Godlike or Orlan: which has the more interesting dialogue options?

[Adonan]

I'm having a hard time picking between the two. I kind of assumed Godlike, Death Godlike in particular, would be similar to Orlan, as both have a stigma that could make for interesting conversation.

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Point your favorite Internet search engine at Obsidian's Pillars of Eternity forum. There you can find some topics that cover statistics about such checks during conversation and in scripted interactions.

It's all quite balanced. One would assume there could be some special opportunities for a Cipher or dwarves (because of Durgan's Battery), but the more interesting choices are about the Disposition system. Look into a main player character gaining ranks in Cruel/Aggressive(/Deceptive) disposition as early as possible for truely unique options in this game. Any class can be used, but for some specific choices the disposition becomes more important, such as Bleak Walkers' paladin or Priests.

[Yoinkyz]

in this game pale elf gets the most race diolauges.

[Adonan]

I wasn't talking about the amount of dialogue. I've seen the numbers, but the source I used doesn't really say what the dialogue is about. Mind you, I don't want to know exactly what the dialogue is about, but I want to know how bland it is. Frankly, I expect the human dialogue to be rather boring; you're a vanilla human so I doubt there's much to say. However, I expect Orlan dialogue to be rather interesting. You're playing a race people generally look down upon that falls into an important position in life, so I imagine people will have some interesting comments to make about that, some of which will be predictably racist. I don't expect the Godlike dialogue to be boring either, but I imagine it and the Orlan both deal with themes of stigmata and mild oppression, which is why I'm stuck between the two.

I didn't know there was a disposition system, so I'll have to look more into that.

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Well, you get a few checks here and there, which can only be satisfied with a character of a specific race. And yes, Orlans included. But not always when you meet other Orlans. So, when you get an option to help an Orlan slave somewhere, the next check you encounter may be for a dwarf that is familiar with the Pargrun empire of dwarves at Durgan's Battery. Or instead, something about monks, requiring your PC to be a monk, too. Not sure why you would consider Orlan specific checks as more interesting.

With regard to the human/kith races, it can still get interesting here and there because of cultural background and class or paladin order or chosen deity or favored behavior (disposition), attributes, abilities & unique abilities, items, skills, ...

Pallegina, the story companion, is a unique godlike. The game is not flooded with extra content, if your PC is also a godlike. Overall it's quite balanced.

Hence the suggestion to focus on role-playing via the Disposition system and possibly a favorite god. Reputation is less interesting, btw.

[Adonan]

I figured the Orlans might be more interesting because, as I understand it, they are to the people what Gnomes are to the WoW community. That is to say, people either tolerate them or just don't like them. That would presumably open up more conflicts and opportunities for conflict resolution than a human, a race that most people wouldn't have issues with, see what I'm getting at?... Now that I think about it, I'm basically asking for drama, I guess.

Originally posted by D'amarr from Darshiva:

With regard to the human/kith races, it can still get interesting here and there because of cultural background and class or paladin order or chosen deity or favored behavior (disposition), attributes, abilities & unique abilities, items, skills, ...

You only listed out thing that weren't specific to humans. I roleplay in my own head just as much as I do within the game. As such, humans don't appeal to me because they're the ones you most expect to take up the role of hero, followed by elves. Few people would expect the Watcher to be an Orlan or a Death Godlike, as far as I know, which is why I'm interested in playing one of the two. Now that I've typed this all out, I'm thinking I wasn't clear before now. As you can probably tell, I'm coming at this from a roleplay angle more than a, "see all the content at once" angle. Still, you've helped me a great deal, so thanks.

[StrayBullet]

Pick either or, but let me tell you, Wild Orlan has the best buff in the game as will attacks will be a part of nearly every combat. A Wild Orlan Cipher with Psychic & Brutal Back Lash (they work more than once per encounter now, in game text wasn't updated to reflect this) will stun & damage while getting a 10 to all defenses for 10 seconds, which on PoTD will pretty much always be active. It's kinda broken.

[Copernicus]

Originally posted by Adonan:

Now that I think about it, I'm basically asking for drama, I guess.

It's hard to produce a lot of drama for random interactions with random NPCs in modern games; these are just too large and too complex, you can't easily support every single permutation with every single character.

Games like PoE (and many other modern CRPGs) instead push that role onto your relationship with your companions in the game. These can get very intricate indeed, depending on how you interact with them. (I'm still not sure I've managed to cover the entire breadth and depth of the Durance dialog tree in my runs through this game...)