Pathfinder Pathfinder: Kingmaker Builds and Strats Thread

[Lawntoilet]

Can you break down her AC for me? I'm level 10 and she only has 51 with Defensive Style and Defensive Stance active.

Spoiler

10 base
+44 from gear + "long" buffs
17 = +7 dex(2 base + 2 belt + 2 mutagen +1 size)
24 = +7 natural(5 barkskin + 2 mutagen)
32 = +8 shield(4 + 2ench + 2 feats)
36 = +4 shield of faith
38 = +2 dodge (feat + prestige class features)
52 = +14 armor (10 base + 3 magical vestment + 1 feat) here is bug probably, should be 10+2+1, but then you should get another +1 from shield
54 = +1 meal, +1 size

+7 short buffs
58 = +4 cleric of Abadar(Tristian will give you +2)
60 = +2 dodge from stance
61 = +1 haste

Nice, thanks!
I didn't take any Alchemist levels on Val and haven't been using Barkskin because I forgot that it scales with level .

 

[Haplo]

Alternatively, I have a solid grasp of D&D 3E/ 3.5E, does PF differ significantly?

You'll feel right at home then. Some things are different and imo better: half-elves are not total crap, skill system is overhauled, cantrips get unlimited casting, multiclassing penalty does not exist, classes can take optional archetypes to further specialize, feats at ever other level, more options to pick in general,... But the core 3.5 is still there.

well fuck, that's a pretty significant difference, thanks! The feats thing is especially interesting to me, too many feats used to be not worth wasting a feat point on.

Also a lot of classes get feat-like thematic class abilities every even level. So with many of them you get to chose new abilities every level (or every other x2).

 

[jungl]

building ac is pointless when you can summon skeleton warriors for tough encounters

 

[Jaedar]

building ac is pointless when you can summon skeleton warriors for tough encounters

Stops working when enemies start having cleaves and killing them all in one turn + making a regular attack against your dudes.

Question for the rules experts: What makes a spell "mind affecting". Mainly asking in regards to serpent and undead bloodline of sorc.

 

[Sykar]

building ac is pointless when you can summon skeleton warriors for tough encounters

Stops working when enemies start having cleaves and killing them all in one turn + making a regular attack against your dudes.

Question for the rules experts: What makes a spell "mind affecting". Mainly asking in regards to serpent and undead bloodline of sorc.

Essentially if it forces a will save. Anything from the enchantment school.

 

[sebas]

Stops working when enemies start having cleaves and killing them all in one turn + making a regular attack against your dudes.

I'm looking at starting over as a Conjurer. So Summons will just end up pointless later in the game?

 

[Jaedar]

Stops working when enemies start having cleaves and killing them all in one turn + making a regular attack against your dudes.

I'm looking at starting over as a Conjurer. So Summons will just end up pointless later in the game?

I'm assuming not every enemy has cleave, but some do. And one big summon can usually hold the line for a round or two in my experience. And summons are always massively helpful against enemies that like to level or stat drain.

 

[hell bovine]

building ac is pointless when you can summon skeleton warriors for tough encounters

Question for the rules experts: What makes a spell "mind affecting". Mainly asking in regards to serpent and undead bloodline of sorc.

Essentially if it forces a will save. Anything from the enchantment school.

When it comes to undead bloodline, also illusion and - ironically - necromancy (fear spell). Serpentine might be only enchantment, but I never got far enough to test it before the hotfixes bugged my saves.

 

[vazha]

Can you break down her AC for me? I'm level 10 and she only has 51 with Defensive Style and Defensive Stance active.

Spoiler

10 base
+44 from gear + "long" buffs
17 = +7 dex(2 base + 2 belt + 2 mutagen +1 size)
24 = +7 natural(5 barkskin + 2 mutagen)
32 = +8 shield(4 + 2ench + 2 feats)
36 = +4 shield of faith
38 = +2 dodge (feat + prestige class features)
52 = +14 armor (10 base + 3 magical vestment + 1 feat) here is bug probably, should be 10+2+1, but then you should get another +1 from shield
54 = +1 meal, +1 size

+7 short buffs
58 = +4 cleric of Abadar(Tristian will give you +2)
60 = +2 dodge from stance
61 = +1 haste

What kind of 10 AC heavy armor allows you to add a 7 dex bonus?
Also what lvl has a caster to be to add +5 natural ac bonus via barkskin? I'm doubtful you can manage it at lvl 10.
What is your second +1 shield feat? I know there is a shield and greater shield feat, to get the later you'd need fighter lvl 8. You have one vivi class and one prestige class I assume? which one?
whats's the prestige class feature that adds +1 dodge?
To apply +3 mage vestment you need a 12 lvl cleric, no?
Also why +1 size two times?

Please send your answers to: vazha@wspost.com

 

[panda]

Please send your answers to: vazha@wspost.com

Spoiler

What kind of 10 AC heavy armor allows you to add a 7 dex bonus?

Valerie kit allows her to add 5dex(at lvl7) bonus to ANY armor as far as she is holding her tower shield.
And mythril full plate has 3 free. So you can actually go 8 here.

Also what lvl has a caster to be to add +5 natural ac bonus via barkskin? I'm doubtful you can manage it at lvl 10.

12 of course

To apply +3 mage vestment you need a 12 lvl cleric, no?

12

What is your second +1 shield feat? I know there is a shield and greater shield feat, to get the later you'd need fighter lvl 8. You have one vivi class and one prestige class I assume? which one?

Lvl8 fighter feat, greater shield focus, basically greater weapon focus for shields, as you said
My build was 8/2/2
It seems you misunderstood our conversation with Lawntoilet.
I am lvl 12, it is Lawntoilet lvl10

Lvl 12 with subpar gear(i've found stuff for another +3 several hours later), defensive mode deactivated.

But nothing will change with 8/1/1, except mutagen will only last 10 minutes.

whats's the prestige class feature that adds +1 dodge?

Stalwart Defender

Also why +1 size two times?

Cause it is 2 separate effects, +2 dex and +1 AC from small size

 

[Sheepherder]

Taking a level of knife master converts all other sneak attack d6 into d8 when using appropriate weapons. So a level of knife master would make vivisectionist even more deadly. Plus I can get opportunist if I take a second rogue level after viv lvl 10.

 

[vazha]

Hang the futhock on, Shield and armor dex bonuses stack?

 

[Shaewaroz]

Can someone tell what type of enchanted backstabbing weapons are available in chapters 1 & 2? I can't decide which weapon skill my thief/mage should take.

 

[eggdogg]

Vox pathfinder amp and a fender strat...what do I win?

 

[Incendax]

Stops working when enemies start having cleaves and killing them all in one turn + making a regular attack against your dudes.

I'm looking at starting over as a Conjurer. So Summons will just end up pointless later in the game?

Conjurers are perfectly fine. It’s Animate Dead and Create Undead that shine for a little while, then start falling behind.

 

[Yosharian]

My DD is very very strong. It's a great build, viable throughout the entire game. Much better than Yosharian's ones. :murmurs softly:

Probably... I am in the middle of redesigning my party, so I don't disagree entirely =)

 

[J1M]

Does anyone know if the Freebooter's Quarry and Master Hunter abilities work? As written they require favored enemies, which they do not have.

 

[J1M]

Also, am I missing something, or does full BAB, Flurry of Blows, combat feats, and Evasion make 1 or 2 levels of monk a pretty good dip? I guess the primary drawback would be the weapon selection...

 

[Yosharian]

Also, am I missing something, or does full BAB, Flurry of Blows, combat feats, and Evasion make 1 or 2 levels of monk a pretty good dip? I guess the primary drawback would be the weapon selection...

Full BAB? Monk is not a full BAB class

Flurry of Blows only works with unarmed

The feat & evasion make monk a good dip, yes, but you have to consider what you're losing, too

Edit: oh wait unchained is full BAB, nice

 

[J1M]

Also, am I missing something, or does full BAB, Flurry of Blows, combat feats, and Evasion make 1 or 2 levels of monk a pretty good dip? I guess the primary drawback would be the weapon selection...

Full BAB? Monk is not a full BAB class

Flurry of Blows only works with unarmed

The feat & evasion make monk a good dip, yes, but you have to consider what you're losing, too

Edit: oh wait unchained is full BAB, nice

And you can use flurry of blows with monk weapons. Depending on which monk weapons are in the game I think it makes it a reasonable substitute to a rogue dip.

I know Paizo wanted to give people a reason to avoid lots of dips, but I am trying out some things to see if it could work. For example: Freebooter 4/Fighter 4/Paladin 3/Monk 2/??? 7

Maybe there's something with the archetypes that forgo armor feats, since those would be redundant.

 

[Yosharian]

Also, am I missing something, or does full BAB, Flurry of Blows, combat feats, and Evasion make 1 or 2 levels of monk a pretty good dip? I guess the primary drawback would be the weapon selection...

Full BAB? Monk is not a full BAB class

Flurry of Blows only works with unarmed

The feat & evasion make monk a good dip, yes, but you have to consider what you're losing, too

Edit: oh wait unchained is full BAB, nice

And you can use flurry of blows with monk weapons. Depending on which monk weapons are in the game I think it makes it a reasonable substitute to a rogue dip.

I know Paizo wanted to give people a reason to avoid lots of dips, but I am trying out some things to see if it could work. For example: Freebooter 4/Fighter 4/Paladin 3/Monk 2/??? 7

Maybe there's something with the archetypes that forgo armor feats, since those would be redundant.

Nearly all classes have something really good after level 10 or so. Getting a bit of everything isn't a good idea generally

 

[Haplo]

Can someone tell what type of enchanted backstabbing weapons are available in chapters 1 & 2? I can't decide which weapon skill my thief/mage should take.

You can backstab with anything. My Strenght Vivi often uses a +2 greatclub in Act 1 for his sneak attacks

But you probably mean light and/or finessable weapons. Well, there's an +1 Agile Light Pick and one of the companions of the boss of Act 1 uses a +1 Agile rapier (Agile = can add Dex modifier to damage).

 

[Cyberarmy]

Stops working when enemies start having cleaves and killing them all in one turn + making a regular attack against your dudes.

I'm looking at starting over as a Conjurer. So Summons will just end up pointless later in the game?

Conjurers are OP, go for abyssal sorcerer for extra lulz.

 

[Heroic Liberator]

So if I go for a Divine Guardian to Stalwart Defender build, would lowering Charisma to 12-14 be alright given the circumstantial nature of smite and the lack of Paladin spells?

 

[Luckmann]

On a completely random note, I love how absolutely broken the implementation of the Alchemist's Grenadier Archetype is in PF:K. In the tabletop, you get sorta the same benefits, but you lose Brew Potion, a potentially defining Feat of the class, and you lose Swift Poisoning, which isn't a terrible class feature if you like to use poisons a lot, and is arguably in about equal value to Alchemical Weapon, which can be argued as being of pretty much the same "type" of class feature (i.e. weapon-enhancing). You also gain proficiency in one martial weapon, and you lose poison resistance and poison immunity; arguably very small benefit and very small losses depending on campaign.

But in PF:K, you gain Alchemical Weapon, you get full Martial Weapons proficiencies, you gain the Precision Bombs Discovery on lvl 2 for free (which is practically a mandatory Discovery for all bombers anyway), you gain Directed Blast and Staggering Blast, to boot, later, and you lose... not Brew Potion, because there is none, and no Swift Poisoning, because there are none, but one stage of Poison Resistance, and later your Poison Immunity, both which are largely useless anyway, because poisons are not tremendously common, and it's even less common that a backseat Alchemist would be struck by them.

Grenadier is almost entirely - to the point where the drawbacks doesn't even need discussing - an upgrade of the regular Alchemist. The same almost goes for the Chiurgeon as well, although it's much less pronounced (the benefits are not as big, and they actually lose all their Poison Resistance).

Why on Earth would anyone play a regular Alchemist in PF:K? Or is something missing from the descriptions? Does Grenadier gain less Extracts, or something?

So if I go for a Divine Guardian to Stalwart Defender build, would lowering Charisma to 12-14 be alright given the circumstantial nature of smite and the lack of Paladin spells?

Depends on what you put those points in, now doesn't it? But yeah, I see nothing wrong with going for 14 Charisma in a Stalwart Defender build. I wouldn't lower it further, though, because remember that Charisma gives you a bonus to your Saves, which is something you'll want high as a Stalwart Defender - it's those Save-or-Suck spells that'll really ruin your day, not the heavy hitters. I've had so many encounters absolutely wrecked by fear effects.