Absinthe I'm not saying casters are helpless. I'm just saying that KM plays to their weakness while playing to martial classes' strengths. My first run with a squishy, fiddly, caster party did just fine--but the comparisons between degrees and ease of success to my martial party are significant.
Poor AI was in regard to the enemies faced. With the incredible spells mages could cast in BG2, they could still be eliminated easily. With the SCS AI mod, even low or mid tier mages could wreak havoc. In PF:KM, optional uber liches get wiped round 2 by a Level 10 or 12 party. The AI isn't capable enough to make that lich a challenge, nor are the spells available on their list. Items help casters too, but not as much and not until very late game. Many of the creatures you fight have Saving throws in the teens before you hit level 10. Monsters are going to succeed their saves often. Many of them have high hit points to, so even if you CC them--casters are going to struggle to come up with the damage to take them out in time. DCs are difficult to get high until endgame to to work reliably. It's one reason why Conjuration CCs are best in KM, because they force the target to make repeated checks to avoid the effect. Many go-to enchantment and illusion spells give the target repeated opportunities to negate the effect. After that, it comes back to volume. There is so much combat and a lot of objectives and ground to cover in certain amounts of time. Wizards & Sorcerers just can't keep the pace.
Casters are my favorite, believe me. I made them work for this game, but you have to recognize things for what they are and are not. This ain't no Baldur's Gate. We don't have the spell lists, spells per day, nor HP balance to where casters are supreme. KM is quite the contrary, for the reasons I listed in my initial response. That's not to say that they are useless, or impotent--but they suffer major disadvantages in KM.
Poor AI was in regard to the enemies faced. With the incredible spells mages could cast in BG2, they could still be eliminated easily. With the SCS AI mod, even low or mid tier mages could wreak havoc. In PF:KM, optional uber liches get wiped round 2 by a Level 10 or 12 party. The AI isn't capable enough to make that lich a challenge, nor are the spells available on their list. Items help casters too, but not as much and not until very late game. Many of the creatures you fight have Saving throws in the teens before you hit level 10. Monsters are going to succeed their saves often. Many of them have high hit points to, so even if you CC them--casters are going to struggle to come up with the damage to take them out in time. DCs are difficult to get high until endgame to to work reliably. It's one reason why Conjuration CCs are best in KM, because they force the target to make repeated checks to avoid the effect. Many go-to enchantment and illusion spells give the target repeated opportunities to negate the effect. After that, it comes back to volume. There is so much combat and a lot of objectives and ground to cover in certain amounts of time. Wizards & Sorcerers just can't keep the pace.
Casters are my favorite, believe me. I made them work for this game, but you have to recognize things for what they are and are not. This ain't no Baldur's Gate. We don't have the spell lists, spells per day, nor HP balance to where casters are supreme. KM is quite the contrary, for the reasons I listed in my initial response. That's not to say that they are useless, or impotent--but they suffer major disadvantages in KM.
