Just started playing Pillars of Eternity, and already feel like I'm horrible at it:
At Anslög's Compass, I was tasked with killing the sporelings in the cave. However, I have failed for the tenth time. What level is suggested for killing those mobs? I have a monk and a wizard, both level 3, and the longest I survived was to kill one of the three sporelings.
I tried confusing the spores and attacking them individually, but when the duration expires, my monk gets almost literally torn apart.
How can I defeat those monsters at this level, or should I return when I'm more prepared?
Best Answer
To start with, your party is kind of small. You will have a much easier time in combat with a larger party, because more characters means more places to soak up damage as well as dish it out.
You can recruit the prebuilt companions or create custom companions at any inn. To create a custom companion, talk to the innkeeper about "looking to hire some help" and pay the cost, which increases as you purchase higher level characters. That takes you to the very same character creation process that you used to make your main character when starting the game. If you change your mind partway through, you can cancel out of it and get your copper back. These characters are then available for the rest of your game and can be swapped out with other party members at inns or at your stronghold.
Personally, I have found it difficult to tank as a monk (although that could very well be me doing it wrong :D), and had much better success by building a custom fighter with constitution, resolve, and perception maxed out and defensive talents selected.
I was able to defeat the sporelings at a similar level, though I had a party of 6 at the time. My party formation was two rows. The front: Eder set up to tank, a custom fighter set up to tank, a custom barbarian set up to deal damage. The back: Kana the chanter, Alroth the wizard, and my main character, a cipher.
I sent the front row (all with melee weapons) in to attack the sporelings, then hit pause after they were engaged. My rear row was all equipped with ranged weapons and focused fire on the sporeling being fought by the barbarian. I unpaused and let that play out until the sporeling was dead. After that, I sent my barbarian to harass the big spore in the back while the rest of the party focused on the surviving sporelings before finishing off the big spore.
Perhaps due to the size of the party, as well as my playstyle, I didn't feel the need to use many spells, but having a chanter summon skeletons is also a great way to keep annoying enemies at bay long enough for the party to deal with other targets.