The Verdant chambers also has a couple of invisibility potions on the map, hint, hint.
I agree that that's technically a hint. However, in reality, it's not -- I'm sure you've noticed how they've placed all sorts of loot all over the map in the game. It's not a problem as such, but it is extremely unrealistic, even for a cRPG. I mean, how would you explain all that multitude of items all over the place conveniently waiting to be picked up?
Another problem in this vein was the Lake Silverstep Village, in the sense that it's a very small place populated by farmers and such -- but then, on the very same map, you've got an awful lot of fairly serious monsters (lvl 10 or so, the fey). It just looks bad: how could those two conceivably exist on the same map? Even the dire wolves could and would easily wipe out the whole village, because they are like 50 feet away from it.
P:K is a good game, but some of the design oversights and flaws are extremely serious.
Well, the village is protected by "The dragon", as everybody says to you. Soon you met the real protector of the village if you follow the quest chain. ed: They also do not have problems with the fay until they found the cursed coffin.
The problem I've had when trying to mix thug and cornugon smash is that you'll frighten the enemy you're engaged with, causing them to run, and when your character starts to chase after them, every nearby enemy gets an attack of opportunity before I can cancel out chasing them. I preferred dazzling display for that, myself. The Paladin 2/Inquisitor I have at Pitax and haven't finished yet was a great Cornugon smasher and would cause shaken on anything they hit. Adding half your inquisitor levels to intimidate attempts is awesome
True enough XD Been there, done that, got the T-shirt.
You still need thug to frighten the enemies. They could make this a feat instead of a class, or a kit of some other class instead of rogue, they do not really excel at this.
So just ran into a random enounter. Saw two manticores attacking something with a yellow circle so ran in like crazy to save whatever it was, no buffing and all my guys attacking randomly and chaotically. One manticore swun around and AoO'd Linzi in a second but the rest of the guys fought on. Then I see it's the dweomar cat I had saved some time ago and in the middle of the fight, both mantis were still alive, it says "That's all the help you get from the cat." or something similar.
Well I did complete my first full playthrough tonight, here are some screenshots.
Firstly from a few days ago, killing Ilthuliak:
He (she?) literally did not scratch me for even a point of damage
This was Nyrissa:
829 THOUSAND XP for that fight?! It wasn't even a contest. They need to rethink how they balance XP awards.
Ok, onto Lantern King. Just check out the damage Deadly Earth does:
268 points of damage (after subtracting DR!). And it would apply to everyone in the AoE. And that's just this round, it lasts for ages. And I can stack Cloud on top for another similar amount of damage.
Oh wow, this is scary:
Every buff gone :0
I can still do this though:
Which do you want first, the good news or the bad news? The bad news? Ok, I have to fight another incarnation of the Lantern King.
The good news...
...is that big thing in front of him is a Deadly Earth + Cloud combination. And he's about to walk into it.
He didn't last long. Neither did the next version. This version is a bit scary though:
How exactly do you fight a fireball?
Turns out the same way as anything else. Deadly Earth (mud blast) and Cloud don't care what form the opponent is.
Told him to buzz off and leave my kingdom alone.
So here's some character screenshots from just before the battle:
Over 15m XP (!). 12m over the XP cap. Probably enough to be around level 30 if the progression continued. And I didn't even milk or complete all quests.
AC 63 (71 in melee). For around two thirds of the game I've only been getting hit on natural 20. Saves around 30 as well, only usually fail on a natural 1.
Equipment:
Sold most of the trash before the end, over 3m gold and I seem to recall I had about 25k build points as well (which would be the equivalent of another 2m gold). This game is even more generous than PoE in handing out material rewards.
Time to say goodbye to the hero of my first playthrough:
In total I think I had around 10 reloads during the game. And they were mainly because I had no idea what was coming, everything from Chapter 2 onwards was a blind playthrough (also at least 3 of the reloads were from cutscenes moving characters into my Deadly Earths, either PC or Tristian). Some of the setpiece battles, like Ilthuliak, the lich, Nyrissa, Lantern King etc were won first time with no metagame knowledge, so they really aren't that difficult. Vordekai was also first time success except for a Deadly Earth incident; and Spawn of Rovagug was one reload because of an unlucky critical failure (natural 1) on Will saving throw. So with the benefit of knowing what is coming, I think this game is easily solo no-reloadable. This was on Challenging btw, not claiming it's easily doable on Unfair or anything (although it probably is with more experience).
Overall - genuinely a 9.5 out of 10 game and the best RPG since BG2. Just the end was a grind and there are some rough edges around the dialogue and the cutscenes, but still love it.
True enough XD Been there, done that, got the T-shirt.
You still need thug to frighten the enemies. They could make this a feat instead of a class, or a kit of some other class instead of rogue, they do not really excel at this.
Yup, that's the reason I took just one level of thug on my sword lord that made the stag lord flee in terror at my dazzling display. I really should pick that character up again. I had just gotten a level of sword lord and was working towards adding some duelist levels eventually. The only problem is the low will saves.
I'm close enough to end that I will make sure I finish but restartitis is definitely present!
Trouble is after playing kineticist anything else is going to feel so useless. I loved Sword Saint but that's going to feel hopelessly weak now (what do you mean I have to roll to hit?! Why am I doing 20 damage to one opponent instead of 200 to everyone?!)
You can try an magician, magicians can deal a lot of damage, but less than kineticist.
Summoning and shapeshifting in this game is amazing. Also wizards/sorcerers has some good buffs/debuffs, IMO you should consider then for your next run.
True enough XD Been there, done that, got the T-shirt.
You still need thug to frighten the enemies. They could make this a feat instead of a class, or a kit of some other class instead of rogue, they do not really excel at this.
Yup, that's the reason I took just one level of thug on my sword lord that made the stag lord flee in terror at my dazzling display. I really should pick that character up again. I had just gotten a level of sword lord and was working towards adding some duelist levels eventually. The only problem is the low will saves.
I do not know your Cha score or your party build but Pally`s bestow grace piles with cloaks and heroism and prayer to upgrade those low saves
Ed: Are there "Bestow grace" wands in the game? I do not recall seeing one.
Only thing I don't like about mages is the constant resting needed to refresh spells. And you are very vulnerable if you don't have buffs in place; an ambush can be deadly. That said, it does feel like they would be next most powerful class after kineticist (likely as an Arcane Trickster build, so Vivi 1, Wiz 3 or Sor 4, then 10 levels of AT before more levels of Wiz or Sor).
Other option would be a Sword Saint attempt, either as pure class or with some 1 level dips into Monk/Vivi/Rogue. Maybe even 10 duelist levels if I want to bin off spellcasting and just melee everything.
Can't think of a good fighter type build that would be suitable for solo no/min reload. I was thinking about stuff like Two Handed Fighter 11 (for 2 x STR modifier to all damage) with mix-ins of Scaled Fist 1, Sorc 1, DD 4, Pal 2, Vivi 1. Would just max out on STR for hideous damage capability. But problem is it would have to be a STR + (some) CHA build, which are usually the two dump stats for solo characters. So some of the important stats (DEX/CON/INT/WIS) would really suffer. AC likely to be a big problem and hardly any skill points, doesn't feel viable.
Will definitely do another Psychokineticist run at some point to try to beat solo no-reload. But not right away.
Have a lot of scrolls and wands in case of you ran out of spells or be ambushed without spells
Have party members with high stealth skill
Don't waste high tier magic o trash mobs unless you know that can rest.
Use an bloodline(if sorcerer) who can make you less vulnerable to ambushes. Incorporeal form and the Damage Reduction from undead bloodline are amazing traits, the STR bonus from abyssal too
As an wizard, there are an arquetype who allow you to use bombs, like an alchemist and an sorcerer, has arquetype that gives an animal companion. Both are amazing to conservate spell slots. Some bloodlines has claw attacks that can be used against trash mobs.
On the begining of the game, i ran out of spells constnatly, but at high level, you have a lot of spells and abilities.
Any class with animal companions in this game has solo potential ( I do not say they are the most powerful. They are not, but they do not rely on making tons of damage to beat the game). Defender Druids, Pally-feyspeaker, Herald callers and Monster tacticians being at the top.
Just some final comments on how to build a psychokineticist for those interested.
Take the 1 level monk dip at either level 1 or level 2 (think it works out the same from a favoured class HP perspective). I took it at level 2. I had Fighting Defensively/Crane Style active but in all honesty it's probably not needed, you hardly use it and you won't be meleeing much after Chapter 2. The WIS AC bonus is enough.
Water is absolutely the first element to take. Cold would be better for targeting touch AC with kinetic blade in the early game, but Water is the only way to get both a composite Deadly Earth (mud / later magma) and composite Cloud (steam). Main reason for taking Water before Earth is the Shield defence you get, which starts off at +2 AC but scales to +6. With that, Mage Armour (wand), DEX, WIS, Ring of Protection and natural armour (amulet or Barkskin potions) you have excellent melee AC.
You take Earth as second element at level 7 for mud blast and later Deadly Earth with mud. Choose Fire at level 15, you can then use Fire as kinetic blade and for Wall attacks, and have composite magma (for Deadly Earth) and steam (for Cloud).
Don't bother taking any of the "spells" (Grease, Kinetic Healing/Restoration etc) at level up as they cost burn. You never should or need to take any burn to use abilities, always use Gather Power. The only "spell" I took was Tsunami and I never used it. Instead use wild feats to take skill focuses (Trickery, Perception and Use Magic Device are the important ones), Skilled Kineticist (for +9 to both Athletics and Lore Nature), and saving throw feats (Iron Will, Improved Iron Will, Great Fortitude). The other infusions (Grapple/Entangle etc) are also not needed as they add to burn cost and require longer Gather Power; Entangle was the only one I used in melee attacks with Kinetic Blade, but it's not really needed as most things are dead after 2 or 3 hits anyway. You get more abilities than you need or use, Kinetic Blade, Deadly Earth, Wall, Cloud and Detonate are the only ones you're likely to use.
Skills are all about Trickery, Perception and Use Magic Device. You could probably go with Aasimar (DEX/WIS), I prefer Human for the extra skill point so I can improve other skills on top of the main 3. Stats are very simple, start off at 7/16/14/14/17/7 before racial bonuses. All additional points at level ups go into WIS. STR 7 is a bit painful in the early game as you can barely carry anything, you need to buy the Bag of Holding from Oleg asap.
Feat selection is all the defensive stuff (Dodge etc), Weapon Focus (Kinetic Blast), Improved Initiative, Toughness, the usual good stuff. Later more skill focuses if needed as well as saving throw boosts. All straightforward .
Have a lot of scrolls and wands in case of you ran out of spells or be ambushed without spells
Have party members with high stealth skill
Don't waste high tier magic o trash mobs unless you know that can rest.
Use an bloodline(if sorcerer) who can make you less vulnerable to ambushes. Incorporeal form and the Damage Reduction from undead bloodline are amazing traits, the STR bonus from abyssal too
As an wizard, there are an arquetype who allow you to use bombs, like an alchemist and an sorcerer, has arquetype that gives an animal companion. Both are amazing to conservate spell slots. Some bloodlines has claw attacks that can be used against trash mobs.
On the begining of the game, i ran out of spells constnatly, but at high level, you have a lot of spells and abilities.
Scrolls and wands are not a problem, you get tons. Other party members don't exist for solo.
What do you think is better, Wizard or Sorcerer? Sorcerers seem to have a lot more abilities (from bloodline) and it's always great not to have to prepare spells in advance. But wizards get everything 1 level earlier, which seems like a massive acceleration of power (albeit you then have to preselect your spells). And INT is surely a better stat than CHA. What are your thoughts?
Any class with animal companions in this game has solo potential ( I do not say they are the most powerful. They are not, but they do not rely on making tons of damage to beat the game). Defender Druids, Pally-feyspeaker, Herald callers and Monster tacticians being at the top.
Yes, I agree on Animal Companions. I have played around with both Monster Tactician and Sacred Huntmaster, they both seem fun options. Sacred Huntmaster felt better since teamwork feats were on animal companion rather than summons, but I never got to high level summons with Monster Tactician.
Don't care much for druids. Sylvan Sorcerer seems like it would have a lot of potential - fully powered animal companion as well as full sorcerer blasting potential. Would you take 2 level dip into Paladin to capitalise on high CHA? Can still get to level 9 spells with Sorc 18.
Have a lot of scrolls and wands in case of you ran out of spells or be ambushed without spells
Have party members with high stealth skill
Don't waste high tier magic o trash mobs unless you know that can rest.
Use an bloodline(if sorcerer) who can make you less vulnerable to ambushes. Incorporeal form and the Damage Reduction from undead bloodline are amazing traits, the STR bonus from abyssal too
As an wizard, there are an arquetype who allow you to use bombs, like an alchemist and an sorcerer, has arquetype that gives an animal companion. Both are amazing to conservate spell slots. Some bloodlines has claw attacks that can be used against trash mobs.
On the begining of the game, i ran out of spells constnatly, but at high level, you have a lot of spells and abilities.
Scrolls and wands are not a problem, you get tons. Other party members don't exist for solo.
What do you think is better, Wizard or Sorcerer? Sorcerers seem to have a lot more abilities (from bloodline) and it's always great not to have to prepare spells in advance. But wizards get everything 1 level earlier, which seems like a massive acceleration of power (albeit you then have to preselect your spells). And INT is surely a better stat than CHA. What are your thoughts?
I defer on @SorcererV1ct0r `s assessment in this one because he and the others know better... but in my limited experience Sorcerer hands down. Not even a contest. Elemental or draconic bloodline. Very few enemies resistant to acid so earth? . Also great shout is awesome, both in CC and damage (also few enemies resistant to sonic damage).
Any class with animal companions in this game has solo potential ( I do not say they are the most powerful. They are not, but they do not rely on making tons of damage to beat the game). Defender Druids, Pally-feyspeaker, Herald callers and Monster tacticians being at the top.
Yes, I agree on Animal Companions. I have played around with both Monster Tactician and Sacred Huntmaster, they both seem fun options. Sacred Huntmaster felt better since teamwork feats were on animal companion rather than summons, but I never got to high level summons with Monster Tactician.
Don't care much for druids. Sylvan Sorcerer seems like it would have a lot of potential - fully powered animal companion as well as full sorcerer blasting potential. Would you take 2 level dip into Paladin to capitalise on high CHA? Can still get to level 9 spells with Sorc 18.
INT is a better stat in most settings, but on PF:KM OC, if you have high CHA, you can get ludicrous amount of XP in some persuasion checks. I even picked skill focus persuasion. Of course, if you plan to solo, INT allow you to create an skill monkey, but even for an small party, IMO CHA is a better stat. Mainly because most persuasion checks are restricted to the MC.
As for picking Paladin levels, sure, you can captalize on the paladin bonuses and cast tier 9 spells but remember
Only one tier 9 spell and only 4 times / day
Lower caster level, so to penetrate SR it would be harder and some spells will deal 2 caster levels less damage
The best things on your bloodline are mostly obtained at lv 20. Some bloodlines give complete immunity to one element, some gives immunity to paralyze, others allow shapeshift at will, other immunity to fear, others resistance to a lot of elements and even damage reduction. Lost it for few bonus on AC i don't think that worth mainly because armor makes you miss spells.
I don't know if worth the cost since i never did it. Maybe i an wrong, but IMO go pure sorcerer or arcane trickster is the best option
Ok thanks, very helpful. The negatives to spell penetration and progression do seem painful. Btw Paladin levels are for saving throw boost, not AC. A sorcerer only has strong Will save, and with CHA build there may be problems with Fortitude saving throw, hence maybe Paladin helps with ensuring crucial saving throws are made.
A sylvan sorcerer with animal companion probably doesn't need to worry about AC too much, but any other type of solo sorcerer does, so maybe a Scaled Fist level would also be needed and you have to accept max level 8 spells.
XP (as you may have noticed from screenshots in my final kineticist post) soon becomes irrelevant for a solo character. By the time you get to the high Persuasion checks, you're already max level. But you don't want to be failing Perception and Trickery checks, but then if you focus only on those some other skills will suffer. I always like to have 4 skill points for each level up, but I think 3 is also manageable. I wouldn't want only 2 points per level. That's one reason why Wizard (or Sage Sorcerer?) may be more attractive.
Ok thanks, very helpful. The negatives to spell penetration and progression do seem painful. Btw Paladin levels are for saving throw boost, not AC. A sorcerer only has strong Will save, and with CHA build there may be problems with Fortitude saving throw, hence maybe Paladin helps with ensuring crucial saving throws are made.
A sylvan sorcerer with animal companion probably doesn't need to worry about AC too much, but any other type of solo sorcerer does, so maybe a Scaled Fist level would also be needed and you have to accept max level 8 spells.
XP (as you may have noticed from screenshots in my final kineticist post) soon becomes irrelevant for a solo character. By the time you get to the high Persuasion checks, you're already max level. But you don't want to be failing Perception and Trickery checks, but then if you focus only on those some other skills will suffer. I always like to have 4 skill points for each level up, but I think 3 is also manageable. I wouldn't want only 2 points per level. That's one reason why Wizard (or Sage Sorcerer?) may be more attractive.
You are right. Anyway, imagine if your sorcerer is immune to acid and poison. You can trow acid fog, cloud kill, etc and be inside your own spells while they damage the enemy. But the best aspect of SORC is not his saves/dps, is that for eg, in order to someone to free from my Icy Prison, mass(DC = 37), the guy needs to have an ton of STR to be freed from the frost prison and every turn, if he fails on the save, he is helpless, it combined with an Kineticist Deadly earth made me win in few seconds against enemies that i had an insane hard time on my first run...
About FORT saves, you can try raise via spells, but IMO you should't take any level in any class that won't increase your caster level...
Finally got Nok-Nok and started the season of the bloom. It was a weird interlude between killing the troll kind and waiting for the next attack. I had like 97 days and not a single errand or quest, so just went east and adventured. Couldn't spot the goblin village nor the windmill before the attack happened and the Cult quest with Kesten had finished. Not sure it's possible? I had Linzi with about ~25+ to perception and a few others at 10-15, but it never showed up before then. So when I finally got it after the Cult quest, Nok was seriously underleveled. He started at level 5 which was 5 levels below my mainchar and 4 behind the rest of the team. It's too much, I would never use him because it would take too long to level him up to any decent level so I cheated and brought him up to level 9 to make him comparable. I know there's kingdom events that can rank up NPCs, but haven't tried them yet since I am too lazy for that and I don't really like the kingdom part of the game.
So, now I have two goblins, charname and Nok, both running dualwield (5 APR and 4 APR unbuffed at level 10/9) with Val in the middle. tried it out quickly yesterday and things die quickly. Perhaps not as quickly as with the kineticist as some of you have talked about above, but it works for now. Good thing he came with Nature (Lore) as well since Amiri, whom I traded him out for, was my hunter/skinner.
I traded out Jubilost back for Octavia again. Figured I needed at least on mage for the long run since I've read there's some dungeons where you need certain protective spells active.
I wonder if both my mainchars and Noks level 10 rogue talent that adds -2 STR per hit stacks. Could prove rather effective vs big, chunky enemies I reckon.
Linzi just got the spell to run two songs at the same time. Itching to trying that out, maybe Dirge or Fascinate on top of the regular buffing one.
Guys, i wanna try in unfair. But to make things more interesting, i wanna play as an HALF dragon. Any mod that adds this type of races like half dragon, half celestial, etc? NWN2 has this mods ( https://www.nexusmods.com/neverwinter2/mods/88/ )
But i din't found an single mod to be an half dragon...
Haven't seen any @SorcererV1ct0r, but I did download the mod to change appearances that let you override your paperdoll. Not all paperdolls (probably none of them except Goblin) will have changing appearances based on equipment though. I was actually looking for a Mite race since I find those little buggers to be really cool. A bit stupid, but funny-looking.
Mod description:
Mod to adjust character appearance for the Game Pathfinder Kingmaker.
Change Class Outfit
Change Doll Features
Hide Equipment (Backpacks, Hoods, Helmets, Inactive Weapons, etc)
Override Armor Appearance
Override Weapon Appearance
Hide Wings
Hide Weapon Enchantments
Override Character Model
Change Character Portraits and Voices
Change Character Size without effecting gameplay mechanics
And see if you can find an Avatar that fits what you like, then change the stats based on PnP to fit and you got a rudimentary solution. I doubt the game will recognize your race so it will probably refer to you as the race you initially created you character as where dialogue insert race into the sentences.
Fair warning - unfair is really unfair. Way harder than LOB in BG. The prologue is deceptively easy because companions don’t permanently die. After the prologue ends and the kid gloves come off, hold on tight because it gets ugly fast. The biggest hurdle is the enemy AC bonus - you need to make sure the bad guys are flat-footed and pray that you one-shot them because, otherwise, you’ll need natural 20s to hit. Kiting works a little bit but there are a lot of enemy archers.
I’ve been going through an unfair run for the last couple weeks and it’s been my least fun playthrough. I hope once I get past the Stag Lord hump it will smooth out a bit but most battles take a couple dozen reloads to get through without crazy losses.
@SorcererV1ct0r I have no idea what a halfdragon looks like, but just for fun since I had the game going I figured I could check and this could be you I have of course not changed avatar pictures or race, but maybe you will find something you like.
This is an race that even PRC din't added to NWN1(they only added dragonkin ) and they added an ton of different races to nwn1...
On D&D 3.5e, an Dragon Disciple who reaches level cap on dragon disciple class become an HALF DRAGON, i got extremely disappointed with dragon disciples on nwn1/2, pfkm implemented the class in a more interesting way but on nwn1/2 DD are useless classes since they won't give +CL and only allow you to choose to be an red(the most human hater chaotic evil dragon) and there are no half dragon template at lv cap... The wings on nwn1 are visual only, should AT least allow you to ignore ground traps and difficulty terrain since fly mechanics would be an nightmare to implement;
Is possible to solo the game on unfair using shapeshift and other powerful spells, i was thinking on using half dragon race due the fact that i could use immunity to sleep, paralysis an mobility buff(since there are no fly in the game) and the attribute bonuses to make my life a little more tolerable.
@SorcererV1ct0r Sure, when you get powerful spells and abilities unfair is not much more difficult than challenging. I’ve beaten an unfair Lantern King but the difficulty curve is straight up starting fresh on unfair. Like how to get past the Oleg bandit attacks as a solo level 2 toon? I’ve never tried a class that has more innate abilities like shapeshifting. Please let us know how it goes.
Sure, when you get powerful spells and abilities unfair is not much more difficult than challenging. I’ve beaten an unfair Lantern King but the difficulty curve is straight up starting fresh on unfair. Like how to get past the Oleg bandit attacks as a solo level 2 toon? I’ve never tried a class that has more innate abilities like shapeshifting. Please let us know how it goes.
I was planning to start as an half dragon exactly to make the beginning less "unfair". Immunity to paralysis and sleep with the ability scores that an half dragon get can make him much more powerful at earlier game. Shapeshift in this game can help a lot but sorcerer is not the best class for it...
Is possible to solo the game on unfair using shapeshift and other powerful spells, i was thinking on using half dragon race due the fact that i could use immunity to sleep, paralysis an mobility buff(since there are no fly in the game) and the attribute bonuses to make my life a little more tolerable.
But will probably try unfair playing as an undead since looks easier to mod your character into an undead.
Nope, you cannot fly but there is the "wings" feat (Lvl 10 Aasimar ¿? IIRC, I do not know if it still exist), that allows to levitate difficult terrain, add bonus ac, etc Maybe you can use it.
Is possible to solo the game on unfair using shapeshift and other powerful spells, i was thinking on using half dragon race due the fact that i could use immunity to sleep, paralysis an mobility buff(since there are no fly in the game) and the attribute bonuses to make my life a little more tolerable.
But will probably try unfair playing as an undead since looks easier to mod your character into an undead.
Nope, you cannot fly but there is the "wings" feat (Lvl 10 Aasimar ¿? IIRC, I do not know if it still exist), that allows to levitate difficult terrain, add bonus ac, etc Maybe you can use it.
draconic bloodline gives wings too but the wings on pfkm doesn't evev resemples few cm above the ground levitation
Levitation would make you completely immune to pit spells, ground spells and deadly earth and martial classes without ranged attacks too...
Edit ; it also would allow winged party members to not trigger gound traps
Is possible to solo the game on unfair using shapeshift and other powerful spells, i was thinking on using half dragon race due the fact that i could use immunity to sleep, paralysis an mobility buff(since there are no fly in the game) and the attribute bonuses to make my life a little more tolerable.
But will probably try unfair playing as an undead since looks easier to mod your character into an undead.
Nope, you cannot fly but there is the "wings" feat (Lvl 10 Aasimar ¿? IIRC, I do not know if it still exist), that allows to levitate difficult terrain, add bonus ac, etc Maybe you can use it.
draconic bloodline gives wings too but the wings on pfkm doesn't evev resemples few cm above the ground levitation
Levitation would make you completely immune to pit spells, ground spells and deadly earth and martial classes without ranged attacks too...
Edit ; it also would allow winged party members to not trigger gound traps
Comments
I agree that that's technically a hint. However, in reality, it's not -- I'm sure you've noticed how they've placed all sorts of loot all over the map in the game. It's not a problem as such, but it is extremely unrealistic, even for a cRPG. I mean, how would you explain all that multitude of items all over the place conveniently waiting to be picked up?
Another problem in this vein was the Lake Silverstep Village, in the sense that it's a very small place populated by farmers and such -- but then, on the very same map, you've got an awful lot of fairly serious monsters (lvl 10 or so, the fey). It just looks bad: how could those two conceivably exist on the same map? Even the dire wolves could and would easily wipe out the whole village, because they are like 50 feet away from it.
P:K is a good game, but some of the design oversights and flaws are extremely serious.
You still need thug to frighten the enemies. They could make this a feat instead of a class, or a kit of some other class instead of rogue, they do not really excel at this.
But tabletop is also like that too, so...
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/rogue/archetypes/paizo-rogue-archetypes/thug/
Thanks dweomer cat, you were truly magnificent.
Not.
Firstly from a few days ago, killing Ilthuliak:
He (she?) literally did not scratch me for even a point of damage
This was Nyrissa:
829 THOUSAND XP for that fight?! It wasn't even a contest. They need to rethink how they balance XP awards.
Ok, onto Lantern King. Just check out the damage Deadly Earth does:
268 points of damage (after subtracting DR!). And it would apply to everyone in the AoE. And that's just this round, it lasts for ages. And I can stack Cloud on top for another similar amount of damage.
Oh wow, this is scary:
Every buff gone :0
I can still do this though:
Which do you want first, the good news or the bad news? The bad news? Ok, I have to fight another incarnation of the Lantern King.
The good news...
...is that big thing in front of him is a Deadly Earth + Cloud combination. And he's about to walk into it.
He didn't last long. Neither did the next version. This version is a bit scary though:
How exactly do you fight a fireball?
Turns out the same way as anything else. Deadly Earth (mud blast) and Cloud don't care what form the opponent is.
Told him to buzz off and leave my kingdom alone.
So here's some character screenshots from just before the battle:
Over 15m XP (!). 12m over the XP cap. Probably enough to be around level 30 if the progression continued. And I didn't even milk or complete all quests.
AC 63 (71 in melee). For around two thirds of the game I've only been getting hit on natural 20. Saves around 30 as well, only usually fail on a natural 1.
Equipment:
Sold most of the trash before the end, over 3m gold and I seem to recall I had about 25k build points as well (which would be the equivalent of another 2m gold). This game is even more generous than PoE in handing out material rewards.
Time to say goodbye to the hero of my first playthrough:
In total I think I had around 10 reloads during the game. And they were mainly because I had no idea what was coming, everything from Chapter 2 onwards was a blind playthrough (also at least 3 of the reloads were from cutscenes moving characters into my Deadly Earths, either PC or Tristian). Some of the setpiece battles, like Ilthuliak, the lich, Nyrissa, Lantern King etc were won first time with no metagame knowledge, so they really aren't that difficult. Vordekai was also first time success except for a Deadly Earth incident; and Spawn of Rovagug was one reload because of an unlucky critical failure (natural 1) on Will saving throw. So with the benefit of knowing what is coming, I think this game is easily solo no-reloadable. This was on Challenging btw, not claiming it's easily doable on Unfair or anything (although it probably is with more experience).
Overall - genuinely a 9.5 out of 10 game and the best RPG since BG2. Just the end was a grind and there are some rough edges around the dialogue and the cutscenes, but still love it.
Yup, that's the reason I took just one level of thug on my sword lord that made the stag lord flee in terror at my dazzling display. I really should pick that character up again. I had just gotten a level of sword lord and was working towards adding some duelist levels eventually. The only problem is the low will saves.
You can try an magician, magicians can deal a lot of damage, but less than kineticist.
Summoning and shapeshifting in this game is amazing. Also wizards/sorcerers has some good buffs/debuffs, IMO you should consider then for your next run.
Ed: Are there "Bestow grace" wands in the game? I do not recall seeing one.
Other option would be a Sword Saint attempt, either as pure class or with some 1 level dips into Monk/Vivi/Rogue. Maybe even 10 duelist levels if I want to bin off spellcasting and just melee everything.
Can't think of a good fighter type build that would be suitable for solo no/min reload. I was thinking about stuff like Two Handed Fighter 11 (for 2 x STR modifier to all damage) with mix-ins of Scaled Fist 1, Sorc 1, DD 4, Pal 2, Vivi 1. Would just max out on STR for hideous damage capability. But problem is it would have to be a STR + (some) CHA build, which are usually the two dump stats for solo characters. So some of the important stats (DEX/CON/INT/WIS) would really suffer. AC likely to be a big problem and hardly any skill points, doesn't feel viable.
Will definitely do another Psychokineticist run at some point to try to beat solo no-reload. But not right away.
On the begining of the game, i ran out of spells constnatly, but at high level, you have a lot of spells and abilities.
Take the 1 level monk dip at either level 1 or level 2 (think it works out the same from a favoured class HP perspective). I took it at level 2. I had Fighting Defensively/Crane Style active but in all honesty it's probably not needed, you hardly use it and you won't be meleeing much after Chapter 2. The WIS AC bonus is enough.
Water is absolutely the first element to take. Cold would be better for targeting touch AC with kinetic blade in the early game, but Water is the only way to get both a composite Deadly Earth (mud / later magma) and composite Cloud (steam). Main reason for taking Water before Earth is the Shield defence you get, which starts off at +2 AC but scales to +6. With that, Mage Armour (wand), DEX, WIS, Ring of Protection and natural armour (amulet or Barkskin potions) you have excellent melee AC.
You take Earth as second element at level 7 for mud blast and later Deadly Earth with mud. Choose Fire at level 15, you can then use Fire as kinetic blade and for Wall attacks, and have composite magma (for Deadly Earth) and steam (for Cloud).
Don't bother taking any of the "spells" (Grease, Kinetic Healing/Restoration etc) at level up as they cost burn. You never should or need to take any burn to use abilities, always use Gather Power. The only "spell" I took was Tsunami and I never used it. Instead use wild feats to take skill focuses (Trickery, Perception and Use Magic Device are the important ones), Skilled Kineticist (for +9 to both Athletics and Lore Nature), and saving throw feats (Iron Will, Improved Iron Will, Great Fortitude). The other infusions (Grapple/Entangle etc) are also not needed as they add to burn cost and require longer Gather Power; Entangle was the only one I used in melee attacks with Kinetic Blade, but it's not really needed as most things are dead after 2 or 3 hits anyway. You get more abilities than you need or use, Kinetic Blade, Deadly Earth, Wall, Cloud and Detonate are the only ones you're likely to use.
Skills are all about Trickery, Perception and Use Magic Device. You could probably go with Aasimar (DEX/WIS), I prefer Human for the extra skill point so I can improve other skills on top of the main 3. Stats are very simple, start off at 7/16/14/14/17/7 before racial bonuses. All additional points at level ups go into WIS. STR 7 is a bit painful in the early game as you can barely carry anything, you need to buy the Bag of Holding from Oleg asap.
Feat selection is all the defensive stuff (Dodge etc), Weapon Focus (Kinetic Blast), Improved Initiative, Toughness, the usual good stuff. Later more skill focuses if needed as well as saving throw boosts. All straightforward
Scrolls and wands are not a problem, you get tons. Other party members don't exist for solo.
What do you think is better, Wizard or Sorcerer? Sorcerers seem to have a lot more abilities (from bloodline) and it's always great not to have to prepare spells in advance. But wizards get everything 1 level earlier, which seems like a massive acceleration of power (albeit you then have to preselect your spells). And INT is surely a better stat than CHA. What are your thoughts?
Yes, I agree on Animal Companions. I have played around with both Monster Tactician and Sacred Huntmaster, they both seem fun options. Sacred Huntmaster felt better since teamwork feats were on animal companion rather than summons, but I never got to high level summons with Monster Tactician.
Don't care much for druids. Sylvan Sorcerer seems like it would have a lot of potential - fully powered animal companion as well as full sorcerer blasting potential. Would you take 2 level dip into Paladin to capitalise on high CHA? Can still get to level 9 spells with Sorc 18.
I defer on @SorcererV1ct0r `s assessment in this one because he and the others know better... but in my limited experience Sorcerer hands down. Not even a contest. Elemental or draconic bloodline. Very few enemies resistant to acid so earth? . Also great shout is awesome, both in CC and damage (also few enemies resistant to sonic damage).
INT is a better stat in most settings, but on PF:KM OC, if you have high CHA, you can get ludicrous amount of XP in some persuasion checks. I even picked skill focus persuasion. Of course, if you plan to solo, INT allow you to create an skill monkey, but even for an small party, IMO CHA is a better stat. Mainly because most persuasion checks are restricted to the MC.
As for picking Paladin levels, sure, you can captalize on the paladin bonuses and cast tier 9 spells but remember
I don't know if worth the cost since i never did it. Maybe i an wrong, but IMO go pure sorcerer or arcane trickster is the best option
A sylvan sorcerer with animal companion probably doesn't need to worry about AC too much, but any other type of solo sorcerer does, so maybe a Scaled Fist level would also be needed and you have to accept max level 8 spells.
XP (as you may have noticed from screenshots in my final kineticist post) soon becomes irrelevant for a solo character. By the time you get to the high Persuasion checks, you're already max level. But you don't want to be failing Perception and Trickery checks, but then if you focus only on those some other skills will suffer. I always like to have 4 skill points for each level up, but I think 3 is also manageable. I wouldn't want only 2 points per level. That's one reason why Wizard (or Sage Sorcerer?) may be more attractive.
You are right. Anyway, imagine if your sorcerer is immune to acid and poison. You can trow acid fog, cloud kill, etc and be inside your own spells while they damage the enemy. But the best aspect of SORC is not his saves/dps, is that for eg, in order to someone to free from my Icy Prison, mass(DC = 37), the guy needs to have an ton of STR to be freed from the frost prison and every turn, if he fails on the save, he is helpless, it combined with an Kineticist Deadly earth made me win in few seconds against enemies that i had an insane hard time on my first run...
About FORT saves, you can try raise via spells, but IMO you should't take any level in any class that won't increase your caster level...
So, now I have two goblins, charname and Nok, both running dualwield (5 APR and 4 APR unbuffed at level 10/9) with Val in the middle. tried it out quickly yesterday and things die quickly. Perhaps not as quickly as with the kineticist as some of you have talked about above, but it works for now. Good thing he came with Nature (Lore) as well since Amiri, whom I traded him out for, was my hunter/skinner.
I traded out Jubilost back for Octavia again. Figured I needed at least on mage for the long run since I've read there's some dungeons where you need certain protective spells active.
I wonder if both my mainchars and Noks level 10 rogue talent that adds -2 STR per hit stacks. Could prove rather effective vs big, chunky enemies I reckon.
Linzi just got the spell to run two songs at the same time. Itching to trying that out, maybe Dirge or Fascinate on top of the regular buffing one.
But i din't found an single mod to be an half dragon...
So download this mod:
https://www.nexusmods.com/pathfinderkingmaker/mods/35
Mod description:
Mod to adjust character appearance for the Game Pathfinder Kingmaker.
Change Class Outfit
Change Doll Features
Hide Equipment (Backpacks, Hoods, Helmets, Inactive Weapons, etc)
Override Armor Appearance
Override Weapon Appearance
Hide Wings
Hide Weapon Enchantments
Override Character Model
Change Character Portraits and Voices
Change Character Size without effecting gameplay mechanics
And see if you can find an Avatar that fits what you like, then change the stats based on PnP to fit and you got a rudimentary solution. I doubt the game will recognize your race so it will probably refer to you as the race you initially created you character as where dialogue insert race into the sentences.
Fair warning - unfair is really unfair. Way harder than LOB in BG. The prologue is deceptively easy because companions don’t permanently die. After the prologue ends and the kid gloves come off, hold on tight because it gets ugly fast. The biggest hurdle is the enemy AC bonus - you need to make sure the bad guys are flat-footed and pray that you one-shot them because, otherwise, you’ll need natural 20s to hit. Kiting works a little bit but there are a lot of enemy archers.
I’ve been going through an unfair run for the last couple weeks and it’s been my least fun playthrough. I hope once I get past the Stag Lord hump it will smooth out a bit but most battles take a couple dozen reloads to get through without crazy losses.
This is an race that even PRC din't added to NWN1(they only added dragonkin ) and they added an ton of different races to nwn1...
On D&D 3.5e, an Dragon Disciple who reaches level cap on dragon disciple class become an HALF DRAGON, i got extremely disappointed with dragon disciples on nwn1/2, pfkm implemented the class in a more interesting way but on nwn1/2 DD are useless classes since they won't give +CL and only allow you to choose to be an red(the most human hater chaotic evil dragon) and there are no half dragon template at lv cap... The wings on nwn1 are visual only, should AT least allow you to ignore ground traps and difficulty terrain since fly mechanics would be an nightmare to implement;
half dragon on 3.5e
half dragon on pathfinder
About unfair :
Is possible to solo the game on unfair using shapeshift and other powerful spells, i was thinking on using half dragon race due the fact that i could use immunity to sleep, paralysis an mobility buff(since there are no fly in the game) and the attribute bonuses to make my life a little more tolerable.
But will probably try unfair playing as an undead since looks easier to mod your character into an undead.
I was planning to start as an half dragon exactly to make the beginning less "unfair". Immunity to paralysis and sleep with the ability scores that an half dragon get can make him much more powerful at earlier game. Shapeshift in this game can help a lot but sorcerer is not the best class for it...
Nope, you cannot fly but there is the "wings" feat (Lvl 10 Aasimar ¿? IIRC, I do not know if it still exist), that allows to levitate difficult terrain, add bonus ac, etc Maybe you can use it.
draconic bloodline gives wings too but the wings on pfkm doesn't evev resemples few cm above the ground levitation
Levitation would make you completely immune to pit spells, ground spells and deadly earth and martial classes without ranged attacks too...
Edit ; it also would allow winged party members to not trigger gound traps
We will have to wait to Solasta to see that =P