders.

 

- Order - Shieldbreaker/Darcozzi for support build (Breaker is better earlier. Darcozzi later). Kind Wayfarer / Bleak Walker for dps/triumphant builds. But playing a support as MC, might be a bit boring, imho.

 

- Attributes - unexpectedly, but resolve is not 'extremely' important. You want first of all max Might/Int, for all the dmg, heals, durations, aura radius.

Followed by decentish PER if dps, or CON if tank. Keep in mind that if you want to tank dragons with this pala, you better have high fort and reflex. Will and deflection are less useful. And with high INT, you will have decent will saves anyway.

 

- Skills - personally, I bother with stealth no more. So it's athletics up to 5 (due to checks and little heal), lore up to 6/10 for conversations and scrolls and rest into survival for the bonuses. For the mechanics, let Kana max it, and if possible let him get 4 in lore.

Edited April 24, 2016 by MaxQuest

[HoopleDoople]

 

Alright then, I've got my party decided now:

• Paladin (PC)
• Chanter (Kana Rua)
• Monk (Zahua)
• Barbarian (Maneha)
• Wizard (Aloth)
• Priest (Durance)

With that in mind, let me start going through questions I have regarding character creation:

 

Race - my party already has plenty of Aumaua and I don't like my PC as an Orlan, so I'll probably go with a Moon Godlike or a Pale Elf. The question is simply if it is worth giving up a helmet or not.

 

Order - which is best for my party? I don't really have any objections to any order from a role-playing perspective. Shieldbearer or Darcozzi look to be the most useful for this party, but I'm open to other ideas.

 

Attributes - I assume Resolve is extremely important for a Paladin and I think Intellect is desirable for enhancing aura radius. Are any of the other attributes particularly important or useless for a Paladin?

 

Skills - I don't fully understand what the new skills. What is most important for my PC to have nowadays, Athletics and Survival? Which of my characters should pump Mechanics? How about Lore? Should everyone in my party get a little bit of stealth, only the front-liners, or is it something I should ignore entirely with no Rogue?

 

Once I figure this out I should be set to start my run. I'll definitely have questions about optimal weaponry and talent/ability selection, but that isn't an immediate concern.

Bleak Walker and Kind Wayfarer are two best order imo , BW if going for dual wield damage dealer , KF if you want to go Triumphant path and stack on abilities that reward you after killing enemy ( 2handers are best for this , Starting with Firebrand then Redeemer and Abydons Hammer )

I would not pass helm on paladin , current playtrough i went with god like paladin and i regret it every minute since i went to WM .

Especially when Tempered Helm is so nice for triumphant build and looks paladin'ish too ( Then there is Maegfolc Skull which is amazing ) 

Unless u build full tank paladin ( dont do this with your MC thats boring ) the sole two stats that matter for paladin are Might and INT , as soon as you get Sacred Immolation it becomes obvious . You will get enough defenses from paladins faith and conviction so you dont need to rise RES . FoD and Priest in  party will give you more accuracy than you ever need so its safe to leave PER at 10 . I would never raise DEX over 10 for melee paladin ( unless building some kind of light armored Dual Vent Pick paladin ) , you can achieve 0 recovery without any dex with most weapons , especially if you are dualwielding . 

If going BW i would Max might as hard as i can and have 18 Int (+4 From Ring to make it 22 Lategame) , if going KF i would get atleast 20 Might and 24 Int (with items) Basically same stats just Bleak Walker continues to max might meanwhile KF focuses on having max INT . Starting stats for both you are looking at are : MIG 18+ , Con 10 , Dex 10, Per 10 , Int 18+ , Res 10 . Depending on your Race .

 

CON , PER , DEX , RES you can leave at 10 on any pala build honestly

 

My main advice would be , since your paladin is gonna be main character ( MC ) make it some kind of damage dealing knight , there is no point to take paladin as MC and build him as boring tank who does nothing except tank and some exhortations , you can use Kana for that . Paladins are most interesting to play when you make them into damage dealers . And they can and will cause mayhem trust me on this , both Dual wielding BW and 2 hander KF perform insanely well if built right.  Other orders are not really worth it , Darcozzi being most useless , Shieldbearers are nice for tanks , and Goldpact has decentish talent ( FoD leaves DoT) but its outclassed by BW and KF talents by mile . 

 

 

I've decided to go with a Pale Elf Kind Wayfarer, with max MIG and INT. The last thing I need to figure out is which Weapon Focus (if any) each of my characters should acquire, assuming the NPCs aren't stuck with a focus already. I'm thinking of using my party as follows:

 

Tank - Kana Rua

Off-tank - Zahua

Melee DPS - PC, Maneha

Ranged - Durance, Aloth

 

With that in mind, which weapon focus talent would you recommend for each character?

[Blunderboss]

Implements on wizard are always nice and can be very dangerous if you use Rod of Pale Shades or Golden Gaze with blast it gets nasty ( Noble , Dangerous Implement , Blast )

Durance will be able to pick Magran Priest talent so he gets bonus accuracy with Sword and Arquebus

 

For KF paladin i would not rush to pick any focus early in the game , if you plan to use Firebrand from act 2 , get 2hander talent and Scion of Flame at lvl 4 and 6 ( strange mercy at lvl 2 ) , you can also use Durances Staff in act 1 which does fire damage if enemy has lower fire dr . Firebrand has Damaging 3 ( 45% ) and Annihilating (+50% Damage on Crits) , does fire damage so scion of flame will boost it by another 20% ( this applies to base damage of firebrand so anything that increases its damage after this will benefit from increased base damage this is what makes it so good ) , and 2-Handed style talent by 15% , you are looking at some serious damage with FoD and without it .

 

I would not pick weapon focus early on barb and on chanter , you never know what weapon u end up using , also you have priest and paladin who give accuracy buffs from early game .

Edited April 24, 2016 by Blunderboss

[KDubya]

For that set up I'd go with:

 

Kana - Knight focus - sword and shield. Stormbringer in one slot, swords and axes. I like the marking one from the Crucible Knights, have multiple slaying types that you swap to based on enemies. Steadfast can be good for the defensive buffs. His job is to stay alive and add a fire lash to everyone, occasionally let loose with a Dragon Thrash and drop some invocations in longer fights. Grab the two endurance regen auras, Gallant's Focus, and the druid cross class

 

Zahua - Juggernaut fist monk. Only needs Durgan steel for his armor, plate works well

 

PC Kind Wayfarer - Two handed with Estocs are nice, Blade of the Endless Paths is great, the Drakes Bell that you get from one of the early bounties is nice for early game. Or you can dual wield sabres. If Maneha is not using Tidefall that makes an excellent weapon.

 

Maneha - If two handed go with Tidefall and St whatever's Redeemer for vessels. Superb quality, wounding, endurance drain and a lash all with Carnage. Or Unlabored Blade and Dragon Maw shield for more tanky

 

Aloth - Whatever implement you like if you are going with blaster build

 

Durance - I'd replace him with someone else. If you use to full effect the game is trivialized, the team is strong enough. Replace with Pelaginna.

[HoopleDoople]

Implements on wizard are always nice and can be very dangerous if you use Rod of Pale Shades or Golden Gaze with blast it gets nasty ( Noble , Dangerous Implement , Blast )

Durance will be able to pick Magran Priest talent so he gets bonus accuracy with Sword and Arquebus

 

For KF paladin i would not rush to pick any focus early in the game , if you plan to use Firebrand from act 2 , get 2hander talent and Scion of Flame at lvl 4 and 6 ( strange mercy at lvl 2 ) , you can also use Durances Staff in act 1 which does fire damage if enemy has lower fire dr . Firebrand has Damaging 3 ( 45% ) and Annihilating , does fire damage so scion of flame will boost it by another 20% , and 2-Handed style talent by 15% , you are looking at some serious damage with FoD and without it .

 

I would not pick weapon focus early on barb and on chanter , you never know what weapon u end up using , also you have priest and paladin who give accuracy buffs from early game .

 

What exactly is Firebrand? The only thing I'm seeing in the wiki is the Druid spell.

[Blunderboss]

Forgemasters Gloves - item that you can buy in Defiance Bay after completing one quest for Crucible Knights ,

Gloves has a spell called Firebrand ( 3 Per Rest )

It summons a 2-handed sword made out of fire which does insane damage for the level you get it especially if boosted by Scion of Flame , Considering that with paladin you will end up taking scion of flame no matter what ( Sacred Immolation , Flames of Devotion are fire damage ) , this is by far best weapon for triumphant paladin early game

Side benefit is that you can have Outworn Buckler with some one handed weapon and Durance Staff in your weapons slots . As firebrand takes gloves slot

Also later in the game you will want to use either St Waidwen Redeemer vs Vessels or Abydons Hammer , so your weapon focus does not matter as both of those weapons are soulbound and will benefit from any focus , i would not pick weapon focus on paladin untill very late game anyway , FoD gives you +20 Accuracy , and you have priest for endless accuracy buffs , also paladins aura gives +6 Accuracy to eveyone in a party

Edited April 24, 2016 by Blunderboss