Pathfinder Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous Pre-DLC Thread [GO TO NEW THREAD]

[Sheepherder]

Armor was always alright early-midgame. Most of the AC comes from buffs and items anyways and Wrath is more stingy with +stats items. I still haven't found more than +4 cha or wis items at lvl 15. That said armor requires more effort to AC stack (you need armor training and extra feats). My armored Bard/DD/Fighter stacks up to 70 AC (after fighting defensivly and wings) in Act4 without legendary proportions or seamantle scrolls with UMD, but I did have to spend quite a bit of feats to stack this AC. All but the highest AB enemies just cannot hit it and you could definitely stack more with different classes. Concealment/mirror imag was a big help early game though.
I am now valueing UMD really high just because of the fact you can easily access the best personal buffs like seamantle, frightful aspect, just make sure you turn nenio into a scroll factory.

I plan for Seelah to tank for me, she'll mostly be a tower shield fightee with a level in sorc for bloodline capstone, some viv for mutagen and a thug dip. So she'll be lacking mirror image, seamantle and frightful aspect.
Is using UMD for mirror image and other self buffs sustainable in the long run?

 

[volklore]

Armor was always alright early-midgame. Most of the AC comes from buffs and items anyways and Wrath is more stingy with +stats items. I still haven't found more than +4 cha or wis items at lvl 15. That said armor requires more effort to AC stack (you need armor training and extra feats). My armored Bard/DD/Fighter stacks up to 70 AC (after fighting defensivly and wings) in Act4 without legendary proportions or seamantle scrolls with UMD, but I did have to spend quite a bit of feats to stack this AC. All but the highest AB enemies just cannot hit it and you could definitely stack more with different classes. Concealment/mirror imag was a big help early game though.
I am now valueing UMD really high just because of the fact you can easily access the best personal buffs like seamantle, frightful aspect, just make sure you turn nenio into a scroll factory.

I plan for Seelah to tank for me, she'll mostly be a tower shield fightee with a level in sorc for bloodline capstone, some viv for mutagen and a thug dip. So she'll be lacking mirror image, seamantle and frightful aspect.
Is using UMD for mirror image and other self buffs sustainable in the long run?

The Valerie build! TSS thug vivisectionist, good times :D
Depends how tedious you think it is. But the game gives you a ton of time later on, If you craft scrolls and potions every rest at least in the main camp you will accumulate quite a lot, and a lot more if you use characters with crafting skills in your main party. Especially since there isn't any time limit in some acts (like act 4 doesn't seem to have time limitations at all since there is no crusade mechanics there). There is a couple items that boost caster level of scrolls too. Since you mentionned unfair, you might want to look into that. I heard unfair has a crazy stat ramp in late game that makes companion tanking a bit hard.

 

[Mauman]

Shit....

That moment when you beat

Spoiler

Nocticula

in two rounds, but you FORGOT to shoot said entity with a midnight bolt.

Well, round 2 I suppose.

Also Trickster will forever have a special place in my heart and I doubt anything will surpass

Spoiler

Nocticula in a tutu

edit - 2nd time took 5 rounds. Guess that's what happens when you don't get two 1,200 crits in a row

Still, no one died (ok, that's a lie, one animal companion got gibbed).

2nd edit - Jesus, I got 737,000 exp for this fight....well, one more level to go to 20 :D

 

[jf8350143]

the amount of effort they put into Emigma is pretty impressive, even the final boss is better designed than all of the bosses in the main story.

it's like they try to make you missing these content: we made a big ass dungeon and a cool boss, now we need to bury it under a million puzzles so people get really annoyed and just skip the whole quest.

 

[Haplo]

This is why this game is great. Zero concern about balance.

The best games are those who don't care about balance, just like the best countries are those who don't care about equality.

I grew to HATE Pillars (and by extension 2) because of their obsession with "balance" in a single player game. Really sucked the fun out of things and basically took away my will to finish one and I've never picked up 2 because of it.

Speaking about "balance" in the context of Pillars of Eternity (and even moreso part 2)

 

[Mauman]

This is why this game is great. Zero concern about balance.

The best games are those who don't care about balance, just like the best countries are those who don't care about equality.

I grew to HATE Pillars (and by extension 2) because of their obsession with "balance" in a single player game. Really sucked the fun out of things and basically took away my will to finish one and I've never picked up 2 because of it.

Speaking about "balance" in the context of Pillars of Eternity (and even moreso part 2)

Meh

The game just felt, blander is the word I'd use I guess, after every "balance" patch. Just my take on it, don't mind me.

the amount of effort they put into Emigma is pretty impressive, even the final boss is better designed than all of the bosses in the main story.

it's like they try to make you missing these content: we made a big ass dungeon and a cool boss, now we need to bury it under a million puzzles so people get really annoyed and just skip the whole quest.

Supposedly, I can skip it since I

Spoiler

got an extra crystal from Nocticula.

Still tempted to do it with a guide though (I don't do well with puzzles anymore).

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

This game loves, I mean it absolutely fucking adores giving you combat allies that are completely useless. Literally, even if they are able to hit enemies (most aren't) they will do 0 dmg to them. What's the point, exactly, apart from making everything more of a drag and a clusterfuck? Or all those encounters where you are sort of expected to save someone, but they just get 1-2 shot in the first round, before you manage to pull your hand out of your pants.

 

[Anthedon]

The only exception to this is

Spoiler

the Nocticula fight, she killed Shamira and Yozz in one turn before I could do anything.

In every other instance your allies might as well not be there.

 

[volklore]

They take hits instead of you, that's not that bad.

 

[Mauman]

The only exception to this is

Spoiler

the Nocticula fight, she killed Shamira and Yozz in one turn before I could do anything.

In every other instance your allies might as well not be there.

Another exception is

Spoiler

fittingly enough, the Trickster path Nocticula fight. Since there's 5 high level outsiders, they'll likely even do some damage. Hell, the Griffon has so much hp that Nocticula will have to take 2+ turns to take him down.

 

[volklore]

The one thing I'll agree with when it comes to casters and their so-called weakness is that most of the power is in mythic feats and abilities are mostly QoL (apart from ascended elements which does very little if not a blaster). Abundant casting is nice but doesn't really make you solve encounters better and favorite metamagic is niche and doesn't even allow to pick selective or persistent. Meanwhile feats have Sorcerous Reflexes, mythic spell pen, mythic spell focus, expanded arsenal, Mythic improved initiative. My control caster feels very mythic feat starved since you can convert feats into abilities but not the other way around...

 

[Sunri]

lol i just smacked Irabeth maybe i should stick to demon

Spoiler

 

[Sheepherder]

The Valerie build! TSS thug vivisectionist, good times :D
Depends how tedious you think it is. But the game gives you a ton of time later on, If you craft scrolls and potions every rest at least in the main camp you will accumulate quite a lot, and a lot more if you use characters with crafting skills in your main party. Especially since there isn't any time limit in some acts (like act 4 doesn't seem to have time limitations at all since there is no crusade mechanics there). There is a couple items that boost caster level of scrolls too. Since you mentionned unfair, you might want to look into that. I heard unfair has a crazy stat ramp in late game that makes companion tanking a bit hard.

I just couldn't make her work from the start without an immediate viv dip and then going tower shield. I guess other builds would be better later on, but I needed her to tank now. Right now she tanks, applies Shaken and deals alright damage. She absolutely destroyed Zacharius tho. The real MVP of that fight.
I'm already using Nenio, so I guess getting enough scrolls shouldn't be a problem then. Good to know.

 

[Mauman]

Jesus Christ, Religion trick rank 2 is horribly bugged in both very good and very bad ways. I assume rank 3 is just as bad

The bad.

1. You don't get 2 domains, only 1
2. You don't get the abilities (so no getting an animal companion for instance)

Note - both of these is in direct violation of the description of the ability.

The Good.

1. You get spells as advertised, but it's not once per day (despite the icon having a number next to it). It's at will. So you get a level 1 through fucking 9 spell to use as you see fit, as many times as you want. Also, metamagic rods work with them and they don't take charges from the rod.

Yeesh

 

[cw8]

Dawn of Dragons sidequest would be real apt if you took Gold Dragon path. I wonder if there's any reactivity to turning yourself into a dragon in front of them.

 

[ga♥]

Trickster is a bit of a boomer, because if you pick the unique trickster option

Spoiler

as transforming Vellexia in a mirror, the aasimar sadist in a woman, etc

You lose the enemy loot :\

 

[Ghulgothas]

Oh yeah, can't wait to see what amazing places this character goes.

This character went to some amazing places.

Critical hits, granted. But a Stength-boosted Paladin-turned-Angel definitely fits the mold of a Righteous Avenger, I can only hope to achieve similar heights with other characters in the future.

 

[Dishonoredbr]

Stopped my Demon playthought in Act V and started a Azata Kitsune Kinecist run.. Man , i love throwing stones at enemies. That shit goes in a arc and BLAM, the enemies literaly turns into a Lego. And loved it that i can skip the Tavern Defense if you're fast enough.
Also i missed a shit ton of early conversation not bringing Seelah , picking Wenduag over Lann , etc in my first run.

Oh Nenio is the worst companion. She's SO BORING. Like the only Kitsune companion is also the one that doesn't care about being a Kitsune , so bye-bye to any exclusive Kitsune interraction unlike Tiefling w/ Woljif.

 

[Haplo]

Not sure if you've actually skipped the tavern? Unless you're already storming the Grey Garrison. I though I skipped it also and then.. boom... messenger while travelling urging me to go help.

 

[Haplo]

If I go angel, what are the good targets for Sword of Heavens "Abolish X" upgrades?

I mean from numerous/dangerous enemies point of view, obviously, not immunities/healing.

Seems to me that even as melee he will have a faster and more consistent power ramp then Aeon (Bane at Mythic Rank 4... for 8 rounds per rest initially...) and better reactivity story too.
The powergaming choice for my charging tripping character would be Demon, but too few rages and I don't really feel like playing the game for the first time on an evil path.
And no, resting all the time is not a solution for me.

 

[Sheepherder]

Stopped my Demon playthought in Act V and started a Azata Kitsune Kinecist run.. Man , i love throwing stones at enemies. That shit goes in a arc and BLAM, the enemies literaly turns into a Lego. And loved it that i can skip the Tavern Defense if you're fast enough.
Also i missed a shit ton of early conversation not bringing Seelah , picking Wenduag over Lann , etc in my first run.

Oh Nenio is the worst companion. She's SO BORING. Like the only Kitsune companion is also the one that doesn't care about being a Kitsune , so bye-bye to any exclusive Kitsune interraction unlike Tiefling w/ Woljif.

Word of warning, if you picked furfag for Master Shapeshifter, you can't channel power in human form. At least you couldn't in patch 1.0.7

 

[Sheepherder]

If I go angel, what are the good targets for Sword of Heavens "Abolish X" upgrades?

I mean from numerous/dangerous enemies point of view, obviously, not immunities/healing.

Seems to me that even as melee he will have a faster and more consistent power ramp then Aeon (Bane at Mythic Rank 4... for 8 rounds per rest initially...) and better reactivity story too.
The powergaming choice for my charging tripping character would be Demon, but too few rages and I don't really feel like playing the game for the first time on an evil path.
And no, resting all the time is not a solution for me.

Abolish Guile seems to be working on nearly everything, so it's a +50% damage buff. Not sure if that's intended. Tested in 1.0.6 or 1.0.7. Btw, the 50% bonus damage is applied as divine damage.

 

[Parabalus]

If I go angel, what are the good targets for Sword of Heavens "Abolish X" upgrades?

I mean from numerous/dangerous enemies point of view, obviously, not immunities/healing.

Seems to me that even as melee he will have a faster and more consistent power ramp then Aeon (Bane at Mythic Rank 4... for 8 rounds per rest initially...) and better reactivity story too.
The powergaming choice for my charging tripping character would be Demon, but too few rages and I don't really feel like playing the game for the first time on an evil path.
And no, resting all the time is not a solution for me.

Aeon has insane reactivity, extremely satisfying for the player, but also objectively the most powerful moves.

Char building wise they seemed very weak though. Tradeoff for their story power?

 

[volklore]

You can't activate azata song pre-combat... WHY??? it works with every other song godamnit owlcat!!!

 

[ArchAngel]

Oh yeah, can't wait to see what amazing places this character goes.

This character went to some amazing places.

Critical hits, granted. But a Stength-boosted Paladin-turned-Angel definitely fits the mold of a Righteous Avenger, I can only hope to achieve similar heights with other characters in the future.

My Lich caster does this damage to a whole room with one spell, no crits and also reduces their Str+Dex+Con. Also no spells or protections or immunities can stop it. If I quicken another spell I can do about 150 more to whole room and reduce those 3 stats even more.