Having revitalized the computer role-playing game genre with Pillars of Eternity, Obisidian Entertainment turned everything up a notch in Pillars of Eternity II to offer even more.
Despite the game not managing to become a huge commercial success, a dedicated community sprung up around PoE2, introducing new features and tweaking the game to make it even more fun. Those modders are always up to something.
I respect Obsidian as much as any other guy, but I will never say no to improvements, whether they’re officially sanctioned or not!
If you feel the same way then these mods are sure to pique your interest.
20. Alternate Class Features
Companions in Pillars of Eternity II are varied enough, but you know how it is for some people: it’s never enough.
Alternate Class Features is a modular gameplay mod that offers new and altered class possibilities for select companions.
While this may not sound like much, it’s actually a pretty big change. It gives you the chance to explore some classes and subclasses that are woefully underrepresented in the vanilla game.
These combinations are also quite balanced, so no risk of breaking the game with this mod.
19. Extended Spell Collection
Power. Power. And even more power!
Extended Spell Collection is not for those who like balanced experiences, to say the least. It makes the already powerful spell-casting classes in the game even more powerful by introducing tons of new spells, some of them inspired by classic role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons. Plus you’ll also get some new items to help your magician friends.
Time to put the sword aside and begin studying the ancient mysteries.
18. Deadly Deadfire 4
If you’re among those players who want their RPGs to always be smooth sailing, you’d better steer your ship and go elsewhere.
Things are about to get very serious here.
Deadly Deadfire 4 is a difficulty mod that’s meant for those who like to be challenged at all times.
The mod not only introduces tons of gameplay tweaks to keep you hustling, but it also brings these tweaks up a notch into a hardcore version that takes no prisoners.
Give it a try if you need a challenge. But no complaints: you were supposed to know what you were getting into.
17. More Spell Castings Per Encounter
The Pillars Of Eternity II magic system is extremely well-rounded, making spell-casting classes quite effective, if not a little limited.
If throwing spells right and left is your thing, the More Spell Castings per Encounter mod is worth installing. It gives Wizards, Druids, and Priests more spell castings per power level per encounter.
The modder did introduce a sort of progression system as well, so things are not broken from the get go. But you shouldn’t expect to be challenged by any enemy once you’re able to shoot spells for the duration of an entire encounter!
16. Pet Unlocker
Pets are not just great for company. They’re also great adventuring companions!
Pet Unlocker is the mod for all pet lovers, and of course for pet-loving PoE2 players out there. Weird crossover, yeah?
It unlocks all 66 pets found in the game, all right from the start, including those that have been released only to backers.
Now you can be a true completionist, and feel better about yourself for not having supported the game properly before it even released.
15. No Attribute Cap
The sky becomes the only limit in PoE2 with the No Attribute Cap mod.
This mod is pretty straightforward: it removes the 35 attribute cap and lets you level up stats to 999. Clean and easy.
Ever wanted to become a true almighty god? This is your chance.
14. More Custom AI Conditions
Controlling all your party members during difficult boss encounters is often required to make it out alive. But what if I told you that you can let the AI do its thing and survive nonetheless?
More Custom AI Conditions introduces new general and class-specific conditions that will let you further customize the behavior of AI-controlled party members. This basically means you can re-program the AI (in very simple ways) to make them far more competent.
These new conditions work extremely well, so you’re not gimping yourself if you decide to control just your main characters and let your companions do their thing.
13. Unique Companion Armors
All Pillars of Eternity II companions come with some unique armor and equipment. But they become obsolete fast since they can’t be upgraded.
The Unique Companion Armors mod fixes this issue by giving Xoti, Serafen, and Tekehu default armors that are fully upgradable.
This also gives them starting abilities and multiple upgrade paths. The upgraded armors are rather decent, too, so you can save some money and spend it to upgrade your main character with ease.
Man, it feels good to be selfish for once.
12. Trinkets
In case you didn’t notice already, Pillars of Eternity II makes it easy for wizards, priests, and druids to unleash their full potential.
All other classes have it far rougher, not even being able to use Trinkets.
Well not anymore!
With the Trinkets mod you’ll get some new trinkets that can be used by all classes. The buffs granted by these new trinkets aren’t original, as they’re the same ones granted by select items temporarily. But it’s definitely better than nothing and does make a difference if you plan your character builds.
11. Bonus Ability Points on Lvl Up
True customization freedom in Pillars of Eternity II is granted only to those who install the Bonus Ability Points on Lvl Up mod.
As you’ve probably already guessed, this mod increases the amount of bonus ability points you receive on level up.
In an attempt to offer a balanced experience, the mod also includes four different options that will let you tweak the amount of bonus points you get depending on how much you want to break the game. How thoughtful!
10. TT1 New Items
Don’t you hate when some builds in RPGs just can’t be as effective vs. other builds? I sure do. I love that variety!
And the TT1 New Items mod introduces some brand new items that make all builds effective and viable from beginning to end.
Some of these items can actually be a little challenging, so if you’re looking to play the game in a completely different way, this is absolutely worth looking into.
9. Six Characters In Party
The more, the merrier. This is true in life, as well as complex computer games.
6 Characters in Party is a very simple modification that increases the total number of maximum party members to six. Probably easy to guess from the name, right?
There are some interface glitches and some other issues here if you’re playing the game in RTwP mode. But the mod generally works well, making it an essential download for all sorts of PoE2 players.
8. Level Cap 33
The concept of freedom in role-playing games has a very strange definition.
Be whoever you want, but only within the limits set by the developers.
Well with this Level Cap 33 mod, you can take down one of these limitations by increasing the level cap from 20 to 33. This means you can further customize your characters and take on even harder enemies.
The mod also rebalances things around a bit, so don’t expect to really overpower anything and anyone during the course of your adventure.
7. Aloth Romance Extension
Have any fondness for Aloth, the grumpy yet kind elven sorcerer?
If your heart started beating at the mere mention of his name, this is the mod for you.
This Aloth Romance Extension mod gives us some new dialogues that improve the Aloth romance option by quite a bit. Unfortunately, the mod cannot tell if you’re romancing the elf or not, so the new dialogue may feel out of place for some players if you consider Aloth to be just a friend.
But it’s your choice whether to install it or not, so if you’re big into Aloth I say go for it.
6. No Friendly Fire
I love area of effect attacks in role-playing games.
Until they start damaging my companions, that is.
No Friendly Fire lets you cast those big powerful spells without concern. The name gives it away, eh?
Basically this makes it so you’ll only hit target hostile characters, and not your party members. A few special attacks unleashed from weapons like Wahai Poraga and the Whispers of the Endless Path are also affected by the mod, so fire away and revel in the destruction you will cause.
Destruction that will no longer be indiscriminate.
5. Multiclass Level Cap Unlocked
Multiclassing is the biggest change that Pillars of Eternity II offered vs. the original game.
It works well, but things can always be improved.
Multiclass Level Cap Unlocked is pretty handy for players looking to multiclass their character. It unlocks the 8th and 9th ability tiers for Multiclass builds, letting you unleash the full potential of your subclass as if it were your main class. Dope.
The mod also features two different progression systems, so pick the one that suits you best.
4. MQ Portraits Pack
Create your character, but not your portrait? Preposterous!
While it’s still not possible to bring your own portrait into PoE2, it’s possible to make the portrait choice much better with the MQ Portraits Pack.
With 40+ portraits here, I’m sure you will find one that will resemble your character.
3. Community Patch
The Community Patch for Pillars of Eternity II shows just how much a community can achieve when it bands together in the name of their favorite game.
This mod is the end result of a community-driven effort to tweak and improve the game in ways that so many players agree on. The changes are vast and generally quite good (there’s a list on the mod page) but you can choose to opt out from many of them, so it’s really like a big mod pack.
Pick and choose what you want modded and what you want to keep vanilla.
By the community, for the community!
2. Enhanced User Interface
A good interface is extremely important for any complex role-playing game.
And it couldn’t be any other way, considering just how much you’ll have going on.
Well this Enhanced User Interface mod improves the already-excellent vanilla interface by adding color, icons, and rank indicators. These all make it easier for important elements and data to stand out.
Trust me on this: you won’t be going back to the regular interface once you install this mod. It’s like a new world you never knew about.
1. Unity Console
Any real PC game worthy of its name needs a modded cheat menu that lets players break the game.
I know this can ruin the first playthrough, but if you’ve been playing for a while? It’s too much fun to pass up.
Unity Console enables tons of options that are not normally available in Pillars of Eternity II, such as the ability to heal all wounds instantly, add any ability to any character, change classes on the fly, duplicate items, plus a whole lot of other neat features.
Basically every option that would make you scream “God Mode Activated” can be found here.
