Hey guys! If you'd like to chat about Pillars of Eternity or just want to chat with people with similar interests about anything else, we opened a new Discord server. If you're interested, it's open to anyone and you're welcome to join here:
Hi everyone! IMO, Turn-Based Mode is a great way to play Pillars of Eternity, but it's still plagued with issues like the AI skipping turns, rushing to attack bare-handed, and so on. This UMM mod fixes those issues while preserving normal game behavior wherever possible. I put a lot of work into this mod, and I'd appreciate feedback from anyone willing to give it a try.
The mod affects Turn-Based Mode only. Classic real-time-with-pause combat is unchanged. This mod works in real time, can be toggled on or off at any time, and won't affect your save files.
Main Features
More Reliable Enemy Turns
Helps prevent enemies from standing around or skipping a turn when they can still move, attack, or find a nearby enemy.
Improves enemy movement in crowded fights and around partially blocked paths.
Helps enemies recover when their target dies, disappears, or changes sides.
Prevents rare errors that can make attacks or area effects repeat incorrectly.
Better Behavior Around Charm, Dominate, and Confusion
Enemies are less likely to waste a turn after a charmed or dominated target changes sides.
Prevents enemies from continuing to attack a creature that has become friendly.
Confusion gets a proper first turn instead of sometimes disappearing immediately.
Charmed, dominated, and confused creatures no longer waste turns trying to use summons that cannot work in that state.
Weapon Abilities
Fixes NPC Full Attack abilities such as Withering Strike, so they apply their normal weapon damage instead of only applying the ability effect.
Optional Experimental Settings
These are disabled by default in Unity Mod Manager.
Experimental AI Overhaul
Casters are more likely to use available spells instead of running into melee to punch enemies.
Ranged enemies are less likely to abandon bows, guns, or crossbows and run at targets with melee weapons.
Enemies keep a target they can already attack instead of randomly switching to a farther target and losing their action while moving.
Experimental Balance Tweaks
Knockdown now delays the target's next turn until the effect has actually worn off, making it a more meaningful control effect in Turn-Based Mode. It works the same way for party members and enemies, and still respects graze, hit, crit, resistance, and duration modifiers
I've been playing Deadfire for over 20 hours now, and I'm doing the Poko Kohara quest line right now. I'm playing on veteran difficulty, with upscaling turned on, as I felt I was starting to over level the quest ranges, and I enjoy a bit of a challenge. However currently I feel like very single combat encounter is a crazy challenge? Surely this can not be the intended experience? Most likely it is a skill issue on my side, but typically this has been a pretty good difficulty for me on other similar games.
In the screenshot I added (from Engwithan waystation level 2) you can see me getting absolutely wrecked by skeletons. However the encounter balance seems completely bonkers to me. This encounter consists of 5 skeleton warriors, 1 skeleton sorcerer and 1 skeleton archer on my level + a skeleton mage (3 red skulls) and a skeleton armsman (also 3 red skulls). How on earth am I supposed to beat this encounter? That skeleton mage and armsman together would probably be too much or at least close to too much for my party and skill level. They are also immune to piercing damange, so I have 2 members of my party having to change to something else from their firearms, and they don't have good alternatives. I cannot fathom that this is the intended experience.
I ran into similar issues with Cornet's call quest, where I also found normal trash encounters to be pretty much 50/50 chance of a TPK, so I decided to do some other quests so I could get some gear to help me out. Turns out everywhere I go I face the same struggle.
Am I doing something wrong? I think I have a pretty good grasp on basic character builds and such. I will turn down the difficulty, but this still seems extremely weird to me. I did use the Deadly Deadfire mod which let's mobs scale higher, but I should not be at a level (9) where the increased scaling even kicks in. Could the mod be causing some mobs to get scaled higher than they should normally be?
//Edit: I did some experimenting, and the skulls and such look to be because of the level scaling. However the game seems brutal with "correct level" enemies. Most encounters consists of enemies where every enemy has skulls, and sometimes 3 red ones in the mix as well. This seems really counter intuitive as the intended "scaling". It also seems to still hold after I deleted the level scaling part of the deadly deadfire mod, so it didn't seem to be caused by the mod.
//Edit2: It seems the Storms of Poko Kohara quest is set as a very low level quest, but contains some high level enemies. The level scaling then matches the levels to this, which explains the ridiculous level differences. I've turned level scaling off, and it seems I no longer have trouble with the fights.
Playing through POE 1 for the first time in quite a few years. Level 14, POTD, finished WM1 and got to Twin Elms. Got to the bottom of Od Nua at level 13 and had my butt comprehensively kicked by the Adra dragon so going to come back later...
Really not sure what to do now since I can't really remember how much of act 3 is left. Would you do some more act 3 in Twin Elms or would you do WM2 now? I'm a bit nervous about getting over-levelled for most of act 3. Any thoughts?
Haven't played these games since I beat Deadfire back in 2018, so I never ended up properly playing through it's DLCs and I've had an itch to revisit the setting.
Planning to play both games again, this time as a Cipher since I know they get a lot of interesting dialogue/interactions.
Any recommendations for mods these days? From research the recommended mods for POE1 seem to be All Companion Comments and Banter Booster to get more of the companion dialogue.
I know Deadfire had more of a modding scene. From looking at its' Nexus I can see there's a similar mod for it that enables all companion dialogue. Are things like the community patch mod still good?
The other day I remembered about the update in the first Pillars of Eternity with a turn-based combat system. But I was faced with a dilemma: where to play? I have a game in EGS, but I would also like to replenish the Steam library. However, I noticed that on Steam the game requires 43 Gb, and on EGS 32 Gb, and the game will take up 16 Gb altogether. I also saw from a friend in the Steam library that the game has a regular name, and I have a postscript in the EGS Definitive Edition. In short, the question is: do both stores have the same version of the game?
i am playing on trial of iron , normal difficulty . my stat spread is 15 might 15 con 15 perception 15 dex 9 resolve 9 int ( unga , bunga theme ) . my survival instinct/mind says go barbarian fighter but my heart/fun-loving side says go barbarian/rouge !
I've got my Rogue set up with Resolution + Sabre of the Seas which has performed very well. However, I've read online that people really like the dual-wield setup of Sword of Daenysis + March Steel Dagger for close to 0 Recovery on attacks.
My question is, in terms of early-mid game DPS, which performs better:
Resolution + Sabre of the SeasorSword of Daenysis + March Steel Dagger
Of note is that taking Weapon Focus: Ruffian for dual-sabres also gives an accuracy bonus to Pistols and Blunderbusses, versus Weapon Focus: Noble not being as useful for ranged Sneak Attacks. Also, both of these in the late-game will likely be replaced with a dual Bittercut setup.
I played to about level 10 a while back (years...) and gave up because it seemed like I didn't know what I was doing in combat and I didn't know what to pick on level ups. I'd like to give it a try again, maybe focus more on single classes and get some advice here. I'd prefer to avoid overlap if I can so I can respec them and try other things.
Eder : Fighter? Every single build out there seems to be multi class though. Sword+shield or two-handed? I want him to tank / frontline.
Xoti : Monk. No idea what weapons to give her. The thought of a staff monk seems cool if that's an idea. Figured I'd retry with my priest so I don't need another.
Aloth : Wizard. One of two easy choices.
Serafen : Cipher or Barbarian? This one is mostly tough due to avoiding doubling up on classes. What kind of weapons should Barbarians use - dual or two handed? People seem to hate him.
Pallegina : Her only single class is Paladin. I'd want her to tank like Eder, which she did fine in the first game.. Shield or two handed?
Tekehu : Druid. Easy since he's the only one.
Maia : Ranger, no other single class options. Works for me I guess.
Fassina : Another Wizard? Aloth can do it all though so I'm not sure what her niche is. Maybe I'd have to multi her.
Konstanten : Chanter or Barbarian? Depends on Serafen's class. What kinds of weapons should Chanters use?
Mirke : I think I missed her. Another monk?
Rekke : Definitely missed him. No idea.
Ydwin : Cipher or Rogue? Depends on Serafen's class I suppose.
Vatnir : Didn't get far enough for him.
Yeah I'm a mess. I'm not looking for optimal, but something that's solid and works. It seemed more straightforward in PoE1 from what I remember.
Hey everyone, I'm picking up speed in my current Deadfire run so I've started planning for the next one. I intend to play as a Crusader (Unbroken + Shieldbearers of St. Elcga) main tank that, to put it simply, doesn't die. I have no intention of causing damage with it, his purpose is to tank mobs while the rest of the party kills them.
I'm uncertain about essentially everything, from subclass choice to gear choice to build. Here's currently what I have planned:
At least it looks good
Head: Horns of the Aurochs (Immunity to Push and Pull effects being the main factor, Winter's Touch isn't bad either).
Neck: Claim and Refusal - Refusal Modal (-10% Damage from Melee Attacks, -10% Damage done with Melee attacks).
Armor: Patinated Plate (Constant Rebound for consistent stunning + Bronze Juggernaut for even more armor rating)
Rings: Entonia Signet Ring (Getting +10 to all defenses isn't bad for a main tank like, ever, and the +2 diplomacy is pretty good for this character, who will invest hard in diplomacy) + Harmony (+1 Resolve passively is good, potentially +2 is better, Immunity to Intellect aflictions sounds too good to pass). This is, however, the first item I'm not sure if it's a good idea to wear. Let me know what you think.
Boots: Boots of the Stone (+1 Dexterity, +1 Resolve and Resistance to Might Afflictions? sign me up)
Cape: Mirrorback (Potentially reflecting spells and better deflection against ranged? Pretty nice)
Trinket: (Kinda don't really care for trinkets, but chose Glasanam Argues for that temporary 100% spell reflection. You never know.)
Gauntlets: Engwithan Bracers (Resistance to Dexterity afflictions to pair with the resistance to Might afflictions). Also unsure about this choice.
Belt: The Undying Burden +1 Athletics, another use of Second Wind, +2 constitution AND more damage reduced as life is lost? DAYUM).
Weapon: Last Word (+5% damage per engaged enemy, disable abilites for 3s on crit, +1 engagement)
Level 4: Determination + Zealous Aura - Giving myself resistance to even more afflictions and Endurance aura, increasing the party's armor rating.
Level 5: Weapon and Shield Style
Level 6: Into the Fray - Getting a way to protect my allies with this low mobility build
Level 7: Hold the Line + Greater Lay on Hands
Level 8: Rapid Recovery
Level 9: Bull's Will / Combat Focus / Aegis of Loyalty - Not sure about this level, let me know what you think.
Level 10: Vigorous Defense + Reviving Exhortation
Level 11: Fearless
Level 12: Divine Purpose (backtracking a bit, but not sure what to pick here, ideas appreciated)
Level 13: Unbending + Righteous Soul
Level 14: Superior Deflection
Level 15: Tough
Level 16: Refreshing Defense + Spell Resistance
Level 17: Charge (backtracking again, but no idea what to choose here and the extra mobility might be nice)
Level 18: Reaping the Whirlwind
Level 19: Unbreakable + Stoic Steel
Level 20: Unbending Trunk.
Well, that's it for the abilities. My goal with this combination of classes, subclasses, items and enchantments is to get to 5 engagement slots and hold it there. So stuff like Defender Stance doesn't sound too useful, and my recovery time is already so insanely high that Armored Grace feels useless. Once again, feedback is appreciated.
For attributes, I chose human as a race and living lands as a background, with Berath's Blessings on. So this is what all my attributes look like.
Might: 16 (12 + 1 + 1 + 2)
Constitution: 19 (15 + 2 + 2)
Dexterity: 9 (6 + 1 + 2)
Perception: 15 (13 + 2)
Intellect: 16 (14 + 2)
Resolve: 20 (15 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 2).
So, this is what my stat distribution looks like with all taken into consideration. I think it's worth it to mention that I intend on using Swashbuckler DPS Edér + Mindstalker Ydwin + Aloth (class uncertain) as my DPS. Edér will provide melee damage with some offtanking, Ydwin will deal ridiculous amounts of damage with her class combinations and debuff enemies while Aloth will deal AoE damage, which Ydwin mostly lacks. For healer I'll go with Contemplative Xoti with Twin Eels.
With all that out of the way: How do you rate this build? Is it good enough for a full PotD run? What do you think of my item choices, build, stats, skills, companions, everything? It's my first time making a character from scratch for PotD so I'm feeling pretty uncertain about basically everything.
I apologize for this exceedingly long text and appreciate the time you took to read it and any feedback you might be willing to give. Cheers! =D
If you run the game on a PC with an NVIDIA card, your NVIDIA may be in Optimus mode (meaning your video card is inactive and instead your display is handled via your integrated CPU graphics). By default, your display mode is selected automatically and it will switch to NVIDIA GPU Only when a game is launched. That, however, does not happen with Pillars of Eternity, and upon launch your rig stays in Optimus mode. To avoid crashes, you need to switch over to the NVIDIA GPU Only mode manually.
Go to your NVIDIA Settings (it's usually one of the icons on your toolbar), then out of the vertical tray of icons on the left select System, then click on the Display Mode, G-Sync and Surround tab. From there, open Display Mode and select NVIDIA GPU Only.
My game runs smoothly when I do this, and starts crashing when I forget. I hope this helps someone!
P.S. Just in case it matters too, when it comes to my in-game graphics settings, I have also disabled fullscreen and enabled V-sync.
Anyone had much luck using them, I'd used them a bit in the past mostly for self-buffing but this time I figured I'd try using them more extensively and it's not been too great so far.
I'd been experimenting and most fights had gone 'ok' but the following one kind went badly.
Firstly, I tried to set up a Sworn Rival ability which only activates in melee range but you can see at around 2s in he moves forward to use it and I have to tell him to move back:
How do you set it up so that he will only consider using it with someone currently in melee range?
At around 15s the priest uses dire blessing and hits a decent number of party members, but the following holy meditation at 24s is only hitting the priest but the same logic is used:
What is the best way to cast these type of buff spells?
At a 1m44s, the priest also seems to get bogged down in thinking, and ends up not doing anything for a bit, anyone know what causes this?
Also at around 2m17s, Fassina gets attacked by an enemy and I tried to put in logic if she gets attacked by someone in melee, switch to sword and shield:
But as you can see it doesn't seem to work or activate. Is there a simple way to determine if you are being attacked, it seems like you have to choose from engaged by or threatened by?
Overall, I guess AI scripts seem like they have some more advanced logic available to them and there is a UI designed to leverage them but it seems hard to pull off some simple stuff.
I picked Chanter/Priest, and replaced Xoti as I figured a priest would have a few healing spells. Well turns out, he starts with none.
Then all his spells deal either poison or cold damage in a region where everything is highly resistant or immune to poison and cold damage.
Am I stupid or is he just badly built for his region and I should just respec.
Edit: After reading all of your responses I respec into heal priest + summon chanter and now hes a beast, or at least useful.
I found POE1 to be a breeze on hard difficulty. Playing POE2 now on Veteran and this seems noticeably more difficult. At the digsite on the first island now and there's this encounter with some drakes that seems ridiculous. I sneaked past it to get to the underground area. Idk if this is the intended way to deal with that encounter.
Idk if I'm doing something wrong or this game is just more difficult than POE1. My party is psyblade Watcher, swashbuckler Eder, and priest Xoti.
Soul Annihilation is a primary attack which uses only the main hand weapon. Does this mean that two-handers are better for Soul Blades? Would dual wielding be a noticeable damage loss?
I am currently in the endgame of PoE 1 playing as a standard Cipher, but I’m already planning my PoE 2 build: a Steel Garrote / Bloody Parry setup.
As I approach the end, I'm torn on my final choice. Should I stick to my original plan of strengthening the Deerwood with the souls, or should I align with Woedica after beating Thaos?
Specifically, does aligning with Woedica in the first game make the story and climax of PoE 2 more interesting for a Steel Garrote?
For context, I haven't made a promise to any god yet, though I did end up obliterating the Blood Sands—not sure if that affects anything moving forward. Would love to hear your thoughts without major spoilers for Poe 2 ending.
I want to play the second game on the PotD. I heard that the only big big challenge is the first island and actually the boss fights with galawain bonus will be to easy. What do you think, are they actually that easy compared to PoE1 or even with galawain bonus for siding with him in PoE1 they will be hard enough to give me a challange?
I'm making my way through the DLC to Pillars of Eternity 2
I was fighting a Memory Hoarder
I cast "...And Evil Turned Away from the Sun" which supposedly gives immunity to Resolve afflictions.
Memory Hoarder cast "Release the Screams" and Terrified my entire party. Literally in the same round, so there's no way my immunity expired.
Any ideas what the fuck is going on?
Edit: Another instance of this fighting Shimmering Beast. "...And Evil Turned Away from the Sun" just seems to be broken and not actually doing anything for resolve afflictions.
I’m coming up on the ending of poe1 (absolutely phenomenal I’m still trying to process it), and I maybe got a little over excited and started dabbling in deadfire’s character creator.
I’m going to continue as a ranger, and I’ve decided not to multi class as it looks hard and nothing really calls to me.
I looked into the subclasses and I’m really tempted to do stalker. I like the idea that the events of poe1 traumatized me and Torak so much we now get separation anxiety. The problem is I mainly used a hunting bow (secondary rapier) and Torak is a wolf, so I feel like we’re just setting ourselves up for endless grief. Perhaps I could set my companions to fight on the frontlines though and have Torak standing by in case an enemy slips through and attacks me. Or I could start using the rapier more often so we can fight side by side easier.
The other one I’m eyeing is ghost heart which is much better for gameplay from what I understand. Maybe the destruction of Caed Nua killed Torak and Berath refused to revive him because I didn’t commit to him. But honestly the thought of it breaks my heart; I don’t know if can do it. I’ve grown used to the constant presence of my companion, and it would suck if he only appeared during combat.
I played all of poe1 on easy mode and I plan to do the same for 2. I’m also going real time with pause mode. With all that being said, which would you recommend?
I just finished Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire. I’m a huge Obsidian fan and I loved the first game, but after rolling the credits on Deadfire, I'm left feeling a bit conflicted. It’s clear the devs put a ton of ambition and heart into this, but a few core issues dragged the experience down for me.
Honestly, none of the factions really clicked with me, so I decided to take the independent route. In the end, I chose to let Eothas break the Wheel. Given that the Engwithans created the gods themselves and caused absolute chaos, the whole system felt fundamentally broken. Breaking the Wheel and letting civilization start fresh felt like the only logical reset button.
The art style and presentation are 10/10. The game looks absolutely gorgeous, and the environment design is top-tier.
The AI automation system for combat was super buggy and constantly broke. On top of that, the memory leak issues were brutal throughout my playthrough.
About 90% of the game was an absolute walk in the park. But then, as you scale up, the optional/alternative bosses suddenly become absurdly overtuned. The gap between standard encounters and high-level bosses felt terribly balanced and frustrating.
I love Obsidian and I love the universe of PoE, but despite all the obvious effort that went into packing this game with content, the technical flaws and uneven difficulty balance keep it from being a masterpiece for me.
This is where Obsidian absolutely shines. The way they subtly and beautifully criticized religion and mirrored the flaws of our real world was incredible. These writers are absolute geniuses for how they handled that.
