Pillars Of Eternity Options

[SubRosa]

I did some digging, and found a list of helpful console commands.

I experimented, and the Rest command does force a rest, even if you do not have camping supplies. Like the old games it takes you to a short vid of a campfire while you rest. Then you pop back to the game with full health and spells. So this is one way you can make a mage viable, so long as you do this between every battle. Though that would probably get tedious.

As with the Additem command I used before you first have to open the console, and type in IRoll20s to enter cheat mode first, and then do the same after to disable cheat mode.

I was thinking if you simply modded the spells to be per combat rather than per rest, that would eliminate the craptacularness to playing a mage. But modding Pillars does not look as easy as Bethesda games.

I found some mods that alter gameplay, and tried reverse-engineering to see what the modders did. But so far no luck. Obsidian has not released a game editor like the creation kit. I think people are just using hex editors to open game files. Though I could be wrong. I used Notepadd++, and while I saw a lot of stuff, I was not sure what I was really looking for.

Pillars is using the Unity Engine, so I think I will try looking for ways to edit that in general as a starting point. This thread from last year talks about a Unity Editor which might be just the thing, but it seems to need some custom extensions to handle Pillars of Eternity.

[SubRosa]

Ok, here are some basic console commands that work. Remember, start by entering iroll20s into the console to enable cheats:

AttributeScore Player {attribute} {Final Value} = This changes the player's noted attribute to the value you put in. It is always Player for the PC, no matter what name you gave yourself. With Companions it is the Companion name. But it is not the name you see in the game, but the game's internal name for them. They start with Companion_***. It looks like they each have a file in the Pillars of Eternity\PillarsOfEternityData\Assetbundles\Prefabs\ObjectBundle folder. So Aloth is probably companion_aloth, Grieving Mother is companion_gm, etc... You could also use the FindCharacter code (see below) to get the name as well.

AddAbility Player {Ability Name} = Again, get the ability names from the same ObjectBundle folder above.

AddTalent {Talent Name} = same as before, except it seems to automatically work on the player without having to specify a character.

Skill Player {Skill Name} {Value} = Gives you the given skill at the value you enter.

Additem {item name} {amount of items} = Uses internal item names, automatically gives them to the PC. Again get the internal names from the ObjectBundle folder above. Most are simple: Great_Sword, Great_Sword_Fine, Sword, Sword_Fine, etc...

SetZoomRange {minimum zoom} {maximum zoom} = I find SetZoomRange 0.2 1.2 works good.

ManageParty = opens the party management screen

GivePlayerMoney {Amount} = does what it says

AddExperience {Amount} = again, does what it says

AddExperienceToLevel {Level} = Gives the entire party enough xp to reach the Level specified. If a character already has more than that, they are unaffected. This is good for bringing hired Adventurers up to the same level as the PC.

Rest = Forces a rest period, even if you do not have camping supplies.

HealParty = Automatically heals all party members.

UnlockAll = Unlocks all the containers on the map.

FindCharacter {Name} = Displays all the internal names matching the name you give. This is handy with other commands like AttributeScore.

Kill {Internal Character Name} = Kills the character you list, get the internal name from the command above.

AdvanceTimeByHours {hours} = Moves the clock up by the number of hours you specify.



There are some new commands only available in the latest version of IE Mod:

Ctrl + Y = Inflict 50 000 damage to whoever is under the cursor (Party included, be careful with that one)

Ctrl + S = Restore Spells and ability uses

UnlockSoulBond = Fully binds all equipped soul items for the selected character.


ChangeClass {name} {Class} = Respecs the named character to level 0 in the class given.

Warning: do not attempt to transition/quit/save game while your character is level 0. You need to level him up first. Do not attempt to open your grimoire, etc. Just immediately proceed to leveling up.

If you're respeccing into a Paladin or a Cleric, you'll need to manually assign yourself a Paladin Order or a Deity. Use the following console commands:

AssignClericalGod {simple name} {god}
Charname should be that actually displayed in the game, and not the internal name used in other commands. Possible values for godame: None, Berath Eothas, Magran, Skaen, Wael.

AssignPaladinOrder {simple name} {order name}
Possible values for order name: None, BleakWalkers, DarcozziPaladini, GoldpactKnights, KindWayfarers, ShieldbearersOfStElcga, FrermasMesCancSuolias.


This post has been edited by SubRosa: Aug 4 2017, 11:19 PM

[Acadian]

I can see that if I ever pick up PoE, I'll be coming back to this thread, your notes and that link you provided.

[SubRosa]

If you ever pick it up? Does that mean you are actually considering it?

I rolled a new toon tonight. Oya is a human barbarian ocean-folk. I am trying out something I noticed in last nights tests. I invested most of her attribute points in Dexterity for the higher attack speed, and Perception for the hit bonus. Then in Constitution to stay alive. Then I went dual-wield with her, using with weapons that have a Fast attack speed.

Weapon speed is either Fast, Average, or Slow. The slower ones obviously take more time between your strikes.

I also noticed that weapon damage is the same for all weapons of the same speed. So daggers do the same as rapiers, clubs, flails, hatchets, and stilettos. I think the real difference between them is that there are also three different types of damage. Piercing, Crushing, Slashing. Some critters have better defenses against one type, but are weaker against another.

Each weapon also has a bonus. Oya's hatchet gives her a +5 Deflection bonus. Stilletos bypass 3 points of Damage Reduction (armor).

So anyway, my thought with Oya was instead of concentrating on a high Might attribute for damage, to try going for a very fast, flurry of attacks style. So far it is working really well. I cannot believe how much faster she is attacking than my previous characters. She is taking down bad guys a lot faster too. So less damage per hit, but more hits in less time, is really working.

My only concern here is that Damage Reduction reduces your damage per hit. So far Oya has only been going against baddies with a moderate DR. When she runs into tougher creatures with a high DR, it might be that not much of her damage gets through. I could perhaps invest in a couple of stilletos for those occasion, for the armor piercing effect they have.

She is also my first time trying a Barbarian in this game. Like other games the Barbarian has a Frenzy ability that makes them tougher in combat. It gives a bonus to Might, Constitution, and attack speed, but reduces their Deflection. It is usable once every combat, so is a real workhorse. Unlike other games, there is no penalty to her stats after it wears off. So it is pretty awesome.

As a Barbarian she also gets an ability called Carnage, that gives her automatic attacks with lower damage against every baddie around her. So very handy when being mobbed. And lets face it, in these games you are always being mobbed by three or four times your own number.

Oh, and something I have been forgetting to mention. If you press the Tab key, it highlights all the objects on the screen that you can interact with. Just like in the old games (notice how often I am saying that?).

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Aug 30 2015, 03:11 AM

[SubRosa]

I bring glad tidings from the world of Pillars. I played some more with Persephone today, and leveled up twice. So now I can share some things about leveling.

I have already mentioned Abilities and Talents. Every time you level up you get to pick one. On odd numbered levels you get an Ability, so level 1 (when you start the game), level 3, 5, 7, etc... They appear to all be class-specific, and there are not that many to choose from. It looks like you get two or three new ones added to the available list every time you hit an odd level.

On even numbered levels (2, 4, 6, 8, etc...) you pick a Talent instead. There are a lot of Talents. A handful appear to be class specific. But the vast majority are ones that anyone can take.

So these are like the Perks of D&D 3.0 and other games since. There are lot more of them than you can ever take, so here is where you really customize your character.

So far I have not had the chance to increase any Attributes. So it looks like in D&D 2.0, where you were stuck with whatever you started with for the entire game. But I am only 3rd level, so I could be wrong.

Today Persephone also came across a dog that she was able to adopt. It was just added to her inventory like any ordinary item. To make it appear in the game she had to equip it (there is a specific equip slot for pets). So now she has a Black Hound following her. From what I read there are other pets you can get, and they do not fight, or get attacked. They are just there for looking at.

I have also discovered what appears to be a bug with the latest game version (2.00-something). There is a little 0 on my character's portrait in the hud. It doesn't seem to do anything, or signify anything. It shows up on every character I create from the very first moment of the game. It does not appear on any of the NPCs in my party. I asked around the official forums, and it looks like at least one other person has it too. Apparently it is a bug. Though granted, not a serious one. It is just strange.

[haute ecole rider]

Thanks to your reviews, I downloaded Pillars for the Mac (on sale in the Mac App Store, too, for 33% off). So I haven't yet fired it up, since I'm deep in Skyrim with my newest toon. But someday . . .

[SubRosa]

Yay, another forumite has been Pillared! Since everyone had it on sale with the same amount off I am guessing it was Obsidian that decided to put it on sale, and not any one individual store.

I discovered something new today. Traps are detected and disarmed solely using the Mechanics skill. So it is a good idea to have at least one character invest heavily in that.

Some other thoughts on skills are:

Everyone should have 3 points in Athletics. Apparently combat adds fatigue to your characters. Atheletics at this level reduces that fatigue by 90%. So this way your party won't need to rest as often (at least because they are tired)

Survival increases the amount of time that potion and food buffs last.

Lore is needed to use scrolls. I just tested it, and anyone with a high enough Lore can use scrolls, not just magicians. Lore also unlocks more info on the monsters you fight. It also adds extra dialogue options in some cases.

Stealth is what you think it is.

With this in mind I am going back and using those cheat codes to redistribute my party's skills...

Oh, and Pillars is very Alt+Tab friendly. I just Alt+Tabbed from it to go back to my Desktop right now and post this.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Aug 31 2015, 12:56 AM

[SubRosa]

I went and bought The White March expansion pass. Right now only Part 1 of the White March is available. You buy it standalone for about $15. I decided to buy both parts from the link above since I have played the game enough to know I am going to want Part 2 when it comes out, and this way it saves me about $5 overall.

It also came with a preorder bonus. It turned out to be a ring that adds Endurance twice per rest period, and a giant miniature space piglet pet. That is Miss Piggy off at the far right of the pic.

The expansion also adds a couple of Companions. One is a Rogue, who I am already looking forward to finding. I was surprised that there were no Rogues in the original game. Except for the Adventurers you hire at inns. The other is a Monk, who I am not sure I want to bother with.

[Acadian]

Boo has been replaced by a piglet!

[haute ecole rider]

Because my new Skyrim toon is in the midst of the Civil War quest line (she's a Stormie, but getting tired of hearing the rhetoric), we took a break from schlepping all over with the Biggest Nord that Ever Walked Out of Skyrim. Yup, she's got a companion, a custom voiced mod named Valfar. I'm thinking of renaming him to Valdimar, because he reminds me so much of that bigger than real life Nord. Voice to match, too.

But we digress . . .

So I stepped over to my MacBook Pro and fired up PE. Currently SeJin is a Ranger (it seems that these are my preferred play style) with a Bear companion. Just leveled up to 2 and made Ursula a Faithful Companion. Working our way to the first town. Thinking of customizing the portrait, I'd have to do a little digging around first. Not sure if I can do so on the Mac.

This post has been edited by haute ecole rider: Aug 31 2015, 03:45 AM

[SubRosa]

Acaidan: I was thinking of Boo as well! Hamsters and rangers everywhere! Rejoice!

haute ecole rider: Valfar looks creepy. Like an Aryan Brotherhood enforcer. I prefer a nice, friendly zombie instead

I have not tried a Ranger yet. But from what I read they seem to be a viable class, unlike Dragon Age, where they nerfed archery. I hear that with version 2.0 of the game, they fixed some issues with the animal companions not leveling up, so now they are a lot more potent.

[haute ecole rider]

When SeJin leveled up, I didn't notice if Ursula leveled up too. I'll have to go take a peek.

The Mac App Store versions tend to lag behind the PC versions, but I'm on the lookout for the White March.

I haven't played this kind of RPG in over ten years. It's bringing back tons of memories for me. Namely one called Pillars of Garendall, a Mac-only RPG that let you play as a Fighter, Scout or Wizard. I always liked the scout/ranger class best, as I prefer to take on my enemies from a distance but can go toe to toe if necessary. The Wiz always died if a puny little mud crab moved to the tile next to him, while the Rocks-for-Brains always had to get up close, even when he was outclassed, before he could deal some damage.

So that's what I tried to do with POE. What I do like about this is that I can customize my character, so that's really much nicer than POG. The graphics are good, too, though I'm so used to Oblivion/Skyrim.

What I hate about this game is pretty much what I hate about these types of games - namely the top-down view (I guess you call it isometric?) which doesn't feel all that immersive for me. But that's okay, the story line is already pretty intriguing.

[SubRosa]

I like the isometric view. It works better for strategy style games, where managing multiple characters and positioning is important. One reason I never use companions in Bethesda games is they always run in front of you when you are shooting, or they shoot you in the back. That kind of thing doesn't happen in isometric games, because you can control the actions of not only yourself, but your companions.

Since you forced me to, I created a Ranger to try out, and took a lion companion. Turns out the Lion has a roar power that frightens enemies and gives them penalties to things like their accuracy. The trouble is I am never sure if he has done it yet or not, and if I miss it he just stands around doing nothing until I realize I need to make him attack again. So I think I will create a new character with a different companion.

But I did think the ranged combat worked out well. Wounding Shot worked very well at hobbling most enemies and slowing them down. I noticed that the Rogue class gets a sneak attack on all enemies that are hobbled. So it looks like a Ranger and Rogue would be a deadly combo.

I am now wondering how a ranged Rogue would do? I think the devs intended the Rogue to be mainly a melee fighter, but it seems most of their abilities and talents work at range as well. Except I know their Backstab talent only works up close.

I just tried it out with a Hearth Orlan, and a Ranged Rogue is very powerful. All Rogues automatically get Sneak Attack, which does an extra 50% damage to enemies who are blinded, hobbled, flanked, prone, etc... It also works on all attacks in the first two seconds of combat. So a Ranged Rogue's first shot is always going to be a sneak attack.

The Rogue picks from Hobbling Strike or Blinding Strike at character creation. If either one hits it insures a Sneak Attack on all your hits afterward. Hobbling Strike seems ideal for a ranged character, as it slows your enemy down. If you have a Fighter with you (and you should!), their Knockdown will also provide you with more Sneak Attack opportunities.

The downside is that unlike the Ranger, you don't get that Animal Companion to run interference for you, and you definitely don't want to be alone with this character. The upside is Sneak Attack makes you a beast with a bow. I was dishing out far more damage with the Ranged Rogue than the Ranger. The downside is that I also drew more fire, and when I got hit it really hurt. This is definitely a great idea for a glass cannon type character.


This post has been edited by SubRosa: Aug 31 2015, 08:44 PM

[Acadian]

Drawn in by all this talk of ranged combat, animal companions and glass cannons. . . .

[SubRosa]

I think you should give buying Pillars some serious thought. I think you would really like it, given how much you enjoyed Baldur's Gate II. It is definitely an archer-friendly game (unlike Dragon Age), and a glass cannon type character can work really well here so long as they have a Mazoga to run interference for them.

For me the biggest difference between Pillars and the old BG and NWN games is the Attributes, and what they affect. In the old games if you wanted a Fighter, you put your points in Strength and Constitution. If you wanted an Archer you put them in Dexterity. If you wanted a Mage you put them in Intelligence, etc...

But Pillars changes how all that stuff works. For example, Might is important to almost all characters because that is your damage bonus for everything, melee, ranged, and magic. Constitution is what keeps you alive. Nuff said there. Dexterity is important because it is what reduces the time you spend doing nothing between attacks. Perception is important because that is your To Hit bonus. Resolve is important because it adds a small bonus to your Deflection, and it is your defense against enemies Interrupting your attacks, and finally it is your Will save vs mind attacks. Intellect is the only true dump stat for some characters, in that it affects the range of area of effects and durations. For Fighters not a real big deal. But for a mage it makes a big difference.

I am finally getting the knack of distributing points around, and which ones are important for various classes. Like a lot of games, you really don't get enough points to spread around, considering how just about everything matters. So I started using the console to add another 8 Attribute points after character creation. That seems to work well, without making a ridiculously overpowered character.


I tried a little more of the Ranged Rogue with a Wood Elf this time. What I have observed is that Sneak Attacks are what makes this character work. That first shot in combat that is a guaranteed Sneak Attack always does a lot of damage. So do the shots following Hobbling Strike and your team Fighter's Knockdowns. But once those Sneak Attack opportunities are gone, your damage output really drops. So the longer the fight goes, the harder it becomes to hurt the bad guys.

The Ranger OTOH, is a lot more balanced. She doesn't do that walloping damage to start with as a Ranged Rogue. But when you add her animal companion in, she's no slouch either. Unlike the Rogue, she's just as good after all the Knockdowns and Hobbles have been used up. Plus her Companion runs interference for her, meaning she needs less armor, which in turns means faster attacks.

Now that I have played through the beginning "Tutorial" section of the game I have learned a few things as well. The Culture you choose determines your starting weapons and armor. But don't pick a Culture just to get a sword or a spear. There is a merchant right by you when you start, and you can sell the weapons you start with for anything else you might want. Don't bother buying armor unless you want something heavy to start with. If you explore the map you can find a dead body in the south east with a suit of Leather, which is a good medium armor. Then once you start fighting bad guys, lots of suits of Hide and Leather will become available.

The following is very spoilery, so don't read if you want to find it all out for yourself: (spoiler quotes don't seem to work!)

When you have the big showdown with the bad guys who have taken Heodan hostage, you will probably have a lot of dialogue choices. Most of them don't really change anything. Don't lower your weapons, because you will still have to fight, but with your bare fists instead! Most of the other options seem to turn out the same, with Heodan being crippled and knocked down and a fight starting. The Lore option worked the one time I tried it, allowing Heodan to get away clean and start the fight without any wounds and debuffs. I did try sneaking in and avoiding the dialogue entirely by shooting the bad guy leader with a bow. That just resulted in Heodan automatically dying, so don't do that! (Though it is possible I targeted him by mistake!)

Once you run inside the ruin to hide from the storm, you will get some camping supplies and a dialogue choice to rest or not. If you rest, Calisca will run out on you while you are sleeping. So you will have to do the dungeon without her. If you don't rest, Heodan spends the whole time with some serious penalties from his debuffs that only rest can heal. If you try to be clever and say we'll continue on without resting in the dialogue - then rest anway a little while later - Calisca still deserts you. However, if you use the console to force a rest, the game doesn't seem to realize what you did, and Calisca stays, and Heodan gets healed. Finally, if you manage to get Heodan through the battle outside without any crippling injuries the dialogue choice between pushing on immediately or resting never appears. You can then rest and Calisca will remain with your party!

But no matter what you do, both Calisca and Heodan die once you exit the ruin. So don't get attached to them.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Sep 1 2015, 07:36 PM

[Acadian]

That's great news. As you can imagine, I gave Dragon Age Origins an epic fail after trying very hard for about six weeks to like it. The sneaky rogue glass cannon or ranger behind a big critter both sound great for bowgirls. Do the rangers have any degree of druid type magicks?

[SubRosa]

The White March dlc adds in some new Talents you can take starting at Level 2 that mimic some of the Class Specific Abilities. There is one called Aspirant's Mark that you can use 2 times per Rest. It mimics the Druid spell Nature's Mark. It is an area effect spell that reduces all enemy Deflection, Reflex, and Will defenses by -8.

That seems to be about it. There is no true multi-classing (yet at least). And Rangers don't get spells like in D&D. Most of their class abilities are geared toward either archery or their animal companions. But I do see an ability in there called Binding Roots that is similar to the old Entangle spell.

I just rolled another toon to experiment with. This was a Wood Elf Ranger named Skadi with a Wolf companion (Fenrir). She worked out really well, so I think I will be keeping her. I maxed out her Dexterity at 20, and she is pretty good with a bow. I noticed that the Wolf dished out a lot of damage. I have seen people say that it is one of the highest DPS animal companions, and I can definitely see that. It doesn't have any special abilities you have to manually activate, so it is pretty simple to manage. Just point and it bites.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Sep 1 2015, 12:30 AM

[Acadian]

Oh that sounds fabulous - a wood elven bow ranger with a forest critter and a tangling vines spell. That really is exactly the 'druidy' stuff I was hoping for and both those abilities are ideal for an archer.

[SubRosa]

There are some things I have figured out about Defenses, and how combat works.

There are four types of Defense in the game. Deflection, Fortitude, Reflex, and Will.

Deflection is your defense against physical attacks, be they melee or ranged, and I think a lot of physical spells.

Fortitude is used against things like poisons, and resisting knockdowns.

Reflex is your defense against area of effect attacks.

Will is your defense against mind-effecting things.

When you attack you roll a 1d100 and add in your Accuracy bonus. The defender's appropriate Defense score is subtracted from that. If the end result is a 5 or less it is a clean miss. If it is a 6 - 50 it is only a Graze, and you do half damage. If it is 51 or higher it is a Hit, and does normal damage. If it is a 95 or higher you get a Critical Hit, and do an extra +50% damage.

So what I see here is that Accuracy bonus you get from Perception not only helps you hit in the first place, but can be the difference between getting a Graze or a Hit, or a Hit and a Crit. The same is true of any Debuffing spells or powers that reduce your enemy's Deflection, like Aspirant's Mark.

Of course once you do hit, you roll damage based on your weapon, with your Might stat adding to it. Then the defender's Damage Threshold subtracts its amount from that, and you inflict what is leftover in damage. Usually Damage Threshold is a straight number, but armor, talents, and items can give bonuses or penalties to certain types of damage, like Burn, Freezing, Crushing, Piercing, and so on. Weapons and spells usually do one of those specific forms of damage. For example an Estoc does piercing damage. Some critters might have a higher than normal resistance to Piercing, and others a lowered resistance to it.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Sep 1 2015, 12:35 AM

[haute ecole rider]

I like the isometric view. It works better for strategy style games, where managing multiple characters and positioning is important. One reason I never use companions in Bethesda games is they always run in front of you when you are shooting, or they shoot you in the back. That kind of thing doesn't happen in isometric games, because you can control the actions of not only yourself, but your companions.

I agree with all of these points - it really helps to plan out the attack before hand and to be able to tell your companions which enemy to go for. I was able to send Calisca and Ursula (my bear) to attack a bandit chief while I took out the bandit archer. It worked well - the two of them took out the more powerful enemy pretty quickly, and I was able to redirect them against the archer, by which time he was pretty hurt.

Since you forced me to, I created a Ranger to try out, and took a lion companion.

I forced you to create a Ranger?

But I did think the ranged combat worked out well. Wounding Shot worked very well at hobbling most enemies and slowing them down. I noticed that the Rogue class gets a sneak attack on all enemies that are hobbled. So it looks like a Ranger and Rogue would be a deadly combo.

Now that give me an idea . . . I had initially considered going with a Rogue character (that or a Druid), but settled on the Ranger as that had more Might.

Thank you for all the info. This is really my first D&D based RPG - and I had never played D&D, so I'm totally unfamiliar with all the terminology and rules. But I don't care beyond having fun following the story. However I do want my character to live long enough to get through the storyline! So your information breaks it down into more manageable chunks for someone like me.