How to Begin Your Quest in Pillars of Eternity: Complete Edition

We promised you wouldn’t have to wait an eternity, and now your patience will be rewarded. Pillars of Eternity, the award-winning RPG that brings classic style and design to modern gaming platforms, is available tomorrow on PS4. Every element of Obsidian’s masterpiece has been adapted to a controller-friendly interface — and we do mean every element, because Pillars of Eternity is a game with a lot to take in.

From the epic story to the countless character creation options, there is enough to explore in Pillars of Eternity to keep you enthralled for… we don’t want to overuse the word “eternity,” but it’s a very long time. Still, a game of this scale and scope might seem daunting at first glance, so in the interest of helping new players explore the game for the first time, we wanted to give you some pointers for building your first character.

Don’t worry; we’ll keep this spoiler-free.

For starters, if you’re an RPG veteran, Pillars of Eternity was designed to recapture the spirit of games built on the Infinity Engine — titles like Baldur’s Gate and Planescape: Torment. If you’re familiar with those, then you’ll have a head start on the game mechanics here. But if not, don’t worry, we’ll get you caught up.

The game uses a real-time-with-pause combat system, which means there’s plenty of time to strategize; you can stop the fight at any time to reposition your party members and issue new commands. Clever coordination of attacks and abilities will be needed to survive the many hostile creatures of Eora, and playing to the strengths of your characters can make the difference between a clean victory and limping away with your health at dangerous levels.

As to what those strengths are, that’s up to you; the character creation system is one of the most impressive parts of Pillars of Eternity, offering plenty to choose from. Classes, races, and even personal history choices will affect how characters react to you, opening up different conversation options and quest choices throughout the game. You can choose from six races, each with two to three sub-race options, 11 classes, seven cultural origins, 17 backgrounds, and more options along the way. If you pick a Ranger, for example, you’ll even need to select one of six potential animal companions.

No matter what you select, however, you’ll need to carefully assign your six Attributes: Might, Constitution, Dexterity, Perception, Intellect, and Resolve. Pillars of Eternity is designed so that players won’t get into trouble for assigning their stats “wrong” — every build is viable if you find its strengths, and your stats will work for you in new and interesting ways. The Barbarian, for example, can obviously benefit from a high Might stat which will boost her attack damage… but did you know that a high Intellect stat will boost the radius of her area-of-effect attacks?

There are too many individual cases to list, but the core things to keep in mind are:

• Might boosts damage, but also the effects of healing.
• Constitution is vital for having both short-term endurance and long-term health.
• Dexterity makes your action speed increase in combat, and is helpful for sleight-of-hand in character interactions.
• Perception not only makes your attacks accurate, but helps you interrupt foes.
• Intellect can boost the area and duration of spells and mundane attacks.
• Resolve is one of the most frequent tests of your ability in non-combat situations.

Of course, there’s no better way to explore your options in Pillars of Eternity than to sample them for yourself. We hope you enjoy this incredible experience with us, and that your journey is unforgettable — whether it’s your first, or one of many. See you tomorrow!

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