PODT, damage immunity, devoted

[mrmonocle]

I've noticed some enemies (skeletons in Poko dungeon) have piercing damage immunity on PODT. Is this ok for a devoted who chose estoc? I mean there is a class that heavily relies on a single weapon type and thus a certain damage type, therefore is this really ok to render this choice completely invalid by introducing immunity?

 

Discuss...

Edited January 28, 2018 by mrmonocle

[CottonWolf]

It's obviously okay. That's the deliberate downside of the subclass. You're trading flexibility for power, and if there was never a cost to that power, it's no longer a trade-off. It's not like there's nothing that can be done. It's a party based game, you can pull your fighter back and let the other four toons take out the immune thing, or you can switch to a weapon your fighter has a malus with, and fight it with the handicap.

Edited January 28, 2018 by CottonWolf

[AndreaColombo]

My .02—yes, it is.

 

As CottonWolf said, lack of flexibility is the downside of the Devoted. You can ameliorate it by selecting a weapon with two damage types, or you can go for the estoc and leave pierce-immune enemies to other party members. Third option, you can suck up the Accuracy penalty and attack those specific enemies with a different weapon from your chosen one (perhaps making up for the penalties with buffs that grant Inspirations.)

[blotter]

There isn't a problem with enemies having immunity to specific damage types in the abstract. In practice, there may be if there are a preponderance of enemies who are immune to one damage type, such as piercing, rather than others since it makes some weapons superior or inferior to others overall.

 

A devoted encountering enemies who are resistant or immune to the damage type from their chosen weapon is something I'm completely fine with, though, and I agree with CottonWolf that a) these situations are precisely where the drawbacks of the devoted subclass are supposed to lie and b) the devoted has options available to them even in these situations.

 

I also agree with AndreaColombo that the downside is easily avoided by selecting proficiency in the use of weapons that have dual damage types such as swords or warhammers. Similarly, players may select weapons with single damage types which they know from previous playthroughs aren't widely resisted or subject to immunity (assuming that there are significant disparities in the occurrence of immunity to specific damage types).

 

These methods may actually allow the devoted to avoid the downsides of their subclass a bit too easily by removing the incentive to ever switch weapons, unless Obsidian is careful about overall encounter balance throughout the game and/or makes sure the enchantments for less optimal weapon types are appealing enough to still provide a sense of cost or lost opportunity for canny devoted players.

[hilfazer]

Wait until you find a unique estoc with elemental lash!

 

Just kidding, unique items should not be affecting design of (sub)classes.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Yes, the Devoted was designed as being a subclass who paid for versatility with specialization, and should suffer the downsides of it. This is only an issue if some weapons have no good options or if immunities are concentrated in one damage type instead of being spread out, because in that scenario it becomes possible to pick a bad weapon of choice for Devoted that can't be changed. Soulbound weapons, summoned weapons, and spells are also worth considering, in that those may be exempt from the -10 Acc penalty and as such be an option for multiclass Devoted.

Edited January 29, 2018 by KaineParker

[SaruNi]

Wait until you find a unique estoc with elemental lash!

 

Just kidding, unique items should not be affecting design of (sub)classes.

 

That could be an interesting variation on Firebrand for multiclass....

[KDubya]

If you have a weapon on switch that has a different damage type and the accuracy ability then you're only down by -4 accuracy which is hardly earth shattering. You can use clubs, quarterstaffs, spears, daggers, or rapiers; they all have an inherent +6 accuracy.

[AndreaColombo]

Wasn’t it +5?

[JerekKruger]

Yes - either choose a weapon with dual damage types or accept the penalty when using a non-favoured weapon type. That's the downside of the class.

[Dr. Hieronymous Alloy]

It does seem a little kludgy in that there's an obvious imbalance between a Devoted with an Estoc and a Devoted with a Greatsword, but basically yeah if you pick Devoted you want to make sure you pick a weapon with multiple damage types.