Bodybuilding and Willpower not as good as they seem.

[Qwesar]

So I owned Divinity EE for a few weeks now and Bodybuilding and Willpower seemed really powerful at first but when I started to learn the intricacies of the game, I realized Bodybuilding and Willpower are actually kinda awful.
Here's why:
1. It blocks some beneficially strategic buffs like wet, warm and drunk.
2. Status effects have many easy countermeasures and its better to invest in the countermeasures instead of investing in weak passives.
3. Many of the statuses protected by Willpower is inferior to immunity effects found on gear and certain traits can give immunity to Charm, Fear and Cursed which makes investing points into Willpower particularly wasteful.
4. To make matters worse, as the game goes on and enemies get higher lvl, they will have more chance to get through Willpower. Example: enemy mage is casting a freeze spell with a 130% chance to freeze your character with 30% bodybuilding. That freeze has a 100% chance of happening. Same mage casts 130% chance to freeze spell on my character with 0% bodybuilding. That freeze has a 100% chance of happening. I can cast warm on my frozen character and have 100% chance to warm up my frozen character. Meanwhile you go to warm up your frozen character and have to roll against your frozen character's 30% bodybuilding, because warm is considered a harmful debuff even though it can be beneficial as well. So not only did you waste 3 pts in bodybuilding you also made it harder to unfreeze your characters.
Conclusion: its best to stay away from Willpower and Bodybuilding. Instead invest into spells Cleansing Water, Purifying Fire, Doctor, First Aid, Helping Hand, Divine Light, Tornado, Rain and Winds of Change.

[gregfromthepeg]

They are generally just for the points at the end of the game after you have maxed out the more important abilities. You're right - they are somewhat useful but not at the expense of your main abilities.

[red255]

OK. Yeah mostly agree but I wouldnt max them per-se but I might sink some points in.

might depend on game difficulty. so I guess your point is to instead of grabbing passives for 3 points in those skills put 3 points in actives for two points in fire magic.

yeah thats probably better, but more micro certainly.

[iRaged]

They are great to put on a tank. Thats about it.

[wicked lester]

Originally posted by iRaged:

They are great to put on a tank. Thats about it.

What exactly makes them great on a tank and useless on everyone else? Anyone can be attacked by these effects.

[red255]

Probably the Tank has high stats that provide defense against the rolls?

I mean if high stats make the rolls more frequently occur, high stats should defend against them.

[iRaged]

I use a front line tank char to take a beating while 2 mages and 1 ranger dish out the DPS and CC from far behind. I know its not an optimal build but eh its what I decided to try out

Fire/Geo Mage
Ice/Air Mage
Bow Ranger
Tank

With the back line of mages, yes you can use spells to take off effects but I'd rather use that AP for damage. Still, you make very valid points. I didn't invest in BB/Will in any other char.

[Dragon]

I don't agree with the OP at all.

Blocking statuses, especially the Willpower-related ones, is one of the best things to do in the game.

You have to throw out your gear and replace it with new stuff with every new level or two, so therefore relying on gear for specific effect-blocking is a horrible & mostly-unviable idea.

certain traits can give immunity to Charm, Fear and Cursed

Which traits would those be, exactly?

[red255]

I believe Blunt? gives you immune to charmed on your two source hunters.

having high leadership gives you immune to fear.

I dont know about cursed.