Pillars of Eternity Megathread

New patch is out as of earlier today. It was around 1GB in size. Here's the notes:

Patch 1.03

Hello, Backers. The Pillars team has been hard at work collecting feedback and fixing bugs for our upcoming 1.03 patch. The focus of this patch was to quickly identify issues that were causing the biggest problems for the community and work to getting those fixes out as soon as possible.

Note: We currently have an issue with adventurer hall-created companions not being able to lockpick on old saves. We are looking to hotfix it, but if you feel this will affect you, you may want to wait on the hotfix.

We are going to have a list of fixes below, but some of the big ticket items that we have fixed include:

  • Bears and Cats can now be equipped with hats. This is most likely not a joke... but might be a joke.
  • Double-clicking to equip items was causing passive abilities to get removed from the character. This has been fixed and we were able to retroactively fix the problem for people that have already run into the issue. If you open your saved game in the latest patch, your characters will be repaired.
  • We have fixed a problem where attributes on characters could permanently increase by equipping certain items. This will also retroactively fix the problem in saved games that have characters with this issue.
  • The crash in Raedric's Hold has been fixed.
  • We fixed the looping audio sounds that can occur if you play with minimized tooltips.
  • Previously Wizard summoned items could persist after the spell's duration. This has been fixed and it will also retroactively fix the problem in saved games that have characters with this issue.
  • The items Drinking Horn of Moderation and Talisman of the Unconquerable were causing Ciphers to permanently lower their amount of focus gain. We've included a fix to retroactively resolve the issue on Ciphers but the effect is still on the items. Unfortunately the fix will not fix the broken effect on those items, so you'll need to keep those items unequipped until the next patch. If you do equip them, perform a Save/Load to fix your Cipher.

We released this patch earlier today on Steam. You can start downloading it by quiting out of your Steam client and starting Steam up again. The patch should download at that point. For those of you that have Origin and GOG, we are working with them to patch their platforms as soon as possible. We are hoping for all platforms to be up-to-date within a few days.

Comprehensive Patch Notes

Features

  • Added pro tips to the Glossary.
  • Many new icons for items.
  • Added graphics setting to toggle antialiasing levels.
  • Added new voice set reactivity for lockpick, poison, enemy spotted in stealth, spell failure, death, immobilized, and completed task.
  • Added indicators on the loot screen when looting crafting and quest items.
  • Party can now use lockpicks that are in the Stash.
  • You can now cast AoEs on party member portraits and the spell will be targeted at the companion's location.
  • Digital soundtrack now includes track names, track order, metadata/tags, and album art.
Balance

  • Monk unarmed attack buffed by 1 point at the top end.
  • Arbalest damage has been lowered.
  • Fast melee weapons do slightly more damage.
  • Slight bump to sabre damage.
  • Tuned down Mind Blades.
  • Tuned ranges of many Wizard spells to be higher.
  • Slicken spell is now a single hit AoE.
  • Chill Fog is now a friend or foe spell.
  • Curse of Blackened Sight is now foe only.
  • Changed reload speed multiplier from 2 to 1.2 for Sure-Handed Ila.
  • Fixed the price on Seal of Faith.
  • Adjusted price on figurines.
  • Adjusted price on rings.
  • Tuned up the Goldrot Chew.
  • Reduced the penalties for Bonded Grief.
  • Tuned up Bulwark of the Elements.
  • Modified attributes of companions and Itumaak.
  • Raised the bonus for having fewer than six party members from 5% per character under the limit to 10% per character under the limit.
  • Added cooldown to NPC Rogue's Escape ability usage so they won't use it back to back.
  • Rebalanced fight difficulty and spell selection for the Old Watcher.
  • Lowered the scale of the Defiance Bay reputation by 15%.
  • Beloved Spirits adds 0.4 Endurance to Ancient Memory instead of 2.
  • Changed duration of the Flagellant's Path defense penalty.
  • Adjustments to the Mantle of the Dying Boar.
  • Reduced the price of the Brighthollow Hearth and Courtyard Pool.
  • Heart of Fury will now apply to all damage types.
  • Tuned damage on Brilliant Radiance down.
Systems

  • Changed one of the fatigue status effects to not end with combat.
  • Fixed save game issues with spells and abilities that place down traps.
  • Fixed issue to prevent Ciphers from casting abilities without the required Focus.
  • Restored modal flag for Reckless Assault.
  • Set Transcendent Suffering to not be combat only.
  • Fixed duration issue with Plague of Insects.
  • Fixed companion audio triggers for some status effects.
  • Fixed issue with Wizard's summoned magical items getting stuck after save and load. Wizards will be restored to a proper state after loading a game.
  • Hunting Bows had the wrong speed descriptor. They are now listed as Fast.
  • Character Hit Autopause option should be working as intended.
  • You can now close the Grimoire and Chant UI with a hotkey.
  • Fixed issue with summoning magic items while unarmed.
  • Fixed delay issue on Knockdown.
  • Fixed a few issues with Dominate and Charm spells.
  • Fixed a bad item mod on the Ring of Protection.
  • Fixed issue with the Terrible weapon mod.
  • Changed bad data in ranger summons.
  • Made Takedown to be consistent with Knockdown.
  • Fixed multiplier on Blooded.
  • Summoned weapons will be removed when Spiritshifting.
  • Fixed issue with bouncing reflected melee attacks.
  • Party members will no longer switch to different weapons after being Charmed or Dominated.
  • Ancient Memory is now Ally only.
  • A summoned weapon will not unequip the grimoire.
  • Fixed Spellstriking mod.
  • Fixed trigger count issue with the Prone reduction mod.
  • DOT spells should clean up properly when combat ends.
  • Fixed Deflection +10 mod.
  • All Exhortations are now combat only.
  • Only play weapon ineffective VO if the attack is hostile.
  • Aggrandizing Radiance will now last until combat ends.
  • Holy Radiance is now combat only.
  • Carnage now works better.
Quests

  • Fixed issues with factions and super friend quests with Lady Webb's dialogue.
  • Adjusted trigger in front of the Salty Mast to fix a possible way to skip a required cutscene.
  • Fixed issue with the Winds of Steel quest line.
  • Fixed a trigger outside the First Fires Keep that could have been avoided.
  • Many fixes to music, audio, and VFX to a scene near the end of the game.
  • The prybar should now display the correct image in the Raedric's Hold moat scripted interaction.
  • Changed faction on the Hall of Warrior's containers.
  • Fixed scripted music for the forge knight combats in the keep.
  • Visual effects in the introduction cutscene should now be triggered properly.
  • Fixed conversation of the guards in Raedric's Hold to not repeat.
  • Added cape and armor to the loot for the Fampyr boss.
  • Fix to Osrya's starting timer not being attached to the trigger in the area.
UI

  • Fixed sound issue when collapsing the tutorial UI.
  • Fixed issue with double clicking items to equip. This is a retroactive fix and will restore characters with proper stats.
  • Fixed issue where camping supplies were disappearing when added to Stash.
  • Cage Cursor setting should not turn off after loading a scene or cutscene and is now on by default.
  • Fixed cropping on a few portraits.
  • Fixed issue with highlighting dead bodies and containers in the fog of war.
  • Fixed item stacking issue that was stacking items inappropriately.
  • Reduced the intensity of the explored fog of war on the area map, and fixed an issue where the shadow layer was causing the area map to be darker than it should be.
  • Small UI updates to the journal screen.
  • Reworked the enchanting UI to work better with multiple lines.
  • Fixed UI sorting issue in store.
  • Fixed UI sorting in crafting menu.
  • Fixes to Capitular glyphs in end game slides.
  • Fixed issue with stronghold alert widgets not hiding properly.
  • Fixed an issue with weapon mods were incorrectly being displayed in some cases.
  • Drag select should work properly when starting the drag over an enemy.
  • Fixed a few issues with drag select and formation rotation causing issues when the mouse goes over UI elements.
  • Fixed some control issues with holding down keys.
  • Shot on the Run recovery value should be now displayed correctly.
  • Fixed issues to how the HUD fades out during conversations.
  • When the party receives or loses items, those log messages now go to both logs.
  • Cleaned up the character sheet formatting and made more items clickable.
  • Store item names can now take up two lines.
  • Spells now show DT bypass in the description.
  • Consumables now show per-Rest and per-Encounter usage limitations.
Other Fixes

  • Fixed stats issue with saving and loading on the same map where a companion is found. This is a retroactive fix and will restore companions and characters to the proper state.
  • Fixed issues with save games in Raedric's Hold, causing the game to not function correctly or freeze.
  • Ranger Animal Companions should not disappear anymore and broken animals will be restored after loading and saving the game.
  • Fixed possible issues with disappearing items and weapons.
  • Minor fixes to a few select voice over lines.
  • Fixed size issues with equipped capes on Godlike characters.
  • Changed Explorer achievement to check for 152 maps rather than 160.
  • Fixed many issues where combat would not end properly.
  • Updated credits with more backer names.
  • Updated paperdoll level up lighting.
  • Scripted music should now be restored properly after loading a game.
  • Updated Temple of Eothas render.
  • Fixed some rendering issues with Fog of War on some areas.
  • Fixed sounds on movie that plays near end of game.
  • Reduced antelope feet sliding.
  • Fixed issue with weapon caching causing issues when weapons are swapped.
  • Interstitial music no longer loops.
  • Fixed issue where party members could take damage in cutscenes.
  • Fixed voice cues during looting for full inventory.
  • Fixed transparency on ghost characters.
  • Fixed issues with cutscene pathfinding if the game's process is halted.
  • Fixed issue with Expert mode settings getting saved improperly.
  • Fixed issue where characters were not properly stopping at the last waypoint of their path.
  • Adjusted Skuldr scream vocals.
  • We now handle some edge cases in resolution management on some hardware configurations.
  • Fixed issue with the party member Knockout achievement not reporting the correct numbers.

Source: https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/75269-update-93-patch-103-important-community-fixes/

 
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RIP Grieving Mother Mind Blades spam. Kinda weird they redid the attributes of so many party members but apparently didn't give her a bump to might or int.

 
Tentative Patch Notes for 1.04. Nothing should be added this point except critical fixes and they have started on patch 1.05 already for everything else.

Items, Spells, and Abilities

  • AoE indicators should now properly resize if the caster has a sub 10 Intellect score.
  • Fixed an issue with over-time aura spells not applying the correct value on the final tick.
  • Knock Down will now correctly be applied for the full duration of the effect.
  • Mantle of The Dying Boar will now trigger at 33% Endurance with the effect of 5 Endurance a tick.
  • Talisman of the Unconquerable will now give a 1.25 Focus multiplier instead of .25.
  • Blooded should trigger properly in all cases now.
  • Boar Animal Companion bonus damage should now work as intended.
  • Prone Reduction mod should now work correctly.
Quests and Companions

  • Fixed Aloth and Kana speaking when they weren't in the party in one of the last levels.
  • Sagani's fox-specific banters now require the appropriate items in the player inventory.
  • Falanroed's dialogue no longer displays a script node.
  • Durance will now properly discuss your dream with you if you've already discussed his staff.
  • Relaxed some constraints on Durance's quest conversation. This allows all characters, regardless of background or stats, to finish his quest.
  • Players can now loot the nest in Oldsong.
  • Fixed an invalid conditional check in one of Pallegina's conversations.
  • Heritage Hill tower will be fully revealed when exploring the map.
  • Fixed spawn issue in a scripted interaction near the end of the game.
  • Fixed an invalid creature spawn in the Ogre Lair in Od Nua.
  • Sagani no longer references the antagonist by name before you know it.
  • A container in the Catacombs of Od Nua will now remember if it was looted.
  • The "Master's Tools" quest will now work if you have the required items before starting the quest.
  • The "A Two Story Job" scripted interaction will not require a second grappling hook to climb down from the window if one was already used to climb up.
General Fixes

  • Optimized Save/Load game system for better performance.
  • Optimized how scene transitions are handled for better memory usage on 32-bit machines. This may allow players to transition to new areas without running out of memory.
  • Sound Sets from hired companions will now be properly restored when adding them to the party from the stronghold.
  • "All Stronghold Upgrades" achievement now checks 25 upgrades instead of 26. This will properly reward the achievement if you already have fully upgraded your stronghold.
  • The "Kill All Dragons" achievement will now properly fire if they are killed indirectly (like by a trap). This is a retroactive fix and will be rewarded if the dragons are already dead.
  • Fixed issue where store prices were getting exceptionally large after receiving a discount.
  • Fixed issues with gaining infinite XP from bad Stronghold data.
  • World time will not get very large in some cases after Save/Load.
  • Modelling offset with Durance's head has been adjusted.
  • Icon scale is now correct on Hearth Harvest and Reghar Konnek.
  • All shaders will now compile properly under DirectX 11.
  • Restored all the missing effects in the intro cutscene.
  • Removed Blunderbuss item from an early game loot table.
  • Changed the cursor type on the blood pool in the Temple of Skaen to conversation.
  • Fixed a few save game issues with dead summoned creatures.
  • Fixed issue where occasionally a crash would occur when initializing the Steam API.
  • Draggable windows are now handled properly when running at very high resolutions.
  • Swamp Lurker's animation won't spaz anymore when the game is paused.
  • Fixed an issue to prevent binding mouse buttons to window controls.
  • Game will now pause if you Alt-Tab during a cutscene in full screen mode.
  • Audio will now resume properly if the game loses focus.
  • Fixed an issue with infinite load screen if you transition while hovering over a container.
  • Characters will now wait for their idle animation before trying to reload which fixes an animation sync issue.
  • Damaged characters performing AoE attacks will not overload their AI state stacks anymore.

Source: https://forums.obsidian.net/blog/7/entry-180-patch-notes-104/

They are also going to add a beta branch build to the game on Steam for those who want to use it.

 
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So Obsidian refunded my strategy guide payment. That's damn good customer service. They also offered to let me put it towards the dark horse guide.
 
Keep in mind that the Dark Horse guidebook isn't a guide to the game, it's a guide to the setting. It's pretty neat, just... y'know, make sure you know what you're getting.

 
Came across some nice Avenger images (good portrait fodder) that are more geared towards what we would see in something like PoE:

http://imgur.com/gallery/YSVNN

Source is at the below all the images and the guy has some other works that would make nice portraits for the game too.

 
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The Crotch said:
Just a heads up, a BIG new patch and the first half of the new expansion are coming out very soon.
Click to expand...
Have they announced when Part 2 is for The White March? I haven't seen it anywhere and was curious since you probably keep more up-to-date on it than I do.

 
so is this like, THE game to get if i love the 90's-early 2000's era isometric RPG era? Was thinking of giving this a look next time its on sale

 
Yes. Made by most of the big-wigs from Icewind Dale 1 & 2, Fallout 1 & 2, Planescape Torment, and Arcanum. Lives up to the hype pretty damn well. Much better made than Wasteland 2 and much more... expansive than the new Shadowrun games (which I do love). Torment may provide a strong challenge, but for now, Pillars is the single best late-90s-style WRPG out there.

 
The Crotch said:
Yes. Made by most of the big-wigs from Icewind Dale 1 & 2, Fallout 1 & 2, Planescape Torment, and Arcanum. Lives up to the hype pretty damn well. Much better made than Wasteland 2 and much more... expansive than the new Shadowrun games (which I do love). Torment may provide a strong challenge, but for now, Pillars is the single best late-90s-style WRPG out there.
Click to expand...
sweet, thanks. I"ll keep an eye out for a sale. One more question. Can it be played on a laptop easily or is it very clicky? Im kinda bedridden for the next few months and was looking for stuff i can play on the laptop without messing with a mouse.

 
You can set hotkeys for abilities on a per-character basis to reduce clicking, but I'd definitely rather have a mouse than a laptop trackpad. Combat is real-time-with-pause like the Infinity Engine games and movement speeds are pretty damn fast, so you'll definitely want to use slow mode (makes things run at ~50% speed) to make things more manageable.

 
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'Fraid not. I hear the name G2A a lot but haven't really looked into it or any sites of that nature. Most of those places have the reputation of "works 99% of the time; fuck you 1% of the time" (G2A infamously got into a spat with Devolver Digital over nonfunctioning Hotline Miami 2 keys), so...

... your call, man.

 
Said screw it and just bought it at the 33% off

Im going to try to play it  soon here pretty fresh without any real guides but there are a couple things i wanted to check on

1) since its a relatively new game I wanted to double check if there are any major bugs or glitches i should watch out for. Sadly this day and age games are damn near broken for the first several months after release. I dont want to spend a bunch of points in a broken skill, or encounter some glitch that makes progression/quests unfinishable.

2) is there an online manual or anything i can read? Id like to familiarize myself with the stats, controls and gameplay mechanics before i delve into it

3) How does the rep system work? I hear its important for pallys and priests but how do you know your sticking to i? I.E. How do you know what response would be Stoic, or Diplomatic or something? Does it tell you when your picking it or do you just have to guess?

4) Im probably going to use the regular in game party members but i hear you can make custom party members. Is it a good idea to just make a few custom guys early to fill in your party until you can recruit the real members? Im probably going to play a paladin/tank I glanced at the party members and didn't notice a rogue so i'll probably need one of those for locks. Can i always dump them later?

5) Any general advice or warnings or tips are apreciated. Thanks guys

 
1. When the game launched, it had some pretty major bugs. One game-ender where you could get stuck in a castle and couldn't escape, a (fortunately easy to avoid) bug that would blank your racial ability, and a bug that would stop one of the caster classes from gaining mana. Now it's in more of an "a bunch of little bugs all over" kind of state. If you do run into a broken ability or something, they recently added a respec option, but apparently it interacts a little weirdly with the wizard class.

2. The game controls pretty similarly to the Infinity Engine games, which translates to "basically works like an RTS", right down to queuing up commands with shift. As far as I know, this wiki is your best source for up-to-date information. This image in particular is useful for getting a handle on stats:
Attribute_effects.png

3. Pillars of Eternity has a billion things you can toggle, and showing what dialogue choices correspond to what reputation is one of them.

4. I don't build mercenaries myself; I always go with Obsidian's companions. If you do make mercenaries, they come in one level below you, but you have full control over their build, so if you know what you're doing, you can make them a bit stronger than most of the companions you'd normally find. You get a fighter and a wizard very early in the game, and if you know where to look, you can add two other companions (a healer and another frontliner) to the party in a matter of minutes. No party member is ever forced on you by the main plot, but you will find all companions (expansion companions aside) just by going to the areas that the main plot takes you.

The game has prebuilt companions for every class except the barbarian (melee AOE class with tons of HP but garbage defence). There used to be no rogue or monk, but they were added in the recent expansion. You can get rid of a companion at any point. It's harder to lose companions for plot/incompatibility reasons than it was in Baldur's Gates and Planescape Torment, but there are rare plot points where it can occur for prebuilt companions only.

Any class can use any skill, though each class gets a couple free points in 2-3 skills. Chanters, ciphers, rogues, and wizards all come with 1-2 points in mechanics, the skill used to pick locks and disarm/set traps.

5. While the skill system generally rewards specialization, especially for the mechanics skill, everyone in the party will want at least 3 Athletics very quickly. Recent AI changes have made enemies a lot more aggressive and willing to take hits in order to get to your backline, so you can't focus entirely on survivability for your tank unless they can completely block a doorway; they need to have some teeth to keep the enemy's attention (and even then, ranged enemies and teleporters will often focus lower defence party members anyway). Accurate weapons and flails are really good tank weapons for this reason. Everyone in the party should have a ranged weapon for opening volleys alone and rogues benefit greatly from having high power, low-rate-of-fire weapons like the arquebus to start fights with.

Fighters, paladins, and chanters make the best tanks due to a varying degrees of inherent durability and passive abilities that don't care about being stuck in heavy armour or wielding shields. Ranger companions, barbarians, rogues, and especially monks require finesse to get into melee effectively. Other classes are generally easiest to use ranged, though there are some really effective melee wizard builds and druids have a really solid emergency button for dealing with enemies trying to close on your back ranks.

Don't worry about the Temple of Eothas until you have a party of three or Raedric's Keep until you have a party of five. Use the hell out of your encounter abilities, and try to budget your per rest abilities so that you run low on them around the same time you have to rest for health.

Resolve and Perception are the stats that show up most in conversation, with Intellect close behind them. However, you should keep in mind that unlike a lot of RPGs, stat-gated choices are merely choices, not necessarily answers. Sometimes they'll get you further ahead, sometimes not.

 
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wow thanks for the consice reply

1) Well its Obsidian so i figured it would be buggy as hell. Should i watch out for the respec bug? Any way to avoid it?  I glanced at the official forums and there were actually quite a few people complaining about bugs. Stuff like respecs screwing characters up, skills and abilities not working right, ect. Really too bad buggy games annoy the hell out of me

2) I did find this

http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/291650/manuals/pe-game-manual.pdf?t=1441312664

is it up to date or have all the patches and changes made it obsoltete? I hear the wiki is out of date. Its not just controls i wanted to look at. I like to read up on the lore and mechanics of a game like this before i play it so i kinda know what im doing with the stats and abilities. I find it odd paladins are recommended perception and resolve.. resolve i get but perception? Some sorces say it raises deflection others say it doesn't, not sure what to believe =P even the wiki is inconsistent. the chart shows it gives +1 deflection but the description of perception says it doesn't

3) good i'll look for that to turn it on

4) I plan on using the real companions too, but i thought early on it might be good to make a few companions to fill the slots. Plus i dont see a rogue as a party member, so i would need one to open chests and stuff wouldn't I? I dont really count expansion characters since i dont own the expansion. Seems kinda silly they didn't give you one of each class

5) thanks. Im confused about perception myself. Its recommended for pallys but i dont really see why. Im not really clear on what it does exactly. I'll try not to worry too much but id like a general knowledge of the stats before i make my pally. I was thinking most points in resolve and spread some of the extras in int and some mix of con/dex with a bit of might

 
1. Not sure. Haven't tried respeccing myself, yet. The big issue, as I understand it, is that if you respec a wizard who has learned spells from other wizards' grimoires, you lose those spells and get nothing in compensation.

2. That's the original manual. It can give you a broad overview of things, but like I said, it was out of date on launch day. The wiki isn't perfect, but it's much perfecter than that.

4. Like I said, locks and traps can be handled by anyone with mechanics, and while rogues get the biggest innate mechanics boost, there are a bunch of classes that are naturally good at it.

5. Perception used to raise deflection, but this was changed to a boost to accuracy in a recent patch (this patch also increased the importance of constitution). It'll do less for your durability now, but like I said, it's more important for tanks, especially fighters, to have some bite to them now, so accuracy matters for them a bit more than it used to.

Honestly, it's less important that you pick the exact right stats for your class and more important that you find a way to make your picks work. I ignore recommended stats tons.

EDIT: Right now, the most in-your-face bugs are yes/no options sometimes not appearing but still being clickable (yes is always on the left, no is always on the right) in menus and accuracy bonuses not showing up on your character sheet (though they apparently still work properly in combat).

 
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ah so they totally changed the perception game mechanic then, thats why it confused me. I guess its not really worth it for pallys anymore then right? Any suggestions on what to focus on for a defense oriented paladin the? I was thinking a lot of RES and then a good amount of INT and CON. with a few points in MGT and a a bit in DEX

Going with a pally for sure. Going to model it after Christ Lighfellow from Suikoden III if anyone knows who that is. Problem is none of the default portraits really fit and i dont have a graphic program right now to try to make one. The computer with photoshop died and i dont want to dig around wharez sites for a pirated version. One of the female defaults would work but id have to change the hair color and skin/eye color. the female_dwarf_a_lg file. Anyone here got photoshop or something that could mess with it for me? barring that i guess i could d.load a free program. I hear GIMP is ok. Can you change hue's/colors with layers and junk in that?

if someone could do it here some pics of the character im making

good face closup 

http://www.zerochan.net/1136823

hair down

http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/suikoden/images/8/8d/Chris02.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20100408165823

hair down closeup

http://s593.photobucket.com/user/TheBabeList/media/Babes%20A-H/chris06.jpg.html

couple in her armor

http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/suikoden/images/3/37/S3_Chris_Lightfellow.png/revision/latest?cb=20140709163528

http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/suikoden/images/d/de/Suikoden_Chris.png/revision/latest?cb=20121231033932

the pic im working off is the famale_dwarf_a_lg.png portrait file.. and female_dwarf_a_sm.png file. Pic needs to stay the same dimensions and in png format. Basically just need the hair to be turned white/silverish, eyes grey/light blue and skin tone lightened up a bit. 

Anyway that aside i guess picking a faith is important for paladins since it effects their abilities right? I guess i'll either go Kind wayfarers or Shieldbearers. Diplomatic/honest vs Benevolent/Passionate. I like the benevolent passionate one but am not really sure what qualifies as passionate. Would i have to make rash emotional decisions a lot? Also a bit unsure on diplomatic.  I'm assuming honest is self explanatory... dont lie a bunch. And Benevolent probably means being giving and generous. But can anyone clarify passionate and diplomatic in gameplay terms?  

It seems they get different bonus's too

Kind Wayfarers get

Strange Mercy - When the paladin defeats an opponent, nearby allies gain Endurance.

The Sword and the Shepherd - The paladin's Flames of Devotion restores Endurance to nearby allies.

Shieldbearers get 

Shielding Flames - The paladin's Flames of Devotion grants a temporary Deflection bonus to nearby allies.

Shielding Touch - Whenever the paladin uses Lay on Hands on an ally, the ally gains a Deflection Bonus.

seems shieldbearers are more defense oriented, but strange mercy sounds REALLY usefull.. isn't endurance basically health in this game? which of those bonus sets would be the best bet. I actually was planning on being prety def oriented, but strange mercy sounds really really good

 
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Passionate is often hot-headed. You get in to things. You let emotions override reason. Diplomatic characters are peacemakers. They build bridges. They word things cautiously.

Kind Wayfarers, naturally, benefit more from perception and might and other offencive stats so that they can use Strange Mercy more (they also benefit from strategically poaching wounded enemies). Shieldbearers worry less about their own attacks, though you still want some bite so enemies can't just ignore you. Assuming you're using a big ol' shield, you probably want an accurate weapon like a spear or a rapier or a weapon that's based around grazing like a flail.

There are two kinds of HP in the game: endurance, which is a low number, and health, which is a multiple of your endurance. Whenever you take damage, you take damage to both equally. When you run out of endurance, you fall unconscious. When you run out of health, you die. Endurance regens rapidly outside of combat and can be restored with various spells and abilities. Health pretty much only comes back when you rest at an inn or camp. So for all intents and purposes, yeah, "restores endurance" is basically healing. Deflection reduces the likelihood of getting hit by a weapon attack (or if you do get hit, it reduces the quality of the hit), and it is the most important of the four defences.

EDIT: I should also mention that there are lots of fights underground and indoors where you can bottleneck the enemy hard enough that a 100% focus on defence is actually ideal. You just use one or two frontliners to hold the line while your back lines fire away. Not always possible, though.

 
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Thanks. I think i may go with the shieldbearers. I like the Benevolant route but i dont want to have to take Passionate and act like an emo teenage girl or something =P

was just putzing around in the character creator and i think this is kind of the stats i was looking at

MIG 11

Con 12

Dex 10

Per 10

int 14

res 18

Does that look pretty good? Or should i maybe drop res a few points and put a few more into MIG or CON... or maybe even DEX? Again im shooting for a sword and board tanky pally with a decent int for good aoe buffs/heals. I also want to double check that this game doesn't use the system from some older RPGs like KOTOR where having odd numbered stats is almost worthless (i..e. you only get a bonus for a stat thats like 6, but not for one thats 5) And that it doesn't cost more skill points to level them the higher it goes. 

One other thing... when i loaded it up just to mess with the caracter creator i noticed my framerate sucked for some reason. Its very strange since my system more than meets the recomended specs. I have a 

 i7-4720HQ

970 GTXM

16gb of ram

for some reason i was getting sub 30fps most of the time. Char creation and some menus actually dipped into the teens... that doesn't seem right. I googled it and it seems a lot of people have this problem some even with 980GTX's and stuff o_O Anyone know what the deal is with that? I hear the new 2.01 patch introduced some graphical glitches. I wonder if its related to that? Though most of the forum posts i found were from earlier in the year

 
"Even numbers are the only ones that matter" was A Thing in Knights of the Old Republic because it was based on D&D 3e. That particular quirk pretty much only exists in modern D&D games. In Pillars, every point above 10 boosts stuff, every point below ten reduces stuff. Points are spent in a 1:1 fashion, with the cap being 18 (unless you have a race and/or culture bonus to the stat, in which case the cap is 19 or 20) plus temporary bonuses from items and buffs. Also unlike modern D&D is that stats do not affect skills at all. Dexterity does not tie into stealth, might does not affect athletics, etc.

Now, skills? Those actually cost more points to increase as you go (that is, rank 1 of stealth costs 1 point, rank 2 costs 2 points, etc.). These increased costs ignore the bonus ranks you get from class and background, though, so those can be pretty valuable.

I'm personally not a super huge fan of con and would put those extra points in might myself for better damage and healing, but... eh.

'Fraid I can't help with your framerate issues.

 
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For framerate issues in games, sometimes you can try forcing certain options through your video card software as opposed to turning it on in the game. This can sometimes resolve those issues, but there's no guarantee.

Also make sure you have the latest (cleanly installed) drivers.

I own an ATI card, so I can't really help you with card specific issues.

 
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Im a friggin derp. Somehow i had switched the laptop to powersaver mode so it was super throttling the cpu/gpu. Put it back to normal and framerates super high now =P 

Ah, skills totally forgot about those... something else i need to read up on before i start i guess, lol. Is that something you want to spread out or really just concentrate on one or two? Im thinking going athletics and lore. Good to know about the stat points. That makes a lot more sense than those D&D rules. I also noticed in the character creation your local race once you pick human also changes what backround you can have too, yeesh this game has so many options!

 
Background actually changes based on culture. Slaves can only come from slaveholding countries, pirates from the Deadfire Archipelago, etc.

A decent (3 minimum) spread of athletics is basically essential. I also like a good spread of stealth, especially if I want to use pistols and blunderbusses. Mechanics gets pumped sky-high for one party member, though. Lore is a great skill to pump on a frontliner so that they can use scrolls. The value of survival depends entirely on how much you like to use buffing potions and foods.

 
Won't be too long now before I can start a new game on the hardest difficulty and go through the game again. Finally the White March expansion will be complete and fully out on February 16th, less than two weeks away. Don't think I'll get to it right away as I want to get through a bunch of other stuff first.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDzAtWt7Ssg

http://forums.obsidian.net/blog/7/entry-190-update-notes-300-beta/

This changelist and known issues list will continue to grow as the beta goes on.

Update 01/22/2016: Adding more issues into the changelist.

Known Issues

  • Localization will be spotty throughout the beta. We are still performing the localizations for new content.
  • Traps and Seals are invisible and can't be triggered.
  • Drug Crash cooldown displayed on effect tooltip does not take into account Consumable Duration I/II effect bonus.
  • There is no Camping Bonus popup if party chooses to rest via dialog option.
  • While Camping, consumable duration is displayed improperly when a character is influenced by Consumable Duration rest effect.
  • Zahua does not have Transcendent Suffering.
  • If you have Resting, Camping, Injury, and Maimed, all bonuses are lost when you camp.
  • Drugs duration timer is influenced by intelligence in the character portrait tooltip.
  • Ranger's companions are not moved into fixed positions during the Dilemma cutscenes.
New Features

  • New content for the Stronghold that has you, as lord or lady of Caed Nua, decide the fate of your vassals and send your companions on new and exciting adventures.
  • There is also a new quest line that allows you to defend your claim to Caed Nua (will be released in 3.0 final).
  • Knockout Injuries have been added as an option for those that want it. Injuries are added to characters that are knocked out in battle and are only removed by resting.
  • Story Time mode has been added. This difficulty setting is for people that want to experience the Pillars of Eternity story without having to build a party of adventurers focused on combat.
  • Athletics has been revamped so that it allows characters to cast Second Wind. A powerful healing ability. A higher Athletics skill increases the size of the heal.
  • Survival now grants rest bonuses. A higher Survival skill will unlock more rest bonuses or increase the strength of existing bonuses.
  • Many new creatures have been added to the Bestiary.
  • The Action Bar has been reorganized so that it is easier for players to see their Per Encounter, Per Rest, and Watcher abilities.
  • The end of the game (Act 3 and second half of Od Nua) has been revised to remove the number of "trash" encounters and increase their difficulty.
  • A high level scaling option has been included for anyone that enters Act 3 at a high level.
Companions

  • Zahua gained +3 to con (now 17) so he has 75 attribute points like all other companions.
Creatures

  • Added correct audio bank to animal companion antelope so it should play proper SFX now.
  • Dragons will now wait a minimum of three seconds at the start of combat before using a breath weapon.
  • Immunity: Ground added to a large number of spirits, drakes, wurms.
  • Immunity: Prone removed from dragons, replaced with Immunity: Unconscious and Resist: Prone (+20).
  • Removed Prone immunity from spectres, shadows, shades, phantoms, cean gwla, and battery sirens.
Gameplay

  • Ciphers have been rebalanced so that their powers cost 10 focus per level. E.G. 10 focus for 1st level power, 50 focus for 5th level power.
  • Drugs have been rebalanced in the following ways:
  • Blacsonn: +3 Perception, +25 Resist vs. Ground, -2 Dexterity, Crash: -3 Might, -2 Dex
  • Carow Golan: +20% Focus Gain, +10 Deflection, +20 Reflex, -4 Intellect, Crash: -5 Might
  • Goldrot Chew: +3 Might, +1 Movement, -2 Perception, Crash: -4 Dexterity
  • Ripple Sponge: +10% Max Stamina, +25 Resist vs. Poison and Disease, - 4 Resolve, Crash: -1 Movement
  • Snowcap: Confused Immunity, +40 Resist vs. Charmed, +20 Resist vs. Dominated, -5 Perception, Crash: -2 Constitution, -2 Intellect
  • Svef: +15% Attack Speed, +0.5 Movement, -4 Resolve, Crash: -6 Resolve
  • Whiteleaf: Frightened, Sickened Immunity, +25 Resist vs. Terrified, Weakened, -10% Attack Speed, Crash: -15% Max Stamina
  • Fixed an issue where you could cast "ally only" spells on party members before they joined your party.
  • Animation for picking locks now plays whether or not your character uses lockpicks.
  • Fixed an issue where talent-granted abilities were not being removed correctly on retraining.
  • Put a retroactive fix for fighter made before Update 2.03 so they now properly receive a +5 buff to base Deflection.
  • Fixed inflated Accuracy calculations when the player placed traps or cast certain spells.
  • Fixed a problem where some status effect usages didn't take trigger adjustments into account.
  • AI will now choose more appropriate actions if they are unable to move.
  • Fixed redundant immunity listings on animated weapons.
  • Added the "Ground" keyword and associated it with a whole bunch of spells and abilities that are ground-based: Tanglefoot, Web, Slicken, the various priest Seals, etc.
  • Fixed a problem where some equipment would disappear after a shapeshift but still provide its bonuses.
Spells and Abilities

  • Suppress Affliction base duration reduced from 10s to 5s, AoE radius reduced from 2.5m to 1.75m.
  • All Prayer Against _____ spells, scrolls, and abilities now grant immunity rather than resistance. Their base durations have been cut from 30s to 15s.
  • Constant Recovery, Rapid Recovery, and Veteran's Recovery now all heal more Endurance per tick and all scale with level.
  • Ancient Memory now heals double the Endurance and scales with level but has a 45s duration.
  • Beloved Spirits now also heals twice as much and scales with level.
  • Removed an unnecessary restriction on stacking Weapon Type Specialization abilities. This should fix issues like Flick of the Wrist being suppressed by Prey on the Weak.
  • Fixed some stacking inconsistencies with Cipher powers that caused some spell effects to suppress other valid effects.
  • Holy Radiance now heals base 15 Endurance.
  • The Sword and the Shepherd (Kind Wayfarer talent) now scales with level (+7 every 3).
  • Shielding Touch deflection bonus increased from +8 to +12 (Shieldbearers of St. Elcga talent)
  • Renamed Duty's Bond to Aegis of Loyalty and the talent now grants 15s of immunity to confused/charmed/dominated instead of a +20 defensive bonus for 20s.
  • Sworn Enemy range dropped to 10m, set to 1/encounter instead of 3/rest.
  • Added the paladin talent Wrath of Five Suns (modifies Sworn Enemy). It is only available to Pallegina.
  • Flagellant's Path attack is now more likely to place the character between him and his destination instead of off to the side.
  • Fixed a few abilities (Like Crippling Guard) that improperly claimed to apply effects to Self.
  • Faith and Conviction now scales for NPCs, +1 def and +2 to all other defenses at 5th, 10th, 15th level. Base Faith and Conviction bonuses reduced from +5 defenses, +10 to all other defenses to +4 def, +8 to all other defenses.
  • Knock Down is now a full attack (was only a primary attack previously) meaning that dual-wielding characters will now perform two attacks.
  • Play Dead should be be removed correctly when you retrain.
  • Miasma of Dull-mindedness penalties reduced from -10 to -6 and duration from base 20s to 12s.
  • Arkemyr's Wondrous Torment adds perception penalty. Penalty against subsequent targets increased and jump range increased from 5m to 8m.
  • Chanter skeleton summons set to 2nd level (were previously 1st).
  • Reny Daret's Ghost duration from 20s base to 12s base.
  • Clear Out base damage increased from 15-22 to 30-40.
  • Into the Fray base damage increased to 22-30 and damage type switched from crush to pierce. Into the Fray base dazed duration increased from 5 to 12.
  • Constant and Veteran's Recovery reduced from base 90s to base 45s duration.
Miscellaneous

  • Updated Watcher Vision VFX to reduce chances of blowout on a light background.
  • Adding a melee attack for pigs
 
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I've held off on doing any of the White March stuff 'til it's fully released. Really hope the new Stronghold content is solid, 'cause that was my single biggest disappointment with the game at launch.

 
Pretty much the same reason I've held off. Though I don't think the expansion will transform the stronghold into what either of us would be satisfied with. I still can't believe they somehow got the idea that backers didn't want a more living, vibrant stronghold with actual things to do in it.

"Oh hey, there's a spot for a garden here. Let's plant some medicinal flora so we can take these to the alchemist we hired and make us some potions or anti-fungal cremes."

So much potential was lost because of that decision.

 
From developer statements, it sounded like there was a sizable and vocal enough group of Kickstarter backers who really hated stronghold mechanics.

It is us, we are the worst fans.

 
White March Part 2 is out and the White March expansion is now complete.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBiH30qcUDE

I look forward to playing it... eventually. Maybe after Fire Emblem Fates.

 
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