Pathfinder Pathfinder: Kingmaker - Enhanced Plus Edition - now with turn-based combat

[Nas92]

Agreed with the posters above. Amiri looks impressive initially (is she Minsk? can she tank?!) but, no, that's not happening, and I don't know if you should attempt to make that happen. She is a good damage dealer, though, and if you take her through a particular build you can get her a pet that will do the tanking for her. That is, however, virtually useless if you have a proper aggro sponge in your gang - and you better have, so you should focus your dips on damage instead. Build off strengths and everything will be fine, the Pathfinder motto.
Just make sure you're not building Valerie into a blind dumbass hiding behind the shield like a child pulling up the blanket above their face. No good damage from the tank - enemies lose aggro and focus on someone else - Amiri or whoever you have as your frontline damage dealer melts to death.

Well, Valerie is not a purely dumbass hiding behind her shield, I gave her 4 levels of thug for dazzling display and debilitating injury. I also have Crane style for the +1 AC. As it stands Valerie is an okay damage dealer, whenever Amiri died, Valerie could pick up the slack so it's all good. But yeah, my ultimate goal with her is to go into Stalwart Defender and be mainly a sword and shield type character.
Also what's that particular build for Amiri? I'm guessing I switch to Ranger and basically stay there because that's how her animal companion levels along with her. I already reached lvl 6 Barbarian with her though, took the Beast Totem feats.
Anyhow, thanks for the replies, I guess it looks about time to start only using Amiri for her companion quest, nothing more. She was useful for the first part of the game, but I guess her usefulness has come to an end. I've been thinking that maybe Regongar could have her role as a front-line damage dealer since he can also use his spells to buff himself up before fights

 

[Cael]

Agreed with the posters above. Amiri looks impressive initially (is she Minsk? can she tank?!) but, no, that's not happening, and I don't know if you should attempt to make that happen. She is a good damage dealer, though, and if you take her through a particular build you can get her a pet that will do the tanking for her. That is, however, virtually useless if you have a proper aggro sponge in your gang - and you better have, so you should focus your dips on damage instead. Build off strengths and everything will be fine, the Pathfinder motto.
Just make sure you're not building Valerie into a blind dumbass hiding behind the shield like a child pulling up the blanket above their face. No good damage from the tank - enemies lose aggro and focus on someone else - Amiri or whoever you have as your frontline damage dealer melts to death.

Well, Valerie is not a purely dumbass hiding behind her shield, I gave her 4 levels of thug for dazzling display and debilitating injury. I also have Crane style for the +1 AC. As it stands Valerie is an okay damage dealer, whenever Amiri died, Valerie could pick up the slack so it's all good. But yeah, my ultimate goal with her is to go into Stalwart Defender and be mainly a sword and shield type character.
Also what's that particular build for Amiri? I'm guessing I switch to Ranger and basically stay there because that's how her animal companion levels along with her. I already reached lvl 6 Barbarian with her though, took the Beast Totem feats.
Anyhow, thanks for the replies, I guess it looks about time to start only using Amiri for her companion quest, nothing more. She was useful for the first part of the game, but I guess her usefulness has come to an end. I've been thinking that maybe Regongar could have her role as a front-line damage dealer since he can also use his spells to buff himself up before fights

I made Valerie into a Fighter 1/Ranger x with a bear companion. Then, TWF weapon and shield. Works well as her bear tore that idiot paladin apart during her personal quest.

 

[Yosharian]

Random picture from a recent session attempting to push on with my current Kingmaker playthrough, I'm struggling because god damn the copy paste encounter design in this game gets old the 3rd/4th time you experience it.

This is level ... 11? I think, Ekundayo, using the Deliverer archetype of the Slayer class. Good example of how ridiculous archery can be in this game.

Spoiler

I'm pushing on to Vordakai, hoping to god that he isn't going to be a pushover like he normally is. Bag of Trick's HP-increasing function is proving to be much more limited than I thought it would be.

 

[MjKorz]

Random picture from a recent session attempting to push on with my current Kingmaker playthrough, I'm struggling because god damn the copy paste encounter design in this game gets old the 3rd/4th time you experience it.

This is level ... 11? I think, Ekundayo, using the Deliverer archetype of the Slayer class. Good example of how ridiculous archery can be in this game.

Spoiler

I'm pushing on to Vordakai, hoping to god that he isn't going to be a pushover like he normally is. Bag of Trick's HP-increasing function is proving to be much more limited than I thought it would be.

I don't see the entire screen being bathed in Stinking Cloud. I think there's something wrong with your game.

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

All the good aligned NPCs make the best party. I generally prefer Jubilost over Linzi though. He's is a bit of a carry until he gets double digit levels territory, but becomes very versatile by the time The Bloom is over. It's probably more effective to keep them both and boot Octavia out.

 

[Litmanen]

All the good aligned NPCs make the best party. I generally prefer Jubilost over Linzi though. He's is a bit of a carry until he gets double digit levels territory, but becomes very versatile by the time The Bloom is over. It's probably more effective to keep them both and boot Octavia out.

At the beginning, I was sincerely trying to get rid of Linzi. I hate bards and find them useless. But, honestly, in the end game, I found myself lost without or her buffs/fascinate/whatever

 

[Nas92]

Any certain way to save Bartholomew from the trolls? I tried healing him, charging in buffed up, but they always kill him quickly.

 

[Nas92]

Nevermind, I tried again in turn based mode, it was a cakewalk this time. They must have patched turn based mode somewhat since I last played because I remember it being far clunkier and buggy as hell back when it was first introduced.

 

[Yosharian]

Yeah RTWP is actually much harder

 

[Average Manatee]

It really depends, I find aggro much easier to manage in RTWP. If you're in an area where you just need 2 buffed tanks to hold the line while everyone else pummels things, it works. If you're in a more complex situation and/or need to aim crowd control then TB is easier.

 

[Desiderius]

If you zerg in RTwP it's a lot easier. Anything else can be managed by Zaprudering it with the v button to advance time frame by frame and turning on the initiative timers above each character. It's just turn-based with free movement that the player should be able to manage better than AI and the ability to interrupt spell-casting with damage which can't be done in TB.

The main downside of RTwP is activating Move and Swift Actions (and even sometimes Free) is super clunky which comes up more in Wrath where you end up having more of those you want to use.

 

[Desiderius]

All the good aligned NPCs make the best party. I generally prefer Jubilost over Linzi though. He's is a bit of a carry until he gets double digit levels territory, but becomes very versatile by the time The Bloom is over. It's probably more effective to keep them both and boot Octavia out.

At the beginning, I was sincerely trying to get rid of Linzi. I hate bards and find them useless. But, honestly, in the end game, I found myself lost without or her buffs/fascinate/whatever

Bard in PF has the advantage of singing not requiring any actions to maintain freeing it up to cast, attack, or intimidate simultaneously. Effectively double the usual action econ. I think taking her away late is intended to drive home how valuable the Bard is to the party.

 

[Nas92]

I may have irredeemably fucked up Valerie's build as I just can't win the duel with that annoying paladin. I guess it's my fault for listening to retarded guides instead of going with my guts or I've encountered a dogshit build that can only be made to work by raw, pure autism. Should I respec Valerie now or just wait until I reach Level 8?
Also why does every guide jack off to bastard swords? I just did the troll quest and there have been no good bastard swords up till now. Have I missed something obvious?

 

[Haplo]

You're intended to loose that duel

...not that it cannot be won. A few solutions: UMD skill + wand of melf's missile, cheating to precast persistant aoe effects, like Grease, on the duel grounds, make Val a Kinetic Knight or some sort of Sorc gish...

There are cool bastard swords late game... oversized and meant for Amiri or another Strenght character. You can get a solid BS early (like mid Act 2) from the exotic artisan Sahiya... but you'd need to pamper her early and its somewhat luck based, of course.
Still totally worth it, as fauchards are also exotic and you could get Serpent Prince instead (one of the best weapons in the game, that can be available in mid Act 2 if you get Sahiya to work early and have some luck). And exotics are also good for falcatas.

 

[Cael]

I may have irredeemably fucked up Valerie's build as I just can't win the duel with that annoying paladin. I guess it's my fault for listening to retarded guides instead of going with my guts or I've encountered a dogshit build that can only be made to work by raw, pure autism. Should I respec Valerie now or just wait until I reach Level 8?
Also why does every guide jack off to bastard swords? I just did the troll quest and there have been no good bastard swords up till now. Have I missed something obvious?

The easiest way to win that duel is to advance Val as a Ranger and choose the bear. Let the bear tank. The annoying paladin will get ganked pretty fast, especially if you buff the bear before talking to the loon.

 

[Yosharian]

I may have irredeemably fucked up Valerie's build as I just can't win the duel with that annoying paladin. I guess it's my fault for listening to retarded guides instead of going with my guts or I've encountered a dogshit build that can only be made to work by raw, pure autism. Should I respec Valerie now or just wait until I reach Level 8?
Also why does every guide jack off to bastard swords? I just did the troll quest and there have been no good bastard swords up till now. Have I missed something obvious?

It's almost impossible to win that duel unless you respec Valerie into a specific build. As Hap says you're really not meant to win it.

 

[Nas92]

I also got the feeling that I'm supposed to lose the duel. It's consistent with the theme that your party is basically full of fuck-ups and incompetents. Still, if it can be won then I want to win it.

Yeah, I thought about animal companions too, they're ridiculously op in this game. I'm tempted to create mercs with animal companions or respec everyone into classes with animal companions. That said I don't want to cheese the game too much and I'd like to keep my companions as characters they were intended to be.

 

[Yosharian]

I also got the feeling that I'm supposed to lose the duel. It's consistent with the theme that your party is basically full of fuck-ups and incompetents. Still, if it can be won then I want to win it.

Yeah, I thought about animal companions too, they're ridiculously op in this game. I'm tempted to create mercs with animal companions or respec everyone into classes with animal companions. That said I don't want to cheese the game too much and I'd like to keep my companions as characters they were intended to be.

Well, it's simple, respec her into a class that can have a Smilodon. The best is a Sylvan Sorcerer. You give your Smilodon tons of AC, Displacement, Haste, etc. And then you just let the Smilodon rip the guy to pieces.

 

[Desiderius]

I also got the feeling that I'm supposed to lose the duel. It's consistent with the theme that your party is basically full of fuck-ups and incompetents. Still, if it can be won then I want to win it.

Yeah, I thought about animal companions too, they're ridiculously op in this game. I'm tempted to create mercs with animal companions or respec everyone into classes with animal companions. That said I don't want to cheese the game too much and I'd like to keep my companions as characters they were intended to be.

Well, it's simple, respec her into a class that can have a Smilodon. The best is a Sylvan Sorcerer. You give your Smilodon tons of AC, Displacement, Haste, etc. And then you just let the Smilodon rip the guy to pieces.

The best is Feyspeaker so she can become a Smilo too!

 

[Desiderius]

I also got the feeling that I'm supposed to lose the duel. It's consistent with the theme that your party is basically full of fuck-ups and incompetents. Still, if it can be won then I want to win it.

Yeah, I thought about animal companions too, they're ridiculously op in this game. I'm tempted to create mercs with animal companions or respec everyone into classes with animal companions. That said I don't want to cheese the game too much and I'd like to keep my companions as characters they were intended to be.

Animal companions suffer from diminishing returns (they require a lot of buffs for starters and don’t progress as quickly as full characters) and get in the way if you have too many.

Let her continue to develop in her main class and she’ll be fine. Open combat with her Charging to establish Fighting Defensively and to draw aggro from Amiri et al so they can whale. Buff her DEX (or use Belt) to take advantage of Armor training and use Barkskin or Amulet to up her Natural Armor.

Your companions start as fuck-ups but you’re there to mold them into an unstoppable force. That’s what a King is for. Literally the name of the game.

In her case that means being taken down a peg from her haughty girlbossery that alienated her from family, friends, and Deity and that’s what losing that duel puts her on the road to accomplishing. You’re her Petruchio.

 

[Cat]

The duel is easy. Switch to turn-based, use your move action to chug a potion, use your standard action to attack, repeat every single round until you win. You have like a million potions and Valerie is a very thirsty woman who can out-drink an entire army while using her other hand to swing a sword. Chug, chug, chug your way to victory.

 

[Yosharian]

Um. No.

 

[Cat]

Um. No.

I did it in Last Azlanti, Challenging. Um. Yes. You have potions. Use them. Every round.

 

[Yosharian]

Um. No.

I did it in Last Azlanti, Challenging. Um. Yes. You have potions. Use them. Every round.

Challenging? Lol

 

[Average Manatee]

Animal companions suffer from diminishing returns (they require a lot of buffs for starters and don’t progress as quickly as full characters) and get in the way if you have too many.

What? Pets inherently have huge AC, so they require less buffs than other characters. Now, they are in some ways harder to buff, since some buffs are not allowed on pets and others are self-only and you can't give a pet a class capable of e.g. mirror image. But pets are definitely the easy way to tank. What they generally suck at is facing anything that targets saves, especially will.

They definitely do start to get in the way though. Anything more than 4 melee characters and/or pets (and ideally 2 of those are enlarged reach weapon characters) is an absolute clusterfuck.