In an interesting online connectivity twist, your main Pawn is shared online, uploaded to the rift for others to hire and use in their own party. The higher you level your Pawn, the more it's worth, and the more it will cost other players to use. Similarly, you can spend earned RC (Rift credits) to hire someone else's Pawn, adding them to your own party. These pawns can be freely dumped and hired as you see fit, enabling you to custom tailor your party for any battle or quest situation. My pawn is only worth a few hundred RC, but she has already gone out on adventures without me, always coming back with experience, money, item loot and even advice for quests I might go on later...
...From what I've seen of the game, you'll need to take full advantage of the dynamic combat system to survive. You'll blast through basic rats and bats without effort, but anything beyond that is a solid challenge. You're not up against Dark Souls-style ball busting here, but you also shouldn't expect to mash your way through anything less than a simple goblin. If you're outnumbered, you're probably going to die, at least early on. If you're ill-equipped? Dead. Out-ranked? Dead. And if your exploration sense overrides your common sense and has you venturing out a bit too far from home base? Super dead. This was a tough but enjoyable lesson...
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