Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire, by Obsidian Entertainment

That'd be my guess. He's good at melee, to, but you've got melee covered. His priest spell selection is mostly offense/debuff-based. Not sure what his chanter selection is like, though.

Do his chanter or rogue classes have unique subclasses, or is it just the priest class that gets it?

I was kind of thinking of making him a Celebrant with the Chanter stuff being focused on a good summoning invocation or two.

Edited by M84 on Aug 4th 2018 at 3:15:54 AM

Eder and Xoti have slowly worked their way onto my last nerve, so I won't take them along for the first run. Maybe later. I'll pick up Vatnir when I get to him (unless he's some kind of Durance-esque complete asshat).

Don't worry, he's not. And really? Eder?

I specced Vatnir as a pure priest (since I'm a chanter and Ydwin's a cipher/rogue), so I'm not sure what his multiclasses look like. And apparently there's a bug where a couple of dialogue flags are being flagged across all save files, so I actually can't go back and check because his initial dialogue tree won't start.

Beat it and liked it, though I wish it felt more expansive. It strikes me as being replayable, though, given different choices and skills. So it annoys me that the starting conversation is broken.

Edited by Unsung on Aug 7th 2018 at 2:44:18 AM

So I'm playing the game on a brand new computer and OMG it makes such a difference.

Loading time is in seconds instead of minutes! I can play on the highest graphics setting! Random areas don't fail to load and force me to restart!

It's...incredible.

Edit: Also, I'm considering making Vatnir a pure Priest. I don't have one of those on my team, and I kind of want to see how powerful the highest tier skills they have are.

Edited by M84 on Aug 7th 2018 at 2:31:41 AM

It's a very pretty game. Makes the original hard to look at

Priests are quite good, and the way heals and buffs/debuffs work in this game makes their niche feel that much more defined.

Heh, the DLC was fun. Brought back good - and some bad - memories of the various Fade excursions in Dragon Age. I got stuck in Waidwen's area; I often forget to loot enemy corpses, so I missed the key and couldn't figure out how the heck I was supposed to get into the tower.

I liked Vatnir. So far he and Rekke have the top spots as my favorite sidekicks. I took Pallegina along to fill out the party and she and Aloth had some pretty funny comments along the way; next time I'll have to bring Tekehu and see if he has anything to say in the Ukaizo section.

Erm, I think I found a bug. I just started and got the Defiant going and after I landed in Port Maje, I could suddenly level Aloth to over level 30.

Edit: Yeesh, it never ends, I am at 50 now.

Edited by TerminusEst on Aug 10th 2018 at 10:05:50 AM

And... what, you can just keep picking talents and so on? What happens when you've selected all the talents there are?

That's... promising, in a way? It's not supposed to go all the way up to 50, I imagine, but I was curious if it would go higher than... 20 or 22? And I didn't think BOW had raised the level cap, though I thought I did see a few spells and abilities that weren't there before. Didn't get to level up many characters, though.

Haven't gotten that far yet, but it looks like I can take everything.

Welp, finished BOW and my second playthrough with the Psyblade build. Pretty fun, though I kind of wish I started the BOW content earlier so I could actually finish leveling the two pieces of Soulbound gear in BOW. Also, I know now that I should have at least one char with two-handed style and battle axe proficiency.

Vatnir's pretty good as a sidekick, though I personally found it odd that he favors axes and wands. He's a priest ofa god of deathly cold, yet he has a default proficiency in a weapon type (axe) where the only unique weapon is a legendary fire axe of Magran. It was surprisingly effective making Vatnir a wielder of fire and ice abilities.

For my third playthrough I'm considering making a greatsword wielding female Watcher named Clare. Since I already did the Psypher thing I was thinking of trying an Inquisitor (Paladin / Cipher) build. Any thoughts?

In both of my previous playthroughs I only dual-classed Xoti and Eder and some of my sidekicks. This time I'm considering dual-classing Tekehu — as much as I enjoy pure Druids, I want to see how the Storm Speaker works out.

Edited by M84 on Aug 12th 2018 at 9:51:40 PM

Ah, Obsidian. Always coming up with intricate rules systems and then coming up with magic items that break those same rules. Here's hoping they bring back throwing axes, starting with Haft Over Head (a magic returning throwing axe which always lands handle-first from IWD 2).

I like how Vatnir starts off talking about tests and being chosen like he's going to be a badly frostbitten Scandinavian version of Durance, and then turns out to be a stammering coward... except that no, he does have principles and is willing to fight if he has to, just not for the sake of speeding his people into Rymrgand's clutches. I wish the direct conversations you could have with him and Ydwin were a little more in-depth. You get a sense of their perspective, but I would have liked to have asked more. And we're left with even more questions about what exactly happened to Ydwin that led her to leave the White that Wends.

I like Stormspeaker. All the free attack spells Tekehu gets from both his classes help free you up to make some ability choices you otherwise might not.

What oath were you thinking of? More of a support cipher this time?

I was thinking Bleak Walkers actually (and Soul Blade again). I rather like having the Watcher be a damage dealer while letting the rest of the party handle other duties. There wouldn't be much point to having Clare lug around a greatsword if she wasn't going to be using it to deal tons of damage.

I'm trying to figure out what kind of build would best suit a Claymore, basically. Something besides Psyblade.

I also briefly considered letting my inner Highlander fanboy take over and make a "Kurgan" build...but I realized I don't actually like roleplaying as a total asshole. And the Kurgan's a complete asshole.

Part of my motivation is to have another character besides Pallegina who can make good use of the various greatswords. The only other party members who "default" to two-hander builds are Maia and Tekehu, and it just doesn't suit them to be wielding greatswords. I picture Maia as, well, a gunner, and Tekehu wielding rods and quarterstaves.

Edited by M84 on Aug 14th 2018 at 3:09:46 AM

I like using Battlemage Aloth as a two-handed mobile fighter, good for solo-dueling enemy casters and elites. Sure, he defaults to one-handed style, but there's nothing stopping you from disregarding that if you're not sticking with Keybreaker.

I almost always give Tekehu that adra tower shield from the Old City (since it runs on Athletics and Metaphysics, which I usually raise on him( and that one Huana spear from Cignath Mor. I like the idea of rods and staves for him flavor-wise, but in practice, between his chants and Relentless Storm, I usually want him right in the middle of melee.

It's pretty difficult to justify having Maia do anything but shoot, really, though I wonder if there's a case to be made for having her Scout build flank with Ishiza.

What's sad about Aloth's default status as a rapier wielder is that there are so few unique rapiers. There's like, two. At least there are several good unique scepters, including Keybreaker.

I think I will make Aloth a Battlemage in my next playthrough. I've been using him as a pure Wizard in my previous ones.

I'll dual-class Tekehu into a Theurge as well, though for the sake of flavor I'll still have him using rods and staves.

Eder will remain a Swashbuckler, and Xoti will remain a Contemplative. Maia will remain a pure Ranger, and Serafen will remain a pure Cipher.

As for my Watcher, I'm torn between two interesting Greatsword builds I found online. A Bleak Walker Soul Blade Inquisitor Build and a Devoted Shattered Pillar Brawler Build. The former might be closer to emulating Clare from Claymore as per my original intent (I'm making a point of copying various fictional characters with each playthrough) but the latter wouldn't have any pesky reputation issues.

Gotta wait until I transfer my originl POE 1 saves to my new computer. I forgot that I needed them when starting a new game in POE 2.

Edited by M84 on Aug 14th 2018 at 7:07:04 PM

There were a ton of rapiers in the first game, but in Deadfire it's all sabres.

One of my favourite things about paladins is the special dialogue options you get based on your order. I had an Old Vailian Darcozzi Paladini/ranger character in the beta that I was thinking about trying, but from what I hear there isn't really that much interaction, not even with Furrante. That's crying out for a fan mod, really.

I actually use Witch!Serafen as an off-tank in a lot of games. DPS, support, control, melee, ranged, evasion, HP, he's kind of got it all. And as previously noted, dual-wielding takes the edge off of heavier armor. Unfortunately he doesn't have a lot of story involvement, or I'd use him more often.

Welp, I went with the Fighter / Monk (Devoted / Shattered Pillar) build on Clare who is a female Pale Elf who hails from the White that Wends. I considered making her a Moon Godlike too, but then I remembered Godlikes can't wear helmets, and there's a helmet that's very good for two-handers. We'll see how it goes.

I also had to make a new history since Steam Cloud only transferred the character whose game was not complete. And I can't get the old computer that had my completed save.

Oh well, at least I have a chance to tweak the history a bit. I just hope I didn't screw myself out of getting Whispers of the Endless Paths. One of the reasons I'm playing this char is because I want to give the Whispers a spin.

And yeah, they really should have added more dialogue options in the Principi questline if your Watcher was a Vailian Darcozzi Paladin too.

Edited by M84 on Aug 16th 2018 at 3:02:30 AM

Okay, so the bug was temporary. But I do have a level 51 Wizard Aloth, that can slaughter entire armies now. And his party.

...Yeah, I think I'm gonna try a Battlemage Aloth this time. The game isn't so difficult that I'd be screwed if it doesn't pan out.

I wouldn't say it makes it more difficult. You can just do different things — get some better use out of cones and rays, self-buffs and weapon conjuration spells, not to mention the fighter's defensive abilities, particularly anything that gives you Concentration. It means you can put your tank somewhere else, basically.

Welp, I'm almost done with my "Claymore" build playthrough. Pretty fun all things considered.

That will be three playthroughs over hundreds of hours of gameplay. I'm thinking of either taking a break until the next DLC comes out and maybe finally buying Dark Souls 3 now that I have a computer that can run it...or starting a NEW playthrough.

Any suggestions? I've gone with a Cipher archer, a dualwielder, and a BFS wielder. Maybe an unarmed build Watcher named Kenshiro?

Edited by M84 on Aug 25th 2018 at 8:07:44 PM

Any companions you haven't used much? Factions you haven't sided with (or crossed)? Reputations you didn't max out? I see you were liking Whispers of the Endless Paths — it's a great sword (heh) if you plan for it. Carving up bunches of mooks all at once is always a good feeling. It's one of the things I really liked about DA 2.

My next character (whenever that is) is probably going to be a Deadfire island aumaua, since I'm curious to see the unique dialogue you get. Might wait until all the DLC is out to do another full playthrough.

I think they fixed the glitch with quest progression, so I should go back and try out BOW on one of my other characters at some point, too.

I'm gonna wait on the next patch. There's a weird bug still where the Guardian doesn't appear unless you somehow avoid having the sea dragon encounter. This seems to have happened after I installed BOW.

Maybe I'll buy Dead Cells to pass the time. Dark Souls III...maybe when a sale happens.

Edited by M84 on Aug 27th 2018 at 4:14:54 PM

I noticed that "The Drowned Kingdom" recommends taking Rekke along. Anyone know anything more about that? Did any of the other sidekicks other than Ydwin get bonus dialogue?

Choose your own Neriscyrlas-venture: http://eternity.obsidian.net/media/short-stories/mouth-of-the-beast