Build Suggestions

[contributor]

This is interesting. I just read your post about Geraux. Honestly, I really didn't expect this party to do all that well. It's basically an all offense party that hardly uses debuffs (except for -AP). Even your defensive buffs are pretty limited to Vraes SS and a little bit of WS. It actually sort of proves that buffs/debuffs aren't really the only way to survive on Brutal. Focusing on one big attack spell per person seems to be key. It will be interesting to see if this goes the distance, and whether it could fly on Nightmare.

I imagine it has to be really SP intensive. Do you ever buy potions? Do you march back to camp after every fight? That would be one disadvantage for me. I'm trying to create groups that can hang in their for longer periods of time.

[algesan]

I figuered it would work and, yes, that it would be SP intensive. I remember trying so hard to make my first Vincent party work.

Yep, SP issues: startradersrpg.proboards.com/thread/6945/sp-management

[xdesperado]

contributor haven't bought any potions in ages. Bought a few early on in Oskahold when they were cheap and needed for some of the larger early fights, but none bought since before the Great Shaman battle.
I rarely use them except in mass battles that run more than about 5 turns.
Yes I do pretty much go rest after each fight mainly because Vraes didn't have enough SP to re-cast his buffs for a second go without pretty much emptying his SP pool.
He just hit level 16 and I bumped his Intelligence up to 5 so between the bonus points from that and the level raise, think I can now stretch it to two encounters if the first is a quickie.

As I've stated elsewhere Vraes is a Tank and his main function is to get as many of the bad guys focused on him as possible. He's avoiding most melee hits and his high Armor lets him soak a lot of the damage on hits that do connect. With all gear and buffs active his Armor is now 70 combine that with 554HP when fully buffed and he takes a lot of whittling before Kyera has to fix him.

Might just be me but I think Selen's Pinning Shot 5 might just be the best Talent in the game. Has a nice AoE and gives +9 Ranged Accuracy. As if that wasn't enough reason to love it you also curse the enemy with -1AP, -6 Parry and -7 Dodge which boyh reduces their ability to deal damage but also makes them much easier for the rest of the party to hit. Add in the benefits from Dance of Shadows, Burning Blades and her gear and it becomes devistating with fairly regular Criticals getting generated.

Do plan on pumping up Kjartan's Choking Ash and Kyera's Ethereal Anguish here shortly although want to get Kyera going on Banishment ASAP since its multi target AoE will boost hercombat potential greatly.

Whole idea of the build is to take down the bad guys as fast as possible while denying them the chance to make multiple attacks. So far it's working great for the most part. Just have to keep in mind the teams limitations and weaknesses.

[Outsider]

Figure I'd get in on the fun showing ya'll my latest party build to finish the current content, first attempt on Normal and found it very enjoyable. :-)

Vraes - Level 17: 548HP/222SP
Talents:
Savage Sweep 4, Burst of Speed 3 (8 turns), Phalanx Shield 5 (14 turns)
Attributes:
DEX 4, CON 10, STR 7, WIL 5, INT 7, KNO 3
Skills:
9 Blades, 3 Hammers, 3 Polearms, 6 Leadership, 5 Lore
Combat:
15 Dodge, 5 Resistance, 12 Toughness
Playstyle:
Vraes is the first one in, he "sets the edge" as it were and usually leaves 2-3 targets behind for the party to kill and everything in front will attack him. Exceptions are when there are too many enemies Selen pulls off-tank duty if we're attacked from multiple sides and it isn't possible to put Vraes in a position to take all the hits. I know there's a mastery/2h weapon build but I just love tank Vraes too much.

Selen - Level 17: 385HP/252SP
Talents:
Frenzied Blows 4, Dance of Shadows 4 (14 turns), Quicksilver Defense 4 (14 turns)
Attributes:
DEX 10, CON 7, STR 5, WIL 3, INT 7, KNO 4
Skills:
9 Blades, 2 Bows, 6 Lore, 2(5) Security, 7(17) Stealth
Combat:
22 Dodge, 2 Resistance, 7 Toughness
Playstyle:
As stated above Selen will off-tank occasionally and help set an edge. However Selen primarily is an archer assassin and cleans up the heavy hitters afterwards..those big fellas feebly trying to attack Vraes. ;-) When combat begins if I haven't already used Sly Look 1 to clear the fog that's generally my first action of business for her..you can't fight what you can't see and any combat plan worth it's salt is knowing what you face (especially when your two casters are glass).

Kjartan - Level 17: 216HP/469SP
Talents:
Firebolt 4, Choking Ash 5 (14 turns), Burning Blades 4 (14 turns)
Attributes:
DEX 4, CON 5, STR 3, WIL 7, INT 10, KNO 7
Skills:
2 Polearms, 10 Sorcery, 6 Conjuring, 2 Lore
Combat:
9 Dodge, 14 Resistance, 2 Toughness
Playstyle:
Casting Choking Ash is the first order of business typically after Selen uses Sly Look and Vraes sets the edge. I cast it anytime I can get two or more mobs lined up for Vraes and Selen to choke out (no pun intended) and then cast two Fireballs at archers first until they're all dead or a stray melee NPC making setting an edge difficult for Vraes or Selen and threatening Kjartan and/or Kyera.

Kyera - Level 17: 344HP/524SP
Talents:
Myshana's Tears 4, Ethereal Anguish 3 (9 turns), Purifying Breeze 1, Warder's Shield 5 (14 turns)
Attributes:
DEX 3, CON 7, STR 4, WIL 4, INT 12, KNO 6
Skills:
2 Hammers, 2 Polearms, 3 Invocation, 6 Conjuring, 13 Lore
Combat:
9 Dodge, 8 Resistance, 5 Toughness
Playstyle:
Kyera's role in life is simply to buff, to heal, and to debuff. I kept Ethereal Anguish at Rank 2 until the very last train because it is ungodly expensive for little benefit beyond -1 AP (and considering Choking Ash generally handles -Dodge/Parry). This allowed me to cast it on absolutely every mob (expect those who died too quickly) and greatly reduced the amount of healing necessary, especially early on. Mobs thus far in the game only have 2-3AP so you're wiping out a third, to half of their total damage output, HUGE! For this reason INT was a must for this build. I ignored melee combat altogether freeing up more stat points for effective healing, i.e. Lore.

Hope ya'll enjoyed my take on things, feel free to ask questions. Just like Desperado I love talking about my builds! ^.^

[Outsider]

One of the biggest changes I did this play through was a lot more bottle necking like I did my first play throughs except this time I made sure to use Sly Look A LOT! I regularly found myself sitting grouped up with six hexes between I and my enemies (7 for those damn lizard archers!) and letting the combat come to me even if I got the stealth drop with Selen (which I usually did). This allowed me to position my group and see what was coming right from the get go. I always have my group buffed ahead of time as well (common practice now I think lol).

One other thing that I may note from previous builds is that I didn't use Pureflame Shield with Kjartan this time instead focusing on Burning Blades to compliment Selen with additional crit (didn't hurt Kjartan's Fireballs either!!). While in most fights this was no big deal I noticed a HUGE difference when fighting the Baron. Whereas the Baron hit Vraes for negligible damage in previous play throughs he was pegging Vraes for 120-150 non-crit damage twice a round until I got Etheral Anguish up on him. Initially I grouped up away from the Baron and archers outside of max range to draw them in. This almost proved deadly for Vraes as I wasn't expecting those big hits from the Baron. Next time I play through I'm going to put on resistance focused gear specifically for that fight.

[contributor]

You should try the Baron on Nightmare. There the Orcin can hit for 150.

[Outsider]

Mar 5, 2014 12:21:35 GMT -5 contributor said:

You should try the Baron on Nightmare. There the Orcin can hit for 150.

Based on my experience with my Brutal game, many Easy games, and a couple of Normals now it seems like the damage is similar, maybe slightly amped in each difficulty because Orcin do that kind of damage on Easy too. What really seems to change is that you're hit more often and it's more difficult to land hits seems to be the big change from different difficulties.

What made that encounter with the Baron frightening is that his Fire based attack landed EVERY time, twice a round. The result was 300-350 damage per round for three rounds straight just from the Baron, plus about a dozen other mobs attacking for additional damage. Vraes was riding the bleeding edge of death those rounds.

Compare that to Orcin damage, at least the hits are interspersed and not that kind of damage EVERY attack lol..(most are avoided). I hear ya though, a few unlucky landed attacks in a row from an Orcin can mean death, even to Vraes. ;-) They're priority 1 to kill, even before archers imo.

[xdesperado]

Update Time!
End of Episode 1 and the party is all Level 17. Kjartan and Kyera just barely made 17 with the XP gained in the final fight against the Baron. Vraes is a few hundred XP ahead of them and made 17 during breakout fight from the Throne Room stairwell. Selen as the designated Boss killer hit 17 when she took Groth down. (4 seperate crits, 2 ranged, 2 melee made that quick and easy for her ) Currently she needs 447XP for 18th after turning the Baron into sushi with her knife.
While the SP burn for this group means resting after nearly every fight or using lots of potions, I'm loving it with only a couple things I'd change. They are a lean mean killing machine that blows through the bad guys. Can't wait to get Episode 2 and see what tweaks I'll need to make in my plans to keep them functioning as a strong unit.

Vraes 428 (436)HP (base without buffs) 178SP
Attributes
4 Dex
6 Con
13 Str
5 Will
5 Int
3 Know
Skills
16 Blades
3 Hammers
3 Polearms
1 Leadership
3 Lore
Talents
Crushing Blow 6
Stone Skin 5
Natural Mastery 2
Savage Sweep 1 (never use this)
Base Combat
3 (5) Dodge
5 Resistance
7 Toughness
Weapons & Gear
Captain Lukai's Blade (1H Sword) 2AP, 3Accuracy, 3Parry, 30-46Dmg
Spiked Shield (Shield) 5Parry
Leather Overcoat (Light) 34 Armor
Hardbone Wrap (Cloak) +8 Max HP, +12 Armor
Necklace of Cortias (Amulet) +2 Parry, +12 Armor
Riven Arms (Bracers) +2 Parry, +2 Dodge, +6 Armor
Comments
How do you spell tank? V R A E S! Pre battle planning session has Kjartan, Kyera and Selen discussing strategy and most effecient ways for them to do their stuff. When Vraes wants to know how he fits in the plans they all just look at him like he's stupid, then Selen says look big guy you just go where I tell ya to and stand there making lots of noise until one of us tells you to move. Ok that's maybe a bit cruel but really he's the big mobil wall that gets between the bad guys and everyone else most times. Considering he has 586HP and 82 Armor when Buffs are active he makes a very effective barrier. His parry Iis high enough that a lot of melee attacks just aren't hitting so its those pesky Archers and the occasional Critical hit that does any real damage. Have had him go whole fights and take less than 100HP damage while standing in the middle of an enemy mob and that was before his latest gear upgrade.
Thinking I might pick up 2-3 ranks in Berserk Rage at this point to increase the number of criticals he delivers. Other option is still adding Burst of Speed to make him a bit more mobile for clean-up duties or chasing down targets that are reluctant to close with him.

Kjartan 200 (242)HP, 395 (451)SP
Attributes
4 Dex
4 Con
3 Str
7 Will
8 Int
10 Know
Skills
2 Polearms
11 Sorcery
5 Conjuring
2 Lore
(2) Stealth
Talents
Immolation 5
Burning Blades 5
Choking Ash 2
Firebolt 1
Pureflame Shield 1
Base Combat
4 Dodge
14 Resistance
2 Toughness
Weapons & Gear
Ashwalker's Staff (Staff) 2AP, 2Accuracy, 4Parry, 10-18Dmg, +22 Max SP, +4 Fire Dmg, +1 Ranged Accuracy
Weaving Shadow (Mage) 26Armor, +3 Evasion, +2 Stealth, +8 Max HP, +8 Max SP
Svenick-Scale Cloak (Cloak) +8 Max HP, +10 Armor
Korvain's Chain (Amulet) +10 Max HP, +20 Max SP, +2 All Resists
Doubter's Clasp (Ring) +16 Max HP, +16 Max SP
Comments
Burn em all! His Immolation is high enough to produce consistant damage now and only rarely fizzles out or misses. Much as I'd have liked to increase his personal damage output by raising Immolation even higher, or given the entire party a bit more edge with Burning Blades, seeing Vraes Armor made me think that investing in improving Choking Ash a few more levels could be the smartest call for the moment. Will most likely work on getting Choking Ash up to around 5 then reevaluate. Of course Episode 2 could have me changing those plans very quickly.

Kyera 292HP, 344 (416)SP
Attributes
3 Dex
5 Con
4 Str
4 Will
8 Int
12 Know
Skills
2 Hammers
2 Polearms
12 Invocation
3 Conjuring
7 Lore
Talents
Holy Retribution 5
Myshana's Tears 3
Ethereal Anguish 2
Purifying Breeze 1
Smiting Blow 1
Warder's Shield 2
Base Combat
2(4) Dodge
8 Resistance
3 Toughness
Weapons & Gear
Rimwood Staff (Staff) 2AP, 2Accuracy, 6Parry, 12-22Dmg, +40 Max SP, +2 Dodge
Mantle of the Wise (Mage) 26Armor, +1 Evasion, +32 Max SP
Necklace of Cortias (Amulet) +2 Parry, +12 Armor
Left Hand of Stone (Bracers) +8 Holy Dmg, +1 Ranged Accuracy
Ring of the Hunter (Ring) +6 Dmg, +2% Critical
Comments
The wrath of the righteous is mighty indeed. Between helping Selen reduce enemy AP with Ethereal Anguish and blasting targets with Holy Retribution she's making visible difference in combat appart from just being the party healer. Much as I was tempted to save this most recent Talent point for Banishment, I decided that getting Ethereal Anguish up to an AoE level would be of greater immediate value. Been seeing more enemies with 3+AP and spending to much time slowing them down takes away from her ability to bring the pain or heal the party. Once she's got Ethereal Anguish 4 it will be time time to start building Banishment.

Selen 343HP, 271SP
Attributes
11 Dex
5 Con
5 Str
3 Will
8 Int
4 Know
Skills
11 Blades
8 Bows
2 Lore
2 Security
3(5) Stealth
Talents
Pinning Shot 5
Punnishing Blades 2
Frenzied Blows 2
Sly Look 1
Masterful Disarm 1
Precision Pick 1
Dance of Shadows 3
Base Combat
8 Dodge
2 Resistance
5 Toughness
Weapons & Gear
Sai Sword (Light Blade) 1AP, 3 Accuracy, 4 Parry, 20-24Dmg
Oxenbone Bow (Bow) 2AP, 5 Accuracy, 16-48 Dmg, 6 Range
Stealth Sheathe (Stealth) 22Armor, +5Evasion, +2Stealth
Retribution Torque (Amulet) +8 Dmg
Fist of Fury (Bracers) +8 Dmg, +2 Fire Dmg
Stalker's Promise (Ring) +4 Dmg, +3% Critical
Comments
Death's Handmaiden! Not only does she consistently deal way more damage than the rest of the party, but she also makes all of them more effective and reduces the threat level to the party. Unfortunately as much as I'd love to keep building her combat skills up, I'm betting that the Security Skill along with both Masterful Disarm and Precision Pick are going to be requiring a bit of attention soon. Episode 1 let her slide by with just the basics there which is why she's such a whirling dervish of mayhim and destruction. At some point though she's bound to run into locks or traps requiring a bit more skill than just the bare minimums. Guess its a good thing she's so effective in combat as is. Hopefully better weapons, armor and gear will keep her that way while the non-combat needs are getting met.

Please feel free to continue making comments and suggestions as the above plans are always subject to possible changes. Even if I don't follow suggestions on this playthrough there's always next time.

I'll try and give some follow-ups on this as I progress and let you all know what's working or not working as the case may be.

[Gr8Scott]

Kyera 292HP, 344 (416)SP
Attributes
3 Dex
5 Con
4 Str
4 Will
8 Int
12 Know
Skills
2 Hammers
2 Polearms
12 Invocation
3 Conjuring
7 Lore
Talents
Holy Retribution 5
Myshana's Tears 3
Ethereal Anguish 2
Purifying Breeze 1
Smiting Blow 1
Warder's Shield 2

I am considering running Kyera in a similar manner with Vince & Selen using a staff.  I was planning on adding dex and polearms in the build so each character can fight melee when necessary.  I figure the SP drain with Myshanas tears only at 3 by the end of Act combined with Warders Shield and Holy Retribution will be huge and figure a few hits with a staff (if they contact) would be a bit of a SP saver.  Since I haven't finished Act 2 (Finished Act 1 with a few different parties) just wanted to get your thoughts.  Will Staff point and Dex for Attack/defense be workable?

[xdesperado]

Gr8Scott My Kyera build above has no problems with SP and will be one of the last to need potion boost. Of course the gear helps by adding a big chunk of SP, also by the end of E1A2 she wasn't casting Tears in combat very often. Vraes was main one getting attacked and his defense/armor meant it would often take 2-3 turns before 150HP damage got through to him.
Loot drops weren't great for gear but I've got an enormous stockpile of potions, so often would just use one or two of them and let Kyera keep droping Retribution on bad guys.
Along those lines she also pretty much never had to worry about bad guys getting into melee range. On the rare occassion when an enemy closed on either her or Kjartan Selen would make it a point to take them out.

Thinking that I would have been better set up going forward if I'd skipped Warder's altogether and put those points in Anguish so she'd have that as an AoE.
Reducing number of attacks is a much better saver of HP than small bumps in defense.
Combining her EA with Selen's Pinning Shot means all those bad guys with 3AP only get one attack each. Making EA an AoE will be both more SP effecient and mean she can help reduce large numbers of opponents AP faster and get on with droping that Retribution on them.

[xdesperado]

So got a new Tablet today for my birthday.
Have started a new game, this time on Nightmare since I can't transfer the previous saved games from my phone. Bigger screen definitely makes playing the game more enjoyable not to mention easier.

Finished the prologue/escape from Redhill and at the first waystation now.
Will give a run down of the team and how it fares on NM difficulty like I did with last playthrough on Brutal.
While it will be a similar build I am going to be making a few changes to the character builds this time.

The escape was rather tight and I had to use almost all potions found just to survive. Hoping that getting to level up and having a camp site available will make further progress a little less white knuckle. LOL

[John Robinson]

xdesperado

Happy Birthday! Great gift. Which tablet? I was playing PC version this afternoon and it looks pretty hot too.

[xdesperado]

Mar 8, 2014 4:31:19 GMT -5 John Robinson said:

xdesperado

Happy Birthday! Great gift. Which tablet? I was playing PC version this afternoon and it looks pretty hot too.

Thanks!
Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 7.0 Gold Brown

hope to get a keyboard next week which will make writing stuff on it even better.

While using the virtual keyboard on this is much better than on my cell phones tiny screen it still eats up way to much real estate. Now if I could just figure out how to get the tablet and my PS3 to communicate things would be great. The tablet sees the PS3 but I can't seem to be able to connect. Need pass code for PS3 network and can't remember what it is...if I ever knew and can't figure out how to reset it on my PS3 without messing it all up. Luckily have no problem connecting to my cell phones Hot Spot so do have internet access covered no problem.

[xdesperado]

Nightmare: Level 6
Ok just reached Oskahold with party.
Slow progress due to returning to camp after every fight. However aside from all the extra walking things are going very well. Fight outside gates of Oskahold was by far the toughest mainly due to a single ROUS that refused to die and was getting 50-60 dmg with every attack. Selen and Kyera are struggling the most with SP management issues but they should be okay in another level or two. Thinking I'm going to enjoy the slight changes I'm making to the characters compared to my last playthrough on Brutal.

Vraes 252HP (base without buffs) 134SP
Attributes
4 Dex
6 Con
8 Str
5 Will
5 Int
3 Know
Skills
7 Blades
3 Hammers
3 Polearms
1 Leadership
3 Lore
Talents
Crushing Blow 3
Stone Skin 3
Savage Sweep 1 (never use this)
Base Combat
3 Dodge
5 Resistance
7 Toughness
Weapons & Gear
Short Sword (1H Sword) 2 AP, 2 Accuracy, 3 Parry, 14-30 Dmg
Reinforced Shield (Shield) 3 Parry
Kallassian Overcoat (Light)16 Armor
Banded Bracers (Bracers) +2 Armor
Comments
Will raise Crushing Blow to 4 then plan to start giving him some Burst of Speed for a little extra mobility and Dodge boost. Already started raising Lore so BoS doesnt run out so quick in combat. At some point I also want to raise his Stone Skin to 5 but need to give Kyera some offensive punch before doing that.

Kjartan 112HP, 222SP
Attributes
4 Dex
4 Con
3 Str
7 Will
6 Int
7 Know
Skills
2 Polearms
6 Sorcery
3 Conjuring
2 Lore
Talents
Burning Blades 3
Immolation 1
Choking Ash 1
Firebolt 1
Pureflame Shield 1
Base Combat
4 Dodge
14 Resistance
2 Toughness
Weapons & Gear
Walking Staff (Staff) 2 AP, 1 Accuracy, 2 Parry, 4-10 Dmg
Initiate's Robes (Mage) 6 Armor
Overcloak (Cloak)
Comments
Next several Talents will all go to Immolation before returning to Burning Blades. Until he starts to get Immolation up a few ranks he'll be lagging a bit in direct damage output. Luckily his Choking Ash 1 is an effective way to soften up the Ratkin for the rest of the party so he doesn't need much offense of his own yet.

Kyera 171HP, 256 (264)SP
Attributes
3 Dex
5 Con
4 Str
4 Will
8 Int
7 Know
Skills
2 Hammers
2 Polearms
5 Invocation
3 Conjuring
5 Lore
Talents
Myshana's Tears 2
Ethereal Anguish 4
Smiting Blow 1
Base Combat
2 Dodge
8 Resistance
3 Toughness
Weapons & Gear
Club (1H Hammer) 2 AP, 3 Accuracy, 1 Parry, 6-23 Dmg
Reinforced Shield (Shield) 3 Parry
Quilted Brigadine (Light) 13 Armor
Overcloak (Cloak)
Leather Bracers (Bracers)
Sage's Band (Ring) +8 Max SP
Comments
Next few raises will be Holy Retribution to give her some offensive punch. With her Ethereal Anguish at 4 having an AoE and Selen having Pinning Shot 4, it should be rare for the bad guys to have more than 1AP available after first turn or two. Is a bit expensive SP wise at moment but a couple levels and some gear should fix that issue.

Selen 189 (197)HP, 175 SP
Attributes
7 Dex
5 Con
5 Str
3 Will
7 Int
4 Know
Skills
5 Blades
5 Bows
2 Lore
2 Security
3(6) Stealth
Talents
Pinning Shot 4
Frenzied Blows 1
Sly Look 1
Masterful Disarm 1
Precision Pick 1
Base Combat
5 Dodge
2 Resistance
5 Toughness
Weapons & Gear
Broad Dagger (Light Blade) 1 AP, 2 Accuracy, 1 Parry, 12-22 Dmg
Ironwood Bow (Bow) 2 AP, 3 Accuracy, 13-23 Dmg, 6Range
Quilted Sheathe (Stealth) 8 Armor, +1 Evasion, +1 Stealth
Dusk Cloak (Cloak) +1Ranged Accuracy, +2Stealth
Bracers of the Ox (Bracers) +8 Max HP
Traveler's Boots (boots)
Comments
Planning to raise Pinning Shot to 5 (When it becomes a 4square AoE)
Then will alternate Punishing Blades and Frenzied Blows until Dance of Shadows opens up. Started building up her Intelligence early so she's not nearly as bad off for SP as previously. Will probably alternate between Intelligence and Dexterity the next few raises just so she's not always running short of SP in longer fights. Will start going two raises for Blades to every one raise in Bows since Pinning Shot gives such a nice accuracy bonus and she only rarely uses Loose.

Have been having better loot drops so far this playthrough than my last one despite the higher difficulty level. Also not pushing forward as quickly early on means I'm doing better on potions at this point. Will have to see if I can keep the potion buying down and build up the potion stockpile for major encounters like I did last time.

Please feel free to continue making comments and suggestions as the above plans are always subject to possible changes. Even if I don't follow suggestions on this playthrough there's always next time.

I'll try and give some follow-ups on this as I progress and let you all know what's working or not working as the case may be.

[xdesperado]

Nightmare: Level 9
Just finished clearing the North Vualt and both Farmhalls. No major issues but progress is very slow as I'm resting after every fight no matter how minor so I can build up my potion stockpile. This policy of only using potions as needed in the longer fights means I've got both more potions at this point and more money than in previous playthroughs, since I've not been spending the entire bankrole buying more potions. The characters are all starting to develop into solid contributers to the team and should start getting more efficient with future levels.

Vraes 300HP (base without buffs) 146SP
Attributes
4 Dex
6 Con
9 Str
5 Will
5 Int
3 Know
Skills
9 Blades
3 Hammers
3 Polearms
1 Leadership
3 Lore
Talents
Crushing Blow 4
Stone Skin 4
Savage Sweep 1 (never use this)
Base Combat
3 Dodge
5 Resistance
7 Toughness
Weapons & Gear
Short Sword (1H Sword) 2 AP, 2 Accuracy, 3 Parry, 14-30 Dmg
Reinforced Shield (Shield) 3 Parry
Kallassian Overcoat (Light)18 Armor
Banded Bracers (Bracers) +2 Armor
Firebrand Ring (Ring) +16 Fire Resistance
Comments
Decided to raise Stone Skin to 5 before starting Burst of Speed. Gives him a bit more damage soak and lets me raise Blades up to 10 before adding some Lore. Want BoS to last at least 8 turns when I start using it so it won't need recasting during combat as often.

Kjartan 136 (144)HP, 281 (301)SP
Attributes
4 Dex
4 Con
3 Str
7 Will
7 Int
7 Know
Skills
2 Polearms
8 Sorcery
3 Conjuring
2 Lore
Talents
Burning Blades 3
Immolation 3
Choking Ash 1
Firebolt 1
Pureflame Shield 1
Base Combat
4 Dodge
14 Resistance
2 Toughness
Weapons & Gear
Traveler's Rod (Staff) 2 AP, 1 Accuracy, 3 Parry, 6-14 Dmg, +10 Max SP, 1 Ranged Accuracy
Reinforced Robe (Mage) 8 Armor
Druidic cloak (Cloak) +10 Max SP
Bracers of the Ox (Bracers) +8 Max HP
Comments
Latest raise in Immolation should see him start becoming more of a direct damage threat as the minimum damage for it increases. Will give Immolation one more raise to get the 9 square AoE then start a rotation of Burning Blades, Choking Ash and Immolation. Will be going between Intelligence and Knowledge on attributes.

Kyera 204HP, 306 (374)SP
Attributes
3 Dex
5 Con
4 Str
4 Will
9 Int
7 Know
Skills
2 Hammers
2 Polearms
6 Invocation
3 Conjuring
6 Lore
Talents
Holy Retribution 1
Myshana's Tears 3
Ethereal Anguish 4
Smiting Blow 1
Base Combat
2(4) Dodge
8 Resistance
3 Toughness
Weapons & Gear
Rimwood Staff (Staff) 2AP, 2 Accuracy, 6 Parry, 12-22 Dmg, +40 Max SP, +2 Dodge
Kallassian Overcoat (Light) 16 Armor
Sorcer's Ward (Cloak) +20 Max SP
Leather Bracers (Bracers)
Sage's Band (Ring) +8 Max SP
Comments
Next few raises will be Holy Retribution as I continue building her personal offense. Still debating if I want to give her any Warder's Shield and/or Piety Ward. May just bank a couple Talent points later on to get a jump on making Banishment an effective attack quicker.

Selen 231 (241)HP, 215 (235)SP
Attributes
7 Dex
5 Con
5 Str
3 Will
8 Int
4 Know
Skills
7 Blades
5 Bows
2 Lore
2 Security
3(8) Stealth
Talents
Pinning Shot 5
Punishing Blades 1
Frenzied Blows 1
Sly Look 1
Masterful Disarm 1
Precision Pick 1
Base Combat
5 Dodge
2 Resistance
5 Toughness
Weapons & Gear
Broad Dagger (Light Blade) 1 AP, 2 Accuracy, 1 Parry, 12-22 Dmg
Ashwood Bow (Bow) 2 AP, 5 Accuracy, 14-33 Dmg, 6 Range
Thief's Garb (Stealth) 8 Armor, +2 Evasion, +3 Stealth
Dusk Cloak (Cloak) +1 Ranged Accuracy, +2 Stealth
Korvain's Chain (Amulet) +10 Max HP, +20 Max SP, +2 All Resistance
Traveler's Boots (boots)
Comments
Planning to alternate Punishing Blades and Frenzied Blows until Dance of Shadows opens up. Started building up her Intelligence early so she's not nearly as bad off for SP as previously. Will probably alternate between Intelligence and Dexterity the next few raises just so she's not always running short of SP in longer fights. Will start going two raises for Blades to every one raise in Bows since Pinning Shot gives such a nice accuracy bonus and she only rarely uses Loose.

Have been having better loot drops so far this playthrough than my last one despite the higher difficulty level. Also not pushing forward as quickly early on means I'm doing better on potions at this point. Will have to see if I can keep the potion buying down and build up the potion stockpile for major encounters like I did last time.

Please feel free to continue making comments and suggestions as the above plans are always subject to possible changes. Even if I don't follow suggestions on this playthrough there's always next time.

I'll try and give some follow-ups on this as I progress and let you all know what's working or not working as the case may be.