Hi guys and gals!
So, as we wrote earlier, Kevaver will be joined by his friends, a concept custom party designed for Path of the Damned (which will hopefully fare well, as this is a mostly blind Playthrough).
And to create the “basic” group, we chose two of his friends to join him early. Adonan, a tough Aumaua Fighter and Quoril Yogsword, a Pale Elf Priest of Magran.
So first, Adonan:
Race: Aumaua – Many enemies in the frontline have stun or knockdown abilities. The Coastal Aumaua ability (resistant to these abilities) is excellent against that! This enables him to better control the combat himself (and to take fewer hits of course).
Might 13
We want some Might, but he’s not a damage dealer, so we won’t spend too much on it. 13 is a pretty OK value getting a nice Fort save as well.
Constitution 18 (+1 = 19, from Rauatai)
He’s a tank. He has to have many hitpoints. And Fortitude save is the most important save for tanks too, they can take the Reflex save based Area Damage no Problem. But failing your Fortitude save will bring you in trouble as many melee opponents have abilities just against that save.
Dexterity 12
Dexterity isn’t crucial for a good tank, but it’s just so good generally. We just have to take it to bring down cooldowns and recovery times a bit.
Perception 13
On Hard we would dump this stat, as we wouldn’t have a problem hitting enemies anyways. On Path of the Damned, if your Perception is too low, you will have problems with anything combat related (if you’re not only buffing / healing). So, a compromise.
Intellect 3
The only ability we can afford to dump. It’s not crucial for a tank even though it wouldn’t hurt either. But many effects and abilities of the tank are instant and have to do with doing engage / disengages. Intellect won’t help there much. We are bleeding on the defensive Auras though, but sometimes, we have to make sacrifices for a gain elsewhere.
Resolve 18
We are playing a tank. He should have good deflection. This helps. It’s rather useless for a non-tank though.
Second, Quoril Yogsword
Race: Pale Elf. He is more resistant to elemental damage now which can be a problem even in the back row (think Fireballs or spells in general). This will help him, as he has that super low Constitution…
Might 18
We want our spells and abilites to be as strong as possible. We want to do damage too, if using weapons. This is giving us the power. What we sacrifice is..
Constitution 3
Our priest is mainly a buff / debuff character with ranged attacks. So we don’t ever want him to be under attack. He’d be dead then with Con 10 as well, so no point in going for more than the minimum. We’ll have to be careful with him though, as there are many archers and other ranged opponents in Pillars of Eternity.
Dexterity 19
Now how great is quick spellcasting, quick attacks and quick recovery time? Speed has, in most RPGs, been a crucial ability for spellcasters and, of course, healers. Pillars is no exception.
Perception 9 (10 with The White that Wends)
Not that good but not too bad either. We want to be able to hit things when debuffed. Or we want to debuff them. Buffs are more important still, but we won’t cripple our Perception totally. That would be neither helpful nor needed.
Intelligence 18
Just nice to have. A good area for the area spells and longer lasting buffs. Maxing that is mandatory.
Resolve 10
We won’t dump that as for a healer, some help with concentration can be crucial. But we won’t boost it too. As it’s really a tank stat.
Alright, I’m out – see you on YouTube in the Playthrough!
Have fun gaming,
Immanuel-Can