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

[CthuluIsSpy]

How does the partial work anyway? Does it just go the next eligible effect?

You only get staggered for a round if you make the saving throw.

Holy Word is really good in this campaign, as long as you don't bring any evil party members.

Or make it selective, I suppose.
That's another reason why I didn't go with the words; too much friendly fire.
Though I think there's one version that only affects enemies? I forgot which one it was.

 

[Yosharian]

How do you block dictum anyway?

Make your saving throw?

Apparently that's the only way of doing it, although its just a partial rather than a negate.
How does the partial work anyway? Does it just go the next eligible effect?
Like, instead of dying, staggered and paralyzed it goes to staggered and paralyzed?

How good is Dictum / Holy Word / Whatever when used by a player anyway? I didn't bother using it because its HD based and enemies tend to have a lot of HD.
Maybe if used by a Angel Cleric due to the Merged Spell Book.

Killed: Living creatures die. Undead creatures are destroyed. Save negates. If the save is successful, the creature instead takes 3d6 points of damage + 1 point per caster level (maximum +25).

 

[Yosharian]

Deafened: The creature is deafened for 1d4 rounds. Save negates.

Staggered: The creature is staggered for 2d4 rounds. Save reduces the staggered effect to 1d4 rounds.

Paralyzed: The creature is paralyzed and helpless for 1d10 minutes. Save reduces the paralyzed effect to 1 round.

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

How do you block dictum anyway?

Make your saving throw?

Apparently that's the only way of doing it, although its just a partial rather than a negate.
How does the partial work anyway? Does it just go the next eligible effect?
Like, instead of dying, staggered and paralyzed it goes to staggered and paralyzed?

How good is Dictum / Holy Word / Whatever when used by a player anyway? I didn't bother using it because its HD based and enemies tend to have a lot of HD.
Maybe if used by a Angel Cleric due to the Merged Spell Book.

Killed: Living creatures die. Undead creatures are destroyed. Save negates. If the save is successful, the creature instead takes 3d6 points of damage + 1 point per caster level (maximum +25).

Where does it say that?

 

[Yosharian]

It's on the D20PFSRD

 

[Yosharian]

IIRC when he used Dictum on my team only one of my non-Lawful guys failed their saving throw

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

Huh weird. What were their will saves up to?

 

[Yosharian]

Huh weird. What were their will saves up to?

Heh, no fucking clue. I never got as far as writing them down because I was so fucking bored by the end of the game that I couldn't wait to stop playing it.

I did write down my MC's saves but they aren't necessarily representative of the rest of the team, obviously:

Fortitude: +67
Class Bonus: 17
Constitution: +13
Inherent: +2 (Demongraft)
Insight: +4 (Bound of Possibility)
Luck: +1 (Engraved Lucky Bracers)
Morale: +8 (Greater Heroism, doubled by ring)
Resistance +4 (Greater Angelic Aspect)
Other: +4 (Shake It Off)
Other: +2 (Bloody Meat)
Other: +12 (Divine Grace)

Reflex: +54
Class Bonus: 6
Dexterity: +12
Inherent: +2 (Demongraft)
Luck: +1 (Engraved Lucky Bracers)
Insight: +4 (Bound of Possibility)
Morale: +8 (Greater Heroism, doubled by ring)
Resistance +4 (Greater Angelic Aspect)
Other: +4 (Shake It Off)
Dodge: +1 (Haste)
Other: +12 (Divine Grace)

Will: +59
Class Bonus: 11
Wisdom: +7
Inherent: +2 (Demongraft)
Luck: +1 (Engraved Lucky Bracers)
Insight: +4 (Bound of Possibility)
Morale: +8 (Greater Heroism, doubled by ring)
Resistance +4 (Greater Angelic Aspect)
Other: +4 (Shake It Off)
Rage: +6 (Inspired Rage)
Other: +12 (Divine Grace)

Also this was before Shake It Off was 'fixed' so it's probably a little unfair to include it at maximum.

Bound of Possibility (Aeon-specific item), Inspired Rage and Greater Heroism boosted by the double bonus ring are the real heavy hitters here (Divine Grace aside). BoP and IR are party-wide effects so that makes a huge difference if you don't have those.

 

[Desiderius]

Stormcallers are bullshit and way too overtuned. Even with Resist and Protection their spells still deal a lot of damage.

Evasion is a thing. There’s even a Heavy Armor with it built in for the armorless tards to get pwned even harder.

Love how the powhurrdurr gamers neglect things like saves then the people who fall for their advice (instead of figuring things out for themselves) wonder why endgame is so hard.

My favorite of the Dictim-type spells is Arbitrament since it hits on-level targets and CE foes while being easier to naturally dodge for most companions (including the two divine casters). Plus few things are immune to Sickness and Stagger.

It’s easier to boost CL now than it was at release.

 

[Desiderius]

Just now?

Always used it with Seelah and then I'm mostly watching my strongest melee character's attacks/damage, which is either myself or someone else with their own personal buffs and who isn't maxing CHA. Don't really have time to check that every character has every buff working properly.

Uh, am I the only one *not* playing this game like Diablo with a five-man cheering section? Pretty sure back in the day people noticed whether Minsc was landing that Zweihander and had a decent grasp of why or why not. Guess that also explains why people think she can’t tank.

There’s an item that goes in her belt at beginning of Act 3 that converts Smite AC to Sacred. But what’s 7 AC give or take?

 

[Average Manatee]

Uh, am I the only one *not* playing this game like Diablo with a five-man cheering section? Pretty sure back in the day people noticed whether Minsc was landing that Zweihander and had a decent grasp of why or why not. Guess that also explains why people think she can’t tank.

Because bosses tend to die in 2-3 rounds max anyway.

There’s an item that goes in her belt at beginning of Act 3 that converts Smite AC to Sacred. But what’s 7 AC give or take?

Almost nothing when she's riding an animal companion.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

Bosses were far more scary before I figured out 'focus the boss to force the cut scene' trick.

 

[Nirvash]

Well well well, my custom bard and tank cleric are getting... redundant, gotta get the succo soon.

What if... i make a TANK healer BARD?

Get me a build, no need for damage, just song/buff and mostly healing.

 

[Desiderius]

Almost nothing when she's riding an animal companion.

My second Unfair run was markedly easier having a reliable tank when compared to the first. Putting her on a horse has an opportunity cost.

If somebody gets ganked in round one or two it doesn't matter if you can end the fight in 2 or 3, especially if that somebody is your lone source of damage.

 

[Average Manatee]

My games get easier when characters can participate in combat with full attacks rather than 1 attack.

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

Stormcallers are bullshit and way too overtuned. Even with Resist and Protection their spells still deal a lot of damage.

Evasion is a thing. There’s even a Heavy Armor with it built in for the armorless tards to get pwned even harder.

Love how the powhurrdurr gamers neglect things like saves then the people who fall for their advice (instead of figuring things out for themselves) wonder why endgame is so hard.

My favorite of the Dictim-type spells is Arbitrament since it hits on-level targets and CE foes while being easier to naturally dodge for most companions (including the two divine casters). Plus few things are immune to Sickness and Stagger.

It’s easier to boost CL now than it was at release.

You only get 4 evasion rings though and they still get 3 casts per turn. If there's two of them they just kill anyone who doesn't have it, and that's without their melee.
They are literally stronger than demon lords. They're just a poorly designed enemy type.

The best way to deal with them for me is GMR + Weird + Devil Illusion Decree, because if they get a turn they deal way too much damage.

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

Anyway, finally beat the game.
The fight against Vorlesh is pretty cool. Stormcallers are still harder.
I didn't get the secret ending though because apparently I didn't have enough arguments for her to go through with the godhood plan. First Vorlesh tossed herself into the wound then I did when I redid the fight to see if I missed the ending by accident. Apparently its because the dialogue option about summoning demon lords didn't pop up, even though I learned that.
I actually did better on the second attempt.
Devil Rank 10 is actually pretty nice, because you get Demonic Rage and Angel Sword. I don't know why Devil would allow you to use demon abilities, but I guess Owlcat ran out of ideas?

I noticed an annoying bug during the threshold defense though; Sosiel remained under AI control, so I had to do that without a healer.

 

[Desiderius]

Stormcallers are bullshit and way too overtuned. Even with Resist and Protection their spells still deal a lot of damage.

Evasion is a thing. There’s even a Heavy Armor with it built in for the armorless tards to get pwned even harder.

Love how the powhurrdurr gamers neglect things like saves then the people who fall for their advice (instead of figuring things out for themselves) wonder why endgame is so hard.

My favorite of the Dictim-type spells is Arbitrament since it hits on-level targets and CE foes while being easier to naturally dodge for most companions (including the two divine casters). Plus few things are immune to Sickness and Stagger.

It’s easier to boost CL now than it was at release.

You only get 4 evasion rings though and they still get 3 casts per turn. If there's two of them they just kill anyone who doesn't have it, and that's without their melee.
They are literally stronger than demon lords. They're just a poorly designed enemy type.

The best way to deal with them for me is GMR + Weird + Devil Illusion Decree, because if they get a turn they deal way too much damage.

Reading, how does it work?

I just told you there’s also a heavy armor and, wait for it, there are also several classes who get it naturally, including multiple companions.

There’s also the temporary HP I already suggested you look into. None of my dudes got fried there even without Evasion because things like Burst of Glory gave them a cushion.

But yes preventing casters from casting is also a high and often neglected priority. Most of the abilities I highlight that others dismiss are focused on achieving that.

 

[Aarwolf]

The only way is to reroll Nenio as Alchemist/Grenadier.

I feel like Nenio is one of the few characters who would be fitting for a non-evil Vivisectionist actually.

Yes, the only prestigious way to get rid of the fucking fox is to do a vivisection of her yourself. And it's not the evil way, it's just curiosity and in sake of science!

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

So I tried to use the Sickle of Wicked Rites to give my own characters attribute bonuses. This is a bit tricky, since WotR doesn't just let you attack your own party members (at least anymore). I got around this by putting Regil in a secluded corner, having Ember turn him insane, and then using my trickster infinite cure critical wounds wand to keep the test subject from dying. Considering the damned thing is called "Sickle of Wicked Rites", this demented situation in a demonic city felt perfect. It worked like a charm, except for the fact that the weapon wasn't applying the bonus. I guess the item description of "enemy" is taken seriously. Very disappointing. Now I'm trying to figure out how I can get one of my party members to turn hostile. Is there any way to turn them berserk, like in the IE games?

 

[frajaq]

whats the counterplay to the dragon in chapter 3 ambushing me out of nowhere and one shotting two party members with her breath on the road?

 

[Average Manatee]

Literally just running away in real time mode. Ideally you have the hat that lets you quicken haste.

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

whats the counterplay to the dragon in chapter 3 ambushing me out of nowhere and one shotting two party members with her breath on the road?

Don't fight, run to the area exit. Unlike most cases you are allowed to run away this time. Its just that due to jank the cutscene may not immediately play, so the dragon might get a breath attack off
This also means that unless Daeran has those boots that give constant Freedom of Movement, his Powerless Prophecy debuff will screw you over.

 

[frajaq]

Yeah that worked just fine, the actual fight with proper preparation wasnt hard

Now I need to figure out what to do with those VERY high AC demons that are starting to appear, I know part of the answer is finding ways to attack the Flatfooted/Touch AC instead but its not clear how to do that as Kineticist, or which Companions to use

 

[Average Manatee]

Kineticist? Easy. Energy-based attacks all target touch. Eventually you'll get AoEs that don't need to hit AC.

Aside from that, or if you can't target touch AC, Paladin's Mark of Justice and a bunch of domain spells can boost AB. There's of course plenty of others but these are the conventional ones that you'll have from default companion builds.

You can also use Greater Invisibility with long ranged attacks to stay invisible and therefore target flat footed AC. Doesn't work against certain enemies and others that see invisibility will need Mind Blank to avoid them seeing you.