Arisen with Nexus's Elixir
Pawn Inclination assists in dictating the behavior of a Pawn both in and out of combat. Inclinations are an easily overlooked and important aspect of pawn performance. Managing inclinations is critical to maintaining an effective Main Pawn.
Main Pawn inclinations are initially decided by answering the different questions available during their creation. Inclinations can be modified at any time by using the Knowledge Chair found at Inns and Rest Camps, or directly and most efficiently by using the Inclination Elixirs, which are purchased from Johnathan at the Command Tent in the Encampment.
Pawn battle behaviors are influenced by the first three inclinations. All other inclinations lower in primacy than the third position are effectively invisible.
The Neutralizing Elixir is used to re-set all of a pawn's existing inclinations to the initial state - a mid-point value of 500 in a range from 0 to 1000.
Pawns are absolutely correct when they say, "My kind grows ever more useful the more we learn."
A pawn's catalog of tactical actions is its Bestiary knowledge. The acquisition of Bestiary knowledge flags successively unlock ranges of actions that become narrowed in terms of a pool for AI selection when their classification as, for example, a Challenger tactic of targeting a ranged or magick-using foe indicates casting a spell at an Oil-throwing Goblin or shooting down the same Goblin is appropriate, since those specific actions fall within the class of actions of one of the pawn's three primary inclinations. However, keep in mind that the example of Challenger-targeting a ranged- or magick-wielding foe does not indicate the AI will only select Challenger-class actions/skills, but rather that the AI will instead execute randomly selected actions that fit within the subsets of actions called by all three of its most strongly-expressed inclinations-- as long as the knowledge flags unlocked by Bestiary knowledge provides the AI with actions to use.
The Goblin in the preceding example could also have been targeted by the pawn AI if Mitigator were one of its three inclinations.
A pawn with 100% Bestiary knowledge does not necessarily need inclinations, since its Bestiary knowledge will dictate its actions. However, it is entirely possible to use inclinations to filter the pawn's selection of tactics to influence its battle behavior.
- For issues with Pawn behavior, see Pawn Inclination troubleshooting
Inclinations
The inclinations are :
| Inclination | Cause | Effects |
|---|---|---|
| Scather |
Enter battles with enemies as they appear. Use the "Go!" command in battle. |
Tends to rush into battle headfirst against strong enemies. Engages the strongest foes first, increases climbing. Excellent for Shortbow use, which is designed for short range firing. Interferes with aiming a Ranger's Longbow as it sets up a conflict between positioning the pawn between optimal range for Longbow damage and its instruction to close in on the enemy for melee combat. Instructs a caster to move close to the enemy to cast in close proximity, which causes a higher interruption rate when the caster is then targeted by the enemy. |
| Medicant |
Using the left D-pad "help" out of battle encourages this inclination. Using the 'Come' order during battle |
Prioritize safety by healing your hero or removing their status ailments. - Heals often and avoids direct combat. Useful for a Mage pawn with curative magic such as Anodyne and/or Halidom , but when placed too high in importance, the pawn's offensive spells will be interrupted to heal any party member. |
| Mitigator | Bring down weak targets first. |
Attacks weak enemies first. Spellcaster pawns will choose spells with greater areas of effect. Bow users will pick off the small fry in a mob. |
| Challenger | Focus on long-range attackers and enemies with support abilities. |
The pawn prioritizes ranged attackers and magic-using foes above others. Spellcaster pawns will choose spells with greater areas of effect when facing multiple ranged attackers and magic-using foes. |
| Utilitarian |
Use support skills and enchantments. Use the left D-pad command in battle. |
Uses a wide array of skills, favours group and pair tactial actions. Includes the use of group curatives. Encourages Spell Synching in Sorcerers, Grappling in Fighters and Warriors, and the use of Spellscreen and enchantments in Mages. This behavior is at its best on pawns with very good Bestiary knowledge, and when they are together with other Utilitarian-prime pawns. In general, one pawn will 'call' the tactic, then the others in the team will comply. Non-Utilitarian prime pawns do not respond efficiently to the tactic call. A sole Utilitarian-prime in a party of non-primes will not be able to synch its tactics with the others. |
| Guardian | Use the right D-pad command 'Help' and 'Come' commands often, avoid using 'Go'.
Any other situation that causes a pawn to come to the Arisen's aid |
Protects the Arisen first and foremost. Guardian sets the pawn to act passively and stay near the Arisen. Can be useful for melee based teams, such as dual-warrior, and very useful for an Arisen that climbs and wants the main pawn to follow closely onto the monster. Encourages the use of Shield Drum and similar skills, as well as prioritizing rescue attempts if the Arisen is grabbed. For many classes and party combinations it causes inappropiate behavior, e.g., standing beside the Arisen with weapon drawn doing nothing unless the Arisen is attacked via melee. Due to human player behavior this inclination is very common, reducing pawn effectiveness - specifically, the close shadowing caused by this inclination can draw attacks to the Arisen rather than preventing them via the two Fighter and Warrior taunt skills. This is particularly bad for a Sorcerer Arisen who is both motionless and defenseless during spellcasting, and decreases pawn participation in battle for any Arisen who targets enemies from range. For further information see Guardian. |
| Nexus |
Revive your pawns often. Use of the Magnanimous Cloak by the Main Pawn |
Supports other pawns in the party similar to Guardian, but the pawn will now protect the other pawns in the party. Encourages the pawn to carry downed pawns to the Arisen for aid. Can cause excessive running back and forth between Arisen and other pawns. |
| Pioneer | Use the 'Go' command when not in combat. |
Scouts away from the party. Useful for pawns with Acquisitor as a primary, Pioneer allows them to travel further away from the Arisen, often outside out of combat. A potential negative effect is that Pioneers can and will engage enemies before the player decides to engage. |
| Acquisitor | Pick up items. |
Condition the item gathering while in combat. Has no effect out of combat (even with 0 Acquisitor, pawns will still gather items if given the time). An Acquisitor pawn will disengage from battle and can completely ignore enemies in order to loot. |
Initial Inclinations
The Main Pawn's inclinations are initially set by answering a series of questions available at the time of creation. The result of choosing a particular answer is displayed on a graph.
All inclinations are present in the form of a table in the pawn's stats throughout the lifetime of the save game file; just because one cannot see inclinations beyond the second or perhaps third position does not mean they do not exist. Inclinations are fluid. They shift either minutely or quickly in response to all actions performed by the player and by certain events occurring during battle. Rented pawns' inclinations remain fixed during the entire period of the rent, however their actions can influence the Main Pawn's behaviors. This is most common when renting Guardians, since Guardian behavior will affect the Main Pawn by increasing the need for the Main Pawn's battle participation due to their unresponsiveness to ranged and magick attacks.
Modifying Inclinations
Elixirs
The Neutralizing Elixir reset all inclination to their initial value - internally this is stored as a middling value of 500 in a possible range from 0 to 1000. It can be used and then followed by further elixirs, or followed by the player modeling tactics; e.g., battle training.
Inclination Elixirs can be used to set primary, secondary, and unseen tertiary inclinations immediately and directly.
- Giving an elixir to a pawn with no primary inclination will set this inclination as primary
- Giving an elixir of the primary inclination will reinforce the primary inclination
- Giving any elixir that is not secondary will set the corresponding inclination to secondary and push the other inclinations down the list
- Giving the same elixir twice one after the other will set this inclination as primary and push all other inclinations down the list
Arisen Actions
Additionally, Arisen behavior will constantly modify or re-inforce the Main Pawn's inclinations by slowly increasing or decreasing the inclinations that correspond to the player's actions, e.g., shooting a target at range increases Challenger, while moving in for close-combat with daggers will affect Scather.
Actions that affect your pawn's inclinations are:
- Fighting style - ranged or close combat, or healer or spellcaster
- Climbing and other combat behaviors, including grappling enemies
- Non-combat actions, such as regular use of gathering or mining
- The battle orders the Arisen issues; i.e, "come", "go", "help"
- The fighting style of hired pawns.
Every time the game makes a movement for your pawn in response to an external stimuli, an inclination in your pawn's table shifts in terms of importance and/or intensity by a very small amount.
- Over time, your pawn will grow to mirror your own behaviours.
Knowledge chairs
The Knowledge Chair allows the Arisen to switch or retain the Main Pawn's secondary and tertiary inclinations - the pawn will pose a question indicating the behaviors corresponding to its secondary and tertiary inclinations.
Switching the secondary and tertiary inclinations will also reinforce the primary inclinations and modify values of other minor inclinations.
If the pawn has no inclinations listed or only one listed, the unseen inclinations all have the same value. The pawn may question the Arisen in order to sort those values out.
Determining Inclinations
Primary and Secondary Pawn Inclination can be checked in the "Status" section of the pause menu and is listed under the "Profile" heading. The Tertiary Inclination can be determined by using a Knowledge Chair - it will be given as a choice together with the current secondary inclination.
If a pawn has only one or no inclinations indicated, that means multiple inclination values are identical. For example, Rook, who has the single inclination of Challenger, that represents his strongest inclination and all others in Rook's inclination table have values that are exactly the same. If Rook were a Main Pawn and questioned in the Knowledge Chair by his Arisen, he would pose a series of questions that would sort out two inclinations to occupy the secondary and tertiary positions.
Setting Your Pawn's Inclinations in Detail
It is known that a pawn's inclinations are ordered in value in a list, and that the latest stimuli to the Inclination table is the most important in terms of primacy. Therefore, by multiple use of of Elixirs, or, more slowly, through general gameplay, a list with multiple inclinations in order can be generated.
For Example: The Arisen wishes to set their main pawn as a Utilitarian/Challenger/Mitigator and push all other inclinations lower in value than tertiary. The elixirs to be taken in order are:
- alternatively:
- Neutralizing Elixir, Mitigator's Elixir, Challenger's Elixir, Utilitarian's Elixir, Utilitarian's Elixir
One applies Elixirs in reverse order; the last applied Elixir becomes the primary inclination.
Stability can then be maintained by sitting regularly in the Knowledge Chair and switching secondary and tertiary twice (to get back to the original state).
Notes
- Each inclination description corresponds to an internally-stored behavioral trait. Their descriptions are:
- Scather - Belligerent
- Medicant - Prudent
- Mitigator - Poor Aim
- Challenger - Strategy
- Utilitarian - Tactics
- Guardian - Protection
- Nexus - Same Support
- Pioneer - Curiosity
- Acquisitor - Gather
- Each trait has a value in the range 0 to 1000 - the Neutralizing Elixir resets all values to 500.
- An inclination potion raises the tendency of a primary trait by 150 or 100 points per use.
- Use of an inclination potion for a non-primary and non-secondary trait raises that inclination to the value of the secondary inclination, and reduces the value of the old secondary to that of the tertiary inclination - the tertiary inclination is also reduced in value somewhat. All lesser inclinations are unchanged in order or in tendency.
- The Left d-pad command encourages Medicant inclination when out of battle, Utilitarian when in battle. The left d-pad will ask for an elemental buff and call for healing, if necessary.
- The Right d-pad command encourages Guardian both in and out of battle. It will ask a Mage for healing (any pawn with group curatives in its inventory will also respond if no Mage is in the party) and can call the Main Pawn back to the Arisen's side.
- The up or go command on the d-pad encourages Scather in battle, Pioneer out of battle.
- Occasionally the pawn AI will experience a random glitch or bug where one inclination will be instantly promoted. This is theorized to be a residual effect carried over from old data; this can happen when rents are received, or in response to a d-pad order.