Pathfinder Pathfinder: Kingmaker Builds and Strats Thread

[Silly Germans]

It is quite misleading when people say that keen doubles your chance to do a critical hit.
It doesn't even necessarily double your chance to threaten, even that is wrong if not further
quantified since it depends on the relative armor class and attack value. These claims confused
me, since they are often made. Even saying that your chance to crit is 5 % per base is wrong, since
this value also is a function of (armorclass minus attack value), in the worst case you only have a chance to crit with 0.25 %.

It is good that no one here made that mistake.

 

[Desiderius]

It is quite misleading when people say that keen doubles your chance to do a critical hit.
It doesn't even necessarily double your chance to threaten, even that is wrong if not further
quantified since it depends on the relative armor class and attack value. These claims confused
me, since they are often made. Even saying that your chance to crit is 5 % per base is wrong, since
this value also is a function of (armorclass minus attack value), in the worst case you only have a chance to crit with 0.25 %.

It is good that no one here made that mistake.

If you know what keen is that case is moot. It's a decent approximation for those who care enough to ask such questions, with the usual intuitive, not minmaxxing, caveats. If anything it undercounts damage due to Outflank.

 

[apostrophe]

Are there any decent mele orientated neutral/chaotic evil builds for solo that can work on hard difficulty?

 

[Seari]

Oak's Pelt doesn't give nat armor bonus and Tiger's Stripes doesn't give enhancement bonus in smilodon wild shape. Tiger's Stripes only works for the form you get from the item lmao. Rip my Feyspeaker build, shoulda tested it before playing 2 whole chapters, fuck.

edit: Tested Tiger's Stripes with Beast Shape IV with sylvan sorc and it doesn't work either, lame.

 

[Desiderius]

Oak's Pelt doesn't give nat armor bonus and Tiger's Stripes doesn't give enhancement bonus in smilodon wild shape. Tiger's Stripes only works for the form you get from the item lmao. Rip my Feyspeaker build, shoulda tested it before playing 2 whole chapters, fuck.

edit: Tested Tiger's Stripes with Beast Shape IV with sylvan sorc and it doesn't work either, lame.

Tiger's Stripes gives you Smilodon Wild Shape itself. Use that skill and you'll get the enhancement. Pelt bonus should stack with Barkskin. I'll test tonight.

Pls stop assuming game is fucked and you're not doing something wrong. That may turn out to be the case (not often now) but usually produces bad results.

 

[Desiderius]

No, Seari, you're the shit. Here's the proof.

The point of Tiger's Stripes is to provide Wild Shape for classes which don't already have it. It's redundant for Druids, since you can get the same effect from your own Wild Shape + Magic Fang, Greater and/or the Amulets.

There's the armor, here's the button you push to Wild Shape:

And here's your enhancement:

As for Oak's Pelt, it does have a use, but not with Wild Shape. I apologize if I suggested differently. Druids and Sorcs have far better options anyway (Robes).

It gives non-Wild Shaped toons a natural armor, not a natural armor bonus, so it stacks with both Bracers and Barkskin. If you try to Beast Shape though this happens:

So don't do that. Use a cool Robe instead.

And git gud. These armors aren't for Druids or Sorcs. If you want to use Stripes on your Sorc, at least read what the armor does and press the right button.

 

[Desiderius]

Shove your award up your ass.

You shouldn't be defaming games with inaccurate butthurt reports of your own ineptitude.

You fucked up. Own it.

 

[Seari]

Monk robes don't work in wild shape, neither do robes of the master or bogeyman robes. Looks like chest slot gets disabled while shifted.

 

[Yosharian]

Oak's Pelt doesn't give nat armor bonus and Tiger's Stripes doesn't give enhancement bonus in smilodon wild shape. Tiger's Stripes only works for the form you get from the item lmao. Rip my Feyspeaker build, shoulda tested it before playing 2 whole chapters, fuck.

edit: Tested Tiger's Stripes with Beast Shape IV with sylvan sorc and it doesn't work either, lame.

If you really want to do a wildshape build you should look at some of the mods on the Nexus, iirc Call of the Wild does some things to improve it

 

[Desiderius]

Monk robes don't work in wild shape, neither do robes of the master or bogeyman robes. Looks like chest slot gets disabled while shifted.

Allright, hope you're not wrong again.

EDIT: Can confirm, armor slot doing nothing. Would have guessed* it was giving no armor but you'd get bonuses, like on Weapon slot, but testing, including in combat, shows that you get nothing. You do get the Natural Armor from the Wild Shape itself, but missing the bonuses is a big downside. You do get full benefit of any equipped Shield, including AC.

* - haven't played a lot Wild Shaped outside of testing, but have enough under the assumption that I was getting bonuses that it kind of sucks discovering I wasn't. Wouldn't be surprised if that were nerfed at some point. My impression is this is how it works in PnP/d20 so likely intended.

So that's another use for Oak's Pelt - to keep your AC roughly constant between Wild Shape and non-Wild Shape since you have no other use for that slot if you're planning to fight Wild-shaped.

 

[Seari]

You do get full benefit of any equipped Shield, including AC.

Interesting.

Fuck it, I'll "cheat" and use shields with monk AC(bugged), almost pointless anyways since you can cast shield from alchemist. My reasoning being that the shield fuses into your form and you don't really have it in hand when in wild shape. Probably doesn't work in pnp, but who cares, there's wild armor in pnp (which is how I hoped Oak's Pelt worked).

edit: You can use Divine Power from Blessed Defense shield while shifted. It gives you +2 luck AB and another bite attack at full bab for 40 secs, which is pretty nice.

Anyone knows if there's a higher level Divine Power item in game?

edit2: 2x arcane protector is the answer, thanks to Ineffect

 

[Desiderius]

You do get full benefit of any equipped Shield, including AC.

Interesting.

Fuck it, I'll "cheat" and use shields with monk AC(bugged), almost pointless anyways since you can cast shield from alchemist. My reasoning being that the shield fuses into your form and you don't really have it in hand when in wild shape. Probably doesn't work in pnp, but who cares, there's wild armor in pnp (which is how I hoped Oak's Pelt worked).

edit: You can use Divine Power from Blessed Defense shield while shifted. It gives you +2 luck AB and another bite attack at full bab for 40 secs, which is pretty nice.

Anyone knows if there's a higher level Divine Power item in game?

edit2: 2x arcane protector is the answer, thanks to Ineffect

2x? Arcane protector is only 3AC. You can use Protector + Shield

Ekun's Armor is Divine Favor lvl 9 (+3/+3) I think.

 

[Seari]

2x? Arcane protector is only 3AC. You can use Protector + Shield

Ekun's Armor is Divine Favor lvl 9 (+3/+3) I think.

 

[Desiderius]

2x? Arcane protector is only 3AC. You can use Protector + Shield

Ekun's Armor is Divine Favor lvl 9 (+3/+3) I think.

Yes, +3 each, Protector + Tower gets you +12

 

[Stefan Vujovic]

Hello fellow pathfinders, can anyone suggest a class build for a first time player to get most of the story. I intend to play on normal difficulty. Have 0 knowledge about pathfinder system, so a complete build would be great (stats/feets/etc).

 

[NJClaw]

Hello fellow pathfinders, can anyone suggest a class build for a first time player to get most of the story. I intend to play on normal difficulty. Have 0 knowledge about pathfinder system, so a complete build would be great (stats/feets/etc).

You will get the entire story regardless and you can go through the game with almost any character, so in order to give you some tips it's best to start from what you think would be fun. Try to go over the available classes to find out what you think you could enjoy the most (but keep in mind also the available companions).

 

[Desiderius]

Hello fellow pathfinders, can anyone suggest a class build for a first time player to get most of the story. I intend to play on normal difficulty. Have 0 knowledge about pathfinder system, so a complete build would be great (stats/feets/etc).

Aldori Defender (optional Swordlord/Duelist) would be most lore-friendly, but there's not a lot of tie-in between specific classes and the story. I'll throw together a basic build this afternoon.

Most important thing for smooth first playthrough is a Bard (they can sing and act at the same time, unlike BG), a Freebooter (Amiri makes a good one), and a pet. Not required, but more difficult without each.

 

[Pink Eye]

Hello fellow pathfinders, can anyone suggest a class build for a first time player to get most of the story. I intend to play on normal difficulty. Have 0 knowledge about pathfinder system, so a complete build would be great (stats/feets/etc).

You could always roll a scaled fist. They're a solid class for the main game.

 

[Desiderius]

Hello fellow pathfinders, can anyone suggest a class build for a first time player to get most of the story. I intend to play on normal difficulty. Have 0 knowledge about pathfinder system, so a complete build would be great (stats/feets/etc).

Here's a nice straightforward thematic Aldori Defender Fighter build with one level of Swordlord for DEX to damage.

Take Feats in this order (though probably want Agile Maneuvers before Greater Disarm). Early game you can use Dazzling Display to make foes Shaken (after sneaking into position to hit them with it). Later on your Bard can do that with a song and you can take advantage by Disarming them.

One of the fun parts of the game is that you're really testing ten different builds at once so I'll leave the other nine for you to enjoy.

 

[Absinthe]

Hello fellow pathfinders, can anyone suggest a class build for a first time player to get most of the story. I intend to play on normal difficulty. Have 0 knowledge about pathfinder system, so a complete build would be great (stats/feets/etc).

Play a charisma-based class because there are a lot of charisma checks that you need to make as part of the Kingmaker system in the campaign. They're not essential but if you want to experience more content it's recommended. Sorcerer/Bard/Paladin would work better for this (if you go Bard though then either go Archaeologist or I hope you're planning on ditching Linzi, but as I understand it if you really want her to leave you have to go evil in the prologue).

 

[Desiderius]

It's convenient to have decent CHR for a couple checks but it doesn't have a material effect on the Kingmaker part. If you want to play a Bard you can just leave Linzi in your capital or at Oleg's, no need to play Evil.

 

[Desiderius]

Using Yosh's format:

Fighter (Aldori Defender) 20
Race: Human
Alignment: LG

• STR: 12
  
• DEX: 19 (+2)
  
• CON: 14
  
• INT: 13
  
• WIS: 10
  
• CHA: 12

Skills:

• Mobility
• Stealth
• Perception
• Persuasion

Feats & Abilities:
L01 Fighter 1: Weapon Finesse, Weapon Focus (Dueling Sword), Dazzling Display
L02 Fighter 2: Slashing Grace, Bravery 1
L03 Fighter 3: Aldori Dueling Mastery, Defensive Parry 1
L04 Fighter 4: Outflank
L05 Fighter 5: Improved Initiative, Weapon Training (Heavy Blades)
L06 Fighter 6: Disarming Strike, Bravery 2
L07 Fighter 7: Shatter Defenses, Defensive Parry 2
L08 Fighter 8: Steel Net
L09 Fighter 9: Improved Critical (Dueling Sword), Fighter's Tactics, Weapon Training (Heavy Blades) 2
L10 Fighter 10: Counterstrike, Bravery 3
L11 Fighter 11: Combat Expertise, Defensive Parry 3
L12 Fighter 12: Disarm
L13 Fighter 13: Agile Maneuvers, Trained Initiative, Weapon Training (Heavy Blades) 3
L14 Fighter 14: Greater Disarm, Bravery 4
L15 Fighter 15: Combat Reflexes, Defensive Parry 4
L16 Fighter 16: Piranha Strike
L17 Fighter 17: Blind Fight, Armed Bravery, Weapon Training (Heavy Blades) 4
L18 Fighter 18: Shake it Off, Bravery 5
L19 Fighter 19: Coordinated Maneuvers, Defensive Parry 5, Armor Mastery
L20 Fighter 20: Seize the Moment, Weapon Mastery

 

[Stefan Vujovic]

Wow thanks a lot everyone, i'll probably start with Aldori Defender for my 1st playthrough, for some reason just couldn't get into DOS2 or POE2, hopefully this one won't disappoint.

 

[Yosharian]

Wow thanks a lot everyone, i'll probably start with Aldori Defender for my 1st playthrough, for some reason just couldn't get into DOS2 or POE2, hopefully this one won't disappoint.

An... interesting choice

 

[Desiderius]

Wow thanks a lot everyone, i'll probably start with Aldori Defender for my 1st playthrough, for some reason just couldn't get into DOS2 or POE2, hopefully this one won't disappoint.

An... interesting choice

Can't go wrong with full BAB. +10 AB, +7 AC, +5 Dam, +11 initiative by lvl 4 - what's not to like?

Then he has some fun Disarm tricks to play around with to maintain interest in the second half of the game. Disarm is fun - you should try it. CC + DPS (generates a lot of AoOs).