Eternity Pillars of Eternity + The White March Expansion Thread

[IHaveHugeNick]

My OG party sucked hard in SSS, when I did another run I smashed through it.

 

[Ninjerk]

Well, I reinstalled the game, started character creation, got to attributes, remembered how absurd the system is and rage-quitted. Might give it another try once I calm down a bit.

GOTY all years

 

[Grunker]

if you're a "WHY DOES MY WIZARD NEED MIGHT RAGEQUIT" kind of guy i doubt you'll find much enjoyment in a reinstall

 

[rusty_shackleford]

wizards needing might is retarded, it's one of those things that arises out of trying to be unique just to be quirky and unique

 

[vazha]

if you're a "WHY DOES MY WIZARD NEED MIGHT RAGEQUIT" kind of guy i doubt you'll find much enjoyment in a reinstall

I am more of a "WHY MY BARBARIAN NEEDS FREAKING INTELLIGENCE RAGEQUIT" kind of guy, but yeah, such an idiotic setup.

 

[Grunker]

if you're a "WHY DOES MY WIZARD NEED MIGHT RAGEQUIT" kind of guy i doubt you'll find much enjoyment in a reinstall

I am more of a "WHY MY BARBARIAN NEEDS FREAKING INTELLIGENCE RAGEQUIT" kind of guy, but yeah, such an idiotic setup.

Like I said, I think I would just drop it then

 

[TedNugent]

if you're a "WHY DOES MY WIZARD NEED MIGHT RAGEQUIT" kind of guy i doubt you'll find much enjoyment in a reinstall

I am more of a "WHY MY BARBARIAN NEEDS FREAKING INTELLIGENCE RAGEQUIT" kind of guy, but yeah, such an idiotic setup.

Pure autism

 

[Delterius]

Wasn't the real Conan the Barbarian somewhat defined by being very intelligent? I heard that once before.

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

Stupid barbarians tend not to live that long because of, you know, tactics, but ok.
I'm just saying, the barbarians who think that bum rushing a pike-wall is a good idea tend not to live long enough to bed wenches and get paid.

 

[TedNugent]

I'd say Teutobod Forest indicated a pretty high INT and PER score, but truthfully I think they just had a high stealth score and were probably more rogues than barbarians based on their sneak attack bonus and critical hit rate.

Germanicus' campaign showed Arminius was lacking in Diplomatic reputation. His ending slide showed he was sacrificed to Skaen.

 

[Orud]

Wasn't the real Conan the Barbarian somewhat defined by being very intelligent? I heard that once before.

Barbarian basically means 'someone from another culture, one with different ways than us', so it's not surprising that any real life influence wasn't as dumb as a rock if he survived for a while (because of the reasons stated above).

 

[AwesomeButton]

The trick is that all attributes are relative to the class: a high-might wizard is strong for a wizard, a high-int barbarian is intelligent, for a barbarian.

I wonder how Josh never thought of that explanation

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Stupid barbarians tend not to live that long because of, you know, tactics, but ok.

barbarian 'intelligence' would be wisdom though

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

Fair enough. After posting that I was thinking that too.

 

[vazha]

A mixture of wisdom & perception, to be more specific. Low brow cunning stuff.

 

[Parabalus]

Intelligence is an inherit trait, just because the barb's profession use of it isn't as obvious as a wizard's does not diminish his score.

 

[Lyric Suite]

The problem is that the trait doesn't define the class.

Conan in the Robert E. Howard stories is quite intelligent, particularly since the character is often just a mirror for Howard's own thoughts and ideas, but this intellectual capacity of this character is accidental to the archetype he rapresents.

One of the more explicit episodes in his stories is in The Pool of the Black One, where Conan challenges the captain of the pirate ship he wants to take over. During the duel with Zaporavo, Howard goes out of his way to point out that Zaporavo is the more skilled fencer, but Conan prevails because of the primeval power of the barbarian. For Zaporavo, it was like fighting a tiger (i think Howard uses this exact analogy). His civilized sophistication was powerless when compared to what was nothing other than a force of nature.

Now, there's nothing preventing a barbarian from having an high intelligence score, and i can think of a few ways a clever DM might factor that into a PnP game, but there's no reason to expect that high intelligence would help such a character be a better barbarian specifically.

Conan himself becomes less of a barbarian the more he puts his intelligence to use, for instance, when he becomes a general, and then a king. When he aquires Aquilonia he doesn't govern by smashing skulls with cow bones, he actually becomes partially civilized and that even becomes a plot point in The Hour of the Dragon.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

More importantly, high Int Barb is just one of viable builds. Similarly, you might opt out of high Might Wizard if you want to focus on illusion spells

 

[Lyric Suite]

More importantly, high Int Barb is just one of viable builds. Similarly, you might opt out of high Might Wizard if you want to focus on illusion spells

If you don't have the muscles to cast big fireballs you can be a Jew instead.

Nice going, Sawyer.

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

The Chad Fire Mage vs the Virgin Illusion Mage.

 

[Roguey]

Stupid barbarians tend not to live that long because of, you know, tactics, but ok.

barbarian 'intelligence' would be wisdom though

There is no wisdom in Pillars. There's intellect and perception.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Stupid barbarians tend not to live that long because of, you know, tactics, but ok.
I'm just saying, the barbarians who think that bum rushing a pike-wall is a good idea tend not to live long enough to bed wenches and get paid.

Knowing tactics has nothing to do with being a barbarian.

You are sort of proving our point here. You are only thinking in terms of how an high intelligence might benefit a barbarian apart from what makes him a barbarian.

 

[mediocrepoet]

I think the dumber thing about it all is what the impacts of high int actually are for the barbarian. Like how the hell does intelligence help a barbarian frenzy longer or have bigger carnage cleaves?

Anyway, I made my peace with it mostly by trying to think of POE's stats as abstractions rather than simulationist like D&D's, i.e. the stats don't inherently mean anything, they're just stand ins for what your character is good at per the game rules. It kind of breaks down when the stats are used in dialogue, but whatever.

 

[Delterius]

Like how the hell does intelligence help a barbarian frenzy longer or have bigger carnage cleaves?

1) pacing yourself + targeted breathing exercises 2) being intelligent means that even during rage you are aware of the battlefield and do not tunnel vision 3) one of the fantastic four was smart and had long arms 4) you need to have a high int score to read the ancient barbarian scrolls

 

[Fluent]

Plus INT to know how to handle a weapon, its strengths, weaknesses, its inherent properties, and how to swing and utilize in a smart, efficient and effective way. Plenty of stuff like this goes into fighting that could be simulated with INT imo. Hope u guys are having fun!