what does tactician mode do?

[boogerboy2016]

Please explain how is tactician mode harder. Is it just in hp and stats lower, or is AI and enemies harder too?

[Calico-Jack]

specifically:

• No player starting buffs
  
• NPCs get +50% Vitality, +50% Damage, +2% Damage boost per/lvl, +50% Armor, +1.5% Armor Growth per/lvl, +35% Magic Armor, +1.5% Magic Armor Growth per/lvl, 10% boost to Chances to Hit.
  
• Enemies have more AP, skills (speculation)
  
• Different merchant prices (equivalent to -2 Bartering)
  
• Smart A.I.

check it out the comparison between the modes for yourself:
https://divinityoriginalsin2.wiki.fextralife.com/Difficulty+Modes

But at first impact these are the two things you'll notice most initially:

- NPC buffs in tactical are similar to what the player gets in Classic vs the NPCs
- Smart AI means Classic Boss level of exploiting any and every weakness in your party make up. So each encounter no matter trivial needs some preparation and thought to armour resistances and terrain buffs. You don't want to wander into encounters without having a plan for how to deal with the encounter in terms of both the possible gear you can get beforehand and skills and levels disparities.

While we're on the topic you might have come across posts along the lines of "I completed the game on Tactical honour mode, totes easy yo!" then check out this discussion on how to 'creatively use OS mechanics" to give you a lifejacket:

https://steamcommunity.com/app/373420/discussions/0/490124466460176709/

To be clear, I'm more about pointing out this flavour of fronting than condoning the content of the discussion.

Peeps totally have a hot SO that lives in another country as well.

[Chaoslink]

There’s also fights where the enemy gets auras and effects they don’t otherwise get. This can pose challenging to teams with unbalanced abilities. All physical teams can struggle against dodge aura enemies for instance, as all enemies get a 90% boost to dodge chance.

[boogerboy2016]

Thanks. I have been on the wiki a thousand times and never saw that. I am anxious to play tactician on my third playthrough. Wanted to try some new stuff though and not sure if I should now.

[Chaoslink]

If you could handle Classic just fine, Tactician isn't too much worse. It sounds that way, but it really isn't. The only thing you might need to do slightly better is AP management or damage focus for your builds. Play aggressive and not defensive and you'll find it just as easy.

[Cleric]

Evasion and Evasive Aura will overwrite one another, so you can use the Aero skill to replace the aura with a single target version. Most teams should have 1 or 2 characters with 2 Aero for Teleport, so this measure shouldn't be too difficult to drop in.

[Octopuses]

Originally posted by Chaoslink:

There’s also fights where the enemy gets auras and effects they don’t otherwise get. This can pose challenging to teams with unbalanced abilities. All physical teams can struggle against dodge aura enemies for instance, as all enemies get a 90% boost to dodge chance.

This was literally only one fight

[Chaoslink]

Originally posted by Octopuses:

Originally posted by Chaoslink:

There’s also fights where the enemy gets auras and effects they don’t otherwise get. This can pose challenging to teams with unbalanced abilities. All physical teams can struggle against dodge aura enemies for instance, as all enemies get a 90% boost to dodge chance.

This was literally only one fight

That effect is actually on two, one in the second act, another in the third. How many isn't my point however, there's other fights with various auras in play, this was just one example specifically showcasing one example of where an unbalanced party can struggle.

[Calico-Jack]

Originally posted by boogerboy2016:

Thanks. I have been on the wiki a thousand times and never saw that. I am anxious to play tactician on my third playthrough. Wanted to try some new stuff though and not sure if I should now.

Try it - if you've had a couple of play throughs and regularly started beating enemies a couple of levels above you, you'll probably find it not as scary as it sounds.