Putting the 'role' back in role-playing games since 2002.
Donate to Codex
Good Old Games
  • Welcome to rpgcodex.net, a site dedicated to discussing computer based role-playing games in a free and open fashion. We're less strict than other forums, but please refer to the rules.

    "This message is awaiting moderator approval": All new users must pass through our moderation queue before they will be able to post normally. Until your account has "passed" your posts will only be visible to yourself (and moderators) until they are approved. Give us a week to get around to approving / deleting / ignoring your mundane opinion on crap before hassling us about it. Once you have passed the moderation period (think of it as a test), you will be able to post normally, just like all the other retards.

Pathfinder Pathfinder: Kingmaker Builds and Strats Thread

FriendlyMerchant

Guest
What does more damage overall, dual wielding or two handed weapons, assuming full specialisation on both? Has someone crunched the numbers yet?
Depends on the build and weapons of course. Let's due ranger since it has spec for both without going for a dex build. Here's an example of apparently similar damage. 18 STR (for easy calculations). No sources of damage bonuses other than STR. Assume the ideal case that you always hit. If not, we can just simply multiply the average damage number by the hit chance to see our conditional average damage. Miss chance is just a chance for 0 damage. For this same reason, we can assume that if a crit happens, you'll automatically confirm. This makes the calculation a lot easier though we can simply add some multiplicative factors if you want to factor in hit chance into the average damage. I will use greatsword and two shortswords as the example since without bonuses it's 2d6 damage for each and the same crit chance. We'll focus on averages here. Standard deviations can be done later if one wishes.

Let's start with no bonuses. Average damage for Greatsword

(0.9)*7+ (0.1)*14 = 7.7 damage

for short sword pair

(0.9)^2*7 + 2*(0.9)*(0.1)*10.5 + (0.1)^2*14 = 7.7 damage


They're the same damage on average and predictably the same standard deviation. So we'll add in bonuses as we go along and see what happens

Greatsword
2d6 + 6 at 19-20 x2

8 - 18 damage each attack with 16-36 damage on crit for each attack. Average damage on each hit should be

(0.9)*13 + (0.1)*26 = 14.3 damage


Two shortswords
1d6 + 4 at 19-20x2 (main hand)
1d6 at 19-20x2 (off hand)

Each pair of attacks is 6-16 damage. Crit on at least one strike is either 11 - 26 (only main hand crits), 7 - 22 (only off-hand crits), 12-32 (both crit). Average damage for each pair of hits should be

(0.9)^2*11 + (0.9)*(0.1)*18.5 + (0.9)*(0.1)*14.5 + (0.1)^2*22 = 12.1 damage

So Greatsword hear does more damage.

If you take double slice with the shortswords build. Now both weapons are at 1d6+4 damage. So no crits is 10-20 damage, only one hand crit is 15-30, both weapons crit is 20-40 damage. This gives an average damage

(0.9)^2*15 + 2*(0.9)*(0.1)*22.5 + (0.1)^2*30 = 16.5 damage. So here the shortswords build does more damage assuming you always hit.


Now lets factor in Power attack. With level 1 power attack Greatsword damage is 2d6+9 and we have two shortsword attacks at 1d6+6. As before, we can predict that dual wielding here will do more damage. Similar calculations as before the average damage for greatsword is

(0.9)*16 + (0.1) * 32 = 17.6
(0.9)^2*19 + 2*(0.1)*(0.2)*28.5 + (0.1)^2*36 = 20.88

So more damage in general if you can't miss.



Now if we assume that our hit bonuses are exactly enough to get a 95% hit chance. For example the enemy has 20 AC and you have a modifier of exactly +18 so everything but a 1 is a hit. Now we have to apply a modifier for the second attack for the dual wielding build and we have to redo the calculations to account for this with all bonuses. For the Greatsword,

(0.95)*(0.9)*16 + (0.1)*(0.95)*32 = 17.6*(0.95) = 16.72

The computation for the offhand now changes and becomes more complicated. The main hand is at 95% chance to hit. But the offhand is at 85% chance to hit. So we can add these two factors into the mix. We'll write down the factor for every combination since now the offhand or main hand can miss so we add in the chances of that happening to our average

(0.95)*(0.15)*(0.9)*9.5 + (0.95)*(0.15)*0.1*19 + (0.05)*(0.85)*(0.9)*9.5 + (0.05)*(0.85)*(0.1)*19 + (0.95)*(0.85) * 20.88 = 18.79385'




Let's lower the hit chance to 50%. The greatsword average damage is

17.6*(0.5) = 9.8

The shortsword does

(0.5)*(0.6)*[(0.9)*9.5 + (0.1)*19] + (0.5)*(0.4)*[(0.9)*9.5 + (0.1)*19] + (0.5)*(0.4)*20.88 = 9.401

So the lower your hit chance, your average damage is higher with the greatsword. If you have a higher hit chance in general, you'll do more damage dual wielding.
 

mediocrepoet

Philosoraptor in Residence
Patron
Joined
Sep 30, 2009
Messages
13,470
Location
Combatfag: Gold box / Pathfinder
Codex 2012 Codex+ Now Streaming! MCA Project: Eternity Divinity: Original Sin 2
What does more damage overall, dual wielding or two handed weapons, assuming full specialisation on both? Has someone crunched the numbers yet?
Depends on the build and weapons of course. Let's due ranger since it has spec for both without going for a dex build. Here's an example of apparently similar damage. 18 STR (for easy calculations). No sources of damage bonuses other than STR. Assume the ideal case that you always hit. If not, we can just simply multiply the average damage number by the hit chance to see our conditional average damage. Miss chance is just a chance for 0 damage. For this same reason, we can assume that if a crit happens, you'll automatically confirm. This makes the calculation a lot easier though we can simply add some multiplicative factors if you want to factor in hit chance into the average damage. I will use greatsword and two shortswords as the example since without bonuses it's 2d6 damage for each and the same crit chance. We'll focus on averages here. Standard deviations can be done later if one wishes.

Let's start with no bonuses. Average damage for Greatsword

(0.9)*7+ (0.1)*14 = 7.7 damage

for short sword pair

(0.9)^2*7 + 2*(0.9)*(0.1)*10.5 + (0.1)^2*14 = 7.7 damage


They're the same damage on average and predictably the same standard deviation. So we'll add in bonuses as we go along and see what happens

Greatsword
2d6 + 6 at 19-20 x2

8 - 18 damage each attack with 16-36 damage on crit for each attack. Average damage on each hit should be

(0.9)*13 + (0.1)*26 = 14.3 damage


Two shortswords
1d6 + 4 at 19-20x2 (main hand)
1d6 at 19-20x2 (off hand)

Each pair of attacks is 6-16 damage. Crit on at least one strike is either 11 - 26 (only main hand crits), 7 - 22 (only off-hand crits), 12-32 (both crit). Average damage for each pair of hits should be

(0.9)^2*11 + (0.9)*(0.1)*18.5 + (0.9)*(0.1)*14.5 + (0.1)^2*22 = 12.1 damage

So Greatsword hear does more damage.

If you take double slice with the shortswords build. Now both weapons are at 1d6+4 damage. So no crits is 10-20 damage, only one hand crit is 15-30, both weapons crit is 20-40 damage. This gives an average damage

(0.9)^2*15 + 2*(0.9)*(0.1)*22.5 + (0.1)^2*30 = 16.5 damage. So here the shortswords build does more damage assuming you always hit.


Now lets factor in Power attack. With level 1 power attack Greatsword damage is 2d6+9 and we have two shortsword attacks at 1d6+6. As before, we can predict that dual wielding here will do more damage. Similar calculations as before the average damage for greatsword is

(0.9)*16 + (0.1) * 32 = 17.6
(0.9)^2*19 + 2*(0.1)*(0.2)*28.5 + (0.1)^2*36 = 20.88

So more damage in general if you can't miss.



Now if we assume that our hit bonuses are exactly enough to get a 95% hit chance. For example the enemy has 20 AC and you have a modifier of exactly +18 so everything but a 1 is a hit. Now we have to apply a modifier for the second attack for the dual wielding build and we have to redo the calculations to account for this with all bonuses. For the Greatsword,

(0.95)*(0.9)*16 + (0.1)*(0.95)*32 = 17.6*(0.95) = 16.72

The computation for the offhand now changes and becomes more complicated. The main hand is at 95% chance to hit. But the offhand is at 85% chance to hit. So we can add these two factors into the mix. We'll write down the factor for every combination since now the offhand or main hand can miss so we add in the chances of that happening to our average

(0.95)*(0.15)*(0.9)*9.5 + (0.95)*(0.15)*0.1*19 + (0.05)*(0.85)*(0.9)*9.5 + (0.05)*(0.85)*(0.1)*19 + (0.95)*(0.85) * 20.88 = 18.79385'




Let's lower the hit chance to 50%. The greatsword average damage is

17.6*(0.5) = 9.8

The shortsword does

(0.5)*(0.6)*[(0.9)*9.5 + (0.1)*19] + (0.5)*(0.4)*[(0.9)*9.5 + (0.1)*19] + (0.5)*(0.4)*20.88 = 9.401

So the lower your hit chance, your average damage is higher with the greatsword. If you have a higher hit chance in general, you'll do more damage dual wielding.

This actually gets a bit more convoluted based on the specifics, for example fighter specialization bonuses are flat and favour additional attacks (dual wielding) over two handing. Similarly weapon damage bonuses like elemental damage favour additional attacks and need to be factored in to the expected damage value calculation. With fewer of these bonuses and more strength, the calculation will swing towards two handing due to the increased accuracy and 50% multiplier on strength damage. Naturally, this will increase further with elements like power attack and two handed fighter bonuses to strength and power attack damage.

Tl;dr the calculation isn't super straight forward outside of specific scenarios even beyond what was laid out above.
 

FriendlyMerchant

Guest
What does more damage overall, dual wielding or two handed weapons, assuming full specialisation on both? Has someone crunched the numbers yet?
Depends on the build and weapons of course. Let's due ranger since it has spec for both without going for a dex build. Here's an example of apparently similar damage. 18 STR (for easy calculations). No sources of damage bonuses other than STR. Assume the ideal case that you always hit. If not, we can just simply multiply the average damage number by the hit chance to see our conditional average damage. Miss chance is just a chance for 0 damage. For this same reason, we can assume that if a crit happens, you'll automatically confirm. This makes the calculation a lot easier though we can simply add some multiplicative factors if you want to factor in hit chance into the average damage. I will use greatsword and two shortswords as the example since without bonuses it's 2d6 damage for each and the same crit chance. We'll focus on averages here. Standard deviations can be done later if one wishes.

Let's start with no bonuses. Average damage for Greatsword

(0.9)*7+ (0.1)*14 = 7.7 damage

for short sword pair

(0.9)^2*7 + 2*(0.9)*(0.1)*10.5 + (0.1)^2*14 = 7.7 damage


They're the same damage on average and predictably the same standard deviation. So we'll add in bonuses as we go along and see what happens

Greatsword
2d6 + 6 at 19-20 x2

8 - 18 damage each attack with 16-36 damage on crit for each attack. Average damage on each hit should be

(0.9)*13 + (0.1)*26 = 14.3 damage


Two shortswords
1d6 + 4 at 19-20x2 (main hand)
1d6 at 19-20x2 (off hand)

Each pair of attacks is 6-16 damage. Crit on at least one strike is either 11 - 26 (only main hand crits), 7 - 22 (only off-hand crits), 12-32 (both crit). Average damage for each pair of hits should be

(0.9)^2*11 + (0.9)*(0.1)*18.5 + (0.9)*(0.1)*14.5 + (0.1)^2*22 = 12.1 damage

So Greatsword hear does more damage.

If you take double slice with the shortswords build. Now both weapons are at 1d6+4 damage. So no crits is 10-20 damage, only one hand crit is 15-30, both weapons crit is 20-40 damage. This gives an average damage

(0.9)^2*15 + 2*(0.9)*(0.1)*22.5 + (0.1)^2*30 = 16.5 damage. So here the shortswords build does more damage assuming you always hit.


Now lets factor in Power attack. With level 1 power attack Greatsword damage is 2d6+9 and we have two shortsword attacks at 1d6+6. As before, we can predict that dual wielding here will do more damage. Similar calculations as before the average damage for greatsword is

(0.9)*16 + (0.1) * 32 = 17.6
(0.9)^2*19 + 2*(0.1)*(0.2)*28.5 + (0.1)^2*36 = 20.88

So more damage in general if you can't miss.



Now if we assume that our hit bonuses are exactly enough to get a 95% hit chance. For example the enemy has 20 AC and you have a modifier of exactly +18 so everything but a 1 is a hit. Now we have to apply a modifier for the second attack for the dual wielding build and we have to redo the calculations to account for this with all bonuses. For the Greatsword,

(0.95)*(0.9)*16 + (0.1)*(0.95)*32 = 17.6*(0.95) = 16.72

The computation for the offhand now changes and becomes more complicated. The main hand is at 95% chance to hit. But the offhand is at 85% chance to hit. So we can add these two factors into the mix. We'll write down the factor for every combination since now the offhand or main hand can miss so we add in the chances of that happening to our average

(0.95)*(0.15)*(0.9)*9.5 + (0.95)*(0.15)*0.1*19 + (0.05)*(0.85)*(0.9)*9.5 + (0.05)*(0.85)*(0.1)*19 + (0.95)*(0.85) * 20.88 = 18.79385'




Let's lower the hit chance to 50%. The greatsword average damage is

17.6*(0.5) = 9.8

The shortsword does

(0.5)*(0.6)*[(0.9)*9.5 + (0.1)*19] + (0.5)*(0.4)*[(0.9)*9.5 + (0.1)*19] + (0.5)*(0.4)*20.88 = 9.401

So the lower your hit chance, your average damage is higher with the greatsword. If you have a higher hit chance in general, you'll do more damage dual wielding.

This actually gets a bit more convoluted based on the specifics, for example fighter specialization bonuses are flat and favour additional attacks (dual wielding) over two handing. Similarly weapon damage bonuses like elemental damage favour additional attacks and need to be factored in to the expected damage value calculation. With fewer of these bonuses and more strength, the calculation will swing towards two handing due to the increased accuracy and 50% multiplier on strength damage. Naturally, this will increase further with elements like power attack and two handed fighter bonuses to strength and power attack damage.

Tl;dr the calculation isn't super straight forward outside of specific scenarios even beyond what was laid out above.

I agree. A lot depends on what weapon combinations you're comparing or how far you're into the game or what you're fighting. At early levels, the dual wielder would usually have less hit chance for example than the two hander so this would stack the damage in favor of the two hander since earlier game dual wielders have a larger hit penalty. Or with enemies with damage resistance, dual wielder have to go through DR twice where two handers only have to go through them once. But when those hit penalties disappear and you just consider raw damage output some combinations of one handed weapons can perform better than some two handed weapons. With mythic two weapon fighting, you get rid of much of the hit penalty difference so everything else that comes up is just the variability in encounters and enemies.
 

Haplo

Prophet
Patron
Joined
Sep 14, 2016
Messages
6,553
Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire
This is not taking into consideration effect of size increases in one-handed vs two-handed weapons. Or the special effects on two-handers vs one-handers (two handers tend to have more damaging effects).

Then again bonus damages that apply to both hands, for example Mythic Charge, Elemental Barrage, sneak attacks and such favour dual wielding.
 

Yosharian

Arcane
Joined
May 28, 2018
Messages
10,428
Location
Grand Chien
This is not taking into consideration effect of size increases in one-handed vs two-handed weapons. Or the special effects on two-handers vs one-handers (two handers tend to have more damaging effects).

Then again bonus damages that apply to both hands, for example Mythic Charge, Elemental Barrage, sneak attacks and such favour dual wielding.
Bruh this is the Kingmaker thread
 

Haplo

Prophet
Patron
Joined
Sep 14, 2016
Messages
6,553
Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire
Right. But lately people tend to mix those games. And Friendly Merchant already mentioned Mythic Feats.

Anyway, two handers can also have the reach advantage - which might be preferable to having more iterative attacks. Also stronger blows are preferable to take advantage of Attacks of Opportunity. Or Vital Strikes.
 

mediocrepoet

Philosoraptor in Residence
Patron
Joined
Sep 30, 2009
Messages
13,470
Location
Combatfag: Gold box / Pathfinder
Codex 2012 Codex+ Now Streaming! MCA Project: Eternity Divinity: Original Sin 2
Anyway, two handers can also have the reach advantage - which might be preferable to having more iterative attacks. Also stronger blows are preferable to take advantage of Attacks of Opportunity. Or Vital Strikes.

I tend to think the 2H vs. dual wielding question tends to be more nuanced than most people give it credit for. As a result, I usually pick one or the other based on character concept and if I'm going to run scenarios based on calculations, it'll be based on specific scenarios for the path I've chosen to give a more apples to apples comparison.

Occasionally, I might run a table to broadly compare two options, but with things like abilities to modify crit ranges and multipliers, flat damage (that doesn't crit), regular damage (that does crit), strength damage, etc. there are enough variables that it becomes a pain in the ass unless you're comparing specific weapons or just taking a general lesson out of it in terms of what sorts of things you want to prioritize. I suppose a turbo autist might push things further, but I can't be bothered. It's not like the games require that level of granularity and optimization anyway.
 

mondblut

Arcane
Joined
Aug 10, 2005
Messages
22,698
Location
Ingrija
Throw in effortless dual wielding, and a pair of bastard swords suddenly looks more appetizing than one greatsword.
 

Yosharian

Arcane
Joined
May 28, 2018
Messages
10,428
Location
Grand Chien
In Kingmaker there is this thing called VANQUISHER and it is more powerful than any dual-wield setup even with 10d6 sneak dice, like way more powerful it isn't even close

And considering that 2H is 'i have power attack and now i win' while TWF needs like 3 feats minimum...
 

Haplo

Prophet
Patron
Joined
Sep 14, 2016
Messages
6,553
Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire
Throw in effortless dual wielding, and a pair of bastard swords suddenly looks more appetizing than one greatsword.

If its still Kingmaker we're speaking of... one handed bastard swords are decent but nothing to write home about. Same deal with greatswords, really. Now two-handed oversized bastard swords, greataxes or fauchards on the other hand...
 

Bloodeyes

Arcane
Joined
Jan 30, 2007
Messages
2,946
So I've been playing Beneath the Stolen lands. Getting pretty far. Lat run I beat the Captor and the Captive on level 30 something. I got to level 39 and ran into enemies that had a regeneration ability that wasn't listed on their character sheet. Couldn't kill them. Cold iron, fire acid. Didn't work. Lost 4 of six party members, ran and resurrected them. Then retired them. I had no idea what to do.

This time the same boss I already beat showed up again only with the mystery regeneration that the deep enemies had before. This was only level 29. All the enemies in the room had it. It said "cold iron" on their character sheet but I hit them with cold iron and nothing happened. So there must have been more than one type of regen. I TPK'd and it didn't feel fair at all. I don't think this game is winnable if every run I'm eventually going to run into that.

Is there some way I can detect the regen type or some strategy for dealing with this? Or am I just destined to randomly TPK sometimes no matter what I do? Also, is it normal for bosses you already beat to show up again? The captor and captive are listed as beaten in the journal, so the game didn't forget I killed them.
 

FriendlyMerchant

Guest
So I've been playing Beneath the Stolen lands. Getting pretty far. Lat run I beat the Captor and the Captive on level 30 something. I got to level 39 and ran into enemies that had a regeneration ability that wasn't listed on their character sheet. Couldn't kill them. Cold iron, fire acid. Didn't work. Lost 4 of six party members, ran and resurrected them. Then retired them. I had no idea what to do.

This time the same boss I already beat showed up again only with the mystery regeneration that the deep enemies had before. This was only level 29. All the enemies in the room had it. It said "cold iron" on their character sheet but I hit them with cold iron and nothing happened. So there must have been more than one type of regen. I TPK'd and it didn't feel fair at all. I don't think this game is winnable if every run I'm eventually going to run into that.

Is there some way I can detect the regen type or some strategy for dealing with this? Or am I just destined to randomly TPK sometimes no matter what I do?
Try rolling a rogue or anything that uses advanced rogue talents and taking crippling strikes. Attribute damage from that will kill anything.
 

Bigg Boss

Arcane
Joined
Sep 23, 2012
Messages
7,528
I want to play some kind of Inquisitor but I am unfamiliar with this setting. He has ranged weapons and a mace which makes my head spin a little but makes sense. I want to go Necromancy on the magic if possible. Is Persuasion and Charisma useful? Are there any companions locked by stuff like that? Is there a better Inquisitor companion that will make me regret doing this build? Trying to go in blind but this system is pretty involved and I don't want to do a restart 10 hours in.
 

LannTheStupid

Товарищ
Patron
Joined
Nov 14, 2016
Messages
3,195
Location
Soviet Union
Pathfinder: Wrath
It's funny how people want to rob themselves not only of parts of the game they paid for (or downloaded for "free" from Epic), but from the first ever experience of the game as well.
 

Bigg Boss

Arcane
Joined
Sep 23, 2012
Messages
7,528
I just want a manual to read but all that exists in 2022 are wiki's that spoil everything.
 

Haplo

Prophet
Patron
Joined
Sep 14, 2016
Messages
6,553
Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire
Ranged weapon + mace is just picture flavor I guess. I strongly suggest you specialize in 1 of these things. Not necessarily maces if going melee.
 
Last edited:

Bloodeyes

Arcane
Joined
Jan 30, 2007
Messages
2,946
I want to play some kind of Inquisitor but I am unfamiliar with this setting...

Inquisitor is a good class. I'm not an expert on optimization but I know how to make a solid, fun to play character. I'll try to help.

]I want to go Necromancy on the magic if possible.

I think you'll feel a bit let down by that character to be honest. First of all you don't get very many necromancy spells as an inquisitor. You get some cool stuff. Some very cool stuff. But it's a mix of everything so having a theme to your magic doesn't really work. Unless you go with enchantment, but that can be frustrating a lot of the time due to immunities. You need a maxed out stat + best WIS item + 2x spell focus and items to boost DCs before it stops sucking. Even then many things are immune. I'd suggest going with an eclectic mix of magic used for healing, protectives and support and dealing big damage with your bow. If you want to be a necromantic archer, cleric (ecclesitheurge) is better because it's got a better spell list (later on. Early game isn't great but it gets amazing). Your archery wouldn't be as good but your necromancy would be much, much more satisfying at high levels. A cheeky one level traditional monk dip could give you AC too, if you're into that kind of thing. But you don't need it if you mainly play turn based and being behind on spell progression is gay. I say keep it single class.

I tend to avoid combining archery with DC based casting (all the inquisitor necromancy spells haves saves afaik) just because archery needs STR for damage, DEX to hit and WIS for spells per day and spell DCs. That being said judgements help with a lot. At high levels judgement justice can make up for a middling DEX score, and judgement destruction + your bane weapon will help out with your damage. You'll want to have high DEX and wear items to boost your STR to get your damage up as priority. DEX items would be secondary because your judgements and feats should get the job done there, at least on hard DIFF.

Here's something I put together just now. Never play tested this so don't take it uncritically. This is just to give you an idea of some of the feats you may want to take.

Race: Aasimar - Plumekith (Garuda blooded) gets +2 to DEX and +2 to WIS. It's a good choice for an archer/caster. Human is good for everything. I'd suggest not playing against your racial strengths. You just end up wishing you were stronger. So pick something that fits.

Stats (For stinky DC casting build)

STR 12
DEX 18
CON 12
INT 7
WIS 19 (All points on levelup here)
CHA 12

Stats (For awesome ranged combat with buffs and healing build)

STR 16
DEX 17 (All points go here)
CON 14
INT 7
WIS 16
CHA 12

I left some CHA in there because you have an iquisitor class feature that adds your class level to intimidate checks.

If you decide to go cleric dump CHA for more of something else (Like DEX or more CON) and go with 19 WIS increasing to 24. Forget about channel energy (it's poo in the base game) and forget persuasion too because you don't have enough stats and feats to run three things (with modded domains though, you can do a lot more).

Anyway, you said inquisitor. The poor man's cleric (JK. Sorta). So lets go back to that. You get three skills with this character. I went trickery, perception and persuasion. Perception is really good for an inquisitor, because of the high WIS. If you want to do more archery than magic your character would probably be more satisfying to play. Inquisitors are better martials than mages TBH, but they can be a load of fun to play. Never done one ranged but I am playing a melee crit build inquisitor right now in beneath the stolen lands and he is epic. All the skills are useful in story mode and all are class skills for your inquisitor. Pick 3 that use DEX or WIS.

Possible feat progression (check AB requirements yourself to make sure this works. It should).
1. Point blank shot

3. Precise shot

5. Weapon focus longbow or spell focus necromancy (enchantment gets more spells for this class).

7. Rapid shot

9. Clustered shots

11. Manyshot

13. Improved critical - Longbow

15. Hammer the gap (good for archers and better at high levels. A nice boost to damage). Greater spell focus is mandatory if you're going DCs. You kind of do have to choose which you will be best at. Your judgements will mean you can still hit with your bow if you go for DCs, but if you don't put everything into your DCs your offensive magic will be all but useless. I'd still go for combat skills in this class, because of the spell list.

17. Optional. You could take a metamagic. I like quicken spell for even more clickable round/level buffs in combat. You could also empower or maximize your boneshaker to give you more offensive spell output, or heighten your favorite save or suck enchantment spells.

Spell penetration is also an option but you have a judgement that helps with that. My choice however would be critical focus. I love that feat. It often gets overlooked because it does its work in the background but I just took it on my rapier using inquisitor and holy shit he's critting like crazy now. Quickened true strike or quickened divine favor are tempting, but I think I like crits more. It's a close thing though.

19. If you're lucky enough to reach this level just take anything. The game is basically over anyway. Take something that sounds fun to you, but that you will be ok with missing if you finish the game before reaching this level.

If you decide to go with more archery (you should) then drop the spell focuses entirely. Extra bane weapon (I think that feat is in the base game) and critical focus. I prefer rapid shot to deadly aim but opinions vary on that one. I like hitting stuff over missing for big damage. But there is an item that gives you +4 to hit with ranged. If you have the DLC you will find it from a boss. You don't need to look for it. So maybe when you get that you could take deadly aim? Yeah that would work I think.

Is there a better Inquisitor companion that will make me regret doing this build?

Well she's not an archer but kinda... yeah. She's a necromancy themed inquisitor in a way your PC can never be. Without spoiling too much yeah, she's a better necromancer than you (still the wrong class to be a great one though). You don't have to use her though. There are lots of companions and you pick the ones you like best to make up your party.
 
Last edited:

Bigg Boss

Arcane
Joined
Sep 23, 2012
Messages
7,528
Mine looks more like that ranged build so far. I won't go full Necromancy because yeah not much to work with. I found that Inquisitor with the scythe but she is different enough so I am good to go. Thanks a lot brother! Glad I skipped persuasion too because your assessment seems to be accurate. Glad to hear there are lots of companions. That is what I loved about BG 1 over 2. So far the only thing I don't love about the game is the portrait art style. I do have it on TB since the past few games have been RTwP, so I want a little slower pace without so much auto pause.

Oh and I have no DLC.
 

Haplo

Prophet
Patron
Joined
Sep 14, 2016
Messages
6,553
Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire
Inquisitor kinda sucks, TBH.
If you really want to play one, I'd recommend Wrath of the Righteous. There you can at least mount a pet as Sacred Huntsmaster and the mystic path powers would strengthen and complement the character.
 

As an Amazon Associate, rpgcodex.net earns from qualifying purchases.
Back
Top Bottom