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

[Desiderius]

Backing off from Candlemere Island. Volleys of the lightning bolt type ability cris-crossing over my party is just a bit too much, even having arrived prepared. Never seen a "War Wisp", but 3 + Ancient War Wisp groups in such frequent succession are an irritation. The regular war wisps have a CR of 11, whereas my party is largely Level 6. I've cleared 5 groups of them, over what appears to be half of the map. Not sure if I'll back off to the world map and rest off island and return to clear it, or just do other things until my group has a few more chest hairs.

They give you a quest when it’s time. Good time to familiarize yourself with Resist Energy, Communal and See Invis, Communal. I think the former bumps up to 20 at lvl 7. No reason to go sooner.

 

[Desiderius]

Unfair only because it's the only way to make AI punish you for mistakes in TB.
You generally can run circles around AI in TB and don't even need to max AC to tank since it is so easy to cancel AI full attacks.

That's with standard companions without much optimization.

U can start on Hard and switch to Unfair later if you wish too.

I’d start on normal and increase difficulty whenever it gets boring. You’ll eventually end up on Unfair sooner or later but I still don’t start there.

 

[Shadenuat]

if u ever finished bg/bg2 start with challenging; if you finished IWD2 start on hard.
for tb increase by 1.

 

[Yosharian]

Backing off from Candlemere Island. Volleys of the lightning bolt type ability cris-crossing over my party is just a bit too much, even having arrived prepared. Never seen a "War Wisp", but 3 + Ancient War Wisp groups in such frequent succession are an irritation. The regular war wisps have a CR of 11, whereas my party is largely Level 6. I've cleared 5 groups of them, over what appears to be half of the map. Not sure if I'll back off to the world map and rest off island and return to clear it, or just do other things until my group has a few more chest hairs.

Communal. Resist. Energy.

 

[Lady_Error]

Other than the TB mod, any other mods that are recommended?

 

[Yosharian]

Other than the TB mod, any other mods that are recommended?

check my sig, i have a mods section

I haven't fully completed writing it yet but the links are all there

 

[Lady_Error]

Other than the TB mod, any other mods that are recommended?

check my sig, i have a mods section

Thanks, but this doesn't look like really critical stuff. Why don't you have a link to the TB mod? Is it working well?

 

[John Keel]

TB mod is working flawlessly

 

[Efe]

iirc closer to desktop and quickuse are two mods mentioned here before.
didnt use either though so cant testify

 

[John Keel]

QuickUse is awesome, but it's more of a UI QoL than a mod per se

 

[Yosharian]

Other than the TB mod, any other mods that are recommended?

check my sig, i have a mods section

Thanks, but this doesn't look like really critical stuff. Why don't you have a link to the TB mod? Is it working well?

Well, you said recommended, not critical, in my defense.

I haven't put up the turn-based mod because it's a very complex mod and I haven't tested it myself. Others say it's working well, so it should be fine.

The mods in my list are more lightweight mods rather than mods that change critical aspects of gameplay.

 

[Desiderius]

if u ever finished bg/bg2 start with challenging; if you finished IWD2 start on hard.
for tb increase by 1.

That’s a little ambitious. Especially for a new player who doesn’t know how to cheese EXP.

 

[John Keel]

Once again, difficulty should be selected depending on party composition (And knowledge of the innerworking of PF:KM I guess)

 

[deuxhero]

John Keel
Go through the Magic Item Compendium if you want a lot of interesting items to grab. 3.5 but minimal conversion to PF in most cases.

 

[John Keel]

John Keel
Go through the Magic Item Compendium if you want a lot of interesting items to grab. 3.5 but minimal conversion to PF in most cases.

Thanks for the tip, I already checked it :D

I just started with NWN2 items due to fond memory of em, and ease of access for premade icons ^^

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

Backing off from Candlemere Island. Volleys of the lightning bolt type ability cris-crossing over my party is just a bit too much, even having arrived prepared. Never seen a "War Wisp", but 3 + Ancient War Wisp groups in such frequent succession are an irritation. The regular war wisps have a CR of 11, whereas my party is largely Level 6. I've cleared 5 groups of them, over what appears to be half of the map. Not sure if I'll back off to the world map and rest off island and return to clear it, or just do other things until my group has a few more chest hairs.

They give you a quest when it’s time. Good time to familiarize yourself with Resist Energy, Communal and See Invis, Communal. I think the former bumps up to 20 at lvl 7. No reason to go sooner.

I said that I arrived prepared. I had both memorized. See Invisibility doesn't work on the wisps. I am even using Wand of Find Traps to boost my perception. Glitterdust helps against the Ancients, but its still a death of 1,000 cuts. A spread party formation doesn't help much in that the area is a corridor. Even with Communal Resist Energy, damage bleeds through. Each group of wisps spawns on top of my party, fires 2 volleys which criss-cross the whole party. 3 to 5 damage applied 6 to 8 times each encounter to most of my characters in just the opening volleys is just too much attrition right now for their level. I cleared 5 groups of these things before losing my patience. It looks like i have half the map cleared, could likely rest and finish it, but I don't know what awaits me at the end. Knowing Owlcat, probably a proverbial kick in the nuts. I try to minimize reloads.

 

[Desiderius]

Backing off from Candlemere Island. Volleys of the lightning bolt type ability cris-crossing over my party is just a bit too much, even having arrived prepared. Never seen a "War Wisp", but 3 + Ancient War Wisp groups in such frequent succession are an irritation. The regular war wisps have a CR of 11, whereas my party is largely Level 6. I've cleared 5 groups of them, over what appears to be half of the map. Not sure if I'll back off to the world map and rest off island and return to clear it, or just do other things until my group has a few more chest hairs.

They give you a quest when it’s time. Good time to familiarize yourself with Resist Energy, Communal and See Invis, Communal. I think the former bumps up to 20 at lvl 7. No reason to go sooner.

I said that I arrived prepared. I had both memorized. See Invisibility doesn't work on the wisps. I am even using Wand of Find Traps to boost my perception. Glitterdust helps against the Ancients, but its still a death of 1,000 cuts. A spread party formation doesn't help much in that the area is a corridor. Even with Communal Resist Energy, damage bleeds through. Each group of wisps spawns on top of my party, fires 2 volleys which criss-cross the whole party. 3 to 5 damage applied 6 to 8 times each encounter to most of my characters in just the opening volleys is just too much attrition right now for their level. I cleared 5 groups of these things before losing my patience. It looks like i have half the map cleared, could likely rest and finish it, but I don't know what awaits me at the end. Knowing Owlcat, probably a proverbial kick in the nuts. I try to minimize reloads.

See Invis does work on wisps. I have screenshot proof if you need it. Find Traps only works on Traps and the Wand is junk anyway since it is caster lvl 3.

Spreading out is the worst thing you can do as you need flank and Outflank bonuses (plus Bard/Freebooter) to consistently hit them. Once you do you should kill at least one per turn. But going at lol seven (eight?) gets you an extra ten points of dam reduction on the Resist Energy. Top off with a Prot Communal or Inspire Greatness as needed.

What seems like a kick in the nuts now is in reality something you haven’t gotten the hang of yet. Again, wait for the quest. You’re there too early.

 

[Trashos]

My 2nd playthrough is on full Challenging difficulty (so the enemies are a bit buffed up as compared to last time), and the combat system is shining even more. Great stuff!

On the downside, I failed the "Nature of the Best" quest. I saved Bartholomew, so I am not sure what is going on, but I assume this happened because I took my sweet time after hearing about him, instead of going there at once. Or maybe it was because at some point I left the map to rest.

At any rate: I like the fact that the map played different this time (there was a full troll assault all around the map), however failing the quest while I saved Bartholomew makes no gameplay sense. These arbitrary time restrictions, that I am in no way warned about, are getting on my nerves.

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

The fight against Irovetti (which I assume most of you Stankmaker lovers haven't even seen) is a great example of how retarded the game design here is. The first part is fairly easy, but then of course voila, Irovetti pulls a giant snake out of his ass for phase 2. Which is ok, shit happens, but it's how it's done. The entire fight resets, your party is repositioned in the worst possible place (with the stealthed archers/alchemist shooting shit up their ass), irovetti doing his knife throwing spam and the snake casually tossing late game spells. Also, the buffs on your party are wiped away, cause you know, nothing is as fun as buffing up while being artillery targets. Meanwhile, Irovetti also does his aura bullshit, where half your party is immobilized and can't do shit, and the snake has like 60 AC and massive damage reduction and heals itself, but that's ok, you can debuff it, right, if only your fucking debuffer wasn't immobilized by irovetti's aura spell, for all of 2 seconds before the bombs take his dumb ass out. I want to cheese this fight just because the fight designer was clearly a sadistic moron.

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

Spoiler

Backing off from Candlemere Island. Volleys of the lightning bolt type ability cris-crossing over my party is just a bit too much, even having arrived prepared. Never seen a "War Wisp", but 3 + Ancient War Wisp groups in such frequent succession are an irritation. The regular war wisps have a CR of 11, whereas my party is largely Level 6. I've cleared 5 groups of them, over what appears to be half of the map. Not sure if I'll back off to the world map and rest off island and return to clear it, or just do other things until my group has a few more chest hairs.

They give you a quest when it’s time. Good time to familiarize yourself with Resist Energy, Communal and See Invis, Communal. I think the former bumps up to 20 at lvl 7. No reason to go sooner.

I said that I arrived prepared. I had both memorized. See Invisibility doesn't work on the wisps. I am even using Wand of Find Traps to boost my perception. Glitterdust helps against the Ancients, but its still a death of 1,000 cuts. A spread party formation doesn't help much in that the area is a corridor. Even with Communal Resist Energy, damage bleeds through. Each group of wisps spawns on top of my party, fires 2 volleys which criss-cross the whole party. 3 to 5 damage applied 6 to 8 times each encounter to most of my characters in just the opening volleys is just too much attrition right now for their level. I cleared 5 groups of these things before losing my patience. It looks like i have half the map cleared, could likely rest and finish it, but I don't know what awaits me at the end. Knowing Owlcat, probably a proverbial kick in the nuts. I try to minimize reloads.

See Invis does work on wisps. I have screenshot proof if you need it. Find Traps only works on Traps and the Wand is junk anyway since it is caster lvl 3.

Spreading out is the worst thing you can do as you need flank and Outflank bonuses (plus Bard/Freebooter) to consistently hit them. Once you do you should kill at least one per turn. But going at lol seven (eight?) gets you an extra ten points of dam reduction on the Resist Energy. Top off with a Prot Communal or Inspire Greatness as needed.

What seems like a kick in the nuts now is in reality something you haven’t gotten the hang of yet. Again, wait for the quest. You’re there too early.

See Invisible makes them visible when they spawn on top of my party. The Wand of Trap finding gives a raw boost to perception, rather than just find traps. Either way, I'm still in a loom of lightning for each group. Spread formation is only for the opening volleys, which are unavoidable due to the above. Once they've fired off, I close in and surround.

I agree that I'm probably just there too early. Candlemere was supposed to just be a time sink to stay near my territory boundary while I waited for an event to finish.

 

[Desiderius]

The fight against Irovetti (which I assume most of you Stankmaker lovers haven't even seen) is a great example of how retarded the game design here is. The first part is fairly easy, but then of course voila, Irovetti pulls a giant snake out of his ass for phase 2. Which is ok, shit happens, but it's how it's done. The entire fight resets, your party is repositioned in the worst possible place (with the stealthed archers/alchemist shooting shit up their ass), irovetti doing his knife throwing spam and the snake casually tossing late game spells. Also, the buffs on your party are wiped away, cause you know, nothing is as fun as buffing up while being artillery targets. Meanwhile, Irovetti also does his aura bullshit, where half your party is immobilized and can't do shit, and the snake has like 60 AC and massive damage reduction and heals itself, but that's ok, you can debuff it, right, if only your fucking debuffer wasn't immobilized by irovetti's aura spell, for all of 2 seconds before the bombs take his dumb ass out. I want to cheese this fight just because the fight designer was clearly a sadistic moron.

You can kill all the archers/alchemists ahead of time. As for the rest maybe turn down the difficulty until you learn how to play better.

Was disappointed that this fight lasted less than two rounds in last playthrough.

 

[John Keel]

IIRC Wand of Find trap only adds to trap check

 

[Yosharian]

I said that I arrived prepared. I had both memorized. See Invisibility doesn't work on the wisps. I am even using Wand of Find Traps to boost my perception. Glitterdust helps against the Ancients, but its still a death of 1,000 cuts. A spread party formation doesn't help much in that the area is a corridor. Even with Communal Resist Energy, damage bleeds through. Each group of wisps spawns on top of my party, fires 2 volleys which criss-cross the whole party. 3 to 5 damage applied 6 to 8 times each encounter to most of my characters in just the opening volleys is just too much attrition right now for their level. I cleared 5 groups of these things before losing my patience. It looks like i have half the map cleared, could likely rest and finish it, but I don't know what awaits me at the end. Knowing Owlcat, probably a proverbial kick in the nuts. I try to minimize reloads.

Well I had almost no problems with these mobs with Communal Resist Energy on, but perhaps you are playing on a higher difficulty than me, or Owlcat modified that map.

Try combining Communal Resist Energy with Communal Protection from Energy. It's not supposed to, but it's possible that Protection From Energy will only trigger for the bleed damage.

Otherwise, you'll have to try to level up a bit more before attempting the map again, or locate some Resist Electricity items.

 

[Desiderius]

Spoiler

Backing off from Candlemere Island. Volleys of the lightning bolt type ability cris-crossing over my party is just a bit too much, even having arrived prepared. Never seen a "War Wisp", but 3 + Ancient War Wisp groups in such frequent succession are an irritation. The regular war wisps have a CR of 11, whereas my party is largely Level 6. I've cleared 5 groups of them, over what appears to be half of the map. Not sure if I'll back off to the world map and rest off island and return to clear it, or just do other things until my group has a few more chest hairs.

They give you a quest when it’s time. Good time to familiarize yourself with Resist Energy, Communal and See Invis, Communal. I think the former bumps up to 20 at lvl 7. No reason to go sooner.

I said that I arrived prepared. I had both memorized. See Invisibility doesn't work on the wisps. I am even using Wand of Find Traps to boost my perception. Glitterdust helps against the Ancients, but its still a death of 1,000 cuts. A spread party formation doesn't help much in that the area is a corridor. Even with Communal Resist Energy, damage bleeds through. Each group of wisps spawns on top of my party, fires 2 volleys which criss-cross the whole party. 3 to 5 damage applied 6 to 8 times each encounter to most of my characters in just the opening volleys is just too much attrition right now for their level. I cleared 5 groups of these things before losing my patience. It looks like i have half the map cleared, could likely rest and finish it, but I don't know what awaits me at the end. Knowing Owlcat, probably a proverbial kick in the nuts. I try to minimize reloads.

See Invis does work on wisps. I have screenshot proof if you need it. Find Traps only works on Traps and the Wand is junk anyway since it is caster lvl 3.

Spreading out is the worst thing you can do as you need flank and Outflank bonuses (plus Bard/Freebooter) to consistently hit them. Once you do you should kill at least one per turn. But going at lol seven (eight?) gets you an extra ten points of dam reduction on the Resist Energy. Top off with a Prot Communal or Inspire Greatness as needed.

What seems like a kick in the nuts now is in reality something you haven’t gotten the hang of yet. Again, wait for the quest. You’re there too early.

See Invisible makes them visible when they spawn on top of my party. The Wand of Trap finding gives a raw boost to perception, rather than just find traps. Either way, I'm still in a loom of lightning for each group. Spread formation is only for the opening volleys, which are unavoidable due to the above. Once they've fired off, I close in and surround.

I agree that I'm probably just there too early. Candlemere was supposed to just be a time sink to stay near my territory boundary while I waited for an event to finish.

No, they don’t “spawn” at all. They’re already there. The fight starts when you detect them. If you do the quest when intended and have decent Perception that will usually be far enough away to converge on them with your melee. My guess is that it feels hard because your Resist Energy is on 10 still instead of 20. As I said, top off with Protection and it should be a breeze as long as you’re using your Bard properly and getting Outflank bonuses.

The Wand does not boost general Perception despite what it says. Find Traps boosts Perception only for finding traps and since the Caster Level on the Wand is 3 and the game rounds down you get a grand total of +1 perception. It sucks. Sell it.

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

The fight against Irovetti (which I assume most of you Stankmaker lovers haven't even seen) is a great example of how retarded the game design here is. The first part is fairly easy, but then of course voila, Irovetti pulls a giant snake out of his ass for phase 2. Which is ok, shit happens, but it's how it's done. The entire fight resets, your party is repositioned in the worst possible place (with the stealthed archers/alchemist shooting shit up their ass), irovetti doing his knife throwing spam and the snake casually tossing late game spells. Also, the buffs on your party are wiped away, cause you know, nothing is as fun as buffing up while being artillery targets. Meanwhile, Irovetti also does his aura bullshit, where half your party is immobilized and can't do shit, and the snake has like 60 AC and massive damage reduction and heals itself, but that's ok, you can debuff it, right, if only your fucking debuffer wasn't immobilized by irovetti's aura spell, for all of 2 seconds before the bombs take his dumb ass out. I want to cheese this fight just because the fight designer was clearly a sadistic moron.

You can kill all the archers/alchemists ahead of time. As for the rest maybe turn down the difficulty until you learn how to play better.

Was disappointed that this fight lasted less than two rounds in last playthrough.

I just won this fight. And no, I can't turn the difficulty down, cause I don't play on Story mode like you. And yes, I did have to cheese the fight by doing it in multiple sequences (first take out the fruits on the balcony, then in phase 2 to mimic the dipshit developers, took out irovetti's troll escorts, and only then in phase 3, took out him and his snake dildo). That is NOT how good fights go.