Pathfinder Pathfinder: Kingmaker Builds and Strats Thread

[Yosharian]

Heavy Armor and spellcasting and two handers just does not work sorry. Magus has heavy armor and spellcasting but no two handed weapons and also a limited spell selection and access only up to lvl 6 spells.

But you don't need Heavy Armor with EK to get good AC. But if you want a look of that armored guy you will need to pick up feats that reduce Arcane Spell Failure Chance. There is that mithril full plate in the game, mithril should also reduce Arcane Spell Failure Chance but you are stuck with +1 fullplate.

On the other hand as a melee you don't need feat tax in form of point blank shot and similar so you can invest into feats that Arcane Spell Failure Chance. Especially if you took a human. Just don't take power attack and iron will or blind fighting as you get all those benefits by buffing yourself with spells. Ok power attack might be good when you get access to greater heroism. Focus into Falchion and critical hits.

Blind-Fight is still an excellent feat because it gives you immunity to Gaze attacks

Does it? It didn't help in a fight vs Defaced sisters, their stat draining attack seem like some gaze attack to me.

Well, ok, let me rephrase: I have been told that it protects against Gaze attacks =p

Maybe it helps vs Wild Hunt, in any case that feat can be ignored by a EK character until lvl 15. Echolocation is a lvl 5 spell that makes most illusion defensive abilities pointless. And it lasts 10 min per level. Completely OP spell. Similar in usefulness to Communal Delay Poison.

Yes, I agree. I pick that feat up around that level.

 

[Sharpedge]

Just curious if a website like the NWN2 Character Builder exists yet for this game?

I don't think so. I was actually thinking of making one in excel for my personal use just because of the lack of one and my OCD when building characters.

 

[Haplo]

Going two handed Dex route is also possible with that Elven Blade for two hands. I don't know if you can find an agile version later in the game so you also get a bonus to damage.

Well, you COULD get 3 rogue levels for Finesse Training. But that's even more caster levels lost.

There certainly are Agile Dueling Swords though - and you can two-hand them. Or Scimitars (maybe fewer Agile versions).

Maybe a Dex based Eldritch Scoundrel is a better choice for this :D
You get Magus type spellcasting but wizard list of spells and access to many rogue abilities.

No cool weapon enchantments like Brilliant Energy, Bane or Keen at level 5. No cool abilities like Dimension Strike/Spell Recall (Improved). No Spell Combat. No Spellstrike. Not the same at all.

 

[ArchAngel]

Ok but sneak attack and Opportunist Attack and Debilitating attack end up being more useful
Also access to better spells like Lead Blades

And Dex to damage as well.

 

[Haplo]

...or you can get most of these buffs from another party member, do a knife master/vivisectionist and enjoy much higher damage.

Magus is fairly unique in what it does. Half-rogue with some buffs less so.

But you did convince me it could be a fairly effective character.
Personally I'd rather pick Vivisectionist for such purposes though. Gets full sneak progression and mutagen to boot. Can become crit/sneak resistant. Can make 3 full AB attacks at level 2. Also no Arcane Spell Failure.
Admittedly looses on offensive spells (and mirror image) but... there are other characters in the party. And if you're combat focused, you're not likely to be an effective DC-caster anyway.

 

[ArchAngel]

...or you can get most of these buffs from another party member, do a knife master/vivisectionist and enjoy much higher damage.

Magus is fairly unique in what it does. Half-rogue with some buffs less so.

But you did convince me it could be a fairly effective character.
Personally I'd rather pick Vivisectionist for such purposes though. Gets full sneak progression and mutagen to boot. Can become crit/sneak resistant. Can make 3 full AB attacks at level 2. Also no Arcane Spell Failure.
Admittedly looses on offensive spells (and mirror image) but... there are other characters in the party. And if you're combat focused, you're not likely to be an effective DC-caster anyway.

Are we still talking about a Dex based two handed hybrid? :D
Knife master kind of does not work with using a two handed Dex weapon

 

[Haplo]

Ok, I got a bit confused which version I'm answering to

Anyway, a Rogue/Vivi does work

 

[ArchAngel]

I am trying to avoid using Vivi because it seems that subclass is answer to all questions :D

 

[Wolfe]

When would it be the best time to take the levels of Dragon Disciple in a 1 Scaled Fist/X Eldritch Scion/4 Dragon Disciple build?

 

[Chaotic_Heretic]

okay tried a pure vivisectionist upto lv12. dex all teh way. very fun especially due to feat flexibility of combat tricks. sneaky sneaky stabby stabby can also be easy and fun

 

[Luckmann]

I've been out of the loop for a while.

What ever happened to the promised free portrait DLC?

 

[user]

I've been out of the loop for a while.

What ever happened to the promised free portrait DLC?

I don't know about the portrait DLC, but check this out if you don't already have it: https://www.nexusmods.com/pathfinderkingmaker/mods/5

 

[Luckmann]

I thought Magus is supposed to use one handers, something about touch attacks. Sorry, I'm not familiar with the system as this is my first time. Anyway, there's a Magus companion so I wanted to try something else.

I started as a human Fighter, 16/14/16/14/10/10, thinking of taking 5 levels of Wizard and then 10 of EK. What I'm aiming for is being able to buff myself in combat in order to increase "tankiness"/survivability and damage output, so Abjuration seems like the best fitting school for that. It's a shame that it seems I need to pick two feats in order to reduce spell failure chance when casting in armor, since Magus gets that for free.

Ugh. Yes, of course. I completely forgot about Magus needing an off-hand free. My bad.

I'll have another look at it later. EK is indeed probably the best route.

I understand why Magus cannot use two-handers from a "balance" perspective, insofar that if it was allowed you'd never have a reason not to always go with a two-handed weapon. But conceptually, I fucking hate it. It's complete nonsense in a narrative sense and in regards to the rules as otherwise established in both 3.5 and PF, in that you can always let go of your two-handed weapon with one hand in order to do things, and then reassume your stance and re-grip the weapon afterward. I do get it, but it just feels completely arbitrary that the weapon needs to be one-handed or light in order to be used.

There really should've been other balancing factors/added features to deal with that situation. The same goes for Eldritch Archer, really; it should've been a potential use of the base class, not an archetype.

And I mean this both from the perspective of the CRPG and the tabletop.

I've been out of the loop for a while.

What ever happened to the promised free portrait DLC?

I don't know about the portrait DLC, but check this out if you don't already have it: https://www.nexusmods.com/pathfinderkingmaker/mods/5

It was mentioned in one of the streams shortly after release, when some guy from Owlcat was shooting shit with Chris Avellone. But since then, I haven't heard a fucking peep.

And I'm not fun of the lolhueg portrait collection. It really is a huge mis-mash of ill-fitting portraits that clash not just with the game, but also with eachother, and very little care seem to have been taken in terms of quality. It is unfortunately well below the standards I prefer when it comes to mods.

 

[Haplo]

How would that work in a melee combat situation?
Okay, let me rest this heavy two-hander on the ground, so that I can have one hand free to cast spells.
Please refrain from attacking while I'm casting, as I would not be able to parry or actively defend in this time period, with my one hand stuck supporting this heavy blade and the other making intricate somatic gestures for the spell not to fizzle. God forbid you strike with force against my blade, as that would immediately disarm me.

I guess this would make sense if it also rooted you and made you flat-footed while you're one-handing the two-hander and casting.

 

[santino27]

I've been out of the loop for a while.

What ever happened to the promised free portrait DLC?

They were added in hotfix 1.1.6 at the end of december:

Hotfix 1.1.6 – December, 27th 2018
Dear pathfinders,

2018 is about to end - and what better way to say goodbye than by adding new stuff into the game! A while back, we've asked you which new portraits you would like to see in the game. The winners of the poll - an Aasimar Paladin and a Human Sorcerer - will now be available on character creation to all players. Apart from portraits, we're also adding more hairstyles and beards. Hooray for character customization!

We're also delighted to inform that we're entering the final stages of work on Patch 1.2. We're planning to begin the open beta test for this large update this week. All who want to join us in testing are most welcome to - as always, your feedback is invaluable to us!
Exact details on the open testing will become available later this week. Patch 1.2 will go live somewhere mid-January.

This has been a very eventful year for us. We have built and released our first game, and even though it was months ago, it feels like it was yesterday. We would like to thank all of you once again for being with us and supporting the project - without you, none of this would ever happen!

Happy holidays to you all, and best wishes to you and your loved ones! May the new year find you in good health and bring you much joy!

Owlcats.



Please, be aware of plot spoilers in the description below (in the Quest, Areas and Kingdom sections)!



New content

• Two new portraits based on player poll results have been added - an Aasimar Paladin and a Human Sorcerer.
  
• A new pack of custom hairstyles and beards for different races have been added.

Spoiler

Quests

• Players could keep more companions than expected in the final quest of the Wildcards DLC (the "Sorrowflow" area). Resolution: fixed.
  
• Ekundayo was too close to enemies during the ritual (the "Bury the Past" quest), resulting in issues with quest completion. Resolution: fixed.
  
• The "Against All Odds" quest didn't count as completed even when it was. Resolution: fixed.

Areas

• Lantern King's curse was incorrectly assuming all characters had only 4 spell levels available, severely penalizing full spellcasters. Resolution: fixed, now the curse limits spellcasting as intended.
  
• Some pages could be missing in the Epilogue. Resolution: fixed.

Kingdom

• How to Build a Kingdom quest could get stuck on the "Found a new village" objective in some cases. Resolution: fixed.
  
• The conversation in the Throne Room that raises the Arcane stat to rank X wouldn't trigger if you had the Storyteller as your magister. Resolution: fixed.
  
• Sometimes kingdom visitors would get stuck because the game wrongfully assumed the baron is having a romantic encounter (often because a shortcut mod had been used). Resolution: exiting the kingdom interface now returns you to the personal chambers in this case, so the romantic encounter can be finally resolved.

User Interfaces

• In some cases, both Kalikke and Kanerah were available to add to the party roster even when only one of them should have been available. Resolution: fixed.
  
• Conversely, sometimes both Kalikke and Kanerah could disappear from the party roster. Resolution: fixed as well.
  
• There were issues controlling the Kinetic Knight archetype during combat. Resolution: fixed.

Classes & Mechanics

• Barbarian spirits summoned by the Warpainted Skull of Duthica had the wrong faction, which might have lead to them attacking some NPCs. Resolution: fixed.

Misc

• Fixed a misplaced parenthesis that turned all left-handed characters back into right-handed ones. Also, fixed sword scabbards having wrong offsets for left-handed characters.
  
• When loading a game with a polymorphed character and polymorphing back, the character's model wouldn't actually change until an area transition. Resolution: fixed.

System

• Fixed a crash-to-menu that could sometimes happen when entering an area from the Global Map while having an active animal companion.
  
• Some item enchantment parameters (i.e., the DC of saving throws against the item's abilities) would not get saved when saving the game, leading to incorrect values after loading (it still could be fixed by re-equipping the item). Resolution: fixed, all item parameters are now saved.

source: https://steamcommunity.com/app/640820/discussions/0/1730963192550800891/#c1743355067109294986

 

[Luckmann]

I've been out of the loop for a while.

What ever happened to the promised free portrait DLC?

They were added in hotfix 1.1.6 at the end of december:

Hotfix 1.1.6 – December, 27th 2018
Dear pathfinders,

2018 is about to end - and what better way to say goodbye than by adding new stuff into the game! A while back, we've asked you which new portraits you would like to see in the game. The winners of the poll - an Aasimar Paladin and a Human Sorcerer - will now be available on character creation to all players. Apart from portraits, we're also adding more hairstyles and beards. Hooray for character customization!

We're also delighted to inform that we're entering the final stages of work on Patch 1.2. We're planning to begin the open beta test for this large update this week. All who want to join us in testing are most welcome to - as always, your feedback is invaluable to us!
Exact details on the open testing will become available later this week. Patch 1.2 will go live somewhere mid-January.

This has been a very eventful year for us. We have built and released our first game, and even though it was months ago, it feels like it was yesterday. We would like to thank all of you once again for being with us and supporting the project - without you, none of this would ever happen!

Happy holidays to you all, and best wishes to you and your loved ones! May the new year find you in good health and bring you much joy!

Owlcats.



Please, be aware of plot spoilers in the description below (in the Quest, Areas and Kingdom sections)!



New content

• Two new portraits based on player poll results have been added - an Aasimar Paladin and a Human Sorcerer.
  
• A new pack of custom hairstyles and beards for different races have been added.

Spoiler

Quests

• Players could keep more companions than expected in the final quest of the Wildcards DLC (the "Sorrowflow" area). Resolution: fixed.
  
• Ekundayo was too close to enemies during the ritual (the "Bury the Past" quest), resulting in issues with quest completion. Resolution: fixed.
  
• The "Against All Odds" quest didn't count as completed even when it was. Resolution: fixed.

Areas

• Lantern King's curse was incorrectly assuming all characters had only 4 spell levels available, severely penalizing full spellcasters. Resolution: fixed, now the curse limits spellcasting as intended.
  
• Some pages could be missing in the Epilogue. Resolution: fixed.

Kingdom

• How to Build a Kingdom quest could get stuck on the "Found a new village" objective in some cases. Resolution: fixed.
  
• The conversation in the Throne Room that raises the Arcane stat to rank X wouldn't trigger if you had the Storyteller as your magister. Resolution: fixed.
  
• Sometimes kingdom visitors would get stuck because the game wrongfully assumed the baron is having a romantic encounter (often because a shortcut mod had been used). Resolution: exiting the kingdom interface now returns you to the personal chambers in this case, so the romantic encounter can be finally resolved.

User Interfaces

• In some cases, both Kalikke and Kanerah were available to add to the party roster even when only one of them should have been available. Resolution: fixed.
  
• Conversely, sometimes both Kalikke and Kanerah could disappear from the party roster. Resolution: fixed as well.
  
• There were issues controlling the Kinetic Knight archetype during combat. Resolution: fixed.

Classes & Mechanics

• Barbarian spirits summoned by the Warpainted Skull of Duthica had the wrong faction, which might have lead to them attacking some NPCs. Resolution: fixed.

Misc

• Fixed a misplaced parenthesis that turned all left-handed characters back into right-handed ones. Also, fixed sword scabbards having wrong offsets for left-handed characters.
  
• When loading a game with a polymorphed character and polymorphing back, the character's model wouldn't actually change until an area transition. Resolution: fixed.

System

• Fixed a crash-to-menu that could sometimes happen when entering an area from the Global Map while having an active animal companion.
  
• Some item enchantment parameters (i.e., the DC of saving throws against the item's abilities) would not get saved when saving the game, leading to incorrect values after loading (it still could be fixed by re-equipping the item). Resolution: fixed, all item parameters are now saved.

source: https://steamcommunity.com/app/640820/discussions/0/1730963192550800891/#c1743355067109294986

Ah, yes, I patched and booted up the game and it's the two shitty portraits I datamined before that patch was released. Oh well.

 

[Sykar]

I could use some pointers with the Kineticist class since I have zero experience with it. Are there any recommendations for Kalikke if you want her to be a healer/support? What is a good second element and later third element? Should I focus constitution or dexterity? Does she get more healing abilities?

Same for Kannerah, she is set up as a DPS kineticist so dexterity is probably the best stat to raise but what about additional elements, shapes, etc.? Any pointers would be useful.

 

[Haplo]

For damage mid-late game you'll want to focus on Wall => Deadly Earth => Cloud form infusions IMO, as they heavily outclass everything else.
So that would mean you want earth and water. Unfortunately this means no touch attacks, which sucks for early accuracy. Although you can start by playing Kanerah, who already has fire and focus on Kalikke when she gets Deadly Earth (level 13).

I think there are decent builds for both in this topic:
https://af.gog.com/forum/pathfinder_kingmaker/ineffects_guide_v2?as=1649904300

He suggests to make Kanerah support, Kalikke the main DD. It may actually make sense.

 

[Haplo]

Only slight disadvantage is that no electric element - no Magnetic Infusion, which is a nice debuff to help your martial characters (+4 bonus to hit).

However with Bowling they get AoOs and +4 from Prone - if it lands, that is.

 

[Incendax]

If Kanerah goes Fire / Earth and Kalikke goes Water / Earth you can swap them for 2x Walls, then 2x Deadly, and eventually 2x Cloud. That will eradicate almost anything short of bosses.

I also disagree that Fire Wild Talents are wasted. Now that Dreadful Carnage works with spells, you can load Kanerah up with Persuasion bonuses and trigger a Dazzling Display on every kill. If you mix in Thug, enemies will literally run back through your Walls and Deadly, possibly dying and triggering even more. In fact, I’ve triggered huge chains that frightened enemies for the entire battle. The most annoying thing was keeping my melee from running through all the death fields.

Honestly, you should probably go high Dex on both sisters. Con/Int builds that focus on substance infusions are powerful in the end game, but are boring as hell until you get Wall.

 

[Haplo]

But what is her Intimidation score? My Val already has a pretty high score with Intimidating Prowess and Skill Focus Persuade.
Jaethal could compete with her class bonus. But not sure Kanerah can beat this with her low Strength and Cha.

IMO making Kanerah the Intimidator only makes sense in case of a duo game (provided that you main char isn't a Cha focused character) or some such.

 

[razvedchiki]

aldori defender/monk for the ac is still good tank?

 

[Incendax]

But what is her Intimidation score? My Val already has a pretty high score with Intimidating Prowess and Skill Focus Persuade.
Jaethal could compete with her class bonus. But not sure Kanerah can beat this with her low Strength and Cha.

My Kanerah has 44 Persuasion right now, but the DC to frighten most things is very low. You could get the same result making Valerie a Kineticist or Jaethal a Dark / Psycho - anyone with Thug 1, Dreadful Carnage, and Wall/Deadly/Cloud can do the job.

 

[Haplo]

Well, I'm playing on hard and sometimes I fail the Intimidate VS enemies I care about. Think around 30 Intimidation score now. But only level 11.

 

[Wolfe]

What's the Kineticist class all about? I just recruited Kalikke/Kanerah and have no clue how to level them up.