Harrim's my main man, what with his doom, and gloom. However, is it worth it to make Tristian a Mystic Theurge to strictly be a Support caster? y/n
PLEASE ADVISE
I tried it, but didn't have him in the party that much. On the whole I would favour keeping him as a cleric. Power level is up and down, and too many spells.
I reckon the best build for a Mystic Theurge would be by combining a Feyspeaker druid with a Sylvan Sorcerer. The animal companion's levels stack, smoothing over the rough spots where your spell power dips. The animal will start to lag eventually, but not until around level 12, when you have more spells than you can shake a stick at.
Actually, I have had none wounded and two wounded on different playthroughs. It's not strictly tied to order.
Think you might've hit a bug there or not noticed they're not actually available immediately after.
I've played the first chapter a good few times, and the last one to recruit is always injured and unavailable for the rest of the chapter. If you do the temple of the elk after Tartuccio/Old Sycamore, Tristian is supposed to have injuries and not be available. If you do Old Sycamore after Temple of the Elk, whichever companion(s) you didn't recruit are injured and unavailable. I would be really curious to know how you got it to have no one injured. It's true Tartuccio could still have 2 people with him when you get to Old Sycamore, so you could wind up with 2 injured. I generally like to be the charisma monkey, so always convince one of them to come over to my side at the tomb.
I would keep Tristian a cleric. He gets some mage spells like fireball, scorching ray and the like, anyways. In order to open up Mystic Thuerge you have to give up 3 caster levels of each class. So by the time you get your first level, you'll be only as good a 4th level cleric or 4th level mage and other party members will be 6-7th caster levels. Mixing in sorcerer instead of wizard means you won't get Theurge unlocked till level 8, and putting off any sorcerer levels really hurts their progression, since they don't even get 2nd level spells till 4th level, which hurts your divine casting even more. So you won't get any 3rd level spells until level 9 if you did sorcerer, level 8 for wizard/cleric. It's not like Baldur's Gate, where you're only about 1 caster level behind a pure caster for most of the games. If the game went into epic levels, it might be a better deal, but right now I don't think you can get higher than level 17 without turning off XP sharing and running a smaller party, plus the game has a level 20 cap.
The nice thing about mystic theurge is (if one class is sorc) it gives you spontaneous casting for all the clerc/druid spells you have access too. This is a massive choice of spells that you can cast as often as you have spell slots for.
Sounds like you missed something, you can get all the prologue companions back in chapter 1. Ekun is encountered in chapter 2.
Not missed, it's just that I haven't progressed that far yet. Since I restarted yet again, I've just done the first couple of quests now so far; the tomb, the bandit camp, technic league and the cabin in the woods and the foggy temple and some minor side quests like the fangberry cave. I've never progressed past.. what's it called, the Sycamore dungeon. I did it once on my fighter then just got a message that "we should wait until the fog clears" or something similar and since apparently my chars had to poor perception, I coulnd't find shit on the map to do. So after running around back and forth for a in-game week, I put that playthrough on hold and just now restarted.
Sounds like you missed something, you can get all the prologue companions back in chapter 1. Ekun is encountered in chapter 2.
Not missed, it's just that I haven't progressed that far yet. Since I restarted yet again, I've just done the first couple of quests now so far; the tomb, the bandit camp, technic league and the cabin in the woods and the foggy temple and some minor side quests like the fangberry cave. I've never progressed past.. what's it called, the Sycamore dungeon. I did it once on my fighter then just got a message that "we should wait until the fog clears" or something similar and since apparently my chars had to poor perception, I coulnd't find shit on the map to do. So after running around back and forth for a in-game week, I put that playthrough on hold and just now restarted.
Any remaining companions from the prologue should be in the sycamore dungeon (but may be too "wounded" to join the party).
Harrim and Amiri should have sufficient perception to spot most things if you haven't got Jaethel. However, if you try to approach the Stag Lord's hideout along the wrong (eastern) side of the river you will be blocked by the mist. This is because you are trying to go into another province (Silverstep) that does not open until chapter 1 is completed.
Sounds like you missed something, you can get all the prologue companions back in chapter 1. Ekun is encountered in chapter 2.
Not missed, it's just that I haven't progressed that far yet. Since I restarted yet again, I've just done the first couple of quests now so far; the tomb, the bandit camp, technic league and the cabin in the woods and the foggy temple and some minor side quests like the fangberry cave. I've never progressed past.. what's it called, the Sycamore dungeon. I did it once on my fighter then just got a message that "we should wait until the fog clears" or something similar and since apparently my chars had to poor perception, I coulnd't find shit on the map to do. So after running around back and forth for a in-game week, I put that playthrough on hold and just now restarted.
Any remaining companions from the prologue should be in the sycamore dungeon (but may be too "wounded" to join the party).
Harrim and Amiri should have sufficient perception to spot most things if you haven't got Jaethel. However, if you try to approach the Stag Lord's hideout along the wrong (eastern) side of the river you will be blocked by the mist. This is because you are trying to go into another province (Silverstep) that does not open until chapter 1 is completed.
OK, thanks. It was prolly why then. I have to admit I've grown accustomed to "spoonfeeding" games and have some trouble finding my way in PKM at times since I'm so lousy nowadays to read the journal and actually listen to what ppl say, heh..
The nice thing about mystic theurge is (if one class is sorc) it gives you spontaneous casting for all the clerc/druid spells you have access too. This is a massive choice of spells that you can cast as often as you have spell slots for.
What, really? That's incredible. I had no idea.
I'm going to give Ecclesitheurge/Empyreal Sorcerer/Mystic Theurge a whirl, but I'm going to keep the respec mod handy as I go. I've seen a lot of mixed to bad things online about sending Tristian down that road, but I really really like the archetype of the Mage/Cleric. I kind of feel like that mod is cheating, but any D&D game I've played in over the last 20 years (even with Killer DM's) allowed for some level of respeccing to total class changes, so I don't feel too too bad.
Anyways, I'm playing with the latest updates on GOG, and the game is in faaaaar more stable condition than when I played day 1. I'm not fully expecting to actually beat the game just yet, but I'm going to give it another fair go, despite my earlier grumblings.
I'm not very familiar with Pathfinder, but I always found the 3.5 druid spell list to be amazing all the way from level 1. The addition of previously arcane-only spells, and the other added spells, made each spell level have a wide selection of spells. And with spontaneous conversion to summoning spells (which I practically never use though) you always have that option even without memorizing them.
Level 1 might be a bit weak (macig fang is good), but level 2 have a lot of great options like stat enhancers, lesser restoration etc. Some of these are better after meta magic though, but if going multiclass it can be great to add two of these if you are MAD to gain some better effects from your stats, ie DEX, WIS, etc.
I've just started playing the game properly myself, I did buy it at launch but the horror stories kept me from digging into it.
Also I did lower the difficulty and decided just to play a basic fighter. Whilst I would definitely replay it later with a character I want to explore more with and with more challenge, I didn't want to invest too heavilly in a playthrough because I still hear some issues with bugs and the game having balance issues if you don't tone things down.
Having said that, I'm up to raiding the Stag Lord's fortress, and my impressions so far is its pretty good.
The combat is excellent, its a bit easy on the settings I have it, but that said its also early in the game with a lot of mook fights, I want to see if it more evens out later. But I like how everything works, its closer to Baldur's Gate et al. than Pillars is, which I guess is unsurprising.
The story writing is fine. The quest writing is rather good, the thing with the Mite and Kobold tribes and you being able to side with one, stay neutral or wipe out both is offering the kind of open gameplay one would want from a CRPG. The writing of the party NPCs is... um... not great. I feel like I don't talk to them that much so I (and thus my character) doesn't get the urge to turn permadeath on so I can rid the game of them. Guild hires are not cheap. Definitely not the awesome Shadowrun Dragonfall cast this bunch of cringey muppets.
Jaethal is okkkaaayyy though. She's sort of like Viconia, in that her alignment might be evil but her basic practicality and attitude make her more relateable than a lot of the others.
And druids - other than feyspeaker that is - are already pretty versatile characters, thanks to shapeshifting and spontaneous summoning.
Shapeshifting and summoning are abilities I rarely use, and pale into insignificance compared to a well buffed animal companion.
And mystic theurge x/sorcerer can spontaneously cast anything they like.
It's not shapeshifting/summoning vs. the animal companion for druids/defenders, however, but rather all three together. Whereas with the mystic theurge feyspeaker you're weakening the companion. And "anything they like" isn't worth that much when the spell selection is lacking, which was my problem with the druidic spell list.
Ability to spontaneously cast any spell > ability to spontaneously cast summons (and there is an inquisitor subclass that is a far superor summoner anyway).
Animal companion isn't weaked until level 12, when the game is almost over, and is strengthed by a vast repertoire of buffs, such as stacked Mage Armour and Barkskin.
Wildshape is worthless fluff, but if you really must shapeshift the sorcerer spell list grants a lot more options.
@chimeric all good points, but just wanted to state that I never said druid was better than other classes, just that I think their lower spell levels are pretty solid and way, way better than in 2E.
On another note, I just did a quick cheated levelup test again of my build and the game is either bugged or I have once again missed out on some rule that isn't clearly stated.
My Thug/Magus/Duelist build is broken since the duelist' precise strike isn't working. I have all the feats that let the Magus use aldori dueling swords for Finesse and slashing grace/finesse training (Rogue level 3) and have it onehanded (it even says onehanded when I hover the stats in the char screen) but the precise strike's Duelist level to damage rolls aren't there. I have:
Dueling sword 1-8 base damage 20 dex, so +5 damage (+7 with cat's grace) level 8 duelist, should 8 to damage Specialization +2 damage and then optionally Piranha strike for another 8 damage (2 per 4 BAB, with 16 BAB)
Class levels are Sword saint 1 (weapon focus dueling sword) Thug 3 (finesse and finesse training dueling sword) Sword Saint 8 (INT to AC) Duelist 8 (INT to AC) Arcane trickster 1 (just for testing, should be Sword Saint 9)
What I get is 1-8+8 damage (without any buffs or modals activated) which looks really strange.. As I was leveling up it seemed the stats were consistent with the DEX to damage and the +2 from specialization, but somewhere during leveling it became skewed and now I have no idea what the bonuses come from. +8 doesn't make sense, the only thing that's equal to +8 is from Duelist (class level = 8), but that would mean that bonus have "overrided" the other bonuses?
The only rule I can think of that might mess with things is that some martial weapons are considered twohanded when weilded without a shield or offhand weapon. The dueling sword, however, is according to what Ive read one that should work with Duelist class and it also work with Finesse if you pick the appropriate feats.
@Fardragon, you seem like a guru when it comes to this. Can you maybe advice on what I have done wrong? Now I am leaning against restarting again and going CHA based using scaled fist/eldritch scion and just skipping Duelist alltogether. The whole point of my build was to create a weird glasscannon type character with multiple classes adding both damage and AC from leveling with a little sneak attack to boot.
I'm not sure if Slashing Grace works with duelling swords, since they have their own feat "Aldori Duelling Mastery" that qualifies them for Duellist bonus damage. It's not something I have tested though. Mouse-hovering over things on the character sheet usually gives you a breakdown of where bonuses are coming from anyway.
I'm not sure if Slashing Grace works with duelling swords, since they have their own feat "Aldori Duelling Mastery" that qualifies them for Duellist bonus damage. It's not something I have tested though. Mouse-hovering over things on the character sheet usually gives you a breakdown of where bonuses are coming from anyway.
I can pick Dueling sword both using the regular feat slashing grace and using the Rogue 3 extra feat Finesse training. But perhaps you are right that somehow that still doesn't qualify them for the Duelist level to damage, though that shouldn't be based on weapons since Duelist as a class is not tied to the Dueling sword, rather to the regular piercing weapons Rapier or Estoc.
Hmm.. I will try to level up a regular sword saint using Rapier and going for Duelist to see.
Just tried a Eldritch Scion/Scaled Fist/Paladin/vivisectionist for fun and using spell combat, unarmed and Finesse made it possible to just pump CHA and DEX, so no need for STR. Worked out fairly good, but a lot less AC than my previously tried build. An attack in a round of combat caused 3 rolls for damage, one physical and two rolls for electricity using Shocking grasp. Not sure what math is behind that, but perhaps it's the flurry of blows that somehow cause the Shocking grasp to roll twice per attack.
EDIT: Read the feat description again and you were kinda right. The rogue Finesse Training doesn't specifically state that it qualifies for the Precise Strike for Duelists. However, the feat Slashing Grace does specifically state that. So there we have it, it was me who had made a mistake yet again, haha
You want Aldori Dueling Mastery instead of slashing grace, it's the same thing, but gives you a +2 shield bonus to AC, and specifically says it counts for duelist. I've finished the game as a rogue/sword saint/duelist with this feat.
You want Aldori Dueling Mastery instead of slashing grace, it's the same thing, but gives you a +2 shield bonus to AC, and specifically says it counts for duelist. I've finished the game as a rogue/sword saint/duelist with this feat.
Damn.. I just restarted yesterday and went without rogue this time, just pure magus (1 level dip in Vivi for sneak attack and mutagen) using Finesse and Slashing Grace feats, heh.. I really must learn to read the feat descriptions better, since I never understood that Aldori Dueling Mastery turned DEX to damage. :P
EDIT: Read the feat description again and it says nothing about Aldori Dueling Mastery changing DEX to damage. Are you sure about that @DrHappyAngry? To me it seems I have to have either slashing grace or Finesse training and aldori dueling mastery to use a finesse based duelist with Dueling swords.
EDIT 2: Just noticed you said you had a rogue, so then I guess you went for Rogue level 3 and the Finesse training feat which, in conjunction with, Aldori Dueling mastery should give you both Dex to damage and slashing for piercing skills for Duelist. Am I right? Since I won't go Rogue 3 on this build, I have to pick slashing grace feat for my magus and will perhaps also pick aldori dueling mastery on my next level of Magus for the initiative boost (later on I get quickdraw as well, which let's me get first attack in most fights). Then I should be able to have all needed for a pure magus/duelist build (with a dip in Vivi and perhaps another dip in rogue for cheaper +1 to sneak attack, which which accomplished sneak attack nets me 3D6 for 2 levels. Let's see.)
Ah you're right, sorry yesterday was a long day, and I should have said it works the same in that it counts for duelist doing INT damage. You do need slashing grace if you're not taking rogue levels.
I’m just starting Ch6 and I’m beginning to think about my next run. I was wondering how close anyone has gotten to the level cap (lvl 20)?
This time I tried not sharing experience and giving all exp for skill checks to the character that makes the check. Octavia is my trap expert so she’s running away with it to the tune of 300,000 exp over charname. Octavia is lvl17 right now.
I’m thinking with all the persuasion checks throughout the game it could be possible to get charname close to the cap if they handled both persuasion and trickery. What do you fine folks think?
I can't say for running smaller parties with XP sharing off, but with a full party on normal and doing absolutely everything I got to level 17. It may have been possible to get to 18 if...
I did the optional chapter at the end after you defeat Nyrissa on the last run I finished, but I don't think I was close enough to make it even if I did it.
I know @SorcererV1ct0r did a run with a smaller party and xp sharing off, maybe he can tell you what level he got to.
Started Chapter 2 yesterday and dang.., this game is HUGE. Most areas are very small though, but there's many of them but I gotta admit that playing many other more fast-paced games have made me a bit trigger-happy on leveling and this slower pace is hard to adjust to. I have this cool build in my head but it takes ages for it to come into fruition. Heh, I wish I didn't feel this way, but years and years of playing increasingly fast paced games has apparently made me more impatient than I was before. My cheat-finger is itching all the time, "maybe I can cheat in just one level here and there.. ". So far I've managed to not to, but leveling from 4-5 and from 5-6 was like 8 hours of game time (though with some pauses in between ofc).
As a second note, so far the kingdom managing part is not my cup of tea. I feel like a (the) grumpy old man (I am) when I admit that if I do future playthroughs, I will probably set that to automatic and just play normal adventuring. Can't even imagine how it will be later on when you have a shitload of villages to build in, just building in the capitol was enough to turn me off to that part of the game.
Except for these two things, the game is pretty fricking amazing. Would have liked more inter-party banter, but when they do come (like when NPCs state their minds in certain scenarios, like when encountering a caged and tortured troll, it's really well made. You can really get a grip of their beliefs and it plays out great where you as the leader can listen to them and still act the way you feel. I wonder though, is there a hidden influence system below where my actions will make me gain or lose influence with the NPCs? Like if I don't act lawful enough will Val eventually become mad at CHARNAME and similar?
Trying to avoid too many spoilers I have probably missed a few things, but just created the necklace of double crossing from all those scorched fragments. Had missed two parts in chapter 1 but a quick google search could point me in the right direction, which is why I love the internet age so much, hehe.. It helps us casual players so incredibly much!
Playing the game on normal but it feels a lot easier than it did when I played it a little the first time around, closer to it's release. They must have turned down the difficulty levels since then. I did encounter two blood beast bones, or whatever they were called, level 17 undeads that hit 3-4 times per round and killed my level 5 party in a matter of seconds. That was an interesting encounter, heh.. Their AC was like 35+ making it impossible for me to hit and they did spawn just west of a level 3-4 area. Met them on my way to the troll investigation. After a reload, I took the safer route on the eastern side of the river, hehe.. I wonder what other interesting encounters will pop in the future
As a sidenote, I love 3.5 and the variations and number crunching it enables, but there's an inflation of values (AC, DC and AB) that's a bit hard to adjust to from 2E. I guess I will get used to it soon though when I push my own chars' values up.
Just some random ramblings from my first real playthrough.
Most of the inter-party banter happens only when you camp in an outdoor area, and I don't mean the world map. There's a ton of little bits of dialog between the party members, some of it's pretty catty.
Comments
PLEASE ADVISE
I reckon the best build for a Mystic Theurge would be by combining a Feyspeaker druid with a Sylvan Sorcerer. The animal companion's levels stack, smoothing over the rough spots where your spell power dips. The animal will start to lag eventually, but not until around level 12, when you have more spells than you can shake a stick at.
I've played the first chapter a good few times, and the last one to recruit is always injured and unavailable for the rest of the chapter. If you do the temple of the elk after Tartuccio/Old Sycamore, Tristian is supposed to have injuries and not be available. If you do Old Sycamore after Temple of the Elk, whichever companion(s) you didn't recruit are injured and unavailable. I would be really curious to know how you got it to have no one injured. It's true Tartuccio could still have 2 people with him when you get to Old Sycamore, so you could wind up with 2 injured. I generally like to be the charisma monkey, so always convince one of them to come over to my side at the tomb.
I would keep Tristian a cleric. He gets some mage spells like fireball, scorching ray and the like, anyways. In order to open up Mystic Thuerge you have to give up 3 caster levels of each class. So by the time you get your first level, you'll be only as good a 4th level cleric or 4th level mage and other party members will be 6-7th caster levels. Mixing in sorcerer instead of wizard means you won't get Theurge unlocked till level 8, and putting off any sorcerer levels really hurts their progression, since they don't even get 2nd level spells till 4th level, which hurts your divine casting even more. So you won't get any 3rd level spells until level 9 if you did sorcerer, level 8 for wizard/cleric. It's not like Baldur's Gate, where you're only about 1 caster level behind a pure caster for most of the games. If the game went into epic levels, it might be a better deal, but right now I don't think you can get higher than level 17 without turning off XP sharing and running a smaller party, plus the game has a level 20 cap.
Harrim and Amiri should have sufficient perception to spot most things if you haven't got Jaethel. However, if you try to approach the Stag Lord's hideout along the wrong (eastern) side of the river you will be blocked by the mist. This is because you are trying to go into another province (Silverstep) that does not open until chapter 1 is completed.
I'm going to give Ecclesitheurge/Empyreal Sorcerer/Mystic Theurge a whirl, but I'm going to keep the respec mod handy as I go. I've seen a lot of mixed to bad things online about sending Tristian down that road, but I really really like the archetype of the Mage/Cleric. I kind of feel like that mod is cheating, but any D&D game I've played in over the last 20 years (even with Killer DM's) allowed for some level of respeccing to total class changes, so I don't feel too too bad.
Anyways, I'm playing with the latest updates on GOG, and the game is in faaaaar more stable condition than when I played day 1. I'm not fully expecting to actually beat the game just yet, but I'm going to give it another fair go, despite my earlier grumblings.
And mystic theurge x/sorcerer can spontaneously cast anything they like.
https://pathfinderkingmaker.gamepedia.com/Druid_spells
Level 1 might be a bit weak (macig fang is good), but level 2 have a lot of great options like stat enhancers, lesser restoration etc. Some of these are better after meta magic though, but if going multiclass it can be great to add two of these if you are MAD to gain some better effects from your stats, ie DEX, WIS, etc.
Also I did lower the difficulty and decided just to play a basic fighter. Whilst I would definitely replay it later with a character I want to explore more with and with more challenge, I didn't want to invest too heavilly in a playthrough because I still hear some issues with bugs and the game having balance issues if you don't tone things down.
Having said that, I'm up to raiding the Stag Lord's fortress, and my impressions so far is its pretty good.
The combat is excellent, its a bit easy on the settings I have it, but that said its also early in the game with a lot of mook fights, I want to see if it more evens out later. But I like how everything works, its closer to Baldur's Gate et al. than Pillars is, which I guess is unsurprising.
The story writing is fine. The quest writing is rather good, the thing with the Mite and Kobold tribes and you being able to side with one, stay neutral or wipe out both is offering the kind of open gameplay one would want from a CRPG. The writing of the party NPCs is... um... not great. I feel like I don't talk to them that much so I (and thus my character) doesn't get the urge to turn permadeath on so I can rid the game of them. Guild hires are not cheap. Definitely not the awesome Shadowrun Dragonfall cast this bunch of cringey muppets.
Jaethal is okkkaaayyy though. She's sort of like Viconia, in that her alignment might be evil but her basic practicality and attitude make her more relateable than a lot of the others.
Animal companion isn't weaked until level 12, when the game is almost over, and is strengthed by a vast repertoire of buffs, such as stacked Mage Armour and Barkskin.
Wildshape is worthless fluff, but if you really must shapeshift the sorcerer spell list grants a lot more options.
On another note, I just did a quick cheated levelup test again of my build and the game is either bugged or I have once again missed out on some rule that isn't clearly stated.
My Thug/Magus/Duelist build is broken since the duelist' precise strike isn't working. I have all the feats that let the Magus use aldori dueling swords for Finesse and slashing grace/finesse training (Rogue level 3) and have it onehanded (it even says onehanded when I hover the stats in the char screen) but the precise strike's Duelist level to damage rolls aren't there. I have:
Dueling sword 1-8 base damage
20 dex, so +5 damage (+7 with cat's grace)
level 8 duelist, should 8 to damage
Specialization +2 damage
and then optionally Piranha strike for another 8 damage (2 per 4 BAB, with 16 BAB)
Class levels are
Sword saint 1 (weapon focus dueling sword)
Thug 3 (finesse and finesse training dueling sword)
Sword Saint 8 (INT to AC)
Duelist 8 (INT to AC)
Arcane trickster 1 (just for testing, should be Sword Saint 9)
What I get is 1-8+8 damage (without any buffs or modals activated) which looks really strange.. As I was leveling up it seemed the stats were consistent with the DEX to damage and the +2 from specialization, but somewhere during leveling it became skewed and now I have no idea what the bonuses come from. +8 doesn't make sense, the only thing that's equal to +8 is from Duelist (class level = 8), but that would mean that bonus have "overrided" the other bonuses?
The only rule I can think of that might mess with things is that some martial weapons are considered twohanded when weilded without a shield or offhand weapon. The dueling sword, however, is according to what Ive read one that should work with Duelist class and it also work with Finesse if you pick the appropriate feats.
@Fardragon, you seem like a guru when it comes to this. Can you maybe advice on what I have done wrong? Now I am leaning against restarting again and going CHA based using scaled fist/eldritch scion and just skipping Duelist alltogether. The whole point of my build was to create a weird glasscannon type character with multiple classes adding both damage and AC from leveling with a little sneak attack to boot.
Hmm.. I will try to level up a regular sword saint using Rapier and going for Duelist to see.
Just tried a Eldritch Scion/Scaled Fist/Paladin/vivisectionist for fun and using spell combat, unarmed and Finesse made it possible to just pump CHA and DEX, so no need for STR. Worked out fairly good, but a lot less AC than my previously tried build. An attack in a round of combat caused 3 rolls for damage, one physical and two rolls for electricity using Shocking grasp. Not sure what math is behind that, but perhaps it's the flurry of blows that somehow cause the Shocking grasp to roll twice per attack.
EDIT: Read the feat description again and you were kinda right. The rogue Finesse Training doesn't specifically state that it qualifies for the Precise Strike for Duelists. However, the feat Slashing Grace does specifically state that. So there we have it, it was me who had made a mistake yet again, haha
EDIT: Read the feat description again and it says nothing about Aldori Dueling Mastery changing DEX to damage. Are you sure about that @DrHappyAngry? To me it seems I have to have either slashing grace or Finesse training and aldori dueling mastery to use a finesse based duelist with Dueling swords.
EDIT 2: Just noticed you said you had a rogue, so then I guess you went for Rogue level 3 and the Finesse training feat which, in conjunction with, Aldori Dueling mastery should give you both Dex to damage and slashing for piercing skills for Duelist. Am I right? Since I won't go Rogue 3 on this build, I have to pick slashing grace feat for my magus and will perhaps also pick aldori dueling mastery on my next level of Magus for the initiative boost (later on I get quickdraw as well, which let's me get first attack in most fights). Then I should be able to have all needed for a pure magus/duelist build (with a dip in Vivi and perhaps another dip in rogue for cheaper +1 to sneak attack, which which accomplished sneak attack nets me 3D6 for 2 levels. Let's see.)
This time I tried not sharing experience and giving all exp for skill checks to the character that makes the check. Octavia is my trap expert so she’s running away with it to the tune of 300,000 exp over charname. Octavia is lvl17 right now.
I’m thinking with all the persuasion checks throughout the game it could be possible to get charname close to the cap if they handled both persuasion and trickery. What do you fine folks think?
I did the optional chapter at the end after you defeat Nyrissa on the last run I finished, but I don't think I was close enough to make it even if I did it.
I know @SorcererV1ct0r did a run with a smaller party and xp sharing off, maybe he can tell you what level he got to.
As a second note, so far the kingdom managing part is not my cup of tea. I feel like a (the) grumpy old man (I am) when I admit that if I do future playthroughs, I will probably set that to automatic and just play normal adventuring. Can't even imagine how it will be later on when you have a shitload of villages to build in, just building in the capitol was enough to turn me off to that part of the game.
Except for these two things, the game is pretty fricking amazing. Would have liked more inter-party banter, but when they do come (like when NPCs state their minds in certain scenarios, like when encountering a caged and tortured troll, it's really well made. You can really get a grip of their beliefs and it plays out great where you as the leader can listen to them and still act the way you feel. I wonder though, is there a hidden influence system below where my actions will make me gain or lose influence with the NPCs? Like if I don't act lawful enough will Val eventually become mad at CHARNAME and similar?
Trying to avoid too many spoilers I have probably missed a few things, but just created the necklace of double crossing from all those scorched fragments. Had missed two parts in chapter 1 but a quick google search could point me in the right direction, which is why I love the internet age so much, hehe..
Playing the game on normal but it feels a lot easier than it did when I played it a little the first time around, closer to it's release. They must have turned down the difficulty levels since then. I did encounter two blood beast bones, or whatever they were called, level 17 undeads that hit 3-4 times per round and killed my level 5 party in a matter of seconds. That was an interesting encounter, heh.. Their AC was like 35+ making it impossible for me to hit and they did spawn just west of a level 3-4 area. Met them on my way to the troll investigation. After a reload, I took the safer route on the eastern side of the river, hehe.. I wonder what other interesting encounters will pop in the future
As a sidenote, I love 3.5 and the variations and number crunching it enables, but there's an inflation of values (AC, DC and AB) that's a bit hard to adjust to from 2E. I guess I will get used to it soon though when I push my own chars' values up.
Just some random ramblings from my first real playthrough.