Jackob Harker how to get it for 700 and not 1400?

[Slimdragoon]

On the wiki it says I need an intimidate of 8. I used potion and have 9 intimidate. So I am over it by one and he still makes me pay 1400.
Do potions not work for skill checks? Is it just a bug for this quest?
Wiki says either or Diplomacy 10 which I don't have. Is it mistaken and I need both requirements?

[snuggleform]

I know diplomacy 10 works for sure, I just did it. Unguents do work for skill checks (technically not a potion, since potions cannot be used outside of combat).

What does he say when you select the intimidate 8 option? The wiki is occasionally wrong, although rarely.

Diplomacy is pretty easy to boost - sleep at port maje for +2 to everyone on your team, which can translate to a hefty party assist score. Or spec one of your unused companions to heavy diplo to help with the skill check.

[Slimdragoon]

Thanks for the reply.
It isn't giving me any intimidation option. I go through his dialog then go to pay 700 but then he says he can make more money. I can't remember specifics but I guess Ill try all the dialog options again to see if an intimidation check is forthcoming. I might have missed something even though I did this 4 or 5 times already, ill look more closely.
If that fails thanks for the idea, ill then try to boost diplomacy.

[Du-Vu]

Maybe the check can change based on your other actions in Dunnage? Other dialogue options or your reputation with the Principi? Feels like there could be a few checks like that in the game. The wiki is fairly thorough but it can still miss things with all the possible combinations possible in a game like this.

If you're up for experimenting, you could always make a hard save, respec and boost your Intimidate all the way up so you can find out what the check is so that we can know and then try and work out why. And then just reload.

Edit: If it's not showing up at all, do you know his secret? You might need to have heard the rumors about him to open up the Intimidate option.

[snuggleform]

Oh, for me the intimidation option did show up, I just did not select it.

When you say you have a character with intimidation 9, is it a party member or your watcher? It has to be the watcher (with a skill assist bonus). If it's just say Eder with intimidate 9, that won't activate the option.

Resting in port maje also raises intimidation, if you are trying to raise your watcher's score for that. If you have 0 intimidation and rest there, you get baseline 2, then 8 points of party assist assuming 4 party members translate to +4 to intimidate score (importantly assuming that they too started at 0 intimidate, as party assist score has diminishing returns).

[Slimdragoon]

I'm only level 6. I have 5 Diplomacy on my watcher. I have 10 Diplomacy between my party. I honestly thought I just had to add them all up.

2 Intimidate on my watcher 9 intimidate on another party member and 6 on another.
Confused..
I think maybe I have to do the quest where I help the guy who is sick in the same location then he maybe gives me info on the rumor to activate the intimidation/diplomacy option. Or I just don't know how skills add up in party.
Thanks for your replies i'll do that quest and get back here.

[snuggleform]

This game doesn't simply add up all your skills, nor does it simply check your highest party member.

Most skill checks are what we refer to as "watcher only" checks which looks at your watchers skill, then adds some amount based on the sum of the rest of your party. When I say based on, I do not mean equal to. It's part of a "party assist" system where it takes more and more total points to get some assist bonus

https://pillarsofeternity.fandom.com/wiki/Pillars_of_Eternity_II:_Deadfire_skills

If your watcher has 8 diplo and the sum of your party has 2 diplo, you will hit 10.

If your watcher has 6 diplo and the sum of your party has 4 diplo, you will not hit 10.

If your watcher has 0 diplo and you're trying to get your party to make up for it, they need a whopping total of 46 diplomacy between them to do that.

If, as you say your watcher has baseline 2 and someone else has 9, and there's no one else with intimidate on your team, then your party-assisted total is 2 + 4 = 6. So a simple rest at port maje's kraken inn would easily fix you to 8 intimidate.

[Slimdragoon]

I managed to get a level quick on 3 guys and used 3 oil of Allures, 1 on each. Thanks for setting me straight on how to set up skills. I have a better idea now on what to expect.
Looks like ill have to retrain all of them.

I was using mechanics and sneak on my Watcher. Which is bad, I can loot with anyone.
Looks like watcher does dialog and should go for Diplomacy and intimidation. I should have looked at a guide before playing. I didn't play the first one.

Thanks for your help!

[snuggleform]

Well my general advice for a first timer would be this:

primary skills:
all 5 go mechanics until you hit 15 with a party assist, this gets you most of the chests unlocked in the game and ones that require higher than that, you can always have some benched character focus on that and swap them in for very rare occasions. After mechanics is done, everyone learn 1 point arcana to use scroll of tattered veils (an incredible cheap interrupt), and then just lazily dump into athletics for a big free heal every combat. The game doesn't reward you that much for sneak, arcana, alchemy, explosives in terms of skill checks, and first timer adventurers (and even veterans) require a lot of study to make strong use of those skills as it requires preparation and figuring out item synergies.

Secondary skills:

watcher : go diplo/intimidate half and half
2 team members: go diplo/intimidate half and half to support the watcher
1 team member: max survival, some of the checks are helpful and due to how party assist works, it has diminishing returns so you don't need to go full bore on supporting diplo/intim
1 team member: go religion, it is rarely used but sometimes nice like there are shrines out in the world that give you unique buffs

You can of course do as you will, this game won't punish you for trying different things. Worst that happens if you can't pass some checks is you miss some gold or have to fight an extra battle. Btw skipping battles isn't always desirable, as some enemies drop items that you may not want to skip over, and also sometimes you just want to fight a big boss instead of getting a victory screen for having the right speech check, right?

I can only think of one unique item that you can't get anywhere else and that's a pet that requires 15 intimidate. It's kind of niche too since it boosts against spirit targets only.

You can always respec, it's fairly cheap and if you're hurting on gold, you can board enemy ships and get lots of cash from selling the loot. They infinitely spawn, and boarding ships does nothing to reputation either way (using intimidate on the ship battle will lower your rep though).

[Stardama69]

One tip if you have Xoti in your party, her magic lantern has an upgrade that gives a party-wide resistance to spells, scaling with her investment in religion. That makes this otherwise forgettable skill worth it.

[Slimdragoon]

You guys rock! You helped me out a lot. I have a better idea on how to synergies my party. Thanks!