Classes in Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire are a factor that determines your character's abilities, attributes and how they will develop as they increase in level. In Pillars of Eternity 2, your characters can have one additional class on top of the base class, and a subclass, selected at 1st level. (for example, your character can be a Battlemage if he/she has both Fighter and Wizard classes.) Each class has a Power Source, and each time you gain a level in a Class you increase this power.
Base Classes

Barbarian
Subclasses: Berserker | Corpse-Eater | Mage Slayer | Fury Shaper
Roles: Crowd Control & Defender
Power Source: Rage

Chanter
Subclasses: Beckoner | Skald | Troubadour | Bellower
Roles: Support & Crowd Control
Power Source: Phrases

Cipher
Subclasses: Ascendant | Beguiler | Soul Blade | Psion
Roles: Crowd Control & Striker
Power Source: Focus

Druid
Subclasses: Fury | Lifegiver | Shifter | Animist | Ancient
Roles: Crowd Control, Support & Striker
Power Source: Nature

Monk
Subclasses: Helwalker | Nalpazca | Shattered Pillar | Forbidden Fist
Power Source: Mortification, Wounds

Paladin
Subclasses: Bleak Walkers | Darcozzi Paladini | Goldpact Knights | Kind Wayfarers | The Shieldbearers of St. Elcga | The Steel Garrote
Power Source: Zeal

Priest
Subclasses: Berath | Eothas | Magran | Skaen | Wael | Woedica
Roles: Support
Power Source: Faith

Rogue
Subclasses: Assassin | Streetfighter | Trickster | Debonaire
Roles: Striker
Power Source: Guile

Wizard
Subclasses: Conjurer | Enchanter | Evoker | Illusionist | Transmuter | Blood Mage
Roles: Crowd Control & Striker
Power Source: Arcane
Class Comparison Tables
Class Stats Table (Base)
All values are at Level 1 with 10 points into each Attribute and don't include any bonuses from any Race, Class or Subclass. Accuracy is the same on all characters at level 1 and EVERY Stat in the table goes up by +3 at each level, except Health, which is different for each Class. When Multiclassing players will average each Stat between the two Classes they chose and round down to find their starting values. Once they begin leveling they will gain +3 to each Stat just like Single Class characters. They will also gain an average of Health per level, based on the Classes they selected. For example, if one Class has +12 per level and the other has +8, they will gain +10 Health per level.
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Barbarian | 46 Base +16 per level | 20/20 | 15 | 30 | 20 | 15 |
Chanter | 40 Base +10 per level | 20/20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 25 |
Cipher | 38 Base +8 per level | 20/20 | 20 | 20 | 15 | 30 |
Druid | 40 Base +10 per level | 20/20 | 20 | 25 | 25 | 20 |
Fighter | 42 Base +12 per level | 20/20 | 25 | 20 | 20 | 15 |
Monk | 42 Base +12 per level | 20/20 | 20 | 20 | 25 | 25 |
Paladin | 42 Base +12 per level | 20/20 | 20 | 25 | 15 | 25 |
Priest | 40 Base +10 per level | 20/20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 25 |
Ranger | 42 Base +12 per level | 20/20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 |
Rogue | 40 Base +10 per level | 20/20 | 20 | 15 | 30 | 20 |
Wizard | 38 Base +8 per level | 20/20 | 20 | 15 | 20 | 30 |
Class Skills Table (Base)
All values are at Level 1 with 10 points into each Attribute and don't include any bonuses from any Race, Class or Subclass. Every level you will get to add one point into one of the left 7 Skills and one point into one of the 9 Skills on the right. If a player Multiclasses, he/she adds together the totals from each row listed below and then divides by 2. This means that if you have 2 Athletics in one Class and 0 in the other you will have 1 Athletics. If the number is 0 for both Classes, then the value remains 0. Then add any Cultural, Racial or other bonus AFTER this is complete to find your final value.
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Barbarian | - | - | 2 | - | - | - | 2 | - | - | 2 | - | 2 | - | - | - | 2 |
Chanter | - | 2 | - | - | - | 2 | - | 2 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Cipher | - | - | - | - | 2 | 2 | - | 2 | - | - | 2 | - | 2 | - | - | - |
Druid | 2 | - | - | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 2 | 2 | - | 2 |
Fighter | - | - | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 2 | - | - | 2 | 2 |
Monk | 2 | - | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 2 | - | 2 | 2 | - | - |
Paladin | - | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | 2 | - | - | 2 | - | 2 | - | - |
Priest | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | 2 | - | - |
Ranger | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | 2 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | 2 |
Rogue | - | - | - | - | 2 | - | 2 | 2 | - | - | 2 | - | - | - | 2 | - |
Wizard | - | 2 | - | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | 2 | 2 | - | 2 | - | - | - |
Mutliclassing Information
Power Sources and Power Level
Each Class has its own "Power Source". Barbarian, for example, has Rage. Rage determines the effectiveness of many of the Abilities in the Barbarian Ability Tree. Rage increases the damage of abilities, the number of Projectiles, Penetration and other effects, such as Duration. Increasing the effectiveness of Rage is called gaining a "Power Level". This is the case with all Power Sources, allowing players to Multiclass without feeling too much of a damage reduction in their Abilities.
When playing as a Multiclass character there are obvious benefits over a Single Class character, but not everything is better. For example, you gain a Power Level for each 2 levels you gain when you are Single Class. When you are Multiclass this becomes every 3 levels. This means that you won't have access to higher level Abilities as quickly if you Multiclass, because you unlock the next tier of Abilities each time you gain a Power Level. This is one of the biggest downsides to Multiclassing, and it can make early parts of the game harder until you are geared up.
Secondly, Multiclass characters cannot access Ability Level 8 or 9 of either Class they play because their Power Level only increases every 3 levels instead of ever 2. This is another huge downside of a Multiclass character, because the best and most powerful Abilities are at the bottom of each Tree. Be sure to preview these Trees when making your character so you can see what you'll be missing out before confirming during Character Creation. This alone makes a case for a Single Class character.
Power Source by class
- Barbarian:
Rage
- Chanter:
Phrases
- Cipher:
Focus
- Druid:
Nature
- Fighter:
Discipline
- Monk:
Mortification, Wounds
- Paladin:
Zeal
- Priest:
Faith
- Ranger:
Bond
- Rogue:
Guile
- Wizard:
Arcane
Power Source Points and Combat
Each Class uses its Abilities with the Power Source Pool of that Class: Rage, Arcane, Discipline, Bond, etc. Abilities cost varying amounts of Power Source Points, which will replenish out of Combat. Instead of giving each Ability a certain number of uses like they did in PoE, now the player is free to decide how to spend his/her points in whatever combination makes sense for the victory. Wizards and casting Classes can only cast a certain number of each level of spell per encounter, but they no longer need to Rest to replenish these. Players can also use an Ability called "Empower" that will allow them to increase the effectiveness of an Ability or regain half of their max Power Source Points. This can only be used once per encounter per character and replenishes upon Resting.
If you are a Single Class, every 2 levels you will gain an extra Power Source Point. If you are a Multiclass character you will gain 1 Power Source Point for both Classes every 3 Levels, regardless of how you leveled up each time. This means that at level 7 if you are a Single Class character you will have a total of 6 Power Source Points to use for you Abilities per encounter (you begin the game with 3). If you are a level 7 Multiclass Character you will have a total of 10 Power Source Points (5 in each Class). This means Multiclass characters will have much more Abilities to use, albeit with lesser effectiveness.
Health, Defense and Skills
Another important point to note is that when you create your character, it will start with a certain amount of Health, Deflection, Reflex, Fortitude and Will to begin the game. When you Multiclass you begin the game with an average of the 2 Classes you chose (rounded down). Each time you level up you will gain +3 to Deflection, Reflex, Fortitude and Will. Whether you Multiclass or play as a Single Class, it makes no difference. You will gain +3 to each per level.
Health is handled a bit differently. Each Class has a fixed amount of Health they begin the game with (Base Health), as well as a fixed amount they gain per level. When you Multiclass you average the Base Health of your two Classes and that is what they start with. Each time you level up you will gain an average of what those two Classes would have gained. Let's do an example:
- Let's say you are playing a Barbarian and a Wizard (Warlock). Barbarians get 46 Health and Wizards get 38. Averaging that out you can calculate you will begin the game with 42 Health.
- Barbarians gain +16 Health per level and Wizards gain +8. Averaging that out we get +12 Health per level.
Skills are handled much the same way, and each Class in the game begins with a certain amount of points into each Skill. To calculate how many points in each Skill you will have, you simply need to add together the total points in each Skill for both Classes and then divide by 2. The exception being that Skill points added with Culture are not affected by Multiclassing and will give their full value.
- Anonymous
https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/100209-multiple-issues-with-leveling/
4
+12
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