Edit: Actually, I know exactly what you haven't considered- check your encumbrance. Medium encumbrance imposes a 3 max dex bonus, which is what you appear to be reporting. Hover the mouse over your encumbrance bar.
Ding, ding, ding! I think we have a winner! I had no idea about this rule. Thanks for the insight.
Edit: You mean the personal encumberance right, not the total party level of encumbrance?
Yes, each character has personal encumbrance as well as group encumbrance. Because of this, it is very difficult for low strength characters (like Linzi) to wear much armour and still be effective.
Game seems to finally be stabilizing after all the patches. However, as with any of these situations, my personal taste is to wait until all the DLC is released for these type of games to get into them seriously. Learned this lesson the hard way after The White March for Pillars was implemented in a way that was simply not well thought out toward a current run. Tyranny basically had the same problem. Most of the recent DLCs for these Kickstarter RPGs are integrated into the middle of the main story-line rather than being full on sequels like Expansion Packs of the past were (Throne of Bhaal and Lord of Destruction are the most notable examples). As such, "Game of the Year" editions not only will save you about $20-30 in the end, but will provide a comprehensive experience, provided you are willing to wait til 6-9 months after release.
Game seems to finally be stabilizing after all the patches. However, as with any of these situations, my personal taste is to wait until all the DLC is released for these type of games to get into them seriously. Learned this lesson the hard way after The White March for Pillars was implemented in a way that was simply not well thought out toward a current run. Tyranny basically had the same problem. Most of the recent DLCs for these Kickstarter RPGs are integrated into the middle of the main story-line rather than being full on sequels like Expansion Packs of the past were (Throne of Bhaal and Lord of Destruction are the most notable examples). As such, "Game of the Year" editions not only will save you about $20-30 in the end, but will provide a comprehensive experience, provided you are willing to wait til 6-9 months after release.
All I have to say is that it's so worth it, warts and all. There hasn't been a CRPG released this good since BG2. If you're dead set on waiting, the DLC that adds a campaign for Maegar Varn in Varnhold is probably when you should get it. I think that'll be the end of the middle story DLCs. The PoE games didn't quite scratch the itch for me, although Tyranny came close, but this game is a gem.
Game seems to finally be stabilizing after all the patches. However, as with any of these situations, my personal taste is to wait until all the DLC is released for these type of games to get into them seriously. Learned this lesson the hard way after The White March for Pillars was implemented in a way that was simply not well thought out toward a current run. Tyranny basically had the same problem. Most of the recent DLCs for these Kickstarter RPGs are integrated into the middle of the main story-line rather than being full on sequels like Expansion Packs of the past were (Throne of Bhaal and Lord of Destruction are the most notable examples). As such, "Game of the Year" editions not only will save you about $20-30 in the end, but will provide a comprehensive experience, provided you are willing to wait til 6-9 months after release.
The only "add in" DLC is already out. The next one is a parallel story with a different character, and the final one is a random dungeon generator that I intend to miss.
Also, the game has huge amounts of replayablity, with events turning out differently for reasons that aren't always apparent (not to mention more character options than you can shake a stick at). Playing the game again is no hardship.
Game seems to finally be stabilizing after all the patches. However, as with any of these situations, my personal taste is to wait until all the DLC is released for these type of games to get into them seriously. Learned this lesson the hard way after The White March for Pillars was implemented in a way that was simply not well thought out toward a current run. Tyranny basically had the same problem. Most of the recent DLCs for these Kickstarter RPGs are integrated into the middle of the main story-line rather than being full on sequels like Expansion Packs of the past were (Throne of Bhaal and Lord of Destruction are the most notable examples). As such, "Game of the Year" editions not only will save you about $20-30 in the end, but will provide a comprehensive experience, provided you are willing to wait til 6-9 months after release.
The only "add in" DLC is already out. The next one is a parallel story with a different character, and the final one is a random dungeon generator that I intend to miss.
Also, the game has huge amounts of replayablity, with events turning out differently for reasons that aren't always apparent (not to mention more character options than you can shake a stick at). Playing the game again is no hardship.
The choices from the parallel story are supposed to affect the main game, though.
It's so replayable. A lot of dialog options are hidden behind alignments and skills. Even some of the buildings you can make have alignment requirements or are based off choices you've made. There's a decent amount of classes and they can all be mixed and matched.
The choices from the parallel story are supposed to affect the main game, though.
I doubt it will change much though: maybe which buildings are built in a certain town, what resources you gain at a certain point in the story, maybe the protagonist from the expansion becomes available as a mercenary party member for the main protagonist?
It certainly wont add anything that could be considered "content" to the main protagonist's world.
I fired up the beta this morning, so glad I've got fiber. It's honestly not that noticeable of a difference, maybe a hair better in some spots, just barely noticeable. Maybe it'd be more apparent on a hard disk with spinning platters. They also broke the visual effect for mirror image, apparently. I do have to say, I like the visual effect for mirror image, after the lame one from NWN2, so hopefully they get that sorted. Asides from that haven't really seen anything different.
One big thing I noticed in the notes deals with Amiri's quest
Going after Tristian first instead of helping the Sword Lords first no longer makes it so Nilak dies. Which means Amiri won't automatically die in the final chapter, I think.
*Edit Also something broke with the custom portraits and the game seems to be having cycling through the bunch that I had added during character creation.
So, even worse bug with the beta, I can't memorize a spell in the wizard school slot with Octavia. The general slots work fine, it's just the her Transmutation slot I can't put anything into. Clerics seem fine with their domain slots, though. Not sure if it's a general bug with wizards, or just Octavia.
I put the sorcerer on hold awhile back and have been having fun alternating between 2 characters lately.
One is an Demon-kin Eldritch Scion with the Infernal bloodline. Pretty fun sticking to straight magus and really pushing the touch attacks with a weapon angle. Eventually gets a +6 to strength, so the abyssal bloodline's a good one for Magus, plus gets a lot of the buff spells you'd want.
The other character is one I tested awhile back and have been tinkering with the build in my head for a bit. I've picked Angel-Kin Aasimar with 1 level of Scaled Fist for flurry of blows and charisma bonus to AC, 2 levels of Paladin to get Charisma bonus to saves and have now switched it up to 2 handed fighter, since I roll with a quarterstaff. Works pretty nicely, great damage output combined with lots of attacks. With crane style and just 3 points into mobility, fighting defensively becomes a -2 to attack with a +4 dodge bonus. I'm probably going to go at least 5 levels of 2 handed fighter to get weapon specialization in quarter staff and the +1 attack and damage at level 5. I'm not sure yet if I should go all the way to level 7 for backswing or switch to Stalwart Defender to get more AC and some damage reduction. Either way I'll probably go Stalwart Defender, it's just a question of do I get 5 or 7 fighter levels.
Ugh, big time bug. The deal with Ioseph doesn't work right at all. You don't get 500BP, but get a 25% increease in all BP costs to buldings. I've sent in a list of bugs to owlcat, so hopefully none of this crap doesn't make it into a real release.
I always burn the flower. I was curious what happens if you take a petal?
The petal just crumbled to dust for me. No noticeable effect. Yet.
Taking the root gives you another curse to investigate.
I am really enjoying this game. I normally take the beta branches to help out but I’m having too much fun at the moment.
I have 115 hours in, so far, which is a huge time investment for me these days. I restarted one run early to take advantage of patches. I lost one run to the curse of Abaddon. Just getting to the vanishing in my current run which is about as far as I’ve ever gotten and I’m still having a great time.
I heard the quests in this game are timed, including the main quest. This is the biggest reason I haven't bought it yet despite being really interested by everything else because I like being able to explore, try things, without having to worry whether my actions are a waste of time or not.
I heard the quests in this game are timed, including the main quest. This is the biggest reason I haven't bought it yet despite being really interested by everything else because I like being able to explore, try things, without having to worry whether my actions are a waste of time or not.
So how strict the timers actually are?
Some of them are really strict, like the 90 days to finish the first chapter, or you lose the game. 90 Days is way more than enough to explore the whole area and do everything, though. You can even make plenty of screw ups and still have time to spare. The other strict one is rescuing an artisan, where I think you have like 12 days to do it, but you just lose the artisan if you don't make it.
There's an event that happens about once a year where you need to deal with it by putting an advisor on it and heading to a specific location for a battle. Your journal always shows you the number of days until that comes up.
If you're falling behind on the main quest and taking to much time to resolve the major event for the chapter, the game will start sending kingdom events at you until you take care of it. They can be a bit of a hassle if you put things off too long, and tie up your advisors, but they won't outright end your game. A very few of the NPC quests need to be resolved by a certain time, so when they ask you for something, do it. Your companions generally won't ask you to do their quests during the major plot points, though.
If you play the game the opposite way you play most RPGs, you'll have tons of time to do side quests and explore, you just need to do it in between the major plot events. Normally in an RPG you do all side quests first then advance the plot. In this game you want to do the opposite. When somebody tells you to do something, you should do it. There isn't a false sense of urgency that most games have. The whole game is basically setup on a timeline where major plot points pop up at certain times.
So ya, the timers exist, but they're not hard to work with, and you'll have enough time to do everything. Just be sure to check back in at your capital at least every few weeks, or at a minimum, get to the edge of your lands where you can manage your kingdom, just to check up on things.
I've actually almost finished the game again with my big stick build, mostly under the 1.2 beta. This build's pretty much been the easiest run through the game I've had so far. I did an Angel-Kin Aasimar, Scaled Fist 1, Paladin 3, 2 Handed Fighter 7 and I've got 4 more of stalwart defender. I started with 18/14/10/10/10/18 and put any attribute points into strength. Not sure if my flurry of blows is stacking with the extra attack from the staff I found, but things are normally dead before I get a full round of attacks on it. I wound up with a 3rd paladin level, since I forgot I needed toughness for stalwart defender, which isn't a bad deal for immunity to fear and the bonus to the party vs fear saves. With crane style and a shield spell from jubilost, I'm at like 56AC now! Best part is, it's mostly dodge, so things like specters and casters can't touch me. I'm debating if I want 2 more stalwart levels, or one more scaled fist for the feat and evasion. I've got weapon specialization with quarter staff plus the bonuses from 2 handed fighter, combined with the monks flurry of blows, so I absolutely crush everything.
I've finished with Pitax, so I'm really curious to see if anything's been done with the last chapters with the 1.2beta.
I heard the quests in this game are timed, including the main quest. This is the biggest reason I haven't bought it yet despite being really interested by everything else because I like being able to explore, try things, without having to worry whether my actions are a waste of time or not.
So how strict the timers actually are?
You will need to sometimes prioritize the order in which you do the quests, but there is more than enough time to explore the entire map (and it's a large one). However, you won't be able to spam the rest button like in BG, so it does impact the game difficulty.
That being said, don't be afraid to rest if you need it. You just can't abuse it and rest after every combat like in the BG games.
So, I managed to finish the magical prison quest and kill all 45 monsters. At the end of the quest there were some cool items, a decent great axe (But I've got better already) and the best heavy crossbow I've come across, a +5 that does an extra d10 of damage. It takes a -2 to hit for large and huge creatures as well as past a certain number of hit dice, but for each trait it gives another d10 of damage. The notes you find for the quest give an interesting explanation for it all, too.
So I decided to finally start playing for real. I've waited for some patches and bug fixes. I did play a plain fighter up to around level 8, end of chapter 1 IIRC (before stag lord), but I'm gonna start from scratch.
I played around with some builds by cheating exp and leveling up to try out different combos. I settled for a pretty weird multiclass aldori defender/thug/sword saint/duelist in the end. Maybe not optimized, but will end up with tons of damage and pretty good AC due to having two classes that grant AC from INT, both sword saint and duelist. Went with dualing swords, hence the level 1 aldori defender, and single handed attack. Will use magus mostly for maximize/INT to rolls/crit multiplier, and not so much for dual wielding shocking grasp and similar. The rogue levels are there for weapon finesse, some sneak attack and DEX to damage. Will miss out on uncanny defense and since the char is DEX heavy, will have crappy AC flatfooted. Decent BAB, but since I can modal INT to rolls with magus, can increase BAB for more difficult enemies. Also, since I picked fighter at level 1, I can pick weapon focus Dueling sword twice, once there and once more when I multiclass sword saint, so that's 2 BAB. Can also get specialization if I go magus level 10 since then they get their magus level for fighter feats so can pick that feat then. But not sure, might pump Duelist more since one more level = 1 more damage and also some good abilities, ie parrying and many AoOs. Level 9 duelist nets 3 more AC from elaborate defense as well, 2 at level 7 when you get the feat IIUIC.
Plan is to let Valerie rush in and draw aggro, then use this char as a flanking DPS kind of character, at least until all the +AC kicks in. If the game ever moves into epic levels, the char will also be eligable for arcane trickster and eldritch knight which could round of the char after level 10 duelist and level ~9 Magus, with level 1 fighter and level 3 rogue. But that's not really part of the plan, just some random thinking, if that ever happens. Restartitis will prolly hit well before then anyways, hehe..
The char will only use INT and DEX and start with 18 in both, 10 in the rest (8 in STR). Will use perception, trickery, UMD, persuasion with points in mobility (needed for duelist) and perhaps arcane lore. If I put two points into INT, at INT20 you get a whole new skill you can max out since you get the skill points retroactively. Fairly feat heavy, so not sure I have feats to invest into skill enhancing feats since I need Dodge, combat mobility, weapon focus, extra arcane pools (maybe several) and might pick some accomplished sneak attacker and some other. Tested with using 2 levels of barbarian for uncanny dodge but the char become too diluted then. More magus levels = more arcane pool, and also more levels mean more INT to AC (1 per level) and with a few INT enhancing items I could probably get 4 from start and with possible +6 enhancing items, that's 8-10*2=16-20 AC, depending on levels in Magus and Duelist. I will probably get both up level 4-5 ASAP by altering levels in magus/duelist until I hit the INT to AC cap, then go for Duelist for the boost in damage.
NPCs will probably be the elf cleric guy, the arcane trickster elf woman, valerie, linzi and whoever else I want. I'd like another tank, but if I have understood it correctly, there are no more 'classic' tanks in the game. Perhaps Harrim, or maybe a future NPC like Nok Nok. Let's see. Amiri from start, but having two flankers is probably a bit too much since she is a bit squishy (at least from my limited experience).
There are several potential tanks, depending on how you build them. Harrim, Jaelthel (she is actually better with sword and board than a scythe), and Ekun's animal companion have the most potential. Animal companions tank well with Mage Armor and Barkskin.
Nok Nok is a Rogue, though so much OP (plus all the percs of the class) some do use him as a front-liner. Not tank, though.
Yeah, that's what I've read, that he can reach good AC, enough to be in the front. With UMD and scrolls/wands that goes up a bit. Better than Amiri at least, though my charname will reach ~38 naked, unbuffed AC if all goes well, which is decent and with spells, UMD and scrolls/wands, he can reach higher as well.
There are several potential tanks, depending on how you build them. Harrim, Jaelthel (she is actually better with sword and board than a scythe), and Ekun's animal companion have the most potential. Animal companions tank well with Mage Armor and Barkskin.
Not aware of Ekun, I guess I will read up on that char. I assume he's a ranger? I know there aren't any druids in the game, but then ofc there's other classes which get pets (many kits have them it seems). Not using Jaethal since I chose Harrim in the early tomb, though perhaps she will become an option later though. Haven't ever progressed past the stag lord, so still (blissfully) unaware of what happens afterwards, hehe..
The last companion you pick up in chapter 1 will be wounded, so you can't actually put them into your party until chapter 2. Who that last companion is depends on choices you've made, as well as the order you visit certain spots/quests in the first chapter. So if you made certain choices, Jaethal might not be available until the second chapter.
Comments
At the end of the season of the bloom
I always burn the flower. I was curious what happens if you take a petal?
Also, the game has huge amounts of replayablity, with events turning out differently for reasons that aren't always apparent (not to mention more character options than you can shake a stick at). Playing the game again is no hardship.
It's so replayable. A lot of dialog options are hidden behind alignments and skills. Even some of the buildings you can make have alignment requirements or are based off choices you've made. There's a decent amount of classes and they can all be mixed and matched.
It certainly wont add anything that could be considered "content" to the main protagonist's world.
https://owlcatgames.com/forums/showthread.php?6054-Open-Beta-Test-for-Version-1-2!
One big thing I noticed in the notes deals with Amiri's quest
Going after Tristian first instead of helping the Sword Lords first no longer makes it so Nilak dies. Which means Amiri won't automatically die in the final chapter, I think.
*Edit
Also something broke with the custom portraits and the game seems to be having cycling through the bunch that I had added during character creation.
One is an Demon-kin Eldritch Scion with the Infernal bloodline. Pretty fun sticking to straight magus and really pushing the touch attacks with a weapon angle. Eventually gets a +6 to strength, so the abyssal bloodline's a good one for Magus, plus gets a lot of the buff spells you'd want.
The other character is one I tested awhile back and have been tinkering with the build in my head for a bit. I've picked Angel-Kin Aasimar with 1 level of Scaled Fist for flurry of blows and charisma bonus to AC, 2 levels of Paladin to get Charisma bonus to saves and have now switched it up to 2 handed fighter, since I roll with a quarterstaff. Works pretty nicely, great damage output combined with lots of attacks. With crane style and just 3 points into mobility, fighting defensively becomes a -2 to attack with a +4 dodge bonus. I'm probably going to go at least 5 levels of 2 handed fighter to get weapon specialization in quarter staff and the +1 attack and damage at level 5. I'm not sure yet if I should go all the way to level 7 for backswing or switch to Stalwart Defender to get more AC and some damage reduction. Either way I'll probably go Stalwart Defender, it's just a question of do I get 5 or 7 fighter levels.
The petal just crumbled to dust for me. No noticeable effect. Yet.
Taking the root gives you another curse to investigate.
I am really enjoying this game. I normally take the beta branches to help out but I’m having too much fun at the moment.
I have 115 hours in, so far, which is a huge time investment for me these days. I restarted one run early to take advantage of patches. I lost one run to the curse of Abaddon. Just getting to the vanishing in my current run which is about as far as I’ve ever gotten and I’m still having a great time.
So how strict the timers actually are?
There's an event that happens about once a year where you need to deal with it by putting an advisor on it and heading to a specific location for a battle. Your journal always shows you the number of days until that comes up.
If you're falling behind on the main quest and taking to much time to resolve the major event for the chapter, the game will start sending kingdom events at you until you take care of it. They can be a bit of a hassle if you put things off too long, and tie up your advisors, but they won't outright end your game. A very few of the NPC quests need to be resolved by a certain time, so when they ask you for something, do it. Your companions generally won't ask you to do their quests during the major plot points, though.
If you play the game the opposite way you play most RPGs, you'll have tons of time to do side quests and explore, you just need to do it in between the major plot events. Normally in an RPG you do all side quests first then advance the plot. In this game you want to do the opposite. When somebody tells you to do something, you should do it. There isn't a false sense of urgency that most games have. The whole game is basically setup on a timeline where major plot points pop up at certain times.
So ya, the timers exist, but they're not hard to work with, and you'll have enough time to do everything. Just be sure to check back in at your capital at least every few weeks, or at a minimum, get to the edge of your lands where you can manage your kingdom, just to check up on things.
I've finished with Pitax, so I'm really curious to see if anything's been done with the last chapters with the 1.2beta.
I played around with some builds by cheating exp and leveling up to try out different combos. I settled for a pretty weird multiclass aldori defender/thug/sword saint/duelist in the end. Maybe not optimized, but will end up with tons of damage and pretty good AC due to having two classes that grant AC from INT, both sword saint and duelist. Went with dualing swords, hence the level 1 aldori defender, and single handed attack. Will use magus mostly for maximize/INT to rolls/crit multiplier, and not so much for dual wielding shocking grasp and similar. The rogue levels are there for weapon finesse, some sneak attack and DEX to damage. Will miss out on uncanny defense and since the char is DEX heavy, will have crappy AC flatfooted. Decent BAB, but since I can modal INT to rolls with magus, can increase BAB for more difficult enemies. Also, since I picked fighter at level 1, I can pick weapon focus Dueling sword twice, once there and once more when I multiclass sword saint, so that's 2 BAB. Can also get specialization if I go magus level 10 since then they get their magus level for fighter feats so can pick that feat then. But not sure, might pump Duelist more since one more level = 1 more damage and also some good abilities, ie parrying and many AoOs. Level 9 duelist nets 3 more AC from elaborate defense as well, 2 at level 7 when you get the feat IIUIC.
Plan is to let Valerie rush in and draw aggro, then use this char as a flanking DPS kind of character, at least until all the +AC kicks in. If the game ever moves into epic levels, the char will also be eligable for arcane trickster and eldritch knight which could round of the char after level 10 duelist and level ~9 Magus, with level 1 fighter and level 3 rogue. But that's not really part of the plan, just some random thinking, if that ever happens. Restartitis will prolly hit well before then anyways, hehe..
The char will only use INT and DEX and start with 18 in both, 10 in the rest (8 in STR). Will use perception, trickery, UMD, persuasion with points in mobility (needed for duelist) and perhaps arcane lore. If I put two points into INT, at INT20 you get a whole new skill you can max out since you get the skill points retroactively. Fairly feat heavy, so not sure I have feats to invest into skill enhancing feats since I need Dodge, combat mobility, weapon focus, extra arcane pools (maybe several) and might pick some accomplished sneak attacker and some other. Tested with using 2 levels of barbarian for uncanny dodge but the char become too diluted then. More magus levels = more arcane pool, and also more levels mean more INT to AC (1 per level) and with a few INT enhancing items I could probably get 4 from start and with possible +6 enhancing items, that's 8-10*2=16-20 AC, depending on levels in Magus and Duelist. I will probably get both up level 4-5 ASAP by altering levels in magus/duelist until I hit the INT to AC cap, then go for Duelist for the boost in damage.
NPCs will probably be the elf cleric guy, the arcane trickster elf woman, valerie, linzi and whoever else I want. I'd like another tank, but if I have understood it correctly, there are no more 'classic' tanks in the game. Perhaps Harrim, or maybe a future NPC like Nok Nok. Let's see. Amiri from start, but having two flankers is probably a bit too much since she is a bit squishy (at least from my limited experience).
Not using Jaethal since I chose Harrim in the early tomb, though perhaps she will become an option later though. Haven't ever progressed past the stag lord, so still (blissfully) unaware of what happens afterwards, hehe..
@Fardragon here's the list of locations https://pathfinderkingmaker.gamepedia.com/Magical_Prison