alhoon

There is reputation per faction now?

I would dare say that her being aware of some of his flaws and still oblivious to how far he has fallen, is kinda leading towards her being a Shaper puppet - as in she is brainwashed to think that her Shapers superiors must have a reason to do what they do, even if she (also a Shaper) doesn't understand it.

I am planning to eventually make a mod that levels up your NPC companions to reach your level. + One that allows you to convert research notes and shaper equipment to training.

That's because you are a Shaper. If you were a servile you would either have to become a mad cultist with access to a little power OR go through that machine. Tuldaric is the best.

Is it? Well, I will go for Barzhal or Zakary. I recall Barzhal being easier after you mess up their horrible, horrible "keep the Creations in constant pain" devices to wreak havoc. But Zakary deserves to die as well. However - although perhaps I remember wrong - if you kill Zakary the Awakened like you less. Again, I may remember wrong.

Depending who you align with, there may practically not be awakened for you to rejoin... I distinctively remember everyone wanting to sabotage the Magus Complex to rob the Awakened from their power and/or murder Pinner to leave them leaderless. Hard to come back from that.

But is the cockatrice even worth it? Does it have the control penalty it had on Mutagen? For the essence cost I could get 2 Vlish of similar level to the Cockatrice IIRC. Oh, ohhhh... I was talking about a 1-level Cockatrice, not 6 levels. Six levels of Stalkthorn on Cockatrice would be useful; those +2 (or more probably +3-4) training levels over other creations will count.

Not go completely mad, to the point it takes practice to smile. I remember it took me time till I reached Phariton. Is it viable to leadership-Phariton to teach you if you are not too-far into a faction?

I remember when playing the original that after few cannisters, honestly not that many, I walked in a town and I considered everyone as disposable, expendable biomass. And in a Taker playthrough pretty soon it got worse! What are the limits in this version? For the first warnings that some people give you to becoming a cold, detached madman? Are there more books available in this one? Or if you want to make nice drakons you need to dip into lot of canister stuff?

The Barzites being good for power gamers... no, I can't say it is a huge plot twist. The "Servants" (man I hate that name...) that proudly bend to kiss the feet of Shapers being bootlickers pushovers... again, not surprising. The Awakened should be less rewarding than the Takers though; the Takers are also about power.

I am pretty sure there are several ways to take that token, one of which is pacifist. I could remember wrong though.

He was. He told me it is ill-advised to do so and that young Shapers are allowed to ask this question (whether we can re-claim rogues) only a few times before it becomes career ending. But the deep breaths helped.

It does, in a way. When I pressed Nora to give me the dirt, I got a message that Guardians often take the "soldier's loyalty" too far. Couple that with the fact that she is a Shaper puppet (i.e. brainwashed), and you get where that loyalty comes from.

Wait, what?! Where? You can calm a ROGUE Fyora? Do you mean a Shaped Fyora that turned rogue, or a fyora that was born the natural way? I mean, I JUST FINISHED a discussion with Lying Zackary the Deceiver and he told me in no uncertain terms that this is not possible so rogues must be purged. And when I say "I just finished the discussion" my save game is RIGHT AFTER that discussion! I mean, come on!!!!

Something that I don't think there was in the original (Although it may have been and in my naivety failed to appreciate). The miserable alchemist explains to me why she thought there was a golden opportunity to come to Drypeaks: We have all been there, Alchemist Elili... Every. Word. That. Man. Says. Is. A. Lie.

If I could choose, I would put Leadership as +1 to control any creation, Shaping skill +1 control to any creation. I really like the "if you bump Shaping skill by +3, and your creations jump 3 levels up, they are much more likely to break out of your control" but in that case, I would prefer a choice of whether to level my creations or not. Again, this quite complex process is my "this is how control would be good to work" without taking into account OTHER aspects of the game like "after increasing shaping I should go to each of my creations and check their levels" For a "best type of experience" combined, I would go with Leadership+1, Shaping skill+1 with a warning to not go too far the first time your creation goes to weak control.

I concur that gaining so much control from Shaping skills + leadership is too much.

I would like to discuss some quests, some old, some new. Question 1: I have met Zensital, the young Shaper rebuffed by Lying Zackary the Deceiver and every enemy of Zackary (except Barzahl) is my friend. He seems the Awakened type BUT I am considering that perhaps I should direct him towards the Takers. Hear me out: He is moderate but very pro-creation. The Takers need more people like him. Of course, if Takers were talking to Shapers, they would be Awakened and there's a very good chance they will refuse Zensital or kill him but I see in his quest "Multiple locations", which makes me think that perhaps it is possible to send him to the Takers. Is there a time limit for this quest? Or Zensital will remain there till I discuss with him where to go?

??? What would be the case?

That's what I mean with the "low magic" world. One of the biggest acts of magic in the books were the red-haired witch that was supporting Stannis Baratheon SHAPING a shade - or giving birth to a shadow demon. And using magic to shape herself young. Pffft. I say PFFFT. A shaper would laugh with that n0000b. Also, for GoT, let's define some things. Do we mean Shaper as in "loyalist" ? Do we mean Shaper as Lifecrafter? Because a Barzite in GoT world would act very differently than a Shaper. A Taker would do his or her thing, free from the oppressive weight of the Shapers. An Awakened now... that is a hard one. They are not adverse to power and they are pro-Shaper ideas with the exception of Creation rights. An Awakened would probably not be fine with some of the things, the few things, mages do in GoT. I don't just mean Shaping a Shade to kill a competitor, but also what that priest of light did with saving someone from the dead. An Awakened or a Shaper now, would also try to deal with that strange disease we saw in the tv series (I have read up to book 4 and not all of it, so some things I saw only on the series which I watched till season 6; not season 7 or 8). A taker would probably take the side of the deformed people with the disease that go mad and try to cure them and/or make them into an army so that those dregs of society could Take their Free. A Shaper would try to contain them first and then, if possible cure. An Awakened would probably bring a compassionate approach of healing and containment till those going mad had to be put down. I THINK. A Barzite would weaponize the disease and try to Shape it in a way that it would give him control of the people affected by it. Because Barzites are mostly evil control freaks. Any input here? I think I am spot on the "expected", middle-of-the-pack Shaper and Taker reply to that disease that turned people to mad disfigured people. But I am not sure on the Awakened and Barzite response.

Yes, it is in my home. In fact this one is the "old computer" and the one at home with the demo is "the new computer". I will backup my saves in the other computer before I install the full game.

I tried to start my brand new and shiny geneforge 2 and I couldn't find my saves from the demo. I had them uploaded on the steam cloud and now I am in a different computer. Could this mean that my demo saves are now lost / overwritten as the new computer connected to the cloud and perhaps overwrote what was there? Or I could find them in the other computer? And are Demo saves compatible? Will I be able to continue?

A Shaper in a law magic world would soon be a power center

Not a Shaper that is indeed a Shaper. Settings where there were mages similar to the Shapers, yes.

Depends on the campaign and the god, I would guess. Considering there are gods that encourage clearly blasphemous practices (necromancy etc) I wouldn't expect much blowback from the divine over Shaping. How the clergy would react, would be a much more interesting question, I think.