Pathfinder Pathfinder: Kingmaker Builds and Strats Thread

[Haplo]

Outflank at level 14? Heresy. Move it to 7 right away (level 5 or 7 for all meleers).

I guess he will be competent enough at hitting once buffed.
Question will you really enjoy spend a lot of time constantly buffing just to become a worse fighter?

Personally I'd definitely not pick a cleric to focus on martial combat. Other classes are better at that with less effort/involvement.

AC will be kinda middling for all the effort and feats that go into it... and still won't be worth much come end game.

One pretty nice thing you can do is get Dazzling Disply -> Shatter Defenses. Then cast Frightful Aspect when it becomes available and always attack enemies with flat-footed AC (unless they are immune to fear).

 

[ColinMacLaren]

Thanks for the advice. I forwent the idea of a battle cleric and made three toons to toy around with in act 1.

One is the DEX Sword Saint. He needs a couple of levels to become somewhat competent.
I completely get wrecked. My party after alignment decisions at the end of the Prologue is
MC/Valerie/Jeathal/Amiri. Thorn fort was kinda OK, but on the way to the Abandoned House I run into a group of the Techno League and my level 2 party just gets destroyed. I am also clueless how this group is supposed to beat the Bear-like Treant at the Temple of the Elk.

Second run was with a Druid and Val/Linzi/Amiri. Techno League went like a breeze. The Treant gave me trouble and went down on tenth try or something. Went pure Druid since Defender of the True World does not get spontaneous summoning (any more?) Druid was the class I wanted to play in the first place, but everywhere in the forums I was told they are bad.

Third run was with a Sylvan Sorcerer but I only finished the Prologue so far.

How am I supposed to beat these encounters when the C still needs like two or three levels to get going? Is is just me or am I too stupid for this game if I am already struggling at the very beginning?

 

[Andhaira]

Thanks for the advice. I forwent the idea of a battle cleric and made three toons to toy around with in act 1.

One is the DEX Sword Saint. He needs a couple of levels to become somewhat competent.
I completely get wrecked. My party after alignment decisions at the end of the Prologue is
MC/Valerie/Jeathal/Amiri. Thorn fort was kinda OK, but on the way to the Abandoned House I run into a group of the Techno League and my level 2 party just gets destroyed. I am also clueless how this group is supposed to beat the Bear-like Treant at the Temple of the Elk.

Second run was with a Druid and Val/Linzi/Amiri. Techno League went like a breeze. The Treant gave me trouble and went down on tenth try or something. Went pure Druid since Defender of the True World does not get spontaneous summoning (any more?) Druid was the class I wanted to play in the first place, but everywhere in the forums I was told they are bad.

Third run was with a Sylvan Sorcerer but I only finished the Prologue so far.

How am I supposed to beat these encounters when the C still needs like two or three levels to get going? Is is just me or am I too stupid for this game if I am already struggling at the very beginning?

If you play a Magus, go for a pure Magus build (no archtypes) so you can wear armor, or if you do go Swordsaint don't GIMP your INT.

Remember a Magus is not a warrior, but a warrior mage, so you will only excel if you use both. Use long range spells to soften up or kill enemies before moving in. Use spells like Shield and Mirror Image. Feats should mainly be used to boost your magical abilities not warrior ones.

Problem is its hard to play a Magus in a system that's not pure turnbased, as its core ability of spellcombat and spellstrike require multiple actions in the same turn.

 

[Haplo]

That's like... The opposite of my advice. Also armor doesn't protect nearly as much here as Dex + Int + Bracers.

Note you need to be magus level 13 (!) to get access to heavy armor.
A Sword Saint is nearly immortal (at least as long as buffs last - particularly Mirror Image) around level 4-5.

 

[pm_675]

Third run was with a Sylvan Sorcerer but I only finished the Prologue so far.

How am I supposed to beat these encounters when the C still needs like two or three levels to get going? Is is just me or am I too stupid for this game if I am already struggling at the very beginning?

What difficulty are you playing? In any case remember that low level DnD is lethal as hell. You are a bad roll of being crited to death in the first 3 levels.

To mitigate that you need to be aware of a couple of things:
First, due to the mechanics of 3.5/Pathfinder you need to pile bonus upon bonus to your rolls. While two bonus of the same type don't usually stack (but in some cases they do) between morale, luck, circumstance, armor, weapon, etc., etc. you can have a very large bonus to your roll. Therefore it pays to specialize in something (attack, defense, skill checks) than try to make a jack of all trades character.

Second, try to improve your odds by familiarizing with the system and the game. Read the in-game encyclopedia especially. Be familiar with all the scrolls, potions and wands, try it in combat (although using those when you are in melee gives your enemies attacks of opportunity. Either use them before or after combat, or by your backline). Scout the encounters, send the character with the highest stealth ahead to inspect the enemies ( Keep the inspect button, the eye on the left panel, on at all times). When you do see their stats, defense, attack and specials (you need Lore: Nature and knowledge: World in the first chapter) plan accordingly, like using spells or attacks against their lowest defense.

Went pure Druid since Defender of the True World does not get spontaneous summoning (any more?) Druid was the class I wanted to play in the first place, but everywhere in the forums I was told they are bad.

They are retards. Unless you are playing in the highest difficulty you don't need a ultra-optimized, min-maxed character Monk 1/knife master 1/Vivi whatever. I played a Defender of the True World druid and wasn't bad at all. Even as a primarily caster build you can off-tank (shield and scimitar) when needed (in challenging) and your pet is quite capable of tanking or damage dealing. Really, at least in your first levels it's your pet who must do most of the fighting and it's when you need more people the most. It's true that First (and somewhat second) level druid spells are underwhelming but you are an area crowd controller, buffer and utility rather than direct attacker.UFor the first to levels use primarily Magic Fang on your pet with the occasionally acid maw, the rest are circumstantial. Except Entangle, fuck entangle or at least use this MOD. Remeber that summoning is quite powerful, in a pinch a even a Mite could make a nice meat shield (or make you flank a target). You can spontaneously summon (use it)

 

[Sergiu64]

The technic(sp?) encounter is one of the toughest ones in act one. I suggest waiting till party is level 3 before trying it.

Otherwise much of act 1 is having a high DC conjuration wiz/sorc and greasing everything that's stationary. A good grease will take both the summoner girl and her necromancer buddy out of the fight. Another grease can be dropped on the two fighters once they've engaged. Use Ctrl to place it so that you don't put it under your guys.

 

[ColinMacLaren]

In the end I went with a Druid (Defender of the True World) which is what I wanted to play in the first place. I am going to take a one level dip in Traditional monk and focus on Off-Tanking and summoning.

Interestingly enough the game has become incredibly easy once I hit level 3 with a full party of six.
I went Thorn Fort -> Abandoned Hut -> Technic's league encounter -> Temple of the Elk -> Technic's League encampment -> Old Oak -> Ancient Tomb - Old Sycamore. Getting Tristian is a huge relief and with level 3 comes a huge power spike.

Val took a level of Monk for Crane stylen benefits and now rarely gets hit at all, Amiri got two levels of Sacred Huntsmaster and Boon companion at 3.

Old Sycamore was just left-click on everything, finished both the dungeon and the Depths within a single rest.

 

[Sarkile]

I came back to this game after quite a break and tried a new game of Beneath The Stolen Lands. Made a strength based Monk, but immediately got an agile amulet of mighty fists. This got me questioning whether it's better to go with strength, or focus exclusively on dexterity as a Monk. Are there any other considerations for the class, considering I haven't played it yet?

 

[Daidre]

It depends on what Monk Style you want to use as your primary. Crane works better for max defense option and DEX. Damage is nothing to right home about though.

Dragon is more dps-oriented option and works better with STR. It is best with Scaled Fist, since style-feats available as monk bonus feats depend on archetype and Scaled Fist get Dragon line and vanilla gets Crane.

Both are better with 4 lvl Rogue (or Thug) dip.

Pummeling style is knockdown-centered and not my thing.

 

[polo]

So is there a page where i can find decent fun builds for my MC first playthrough? I dont want to fuck it up and have to restart the game 5 times because i cant make a decent build.

 

[Zumbabul]

You do not need min/max build to beat this game. Just choose the class you like and enjoy the game.

If you are really fear to fuck up the build, there is an option to respec you character. So, fucking up the build is not a big deal.

 

[amurath]

So is there a page where i can find decent fun builds for my MC first playthrough? I dont want to fuck it up and have to restart the game 5 times because i cant make a decent build.

If you don't mind a fair bit of munchkinism, InEffect has some good builds: https://af.gog.com/forum/pathfinder_kingmaker/ineffects_guide_v2/page1?as=1649904300

 

[Yosharian]

So is there a page where i can find decent fun builds for my MC first playthrough? I dont want to fuck it up and have to restart the game 5 times because i cant make a decent build.

If you don't mind a fair bit of munchkinism, InEffect has some good builds: https://af.gog.com/forum/pathfinder_kingmaker/ineffects_guide_v2/page1?as=1649904300

I think my scion build is better than his, personally, but it's all good.

 

[loupgris]

thank you, if you could give me opinion on this build for the elven curved blade.

Race: Elf
Alignment: Lawful-Good

For use of Elven Curve Blade

Stats:
Str: 7
Dex: 19 > 24
Con: 12
Int: 18
Wis: 7
Cha: 14

1 thug 1, +1d6 sneak
2 sword saint 1, +1 AC, arcane pool and weapon +1
3 thug 2, evasion
4 thug 3, +1d6 sneak
5 Scaled Fist,
6 thug 4, uncanny dodge
7 sword saint 2, +1 AC
8 sword saint 3, +1 AC, Arcane Accuracy
9 sword saint 4, +1 AC,
10 slayer, study target +1
11 slayer
12 slayer, +1d6 sneak
13 slayer
14 slayer, study target +2
15 slayer, +1d6 sneak
16 slayer
17 slayer
18 slayer, +1d6 sneak
19 slayer, study target +3,
20 fighter or Stalwart Defender

1 finesse, dodge
2 Weapon Focus: Elven Curve Blade
3 Accomplished Sneak Attacker, Dazzling Display
4 Finesse Training: Elven Curve Blade
5 Crane Style, arcane pool +2
6 Outflank
7 Crane Wing
8 Arcane Accuracy
9 Shatter Defenses
10
11 Improved Critical, Blind Fight
12
13 Crane Riposte, Combat Reflexes
14
15 arcane pool +2, power attack
16
17 arcane pool +2, Cleaving Finish
18
19 arcane pool +2, opportunist
20 choice

+extend metamagic rod : shield 8 min x 3 or 4

Spells : true strike, shield and mirror image

BAB 18 +3 study target +1 weapon focus +4 after sneak attack (Debilitating Injury) +8 accuracy

So at 20 with weapon +5 and 34 dex (+12) AB 39-51

Debilitating injury and study target explain the use of arcane accuracy (+8) for the proc

Arcane pool 2+8+2+2+2+2=18 for +8 to hit (int 18+8 item)

At level 10 with +4 item arcane pool 2+6+2=10 for +6 to hit.

Sneak 6d6

AC : canny defense +4, monk AC, shield

 

[Haplo]

How do you calculate that Arcane Pool? It's SS levels /2 + Int mod. Or 6 to 10 in your case.

Never mind, I saw you picked Extra AP 4 times. Extra fascinating...

 

[loupgris]

After playing an eldritch archer (full dex and 18 int), this is where the idea came to me.
I am open to any proposal that could improve the build especially for feats.

 

[panda]

7 Crane Wing

Will it work with 2h weapon?

 

[Desiderius]

7 Crane Wing

Will it work with 2h weapon?

It works with everything else. Bugged if using without open hand.

 

[Desiderius]

You do not need min/max build to beat this game. Just choose the class you like and enjoy the game.

If you are really fear to fuck up the build, there is an option to respec you character. So, fucking up the build is not a big deal.

Fucking up, figuring out why, then getting better is what makes the game fun.

Or you can keep fucking up and spam me with parrots instead. All good.

 

[Desiderius]

So is there a page where i can find decent fun builds for my MC first playthrough? I dont want to fuck it up and have to restart the game 5 times because i cant make a decent build.

Best way to learn is by playing. Easiest is pet class for first run.

Here's some good companion builds, but it's where I got the ideas for my first MCs:

https://af.gog.com/forum/pathfinder_kingmaker/companion_builds/page1?as=1649904300

 

[Desiderius]

It depends on what Monk Style you want to use as your primary. Crane works better for max defense option and DEX. Damage is nothing to right home about though.

Dragon is more dps-oriented option and works better with STR. It is best with Scaled Fist, since style-feats available as monk bonus feats depend on archetype and Scaled Fist get Dragon line and vanilla gets Crane.

Both are better with 4 lvl Rogue (or Thug) dip.

Pummeling style is knockdown-centered and not my thing.

Any Monk can knockdown with Sweep the Leg. Pummeling is for extra free knockdown, Damage Reduction bypass on iterative attacks, and Pounce (full attack Charges). Crane is for everyone, but on pure Monks only style which works with Monk weapons.

 

[Desiderius]

Confirmed Outflank not working on ranged attacks.

 

[loupgris]

only size the moment for ranged

 

[Desiderius]

only size the moment for ranged

So if you crit from range you trigger it? Seems like corner case since you don't want Combat Reflexes anyway. Guess you could Vanguard/Tac Leader it. Can't see it being a big deal one way or another.

Unfortunately Eldritch Archer is most mailed-in class in the game. Copypasta from base Magus so your abilities are all melee and you cant even cast Hurricane Bow. Can’t even really Mystic Theurge it that well since there are no INT-based Divine Classes.

Using Wand Wielder to Spellstrike with Spit Venom for no save Blind is pretty sweet tho.

 

[loupgris]

For me eldritch archer is very very good.