I sometimes wonder if people who complain about difficulty in real-time with pause games spend much time controlling their characters. Maybe it's just because I always turn off the party UI in any game I play because I can't stand it on principle, but even in my first run-through of Baldur's Gate 1 & 2 I never felt I was banging my head against a wall in the same way that I would in an action oriented game like Dark Souls and Ornstein and Smough. If you take full control of your party, micro-manage and pause all the time, all these games become WAY easier. I can't even bother to play BG anymore on core rules because once you know certain things, the difficulty just falls by the way side. You can get through the first half of BG just with a Sleep spell. A Fire Elemental will wreck nearly anything in vast chunk of the first portion of the second game. But my advice to actually enjoy these games is to abandon scripts altogether and take full control of your party members. You'll see a vast improvement in your success rate.
This 2 bosses on DS, i found very easy compared to bed of chaos(played as sorcerer as usual), managed to pass on third time on my first playtrough but rage quieted the game on bed of chaos.
I soloed IWD and got no problems on P:K(not finished yet) with a small 3 man party. Got some problems on Vordakai dominate person skills but nothing that summon monster, animate dead, etc can't solve.
Anyway, other critique that i saw and think that is right is that the game assumes that the MC is a arcane caster. I know, a lot of games did the opposite, on NWN2 for eg the game assumes that the MC is a human fighter, you can see by dialog mainly on trial, companions, how some encounters occurs with you being dispelled in front line, this game is the opposite, gives no PURE arcane caster(you have only an wizard/rogue hybrid and a magus) but gives 2 cleric companions. Also, on a side mission on starting zone, there are swarms of enemies who are very hard if you have only melee fighters. Maybe the difficulty complain is a true point for players who like more melee characters. I don't know. Any opinions?
Kind of like in NWN2 OC it makes the game a lot easier to be a cleric, since you don't get one until late (and she isn't very good) and there are undead everywhere from the start?
I think this in both cases the unbalanced NPCs was by accident rather than design. I don't think arcane casters are any more effective than fighters at the start (unless they focus on summons and have an animal companion). I think the difficulty people are having is understanding flanking, and lots of the early enemies having sneak attack.
IMO Arcane Trickster (which you get) is superior to a vanilla wizard in any case.
Not in therms of buffing party members. One rogue level of her means that will take one more level to get stoneskin, one more level to get haste for ex, on therms of single target DPS, thanks to how broken sneak attack is, she is useful.
The most useful spells on P:K are not the DPS spells. And spells who deal condition + DPS are the best, for example on Tier 4 spells : Boneshatter
"The target’s bones (or exoskeleton) splinter, dealing 1d6 points of damage per caster level (maximum 15d6) to the target, which is also exhausted for 1 minute per caster level from the pain and exertion of the transformation." https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/b/boneshatter
No ranged touch attack required, pretty high consistent damage and a exhaustion(or fatigue on success save) , -3 to DEX means that if he can hit you on 50% of rolls, with the -3 he will hit you only on 35%. And the penalty to STR means that he will deal less damage, the penalty on speed means that he can't run away and flank is easier.
This spell is amazing against this archers with high reflex saves and evasion/improved evasion.
Other example? Stag lord, you can cast cleric's cure wounds who will heal little or Enlarge person on Amiri, protection fro arrows and trow your gigant barbarian raring on Stag lord while low level summons deals with another archers.
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On IWD charm is absolutely necessary to solo the game on earlier levels. Magic missile at level 1/2 will deal less damage than your staff...
After getting to the Stag Lord and encountering an extremely annoying bug (every round my characters would stop fighting, going flat footed and allowing the enemies to disengage and go after spellcasters archers), I am replaying chapter 1 and I have realized how much I have done off the beaten path that has made this game difficult for me.
I was running a caster heavy party in my first play through which made having to rest a lot. Not to mention it was a squishy party with Linzi, Tristan, Octavia and myself all wearing leather armour or less. Throw in Amari who isn’t really a tank, more Calvary, and mob control was difficult with just Valerie and my giant centipede.
This time, I rolled a finessed (evil) ranger with Valarie and the undead elf as my starters and I am steamrolling everything. I was afraid not having a cleric would hurt early on, but once the elf leveled I was able to choose CLW. Things drop quick as there was a feat that allowed me to trade in 1 AB for 2 damage on finesse weapons which is a no brainer in the early game. I have not used a CLW potion yet where my first play through, I was chugging 5 or 6 almost after each battle.
I also did the ancient tomb second, going after the bandits first and to the abandoned cabin and even the temple before going to the Sycamore. This made me lose out on grabbing the Dwarf as my heal not in the first play through relying on squishy Tristan as my healbot.
So I was lower level than normal recruiting Octavia and her Beau as well as lower level than normal when doing the temple to dissipating the fog. Both of those areas were challenging (I think I was still level 2 for both of them) but I bet once I get there with this play through, I am going to have less of a hassle.
When I did finally get to the Tree in my first play through, my CG sorc/ranger basically said your both evil, which made me fight my way through the entire dungeon instead of taking a side. This time, I went Neutral response and literally was able to walk through the first level while still getting quests to make up for all that sweet XP I was losing.
That’s as far as I got last night, but I didn’t have to reload once (actually that’s a lie - I reloaded after leaving the temple until I made all my skill checks to get the scene of Tarc as a kobold shaman). I still prefer my original character as she fit the railroaded story the game throws at you, but I am going to keep rolling this guy first as he does seem easier to play.
Wow, every time I try to take Jaethal with me, I wind up swapping her out, since keeping her healed up is a pita. You have to waste spell slots on inflict wounds spells just to keep her alive, and which are otherwise pretty useless. Makes me miss Thane as a necro 2 hander in Divinity: OS2.
I wouldn't have thought to use protection from arrows on the stag lord, that's a good tactic. Once you know how to handle the fight it's super easy, though.
Just enter from the right. Move 2 characters you want to fight the stag lord up the stairs first, followed by your ranged/spell casters in the middle, and last a tank or 2 to hold the stairs, so only 1 or 2 enemies can get it up them to where the tanks are at. Just use the stairs as a bottleneck to isolate the stag lord. You can even just use one tank to block the stairs.
I still would love to see a sorcerer NPC. While Octavia works great, being a transmuter, a lot of spells are cut off from her.
Wow, every time I try to take Jaethal with me, I wind up swapping her out, since keeping her healed up is a pita. You have to waste spell slots on inflict wounds spells just to keep her alive, and which are otherwise pretty useless. Makes me miss Thane as a necro 2 hander in Divinity: OS2.
I wouldn't have thought to use protection from arrows on the stag lord, that's a good tactic. Once you know how to handle the fight it's super easy, though.
Just enter from the right. Move 2 characters you want to fight the stag lord up the stairs first, followed by your ranged/spell casters in the middle, and last a tank or 2 to hold the stairs, so only 1 or 2 enemies can get it up them to where the tanks are at. Just use the stairs as a bottleneck to isolate the stag lord. You can even just use one tank to block the stairs.
I still would love to see a sorcerer NPC. While Octavia works great, being a transmuter, a lot of spells are cut off from her.
She’s an inquisitor and has access to her own healing. You just have to remember to select it when leveling her up and unlike CLW, the spell can used offensively as well.
I tried from the right tactic (after I stilupidly saw another named character that I thought I could sway to my side) the last time ( but not full cheese, I kept most of my team on the bottom) only to have the game cheese me back by magically teleporting one of the names charcters that are by the fire to right right on top of my spell casters Linzi and Octavia and the Calvary that was suppose to arrive, never showed. Topping that up, the stop attacking every round and unable to target certain enemies bug I was experiencing for the entire map, I restarted.
I do know if I go at it one more time, I’ll probably be able to defeat the encounter but I was seriously raging at my screen that I needed a break from it.
I found Jaethal pretty easy to be kept alife. As alife as undead can be, anyway. But it somewhat depends on what your build is. Playing as an evil aligned Cleric with their Channel Negative Energy ability is the easiest way. And it will also heal yourself as well if you've picked the Death domain. Same goes for Blight Druids as well. After that come Undead Blooded Sorcerers, Necromancers/Thassilon Specialist of Gluttony, Inquisitors and finally Alchemists.
The latter one is especially fun to play when you choose the Mummification discovery. Doesn't make them undead though. More like Frankenstein's Monster... semi-alife?
Ya, the inflict wounds spells never seem like a good deal to use in combat offensively. Sure she can memorize the spells, but what if somebody else needs to heal her? More spells wasted. At least with a cleric, you don't need to memorize any healing spells at all, since you can just spontaneously convert them to healing. I also just find clerics and druids boring to play as a main, and generally don't like hiring voiceless companions, so those options are out. I don't like playing those classes as my main, since it feels like you're just a supporting character while the warriors and mages actually kill stuff.
Wow, never had anybody get teleported on top of my characters. I've always cleared everything else in the camp before I approach the stag lord, though. So I probably already dealt with the named baddy you're referring to before starting the fight.
Honestly, i think that there are 2 easy ways to then to improve the ratting :
1 - An pure arcane companion.
if they give a pure non specialized arcane caster companion(instead a rogue/specialized wiz), with good supporting spells and before the fight with certain fights on chapter 1, he/she suggests on dialogs casting some buffs aka protection from arrows(only to people understand what this spells can do)
Maybe on the starting bandit fight at tradding post, put 3 more archer bandits and an npc casting protection from arrows on your party members in mid of fight, casting slow and summoning wolves.
2 - Rename the difficulty ;
Story => Stress-less Easy => Normal Normal => Experienced pathfinder players The rest can be unchanged.
That way, people who doesn't understand the rules will gravitate to the actual "easy mode"(mode that they should play) and will understand that sorcerer/ss are not good only because they can trow fireballs, they can do much more things. Raise an summoned army, control the battlefield, buff companions, debuff enemies, deal damage + debuff in the same spell, explore the enemy weakness, crowd control, take control over enemies, etc; Vordekai and his army, that i saw a lot of complains by his difficulty, i defeated with 3 party members...
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D&D/Pathfinder is good because arcane casters aren't only damage dealers, divine casters aren't only healers. An cleric of a evil deity is his deity representation on material plane. Magic on D&D is very close to myths of our world and mages can do a lot of useful stuff inside or outside of combat, not just trow fireballs...
I love both spells and both are pretty useful tier 4 spells
I was noticing the absence of that spell, as well. I don't recall it being that great in nwn, but it rocked in the PoE games.
My evil sword saint managed to enslave
Vordakai. He's one of my advisors now. I haven't gotten back to my capital, yet, but think he'll be an arcane advisor. So now a cyclops lich serves me, and I'm so gong to kill that traitor Tristian.
So I absolutely love the remnants of cyclopes empire being around from over a 1000 years earlier. Back in Bronze age Greece, there were civilizations like the Myceneans and Trojans, who built fortresses out of stone. Around 1200-1100 BCE, civilization in Greece pretty much collapsed and didn't get going again until around 800BCE. These Greeks looked around and saw those old ruins of stone fortresses, and thought "There's no way people could have built these things, no man could lift those stones." So they assumed they were built by cyclopes, and the type of architecture is referred to as cyclopean.
There is no need for yet another arcane companion; both Linzi and Octavia are very competent at their jobs.
Valerie on the other hand isn't and that's the problem, because she is the only fighter companion. You can build her to have a high ac, because of her class, but because of her low strenght she is terrible at fighting. You have to micromanage her before even the fight starts to ensure she is at the right place, because once in combat, she won't be able to move. And I don't buy the "but she's an ex-paladin" backstory, because this doesn't explain why they dumped all of her spare points into constitution.
She gets a lot better after hitting level 5 and finding better gear. At level 5, she no longer takes a penalty to attack from using a tower shield, so she'll hit more. Until level 5, it probably makes more sense to just give her a heavy shield. Once you've put a couple points into strength and found a belt to boost it, she no longer crawls in combat. You can also still use charge to move around the battlefield more quickly. She's built to be a tank, that's why she has a high con. She gets tons of feats from being a fighter, so it's easy to pick up weapon specialization, cleave, cleaving finish and other damage based feats. But, yes, at low levels, she's pretty much just a meat shield. She won't hit like Amiri or especially Nok-Nok, but once levelled up right, she can do some decent damage, be hard as hell to hit, and take the hits that get through.
Regongar and Amiri really fill the warrior roles that she doesn't. You've got the 2 handed barbarian that hits for tons of damage and Reg as an Eldritch Scion meant to be a self buffing warrior you can make a dragon disciple with immense strength. If you want him in heavier armor you can take enough Magus levels so he can cast in medium armor. He also gets those armor boosts from Dragon Disciple, and can just walk around with the spells shield and mirror image up. Sure Reg is arcane too, but it's mostly for buffs.
On the Arcane side, you've got no one that can cast spells like Horrid Wilting, and Octavia can't cast stoneskin, either. So that's why I'd like to see a pure arcane NPC most of all. I wouldn't mind another warrior type too, but an arcane caster that doesn't have school restrictions and can get the highest tier spells is lacking. If a specialist, necro would be great, since then they hit the schools Octavia can't use.
I love both spells and both are pretty useful tier 4 spells
I was noticing the absence of that spell, as well. I don't recall it being that great in nwn, but it rocked in the PoE games.
My evil sword saint managed to enslave
Vordakai. He's one of my advisors now. I haven't gotten back to my capital, yet, but think he'll be an arcane advisor. So now a cyclops lich serves me, and I'm so gong to kill that traitor Tristian.
So I absolutely love the remnants of cyclopes empire being around from over a 1000 years earlier. Back in Bronze age Greece, there were civilizations like the Myceneans and Trojans, who built fortresses out of stone. Around 1200-1100 BCE, civilization in Greece pretty much collapsed and didn't get going again until around 800BCE. These Greeks looked around and saw those old ruins of stone fortresses, and thought "There's no way people could have built these things, no man could lift those stones." So they assumed they were built by cyclopes, and the type of architecture is referred to as cyclopean.
On NWN1, it rocks against Rakshakas for example ( http://nwn.wikia.com/wiki/Rakshasa ) since you can't hurt then without tier 9 spells and it is a tier 4 spell who ignores SR... Even if you face then with tier 9 spells, non damage dealing spells like Mordenkainen's disjunction and Time Stop are the best choice. Not meniton, D4 + CL tentacles means that you at lv 20 can have 21-24 tentacles, with very long duration. You can trow an tentacle and lure a lot of magic resistant/immune enemies to be grappled and die.
This requires much less spell slots than stoneskin + haste + etc + tenser's transformation that i generally use against high SR mobs too ( http://nwn.wikia.com/wiki/Tenser's_transformation ), an AOE grapple that ignores SR and deals AOE damage per round during your CL/2 is pretty good IMO. Probably the best low to mid tier offensive magic on nwn1.
If the target have high spell resistance + damage reduction, then i need to use the traditional approach...
There is no need for yet another arcane companion; both Linzi and Octavia are very competent at their jobs. (...)
Linzi = Bard - Not the same spells as an wizard/sorcerer Octavia = One rogue level + specialized wizard = not all wiz spells
There are 2 cleric companions but zero druids or pure arcane casters.
Not sure if Octavia can cast spells like protection from arrows(protection from arrows is what school in game?) and another low level spells who are IMO vital against Stag lord on earlier game, but since i have casted myself(Sorcerer), i never bothered to pick Octavia(except on her companion quests)
And DrHappyAngry, considering that there are already an Wizard, i wanna suggest an Sorcerer(ss), preferentially Aasimar since there are no Aasimar companion.
Protection from Arrows is Abjuration. Octavia can cast it, but is unlikely to be high enough level when fighting the Stag Lord.
I wouldn't sweat it, that fight is fine. Protection from Arrows would trivialise it.
NB: A sorcerer would get Protection from Arrows one level later than a wizard, so probably wouldn't have it for the Stag Lord fight.
FYI: PfA is also on the Alchemist spell list. I imagine it is a domain spall for protection clerics too.
I played with a small party(2-3) and no XP share, never skiped a random encounter and did most secondary quests so i reached Stag Lord at lv 6(and around 2/3 to 7)
In terms of number of companions, I think Kingmaker does very well with eleven, compared to other recent efforts like Deadfire (seven) and DOS2 (five).
I can't be bothered with the single target version of Protection from Arrows - without metagame knowledge (AKA cheating) it's not viable to use. The group version is a great spell, but far from needed against the Stag Lord. I generally summon an earth elemental on the platform next to him.
Most of the companions you get take time to evolve, and Valerie is no different in that regard. She is far from useless at the beginning. Linzi only has a few rounds of Bard song at lower levels, and Octavia's starting spells don't help that much in a fight when you first find her.
Horrid Wilting was just an example, there's a big list of necromancy spells that are sweet, like Ray of Enfeeblement, boneshaker, boneshatter, animate dead and the list goes on.
If they do stick some more companions in, I'd like to see at least one more evil npc.
Not sure if Octavia can cast spells like protection from arrows(protection from arrows is what school in game?) and another low level spells who are IMO vital against Stag lord on earlier game, but since i have casted myself(Sorcerer), i never bothered to pick Octavia(except on her companion quests)
And DrHappyAngry, considering that there are already an Wizard, i wanna suggest an Sorcerer(ss), preferentially Aasimar since there are no Aasimar companion.
(...) Would the game benefit from more companions? Sure, but a sorcerer is at the very bottom of my list. (edit: also, considering that sorcerers cannot swap spells like in nwn, that's not a class easy to use for first time players) There is no one who can cast druid spells either, for example, and at least having a druid companion with a strong animal would also give you someone to replace Valerie with. Or an aldori defender with high dexterity, as an alternative fighter/tank. Both would fit storywise.
Because we need someone that can cast some spells. The game will benefit because people will understand that arcane magic on Pathfinder is more akin myths of our world instead of a "dps fireball trower"
She thanks to her specialization losts a lot of powerful buffs like protection from arrows, stoneskin and a lot of necromancy spells like boneshaker, animate dead, etc. IMHO i will love to see an evil sorcerer with flesh dragon bloodline as a companion who can cast this spells and is evil or with abyssal bloodline and have an interesting story about how his grandfather who was an wizard of the court of a different kingdom summoned an succubus due hard disillusion with woman or something like this.
In terms of number of companions, I think Kingmaker does very well with eleven, compared to other recent efforts like Deadfire (seven) and DOS2 (five).
I can't be bothered with the single target version of Protection from Arrows - without metagame knowledge (AKA cheating) it's not viable to use. The group version is a great spell, but far from needed against the Stag Lord. I generally summon an earth elemental on the platform next to him.
Is viable. Is like stoneskin but just for arrows. The single version can protect the most targeteed by archers members of your party and with a small party, they are very helpful.
Not an issue Respecialization can't fix, really. Not only does its Full Mode allow you to re-level every companion's, mercenary's and your own stats from scratch too. You're also able to switch their portraits and configure their over-all looks as well.
I for one like Jaethal more as Cleric of Urgathoa, Jubilost as Grenadier and Valerie as a Fighter with Heavy Shield Bash as her Weapon Focus instead of using Tower Shields.
Not really fond of the "good cast", but I'd respec Tristian into a Empyreal Sorcerer in an heartbeat.
Neither Octavia nor Linzi are weakened that much by their stat & spell selection, in comparison to Valerie. If I recall correctly, Octavia has color spray, which is hands down the best disabling spell at her level. Linzi is there not only for the songs, but also for the skills. Now imagine they too would follow Valerie's example. How about a wizard companion with 14 intelligence?
It's simply not player friendly to create a companion like Valerie in a game that is not very clear about the rules it uses. If you are familiar with the system, then by all means you can evolve her. But taking away just 2-3 points from her constitution and increasing her strength would have changed nothing about her character concept, and made her far easier to use.
Color spray requires saves, my point is that no companion can cast necromancy or abjuration spells who are pretty good. This is what an animate dead spell can make
I think most of the necromancy spells overlap with clerics - if not core, then in the Death, Evil, Chaos or Destruction domains - which companions have. So I would say that would be a very good reason not to nave a necromancer wizard companion.
The whole rationale behind the Pale Master PrC was that clerics made better necromancers than wizards.
Pathfinder necromancers, like all other spell school specialists, are a whole lot better off than their D&D colleagues though. Or at least more interesting, ability-wise. It was a nice touch to give them turning and the Life Sight abilities. Although the fact that the turning's DC is still CHA based really hurts pure INT builds.
As for necromantic domain spells: - Evil has Ray of Sickening, Boneshaker, Contagion, Fear, Slay Living and Create Undead. - Destruction has Boneshaker, Fear, Boneshatter, Harm and Horrid Wilting. - Death has Cause Fear, Boneshaker, Bestow Curse, Enervation, Slay Living, Circle of Death, Destruction, Horrid Wilting and Wail of the Banshee. - Darkness has Blindness, Vampiric Touch, Enervation and Umbral Strike. - Chaos' only necromantic spell is Banshee Blast. - Artifice got the Waves of Fatigue/Exhaustion spells. - Knowledge got Death Ward. - Earth got Horrid Wilting. - Madness has Cause Fear. - Plant has Contagion. - Water got both Ray of Sickness and Horrid Wilting. - Repose got Doom, Scare, Vampiric Touch, Death Ward, Slay Living, Undeath to Death, Destruction, Waves of Exhaustion and Wail of the Banshee.
That makes Disrupt Undead, Ray of Enfeeblement, Pernicious Poison, False Life (Greater), Vampiric Shadow Shield, Evil Gaze, Eyebite and Finger of Death pretty much the only necromantic spells that clerics of any domain cannot cast.
All in all, a Cleric of Pharasma with both the Death and Repose domains would at least spell-wise be a better choice than a pure necromancer. Or blight druid for that matter, given that a couple of the above spells are also available to druids.
Still, undead blooded sorcerers are thematically the most interesting choice given that they're the closest thing we have to playable undead main characters.
I think most of the necromancy spells overlap with clerics - if not core, then in the Death, Evil, Chaos or Destruction domains - which companions have. So I would say that would be a very good reason not to nave a necromancer wizard companion.
The whole rationale behind the Pale Master PrC was that clerics made better necromancers than wizards.
Not on Pathfinder, sure on low lv, clerics learn some spells earlier, but a high level sorcerer with undead bloodline is IMO much better than any cleric. Mid level spells like create undead ( https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/c/create-undead ) tends to be the same level for both classes, not mention some offensive spells like Finger of Death who aren't available for clerics at any domain. Druids require an higher spell slot to use.
Not mention that 4 casts of "create undead" VS 6 means that an sorc can summon 50% more undead. Pale master IMO is awful on NWN1, no caster level = useless. Not mention the bu***hit "you can have only one summon" that NWN1 have(i like nwn1 but it is a great fault IMO, is a ridiculous non pnp limitation, like arcane archer that can only imbue fire and dragon disciple that can only be red - the most evil and chaotic of dragons)
On P:K Assuming 4-6 undead by animated dead, an sorcerer can animate 24(4*6) to 36(6*6) undead while a cleric can animate 16(4*4) to 24(6*4), that means that an cleric casting animate dead spending all of his spell slots and getting the best result possible can have the same amount of a sorc with the worst result possible. Sure, cleric can learn this spell as a tier 3 spell and spend less valuable spell slot.
Not mention that some sorc bloodlines allow you to make your summons stronger. Giving DR and making the greater number of summoned mobs, stronger. So on P:K IMHO at low level : Cleric > Sorc > Wiz, at medium level Cleric = Sorc > Wiz, at high level Sorc > Wiz > Cleric.
Comments
Very rare, or very quickly patched bug I guess.
I soloed IWD and got no problems on P:K(not finished yet) with a small 3 man party. Got some problems on Vordakai dominate person skills but nothing that summon monster, animate dead, etc can't solve. Not in therms of buffing party members. One rogue level of her means that will take one more level to get stoneskin, one more level to get haste for ex, on therms of single target DPS, thanks to how broken sneak attack is, she is useful.
The most useful spells on P:K are not the DPS spells. And spells who deal condition + DPS are the best, for example on Tier 4 spells : Boneshatter
"The target’s bones (or exoskeleton) splinter, dealing 1d6 points of damage per caster level (maximum 15d6) to the target, which is also exhausted for 1 minute per caster level from the pain and exertion of the transformation." https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/b/boneshatter
No ranged touch attack required, pretty high consistent damage and a exhaustion(or fatigue on success save) , -3 to DEX means that if he can hit you on 50% of rolls, with the -3 he will hit you only on 35%. And the penalty to STR means that he will deal less damage, the penalty on speed means that he can't run away and flank is easier.
This spell is amazing against this archers with high reflex saves and evasion/improved evasion.
Other example? Stag lord, you can cast cleric's cure wounds who will heal little or Enlarge person on Amiri, protection fro arrows and trow your gigant barbarian raring on Stag lord while low level summons deals with another archers.
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On IWD charm is absolutely necessary to solo the game on earlier levels. Magic missile at level 1/2 will deal less damage than your staff...
After getting to the Stag Lord and encountering an extremely annoying bug (every round my characters would stop fighting, going flat footed and allowing the enemies to disengage and go after spellcasters archers), I am replaying chapter 1 and I have realized how much I have done off the beaten path that has made this game difficult for me.
I was running a caster heavy party in my first play through which made having to rest a lot. Not to mention it was a squishy party with Linzi, Tristan, Octavia and myself all wearing leather armour or less. Throw in Amari who isn’t really a tank, more Calvary, and mob control was difficult with just Valerie and my giant centipede.
This time, I rolled a finessed (evil) ranger with Valarie and the undead elf as my starters and I am steamrolling everything. I was afraid not having a cleric would hurt early on, but once the elf leveled I was able to choose CLW. Things drop quick as there was a feat that allowed me to trade in 1 AB for 2 damage on finesse weapons which is a no brainer in the early game. I have not used a CLW potion yet where my first play through, I was chugging 5 or 6 almost after each battle.
I also did the ancient tomb second, going after the bandits first and to the abandoned cabin and even the temple before going to the Sycamore. This made me lose out on grabbing the Dwarf as my heal not in the first play through relying on squishy Tristan as my healbot.
So I was lower level than normal recruiting Octavia and her Beau as well as lower level than normal when doing the temple to dissipating the fog. Both of those areas were challenging (I think I was still level 2 for both of them) but I bet once I get there with this play through, I am going to have less of a hassle.
When I did finally get to the Tree in my first play through, my CG sorc/ranger basically said your both evil, which made me fight my way through the entire dungeon instead of taking a side. This time, I went Neutral response and literally was able to walk through the first level while still getting quests to make up for all that sweet XP I was losing.
That’s as far as I got last night, but I didn’t have to reload once (actually that’s a lie - I reloaded after leaving the temple until I made all my skill checks to get the scene of Tarc as a kobold shaman). I still prefer my original character as she fit the railroaded story the game throws at you, but I am going to keep rolling this guy first as he does seem easier to play.
I wouldn't have thought to use protection from arrows on the stag lord, that's a good tactic. Once you know how to handle the fight it's super easy, though.
Just enter from the right. Move 2 characters you want to fight the stag lord up the stairs first, followed by your ranged/spell casters in the middle, and last a tank or 2 to hold the stairs, so only 1 or 2 enemies can get it up them to where the tanks are at. Just use the stairs as a bottleneck to isolate the stag lord. You can even just use one tank to block the stairs.
I still would love to see a sorcerer NPC. While Octavia works great, being a transmuter, a lot of spells are cut off from her.
I do know if I go at it one more time, I’ll probably be able to defeat the encounter but I was seriously raging at my screen that I needed a break from it.
The latter one is especially fun to play when you choose the Mummification discovery. Doesn't make them undead though. More like Frankenstein's Monster... semi-alife?
@deltago
Wow, never had anybody get teleported on top of my characters. I've always cleared everything else in the camp before I approach the stag lord, though. So I probably already dealt with the named baddy you're referring to before starting the fight.
1 - An pure arcane companion.
if they give a pure non specialized arcane caster companion(instead a rogue/specialized wiz), with good supporting spells and before the fight with certain fights on chapter 1, he/she suggests on dialogs casting some buffs aka protection from arrows(only to people understand what this spells can do)
Maybe on the starting bandit fight at tradding post, put 3 more archer bandits and an npc casting protection from arrows on your party members in mid of fight, casting slow and summoning wolves.
2 - Rename the difficulty ;
Story => Stress-less
Easy => Normal
Normal => Experienced pathfinder players
The rest can be unchanged.
That way, people who doesn't understand the rules will gravitate to the actual "easy mode"(mode that they should play) and will understand that sorcerer/ss are not good only because they can trow fireballs, they can do much more things. Raise an summoned army, control the battlefield, buff companions, debuff enemies, deal damage + debuff in the same spell, explore the enemy weakness, crowd control, take control over enemies, etc; Vordekai and his army, that i saw a lot of complains by his difficulty, i defeated with 3 party members...
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D&D/Pathfinder is good because arcane casters aren't only damage dealers, divine casters aren't only healers. An cleric of a evil deity is his deity representation on material plane. Magic on D&D is very close to myths of our world and mages can do a lot of useful stuff inside or outside of combat, not just trow fireballs...
http://nwn.wikia.com/wiki/Evard's_black_tentacles
https://pillarsofeternity2.wiki.fextralife.com/Maura's+Writhing+Tentacles
I love both spells and both are pretty useful tier 4 spells
My evil sword saint managed to enslave
Vordakai. He's one of my advisors now. I haven't gotten back to my capital, yet, but think he'll be an arcane advisor. So now a cyclops lich serves me, and I'm so gong to kill that traitor Tristian.
So I absolutely love the remnants of cyclopes empire being around from over a 1000 years earlier. Back in Bronze age Greece, there were civilizations like the Myceneans and Trojans, who built fortresses out of stone. Around 1200-1100 BCE, civilization in Greece pretty much collapsed and didn't get going again until around 800BCE. These Greeks looked around and saw those old ruins of stone fortresses, and thought "There's no way people could have built these things, no man could lift those stones." So they assumed they were built by cyclopes, and the type of architecture is referred to as cyclopean.
Regongar and Amiri really fill the warrior roles that she doesn't. You've got the 2 handed barbarian that hits for tons of damage and Reg as an Eldritch Scion meant to be a self buffing warrior you can make a dragon disciple with immense strength. If you want him in heavier armor you can take enough Magus levels so he can cast in medium armor. He also gets those armor boosts from Dragon Disciple, and can just walk around with the spells shield and mirror image up. Sure Reg is arcane too, but it's mostly for buffs.
On the Arcane side, you've got no one that can cast spells like Horrid Wilting, and Octavia can't cast stoneskin, either. So that's why I'd like to see a pure arcane NPC most of all. I wouldn't mind another warrior type too, but an arcane caster that doesn't have school restrictions and can get the highest tier spells is lacking. If a specialist, necro would be great, since then they hit the schools Octavia can't use.
On NWN1, it rocks against Rakshakas for example ( http://nwn.wikia.com/wiki/Rakshasa ) since you can't hurt then without tier 9 spells and it is a tier 4 spell who ignores SR... Even if you face then with tier 9 spells, non damage dealing spells like Mordenkainen's disjunction and Time Stop are the best choice. Not meniton, D4 + CL tentacles means that you at lv 20 can have 21-24 tentacles, with very long duration. You can trow an tentacle and lure a lot of magic resistant/immune enemies to be grappled and die.
This requires much less spell slots than stoneskin + haste + etc + tenser's transformation that i generally use against high SR mobs too ( http://nwn.wikia.com/wiki/Tenser's_transformation ), an AOE grapple that ignores SR and deals AOE damage per round during your CL/2 is pretty good IMO. Probably the best low to mid tier offensive magic on nwn1.
If the target have high spell resistance + damage reduction, then i need to use the traditional approach... Linzi = Bard - Not the same spells as an wizard/sorcerer
Octavia = One rogue level + specialized wizard = not all wiz spells
There are 2 cleric companions but zero druids or pure arcane casters.
Not sure if Octavia can cast spells like protection from arrows(protection from arrows is what school in game?) and another low level spells who are IMO vital against Stag lord on earlier game, but since i have casted myself(Sorcerer), i never bothered to pick Octavia(except on her companion quests)
And DrHappyAngry, considering that there are already an Wizard, i wanna suggest an Sorcerer(ss), preferentially Aasimar since there are no Aasimar companion.
I wouldn't sweat it, that fight is fine. Protection from Arrows would trivialise it.
NB: A sorcerer would get Protection from Arrows one level later than a wizard, so probably wouldn't have it for the Stag Lord fight.
FYI: PfA is also on the Alchemist spell list. I imagine it is a domain spall for protection clerics too.
But according to wikia is tier 2 spell so a lv 4 sorc should have it ( https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/p/protection-from-arrows/ )
I can't be bothered with the single target version of Protection from Arrows - without metagame knowledge (AKA cheating) it's not viable to use. The group version is a great spell, but far from needed against the Stag Lord. I generally summon an earth elemental on the platform next to him.
Horrid Wilting was just an example, there's a big list of necromancy spells that are sweet, like Ray of Enfeeblement, boneshaker, boneshatter, animate dead and the list goes on.
If they do stick some more companions in, I'd like to see at least one more evil npc.
She thanks to her specialization losts a lot of powerful buffs like protection from arrows, stoneskin and a lot of necromancy spells like boneshaker, animate dead, etc. IMHO i will love to see an evil sorcerer with flesh dragon bloodline as a companion who can cast this spells and is evil or with abyssal bloodline and have an interesting story about how his grandfather who was an wizard of the court of a different kingdom summoned an succubus due hard disillusion with woman or something like this. Is viable. Is like stoneskin but just for arrows. The single version can protect the most targeteed by archers members of your party and with a small party, they are very helpful.
I for one like Jaethal more as Cleric of Urgathoa, Jubilost as Grenadier and Valerie as a Fighter with Heavy Shield Bash as her Weapon Focus instead of using Tower Shields.
Not really fond of the "good cast", but I'd respec Tristian into a Empyreal Sorcerer in an heartbeat.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Pathfinder_Kingmaker/comments/9noamx/summoning_on_this_game_is_epicaka_not_limited_to
The whole rationale behind the Pale Master PrC was that clerics made better necromancers than wizards.
As for necromantic domain spells:
- Evil has Ray of Sickening, Boneshaker, Contagion, Fear, Slay Living and Create Undead.
- Destruction has Boneshaker, Fear, Boneshatter, Harm and Horrid Wilting.
- Death has Cause Fear, Boneshaker, Bestow Curse, Enervation, Slay Living, Circle of Death, Destruction, Horrid Wilting and Wail of the Banshee.
- Darkness has Blindness, Vampiric Touch, Enervation and Umbral Strike.
- Chaos' only necromantic spell is Banshee Blast.
- Artifice got the Waves of Fatigue/Exhaustion spells.
- Knowledge got Death Ward.
- Earth got Horrid Wilting.
- Madness has Cause Fear.
- Plant has Contagion.
- Water got both Ray of Sickness and Horrid Wilting.
- Repose got Doom, Scare, Vampiric Touch, Death Ward, Slay Living, Undeath to Death, Destruction, Waves of Exhaustion and Wail of the Banshee.
That makes Disrupt Undead, Ray of Enfeeblement, Pernicious Poison, False Life (Greater), Vampiric Shadow Shield, Evil Gaze, Eyebite and Finger of Death pretty much the only necromantic spells that clerics of any domain cannot cast.
All in all, a Cleric of Pharasma with both the Death and Repose domains would at least spell-wise be a better choice than a pure necromancer. Or blight druid for that matter, given that a couple of the above spells are also available to druids.
Still, undead blooded sorcerers are thematically the most interesting choice given that they're the closest thing we have to playable undead main characters.
Not mention that 4 casts of "create undead" VS 6 means that an sorc can summon 50% more undead. Pale master IMO is awful on NWN1, no caster level = useless. Not mention the bu***hit "you can have only one summon" that NWN1 have(i like nwn1 but it is a great fault IMO, is a ridiculous non pnp limitation, like arcane archer that can only imbue fire and dragon disciple that can only be red - the most evil and chaotic of dragons)
On P:K Assuming 4-6 undead by animated dead, an sorcerer can animate 24(4*6) to 36(6*6) undead while a cleric can animate 16(4*4) to 24(6*4), that means that an cleric casting animate dead spending all of his spell slots and getting the best result possible can have the same amount of a sorc with the worst result possible. Sure, cleric can learn this spell as a tier 3 spell and spend less valuable spell slot.
Not mention that some sorc bloodlines allow you to make your summons stronger. Giving DR and making the greater number of summoned mobs, stronger. So on P:K IMHO at low level : Cleric > Sorc > Wiz, at medium level Cleric = Sorc > Wiz, at high level Sorc > Wiz > Cleric.
Not mentioning that sorc is CHA based.