Pathfinder Pathfinder: Kingmaker Builds and Strats Thread

[Haplo]

Man, it sucks you can't tell Sahiya what you want from her (you generally can tell that to other artisans). I keep getting Monastic Kamas and Sling Staffs. I want my Fauchard, FFS.
On the plus side, I got a pretty sweet +4 Bastard with +6 Cha and Will save bonus for Val. Not that bad for beginning of Chapter 3.

Can't you just save scum?

Come on, that would be cheating!

J/K.
Technically you can, but its not easy. Seems to me like the next item is determined on the delivery of the previous one... so you need to save just before getting one and then have like 2-3 months of peace in your barony. Meanwhile handling events, visitor dialogues and loading times means its like 20 minutes per try even when you do have that peaceful period.

Unless you don't care about your kingdom or set it on auto, I guess.

Ah. Crap. Not easy to game the system, then.

It should be quite a bit easier for other artisans, as you can tell them what you want - and then have a random choice out of 3-4 picks (rather then 10+).

 

[Parabalus]

Man, it sucks you can't tell Sahiya what you want from her (you generally can tell that to other artisans). I keep getting Monastic Kamas and Sling Staffs. I want my Fauchard, FFS.
On the plus side, I got a pretty sweet +4 Bastard with +6 Cha and Will save bonus for Val. Not that bad for beginning of Chapter 3.

Can't you just save scum?

Come on, that would be cheating!

J/K.
Technically you can, but its not easy. Seems to me like the next item is determined on the delivery of the previous one... so you need to save just before getting one and then have like 2-3 months of peace in your barony. Meanwhile handling events, visitor dialogues and loading times means its like 20 minutes per try even when you do have that peaceful period.

Unless you don't care about your kingdom or set it on auto, I guess.

Ah. Crap. Not easy to game the system, then.

If you're considering save scumming something so tedious you should just spawn the item instead, why waste time?

 

[razvedchiki]

Yes, I think you should. There's a lot of game here, even if you put off anything past the Stag Lord quest (because of the incoming Kingdom management patch).

But, on the other hand, you could wait til the December sales. No rush, plenty of good games about.

this will bring changes on how to manage the kingdom or it will be just a sort of manual?

 

[Serus]

20% off on Steam atm. Tempted to buy it. Should I?

If you enjoy RTwP combat you should. This game and Underrail are two most incline games since the golden days.

I will dare to say that what is Underrail for true Fallout genre, P:KM is for IE games genre.

I'm not particularly fond of RTwP combat myself but I say the answer is YES regardless. I also don't care much about IE games (though BG2 and IWD1 were enjoyable to play once back in the day) but this one is simply a very strong CRPG all around. Solid mechanics, great character creation and development, good variety of enemies, good itemization, some game mechanics rarely present in other CRPGs, plenty of stuff to explore, side-quests and in general TONS of content - of mostly good quality. There is just too many things that make a CRPG good in here to pass up.
Though waiting never hurt anyone, the game is not going away and it might only get better in time, so it doesn't hurt to wait a bit.

 

[Lawntoilet]

Yes, I think you should. There's a lot of game here, even if you put off anything past the Stag Lord quest (because of the incoming Kingdom management patch).

But, on the other hand, you could wait til the December sales. No rush, plenty of good games about.

this will bring changes on how to manage the kingdom or it will be just a sort of manual?

Changes I believe, they already posted a crash-course on how it works in one of the updates.

So, Falchion or Greatsword in this game for a two-hander?
Also, Scimitar or Falcata?

Since this depends heavily on the "itemization" I am curious if there is an optimum. I suspect that the Scimitar of the Bear god wins. But I am curious.

Definitely Scimitar. Bear God is awesome, and there are multiple other good +4/+5 scimitars. There are not enough good Falcatas to justify the Exotic proficiency.
There are good Greatswords and good Falchions but I would say Greatsword is a better choice. There is a really great +5 Holy greatsword in Chapter 6 if that interests you, and lots of other good ones.

Spoiler

A common enemy in Chapter 6/7 drops so many +5 Keen Falchions you won't know what to do with them, though.

 

[Reinhardt]

Are they any good shields out there?

yes

 

[Lawntoilet]

Thanks, Lawntoilet . So a Paladin is actually good with Sword and Board I guess. Are they any good shields out there? Until the early chapters I have only found a shield +1.

There are excellent shields of every size, plus S&B can get TWF and Shield Bash. It's a solid option.

 

[Serus]

Great.

So with this info in hand one can choose the power attack path or the TWF path with Shield. I suspect that the power attack is more useful in the long run. It allows you to sacrifice Dex and just pump Str.

The more important consideration IMO is that paladin doesn't get any additional feats. TWF while using a shield requires several (TWF + Shield Bash to start, improved TWF, eventually Shield Master). That would take half of your feats. I put some thought into it myself (I went through 1st chapter with a paladin), and at least my conclusions are that a paladin cannot afford the feats for TWF with shield. I mean technically he can but it's suboptimal.

 

[razvedchiki]

what are the best one handers for pally?i have found some excellent heavy maces and warhammers early chapter 2.

 

[Yosharian]

Only consider TWF with shield if you have lots of feats and you don't plan on using heavy armor.

Otherwise, it's really not worth it.

 

[Reinhardt]

Heavy maces are good for all game duration. There is nice bastard sword Opressor with +6 bonus to charisma so you can free head slot for something else. Like that helmet with bonus AC and +to intimidate checks.
Nazrielle masterpiece longsword is gud too. Longswords have many good options but almost all of them are endgame so there is a good chance Perfection will be your FIRST really good longsword.

 

[Yosharian]

Man, it sucks you can't tell Sahiya what you want from her (you generally can tell that to other artisans). I keep getting Monastic Kamas and Sling Staffs. I want my Fauchard, FFS.
On the plus side, I got a pretty sweet +4 Bastard with +6 Cha and Will save bonus for Val. Not that bad for beginning of Chapter 3.

Can't you just save scum?

Come on, that would be cheating!

J/K.
Technically you can, but its not easy. Seems to me like the next item is determined on the delivery of the previous one... so you need to save just before getting one and then have like 2-3 months of peace in your barony. Meanwhile handling events, visitor dialogues and loading times means its like 20 minutes per try even when you do have that peaceful period.

Unless you don't care about your kingdom or set it on auto, I guess.

Ah. Crap. Not easy to game the system, then.

If you're considering save scumming something so tedious you should just spawn the item instead, why waste time?

There is a big difference between working within the confines of the game system, and using the console.

Anyway, I already indicated that I wouldn't bother precisely because of that tedium.

 

[Lawntoilet]

what are the best one handers for pally?i have found some excellent heavy maces and warhammers early chapter 2.

Heavy maces or scimitars. Later in game, longswords are good too.
There are some great rapiers too.
If going Exotic, Dueling or Bastard swords are a good choice for the whole game (especially Dueling).

 

[Rinslin Merwind]

Sorry for stupid question, but someone managed to find 2 sai? I using a build on two sai, but in Ratnook Hills instead of storm sai (which described in document with all magic weapons) I managed to find storm short sword, wtf. Did they displaced items in during patch streak? Or it's bug?

 

[Lawntoilet]

Sorry for stupid question, but someone managed to find 2 sai? I using a build on two sai, but in Ratnook Hills instead of storm sai (which described in document with all magic weapons) I managed to find storm short sword, wtf. Did they displaced items in during patch streak? Or it's bug?

Tulip can make you good Sais. There are other ones you'll run across too. You'll get 2 magic sais eventually.

 

[Serus]

what are the best one handers for pally?i have found some excellent heavy maces and warhammers early chapter 2.

Heavy maces or scimitars. Later in game, longswords are good too.
There are some great rapiers too.
If going Exotic, Dueling or Bastard swords are a good choice for the whole game (especially Dueling).

Let me just add to that: Of that bunch heavy maces are afaik the only ones with critical range 20-20. Rapiers and scimitars are 18-20, the others are iirc 19-20. It might be something worth taking into consideration. Or not.

 

[Lawntoilet]

what are the best one handers for pally?i have found some excellent heavy maces and warhammers early chapter 2.

Heavy maces or scimitars. Later in game, longswords are good too.
There are some great rapiers too.
If going Exotic, Dueling or Bastard swords are a good choice for the whole game (especially Dueling).

Let me just add to that: Of that bunch heavy maces are afaik the only ones with critical range 20-20. Rapiers and scimitars are 18-20, the others are iirc 19-20. It might be something worth taking into consideration. Or not.

Good point. I don't think there are any maces with expanded crit range but there are several with really good non-damage abilities (+1AC stacking on hit or Freedom of Movement or what have you).
There is one dueling sword with 18-20 crit that stacks with Improved Crit or Magus Keen enhancement, though. It's one of the best weapons in the game.

 

[Jarpie]

People said on discord that a lot of enemies are neutral, do you guys know if that's true? I was gonna start a new game with paladin.

 

[Shadenuat]

Not really. But often enemies have mixed alignments between evil and chaos, and even lawful and chaos. In one encounter you can meet a neutral spider and a fey spider with chaotic alignment. In prologue you can meet neutral bandits and evil leader, then chaotic bandits, then evil bandits, then lawful evil kobolds.

 

[razvedchiki]

You can use challenge evil as a poor mans detect evil to determine if its smite time or not.

 

[Lawntoilet]

what are the best one handers for pally?i have found some excellent heavy maces and warhammers early chapter 2.

Heavy maces or scimitars. Later in game, longswords are good too.
There are some great rapiers too.
If going Exotic, Dueling or Bastard swords are a good choice for the whole game (especially Dueling).

Let me just add to that: Of that bunch heavy maces are afaik the only ones with critical range 20-20. Rapiers and scimitars are 18-20, the others are iirc 19-20. It might be something worth taking into consideration. Or not.

Good point. I don't think there are any maces with expanded crit range but there are several with really good non-damage abilities (+1AC stacking on hit or Freedom of Movement or what have you).
There is one dueling sword with 18-20 crit that stacks with Improved Crit or Magus Keen enhancement, though. It's one of the best weapons in the game.

Sounds like a great weapon for a sword saint. Swordsaint is made for that kind of stuff though. It is heavily primed towards crits already and must invest in dex based damage/attack. Duelling sword with Slashing grace would be super useful.

There are lots of Agile weapons too starting even in chapter 1, I'd say Slashing/Fencing Grace is a low priority feat. Maybe not for a Sword Saint, but for a Dex build with full martial weapon proficiency.

Spoiler

That super powerful Dueling Sword is also Agile.

 

[Yosharian]

Sorry for stupid question, but someone managed to find 2 sai? I using a build on two sai, but in Ratnook Hills instead of storm sai (which described in document with all magic weapons) I managed to find storm short sword, wtf. Did they displaced items in during patch streak? Or it's bug?

Yeah that one artisan is the only source I know of for good Sai.

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

Can I get some honest feedback on this build I made so far? Level 13 so still have a ways to go, but I call it the Dragon Archaeologist.

5 Archaeologist / 4 Rogue / 4 Dragon Disciple

Melee build with some supplemental casting (Heroism, Good Hope, Mirror Image). Attack currently with Power Attack enabled is +16 for 17-24 damage, 18-20(x2) critical with a Dueling Sword Proficiency. Some key feats are Outflank, Shield Wall, Improved Initiative, Accomplished Sneak Attacker, Power Attack, Intimidating Prowess. Stats with gear equipped are:

STR 24
DEX 18
CON 18
INT 22
WIS 16
CHA 22

AC 30
Fortitude Save 8
Reflex Save 13
Will Save 10

Skills:
Stealth 30
Perception 30
Magic Device 20
Persuasion 30
Arcana 25

Gets a Bite attack per round (wearing Amulet of Fists +2 to get a +2 roll bonus on natural attacks). Also can use Archaeologist's Luck for a +2 to attack and damage rolls, skill checks and more. Using Arrowguard buckler, no Arcane penalty since I'm in light armor. That's about it - any hope for this one? First time Pathfinder player and just was mucking around on my second run in the game to come up with this. Will probably use all following levels to continue leveling Dragon Disciple. Also have Breath Weapon.

 

[Lawntoilet]

Looks pretty
+16 seems like you probably don't want Power Attack on all the time, so as long as you know when to toggle it off that's OK. Your AC is a little low, but with Mirror Image and Shield Wall that's OK too.
No subclass on the Rogue? Because you have good Cha and good Str, Intimidating Presence, and took Rogue levels anyway, it would likely be better as a Thug. Then you could take Cornball Smash to get frighten AoOs (which are much more manageable on one enemy at a time than the Fear AoE from a Thug with Dreadful Carnage meme, which in my experience just sends mobs running away until they aggro the whole map, and drags the fight out). Shatter Defenses would be good too in that case to get attacks vs flat-footed, pretty much always.
You do have Sense Vitals, right?

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

Looks pretty
+16 seems like you probably don't want Power Attack on all the time, so as long as you know when to toggle it off that's OK. Your AC is a little low, but with Mirror Image and Shield Wall that's OK too.
No subclass on the Rogue? Because you have good Cha and good Str, Intimidating Presence, and took Rogue levels anyway, it would likely be better as a Thug. Then you could take Cornball Smash to get frighten AoOs (which are much more manageable on one enemy at a time than the Fear AoE from a Thug with Dreadful Carnage meme, which in my experience just sends mobs running away until they aggro the whole map, and drags the fight out). Shatter Defenses would be good too in that case to get attacks vs flat-footed, pretty much always.
You do have Sense Vitals, right?

Thanks for the response! I don't have Sense Vitals, no. I guess I can pick it up next level. I was going to take Cornugon Smash but it seemed like weird micromanaging, I have to wait until I land a hit and then Demoralize, right? I will consider it for level 15, if it's not too late to be useful then. Intimidating Prowess also works on Intimidate checks in dialogue, which helps here and there, and I should use Demoralize in general more since I could probably demoralize most characters I fight now with these stats.

I also have Linzi I believe with Displacement, so she can cast it on me. I can Heroism or have Jaethal cast Greater Heroism, and toggle my Luck skill so my +16 is actually +18 (I use Arch's Luck a lot when a fight looks like it will be tougher). The AC is low but in my playthrough it's actually 2nd highest on the team, which is weird, maybe I'm not equipping my guys properly (Valerie, my Stalwart Defender has a 40 AC. And actually Nok-Nok with the Bracers of Armor +5 has 33, so mine is 3rd highest). That is why I got Mirror Image though.

Thanks again for looking it over. Weird I didn't subclass on the Rogue, not sure my motives at the time but maybe I didn't like any of the subclasses then. I guess I didn't want to be a Thug and more of a nice guy killer.