Skip to main content
PC Gamer PC Gamer THE GLOBAL AUTHORITY ON PC GAMES
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
flag of UK
UK
flag of US
US
flag of Canada
Canada
flag of Australia
Australia
  • Games
  • Hardware
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Guides
  • Video
  • Forum
  • More
    • PC Gaming Show
    • Software
    • Movies & TV
    • Coupons
    • Magazine
    • Newsletter
    • Community guidelines
    • Affiliate links
    • Meet the team
    • About PC Gamer
PC Gamer Magazine Subscription
PC Gamer Magazine Subscription
Why subscribe?
  • Subscribe to the world's #1 PC gaming mag
  • Try a single issue or save on a subscription
  • Issues delivered straight to your door or device
From$32.49
View
Popular
  • Essential Hardware
  • PC Gaming Show
  • SGF
  • Dune: Awakening
  • Nightreign

Recommended reading

A cute cat wildshape in Baldur's Gate 3 with a moustache sticker stuck atop it.
Baldur's Gate Baldur's Gate 3's excellent new photo mode is full of details, dances, and poses for your cat—as well as 7 different ways to vogue, because why not
An assembled group of adventurers posing for a photo in Baldur's Gate 3.
Baldur's Gate I don't know what I expected: Everybody's just recreating memes in Baldur's Gate 3's new photo mode
A screenshot from Baldur's Gate 3, featuring Karlach and Tav recreating Michelangelo's "The Creation of Adam".
Baldur's Gate Baldur's Gate 3's new Giant Barbarian is beating out one of D&D 5e's oldest powergamer builds, making Karlach the MVP of my second Honour Mode playthrough
Warhammer inquisitor in golden armor sitting on throne
RPG The next Warhammer 40K RPG from Rogue Trader's devs sounds killer: An Imperial inquisitor detective RPG where you can intimidate your enemies until they're 'scared as f**k' and surrender
Voyta and Henry stare off into the distance, concerned.
RPG Kingdom Come 2's first expansion feels like the base game's best parts distilled, but don't expect a game-changer
A crystal dangles from the ceiling, seen from the point of view of someone holding a rapier
RPG I defeated a bird by talking to it about the Bible in this lo-fi first-person RPG where you're a 19th century daemon summoner
Diablo 4 - Druid concept art
RPG Diablo 4 player sits back as their 20 large lycanthrope sons tear through one of the hardest dungeons for them
  1. Games
  2. RPG
  3. Pillars of Eternity

Pillars of Eternity diary: playing as a party of bears

Features
By Christopher Livingston published 30 March 2015

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

A beary important question

A beary important question

I've been playing Pillars of Eternity as a ranger, and her companion animal is a bear. It follows her everywhere and can be sent into combat. After a few hours of play, I asked myself the same question we probably all have at some point: "Can I play Pillars of Eternity as all bears?"

Short answer: of course not. However, a long time ago a very wise in-flight magazine told me that success is a journey, not a destination. Here's how I tried to complete a quest in Pillars of Eternity as a bunch of bears, and almost actually did it.

Page 1 of 13
Page 1 of 13
Bear necessities

Bear necessities

Step one: bring my diverse party of adventurers to the tavern and replace them all with other rangers who have bears. This is one of the great things about Pillars of Eternity: you don't have to settle for hiring whatever low-level losers are hanging around with nothing on their calendars. You can create your own custom low-level losers!

I whip up some generic rangers, choose 'bear' from the animal companion menu, and hire them. I run out of money halfway through so I strip everyone, including myself, of all available gear and sell it, using the cash to buy more rangers/bears.

Page 2 of 13
Page 2 of 13
Loaded for bear

Loaded for bear

Soon I have six rangers, and six bears. My original bear, named Mr. Bear, plus Yogi Beara, Bearbra Eden, Ralph Bear, Bear-y Potter, and Beara Croft. Now, to get rid of these pesky rangers (who are all named 'Bear Provider' followed by a number).

This is the real question: if a ranger in my party dies, can I still keep their bear? I'm pretty doubtful, but I go outside to find out for sure.

Page 3 of 13
Page 3 of 13
The right to bear arms

The right to bear arms

I send Bear Provider 5 up to a large, well-armed man and attack him while the rest of my party, and their humans, wait a safe distance away so they won't become targets themselves. Bear Provider 5 is quickly overcome and falls to the ground. Her killer starts smoking a pipe, clearly untroubled.

Page 4 of 13
Page 4 of 13
Bearly a party

Bearly a party

The bad news—aside from the fate of the poor woman I just sent to her death—is that Bear Provider 5's bear has also keeled over dead because, oh, I don't know. The spiritual connection between them has been severed, or whatever fantasy nonsense it is that allows people to be friends with bears.

So, I cannot, truly, be bears and only bears. I can still sort of fake it, though, by having my ranger party move around from map to map, but try to let my bears handle everything else on their own.

Page 5 of 13
Page 5 of 13
Guy walks into a bear

Guy walks into a bear

The first thing I handle as bears is the tavern. The villagers, drinkers, and innkeepers all make the same fatal mistake: not finding it at all suspicious or alarming to be approached and encircled by a ring of bears. I attack, bear-style. It's a massacre.

Unfortunately, for some strange reason, the tavern patrons blame the sudden bear attacks on the six unarmed bear-bearing rangers lurking by the door, and attack them as well. I need a bit more space. Time to take my bears on the road.

Page 6 of 13
Page 6 of 13
The Bear Wicht Project

The Bear Wicht Project

I take the party to a section of the world map I haven't visited yet, leave the rangers stationed at the edge, and proceed into the woods as Just Bears.

Turns out, Just Bears is a great thing to be. Spiders? Don't make me laugh. Skeletons? Just a pile of bones. Wichts? I don't even know what those are, or how to pronounce them, but it doesn't matter because they're now passing through the digestive system of six bears.

Page 7 of 13
Page 7 of 13
All's bear in love and war

All's bear in love and war

This might surprise you, but combat-wise, being all bears is almost the same as having six different party members, with one tiny exception: instead of strategically selecting different attacks, buffs, and spells, and closely monitoring the health and endurance of your characters, you just click an enemy once and then watch as they die from bears.

As I explore the far end of the map, a mysterious figure walks out of the gloom. I rush over to eat him, but my bears suddenly turn and flee, right off the screen. Da hell?

Page 8 of 13
Page 8 of 13
Truth or bear

Truth or bear

The stranger addresses me: not me meaning my bears, but my actual character. I guess this guy can scream loud enough to be heard clear on the other side of the forest, and I guess his eyesight can penetrate PoE's annoying 'fog of war' which limits my own vision to roughly nine feet in front of me, even in broad daylight.

Anyway, the man yells to me about a nearby fort run by a cruel tyrant, and suggests I do something about it. Perfect! A real quest for me to solve with bears. We head out and find the entrance to the fort.

Page 9 of 13
Page 9 of 13
A bear of guards

A bear of guards

There are two soldiers guarding the fort's drawbridge. Being as nonchalant as six bears can be, I head toward them. Then past them. They don't even blink. 

They don't even do anything. The sight of bears walking briskly toward them in formation? Eh, whatever. None of our business! We're bridge guards, not bear bouncers. One briefly looks down as if a bear maybe stepped on his foot, but that's it. They are GREAT GUARDS.

Page 10 of 13
Page 10 of 13
Up the bearcase

Up the bearcase

I continue, inside the actual fort now. Another two guards are protecting a staircase. We walk right by them. By the way, have I mentioned this: I AM SIX BEARS. I am six bears and we're just wandering all over this ruthless tyrant's stupid fort and nobody is stopping me. Nobody is even interested.

Page 11 of 13
Page 11 of 13
Handle with bear

Handle with bear

At the top of the stairs, five more enemies. They're ignoring me, too. No one is doing anything! All I'm thinking now: is this going to work? Am I going to be able to saunter up to the tyrant and just go bears all over him? Have I found a loophole in Pillars of Eternity? A loophole shaped like six bears?

Page 12 of 13
Page 12 of 13
The beary end

The beary end

Wellllll no. First of all, there's a door at the top of the stairs that I can't open because, being Several Bears, I don't have opposable thumbs. Secondly, probably more importantly, the moment I get to the door, the guards all suddenly seem to ask "Hey, should this bunch of bears be here?" and the answer is, "No, definitely not." Then they kill quickly all my bears to death.

Oh well! We had a good run, me and my bears. It's just as well: I'm about outta bear puns.

Page 13 of 13
Page 13 of 13
TOPICS
Best of
Christopher Livingston
Christopher Livingston
Social Links Navigation
Senior Editor

Chris started playing PC games in the 1980s, started writing about them in the early 2000s, and (finally) started getting paid to write about them in the late 2000s. Following a few years as a regular freelancer, PC Gamer hired him in 2014, probably so he'd stop emailing them asking for more work. Chris has a love-hate relationship with survival games and an unhealthy fascination with the inner lives of NPCs. He's also a fan of offbeat simulation games, mods, and ignoring storylines in RPGs so he can make up his own.

Read more
A cute cat wildshape in Baldur's Gate 3 with a moustache sticker stuck atop it.
Baldur's Gate 3's excellent new photo mode is full of details, dances, and poses for your cat—as well as 7 different ways to vogue, because why not
An assembled group of adventurers posing for a photo in Baldur's Gate 3.
I don't know what I expected: Everybody's just recreating memes in Baldur's Gate 3's new photo mode
A screenshot from Baldur's Gate 3, featuring Karlach and Tav recreating Michelangelo's "The Creation of Adam".
Baldur's Gate 3's new Giant Barbarian is beating out one of D&D 5e's oldest powergamer builds, making Karlach the MVP of my second Honour Mode playthrough
Warhammer inquisitor in golden armor sitting on throne
The next Warhammer 40K RPG from Rogue Trader's devs sounds killer: An Imperial inquisitor detective RPG where you can intimidate your enemies until they're 'scared as f**k' and surrender
Voyta and Henry stare off into the distance, concerned.
Kingdom Come 2's first expansion feels like the base game's best parts distilled, but don't expect a game-changer
A crystal dangles from the ceiling, seen from the point of view of someone holding a rapier
I defeated a bird by talking to it about the Bible in this lo-fi first-person RPG where you're a 19th century daemon summoner
Latest in RPG
An inquisitor surrounded by his retinue, including an ogryn, a kroot, and an aeldari
Owlcat is 'redoing everything from scratch' in Dark Heresy, its next Warhammer 40,000 CRPG, which is the best thing I've heard about it so far
Eder and Pallegina from Pillars of Eternity looking heroic with mountains and dragon in the background
Despite always preferring turn-based combat in RPGs, Pillars of Eternity designer Josh Sawyer thinks a lack of experience and opportunity meant the studio couldn't pull off a similar swing to Larian taking Baldur's Gate turn-based
Vault Boy demonstrates how to duck and cover
New Vegas lead Josh Sawyer thinks turn-based combat fell off in the 2000s due to a lack of 'tactical variation': Even Fallout 1 would 'get to the point where you're always doing nut shots and eye shots'
Diablo 4 demon Astaroth holds a flaming axe aloft as he rides his three-headed dog in a storm of fire.
Diablo 4's old and forgotten dungeons will be renovated into loot-packed marathons that culminate with a duel against a familiar boss in its next season
Metaphor: ReFantazio
Our favorite RPG from last year is 40% off in the Steam Summer Sale
Illusion City horror RPG for the PC-98
Demonic sci-fi RPG Illusion City is one of those timeless pixel art games that still looks incredible in GIFs 34 years later
Latest in Features
Illusion City horror RPG for the PC-98
Demonic sci-fi RPG Illusion City is one of those timeless pixel art games that still looks incredible in GIFs 34 years later
Do No Harm
I played Lovecraftian doctor simulator Do No Harm, and let me tell you, my brother in Cthulhu, I did some serious harm
Nate in his gray onesie looks at an ice cream truck and a distant mountain
Yes, the protagonist of Baby Steps does have a juicy butt: 'Every animator winds up a little bit arse-focused,' says Bennett Foddy
A close-up of Sophie from Clair Obscur
The best deals in the 2025 Steam Summer Sale
Brian "Burgee," the lone developer of singleplayer pseudo-MMO, Erenshor.
Erenshor is a simulated MMO built for singleplayer by a single person
This month 25 years ago in PC gaming, our biggest concerns were pro gaming, moral panics about violent games… and we still thought Halo was a PC exclusive
  1. Annapro carrying case, GameSir Nova Lite controller, SteelSeries Arctis GameBuds, and Asus ROG Falchion RX Low Profile keyboard on a blue background with PC Gamer Recommended logo
    1
    Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads
  2. 2
    Best graphics card for laptops in 2025: the mobile GPUs I'd want in my next gaming laptop
  3. 3
    Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most
  4. 4
    Best 14-inch gaming laptop in 2025: The top compact gaming laptops I've held in these hands
  5. 5
    Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I've tested
  1. A Razer Basilisk Mobile gaming mouse and Razer Joro portable gaming keyboard on a blue background.
    1
    Razer Joro & Basilisk Mobile review
  2. 2
    Glorious Model O Eternal review
  3. 3
    LaCie Rugged Pro 5 SSD review
  4. 4
    Seagate Ultra Compact review
  5. 5
    Nacon Revolution X Unlimited review

PC Gamer is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...