How should I play this game?

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Steam had it for 20 bucks so I gave in. Thing is, I want to use a spear. I like spears. But I also like druids and have no idea how this game works. Could a druid be good with one? Which class would best use a spear? How do monks and barbarians stack up? Weapon choice seems like a big deal in this game judging from the threads.

 

Spears are a very decent option - you'll need to acquire some cash, but you can buy the very decent Vile Loner's Lance early on in defiance bay which gives enemies-5 to all defenses for 5 seconds on hit, and later on in the game you can opt to 'craft' a unique spear called Cladhalíath during a quest, giving different bonuses depending on what options you pick during an earlier stage : http://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Cladhalíath this way you can craft a version that works well for whatever character you are running.

Keep in mind that spears are 1-handed weapons, if you want to use a similar 2handed weapon, pikes, pollaxes or quarterstaves are what you want to go for.
That said, spears are more effective as a paladin weapon, as far as druids go the preferred weapon setup is a hatchet (for the +5 to deflection) and a shield, seeing as they are generally used as quite squishy casters. It is possible to make a decent DPS druid (though not really a tank) by going Animal Form: Cat, but you'll still want the hatchet + shield setup for whenever you are not in beast form.
Beast form doesn't use your weapons for it's attacks so whenever you are not in beast form you'll want the weapon setup with the best defense and revert back to casting.

Barbarians used to be super overpowered, but have since been rebalanced. depending on how you build them they can be either good tanks with piddly damage or incredibly squishy damage dealers.
You can take the middle ground here, making him a secondary damage dealer, gaining some defense but if you do you'll still want a tanky companion to hide behind.

Monks on the other hand, used to be a bit underpowered in the sense that fairly early on the unarmed fighting was a lot weaker then just equipping him with a weapon, but again, rebalancing has brought a monk's unarmed fighting skill back up to par. No matter which way you go, monks are generally an even toss between tanking and damage dealing, though you'll want to go with plate armor in the early game to stay alive.
A new disadvantage with the White March expansion are some crushing resistant foes, to which your unarmed damage will do nothing at all - so you're going to have to keep some blades on hand when you do run into them.
Generally no-brainer damage dealing monks go with unarmed, whereas high attack speed monks run with either the unique blade of daenisys rapier, or the blade of endless paths estoc.
The rapier can be acquired quite early on in defiance bay as long as you get a hold of some cash, the blade of endless paths is quite a hassle to get, since you'll have to clear the endles paths up to lvl 12 to get all the parts, then have it reforged.
Dual sabres is also an option, though you'll want to take along a priest and paladin for the purpose of having them buff your monk before battles.

 

Interesting to see some of the changes since I last played. I played PoE to about the halfway point (early in the Dyrwood section), experienced a bug that scared me away (not to mention crazy work and RL stuff that really limits my game time in general these days), and haven't really been back since.

I do plan to go back and finish... at some point, and try out the expansion(s), but it sounds like my in flight party may be balanced quite a bit differently than they were last time I played. Hmm.

 

Well in the end I went with a paladin after my Cipher got murked in the prologue. Stats are STR 16 DEX 13 CON 12 RES 15 INT 12 PER 10. How are those stats? I feel like I put too much in RES. Specialized in 2-H weapons.

I went on to create a Ranger and a Monk, will add on a Druid at some point. I found the Ranger to be underwhelming until I discovered guns, specifically using the companion to block off a choke point and having the entire party riddle the enemies with bullets.

I'm still getting the hang of combat, and any suggestions will be welcome.

 

For what it's worth, part of Obsidian's (read: Josh Sawyer's) design philosophy with Pillars was that there should be "no bad builds" possible in the game. So if you go in and make a whacky melee focused wizard, it should work in the context of the game, and have its own set of strengths and weaknesses. It doesn't mean that every build is equal in power, per say, but the idea is that you should pretty much be able to make the character you want to play, and it should work. This was in response to Infinity Engine games/DnD where if you made a melee focused wizard with low INT, you basically had a useless character as the game progressed, and your super low BAB bonus and hit points prevented you from being any real use in melee, and your low INT meant you could only cast the most basic spells. Josh didn't want such a scenario to be possible in PoE.

After 8 - 9 months of patching since I last played, I have no idea if that philosophy still translates well in the game, but assuming that hasn't changed, you should feel a certain sense of freedom in building your character and party.

 

As long as your not playing PoTD from the get go any build is viable when going with a party of six.

I beat the game with a party of Barbarian, 3 Rangers and 2 Druids. Bears were my animal companions. Any party is viable.

Most builds will end up being built around the unique items you will find. There are tons of them. This game is very replay able.

Marc, they definitely have upgraded the classes since release. Fighter, Ranger, Druid, Paladin and Monk are all vastly improved!

 

So basically any build is good? Well that's a relief. Might as well go full-on RP mode then.

So I gave the spear proficiency to Eder, and i'm looking for weapons for the rest of the group. How do pistols stack against the heavier guns? I want the heavy gun damage but I also want faster reloads. Do I need certain skills to make better enchantments? Haven't tried doing that yet.

I just got the stronghold with my party at level 3, and one thing i'm noticing is that the only real way to boost XP is by doing quests. I'm finding myself doing a ton of quest hunting and not a lot of exploring for that reason. It's not good or bad, but it's different. So far i'm loving this game.

 

While paladins don't really need more then 10 in RES, having more is not that bad, as it'll help by giving you some deflection and helping with enemy interrupts.
While it is true that no build is bad per se, you will want to build according to what role you want your character to play - it's perfectly viable to build a paladin with only 3 in RES for example, if you plan to have him as a healer/buffer and plan to keep him away from the enemy behind your tanks.

For a buffer, you will want to max out or at least have a decent amount of points in INT, as it dictates how long your buffs last, and for AoE effects, the size of the area they affect.
For a tank, these stats would be CON for a bigger hit pool and fortitude defenses, and RES for the deflection & will defenses bonus as well as protection from being interrupted by enemy attacks.
As far as damage dealers go, MIG(strength) is a shoe-in, increasing your damage as well as your healing so you can stay on the frontlines longer. Aside from that, it depends on your style - go DEX for slow but heavy-hitting weapons with a high accuracy, since it increases your attack speed. Alternatively, you can go PER to boost your accuracy for fast but inaccurate weapons, so you'll land more of your hits.

Now, if i were to build a full-on tank paladin, it'd be perfectly fine to reduce both DEX/PER to their minimum score, since we're not concerned about dealing damage in the slightest, so we don't need attack speed and accuracy. MIG is still important, not so much for the damage boost, but for the boost to healing. CON is important as well, the more health we have the longer we can tank, as well as RES - the higher our deflection defense the better. finally there's INT to make our (self)buffs last a long time.
The final stats depend a bit on your race/background but stats like these are perfectly possible and viable : Might 18, Constitution 18, Dexterity 3, Perception 3, Intelligence 18, Resolve 18.
Another added bonus being that with 4 stats nearly maxed out, you should be able to pass a lot of the dialogue stat checks the game throws at you.
As far as weapons go, a large shield + hatchet combo is best, so you can stack up as much deflection as possible. (all hatchets give +5 deflection, a regular large shield gives 16)

While a build like that probably won't do much of the killing, all the focus on defense means it can take blows and keep going all day long, while the rest of your companions hang back and tear the enemy apart.

 

Con is not necessary in this game. 10 is plenty for any tank build. Even on Potd as you end up min maxing other stats to be viable on that setting. It doesn't hurt to boost it, but items will boost it for you.

Pallys can dps some but are probably best used as tanks that can heal and buff others.

Fighters have been upgraded and can really dish it out. Twohanders rock in their hands.