pawns Pawns: Who do you hire?

One thing I love about this Forum is that we have people in all points of the game, from level 150+ level-grinders to level 17 fresh-faced Arisen. One thing we all have in common (Except for the Assassins lol) is PAWNS. We hire them, we fire them, we throw them off cliffs.

So, on the merry Riftstone hunt for your next Pawn to abuse...er, I mean, befriend, what do YOU look for? Classes, Stats, whoever is the ugliest? Do you prefer a Pawn that looks well-kept but has no fashion sense, or a fashionable Pawn that's trying to take on the Ur-Dragon in Silk Lingerie with a pair of solid Gold daggers?

And in the end we all get rid of them too. WHY do you fire them? That annoying little helium-sounding voice? Their tendency to hover around your Arisen like an orbital moon? An unfortunate need to pick up EVERY ITEM even when the Lich next to them is casting that spell that makes your insides implode?

Discuss!

If it isn't a pawn on Neo (I try to hire pawns from neo), then first the aesthetic has to draw me in, then I check and see if they're at least close to where I am in equips and ability, then I try em out.

I have a fair few faved, but I've only used a half dozen or so random pawns so far (though currently I have two in my party XD). There are non on the pawn roster for the 360 that I want to use really.

The Pawn Checklist: Who's getting hired

My vocation and my main pawn's vocation: Ranger and an Enchantment/Wrecking ball Sorcerer. I need to balance out this group, so the first thing I'm looking for is a fighter.

The fighter need to have over 500 defense in both physical and magical types and over 1k damage on his weapon. That's the prelim req.

The fighter needs to have Shield Summons, but not launchboard. I don't need anyone being launched because I'm a ranger and I can bring beasts to the ground. All other skills are the choice of the user.

My second hire is usually the first person I cross, but for more serious hunts like the Ur Dragon.. I fill the spot with a mage with Holy Affinity. I found a pretty good mage before with a holy staff and only holy affinity and a buff for higher defense.. based Ur Hunting pawn ever.

If I'm not going after Ur but I want a pawn for good backup damage to my pawn, I hire a strider or a ranger. My ranger req is that the only longbow skill the pawn ranger has is Tenfold Arrow. The bow does over 1k damage. Defense stats are meaningless because I have a fighter. The ranger must be Aug'd with fighter, warrior, mage, and sorcerer damage augs to maximize damage potential. The best players with ranger pawns know this.


I will fire the pawn if they are bad in combat or the personality type is annoying. I hate the timid pawns that whine after combat.

Well My pawn and I usually run as Tank and Dps respectfully, then a buff centric mage, then a sorcerer dps. I tend to shy away from Sorcerers that use Malestrom cause they always use it on bosses when I'm on it blackening my screen. I'm a man of aesthetic so appearance is a big deal. I will instantly toss out any pawn using the abbyssinal set (I'vealready ranted about his little fashion disaster in another thread that I don't want to repeat here.) otherwise, if they look good then stats are little matter because the game doesn't really scale or get any harder sooooo at my level I really just go for what I find appealing.

the only thing that causes me to fire a pawn outside of level scaling is item ninjas, try to take my stuff I will toss you into the brine or everfall. I pick up everything, then divy the items among my party.

During the first playthrough I was exclusively a Fighter, and my pawn was a healer/buffer, so i'd rotated through having a strider or ranger in one slot and then either a warrior or sorcerer in the other.

In NG+ i've been experimenting with warrior/mystic knight/assassin for me and just ranger for my pawn, so just f*cking everything with no real pattern to my pawnage now.

I look for pawns who help out in a fight since my main is a fighter and im a warrior i go with two mage pawns. Both with the high heal, fire, holy, roughly 5-8 lvs higher than me. Plus i go for female pawns cause whats better than being Pimp Arisen, Savior of the World.

I hire any old Pawn I find wandering the street that looks nice since I can pretty much roll through the campaign solo now.

Why do so many people kit their female pawns out with such skimpy equipment to get hired more? It's such a defence degrade that when people realise that half-naked pawns just won't cut it for Ur, the skimpy pawns will stop getting hired.

I'll admit, my female pawn is wearing only a steel bra thing at the moment, but it works with her golden belt for good defence and damage. I promise!

I don't remember my login so I'll have to look into if my email on it is a current one or if I made a new one. Anyways though.

I don't have the game yet but I've done a fair amount of research on it so I'll add to the discussion.


Reason To Hire:

I plan to be a strider/assassin(tho I won't be alone. I just like the idea of the abilities they have) and I'll have my Pawn as a Mage to start, possibly change her to a Warrior/fighter. I wanted a Mystic Knight pawn but heard you can't have the hybrids sadly ;-; lol So saying that while my Pawn is a Mage ->

1) I'll want at least one warrior/fighter to back up the lost vocation we don't have. Though if I turn my Pawn to a warrior or fighter which I'm tempted, I love the fact they can throw you up into the air to get a Griffin and being mister climber, I may want someone consistently that can do that. (I've played the demo like 20+ times)

2) I'll always want one healer so if I ever change my pawn's vocation, I'll always look for a Mage first.

3) I am not sexist but I rather look at a girl pawn then a guy Pawn for hours on end. lol I am gonna make my own character a guy but thats cause I'm gonna call my Pawn after my gf. lol Otherwise I'd probably make myself a girl too. I generally play girls or have girl partner.

4) I'll be looking for friend's pawns or anyone that personally asks me first. Though probably in beginning until mine is used and I get more rift crystals I'll use close to or slightly higher so I only have to pay very small. Once I have more I'll do any level I can afford. Preferably like ten-twenty levels higher so I don't have to change out very often.

5) Mages have to have a healing spell, as thats why I want them. Not too picking long as others have skills and not completely blank.

My main goal is to have my strider/assassin, my main Pawn as a Mage, then a warrior + another warrior or a sorcerer as the high damage dealers.


Reason To Fire:

1) Too low of level / rehire them because they have leveled.

2) They absolutely suck. lol I don't want a healer that never heals or a warrior that never fights. They don't have to be godly but I want them to hold their own. I won't mind if they snatch every item though. I'm a packrat.

3) They were random and a friend asked me to hire their Pawn, that'd be another reason.


I'm not gonna be very stingy on firing the Pawns. Long as they do as I want them too. And the AI seems dumb but pretty productive here from the playthroughs I've been watching. I think once I ask friends as I know a few playing this game. If they have