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Zeerust posted:I tend towards playing benevolent-to-a-fault characters in RPGs, but Obsidian make being someone who is kind of a dickhead way too much fun for me to resist for long. I recently replayed Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 2 Sith Lords (don't use abbreviations, proudly present this name in its full glory) and it reminded me how clumsy were RPG morals not so long ago. Granted, it's Star Wars, so a good person becomes a bad person here by killing them all, and not just the men, but the women and children too. The villain/narrator/author insert tries to subvert it all and talks about how giving an extremely small amount of money to a poor person makes them weak, but then the bad choice in this game is psychotic sadistic murderous rampage. Dragon Age 1 was similar in a way: it tried to evade good/bad dichotomy but then evil choices were obviously out of place. You know what I mean? To be a Fantasy Jesus you have to decline minuscule rewards, and refuse to murder people. And then an evil choice in Dragon Age is refusing to help a village condemning all of it to die. Modern games like PoE2 show much better restraint in that regard. People criticized Mass Effect for giving you choice between Good Shepard and Good But Angry Shepard, but this makes much more sense than what was there before, which was either a bland normal person or a psycho. PoE2 gives you proper interesting choices where you can't say that 90% of players will choose this option, the one that doesn't include eating babies. It might even go too far to make allying with freaking pirates a sensible moral choice cause some of them are against slavery and they're generally nice eloquent people. From this thread I see some people lament the lack of obviously right choice, and I myself find myself drawn to simpler stories like Pathfinder where you are just murdering literal demons and are not made aware of how it affects local communities and long-term socio-economic implications.
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Jan 10, 2023 14:52
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I appreciate some of the outside-the-box ways you can be jerks to other jerks. Like wearing Arkemyr's robes while talking to him.
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Jan 10, 2023 15:33
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Yeah a thing pillars 2 really pulled off at times is having quests where players can come in with the approach "my watcher wants to do good and help" and come away with different answers to what you do about it. Kotor and dragon age always give you "the good option" that you slam pick if you want to be good, without having to really think.
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Jan 10, 2023 15:34
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The problem with Mass Effect wasn't that it was "Good Shep vs Good but Angry Shep", it's that it was ostensibly "by the book and generally good cop stereotype" vs "ends justify the means/harsh times need harsh people cop", but also the latter was sometimes space racist insane psycho and also sometimes the first was just generically "good". Bioware's Jade Empire had a similar problem, where they tried to tell you that the morality was "help people directly vs trials make people strong" and instead was just cartoon good vs cartoon evil.
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Jan 10, 2023 15:40
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Jimbot posted:I appreciate some of the outside-the-box ways you can be jerks to other jerks. Like wearing Arkemyr's robes while talking to him. This is one of my favorite things to do. Also pretending you weren't the one that robbed him while doing it.
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Jan 10, 2023 15:48
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Ravenfood posted:The problem with Mass Effect wasn't that it was "Good Shep vs Good but Angry Shep", it's that it was ostensibly "by the book and generally good cop stereotype" vs "ends justify the means/harsh times need harsh people cop", but also the latter was sometimes space racist insane psycho and also sometimes the first was just generically "good". It had many issues, I just mentioned one it was often criticized for: Angry Red Shepard does not really mean being evil, as in the vast majority of cases it's just doing or saying the same but saying mean things. The other issue was as you say sometimes the choices are poorly explained and sometimes the red choice is shooting someone in the face. Yet another problem was that while the red choice was not always evil, it was clearly always morally inferior to the blue choice. Thus sometimes when you have presented with genuinely difficult ethical questions the game flat-out told you which choice is actually good. Most famously I think when it asked you if you either reprogram a portion of hostile sentient AIs to help you or destroy them. Reprogramming is a good choice, just so you know. My personal biggest issue with that game was that in ME2 your karma meter was also your persuasion skill of sorts. On my first playthrough, I've tried to, well, roleplay, and chose angry answers when appropriate, holy dispositions when appropriate, and neutral answers when I didn't feel stronger either way. It meant that in the end I failed some very important story checks and lost many people. The right way to play is to decide on which type of answers you want to use and almost never to deviate from them. This existed in ME1 to a lesser extent and was erased in ME3 where I think options were never locked out. Anyway, it was still a better system than what people were used to, where you either play a noble hero or an evil villain who inexplicably helps to save the day. Obviously, PoE2 sometimes suffers from something like it. Often you don't see why this or that option would affect this specific disposition. Hard to tell if something is passionate and aggressive or just cruel, which reaction is stoic or neutral. But I it usually gives you some neutral choices and reputations are not that important anyway. You have a nice specter of questionably moral things and can also make your Watcher flexible. If you're a cruel bastard to everyone except your team in Mass Effect 1/2 you're playing suboptimally, in PoE2 you might get some conflicting feelings from your party but it never feels like you're playing the game wrong.
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Jan 10, 2023 16:15
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ilitarist posted:I recently replayed Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 2 Sith Lords (don't use abbreviations, proudly present this name in its full glory) and it reminded me how clumsy were RPG morals not so long ago. Granted, it's Star Wars, so a good person becomes a bad person here by killing them all, and not just the men, but the women and children too. The villain/narrator/author insert tries to subvert it all and talks about how giving an extremely small amount of money to a poor person makes them weak, but then the bad choice in this game is psychotic sadistic murderous rampage. Dragon Age 1 was similar in a way: it tried to evade good/bad dichotomy but then evil choices were obviously out of place. You know what I mean? To be a Fantasy Jesus you have to decline minuscule rewards, and refuse to murder people. And then an evil choice in Dragon Age is refusing to help a village condemning all of it to die. Poe2 makes the bad (aka non Huana) faction choices come off as being remarkably appealing. It's very easy to fall into a trap of getting enamored with Rautai's competence, or Valia's scientific progress, or the Principi's love of freedom/hatred of slavers. But all of them would be worse for the inhabitants of the Deadfire than Huana leadership would be. Despite her flaws and the flaws of the caste system Onekaza is the only leader that actually cares about the Deadfire beyond how it can serve someone other than the inhabitants.
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Jan 10, 2023 16:42
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As long as those inhabitants are not the Roparu.
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Jan 10, 2023 16:45
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Khizan posted:As long as those inhabitants are not the Roparu. The Valians would use the Roparu's souls to enrich Adra. Or at best they'd use them as slave labor. The Principi would just kill or rob them. Rauatai might be better for them, but they'd lose all cultural identity which some Roparu wouldn't like. Also it'd probably take them a while to get fully integrated like that into Rauatain society and they'd probably be used for cheap labor for years until the Huana cultural identity faded away The Roparu have gotten a bad deal in Neketaka but it's possible things might improve there over time if the external pressures on the Huana leadership were booted from the archipelago
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Jan 10, 2023 16:48
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Tagaziel posted:Does nobody have lore questions? The point of lore is to have questions
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Jan 10, 2023 17:03
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Ginette Reno posted:But all of them would be worse for the inhabitants of the Deadfire than Huana leadership would be. Not trying to sound edgy but it's bold to assume well-being of people of Deadfire is a top priority even for a reasonably well-intentioned MC. They are put in a position where both their own fate and fate of the universe might depend on their choices. They might be from Old Vallia or Ruatai and these factions explain how their benevolent involvement in Deadfire. Even if your character is all about morals I think Huana don't ever argue that helping them is a moral choice (unlike Ruatai who will argue anything your character might to hear), the Queen only talks about her legitimate rights for this land which would probably scare off your stereotypical good hero. I only find it weird of how little the hero is called out for choosing pirates. Perhaps it is supposed to be about bigger personal gains and plunder, or maybe personal relations with people from this faction (other faction leaders don' try to pretend to be your friends like Furrante or Aldis does). And at the same time it's not insane and evil enough choice like Legion from FNV to be a choice that enriches the game by being a choice you wouldn't take.
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Jan 10, 2023 17:23
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Rauatai just demolishes the slums (and with it the only source of welfare for the Roparu, gross as it is) and congratulates themselves for a job well done. The people who live there? Who cares, the eyesore is gone! For all that they talk big about integration they are also extremely racist and will be on hyper alert for the slightest marker of your "savage" heritage, even if it doesn't exist. Maia is the biggest bootlicker who ever licked a boot, and even she'll admit it. The Roparu would go from a marked underclass with specific rights and responsibilities to an invisible one that everyone will deny exists, and thus deny any need for social reform. "Roparu? What Roparu? There aren't any of them anymore. Everyone is equal! So this poor fellow here is poor because he wants to be, maybe it's his lazy savage blood! He just needs to pull himself up by his bootstraps!"
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Jan 10, 2023 17:26
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ilitarist posted:Not trying to sound edgy but it's bold to assume well-being of people of Deadfire is a top priority even for a reasonably well-intentioned MC. They are put in a position where both their own fate and fate of the universe might depend on their choices. They might be from Old Vallia or Ruatai and these factions explain how their benevolent involvement in Deadfire. Even if your character is all about morals I think Huana don't ever argue that helping them is a moral choice (unlike Ruatai who will argue anything your character might to hear), the Queen only talks about her legitimate rights for this land which would probably scare off your stereotypical good hero. Oh yeah a PC can and should make choices according to what their character would do. I just find it interesting how many people instinctively shied away from picking the Huana on release even though we have a long list of real life examples of how colonialism hosed up the native inhabitants of a land. In a vacuum they're the pretty clear correct choice if you care about the Deadfire's inhabitants. The Watcher should obviously have a different set of priorities though depending on their own background/morals/etc
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Jan 10, 2023 17:33
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All the factions are bad! That's the point! I will agree that in my personal opinion the Huana are the least bad choice but that's an extra-textual opinion for me, i.e. it's based in real human history (Ginette Reno's "real life examples") and not in my obviously limited understanding of Eoran colonial history. It's also very telling in terms of the game wanting you to try and make the best out of a bad situation that not choosing (sailing on your own to Ukaizo) definitely leaves the Deadfire in the worst place. Having said that, I'll also agree with ilitarist that you are the one who gets to decide if the Watcher cares about the Deadfire and the people that live there. The Watcher is frying bigger fish, to be perfectly honest.
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Jan 10, 2023 17:44
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OzFactor posted:All the factions are bad! That's the point! I will agree that in my personal opinion the Huana are the least bad choice but that's an extra-textual opinion for me, i.e. it's based in real human history (Ginette Reno's "real life examples") and not in my obviously limited understanding of Eoran colonial history. Well we get some bits about how Deadfire changes in the ending slides depending on what you pick. As Mr. Prokosch said above, Rauatai just demolishes the slums in Neketaka. Not sure that's the best solution for the Roparu even though how the Huana have treated them is reprehensible. The Huana have a lot of issues with their leadership but I think the point of picking them above the other factions is it gives the Huana a chance to chart their own destiny instead of being abused by outsiders. Ideally the Huana will abolish (or make a better version of) their caste system moving forward, but they won't get an opportunity to do that if another faction is in charge. But again to your point and others the fate of the Huana might not be foremost on the Watcher's mind.
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Jan 10, 2023 17:49
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Ginette Reno posted:The Huana have a lot of issues with their leadership but I think the point of picking them above the other factions is it gives the Huana a chance to chart their own destiny instead of being abused by outsiders. Ideally the Huana will abolish (or make a better version of) their caste system moving forward, but they won't get an opportunity to do that if another faction is in charge. Technically it allows the Kahanga leadership to chart the destiny of the Huana people. Other tribes and non-Mataru need not apply. Given that a lot of the Principi newbloods are Huana Roparu, I could see the argument that if you want to empower the Huana to free themselves from the caste system siding with Aeldys is the way to go, as the pirates recruit and arm their fellow Roparu. This plan has a lot of drawbacks however.
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Jan 10, 2023 18:16
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OzFactor posted:All the factions are bad! That's the point! I will agree that in my personal opinion the Huana are the least bad choice but that's an extra-textual opinion for me, i.e. it's based in real human history (Ginette Reno's "real life examples") and not in my obviously limited understanding of Eoran colonial history. Yeah, this is also important. Parallels with European colonialism are pointless cause no one in this world knows how such things work out. Well, the first game was in Fantasy North America with some clashes with locals, but it was all ancient history for the MC, and when he had visions about the past it was about personal experiences, not some grand vision of history. The most memorable mini non-quest in the game for me is when on a Ruatai post the locals get help with buildings and they build efficient barracks which ignore the dumb societal structure. And they just ask your opinion on it. This is perfect to me. It's not a forced trolley problem, you don't even decide anything, you're just casually asked hey, sometimes this colonialism thing has a lot of sense, ain't it?
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Jan 10, 2023 18:34
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ilitarist posted:Yeah, this is also important. Parallels with European colonialism are pointless cause no one in this world knows how such things work out. Well, the first game was in Fantasy North America with some clashes with locals, but it was all ancient history for the MC, and when he had visions about the past it was about personal experiences, not some grand vision of history. That quest points out how bad Rauatai is though? They only give the Huana food so they can take control of the Island with less resistance. And then when the Huana ask them to rebuild their homes in the traditional Huana style they instead rebuild them Rauatai style as a giant gently caress you to Huana culture. Also worth pointing out that while the caste system has a ton of flaws it is stated numerous times throughout the game that it tends to work reasonably well for the Island tribes and the Roparu are treated much better there. It's only in Neketaka that the system truly starts to fall apart. Rauatai's intervention isn't all bad since the Huana there might have starved otherwise but the quest points out how if the Huana allow Rauatai to take over they'll lose their cultural identity and become basically under Rautai's banner. Some Huana would be fine with that (the Huana on the isle that is pro Rauatai), but many wouldn't.
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Jan 10, 2023 19:07
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Yes it does tell you how bad Ruatai are, unless you're just passing by and hear this Twitter argument about how kind benefactors didn't include local bigoted traditions. It is subtle, it's not in your face, it doesn't immideately try to present it as a moral choice.
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Jan 10, 2023 19:22
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Perhap's Aloth's quest/story is a reflection of the Watcher's own imperfect ability to change Deadfire to something more just/utopian 
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Jan 10, 2023 19:51
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The great thing, or frustrating thing depending on who you ask, about Deadfire is the limitation of an outsider's influence in political affairs of a region. The Huana's caste system is a broke-rear end nonsense that just protects the wealthy and powerful and crushes any kind of revisionist or revolutionary thought by saying "if you're good in this life, the next one you will be rewarded" and, of course, that reward never comes and because we know the nature of how souls works and if it somehow did (it doesn't) it wouldn't matter if it did because the soul of that person wouldn't be the same in the slightest. All the factions are messed up and complex but ultimately it's the Huana that have to make changes to their own systems of government and who would have the best interests of themselves and their home at heart while making those decisions - the imperialist factions will not and the pirates are just anarcho-capitalists who will start trying to sell you adracoin. We'd all love to lead the working class and poor in a glorious social revolution or help build social and class consciousness and solidarity among them but ultimate that's not what the watcher is there to do. I think the Huana got a taste of what different material conditions are like from the other factions enforcing their will upon them and can create something different. The ideas have been planted.
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Jan 10, 2023 20:13
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Jimbot posted:The great thing, or frustrating thing depending on who you ask, about Deadfire is the limitation of an outsider's influence in political affairs of a region. The Huana's caste system is a broke-rear end nonsense that just protects the wealthy and powerful and crushes any kind of revisionist or revolutionary thought by saying "if you're good in this life, the next one you will be rewarded" and, of course, that reward never comes and because we know the nature of how souls works and if it somehow did (it doesn't) it wouldn't matter if it did because the soul of that person wouldn't be the same in the slightest. All the factions are messed up and complex but ultimately it's the Huana that have to make changes to their own systems of government and who would have the best interests of themselves and their home at heart while making those decisions - the imperialist factions will not and the pirates are just anarcho-capitalists who will start trying to sell you adracoin. Yeah I think you said it better than I could. The Huana have a heavily flawed system of government but they're the most likely to come up with something that is actually better for the Deadfire's inhabitants moving foward. Rauatai, Valia, the Pirates...they all only care about how the Deadfire can be exploited for their own people. They care nothing for the Huana who actually live there.
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Jan 10, 2023 20:16
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Any guides on how to use Nexus mods when a Steam copy of the game? I was reading a few Nexus mod descriptions and some seemed to replace a DLL file directly, others seemed to rely on an 'override' folder that I didn't see in Steam... Just trying to figure out how to use some of the cooler mods (since 95% of Steam mods are just someone's companion with a busty anime babe avatar)
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Jan 10, 2023 22:27
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You have to create the override file to drop all the mods into. Find Steam under Program Files, ex: ...Program Files (x86)/Steam/steamapps/common/Pillars of Eternity II/PillarsOfEternityII_Data/ and create a folder called "override" there. Should look something like this:
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Jan 10, 2023 22:40
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I hope avowed is good and has spears.
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Jan 10, 2023 23:00
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It's also a common colonial justification to point out divisions in the colonized people to argue that there's already 'someone else' in charge, so it might as well be us. Yes, the Kahanga are in charge, and they are one of many tribes but the Kahanga leadership are the leadership because they managed to diplomatically unite several powerful tribes behind them, but those tribes and the tribes that are not formally part of the Kahanga Alliance still have plenty of agency within larger Huana society. It's not the same as being conquered by a power that has no interest in self-rule. It's very likely that securing Ukaizo as the capital of the Huana will bolster Kahanga legitimacy to the point that they become a true royal family over a united Huana people, and the tribal affiliations will weaken. Even then there's a world of difference between being English and ruled by the English royal family and being Indian and ruled by the English royal family. Another even more common colonial justification is to highlight all the injustice over there and downplay all the injustice right here. The Rauatai are also an absolute monarchy and their military (which is the nations dominant power) is currently controlled by an ultra-fundamentalist and Aumanuan supremacist faction that believes they have a manifest destiny to replace all peoples. The Republics are an ultra capitalist slave state based on extreme exploitation of their neighbors and their own people, with only the few Plutocratic families holding any power. The pirates are either deranged revanchists trying to restore an even worse version of the Republics or just smash and grab, might makes right, kleptocracy.
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Jan 10, 2023 23:29
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Can we talk Pillars 1 builds for a minute? I have the desire to play a Pillars 1 character through the first game & expansions, and then into Deadfire. I'm having a little trouble picking a Pillars 1 build as they seem much more limited than Deadfire builds. I don't have a problem picking an entirely separate build for Deadfire (race and background aside). So, what should I choose? I think I'm a little burned on barbarians & wizards. I'd prefer something that is a little tankier. So, no Con 4 builds. The last character I had a lot of fun with was a wand-using rogue that also fires off scrolls from the obsidian build boards. Quirky seems fun as long as it's not reliant on a single late game item or something.
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Jan 10, 2023 23:51
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My favorite PoE 1 build is a dual wielding kind wayfarer. You're super tanky, can drop a big hit + global heal, and have good simple clutch support abilities. It's also very easy to build and play, works without any non-intuitive or gimmicky choices.
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Jan 11, 2023 00:03
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rocketrobot posted:Can we talk Pillars 1 builds for a minute? I have the desire to play a Pillars 1 character through the first game & expansions, and then into Deadfire. I'm having a little trouble picking a Pillars 1 build as they seem much more limited than Deadfire builds. I don't have a problem picking an entirely separate build for Deadfire (race and background aside). Mr. Prookosch's advice is good. Monks are fun and tanky. The base fists are very good. Use some backup weapons if you meet something resistant to crush. Wear the heaviest armor you want because the fists are so fast and swift strikes is quite good. Spamming Torment's Reach with all your wounds is very strong too, and stunning surge rules. Monks in heavy armor are quite durable as well especially if you don't dump con. It's almost impossible to build one poorly and they're extremely strong from level 1 all the way to the end. I'd do something like high might, decent dex, decent con, high int (so your swift strikes lasts longer), decent per, resolve to taste but doesn't matter a whole lot. Both Monks and Paladins are a lot of fun and low maintenance to play and I don't think you can go wrong there. Both are useful in Deadfire as well and offer powerful multiclass possibilities depending on what you want to do. They're good single class too (Monks much moreso than Paladins but both can work)
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Jan 11, 2023 01:53
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Roleplaying as either a Bleak Walker or Steel Garrote/Priest of Woedica offers up some interesting examinations on evil in the world of Eora, as both of these orders ostensibly act under the motive of maintaining social order yet their actual practices and the form of order they uphold belies a certain wantonness or downright cruelty. The disposition guidelines for Bleak Walkers is Aggressiveness and Cruelty which fits for a paladin order practicing total war. The justification for total war is that warfare purely distilled to its true purpose, i.e. the complete routing of the enemy, minimizes the length of war. For Bleak Walkers, things like mercy and protection of noncombatants is antithetical to war's purpose and by that reasoning actually prolongs its suffering. These paladins necessarily live apart from the rest of society, acting instead as ill-omens and harbingers of death. The reputation of Bleak Walkers is oftentimes enough to dissuade outright declarations of war lest its ultimate practitioners be called upon to render their services. The only problem is that this operating belief of unhindered violence in the supposed name of greater peace attracts complete sadists, like that Bleak Walker who terrorized the White March in PoE1. Even if he alone was an exception, the Bleak Walkers as a whole have dehumanized themselves for their creed, acting as little more than rabid dogs once they've been loosened from their leash with no conscience or cause other than to wreak as much violence and pain as they can. As a supposed tool of diplomacy, the Bleak Walkers are the nuclear option where there is no coming back to the negotiation table and cessation of hostilities is accomplished only by the utter annihilation of the other side. It is then incumbent on the opposition to capitulate if they at all care for their civilian population, since the other side clearly has no room for morals if they're threatening to deploy the Bleak Walkers. It doesn't matter if individually they are mad dogs reveling in misery or soldiers somberly performing their duty because their stated purpose abandons personal culpability and calls for a degree of heartlessness and mindlessness in order to accomplish it. The Bleak Walkers are the ultimate jackbooted thugs because they've washed their hands of any consideration for who they are facing and their reasons for doing so - it is enough that they oppose them for them to be destroyed. They are a living threat of violence, and once called upon they will perform it to its excesses as a matter of course. Then you have the Steel Garrote or Woedican priests whose disposition is Cruelty and Rationality, which I think is an important distinction between them and Bleak Walkers. Whereas cruelty is the point for Bleak Walkers, the cruelty for Woedican practitioners is already baked-in and central to the system. For followers of the Queen in Exile, their worldview is necessarily authoritarian. You don't encounter many other Steel Garrote in Deadfire, but a key group is the one you meet who've kidnapped Oswald. This little sidequest is an excellent bit of worldbuilding and gives you a glimpse in the worldview and practices of the everyday agent of Woedica. You learn as a Watcher that this group has also kidnapped and executed someone who was wrongly accused in the course of their mission and when you finally come across Oswald, you learn that he is to be executed for betraying Aedyr and taking part in the Dyrwood's war for independence, even though the war is centuries past and relations between the two nations have normalized. It reveals that Woedica's justice is a sword against the guilty, not a shield to protect the innocent, and that it will thresh the guilty and the innocent alike to uphold it. Above all else, Woedica's order is built upon blind obedience and any defiance is met with summary censure. That's why I think choosing to be a Watcher who pledges themselves to Woedica is deciding to be the ultimate cuck. But I think there is a way to roleplay as a Woedican subclass if all you're interested in is personal power or if you agree with premise that the world needs a centralized authority under Woedica and the gods to maintain order. After all, in a past life, the Watcher was an Inquisitor who knew the true nature of the gods and followed Thaos in his mission to hide it. I think that's the perfect enough justification for a Watcher who has gone through the events of PoE1 to do a heel turn in support of Woedica; it's not necessarily that you disagree with supporting the gods, it's that you have personal beef with Thaos. In fact, one of the neat things the devs later added with the Burned Book of Law is that you can tell Woedica that was your intended purpose: to take on the headdress of the Leaden Key (Aloth notwithstanding) and become the favored of Woedica. So if you're like Thaos, who's eyes were completely open and saw what the gods were, and you have a low opinion of kith, an authoritarian order where you are the personal pet of the gods could be attractive to a certain kind of Watcher. I love these two orders because they offer some interesting ways to roleplay an evil character that isn't just a kick a puppy villain. All villains need some kind of veneer of self-righteousness or justification for them to be believable, and these backgrounds let you pretend to be operating out of a higher purpose than pure assholery.
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Jan 11, 2023 02:25
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Does anyone know if you can get Woedica in the burned book to say 'hey wow watcher good point maybe mortals aren't a complete disappointment?". I know if you support the pirates she scoffs at how dumb an idea that was.
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Jan 11, 2023 02:36
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If you play as a Steel Garrote or Woedican priest, she tells you that nothing you do can diminish her opinion of you. But frankly, nothing you do is going to convince her that mortals can be trusted with self-governance. There might be some among the gods such as Galawain, Abydon, and Magran who might be more amenable, depending on how truly they believe in the Engwithan project to uplift kith, but Woedica's mind is already made up. She's always going to need to be the one to wear the crown.
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Jan 11, 2023 03:53
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moot the hopple posted:
Iovarra says something to the effect of Thaos following Woedica because of her disregard for the rules and that Thaos sees her not as a deity but as an ally with which to conspire.I could see a Watcher following her for much the same reasons even if the Watcher might be less concerned than Thaos about making people think the Gods are real. Woedica and Eothas are two opposite ends of the spectrum in some ways in that they're both the most willing of any of the Gods to overstep the boundaries the Gods have set for themselves.
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Jan 11, 2023 04:11
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Yeah, both Woedica and Eothas are able to step back and say "I'm not really a God. I'm an imposter created by a dead civilization to impose their particular order on the world." It's just Woedica says that and then says "good. How do I keep this going?" Eothas has a different answer. This run as an AA monk I've decided I'm a Mystic and now that I know the gods are false, I believe in a higher power, a true God that stands above them. I'm not sure how well the game will support that.
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Jan 11, 2023 04:49
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rocketrobot posted:Can we talk Pillars 1 builds for a minute? I have the desire to play a Pillars 1 character through the first game & expansions, and then into Deadfire. I'm having a little trouble picking a Pillars 1 build as they seem much more limited than Deadfire builds. I don't have a problem picking an entirely separate build for Deadfire (race and background aside). Im doing a dual wielding bleak walker paladin after reading about their lore. Started as a ship slave from the deadfire and rp’d that she had been rescued by bleak walkers attacking her masters so she joined them out of gratitude. While not especially cruel, she usually takes the quickest and most violent path through a problem (bleak war style). Slavers and bullies are killed without mercy. Kids, slaves and the downtrodden are treated with sharp words but left unharmed (maybe traumatised by the visceral resolution to whatever problem they were having). Gameplay wise, I’m not really tanking. Front lining and using the unique bleak walker flames of devotion to roast chumps. Usually my problem is marrying a build to the character’s perspective, especially a grey character, but this worked for me.
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Jan 11, 2023 05:02
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All this talk about Woedica is relevant for me because I've been playing a bit of Poe1 on a Priest of Skaen that I'm going to convert into a Priest of Woedica when I import into Deadfire. Kinda enjoying being a huge poo poo to everyone since I mostly play good characters in this
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Jan 11, 2023 05:43
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I still don't think I understand the purpose/niche of blunderbusses. I sort of get the hand mortars that Serafen gets, and could even see them being used as an alternate weapon for non-ciphers...but the standard blunderbusses? Just don't get it. Doesn't cipher power build now based on damage done, instead of flat # of hits?
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Jan 11, 2023 19:53
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Besides the hand mortars I don't think there are any that are impressive but rolling multiple hits is great if you're trying to trigger a crit effect. It's also more consistent than one big hit, which I guess is good if you want to be sure you hit (interrupt, they only have a few hp).
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Jan 11, 2023 20:05
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Fidel Cuckstro posted:I still don't think I understand the purpose/niche of blunderbusses. I sort of get the hand mortars that Serafen gets, and could even see them being used as an alternate weapon for non-ciphers...but the standard blunderbusses? Just don't get it. Doesn't cipher power build now based on damage done, instead of flat # of hits? I had a lot of fun with a monk/rogue dual wielding kitchen stove and hand mortar stacking pen and crit chance. I think it was my first build to beat PoTD actually. Dual Blunderbusses also used to be a popular option for Maia builds if you go rogue multi iirc Starks fucked around with this message at 20:18 on Jan 11, 2023 |
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Jan 11, 2023 20:15
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| # ? Jun 12, 2024 01:55 |
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Fidel Cuckstro posted:I still don't think I understand the purpose/niche of blunderbusses. I sort of get the hand mortars that Serafen gets, and could even see them being used as an alternate weapon for non-ciphers...but the standard blunderbusses? Just don't get it. Doesn't cipher power build now based on damage done, instead of flat # of hits? Serafens Mortars are particularly good because the aoe will apply your effects in aoes too. So if you use say a Rogue's gouging strike and hit with that, it will apply to every enemy it hits in the aoe. That's pretty nice. Kalakoth's Minor Blights are awesome on a Rogue/Wizard for the same reason.
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Jan 11, 2023 20:17
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