Pathfinder Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous - Game of the Year Edition

[LannTheStupid]

I want to see a D&D game that operates like X-Com, with a high death rate per mission and the ability to constantly put new characters into the party. Which would actually be more true to the original editions of D&D, it was supposed to be constantly deadly and characters weren't expected to survive whole campaigns.

This is what the Helmsman from the Treasure of the Midnight Isles is playing.

 

[mediocrepoet]

I want to see a D&D game that operates like X-Com, with a high death rate per mission and the ability to constantly put new characters into the party. Which would actually be more true to the original editions of D&D, it was supposed to be constantly deadly and characters weren't expected to survive whole campaigns.

I almost fainted from the massive boner this thought gave me.

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

Average Manatee I do not know that I can agree. WotR has too much depth of build for that kind of churn. 3/4 of the class features, particularly the powerful late game ones, would never be experienced. For me to enjoy D&D as an XCom like experience, level gain would have to be very brisk.

 

[mediocrepoet]

Average Manatee I do not know that I can agree. WotR has too much depth of build for that kind of churn. 3/4 of the class features, particularly the powerful late game ones, would never be experienced. For me to enjoy D&D as an XCom like experience, level gain would have to be very brisk.

I agree with that. When he says D&D experience, I was envisioning 2E or even BECMI, not 3.XE or Pathfinder.

 

[Average Manatee]

The way I'd envision it would be to have a simplified leveling process. e.g. don't level skills, just select what ones you want and it auto levels them (or maybe just assume characters are leveling their class skills). Have easily set build archetypes that the player can control where they can generate a character with most/all the feats they usually want for certain classes. Constrain the level range of the campaign between something like level 4 and level 12, with your strategic progress (your base in X-Com) determining how highly leveled you could recruit new characters.

It'd be hard with a 3.x based ruleset but not impossible, just be absolutely merciless about compressing things down to what you need for characters and making the UI snappy. Basically the opposite of WotR. If you just presented a player with a level 10 fighter and said "pick 8 feats now" without all the other clicking around, it'd be a pretty quick process. And you could then just save that feat list to be applied to other fighters. Aside from feats its really only spells that add complexity that is relevant to the gameplay, and you could do the same with saving a spell list.

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

I just beat my first expedition on the Midnight Isles DLC. My party of 4 got to Level 11 and Mythic 3. After I kill a boss, it then says I have to start over with a new hero and party! What? I am incredibly annoyed by that. It's implied the boatman kills the first party? I have no idea why they structured it this way. I was nearing the point of character development where things were getting interesting. Argh! Does it do that each expedition? I'm now probably going to install toybox and just use trainers to experiment with builds. How obnoxious.

 

[Average Manatee]

You'll get further each time before getting killed, but yes. It's incredibly tedious to redo all those levels, especially if you happen to have planned a build that would have really started to come together in 1-2 more levels

 

[Humanophage]

What is a good idea for difficulty in the first playthrough? I am currently trying Hard, but it does seem to be rather tough. I have been thinking about lowering the difficulty to Core. On the other hand, Hard does seem to encourage putting effort into fights and caring about mechanics. I am concerned Core would be too easy. Then again, maybe it makes sense to do Core first, then Hard on some future playthrough. I heard the opinion that the sweet spot is having core till Level 12, then Hard. Does it make sense?

 

[InD_ImaginE]

What is a good idea for difficulty in the first playthrough? I am currently trying Hard, but it does seem to be rather tough. I have been thinking about lowering the difficulty to Core. On the other hand, Hard does seem to encourage putting effort into fights and caring about mechanics. I am concerned Core would be too easy. Then again, maybe it makes sense to do Core first, then Hard on some future playthrough. I heard the opinion that the sweet spot is having core till Level 12, then Hard. Does it make sense?

How familiar are you with the system? Core is basically easily passable for people with knowledge of the system. Most of the time you can pass core with RP build (e.g. picking class/feats that make sense in world) without the need of man mix. If you play on Core you might want to turn the option of enemy using more abilities/better AI (forgot the name) too.

Hard requires min max especially early game until like Chapter 3. After that due to abundance of spells it is generally manageable.

 

[Desiderius]

What is a good idea for difficulty in the first playthrough? I am currently trying Hard, but it does seem to be rather tough. I have been thinking about lowering the difficulty to Core. On the other hand, Hard does seem to encourage putting effort into fights and caring about mechanics. I am concerned Core would be too easy. Then again, maybe it makes sense to do Core first, then Hard on some future playthrough. I heard the opinion that the sweet spot is having core till Level 12, then Hard. Does it make sense?

The difficulty curve is inverted. There's no dishonor in starting on Normal/Challenging and kicking it up whenever it gets boring. Doesn't help that the game in general is relatively high rest but optimal approach to first chapter is clearing a good bit before resting much at all. Depending on party make-up and the level of mastery you achieve Unfair could end up being your sweet spot. The tools are there to handle any difficulty eventually.

If you want constant difficulty for achievement or whatever Core should be fine throughout for first playthrough.

 

[Desiderius]

In-game Ship endgame:



Hitting 60 Initiative. Overkill vs the Songbird. Used this round on Mythic Suppression.



Lann got knocked off his Mount. Utterly pounds her triggering respawn in stronger form.



MC gets her low and lands an AeonBane Dispel. Looks like I needed to use Mythic Suppression again on the respawn. Missing Guarded Hearth and Mark of Justice (she's Neutral and didn't have the Sword equipped to handle that).



Sos missing Mark of Justice damage here (or good Fire Equipment) but it's enough to do the job. She's weak vs Touch/Fire



Here's Unfair Nahyndri. Opened up with Mythic Suppression from Stealth. Heard he usually has Last Stand and a couple other nasty Mythic abilities?



Nenio gets a decent Hellfire off with Grandmaster Rod. Not bad for an Illusionist.



I'm using the Signature Skill mod which lets you take Signature Skill as a Feat with various effects depending on Skill. Here get a flat-footed at 20 ranks of Stealth with passed skill check.

Looks like she didn't need it since Nahyndri hasn't even gotten an action yet. Aeonbane so good.



Was hoping to get the Trip here but Bismuth ran outside the range of some of the buffing Auras due to weird terrain.



Summon finishes off Unfair Nahyndri. This one's for you Yosharian.

 

[razvedchiki]

you can recruit mercs and if they die you make more, after all you command an army.

 

[LannTheStupid]

I just want to add - maybe unnecessarily - that in-game descriptions of the difficulty levels match the actual difficulty very well.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Why does Sarkonian sound like some Alien race in Star Trek?

 

[mediocrepoet]

Why does Sarkonian sound like some Alien race in Star Trek?

Because they're horrible, soulless creatures that want nothing more than to spread lies and misery. Best to stay away from them.

Enter if you dare!

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

So that's a Sarkonian!

 

[mediocrepoet]

So that's a Sarkonian!

It's their queen.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Oh god no...

 

[LannTheStupid]

Also, they are called Sarkorians. Akshually.

 

[mediocrepoet]

Looks like there's a new beta branch for people who want to test the next mega patch. The patch notes are actually two posts (link to second at the bottom of the first).

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1184370/view/3645137816264652379?l=english

 

[Cyberarmy]

The patch notes are actually two posts

Shit, I got to complete my playthrough before they release a new patch and broke (and mindlessly nerf...) stuff!

Edit: BTW game feels unresponsive a lot now, I finished this game at release it was kinda smooth in battle and menus but now I find myself strugling with UI...

 

[skaraher]

I actually enjoyed Act 4, demon city was a bit gimmicky but well rounded. Now I'm trying to figure how to not take a full party wipe in Mephistopheles fight. The absence of pre-buff is brutal.

 

[LannTheStupid]

Looks like there's a new beta branch for people who want to test the next mega patch. The patch notes are actually two posts (link to second at the bottom of the first).

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1184370/view/3645137816264652379?l=english

Time to make a hard backup of the version 2.0.7o and store it somewhere safe. I think 2.1.x will become stable closer to May.

 

[Desiderius]

I actually enjoyed Act 4, demon city was a bit gimmicky but well rounded. Now I'm trying to figure how to not take a full party wipe in Mephistopheles fight. The absence of pre-buff is brutal.

Pretty sure that’s a test to make sure you’ve picked up Last Stand. Can also reroll for initiative/until he casts a nonlethal spell.

By that point a couple Resurrections shld manageable as long as MC doesn’t bite it.

 

[skaraher]

Well managed to debuff Mephistopheles and down him to 200 HP but was murderized by my own horse who got dominated.

Definitely a fun fight, Aeon's bane sure is a strong combat buff.