Eternity Pillars of Eternity + The White March Expansion Thread

[Grunker]

They don’t no, I was just commenting on LS’ assertion that they ignored engagement altogether.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

Imaging spending a full week in character creation, starting at the attributes, trying to make the most optimized build, only to end up making a 7 Con Pala intended as a tank.

This thread is now diamonds.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Looks like a severe case of analysis paralysis. Combat isn't great and finetuning a character not required. The distribution is pretty flat unless you compare builds at the opposite ends. Its been balanced to death by design so unless you go for a completely retarded distribution it will work. Many builds are centered on specific item combinations and require meta-gaming to execute. So unless you want to mega-game on your first playthrough you should skip the power house builds anyways and just roll your own character.

Well, part of the reason is that something came up and i had to post pone my run for a couple days so i've been theorycrafting to pass time lmao.
...

Its indeed a system that stimulates theorycrafting. I remember myself spending quite some time on character creation when I played Pillars for the first time, at a time when there weren't guides out yet and the detailed mechanics still unclear. It seemed like a deep and complex character system on a first glance where every attribute matters allowing many unconventional builds. But as I played it, it turned out to be bland. Many things have just a miniscule effect and you have to stack tons of effects to obtain something noticeable. Perhaps your experience will be better, now that you know what to expect.

I enjoy theorycrafting as a rule, but my purpose in trying to "game" the system is not so much that of coming up with the most optimal way to beat the game possible (other people have done that anyway), but to make viable builds based on a given roleplaying concept.

For instance, i have an idea brewing for a Darcozzi Paladini inspired by actual Italian medieval knights using a fighting style as that described by Fiore dei Liberi in his manual. I even had a concept that would actually improve on what Sawyer came up with. Rather than merely serving the Darcozzi family as a kind of enforcer, the main goal of this knight would be the restoration of the ancient honor and nobility not only of the Darcozzi family but the culture of ancient Old Vailia as a whole. He would belong to the same kind of Chivarlic order Dante Alighieri actually belonged to (the so called Fedeli D'Amore) and in his politics he would resemble not only a Dante but also a Savonarola.

Now, the crucial stats for this build are Might and Intelligence, both of which would be maxed. The rest is mostly whatever. If i go human (and there's a few interesting human portraits that i can use for this), he would be more offensive oriented because the human racial is more dps oriented. But there's also that fire God-like portrait that might actually fit this idea, the one with the heavy armor and embroidered collar. The firsh people and the manlet races don't interest me.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Imaging spending a full week in character creation, starting at the attributes, trying to make the most optimized build, only to end up making a 7 Con Pala intended as a tank.

This thread is now diamonds.

Eder is the tank. Mine was a tank/dps (with 2 handed weapons) hybrid. As far as i understand it hit points don't matter as much as defence in this game, and paladins get a ton of that.

 

[Lyric Suite]

You'll have a field day with this dude, let me tell you ;d -

Considering how many of those portraits are just pictures of real people painted over (and it's WAY too obvious for a lot o them), what if this guy actually exists?

 

[mediocrepoet]

You'll have a field day with this dude, let me tell you ;d -

Considering how many of those portraits are just pictures of real people painted over (and it's WAY too obvious for a lot o them), what if this guy actually exists?

Is this some weird foreshadowing that somehow this guy got ahold of a picture of you?

 

[Grunker]

You'll have a field day with this dude, let me tell you ;d -

Considering how many of those portraits are just pictures of real people painted over (and it's WAY too obvious for a lot o them), what if this guy actually exists?

 

[Lyric Suite]

Lmao, he looks better in the portrait.

 

[mediocrepoet]

You'll have a field day with this dude, let me tell you ;d -

Considering how many of those portraits are just pictures of real people painted over (and it's WAY too obvious for a lot o them), what if this guy actually exists?

 

[MajorMace]

Playing deadfire made me reflect upon engagement in poe1 as p.bad but it might have simply been about deadfire presenting it more clearly via its ui design.

 

[TedNugent]

Then try it out and report back. You have a few surprises to look forward to ;d

Well, it seems the problem is with the game though, isn't it?

Let's say i forget about RP and go for pure min/max.

If i make the Paladin a tank, he will suck because the AI will just ignore him. Dex and Perception will be dumped to oblivion, he would just be a buff bot and i would still need Eder to tank. Good convertionalist though.

If i make him a damage dealer (preferably dual wielding stiletto shoes), he will be subpar compared to other classes.

So it seems the best way to play the Paladin is to just pick another class. Thanks Sawyer.

The stats say right there what they do. There's two for reflex, two for fortitude, two for will. One stat raises deflection. One stat raises accuracy.

Every single stat in the game is important defensively in different applications. For example, a fireball spell is saved by a reflex save, a knockdown is saved by a fortitude, a mind control spell is saved by willpower. Fortitude saves are also extremely relevant. Even by going "pure DPS," you didn't. You still have half the important defensive stats even with dex and might.

I selected intellect as my dump stat, and I'm now unhappy with how much resilience my character has against the flood of mind control and confusion spells in certain pulls.

Also, consider this - there's a rather stupid mechanic called a rest bonus and essentially you get to select what partywide stat you want to buff. If you're low on dex, for example, you can eventually get a +3 dex buff rest bonus for 3 rests that's more or less free if you don't mind the walk.

Add one piece of food and a stat stick item and, ta-da, your chosen dump stat is back to normal.

 

[Crichton]

Then try it out and report back. You have a few surprises to look forward to ;d

Well, it seems the problem is with the game though, isn't it?

Let's say i forget about RP and go for pure min/max.

If i make the Paladin a tank, he will suck because the AI will just ignore him. Dex and Perception will be dumped to oblivion, he would just be a buff bot and i would still need Eder to tank. Good convertionalist though.

If i make him a damage dealer (preferably dual wielding stiletto shoes), he will be subpar compared to other classes.

So it seems the best way to play the Paladin is to just pick another class. Thanks Sawyer.

That's it, you bazzo! I'm calling you out! Finish building your dex-based faggot and we'll see who can withstand the clash of steel better!

 

[Bigg Boss]

Can that guy even run without falling down?

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Can that guy even run without falling down?

He'll roll with it.

 

[Blutwurstritter]

Can that guy even run without falling down?

He'll roll with it.

A Paladin designed for low blows, quite a curious choice, almost barbaric. I guess he gets evil by the balls. I hope he manages to reach his noble goals.

 

[Lyric Suite]

You'll have a field day with this dude, let me tell you ;d -

Considering how many of those portraits are just pictures of real people painted over (and it's WAY too obvious for a lot o them), what if this guy actually exists?

Is this some weird foreshadowing that somehow this guy got ahold of a picture of you?

I actually look like this one:

Now i wonder who this actually is lol.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Lmao, i just saw a post of someone saying that's Josh Sawyer?

Have i been fighting myself all this time?

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Lmao, i just saw a post of someone saying that's Josh Sawyer?

Have i been fighting myself all this time?

Nix the sawyer one is unmistakable

 

[Lyric Suite]

BTW, the dialog in this game is... try hard?

Even the writing in Icewind Dale was better. I still remember the conversation with the priest in the temple. It wasn't super profound but it felt interesting and the voice acting was great.

Some of the dialog options here are a mixed bag. And the first resolve check i got was downright harsh. I was planning of playing without knowing what check each dialog option revolved around but i'm not sure the writing makes it that clear. I think i'm still gonna go ahead and do it because seeing which check each dialog has is extremely distracting. At some point it feels i might as well not read what the dialog says. I'm actually considering restarting with expert mode on so not to feel "compelled" to cheat by turning those quality of life options on.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

BTW, the dialog in this game is... try hard?

Even the writing in Icewind Dale was better. I still remember the conversation with the priest in the temple. It wasn't super profound but it felt interesting and the voice acting was great.

Some of the dialog options here are a mixed bag. And the first resolve check i got was downright harsh. I was planning of playing without knowing what check each dialog option revolved around but i'm not sure the writing makes it that clear. I think i'm still gonna go ahead and do it because seeing which check each dialog has is extremely distracting. At some point it feels i might as well not read what the dialog says. I'm actually considering restarting with expert mode on so not to feel "compelled" to cheat by turning those quality of life options on.

Tbh I hate how all modern cRPGs show dialogue checks right on the dialogue, it's one of my bigger pet peeves.
Hiding it shouldn't be expert mode, how TF does your character know they would pass a check or not without trying unless they have mind reading or something

 

[Nano]

Tbh I hate how all modern cRPGs show dialogue checks right on the dialogue, it's one of my bigger pet peeves.
Hiding it shouldn't be expert mode, how TF does your character know they would pass a check or not without trying unless they have mind reading or something

It's a video game. There are many things your character wouldn't know from his POV.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Tbh I hate how all modern cRPGs show dialogue checks right on the dialogue, it's one of my bigger pet peeves.
Hiding it shouldn't be expert mode, how TF does your character know they would pass a check or not without trying unless they have mind reading or something

It's a video game. There are many things your character wouldn't know from his POV.

And it should be fixed.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Tbh I hate how all modern cRPGs show dialogue checks right on the dialogue, it's one of my bigger pet peeves.
Hiding it shouldn't be expert mode, how TF does your character know they would pass a check or not without trying unless they have mind reading or something

It's a video game. There are many things your character wouldn't know from his POV.

And it should be fixed.

Like the isometric camera?

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Tbh I hate how all modern cRPGs show dialogue checks right on the dialogue, it's one of my bigger pet peeves.
Hiding it shouldn't be expert mode, how TF does your character know they would pass a check or not without trying unless they have mind reading or something

It's a video game. There are many things your character wouldn't know from his POV.

And it should be fixed.

Like the isometric camera?

That's the reason there's a visibility radius to simulate the character's sight.

 

[Butter]

Get rid of all tooltips. How should the character know how much damage his sword will deal before using it? Hell, how does he even know the sword's name, or its exact weight?