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[Napalm_Frank]

I hope Wizards are fun to play (cool spells ect.) since my brain won't let me play anything other than a spellcaster in RPGs if it's an option. I think 9/10 times in Bioware/whatever games I have rolled a caster and even when I don't it's a hybrid like Jedi Sentinel in KOTOR.

How do Druids/Priests compare as spellcasters?

 

[duckroll]

I've been thinking about the sort of character I might want to create for the game today, and I started looking through the descriptions of the races, classes, culture/backgrounds, etc. My original general concept was that I wanted to play a sort of frontier man character who is really bigoted towards wizards, especially those who are rich and powerful, or who practice dark arts, and he would be a gunslinger.

After looking into it more, I'm thinking of making a Hearth Orlan, with a Rauatai Scholar cultural background. He'll probably be a Chanter, and I plan to focus on Perception and Resolve, with a decent bit of Intelligence too. The basic backstory I'm thinking of would be that he was born to Orlan slaves who were part of a wizard commune of sorts, rich humans and elves mostly who used their slaves as manual labor and also as experiments. There would have been some accident when he was very young which basically resulted in the downfall of the commune, but also the death of his parents, but allowing him to grow up as a free person under the guardianship of someone in authority within the region.

He would have grown up learning everything he could about wizards and soul magic in general just to understand the nature of what happened in his past, all the while building up more and more hatred for sorcery in general. The nature of his Chanter abilities would be rooted in tradition, that of the Orlan slaves he grew up with as well as his adopted family, rather than in actual personal interest. His personal preference would be reliance on practical tools like crossbows, firearms, and traps. Things he sees as creations of proper society and science, rather than "magic".

In terms of roleplaying, the character would be a sort of well educated bounty hunter who knows a lot about the world and magic, but hates wizardry and is extremely biased to that sort of people, taking extra pleasure in hunting down rogue wizards and creating the downfall of wizards in positions of power especially. Use of Chanter abilities would be limited to passive stuff like debuffs/buffs which might give a bit of an advantage, but never stuff which would be perceived as "sorcery" by the character (ie: summoning stuff, direct magic attacks, etc).

Is there anything from the beta which might indicate that any of this should be tweaked for gameplay reasons? Does it sound pretty viable?

 

[Kimaka]

PRe-orderd the game guide. Thinking about pre-ordering the strategy guide too.... But I'm not sure. I usually don't get strategy guides, but it would be ncie to half for a second playthrough.

Anyone else thinking of getting the strategy guide?

I have it on pre-order. I just want a physical copy of every material related to PoE. Might use it to help build my character because I'm terrible at that.

One of the games I'm genuinely gutted that I was too skint to make a Kickstarter pledge on at the time. Everything about the various physical & collector's editions looks superb. I have it pre-purchased on Steam though and can't wait to get stuck into another Obsidian game.

At the moment, I'm planning on an aristotic rapier-wielding Cipher from Old Vailia, with a misguided dream of bringing the old empire back in some form.

I also plan on not sleeping as much as I should considering the triple-whammy of this, Bloodborne and Final Fantasy Type-0.

Very close to my character except they're artistic.

 

[RK9039]

I love Chanters.

Bards are now the God Class.

I'm going to try this class as well, either a Chanter or Paladin.

 

[Enduin]

I've been thinking about the sort of character I might want to create for the game today, and I started looking through the descriptions of the races, classes, culture/backgrounds, etc. My original general concept was that I wanted to play a sort of frontier man character who is really bigoted towards wizards, especially those who are rich and powerful, or who practice dark arts, and he would be a gunslinger.

After looking into it more, I'm thinking of making a Hearth Orlan, with a Rauatai Scholar cultural background. He'll probably be a Chanter, and I plan to focus on Perception and Resolve, with a decent bit of Intelligence too. The basic backstory I'm thinking of would be that he was born to Orlan slaves who were part of a wizard commune of sorts, rich humans and elves mostly who used their slaves as manual labor and also as experiments. There would have been some accident when he was very young which basically resulted in the downfall of the commune, but also the death of his parents, but allowing him to grow up as a free person under the guardianship of someone in authority within the region.

He would have grown up learning everything he could about wizards and soul magic in general just to understand the nature of what happened in his past, all the while building up more and more hatred for sorcery in general. The nature of his Chanter abilities would be rooted in tradition, that of the Orlan slaves he grew up with as well as his adopted family, rather than in actual personal interest. His personal preference would be reliance on practical tools like crossbows, firearms, and traps. Things he sees as creations of proper society and science, rather than "magic".

In terms of roleplaying, the character would be a sort of well educated bounty hunter who knows a lot about the world and magic, but hates wizardry and is extremely biased to that sort of people, taking extra pleasure in hunting down rogue wizards and creating the downfall of wizards in positions of power especially. Use of Chanter abilities would be limited to passive stuff like debuffs/buffs which might give a bit of an advantage, but never stuff which would be perceived as "sorcery" by the character (ie: summoning stuff, direct magic attacks, etc).

Is there anything from the beta which might indicate that any of this should be tweaked for gameplay reasons? Does it sound pretty viable?

I enjoy reading this kind of stuff, if only because I don't ever do anything as intricate for my RPing and character back stories. The most I ever did was writing short 1 or 2 paragraph blurbs about my party in Wasteland 2, but even that was just flavor that barely factored into things. I normally just go in with pretty vague/broad strokes ideas about their personality and disposition and then let the first hour or two's dialogue and events help me further shape and refine exactly how/why the character will act and react to things in the game.

I'm not sure a Chanter is the way to go for a sorcery hater since chanting seems to be pretty much a kind of intuitive/folksy way of performing sorcery. Most of their invocations are rather sorcery like, summoning skeletons, phantom, casting lightening or shock waves along with the buffs/debuffs. They have the highest number of summoning spells as well it seems. Even the chants themselves do stuff like leach the endurance of enemies to your party or instill fear. Could work if your character's kind of willfully ignorant and even though the two are quite similar he refuses to acknowledge the link and views what one does as completely different from the other as it is a part of his cultural identity and people's long oppressed and storied lineage.

 

[duckroll]

I enjoy reading this kind of stuff, if only because I don't ever do anything as intricate for my RPing and character back stories. The most I ever did was writing short 1 or 2 paragraph blurbs about my party in Wasteland 2, but even that was just flavor that barely factored into things. I normally just go in with pretty vague/broad strokes ideas about their personality and disposition and then let the first hour or two's dialogue and events help me further shape and refine exactly how/why the character will act and react to things in the game.

I'm not sure a Chanter is the way to go for a sorcery hater since chanting seems to be pretty much a kind of intuitive/folksy way of performing sorcery. Most of their invocations are rather sorcery like, summoning skeletons, phantom, casting lightening or shock waves along with the buffs/debuffs. They have the highest number of summoning spells as well it seems. Even the chants themselves do stuff like leach the endurance of enemies to your party or instill fear. Could work if your character's kind of willfully ignorant and even though the two are quite similar he refuses to acknowledge the link and views what one does as completely different from the other as it is a part of his cultural identity and people's long oppressed and storied lineage.

I don't generally do this for every RPG. In most cases it's better to just have a general concept of character traits, create what looks good in the creator, and roll with it during the game. Not knowing how much effort is put into designing RP options and allowing the player to express the character's worldview means that it could be a huge waste of time or even a hindrance to progression. I just trust Obsidian to have put enough effort into their original world so I'm having a bit of fun with it myself.

In terms of going with a Chanter, I do agree it's contradictory, but that's also sort of the point. He respects his roots, and while he might be aware that a lot of it has similarities with the thing he hates so much, the justification is that he considers things with a passive effect to be more "natural". Or he just doesn't care as long as he doesn't see it. It wouldn't be unusual for a bigot to have some of what he hates as a part of him, but obscured due to hypocrisy or shame. Stuff like summoning skeletons or blasting lightning is definitely out, so it would be a case of a deliberate handicap while playing the class, but I think it should be easily balanced by using good weapons. I basically settled on the Chanter after looking at some of the bonuses, and Lore is something I definitely want my character to have, and out of all those who offer benefits, I feel the Chanter makes the most sense in terms of passive magic use. Fighters and Paladin feel too "standard" for my tastes in terms of exploring what I can do in the setting.

 

[Durante]

I hope Wizards are fun to play (cool spells ect.) since my brain won't let me play anything other than a spellcaster in RPGs if it's an option.

I'm in the same boat. Too bad Sawyer hates fun and so WIzard spells aren't as unique or varied as in D&D.

Not sure why people aren't more hyped for this. Every indication is that it's the real deal.

Like duckroll says, I think people are very hyped about it even if it's not immediately obvious. Of course, it's not console war ammunition (in fact, it isn't on consoles at all!) so you won't find dozens of 100 page threads on GAF about it

 

[epmode]

I'm in the same boat. Too bad Sawyer hates fun and so WIzard spells aren't as unique or varied as in D&D.

But, but the spell names are awesome. I love mage classes

 

[Napalm_Frank]

I'm in the same boat. Too bad Sawyer hates fun and so WIzard spells aren't as unique or varied as in D&D.

That's a shame. Still, I'll let it slide if the characters high intelligence opens up good dialogue options.

I just started playing Divinity OS and you can summon a giant friggin poisonous spider at the very beginning. So much fun can still be had with pretty much regular spells even if they ain't that unique in the end. Combat seems to be great in this but the dialogue hardly seems to touch what little PoE has shown.

 

[duckroll]

That's a shame. Still, I'll let it slide if the characters high intelligence opens up good dialogue options.

I just started playing Divinity OS and you can summon a giant friggin poisonous spider at the very beginning. So much fun can still be had with pretty much regular spells even if they ain't that unique in the end. Combat seems to be great in this but the dialogue hardly seems to touch what little PoE has shown.

Something I saw the other day: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vk6BhzPUIuc#t=43m19s (If it doesn't seek properly just jump to 43 minutes 19 seconds or so)

One of the producers talks about an internal tool they have which allows them to track all dialogue checks in the entire game to tally how many checks there are for gender/stats/attitude/skills/etc throughout the entire game, and it gives them an immediate overview on which checks are under or over represented so they can identify stuff to tweak.

Edit: At 47:35 of the same video, Sawyer talks about their experiences with speech systems having an impact on the eventual design of PoE. The example he gives is how Speech was an overused auto-win dialogue skill in New Vegas, and their answer to that here is not to have a "speech" skill at all, but rather to build dialogue options around practical application of skills and stats in terms of what the character might know or be able to do in a situation.

 

[Enduin]

I think Chanter has won me over. Their base stats are quite good compared to Rogues. They have the same base Endurance and Health with better Deflection and slight lower Accuracy. They seem quite well rounded. Wonder how viable a gun Chanter is given that guns are more middle range type weapons.

 

[Mikeside]

Have we seen what the regular edition will look like?
I'm really regretting not shelling out for the collector's now

 

[Varna]

Have we seen what the regular edition will look like?
I'm really regretting not shelling out for the collector's now

Me too. I went in for the collectors edition of Wasteland 2 and it's so nice having that on display.

 

[The Illiterati]

I am so excited for this game, but I've ignored it since I backed it(just the digital download). Now looking over my character options I am determined to not play a bow ranger like I nearly always do in these types of games.

What are some must read/watch resources to give me some idea about these classes/weapons??? Its seems very diverse so its also confusing!

 

[terrisus]

The only Kickstarter Collector's Edition I've done is Shadowgate, where I went in for $200.

I'm extremely happy that I did that, and would gladly do it again.
However, it meant I had to budget the minimum for other Kickstarters, such as this one =(

 

[Labadal]

Sensuki posted this on rpgcodex and it is good info to have:

There's a glossary entry for Stacking, but the essential information is that there are four broad categories of bonuses: passive, active/modal, equipment, and weapons/shields.

Passive almost always comes from things like Abilities and Talents that you don't need to activate. All passive bonuses stack.

Active/modal abilities come from spells, Abilities, Talents, consumable items (potions, food), and resting bonuses that are activated and/or have a duration to them. The highest bonus from this group is applied. All others are suppressed.

Equipment is everything you don't put in your hand slots. Armor, hats, gloves, belts, books, cloaks/amulets, etc. The highest bonus from this group is applied. All others are suppressed.

Weapons/shields are just weapons and shields. All of these bonuses stack.

Food and inn bonuses are useful for long-term Attribute checks and Rite scrolls can be used for long-term Skill bonuses.

 

[petghost]

I hope Wizards are fun to play (cool spells ect.) since my brain won't let me play anything other than a spellcaster in RPGs if it's an option. I think 9/10 times in Bioware/whatever games I have rolled a caster and even when I don't it's a hybrid like Jedi Sentinel in KOTOR.

How do Druids/Priests compare as spellcasters?

from what i've heard druids are the most effective/versatile casting class atm.

 

[HP_Wuvcraft]

Yup. For the longest time I'd been leaning toward ranger for my first character, but BB feedback and recent experience playing summon/support in a PnP campaign have persuaded me to try chanter. Thanks, by the way, to all those who have either created or shared videos showing off the classes and various builds.

Creating a Haste Party + Fire Weapons chant.

Yus.

 

[MisterShine]

I'm tempted to buy the backer beta just to try out the classes early. I don't want to be paralyzed with character creation when I start this, it helped me a lot with D:OS when I bought that in EA.

 

[HK-47]

I'm in the same boat. Too bad Sawyer hates fun and so WIzard spells aren't as unique or varied as in D&D.

Like duckroll says, I think people are very hyped about it even if it's not immediately obvious. Of course, it's not console war ammunition (in fact, it isn't on consoles at all!) so you won't find dozens of 100 page threads on GAF about it

Good. Wizards get stupid fast in D&D. Fucking quadratics

 

[Purkake4]

Good. Wizards get stupid fast in D&D. Fucking quadratics

But dem wizard (and lich) duels in BG2...

 

[terrisus]

Alright, I can't do this >.>

I'm just going to have to hope my wife doesn't notice the $25 coming out of the bank account >.>

Spoiler

She'll notice =(

Spoiler

It will be worth it ^.^

 

[RK9039]

Alright, I can't do this >.>

I'm just going to have to hope my wife doesn't notice the $25 coming out of the bank account >.>

Spoiler

She'll notice =(

Spoiler

It will be worth it ^.^

It's for the greater good.

 

[Ravijn]

Alright, I can't do this >.>

I'm just going to have to hope my wife doesn't notice the $25 coming out of the bank account >.>

Spoiler

She'll notice =(

Spoiler

It will be worth it ^.^

It's for the greater good.

I'm about to jump in too. I'm dying for a game like this.

 

[WetTreeLeaf]

I'm tempted to buy the backer beta just to try out the classes early. I don't want to be paralyzed with character creation when I start this, it helped me a lot with D:OS when I bought that in EA.

I just know I'm going to sit there for an hour trying to figure out my class, then play for a bit and decide on another one. I ALWAYS do it.

 

[terrisus]

It's for the greater good.

Seriously - she got Chinese food delivered yesterday, and that came to around $20...
This is for a far greater purpose.

Spoiler

Granted, I got pizza today that came to around $20 as well... >.>

 

[Shake Appeal]

Like duckroll says, I think people are very hyped about it even if it's not immediately obvious. Of course, it's not console war ammunition (in fact, it isn't on consoles at all!) so you won't find dozens of 100 page threads on GAF about it

Most CRPG dork threads are chill. We are all grumpy old men in gaming terms, I'm guessing.

 

[terrisus]

Most CRPG dork threads are chill. We are all grumpy old men in gaming terms, I'm guessing.

 

[terrisus]

So, I just got done with creating a character, and it's not letting me click Done >.>

 

[Menome]

Alright, I can't do this >.>

I'm just going to have to hope my wife doesn't notice the $25 coming out of the bank account >.>

Spoiler

She'll notice =(

Spoiler

It will be worth it ^.^

Just promise to up the lovin' to twice a month until Easter.

 

[HK-47]

So, I just got done with creating a character, and it's not letting me click Done >.>

Clearly the game thinks otherwise.

 

[terrisus]

Just promise to up the lovin' to twice a month until Easter.

With me having Pillars of Eternity to play?
Not bloody likely :þ

Clearly the game thinks otherwise.

I paid them my $25, why won't they let me in? >.>

 

[Ushay]

What res would this game look best at, 1080? I'm wondering which monitor would be best and affordable.

Man I haven't been this excited in many many moons. If this is even half as good as Baldurs Gate 2 its a winner for me.

 

[The Illiterati]

I am so excited for this game, but I've ignored it since I backed it(just the digital download). Now looking over my character options I am determined to not play a bow ranger like I nearly always do in these types of games.

What are some must read/watch resources to give me some idea about these classes/weapons??? Its seems very diverse so its also confusing!

So? Any help? I don't understand the pluses/minuses of say having a rogue use guns instead of knives. Can he be just as useful or are his skills backstab based?

Secondly, would I be hobbling myself making an intelligent diplomat monk?

 

[terrisus]

Ah, I figured out why it wouldn't let me click Done.
Apparently when I was checking out the different Abilities, it didn't leave one checked like I thought it did >.>

Alright then, away I go! =)

 

[Menome]

With me having Pillars of Eternity to play?
Not bloody likely :þ

Right, you're going to need to invest another $300 on an Oculus Rift DK2 and increase the lovin' to three times a month.

 

[terrisus]

Right, you're going to need to invest another $300 on an Oculus Rift DK2 and increase the lovin' to three times a month.

But with an Oculus Rift...

 

[Arulan]

What res would this game look best at, 1080? I'm wondering which monitor would be best and affordable.

Man I haven't been this excited in many many moons. If this is even half as good as Baldurs Gate 2 its a winner for me.

I know the backgrounds are native 2560x1440, but I can't speak to how the interface scales with higher resolutions.

 

[thebloo]

Where is this game $25?

 

[RipperGrim]

Seriously - she got Chinese food delivered yesterday, and that came to around $20...
This is for a far greater purpose.

Spoiler

Granted, I got pizza today that came to around $20 as well... >.>

That had better have been some delicious pizza

 

[Giever]

I know the backgrounds are native 2560x1440, but I can't speak to how the interface scales with higher resolutions.

Is that all the backgrounds are..? So it will look bad whenever we start regularly having 4K monitors, then? Couldn't they have future-proofed it a little better? >.> Unless I'm misunderstanding.

 

[terrisus]

Where is this game $25?

The Beta is a $25 add-on if you had pledged during the Kickstarter.

That had better have been some delicious pizza

Not nearly as delicious as Pillars of Eternity.

 

[Zabojnik]

It's a bit of a shame that they canned the moving trees/shrub. Most of the environments look a bit static.

Wait, when did this happen? It was working in the beta when I tried it months back.

 

[hemtae]

I'm in the same boat. Too bad Sawyer hates fun and so WIzard spells aren't as unique or varied as in D&D.

You simulationist scum are all the same!

 

[JC Sera]

I love Chanters.

Bards are now the God Class.

you might like D&D 5e then.

Also damn I wish I backed this. My first KS was Shadow Run : Hong Kong.
I loved dragon fall and divinity, I need more CRPGs like these in my veins.

I don't have a spare $50 though...

 

[Varna]

Is it true there won't be even simple party AI to let's say... auto attack nearest enemy?

 

[Kinthalis]

So? Any help? I don't understand the pluses/minuses of say having a rogue use guns instead of knives. Can he be just as useful or are his skills backstab based?

Secondly, would I be hobbling myself making an intelligent diplomat monk?

I liked this guys vids so far He's gone over lots of the classes:

https://www.youtube.com/user/sdlufkin/videos

 

[Kinthalis]

Is that all the backgrounds are..? So it will look bad whenever we start regularly having 4K monitors, then? Couldn't they have future-proofed it a little better? >.> Unless I'm misunderstanding.

I don't think that's right. I have a 2560x1440 monitor and all of the areas so far are multiple of my screens big. So the areas are much larger. I think a while back the devs said the max screen resolution supported is 2560x1440. But that might have changed by now.

 

[Snapshot King]

Is there anywhere where I can for a detailed breakdown of how the classes work? I'd mess around in the backer beta but I'm hyper shy of spoiling myself for everything. I backed the shit out of Eternity based mainly off New Vegas and I've been going through the Baldurs Gate series this year, I'm likely going to finish BG2 right before Eternity.

But yeah, any breakdowns of exactly what each class is going to be like? I don't want to be boring and just go for a warrior or pally like I usually do.

 

[Enduin]

I liked this guys vids so far He's gone over lots of the classes:

https://www.youtube.com/user/sdlufkin/videos

Is there anywhere where I can for a detailed breakdown of how the classes work? I'd mess around in the backer beta but I'm hyper shy of spoiling myself for everything. I backed the shit out of Eternity based mainly off New Vegas and I've been going through the Baldurs Gate series this year, I'm likely going to finish BG2 right before Eternity.

But yeah, any breakdowns of exactly what each class is going to be like? I don't want to be boring and just go for a warrior or pally like I usually do.

The above link has vids of 8/11 the classes in action, the rest to come soon, which are all rather good.

http://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Class

This is a decent wikia with detailed info on most everything we know about the game right now.

This is a decent overview of each as well https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2DOCIWSl4w

I really like his World of PoE 101 vid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CU4QBBTLo0I