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

[Shadenuat]

Course Bless stacks it's Morale. Heroism doesn't stack with Bless though since it's also Morale. I actually skip Heroism as spell since it's just +1 over Bless; while Good Hope is +2 but also +2 to damage which Heroism doesn't provide.

 

[Sykar]

Don't think bless stacks with song.
Soon Linzi should help with Heroism / Good Hope

Don't use Power Attack when you have trouble hitting stuff!
It's a very situational feat.

Easy bonuses: Flanking +2, Outflank +2

Glitterdust blinds enemies, makes them flat-footed.
Grease causes Prone and - 4 AC vs melee.

Also counters concealment from invisibility, though iirc not Blur and Displacement.

 

[Lambach]

So with this ridiculously high AB for such a low level character, I can barely hit anything on Challenging (which is basically Normal difficulty). Ratnook hill wererats, Staglord, that skull, any kind of tougher than average enemy, I hit maybe once for every 6-7 attacks. This is beyond retarded. What's the point of even building up your character if you end up feeling gimped every step of the way?

The Stag Lord should not be a problem with that much AB. Forget about the skull unless you have and are capable of using Wand of True Strike. The wererats.... eh, come back at a later level, when you have Haste, Communal Delay Poison and Stinking Cloud.

 

[Shadenuat]

Also if you poisoned wine Stag Lord gets Sickened debuff permanently (-2 ab -2 saving throws), becoming ez target for Laughter.

 

[Lambach]

My preferred method of dealing with him is to just let the Owlbear fuck him up.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

deactivate power attack (and honestly never activate it again unless you hit on 2+)

PA is an increase in damage output anytime you have a higher than 40% chance to hit the target with your full BAB attack.

 

[Sykar]

Also if you poisoned wine Stag Lord gets Sickened debuff permanently (-2 ab -2 saving throws), becoming ez target for Laughter.

Pity the voice acting is rather mediocre to convey that though. At least to me sounds somewhat off, like the voice actor is trying to hard to sound like a poisoned drunk.

 

[jungl]

building attack bonus in kingmaker is very unsatisfying on Challenging. You need linzi, barbarian girl and buffs up the ying yang to get over the magical ac number threshold that most boss mobs havbe. Once you do though you slaughter the boss like a mite due to all the ridiculous damage bonuses that come with high level 3rd edition DnD. 2nd edition DnD with baldurs gate and icewind dale handles AB and AC so much better its not even funny. Outside of broken kits like the bg2 kensai combat felt soo much more satisfying then kingmaker because they were not completely one sided. Potions were also a thing in 2nd edition where in 3rd they become useless around level 12. Also critical hits are a comical joke in 3rd edition with 3x 4x crit weapons.

3rd edition=one sided fights. 2nd edition=actual back and forth slug fest that keeps you on your toes.

 

[Efe]

i never thought id see "slugfest" as a positive.
codex, you did it again.

 

[ArchAngel]

building attack bonus in kingmaker is very unsatisfying on Challenging. You need linzi, barbarian girl and buffs up the ying yang to get over the magical ac number threshold that most boss mobs havbe. Once you do though you slaughter the boss like a mite due to all the ridiculous damage bonuses that come with high level 3rd edition DnD. 2nd edition DnD with baldurs gate and icewind dale handles AB and AC so much better its not even funny. Outside of broken kits like the bg2 kensai combat felt soo much more satisfying then kingmaker because they were not completely one sided. Potions were also a thing in 2nd edition where in 3rd they become useless around level 12. Also critical hits are a comical joke in 3rd edition with 3x 4x crit weapons.

3rd edition=one sided fights. 2nd edition=actual back and forth slug fest that keeps you on your toes.

I don't know what game you played but in Baldur's Gate as soon as you hit lvl 5 and got access to good gear enemy would rarely hit your tanks and your slugfest is just you waiting for your guys to hit and kill them. In some fights it ended up at who got more natural 20 rolls.. not very exciting combat.

 

[deuxhero]

Course Bless stacks it's Morale. Heroism doesn't stack with Bless though since it's also Morale. I actually skip Heroism as spell since it's just +1 over Bless; while Good Hope is +2 but also +2 to damage which Heroism doesn't provide.

Heroism is 10 mins a caster level and boosts more stuff. I'm kinda meh on Heroism as a third level spell since Prayer is usable by Clerics then, but for bards (who get it as a second level spell) it's really good. Heroism really shines in PNP which is more open to being able stack bonuses to skills to overcome a one time DC (Like to Fabricate something big and fancy with no training in craft) and a uncommon bonus type to all skills helps that greatly.

 

[Haplo]

deactivate power attack (and honestly never activate it again unless you hit on 2+)

PA is an increase in damage output anytime you have a higher than 40% chance to hit the target with your full BAB attack.

First or last attack?
Does this include critical confirmation effects?
Probably not bonus damage, like sneak attacks and many others?

Extra attack/crit effects?

My experience is that most of the time its terrible on hard.

Then again, I mostly played 3/4 BAB classes, like Vivisectionists and Sword Saints.
Where Vivi would potentially loose multiple bonus attacks if he failed to land a bite.

SS on the other hand sometimes uses Greater Vital Strike - PA damage bonus is puny here and missing the single attack hurts.

 

[Shadenuat]

Heroism is 10 mins a caster level and boosts more stuff. I'm kinda meh on Heroism as a third level spell since Prayer is usable by Clerics then

Prayer is Luck +1 and -1 to enemy no save, you should always use it unless you have any other rare luck bonus. (re-casting it on every enemy group is pain but a few Extended ones just for your party is ok)

it was year 2019, we tried to teach codexers additive bonuses in d20.

 

[Desiderius]

Course Bless stacks it's Morale. Heroism doesn't stack with Bless though since it's also Morale. I actually skip Heroism as spell since it's just +1 over Bless; while Good Hope is +2 but also +2 to damage which Heroism doesn't provide.

Heroism is 10 mins a caster level and boosts more stuff. I'm kinda meh on Heroism as a third level spell since Prayer is usable by Clerics then, but for bards (who get it as a second level spell) it's really good. Heroism really shines in PNP which is more open to being able stack bonuses to skills to overcome a one time DC (Like to Fabricate something big and fancy with no training in craft) and a uncommon bonus type to all skills helps that greatly.

It’s a close call, literally, as you want all the Cacophonous Call casts you can get and there are so many other good spells for that slot. Dying dorf gives 30m Good Hope, then Dorf helm casts it to tide you over.

 

[Desiderius]

deactivate power attack (and honestly never activate it again unless you hit on 2+)

PA is an increase in damage output anytime you have a higher than 40% chance to hit the target with your full BAB attack.

First or last attack?
Does this include critical confirmation effects?
Probably not bonus damage, like sneak attacks and many others?

Extra attack/crit effects?

My experience is that most of the time its terrible on hard.

Then again, I mostly played 3/4 BAB classes, like Vivisectionists and Sword Saints.
Where Vivi would potentially loose multiple bonus attacks if he failed to land a bite.

SS on the other hand sometimes uses Greater Vital Strike - PA damage bonus is puny here and missing the single attack hurts.

It’s a sucker feat. Bad when it matters. Most of the feats it opens up are bad too.

 

[Desiderius]

Heroism is 10 mins a caster level and boosts more stuff. I'm kinda meh on Heroism as a third level spell since Prayer is usable by Clerics then

Prayer is Luck +1 and -1 to enemy no save, you should always use it unless you have any other rare luck bonus. (re-casting it on every enemy group is pain but a few Extended ones just for your party is ok)

it was year 2019, we tried to teach codexers additive bonuses in d20.

Extending per round spells isn’t really practical, especially +1s. Once you hit caster level 8 Vestments do so much more.

 

[Desiderius]

i never thought id see "slugfest" as a positive.
codex, you did it again.

One shot races are a little too much D:OS. I’ve been playing hard with reduced damage on the mob end and broken exploits banned on mine (no vivi splash, crane only with hand open) and enjoying it. Outflank is probably next to go.

 

[Brancaleone]

i never thought id see "slugfest" as a positive.
codex, you did it again.

Try this:

 

[deuxhero]

Heroism is 10 mins a caster level and boosts more stuff. I'm kinda meh on Heroism as a third level spell since Prayer is usable by Clerics then

Prayer is Luck +1 and -1 to enemy no save, you should always use it unless you have any other rare luck bonus. (re-casting it on every enemy group is pain but a few Extended ones just for your party is ok)

it was year 2019, we tried to teach codexers additive bonuses in d20.

Huh, I didn't realize it was a luck bonus. Thought it was just Improved Bless.

 

[Yosharian]

building attack bonus in kingmaker is very unsatisfying on Challenging. You need linzi, barbarian girl and buffs up the ying yang to get over the magical ac number threshold that most boss mobs havbe. Once you do though you slaughter the boss like a mite due to all the ridiculous damage bonuses that come with high level 3rd edition DnD. 2nd edition DnD with baldurs gate and icewind dale handles AB and AC so much better its not even funny. Outside of broken kits like the bg2 kensai combat felt soo much more satisfying then kingmaker because they were not completely one sided. Potions were also a thing in 2nd edition where in 3rd they become useless around level 12. Also critical hits are a comical joke in 3rd edition with 3x 4x crit weapons.

3rd edition=one sided fights. 2nd edition=actual back and forth slug fest that keeps you on your toes.

I will say that I hate with a passion how Owlcat handled difficulty in Kingmaker. Giving mobs inflated stats is a fucking terrible way to artificially increase difficulty. It's far, far more interesting if you simply multiply the amount of enemies in any given fight. I guess that's more difficult to code... I hope they approach difficulty in a different manner in their next game. I like a challenge but I have zero interest in fighting mobs with inflated stats.

 

[Sykar]

Personally I would prefer better AI and tighter more optimized builds for enemies. Imagine if some wizards were high level ATs with insane initiative sneak attacking the shit out of your frontline.

 

[Efe]

enemies dont need more optimized builds...
every fucking trash mob has perfect feats and inflated stats already

 

[Haplo]

Heroism is 10 mins a caster level and boosts more stuff. I'm kinda meh on Heroism as a third level spell since Prayer is usable by Clerics then

Prayer is Luck +1 and -1 to enemy no save, you should always use it unless you have any other rare luck bonus. (re-casting it on every enemy group is pain but a few Extended ones just for your party is ok)

it was year 2019, we tried to teach codexers additive bonuses in d20.

Quite lovely. As it's rounds per level, I used to conserve it for the boss fights. Till my cleric got the cloak that lets me cast it unlimited times per day. Now it's Tristan's main activity

 

[Yosharian]

Heroism is a level 2 spell for Bards, and they get quite a lot of casts per day. And there's not a lot of other great spells at that level.

You do have a Bard in your party, right?

 

[Haplo]

Heroism is a level 2 spell for Bards, and they get quite a lot of casts per day. And there's not a lot of other great spells at that level.

Quite. Sense Vitals, Mirror Image, Blur.

But yeah, Heroism is nice till you get Good Hope. Has much better duration early on too.