New POE game, couple of questions

[Major_Blackhart]

Last time I played, got mostly thru to Ch 3 of PoE, but then some shit happened and I got thrown off my rails and didn't get back to playing the game. Was so-so about it, enjoyed some of it, found parts lackluster or lacking in other areas.

Anyway, was gonna start with Paladin, Bleak Walker type because I haven't played anything other than straight barbarian so far.

Was mostly unimpressed with the unoptimized companions last time, and was wondering how the hires work vs companions? Are they any better or worse?

Also, weapon and shield or just two handed? I'm used to the old DnD/Pathfinder school of thought so I don't know if 2 handed brings any additional benefits other than the normal damage range increase for weapons.

 

[Gord]

Hiring an adventurer means you get to build it ground-up.
That means both different classes and "optimized builds", but you obviously lose out on companion stories/quests and barks.
Ultimately I don't thinkt it's necessary though to optimize builds over the companion npcs, unless maybe patch 2.0 improved difficulty noticeably.

 

[Dorateen]

Go with a full created party. But you have to wait until your Main hits 2nd level, before you can hire the other customizable characters at the inn.

Some shields grant a secondary "bash" attack in addition to your primary attack. So I like using weapon and shield, with the associated feat that also ups deflection.

 

[Crichton]

I just finished my first playthrough with the pre-made NPCs. There are a lot of complaints out there about their lousy stat distribution but the game's too easy to begin with so I'd say take the ones you like listening to (I like the fighter and the dwarven huntress).

Re: shields, it seems to help a lot if you have at least two characters with enough "deflection" (read: Armor Class) to tie up strong melee-type enemies. A big shield adds 16 points of deflection and you get six more if you have the appropriate talent. I don't know that you can get a reliably high-enough deflection without those 22 points (plus the quality bonus) so I'd say you want two shield users but neither needs to be your main character. I used the pre-made fighter and paladin as my blockers, equipping them with shields and random 1-handed weapons.

The advantages to 2-handed weapons (in addition to base damage) are that a) the two-handed weapon talent boosts damage by 15% and b) quarterstaves and pikes allow you to attack from behind your (presumably tougher) companions. For a priest, this is, if you'll pardon the expression, a god-send. My priest main character got beaten senseless whenever he tried to make use of a flail or morning star, but switching him to a staff allowed him to contribute safely in fights where it wasn't worth wasting spells.