KickStarter Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pre-DLC Thread [GO TO NEW THREAD]

[ArchAngel]

I was having fun with this, especially with the promise of a major rags to riches power trip (I seriously love the feeling), but then bugs. Ok, I thought, I'm old, I can handle those. Plodding through, I get to the first heart to heart opportunity with my conpanions and bam! Serious infodumps, telling not showing, mountains of boring text, the works. Enough, I thought, I'm old, I can't handle those anymore, sigh.

Question is: how much filler dialogue do I have to put up with throughout the game? Is the quality of, say, Valerie's backstory a standard for the whole experience? Are these 12 topic, multiple branching, dialogue trees of boredom +5, the plot exposition devices of choice?

Generally I try to be patient with old people, being one of them, but... Why do you even bother talking to companons if you find the dialogues boring? They are not necessary for the plot moving forward, my druid has been ignoring them most of the time (except for quests, and of course Nok-Nok) and arrived in chapter four just fine. Or play the game IWD-style and run a party of mercs instead.

That is exactly what I decided to do once I read that you can randomly lose companions in last chapters, often due to bugs. But all your mercs stay with you and you cannot lose them. Fuck that design.
I will continue my play with companions once this shit has been 100% resolved and we know exact steps on how to keep companions we want to have with us through whole game.

EDIT: On the other hand, this is how I finished both BG1 and Bg2 in my first runs. I could not stand playing with badly optimized companions and I didn't care at all for their story, romance and all that other shit.
I guess I am destined to play all IE like games this way :D

 

[Lawntoilet]

It all depends on the companion choice - obviously, Nok-Nok, Wakandayo, Octavia and Reggy can dish out much more damage than Linzi, Amiri (because she's dead half the time if you continue to level her as a barbarian), Jewbelost (when his bombs are expended), Jaethal (not sure, I simply did not take her into the party for some unknown reasons), Harrim or Arthas (well, he's an excellent healer and has extra blade barrier so he can be included into the first group). If you go with Vally, Linzi, jew, harrim, jaethal the experience probably will be completely different as compared to my party of Val/Tristian/Octavia/Nok-Nok/Negro/Illusionist-transmute wiz

Your companion picks really do change your playstyle and tactics. Amiri doesn't die too often if you give her a Reach weapon, plant her behind Val, and take DR Rage powers. Early game is rough though.
Jaethal and Harrim can be good tanks - especially Jaethal because she can't die, and her Dex isn't shit, though she is harder to heal - once they get access to some good self buffs. Harrim and Tristian get access to good summons which you can further pump with +summon/+necro items.
Jubilost is broken by good if you give him all the +bombs/+bomb damage items you can find. Partly that's due to bugs (bomb crits add too many dice currently) but even if they get fixed he's still really strong.

Also what's with everyone saying you finish the game at level 16? I just hit 18 at the start of Chapter 7, no cheating and I

Spoiler

sided with the Pirate Captain in Pitax

which I think is the lower-xp option.

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

Your level depends how thoroughly you insist on making all those high DC checks in Pitax

 

[Israfael]

Amiri doesn't die too often if you give her a Reach weapon, plant her behind Val, and take DR Rage powers. Early game is rough though.
Jaethal and Harrim can be good tanks - especially Jaethal because she can't die, and her Dex isn't shit, though she is harder to heal - once they get access to some good self buffs. Harrim and Tristian get access to good summons which you can further pump with +summon/+necro items.

Well, as I said, it's all not that optimal - Nok-Nok has better AC, stats and overall progression (not to mention he doesn't speak like Amiri and his quests are fun), Summons are pretty lackluster in the late game where enemies have some sort of in-built concealment, 55+ AC and other shenanigans (unless you use them as a meat shield or a way to buffer stat drain from devourers / soul stealers etc, which Raise Dead does just as fine), Valerie is better at tanking thanks to shield spec and better rounded stats (Harrims dex is just urgh, Jaethal will need bazillion of extra feats and stuff to get decent)

 

[ga♥]

I just hit 18 at the start of Chapter 7, no cheating and I

Spoiler

sided with the Pirate Captain in Pitax

which I think is the lower-xp option.

I reached lvl18 nearly the end of Chapt VI. But I disabled XP sharing with (dead) companions (I had just jubilost alive anyway, who I never used) at the start of the house, this translated in every WH scout or ghost guard giving 4700+ and traps usually 8000-9000.

I wouldn't be able to reach it with half XP being given.

 

[Shadenuat]

Well, as I said, it's all not that optimal

You can make it optimal.

 

[vazha]

How to increase will saves for fighter?dip 1 into paladin?

To everything that has been already said like:
The two iron will feats,
Two levels of paladin combined with high charisma - requires lawful good character,
Wisdom and items adding to it

I'll add one, somewhat ignored these days:
Make your fighter a dwarf, hardy gives +2 to saves against most stuff and can be upgraded to +4 via a feat IIRC. Also +2 Wisdom racial bonus. No racial bonus to STR is a pain but otherwise, not a bad option.

you can also roll an angelkin aasimar with str and cha bonuses, increasing your saves and shooting your intimidation / cornugon smashing through the roof all at once. dwarfs good, but the optimal str based two hander fighter with pally/monk dips (or even better - pally with fighter/monk dips instead, for spell buffs and bonded weapon goodness) is better of with reasonable dex, robe and gauntlets.
Which will effectively leave Valerie as the only one who can reap real benefits from heavy armor & shield combo though.

Remind me again. What's the downside of asimars? None? Well then, as I suspected they are popamole race for sure.

True enough. Owlcat really should have introduced an ECL for them. As it is they stand Head and shoulders above every other race and the aasimar pally with various dips is perhaps the best suited melee char for a solo run. The only trap 8n there is not to waste feats on things you dont need, such as combat maneuvers etc. As somebody already pointed out, if you have a massive dps dealer, wasting feats on exotic means of killings is just gimping them. Axe to the face is what best crushings are made of, as Urgzzob would have said.

 

[razvedchiki]

When should an aasimar pally dip into 2handed fighter?is it worth it to go for cleave feats if 2handed?hospitallier for the extra healing or pure pally?
Also how much ac do your tanks need for hard at the start of chapter 2 onwards?when i tried hard my tanks where killed in a few rounds.

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

You would need 7 levels of 2h fighter to get the double STR bonus on your full attack I believe. And without that... why dip into it at all? Is 3 levels to get the bonus only on charge or the first attack really worth it?
Generally speaking (ignoring some reports here that cleave is bugged with some reach weapons) I'd say at least cleave and cleaving finish is worth it for twohanders.

 

[Reinhardt]

At last got masterpiece leather armor. Nok-Nok is happy little gobbo. Not naked anymore.

 

[Shadenuat]

I am running Amiri as 2 hander/Thug with Persuasion & Use Magic Device, Str to Persuasion and Auto-Intimidate on hit, inside a pack of summoned wolves, obviously enlarged, power attack, 2 hander - very nice.

 

[ArchAngel]

I just hit 18 at the start of Chapter 7, no cheating and I

Spoiler

sided with the Pirate Captain in Pitax

which I think is the lower-xp option.

I reached lvl18 nearly the end of Chapt VI. But I disabled XP sharing with (dead) companions (I had just jubilost alive anyway, who I never used) at the start of the house, this translated in every WH scout or ghost guard giving 4700+ and traps usually 8000-9000.

I wouldn't be able to reach it with half XP being given.

After so many pages and this same shit being brought up we still get this same confusion. You don't get more XP no matter how you turn it ON or OFF it you got 6 people in your party. It only does anything if you got 5 or less.
But it does show XP gain differently in combat log which might be confusing for you. In one option it shows total XP you will get, in another it already splits XP by 6 and shows that value.

 

[Jasede]

At last got masterpiece leather armor. Nok-Nok is happy little gobbo. Not naked anymore.

Wouldn't he be better off naked? Even the lightest leather armor caps the Dex bonus at +8, right? So when Nok-Nok is running around with 38 DEX that's +14, so that leather armor would have to +5 to break even with being naked, but you are missing out what a robe might offer, but I guess you free up the armor bracers slot.

 

[Reinhardt]

At last got masterpiece leather armor. Nok-Nok is happy little gobbo. Not naked anymore.

Wouldn't he be better off naked? Even the lightest leather armor caps the Dex bonus at +8, right? So when Nok-Nok is running around with 38 DEX that's +14, so that leather armor would have to +6 to break even with being naked, but you are missing out what a robe might offer, but I guess you free up the armor bracers slot.

It has +15 to dex cap. That's why it's masterpiece. And +20 hp.

 

[Jasede]

Oh, that is a sick armor then.

... shame all my artisans broke. I haven't seen a single masterpiece yet. Each of them has a different issue.
Bokken disappeared. The elf guy's dryad I killed before I got his quest. The robe chick didn't give me any dialogue options to make her my crafter. The others don't appear, or I did their quest but no masterwork is ever given.

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

There was a dark acolyte robe with +4int and some other stuff which seemed like a good match for Nok Nok (INT for vivi spell casting and saves the head slot for something else)

 

[Thonius]

Oh, that is a sick armor then.

... shame all my artisans broke. I haven't seen a single masterpiece yet. Each of them has a different issue.
Bokken disappeared. The elf guy's dryad I killed before I got his quest. The robe chick didn't give me any dialogue options to make her my crafter. The others don't appear, or I did their quest but no masterwork is ever given.

Tried downgrading artisans buildings.Nothing. So I just gave up and cheated in that rod masterpiece from Mim.

 

[Jasede]

The game well and truly is playable - but boy does it suck how buggy the artisans are. It's not /important/ or game critical, but it'd be nice to have all the cool stuff others get without having to edit savegames.

Anyone know the code for Bokken's masterpiece potion and that leather armor we just talked about? Since I don't know their names I can't find them on the lists.

 

[Reinhardt]

Oh, that is a sick armor then.

 

[Jasede]

Wish the game just had some fucking debug console so I can just go `additem(243245fda34e)

Having to unrar the savegame, make a change, rar it again, is pretty shit.

 

[Jasede]

Also .json is gay and for big gays. As a software developer I can say this with authority.

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

It's the most low effort saving approach imaginable, just to serialize all objects into json format.

 

[ga♥]

I just hit 18 at the start of Chapter 7, no cheating and I

Spoiler

sided with the Pirate Captain in Pitax

which I think is the lower-xp option.

I reached lvl18 nearly the end of Chapt VI. But I disabled XP sharing with (dead) companions (I had just jubilost alive anyway, who I never used) at the start of the house, this translated in every WH scout or ghost guard giving 4700+ and traps usually 8000-9000.

I wouldn't be able to reach it with half XP being given.

After so many pages and this same shit being brought up we still get this same confusion. You don't get more XP no matter how you turn it ON or OFF it you got 6 people in your party. It only does anything if you got 5 or less.
But it does show XP gain differently in combat log which might be confusing for you. In one option it shows total XP you will get, in another it already splits XP by 6 and shows that value.

I am 100% sure that if i disable XP sharing companions at capital/camp dont get XP. So you say companions in the party still get the same amount? Makes no sense considering my first sentence.

 

[golgepapaz]

Back in my time people used binary formats, not that bloated verbose stringy things ,XMLs, JSONs and whatnots.

 

[ArchAngel]

I just hit 18 at the start of Chapter 7, no cheating and I

Spoiler

sided with the Pirate Captain in Pitax

which I think is the lower-xp option.

I reached lvl18 nearly the end of Chapt VI. But I disabled XP sharing with (dead) companions (I had just jubilost alive anyway, who I never used) at the start of the house, this translated in every WH scout or ghost guard giving 4700+ and traps usually 8000-9000.

I wouldn't be able to reach it with half XP being given.

After so many pages and this same shit being brought up we still get this same confusion. You don't get more XP no matter how you turn it ON or OFF it you got 6 people in your party. It only does anything if you got 5 or less.
But it does show XP gain differently in combat log which might be confusing for you. In one option it shows total XP you will get, in another it already splits XP by 6 and shows that value.

I am 100% sure that if i disable XP sharing companions at capital/camp dont get XP. So you say companions in the party still get the same amount? Makes no sense considering my first sentence.

Yes, one options means only those in party get XP. But if you got 6 in party you still get same XP.

If you got XP sharing turned ON your XP gain is divided by 6 and than everyone in your party and out of your party gets that amount.
If you got XP sharing OFF, you get a set amount of XP and it is only shared between those in your party.. which can be max 6.

It does not need to make sense, it is how it works. We tested all this in first 2 weeks of the game release.