What starting gear work with low might?

[Titan]

Having played a decent amount of dnd & pathfinder, I'm wondering if there are bad choices for armor and weapon for specific statlines?
For Instance is Leather armor and Poleaxe or sword chainmail and buckler the more fitting gear for a Chanter with low might?
It looks like every statpoint here have an effect so not like in the 2 former games where an uneven number rarely grant bonuses.

Statpoint I went with:

Might 8
Constirution 15
Dextarity 12-13(not sure)
Intelligence 18
Perception 10
Resolve 15

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Weapon and armor don't depend on attributes at all.

Not sure why you worry about choice of weapon and amor so early already? Afterall, eventually you will need to decide in weapon fighting style and weapon class, unless you want to ignore the related abilities/talents.

Are your attributes for a Chanter? If so, why cripple him with reduced MIG? I mean, they are good summoners, and INT 18 affects the ranged of duration of abilities, but the base values for chanters are huge and long already. Support Chanters are inefficient. Chanters can do damage via phrases and invocations. It seems you want to play a defensive frontliner somehow. Or else I cannot explain the chosen CON 15. Chanters need quite some work to become reliable frontliners. Are you sure you don't want to use a Fighter/Paladin/Monk instead for the same role? RES 15 maybe is for resolving conflicts during conversation, but Chanter class come with high base Deflection already, and they can gain +5 Superior Deflection instead of spending five attribute points on RES.

Maybe tell a bit about the role of your character.

[mr.raider2]

You can build a viable plate mail and shield tank chanter.

Drop your dex to 10, int to 16 and put those points in might. Don't worry about intelligence. You get an item fairly early which increases the area of your chants.

One thing about chanters is that their phrases and invocations are completely independent from their active combat abilities. In short you can walk and chew gum at the same time.

You can set up your chanter to be sword and shield tank, a two handed monster or fast striking dual wielder.

Base your stats on what you want to do. The singing comes naturally.

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Chanter is a class with "very low" base Endurance and "low base Health just like caster classes and Rogue. Depending on difficulty mode, it takes quite some effort to increase their survivability if you want to turn them into a frontliner. And if doing that, you lose a lot of their other potential. High CON, class-neutral Veteran's Recovery, Superior Deflection, defensive talents, reduced DEX can be helpful.

Kana's attributes are: 16,12,9,14,17,10

For passive damage and offensive invocations, increased MIG/PER is super fun. And if you plan to use the cone-shaped invocations, being able to hit well is key. DEX can be lowered, especially if not using ordinary weapons much.

[Titan]

Hmm... Well to be honest I was thinking more along what race I wanted to try out at first, decided on one that granted -1 might, +1 resolve +2 perceptiom.

So given the penalty to might I thought lets make a character that's the least reliant on might as I can.
Almost all classes had either gold or silver stars in Might, the Chanter didn't which made me decide on it. It suggested high Int, high con followed up by resolve. (so based it on that)
Looking at the powers I found summoning skeletons to sound interesting as that way i might not need to frontline as much, but can buff my alies and summons or debuff my opponents.
THis was what I initially went with.

I went with the poleaxe and leather armor thinking the armor would be less encumbering if that was a factor in the game, while a few hard hits when needed could be fine once opponents do get close.

Basing my build around buffs and debuffs that might not necessary be targeting spells made me think perception was less important, and as I'd prefer my summons to go in melee the might got less important. Con and dex were in general due to thinking they would help the character survive unfortuante encounters.

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

So, it's an Orlan.

Yet you've not put the PER +2 bonus to good use, because you've reduced PER to 10. That discards the PER bonus. What's left? The racial abilities for Wild Orlan and Hearth Orlan. Defiant Resolve gives a +10 bonus to all defenses for some seconds after facing a Will attack. Minor Threat converts some Hits to Crits if attacking the same enemy as a companion. For the latter, preferably you would want a heavy hitter character with high or very high Accuracy.

MIG -1 just means that the small Orlans are somewhat less strong on average. It doesn't mean that you must reduce MIG further or not raise it for somebody, who wants to do increased damage.

RES +1 isn't anything special just like MIG -1. Humans also get RES +1.

The game's attribute recommendations are somewhat questionable. They don't imply anything like a best choice. Chanters are fragile due to base Endurance/Health, so new players might benefit from raised CON. Chanters are casters, and many if not all of their abilities are affected by INT. RES is recommended for the Concentration and Will/Deflection bonus.

Debuffs based on phrases as well as offensive invocations depend on Accuracy, since they target enemies' defenses. Base PER 10 isn't bad, but discarding the Orlan bonus is a waste, and as a defensive summoner and supporter, you could reduce PER and DEX. A more versatile Chanter would be more fun.

[Gilmoy]

Chanters (and all spellcasters) have lousy starting Deflection, too. So they take bigger hits and more crits, and have lower Endurance. That's a lot to overcome. Melee Ranger and Rogue have similar problems, but not quite so bad.

For OP's OP, I basically consider all starting equipment, on any character, to be a wash. They're all equally good, and you'll be equally bad with any choice. Later, you can specialize with better gear.

Do you want to be in row 1 and fight in melee vs. enemy melee? Or row 2 with ranged, and switch to your melee weapon when you can double-team in a doorway? That choice is probably more meaningful.

Low Might is a pitfall in a combat system with Damage Reduction. Most of your grazes and hits will get drowned out by enemy DR, resulting in MIN damage on most light attacks. That means a slower, heavier weapon can be most efficient, because it could do ~3x the actual damage after DR (say, 24 - 6 vs. 12 - 6), but your attack rate is much higher than 1/3 the speed. That suggests arbalest/arquebus as your ranged, and a 2H melee weapon. But then you're a Chanter with low Deflection and no shield.

Anyways, PoE on intro difficulties (up to Hard) isn't so tough. Try one play-through until you get to Gilded Vale and slog through the first couple levels of the temple, and see how it's working. If your rate of getting knocked out is too high, then switch gear.

You do get Edér for free in Gilded Vale, and you can spare 250 cp to hire 1 new guy and make him the other melee guy. So your Chanter is forced to fight in row 1 for only 1 single area, namely Valewood, and you can walk through it with 0 combats if you want. After that, there's no pressing need to ever fight in the front row yourself.

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Originally posted by Gilmoy:

Chanters (and all spellcasters) have lousy starting Deflection, too.

No. Chanter class offers the second best base Deflection next to Monk class. Only Fighters offer very high base Deflection, which is +5 compared with Chanter/Monk.
--> https://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Defense

Originally posted by Gilmoy:

So they take bigger hits and more crits, and have lower Endurance. That's a lot to overcome. Melee Ranger and Rogue have similar problems, but not quite so bad.

Ranger is -5 compared with Chanter/Monk. Rogue is even worse due to low base Deflection which is -10 compared with Chanter. Rogue can't even survive well in heavy armor, and it doesn't get much better with high CON and Veteran's Recovery. At most, the game's classes give a bit of freedom for the easier difficulty modes, but the class roles are pretty much fixed. A Chanter can become a frontliner more easier than a Rogue due to class traits.

[Baldurs_Gate_2]

High Deflection Chanter is the only way to go. His bread and butter is dragon thrashed and your weapon acc goes towards this. So if you wield only a single hand weapon, you gain +12 ACC to it. Mercy and Kindness if obviously very good in a party. +100% more with every heal is pretty good.

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Originally posted by Baldurs_Gate_2:

His bread and butter is dragon thrashed and your weapon acc goes towards this. So if you wield only a single hand weapon, you gain +12 ACC to it.

Which isn't right and is likely an ancient bug, since PoE distinguishes between weapon Accuracy, spell Accuracy and shield penalties to Accuracy. Chanter's phrases and invocations count as sort of spell abilities. That bug or dubious behavior is specific to 1H wielding and only some phrases and invocations, btw. Shield penalties still apply. The weapon's own accuracy bonus is disregarded.

[mr.raider2]

Originally posted by Titan:

Hmm... Well to be honest I was thinking more along what race I wanted to try out at first, decided on one that granted -1 might, +1 resolve +2 perceptiom.

So given the penalty to might I thought lets make a character that's the least reliant on might as I can.
Almost all classes had either gold or silver stars in Might, the Chanter didn't which made me decide on it. It suggested high Int, high con followed up by resolve. (so based it on that)
Looking at the powers I found summoning skeletons to sound interesting as that way i might not need to frontline as much, but can buff my alies and summons or debuff my opponents.
THis was what I initially went with.

I went with the poleaxe and leather armor thinking the armor would be less encumbering if that was a factor in the game, while a few hard hits when needed could be fine once opponents do get close.

Basing my build around buffs and debuffs that might not necessary be targeting spells made me think perception was less important, and as I'd prefer my summons to go in melee the might got less important. Con and dex were in general due to thinking they would help the character survive unfortuante encounters.

The racial stat bonuses are irrelevant. All characters get 78 stat points regardless of race and origin. It only comes in to play if you want to push a stat beyond 18 or dump one below 3. I don't recommend that for a first time player.

[Ceana of the Crags]

Originally posted by Titan:

Hmm... Well to be honest I was thinking more along what race I wanted to try out at first, decided on one that granted -1 might, +1 resolve +2 perceptiom.

So given the penalty to might I thought lets make a character that's the least reliant on might as I can.
Almost all classes had either gold or silver stars in Might, the Chanter didn't which made me decide on it. It suggested high Int, high con followed up by resolve. (so based it on that)
Looking at the powers I found summoning skeletons to sound interesting as that way i might not need to frontline as much, but can buff my alies and summons or debuff my opponents.
THis was what I initially went with.

I went with the poleaxe and leather armor thinking the armor would be less encumbering if that was a factor in the game, while a few hard hits when needed could be fine once opponents do get close.

Basing my build around buffs and debuffs that might not necessary be targeting spells made me think perception was less important, and as I'd prefer my summons to go in melee the might got less important. Con and dex were in general due to thinking they would help the character survive unfortuante encounters.

Mages and Thieves do not need strength, or "might" as they've renamed it. Even a cleric doesn't have to have high strength. Out of these, a mage (or wizard) needs intelligence. Chanter wasn't your only choice. Druids fall generally along the lines of a cleric. They need wisdom more than intelligence.

It sounds like you wanted to melee with a character that should not be engaging in melee combat. Reconsider your armor and weapons, as well as your class. You can use ranged weapons instead of just longer weapons. If you're a chanter, I would think that a rod or some such would be more suitable than a polearm.

[mr.raider2]

Originally posted by DestinyFate:

Originally posted by Titan:

Hmm... Well to be honest I was thinking more along what race I wanted to try out at first, decided on one that granted -1 might, +1 resolve +2 perceptiom.

So given the penalty to might I thought lets make a character that's the least reliant on might as I can.
Almost all classes had either gold or silver stars in Might, the Chanter didn't which made me decide on it. It suggested high Int, high con followed up by resolve. (so based it on that)
Looking at the powers I found summoning skeletons to sound interesting as that way i might not need to frontline as much, but can buff my alies and summons or debuff my opponents.
THis was what I initially went with.

I went with the poleaxe and leather armor thinking the armor would be less encumbering if that was a factor in the game, while a few hard hits when needed could be fine once opponents do get close.

Basing my build around buffs and debuffs that might not necessary be targeting spells made me think perception was less important, and as I'd prefer my summons to go in melee the might got less important. Con and dex were in general due to thinking they would help the character survive unfortuante encounters.

Mages and Thieves do not need strength, or "might" as they've renamed it. Even a cleric doesn't have to have high strength. Out of these, a mage (or wizard) needs intelligence. Chanter wasn't your only choice. Druids fall generally along the lines of a cleric. They need wisdom more than intelligence.

It sounds like you wanted to melee with a character that should not be engaging in melee combat. Reconsider your armor and weapons, as well as your class. You can use ranged weapons instead of just longer weapons. If you're a chanter, I would think that a rod or some such would be more suitable than a polearm.

What?

Wizards and priests absolutely need might. Might impacts spell damage and amount healed. How much might vs intelligence you want depends on whether you focus on damage vs status effects.

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Originally posted by DestinyFate:

Mages and Thieves do not need strength, or "might" as they've renamed it.

That cannot be generalized.

Wizards that want to high spiritual might in order to do increased damage, certainly need increased MIG. Pure crowd controllers don't need high MIG, but read on. Rogues are all about hitting reliably and heavily, so anything like increased MIG for increased damage, hit to crit conversation, increased INT for increased duration of afflictions, increased PER for increased Accuracy.

PoE gives enough options to play a MIG 10 or low MIG wizard/rogue, but MIG is also an overloaded attribute. And high MIG opens the door to intimidation and related disposition ranks.

Originally posted by DestinyFate:

Even a cleric doesn't have to have high strength.

That is true. A non-healer support Priest or battle Priest doesn't need tons of MIG, because Priests know spells to buff themselves and companions. Rather, they would boost DEX/PER/INT.

Originally posted by DestinyFate:

It sounds like you wanted to melee with a character that should not be engaging in melee combat.

Offensive Chanters can lead to tons of fun. Cone-shaped invocations are a good choice for frontliners. A chant area that covers most opponents and also companions.

[Baldurs_Gate_2]

Originally posted by DestinyFate:

Originally posted by Titan:

Hmm... Well to be honest I was thinking more along what race I wanted to try out at first, decided on one that granted -1 might, +1 resolve +2 perceptiom.

So given the penalty to might I thought lets make a character that's the least reliant on might as I can.
Almost all classes had either gold or silver stars in Might, the Chanter didn't which made me decide on it. It suggested high Int, high con followed up by resolve. (so based it on that)
Looking at the powers I found summoning skeletons to sound interesting as that way i might not need to frontline as much, but can buff my alies and summons or debuff my opponents.
THis was what I initially went with.

I went with the poleaxe and leather armor thinking the armor would be less encumbering if that was a factor in the game, while a few hard hits when needed could be fine once opponents do get close.

Basing my build around buffs and debuffs that might not necessary be targeting spells made me think perception was less important, and as I'd prefer my summons to go in melee the might got less important. Con and dex were in general due to thinking they would help the character survive unfortuante encounters.

Mages and Thieves do not need strength, or "might" as they've renamed it. Even a cleric doesn't have to have high strength. Out of these, a mage (or wizard) needs intelligence. Chanter wasn't your only choice. Druids fall generally along the lines of a cleric. They need wisdom more than intelligence.

It sounds like you wanted to melee with a character that should not be engaging in melee combat. Reconsider your armor and weapons, as well as your class. You can use ranged weapons instead of just longer weapons. If you're a chanter, I would think that a rod or some such would be more suitable than a polearm.

That's not the D&D system. Might provides more healing as well, you can't use d&d rules 1:1 in PoE.

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Btw, "thieves" don't exist in PoE as a class. Thievery is a class-neutral skill in PoE.