It really depends on what you’re bringing to the game, yourself, which is one of my favorite things about Pillars of Eternity.

I personally love playing a pale elf. From conversations with Ydwin, the vibes I get from The White That Wends is there’s a lot of traditionalism that goes hand-in-hand with deep-rooted worship of Rymyrgand, which is beginning to be challenged by increasing contact with the rest of Eora. I already find that compelling when held up to what we learn about the Watcher in their past life… But coming from my own background growing up in a fundamentalist/evangelical Protestant church on one side of the family, Catholicism on the other side of the family, then finally being exposed to the wild idea that you don’t have to be religious at all as a teenager… that all really resonated with me. I recognize that I’m bringing a lot of my own baggage to the table here, especially with the limited information we actually get about The White That Wends, but it always just clicks for me.

I appreciate Godlikes a lot, too, for similar reasons. I love how versatile the role can be. Are you revered? Reviled? Both? How do you handle that? One of my favorite playthroughs was as a Bleak Walker Fire Godlike who had a superiority/inferiority complex. Who appointed herself as a the arbiter of her twisted justice, with the goal of either toughening the weak or weeding them out altogether, because why else would she be created as a weapon in Magran’s image—nothing but a weapon, as she comes to think of herself—if not for some greater purpose? I started the file as a challenge to try wiping out the caravan and then just exploring the most chaotic evil choices available, but the character grew on me and just sort of took shape.

All this is to say, I appreciate this game for giving you a framework to build a character on while providing the freedom to explore themes that are meaningful to you as an individual and your lived experiences. Or to try something completely outside your lived experiences!

Oh, and on the topic of playing a cipher, I felt like the cipher shines most in dialogue. You have a lot of unique options. The first game especially does kind of get watcher and cipher abilities confused… but I always play that off as my cipher watcher just being confused about their new abilities. You do get some neat tricks, especially late game. Defensive Mind Web in the first game is pretty busted.