Started Tactician mode yesterday with my brother. I went for a knight-type of character, without any points in leadership, with the Lonewolf-talent.
He went for a wizard with no wands and his spells were flare, boulderbash (?) and Oath of Desecration.
We've both played the original game and thought that Tactician would suit our needs perfectly and so far, the difficulty level is exactly what it seems like. The first fight against the 5 skeletons was a close one, but we managed to do that simply by playing like someone who has touched a game before this one.
This game, this difficulty mode, requires you to think quite a bit, it doesn't allow you to just "Yea, I'll just go there and whack him", but it doesn't require min/maxing at all. And blacksmithing/crafting isn't as needed as people make it to be. You can play the game just fine without putting any points in those. There are plenty of items that give blacksmithing and/or crafting, you need to utilize those. Only thing that I've crafted so far are a few potions and special arrows, but those things only need 1 or 2 points.
Tactician mode is hard, it's unforgiving and it requires you to constantly watch out for the environment. There are oil barrels, ooze barrels, water puddles, etc..., along the way that you have to utilize to win the fight. The game may be hard, but it does not require you to do anything that you don't want to. You can complete the game by using two rogues, it's just going to be harder. But like I said; you can manage if you've ever played anything like this game before. Everyone knows that a good balanced party will be a lot better.
But, still, it's up to you how to play the game. There are multiple ways to get that much wanted CC. Grenades, scrolls, arrows, skills, so no character is gimped to the point of no return. P
