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

[Daidre]

It is in 1.2 Patchnotes.

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

Transmutation is an absolutely powerful skill mid game, especially with Baleful Polymorph. I won the fight with the Lich at level 9 with a single cast. Downsides, however, are that the school is not as good until this point and that Baleful Poly makes you lose the gear on the victim.

You think I would voluntarily miss out on a +8 mental stats item and +8 armor bracers, just so I can pat myself on the back that I reloaded until the lich failed its safe?
You call it powerful, for me it's the very definition of useless. IF, of course, you could get the loot from the corpse OR you could un-polymorph the corpse somehow with dispel to get to the loot, then my assessment would differ. As it is I would never use this spell and that's also the reason why I avoid prismatic spray. As of now (~lvl15) it has become obvious, especially as AT, that GSF Evocation would have given way more bang for the buck.

 

[ArchAngel]

I agree, losing loot makes any such attack or spell useless. Unless you are playing on Ironman.

 

[axedice]

I encountered a weird resting bug. After changing party members from the map screen (change party composition button), I didn't get any resting bonus for the new members. Everyone else gets renewed spells, the food buff etc. as usual, but the new party members don't count as rested until I rest again in an indoor area with camping supplies. Reload didn't fix it, so I manually travelled to the capitol to change party setup. After that it was business as usual so I can pretty much confirm the change party composition stuff is bugged.

 

[Haplo]

I finally finished the game, did both House and after by spamming Deadly Earth all over the place :D
Last battle was Deadly Earth and Sirocco on top of each other and everyone died as they spawned lol.

Too bad a bug destroyed my ending slides experience as background sounds (from Sirocco probably) were louder than Linzi speaking

But now I am not touching Deadly Earth anymore for my other campaign runs. I am going to try the fire sister as companion in my evil run and ignore them for my other runs.

Well, you could spam Cloud instead of Scirocco on top of Deadly Earth with a Wall for good measure

 

[Haplo]

Transmutation is an absolutely powerful skill mid game, especially with Baleful Polymorph. I won the fight with the Lich at level 9 with a single cast. Downsides, however, are that the school is not as good until this point and that Baleful Poly makes you lose the gear on the victim.

You think I would voluntarily miss out on a +8 mental stats item and +8 armor bracers, just so I can pat myself on the back that I reloaded until the lich failed its safe?
You call it powerful, for me it's the very definition of useless. IF, of course, you could get the loot from the corpse OR you could un-polymorph the corpse somehow with dispel to get to the loot, then my assessment would differ. As it is I would never use this spell and that's also the reason why I avoid prismatic spray. As of now (~lvl15) it has become obvious, especially as AT, that GSF Evocation would have given way more bang for the buck.

Exactly. I once managed to get the Lich to fail it, but once I noticed I can't loot the corpse, I reloaded and re-tried till the stars aligned, my main char managed to perma trip-lock him (right-click on trip) and Harrim stacked two blade barriers over him.
He wasn't taking much damage from other sources, Octavia's touch attacks were useless and other spells barely scratched him and he was rather difficult to hit for my Amiri at level 11 on hard (opens combat with Seamantle).

 

[Haplo]

Yeah, I did not have chains of light or ice prison at level 11. Plus the undead are theoretically immune to paralysis effect. Seems it could work regardless. I did have Vinetrap on Harrim and I actually managed to trap him for a few rounds once. I failed to eliminate him in that time (before the rest I had only 1 Blade Barrier on Harrim), he got up and banshee-1HKOd the party (like he always does, I don't think I've seen even 1 character make the save once, very rarely did someone save vs the greater shout he spams).

In general he saved a lot. Over the course of many tries, he was only trapped once and only fell victim to Boneshatter like twice, despite needing to roll like 4-6 to save. Trip was the most reliable CC, by far (although it required full dedication of 1 char, who did nothing else).

 

[Cael]

Yeah, I did not have chains of light or ice prison at level 11. Plus the undead are theoretically immune to paralysis effect. Seems it could work regardless. I did have Vinetrap and I actually managed to trap him for a few rounds once. I failed to eliminate him in that time (before the rest I had only 1 Blade Barrier on Harrim), he got up and banshee-1HKOd the party (like he always does, I don't think I've seen even 1 character make the save once).
In general he saved a lot. Over the course of many tries, he was only trapped once and only fell victim to Boneshatter like twice, despite needing to roll like 4-6 to save. Trip was the most reliable CC, by far (although it required full dedication of 1 char, who did nothing else).

Undead are immune to paralysis effects, not to getting immobilised. You can't use Hold Monster on them, for example, but you can physically restrain them with things like Entangle.

 

[Jarpie]

Where is this lich? Haven't seen one on my playthrough.

 

[Haplo]

So it seems to work correctly. I was able to immobilize him with Vinetrap once.

 

[Haplo]

Where is this lich? Haven't seen one on my playthrough.

Lonely Barrow, behind the glowing barrier, that's part of an annoying late-game quest. That you can pass using Dimension Door.

 

[Haplo]

I don't think my Octavia had any useful spells against him. She barely contributed, best thing she did is land some slows and maybe a grease on the guardian armors (but they also saved a lot and Linzi has Haste/Slow & Grease also). Might have been more useful if she focused on the armors throughout the fight, but Mr. 1-hit-party-KO was my primary concern and I largely ignored his guardians.

Oh yeah, she landed a Baleful Polymorph once, but I reloaded that when I realized I couldn't pick his phat lewt.

Edit: Interesting idea to bring 2 clerics, that would certainly make it faster and safer. And Jubilost, if he can land his force touch attacks (should have better AB then Octavia). Or a Kineticist for that matter.

 

[Haplo]

Ok, but I did not learn that spell. I think I picked Cloudkill and Phantasmal Web.

 

[Incendax]

Downsides, however, are that the school is not as good until this point and that Baleful Poly makes you lose the gear on the victim.

I respectfully disagree. Transmutation is an excellent force multiplier in the early game. Providing almost everyone (who needs it) with Enlarge + Bull's Strength + Haste is extremely valuable before you have gained much in the way of magic items and are scrabbling for every +To Hit you can find against 25-35 AC. The mid game benefits of transmutation are underwhelming, but the early game really shines.

 

[Haplo]

Certainly, but you don't need to spend 2 school focus feats for that.

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

When I said I hardly used transmutation spells I meant offensive ones that would benefit from increased DC, all the buffs I did use all the time of course, transmutation is definitely not something you should use for opposing school.

 

[Daidre]

But also far from the best choice as your specialist school too, high level spells for extra slot is not all this good.
Speaking of wizards, I usually have huge problems every time I trying to choose school for Tassilonian. I've tried Greed (Transmutation) and Wrath (Evocation), and for the Greed 2 extra slots seemed wasted on AT.

 

[HoboForEternity]

Finally finished the varnhold vanishing chapter

a big lol

Spoiler

vordakai is really a pushover compared to those fucking those soul eaters. i came expecting really tough fight. buffed everything as optimal as i can, aaaan he went down in less than 30 seconds. the cutscene play and he went down in less 30 seconds after that too, lol. pathetic sad zombie

plot point spoiler

Spoiler

soooo. tristan. do we get him back later? he's great at buffing and support in general. harrim is just half as good as tristian, but he is more tanky. i prefer tristian mysefl dang. might just hire a mercenary cleric.

i love the dungeon overall until the part where they throw like 2 dozens of zombies each rooms jeez. the trash mobs in this game is the weakest link of, honestly a pretty great game. that part was tedious. the cyclops zombies + cyclops priests undead are alot more fun to fight. tougher in general, but few in numbers. the human zombies. uuugh reminds me of those spiders in the bloom chapters. there are always a group of unpleasant trash mobs around.

 

[ArchAngel]

Finally finished the varnhold vanishing chapter

a big lol

Spoiler

vordakai is really a pushover compared to those fucking those soul eaters. i came expecting really tough fight. buffed everything as optimal as i can, aaaan he went down in less than 30 seconds. the cutscene play and he went down in less 30 seconds after that too, lol. pathetic sad zombie

plot point spoiler

Spoiler

soooo. tristan. do we get him back later? he's great at buffing and support in general. harrim is just half as good as tristian, but he is more tanky. i prefer tristian mysefl dang. might just hire a mercenary cleric.

i love the dungeon overall until the part where they throw like 2 dozens of zombies each rooms jeez. the trash mobs in this game is the weakest link of, honestly a pretty great game. that part was tedious. the cyclops zombies + cyclops priests undead are alot more fun to fight. tougher in general, but few in numbers. the human zombies. uuugh reminds me of those spiders in the bloom chapters. there are always a group of unpleasant trash mobs around.

Although the amount of zombies there seem like a trash fight, they need to be there for story reasons. They are recent addition from Varnhold.
Also they are no worse than kobolds in Troll & Kobold dungeons.

I found Vordekai dungeon best one in first few Acts. I does present a lot of giant undead to fight but you also have evil outsiders of different kinds and elementals and few kinds of undead.

 

[Daidre]

About plot spoiler

Spoiler

You can get Tristian back pretty soon. It is either one not very big dungeon + some running around or same thing + one big field filled with mobs, depending on plot choice. Even in worst case it around 2-3 hours of gameplay. For me Harrim decent enough substitute (and ~100k gold for mercenary is a lot).

 

[HoboForEternity]

Although the amount of zombies there seem like a trash fight, they need to be there for story reasons. They are recent addition from Varnhold.

yeah, it makes sense, still not fun to do.

 

[ArchAngel]

About plot spoiler

Spoiler

You can get Tristian back pretty soon. It is either one not very big dungeon + some running around or same thing + one big field filled with mobs, depending on plot choice. Even in worst case it around 2-3 hours of gameplay. For me Harrim decent enough substitute (and ~100k gold for mercenary is a lot).

I finished the game with about 800k and that is after I spent 700 000 on that useless book. I would have spent additional 1 000 000 on the sequel to the useless book but I didn't have enough for that :D

 

[Daidre]

I did have 1 000 000 for the sequel So now I have this stupid achievement and free to go on shopping frenzy in Pitax.

 

[Incendax]

I usually have huge problems every time I trying to choose school for Tassilonian. I've tried Greed (Transmutation) and Wrath (Evocation), and for the Greed 2 extra slots seemed wasted on AT.

After testing several different builds out, I've settled between Lust and Gluttony.

Enchantment spells are almost always useful, from Sleep in the beginning to Heroic Invocation in the end. There are lots of items that increase DC to insane levels, and locking down enemies for MINUTES at a time is game changing. Necromancy brings the best tanks in the game, fuck you boss solutions like Enervate + Energy Drain, room clearing power with Wail + Wilting, and Fingerspam. The big weakness of Gluttony is the seriously underwhelming Level 1 and 2 Necromancy spells which come before your DC gets high. But there are always the usual suspects in other schools for those slots.

 

[ArchAngel]

I usually have huge problems every time I trying to choose school for Tassilonian. I've tried Greed (Transmutation) and Wrath (Evocation), and for the Greed 2 extra slots seemed wasted on AT.

After testing several different builds out, I've settled between Lust and Sloth.

Enchantment spells are almost always useful, and from Sleep in the beginning to Heroic Invocation in the end. There are lots of items that increase DC to insane levels, and locking down enemies for MINUTES at a time is game changing. Sloth brings the best tanks in the game, fuck you boss solutions like Enervate + Energy Drain, room clearing power with Wail + Wilting, and Fingerspam. The big weakness of Sloth is the seriously underwhelming Level 1 and 2 Necromancy spells which come before your DC gets high. But there are always the usual suspects in other schools for those slots.

lvl 2 Boneshaker is pretty useful. I killed plenty of enemies or bosses just spamming it. I took Spell Specialization and as result it always let me do 1d6 more than normal. And low level empower rods are cheap so you can often empower it.