A new 2 GB update for the Pillars of Eternity backer beta has been released, bringing it to version 301. As the changelog explains, what this means in practice is that players of the beta will get a host of improvements, sweeping balance changes (including a largely redesigned attribute system), bug fixes, and some new talents and portraits:
Important Information Regarding Saves
Saved game location has changed. You can now find your saved games located in C:Users<user name>DocumentsSaved GamesPillars of Eternity. Keep in mind that old saved games will not be automatically moved to the new location and it is suggested that users start new games instead of trying to load old ones. Loading old games on the new build may cause undesirable behavior
New Features
Rebalance to Attributes:
- Might: Damage and Healing
- Every point of Might over 10 increases a character’s base Damage and Healing by 2% (penalties if under 10).
- Constitution: Stamina and Health
- Every point of Constitution over 10 increases the character’s base Endurance and Health by 2% (penalties if under 10).
- Dexterity: Action Speed
- Every point of Dexterity over 10 increases Action Speed by 2% (penalties if under 10).
- Perception: Accuracy and Range
- Every point of Perception over 10 increases Accuracy by 1 and Range (for non-melee) by 5% (penalties if under 10).
- Intellect: AoE Size and Deflection
- Every point of Intellect over 10 increases the character’s AoE sizes by 5% and Deflection by 1 (penalties if under 10).
- Resolve: Concentration and Duration
- Every point of Resolve over 10 increases a character’s Concentration by 3% and Durations by 5% (penalties if under 10).
Stealth has been revised:
The new stealth system relies on the distance of a scouting character from an NPC to determine how quickly the creature will enter Alert and Combat states. A comparison of characters’ individual Stealth skill ratings and creatures’ levels modifies this rate. N.b.: A character that does not have LoS on the creature is not considered to be “inside” their radius.
When characters enter the scouting state, they gain a Stealth Meter. Currently, it’s simply a solid circle completely filled with color (green or, if in colorblind mode, blue). This is a basic implementation and the art will change. Every NPC in the world has one of five stealth detection ratings (from Oblivious to Supernatural) that correspond to radii in the game.
When a scouting character gets into a creature’s stealth detection range, their Stealth Meter will start filling from green/blue to yellow. This informs the player of how much time they have before the creature will enter Alert and Combat states. If the meter fills completely yellow, the creature will move up to a constant-defined max distance toward the character (e.g. 3m). At the same time, the yellow meter will begin to fill red. If the meter reaches full red, the scouting state is dropped, the character is detected, and hostile creatures enter Combat.
We will have a base rate at which these fills occur, but they can be modified by two elements: 1) the relationship between the character’s Stealth and the target’s level 2) the character’s proximity to the target within the radius. The two modifiers both directly multiply the standard rate.
While this system is fully implemented, it has not been tuned and does not have final art.
Stamina is now called Endurance:
The stat previously known as Stamina is now called Endurance since that seems clearer to more people. Additionally, we are no longer doing the behind-the-scenes conversion of a percentage of received Stamina damage into Health damage as the system was opaque to players. Now, Max Endurance is multiplied by a factor determined by class to arrive at Max Health. This does mean that Health values are much higher than a traditional “D&D range”, but in practice these values were already used in the background. In this update, when a character receives damage, it’s applied equally to Endurance and Health.
Here are the current Endurance to Health multipliers for each class. “Front line” classes tend to have more Health as they are expected to be damaged and healed in combat with much greater frequency.
Barbarian – 6
Chanter – 4
Cipher – 4
Druid – 4
Fighter – 5
Monk – 6
Paladin – 5
Ranger – 4
Rogue – 4
Priest – 3
Wizard – 3
- UI arrows have been added to show active engagement. We are still evaluating their appearance and functionality internally, so please give us feedback on their usefulness.
- Hit effects for elemental damage, blood, and gibs have been added. Fire, shock, corrode, and frost damage will display visual effects on hit. Some creatures will gib when critically hit on death.
- Dead bodies now turn into loot containers and can be looted directly.
- New Talents.
- This is the first batch of new talents more will be added in the coming weeks. All icons for the new talents are temporary.
- New icons.
- New sounds.
- New portraits.
- Many, many rules fixes and bug fixes for class abilities.
Fixes
- Spells: many spells have been tuned to have faster casting times, shorter ranges, do/heal more or less damage, apply different effects, attack different defenses, or do different damage types. Of note: Fireball, Jolting Touch, Minoletta’s Bounding Missiles, Winter Wind, Talons’ Reach, Returning Storm, all Restore ____ Stamina spells, Vile Thorns, Lay on Hands, and many others.
- Renormalized all attributes scores to 10 in character creation.
- Enemy AI will now scan for new targets when path is blocked.
- Caster AI can now investigate stealth.
- Improvements to AI instruction sets. Most enemy AI can now target specific party members, including back line characters and casters.
- Engagement is now cancelled on knockdown.
- Fixes to stat calculations in character sheet.
- Many fixes and adjustments to the combat log, including improved performance.
- Added many improvements to “feels” of action bar.
- Ranger animal companion, summoned creatures, and newly hired adventurers will not stomp on existing party members.
- Sound effects and music should not cut out during combat or during long play sessions.
- Improved footstep sounds.
- Improvements of character models and textures.
- Added highlight effect on mouseover for 3D objects, including doors and plants.
- Added ‘G’ for opening Chant Editor and Grimoire.
- Added exit button for character creation, level up, and adventurer’s hall.
- Improvements to loot tables.
- Added notification for when stash can be used.
- Adjusted fog of war and view distances.
- Max wounds is now 10.
- Intellect deflection bonus is applied to Ranger animal companion.
- Changed many spells/abilities to be combat only.
- Many more fixes too numerous to mention.
Known Issues
- Placed traps do not work as intended.
- Perception does not currently increase the range of attacks and spells.
- Three of the new talents are not working correctly: Resilient Companion, Faithful Companion, and Painful Interdiction
