Vessels

[Mytzenka]

Can somebody please explain what a vessel is? For the Holy Radiance priest ability it says that damage will be done to vessels. So I take it ONLY vessels, but nowhere is explained what a vessel is.

Thanks for the help.

[Tza]

All the "zombie" type I guess.

[kesat]

Vessels are Animats, Human Undead (Skelettons, Guls), Wichts, Constructs.

The term "vessel" in PoE describes the characteristic of a being carrying a soul because of animancy, e.g. binding souls to objects, extending life and so on.

[Mytzenka]

OK so I assume shadows and phantoms would also be vessels then?
Thanks very much for the swift reply.

[arekasama]

Check your bestiary (don't remember the exact name). Any monster defeated appears there, telling stuff including type.

[VERN]

Wait, wait. Would phantoms be considered vessels? I don't think they're technically bound to anything. They are just free roaming souls. Or are they "bound" to whatever area they are haunting?

[kesat]

Originally posted by Mytzenka:

OK so I assume shadows and phantoms would also be vessels then?
Thanks very much for the swift reply.

Nope shadows and phantoms are spirits. They don't carry souls, they are souls - e.g. shadows are souls which are fractured and didn't reenter the cycle of rebirth after death.

Originally posted by VERN:

Wait, wait. Would phantoms be considered vessels? I don't think they're technically bound to anything. They are just free roaming souls. Or are they "bound" to whatever area they are haunting?

Just as you said: Those a free roaming souls. A vessel is a very real, physical object - a "transportation vehicle" if you like.

[Mytzenka]

Originally posted by kesat:

Originally posted by Mytzenka:

OK so I assume shadows and phantoms would also be vessels then?
Thanks very much for the swift reply.

Nope shadows and phantoms are spirits. They don't carry souls, they are souls - e.g. shadows are souls which are fractured and didn't reenter the cycle of rebirth after death.

Uh yes that makes sense. I understand now. Thank you.

[talemore]

Still unclear if humans are vessels as all vessels are humanoid. Bestiary says "Human" skeleton. but no humans are vessels...wish is a proof humans have no soul ¿? Since there's no bestiary on human as vessel. The bestiary is at best fluff. I suppose humans are above everything else and resistant to weapons, so there's no way of building toward defeating humans even if they're the most we kill.

It should been called pillars of human corpses because we most of the time kill humans.

[Gilmoy]

Humans are kith. Pay extra (roughly double) to enchant with Slaying (Kith).

Every monster and character race in the game falls into 1 of the 6 categories.
Hover over any monster, and it tells you the monster's category.
The monster's Bestiary entry also tells you this.

~~~~

Beast = animals (including giant insects and spiders), wurm/drake/dragon
Slaying (Beast) is good on at least 1 bow, to shoot down Drakes.

Wilder = non-kith humanoids with tool-usage, languages, and cunning:
ogre, troll, skuldr, xaurip, lagufaeth, vithrack, etc.

Primordial = formless things, and pre-civilization druids:
ooze/pudding/slime, mushrooms, Pŵgra, Delemgan, Adragan, Animat

Spirit = disembodied souls, usually after their bodies already died long ago
blights, wisps, shadow/shade/wraith/phantom/spectre, Cean Gŵla

Vessel = corporeal body with a soul bound into it by animancy or necromancy
skeleton, skeletal, Battery, Death Guard, Magus, Fampyr, Lich = their own original soul
wicht = soul of an animal, like a cow or goat
revenant, gul/dargul/algul, construct, animated weapons = some other soul

Some darguls fall into the "own original soul" category, but they'll tell you about it.

Kith = all player character races: human, aumaua, dwarf, elf, orlan, godlike
Many of the main quest fights vs. Leaden Key, and many bounty fights, are vs. kith.
If you can't decide how to enchant your weapon, Slaying (Kith) is always a good choice.
It costs about 2x as much because it's so generally useful, all game long.

~~~~

Durance's Holy Radiance, St. Ydwen's Redeemer, and any Slaying (Vessel),
apply their special effects only vs. Vessels. They have no bonus vs. spirits or kith.

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

For a description of undead kith (including fampyrs), see
--> https://pillarsofeternity.fandom.com/wiki/Skeletons

and for the family of vessels:
--> https://pillarsofeternity.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Pillars_of_Eternity_vessels

For the creation of vessels through animancy, the container doesn't need to be a human corpse. It can also be a machine, a statue, a piece of armor or a weapon.

[talemore]

Thank you. I couldn't get my head around what I suppose to put the skill points into.
I want to build a paladin hunting bow user but there are many abilities who are bad as example reduces attack rate which make the damage drop. If I can get 3 shots away it doesn't justify -5 damage reduction to reduce the attack rate from 1.5 to 1 as 10+10 =20 but 15-5+15-5+15-5= 30 where one has 10 damage with +5 penetration but -20% attack

I'll see if I can find this Kith.

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Hmmm... a word of advice: PoE is more fun, if you don't turn it into a math exam.

I wouldn't give a paladin a hunting bow, since they are one of the few tank & frontliner classes and more attractive as melee combatants that cover comrades with their aura. At most let them fire a single shot with an arquebus (or different slow heavy damage ranged weapon), possibly with added Flames of Devotion, before switching weapons and engaging in melee combat.

Sure, keeping an eye on bonuses and beneficial items is part of the CRPG style gameplay design, but as soon as you start juggling with formulae, it will get messy and quite complex:
--> https://naijaro.github.io/poe-speed-calculator/

That is from: --> https://pillarsofeternity.fandom.com/wiki/Attack_Speed

[talemore]

I found the recommendations of using characters holding up the defenses to be what breaks the camels back.

There are reason why flame of devotion on a hunting bow is justified.

Shieldbearer provide deflection after using flame of devotion. The hunting bow gets to create interrupt.

Interrupt provide higher defenses than just taking the hit. It stacks with party members.

Range improve defense as paladin obtain faster mobility. Eliminates all melee weapons on the paladin.

Aura either work on the paladin or on nearby, the rear don't need defenses since it doesn't take any hits.

My experience is that classes means very little. A wizard can be a tank. Fighters is like trying to be both a warrior with a reach weapon and or knight with a shield, they don't heal endurance fast enough that it mostly cover long range and they're still a long mile better than paladin in tank.

Fighter gets 30! in deflection. This is huge! compared with paladin 20!

Rangers gain bow abilities but at what cost? A lot of skill points added to the companion. Gains increased speed with bows that it can instead use war bows.

The paladin will still deal higher damage for each shot with the hunting bow, able to increase their mobility and deflection on everyone else EXCEPT themselves.

So it's not a tank by the premise that it is too supportive than being the supported.

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Originally posted by talemore:

Aura either work on the paladin or on nearby, the rear don't need defenses since it doesn't take any hits.

There are three different auras, and as a frontline paladin you are well-advised to activate the Zealous Focus aura that grants +5 Accuracy.

Originally posted by talemore:

My experience is that classes means very little. A wizard can be a tank.

Uhm, no. Wizard class traits govern a wizard's role. Thus "very low" Endurance, "very low" Deflection and "low" Health mandate that it takes tremendous effort for a wizard to overcome those limits, especially if playing on harder difficulties. Yes, there are spells to increase Deflection and Endurance/max Health, but the wizard must cast them during combat whereas the game's tank classes can jump into the fray already. As a wizard that is like 2-3 spells to prepare for combat while true tanks save your back.

Originally posted by talemore:

Fighters is like trying to be both a warrior with a reach weapon and or knight with a shield, they don't heal endurance fast enough that it mostly cover long range and they're still a long mile better than paladin in tank.

Uhm, no. Paladin in PoE as a main character can reach the most reliable set of four high defenses (with the help of bonuses like Faith and Conviction, Deep Faith), and a paladin can learn the cross-class Veteran's Recovery talent to regenerate endurance similar to fighters. And since you want a tank that can destroy others, an ability like Sworn Enemy is amazing when it matters.

On the other hand, because fighters are the only class with "very high" base Deflection, they don't strictly need to use a shield or "a reach weapon". They become more dangerous heavy hitters with a single 1H weapon (because of the stacking +12 Accuracy bonus), and if they wield two weapons or a two-hander, they benefit from "very high" base accuracy (which is +5 compared with a paladin). As the tradeoff, the versatility of the abilities they can learn is lower.