Here's the group I'm currently running with on Hard. I'm in Brellin Pass with three deaths so far, but two of them were from being careless.
Beauty and the BeastVraes (hint: he's the beast)
8 Str, 7 Dex, 10 Con, 5 Will, 4 Int, 3 Kno
9 Blades, 3 Hammer, 3 Pole, 9 Leader, 3 Lore
SvgSw 4, PhalShi 8, NatMas 1
With all equipment and fully buffed:
12 Toughness, 5 Dodge, 5 Resistance, 96 Armor, +15 Parry Bonus
Vraes is a total beast. I've focused on armor rating for his equipment, so every piece of equipment he has gives him some kind of armor bonus. I've had him surrounded by eight melee Krete and getting shot at by three or four krete archers and finish the round with zero damage done to him. His parry, armor, and Phalanx Shield auto-block are just nuts. He has 616 HP, so when he does take damage, he can still take a beating. He doesn't deal a ton of damage, but I've invested enough in Savage Sweep that he can usually kill weaker or weakened enemies. Once he maxes out PS, I'll probably keep leveling NM and either BoS (for the dodge bonus) or Stone Skin (for even more armor!).
Selen (hint: she's the beauty)
5 Str, 13 Dex, 5 Con, 3 Will, 7 Int, 4 Kno
10 Blades, 2 Bow, 8 Lore, 2 Secur, 6 Stealth
FreBlo 6, DoS 4, QsD 3
With all equipment and fully buffed:
5 Toughness, 9 Dodge, 2 Resistance, 7% crit, +6 dodge bonus, +5 parry bonus, +24 dmg bonus, 8 fire dmg
Selen is my main damage dealer. I'm running her with a 1AP blade and focusing on crit abilities and +damage equipment. She's using the Scything Blade (19-36 dmg) but with all of her +dmg equipment, she usually hits for about 50 per swing and crits for 150-200. 50 dmg per swing times 7 swings per round is massive. She single-handedly killed Groth in a single round (she crit 4 times in a row!). Heavily armored enemies pose a bit of a problem for her, since I didn't invest in PB, but she can still usually do pretty well and choking ash helps when she really needs it. This is a crazy fun build, though the damage swings can get annoying, since she's so dependent on the dice roll. Because I'm using so much +dmg equipment, her stealth isn't great, so she's started losing stealth rolls pretty regularly in Ep. 2. She'll take a while maxing out DoS and FB, so that's probably where most of her points will go from now on.
Kjartan3 Str, 4 Dex, 4 Con, 7 Will, 13 Int, 6 Kno
2 Pole, 11 Sorc, 6 Conj, 2 Lore
FB 8, Firestorm 2, CA 4, PS 2
KJ is my number two damage dealer and, for now, is all about the FB. I've got him working on Firestorm now that he can get it for the AOE. I usually only break out the CA and PS for boss fights, so mostly he just shoots FB after FB. He's got 647 SP, so he can go for a while before needing any pots. Future talent points will go into Firestorm to make it a viable damage source for the party. I haven't decided if I'm going to max out FB or just leave it where it is for now.
Kyera4 Str, 3 Dex, 6 Con, 4 Will, 13 Int, 7 Kno
3 Hammer, 2 Pole, 4 Invo, 6 Conj, 12 Lore
MT 3, EA 4, Sac 3, PB 2, Banishment 1, WS 1
I never really know how to best use Kyera, so, as you can see, she's my most schizophrenic character in terms of talent distribution. I started out thinking she would be mostly MT and Sacrifice, but as my other builds developed, I realized that Vraes takes so little damage that she typically just stood there for the duration of the battle doing nothing. Because of that, I started investing in EA and, eventually, Banishment. I'm loving Sacrifice, though I won't bring it up any higher in order to keep the 1AP cost. One Sacrifice will fill Vraes up to about 80% and Selen about 25%, so that's what she does most often, especially during those long stretches between camps/towns. I'm hoping to get Banishment up to the point where Kyera can actually start doing some damage from afar during fights. Her Sacrifice, MT, EA, and PB are probably fine where they are now, so there isn't too much else for me to invest it.
Overall, I'm having a blast with this party. When Selen gets on a crit streak (like against Groth), it's just amazing to see how much damage she does. Seven attacks per round and a 16% crit chance (when using FB) means that she usually crits at least once per round. I just can't give that up, so I don't ever foresee switching her to a 2AP blade. Watching Vraes stare down hordes of enemies and not take a single point of damage is literally jaw-dropping, so that's crazy fun, too. I'm looking forward to getting more AOE damage out of KJ for even more stopping power.
Comments/suggestions/criticisms welcome!
