@jjstraka34 , That is one of those posts I wish I could give all three of Agree, Insightful, and Like. You have summed up my feelings perfectly. Again, I'm not anywhere near giving up on P:KM yet. But, I'm still looking for the contemporary game that gives me the "Baldur's Gate" experience as well as actual Baldur's Gate.
Anyone remember Mutamin’s Garden, the Amazons, random basilisk and random 10 bandit archers encounters? BG1 has plenty of TPW situations for the novitiate or unprepared. Part of the fun for me is figuring them out and getting better at playing.
BG1 felt very random and deadly the first time through. Partly due to not knowing, but also because the game really was harder, with a lot of the random difficulty spikes patched out over time.
These days I think we have gotten too used to games which act like helicopter parents and won't let us do anything dangerous until we are well past ready.
The kingdom management is quite simple once you get the hang of it. It tends to throw up problems near the beginning of the chapter, which you should tackle ASAP by adventuring. Adventuring takes up very little time compared to kingdom management, so you can solve problems quickly that way. Once the immediate problem is dealt with the game gives you plenty of time to explore and do those 2 week projects before the next chapter/crisis.
Anyone remember Mutamin’s Garden, the Amazons, random basilisk and random 10 bandit archers encounters? BG1 has plenty of TPW situations for the novitiate or unprepared. Part of the fun for me is figuring them out and getting better at playing.
although true, but with that being said, i have never felt that BG 1 was unfair ( although the waylaid by 10 bandit thing is a bit extreme, but on normal difficulty, it can be done )
and thats the thing, on normal difficulty, usually if you accidentally stumble into a hard battle, usually you could still win it just by changing a tactic or two and victory is yours, very rarely in bg1 would you stumble upon a place where you couldn't win no matte what you did, even though there were areas like that, they were very few and far between
in PFKM, they are EVERYWHERE, there are SO many battles that are just way too difficult for your current team and no matter how you change tactics you will lose anyway ( because of 3rd gen's unforgivingness of numbers per se ) and then it comes to a point where it is just so hard to keep track of all the places you have to go back to later to complete, and its just annoying, i dont mind having the odd super hard silly fight every once in awhile being chanced upon, but all the time? meh
another thing to, fights in bg always felt fair, there was always "more than one way to skin a cat" in the bg games, but in 3rd edition type games, it gets to a point where if you dont do it the most optimal way possible you are going to lose, and that is the one thing i hate about 3rd edition dnd type games, because DCs are so low and pitiful at low levels, that your casters suck, and monsters scale way faster than your characters do, is this is on NORMAL difficulty, like holy poop
but i dont know, i just feel that the enemies in PFKM are over inflatingly difficult for the sake of being hard, and it kind of churns my belly a bit because of it, i dont mind if hard and unfair are difficult as hell, no problem with that, but if im struggling on normal, when i can easily beat nwn ( a game in which i dont even like that much) with a solo character on the hardest difficulty, something weird is going on here
@BelgarathMTH im hoping i didnt scare you too much with what i said, i have followed a lot of your posts through out the years, and i think i have a pretty good understanding on how you like to play, and when it comes to PFKM i want to say we are pretty close to being on the same page, but even with that said, there could be many areas of the game that you really like and enjoy, and i dont want my posts to get in the way of that, some aspects that i may hate you may like, so i would take what i say with a grain of salt ( or perhaps 2 grains ) and just a bit of caution on your play throughs, there will be times, where things might get a tad we bit frustrating and perhaps there will be some head scratching, but as @jjstraka34 said, this is not baldur's gate, in fact this isnt baldur's gate in anyway and will not replace it, but we need that niche in what we like about PFKM, what is that niche that makes us wanting to play this game over and over again, im hoping that when i play again and finish the chapter im on, things will go back to being a bit smooth again, and i hope that you as well have a good run as well
I think it’s only fair to play PF:KM for 20 years, like we have BG, and then comment on how hard it is.
I thought about this a lot last night. I’ve commented on this in the stickied KM thread, but no other game since BG has made me feel the same sense of wonder and excitement. My first BG play through was very arduous despite having 15yrs of PnP D&D under my belt. My first playthrough of KM was so similar from a learning curve angle that I really geeked out about it. How refreshing to find a game that made me turn down the difficulty! Now, my third playthrough was set at challenging difficulty and I loved it. I even bested the final boss on Unfair and really feel like I accomplished something.
PnP Pathfinder people recommend Normal difficulty with slightly weaker enemies to get as close to tabletop as possible. There is a very solid game here if you tailor the difficulty appropriately. I believe this was the dev’s intention and that’s why they provided so much difficulty granularity.
@sarevok57 if you're having trouble with a specific fight, feel free to ask advice in the main Pathfinder thread. I know it's long, but there's tons of build and spell tips in that thread too.
I get why this would be an issue with a no/minimal reload play, but the game autosaves before you enter an area. If you wandered into somewhere you can't handle, you can always leave and come back later at a higher level or with better gear. I know that's not an answer for when you're stuck in a long dungeon run for the main quest, but the areas on the map, like the wererat lair don't need to be done just because you can get there. I love this sort of thing, it gives exploration a real risk. I do wish they had a way to flee from combat, though.
Tonight I addressed one of the first curses on my kingdom, a spider plague.
I thought I was going to lose this fight, but I pulled through. I almost noticed too late that there was a big boss spider among the swarm of a dozen or so regular giant spiders. They had a spellcaster supporting them, so I thought the spell caster was the biggest threat, and took him out first. He landed a Hold Person on Valerie and me. Then, the big boss spider suddenly killed Valerie, all the way to Death's Door. That's when I realized the big boss spider was the big boss threat.
As I said, I thought I was about to lose the fight, but I was able to pull back Harrim when he got down to red, so he could heal himself (AoO missed), and I was able to pull myself back and heal myself when I went down to red (AoO missed).
Octavia's Magic Missiles helped against the spellcaster, but didn't get through the big spider's spell resistance very often. I'm going to need to start giving her Spell Penetration when she gets her next feat. I had given her Point Blank Shot intending to give her Precise Shot, so she could do some good with her crossbow while not casting. That was a mistake. I wasn't expecting to encounter spell resistant enemies so early in the game.
Both Valerie and I were poisoned with a really bad poison from the big spider. Tristian cast Delay Poison, Communal to save us all from the poison.
Harrim got the kill shot against the big boss spider.
Party Level: 5
Reloads: 1 (wererat cave)
BTW: We also encountered a gnome and tried to help him save his cart. We failed. It was a storybook quest, and it gave me a hint that I was missing some items needed to succeed. I decided to try to pull the cart out of the river without the items. Bad move. Lo and behold, a bit to the southeast, there were a rope and a crowbar in a crate in a kobold camp. I assume they were Chekhov's rope and crowbar. Oh well, hopefully I'll remember next time to go get them before approaching the river. I wish merchants sold common adventuring items like that.
So point blank shot is a great feat to get on Octavia early, especially if you go arcane trickster, since it affects ray/ranged touch attacks, and you can sneak attack with those spells, too. So don't beat yourself up for taking it over spell penetration, but that would be a good idea for a next feat. BTW, resist poison communal lasts a seriously long time, so as soon as you know you're in an area with anything poisonous, just put that spell up. Resist/protection from energy communal are some spells you really want to make sure your priests have as soon as you can learn them, too. They will save your butt just like resist poison.
Crowbars and ropes are available from Oleg and one of the merchants in the capital, too.
FYI Merchants do sell ropes and crowbars (and there is at least one rope lying around in the tradepost). There are other places where they can be useful, although a high enough skill roll can be used instead.
I haven't seen any ropes or crowbars in Oleg's inventory, or any merchant in the capital. I guess I can look again, although I have them now from the map with the failed quest.
EDIT: Okay, I see them now. I'd better stop scrolling merchant inventory using the "all" tab, and look through the sorted tabs instead, to make things easier to see.
I tried Octavia's first Web spell against a pack of wolves to see how it works in this game. It's pretty much like in Baldur's Gate. The wolves ran toward the party so fast, I thought they were all going to get out of the targeted area before the spell went off. Maybe I should have had her cast it from stealth before advancing the party.
I tried having my front line fight in melee at the edge of the Web area, and that was a mistake - they got stuck. I'm glad it wasn't a more dangerous fight, but that's why I thought I needed to experiment with some less dangerous monsters. I guess you have to do as in BG and shoot ranged weapons into the Web, and only have your melee fighters engage if an enemy gets out of the Web.
Tristian uses a Fireball to good effect against a pack of wolves:
We ran out of spells, so I tried to rest and hunt. We got attacked by 3 Greater Tazlwyrms, which were way stronger than the lesser ones we had encountered on the map. We had already used our communal poison protection before trying to rest on the Lesser Tazlwyrms, so this was a disaster. Valerie got poisoned and went down almost immediately. Tristian kept healing frantically. Octavia was out of spells and could do nothing but fire crossbow bolts into melee at -4. Harrim went down. I went down, and there were two Tazlwyrms standing. Luckily one was almost dead.
Amiri saved the day! I thought we were done for, and this would surely be a reload, but we pulled through.
We had to limp back to the capital with most of us at severely reduced Strength and Dexterity. It took days of resting to recover. This experience has taught me that resting in unexplored areas is very, very dangerous. We'll have to start returning to the capital to rest on a daily basis until we get a lot higher level.
It's a cheap trick, but I may have to resort to running in circles on the world travel map until every party member is fatigued and I'm able to rest on the roads. Resting on maps is proving too dangerous.
If you're having a lot of trouble getting attacked while resting, there's a few things you can do to reduce that chance. Make sure your hunter has a really high lore nature skill to reduce the chance of being attacked while hunting (think Tristian might actually have the best score). There's a ring one of the merchant's in the capital has that'll boost that (boosts archery damage too). Somebody with high stealth (probably Octavia) can set up camo. Harrim's special ability in camp is blend into the night, that'll further reduce the chance of getting jumped.
plus if you go to rest on the road instead of in areas, you dont need to wait until you are fatigued, there is a little campfire button on the bottom left that you can press on to rest
If you're having a lot of trouble getting attacked while resting, there's a few things you can do to reduce that chance. Make sure your hunter has a really high lore nature skill to reduce the chance of being attacked while hunting (think Tristian might actually have the best score). There's a ring one of the merchant's in the capital has that'll boost that (boosts archery damage too). Somebody with high stealth (probably Octavia) can set up camo. Harrim's special ability in camp is blend into the night, that'll further reduce the chance of getting jumped.
Stealth doesn't help. That roll happens after the hunting roll. The problem is being attacked while hunting, before any other camping rolls happen. Amiri has maxed Knowledge:Nature skill. But we're only level 5, and it's only at +8 or +9. If this is a roll based on Knowledge:Nature skill, then there's always going to be a very good chance of a hunting attack until we have somebody with the K:N bonus high enough to make (Attacked While Hunting DC-K:N bonus=0) . And even then, we can always roll a 1. That's the rub with the 3rd edition DC system. (BTW, does anyone know the DC of avoiding attacks while hunting?)
For camouflage, we have Octavia with a +9 stealth bonus. Tristian and Harrim are handling the watch with +8 and +9 each. I have Knowledge:World bonus of +8 as our cook, but I never pass the roll for that against DC 20. Either I have the worst cooking luck ever, which would mirror real life, or that roll is bugged. I've never passed it. Not even once, out of at least a couple of dozen rests as the cook.
Okay, onto my playing session so far today. I hope nobody minds, but I like to post a few screenshots and several reports during my breaks on a day long play session in separate posts, rather than trying to wait until the end of the day and sorting through a whole bunch of screenshots and trying to remember what I wanted to share about all of it at once. It also helps me check in and respond if anyone said anything to start a discussion while I was out.
We found a cave to the east of my barony with a level 16 dragon in it. I didn't stick around to try to figure out what color it was. It was chaotic evil and marked hostile. Good thing I had Octavia scout that cave without being spotted. Needless to say, our hearts stopped, and we got the hells out of there, breathing a prayer of gratitude and relief to Iomadae once we were back outside (or to Groetus in Harrim's case, or Saerenrae, in Tristian's case. Has anybody noticed Tristian's name is a lot like "Christian"? I keep calling him that in my head.)
The main thing I came here to post: The fight against the dire wolf Silent.
He came around his cave network and attacked my backline while I was attacking some of his pack near the end of the cave system, thinking I was working my way to him. Well played, Silent. Crafty, sneaky dire wolf! I admire your tactics, and it made me hate to kill you.
Tristian went down almost immediately. I managed to get Octavia back away from aggro, barely. I worried we might be in trouble with no healer who could cast freely, but we prevailed, mainly because wolves have bad AC, and our AC on our frontliners is through the roof. (I have 30, Valerie has 29, Amiri has 28, and Harrim has 24. Harrim's will go up to 26 if I can ever find a fourth tower shield for him.)
I got several messages in my throne room that things are getting very out of hand in troll territory. It's supposed to be my marshlands, but it's overrun with trolls. So I thought the game was hinting really strongly that I'd better start heading west and fighting trolls. I hope I can handle trolls at only level 5. I've prepared with a bunch of ways to do fire or acid damage.
I like how this game is making me work like a dog for every tiny xp increment towards a level. It really gives me the feeling of playing tabletop with a group of real life friends, because those kinds of sessions also move very slowly, and leveling even one level takes forever. But I like that, and it increases the feeling of accomplishment upon gaining a level. Also, both that slowness of leveling and a lot of these combat scenarios are feeling a lot like Baldur's Gate 1.
I was curious what was going to happen when you found that Crag Linnhorn. I've managed to get through that fight at level 8 on challenging, but I wouldn't recommend it for a minimal reload game.
So depending on how you've levelled him, Tristian can have a higher Lore Nature skill than Amiri, just because his wisdom's a lot higher.
You're on the right track, keep pushing into the Narlmarches and try to locate where the trolls are coming from.
We met a ranger and I really, really, really like him. He seems like he's a potential party member since all his lines are voice-acted. His "dog" led us to him like Lassie. I thought that was a nice RP touch in the game design.
He was badly wounded, and we had to send him and his "dog" back to the capital to heal. Sadly, I almost never can take any "Johnny Come Lately's" in this kind of game. I like sticking with the people I first meet to the bitter end (Loyalty is a Lawful Good value). Also, I really can't afford a third squishy character like a ranger into my party. I don't like to carry more than two squishies, because our current four heavily armored frontliners are having trouble enough holding a front, and I find that thing pretty universal in D&D games.
(In PoE, my usual party of choice is me as paladin, Eder, Kana, Durance, Aloth, and Sagani/Itumak. I guess that's really three tanks and three squishies, but Itumak kind of counterbalances Sagani being a ranger squishy.)
Shoot, I'd really like to use that ranger and his "dog" if I can get them into my party. But who could I lose to do that? Octavia is my only rogue function character, and arcane magic character. She stays. Tristian is my only Clericzilla who can cast from the back line during combat without AoO's. He stays. It would have to be either Valerie, Amiri, or Harrim. And I doubt I'm going to give up Harrim, since my philosophy is "the more Clericzilla's, the better." And, Valerie and Amiri are both super-tanks so far, the way I build my fighters and clerics.
Don't worry about spoiling me with advice. Since I am playing minimal reload blind (I am constitutionally incapable of playing any game any way but minimal reload. The thought of save-scumming makes me physically sick), I appreciate any and all advice about how to avoid any coming ambush-style reloads. I can RP that you are all valued subjects of my barony, and I frequently consult you. I wish I could assign some of you as advisors in my barony.
Speaking of which, I can find no one who can be my treasurer. I have a bad feeling that it was supposed to be the gnome that I pissed off by failing to save his wagon wares from the river. Am I right about that? (Again, spoilers are just fine by me.) He's got an entry in my journal to report back to him when I find the dwarven ruins. Can I get him as my treasurer then, or am I now permanently screwed for a treasurer because I failed to save his caravan goods? Will I meet anyone else to be my treasurer any time soon?
So, I met my first troll. It turns out, you don't need fire or acid to finish off a troll in this game. The only thing fire or acid does is to stop their regeneration, which isn't that high for the basic dudes. Plus, I was given a hint that the trolls here don't even care about fire for some reason. Okay, good to know. I was being overcautious and over afraid about trolls due to my BG2 experience.
@BelgarathMTH Ekundayo is awesome and I would drop Harrim for him. Not only does he match your alignment much better than Harrim his "dog" can dish out damage quite effectively especially when buffed with acid maw and magic fang.
I have to add though that for the part of the game you are in Harrim has some great content just for him, and so does Ekundayo. Maybe drop Valerie temporarily during the troll invasion section of the game.
As for the treasurer position I'm not sure there is anyone else because I never failed to get the gnome to join me. I'm pretty sure after you find where the trolls are based you should be able to go back to him and he will join you.
@ronaldo , Are rangers as squishy in this game as they are in Pillars of Eternity? Ekundayo's portrait makes it look like he is wearing heavy armor. If he's able to wear heavy armor, I'd definitely consider replacing either Valerie or Akiri, although I'd have to lose a tower shield. (I've leveled Akiri as a tower shield fighter, just like Valerie)
Akiri is my Knowledge:Nature person. Does Ekundayo have maxed Knowledge:Nature? Since he's a ranger, I would think that he should.
If anything I'd swap Amiri for Ekundayo for that part of the game. His dog will help make up for losing a frontliner too. Their skills overlap too, and he's an even better hunter than Amiri is. That ring I mentioned earlier is awesome for him, too, since it increases bow damage and adds to lore nature.
Jubilost is also easy to overlook and has a bit of content in this chapter, too. You just need to make sure to get infusion on him, so he can cast spells on other people. That means he can cast shield and bark skin on Amiri of Ekun's dog. The acid bombs are so sweet against the trolls and a lot of other enemies, especially ones that are magic resistant. Just take extra bombs for almost every feat.
@DrHappyAngry , Jubilost? I've missed him completely, whoever he is. I have no access to that character at this point.
EDIT: Oh, wait, is Jubilost the gnome I couldn't recruit because I didn't have a rope and crowbar, and pissed him off by not saving his wagon goods, and apparently my only potential treasurer? LOL. Yep, that particular consequence of refusing to reload without a game over is quite a bad consequence. )
Just as a fun aside, has anyone noticed how much Ekundayo resembles Aarin Gend from Neverwinter Nights? I think that surely the PKM devs were giving a nod to Gend.
Jubilost is the gnome guy at the river. @DrHappyAngry is right his bombs are awesome in this part of the game. He is also pretty good at locks and traps too and with his potions he's almost as good as Octavia. If you want to get him quickly as soon as you find the troll base leave the area and go back to where Jubilost is. I think he will join you then and you might want to try him instead of Octavia for a bit.
Ekundayo can cover your lore nature needs as well or better than Amiri.
Ekundayo was an absolute must party member in my playthrough’s before I quit. His campsite contributions were superb, and “dog” was the real MVP in a chunk of battles. Ekundayo is an archer. Let him do archer things and you’re set. The one completion I finished was with a paladin, so alignment matching was a thing. Also, echoing the other contributions above, he and Harrim will have quite a bit of content in that area/chapter.
@BelgarathMTH I would add one thing about loyalty to your starting characters. I strongly recommend completing all the companion quests completely even for characters you have no interest in using. There are extreme impacts very late into the game if you don't.
@ronaldo, Thank you so much for that advice, my valued subject! Please continue to advise me with your great wisdom, and I will reward you to your heart's desire to the best of my ability! :smiles and bows before you. Offers you ten gold coins in outstretched palm. "Do you have any need, or want for anything, O trusted advisor?":
"I live to serve" I am on my second playthrough now. My first was with a Paladin as I always do with my first playthroughs. This time is with a sorcerer. I also bought the dlcs recently and just finished the Varnold one and imported the ending into the main game. I am excited to see how it effects the main game.
Comments
These days I think we have gotten too used to games which act like helicopter parents and won't let us do anything dangerous until we are well past ready.
The kingdom management is quite simple once you get the hang of it. It tends to throw up problems near the beginning of the chapter, which you should tackle ASAP by adventuring. Adventuring takes up very little time compared to kingdom management, so you can solve problems quickly that way. Once the immediate problem is dealt with the game gives you plenty of time to explore and do those 2 week projects before the next chapter/crisis.
although true, but with that being said, i have never felt that BG 1 was unfair ( although the waylaid by 10 bandit thing is a bit extreme, but on normal difficulty, it can be done )
and thats the thing, on normal difficulty, usually if you accidentally stumble into a hard battle, usually you could still win it just by changing a tactic or two and victory is yours, very rarely in bg1 would you stumble upon a place where you couldn't win no matte what you did, even though there were areas like that, they were very few and far between
in PFKM, they are EVERYWHERE, there are SO many battles that are just way too difficult for your current team and no matter how you change tactics you will lose anyway ( because of 3rd gen's unforgivingness of numbers per se ) and then it comes to a point where it is just so hard to keep track of all the places you have to go back to later to complete, and its just annoying, i dont mind having the odd super hard silly fight every once in awhile being chanced upon, but all the time? meh
another thing to, fights in bg always felt fair, there was always "more than one way to skin a cat" in the bg games, but in 3rd edition type games, it gets to a point where if you dont do it the most optimal way possible you are going to lose, and that is the one thing i hate about 3rd edition dnd type games, because DCs are so low and pitiful at low levels, that your casters suck, and monsters scale way faster than your characters do, is this is on NORMAL difficulty, like holy poop
but i dont know, i just feel that the enemies in PFKM are over inflatingly difficult for the sake of being hard, and it kind of churns my belly a bit because of it, i dont mind if hard and unfair are difficult as hell, no problem with that, but if im struggling on normal, when i can easily beat nwn ( a game in which i dont even like that much) with a solo character on the hardest difficulty, something weird is going on here
@BelgarathMTH im hoping i didnt scare you too much with what i said, i have followed a lot of your posts through out the years, and i think i have a pretty good understanding on how you like to play, and when it comes to PFKM i want to say we are pretty close to being on the same page, but even with that said, there could be many areas of the game that you really like and enjoy, and i dont want my posts to get in the way of that, some aspects that i may hate you may like, so i would take what i say with a grain of salt ( or perhaps 2 grains
I thought about this a lot last night. I’ve commented on this in the stickied KM thread, but no other game since BG has made me feel the same sense of wonder and excitement. My first BG play through was very arduous despite having 15yrs of PnP D&D under my belt. My first playthrough of KM was so similar from a learning curve angle that I really geeked out about it. How refreshing to find a game that made me turn down the difficulty! Now, my third playthrough was set at challenging difficulty and I loved it. I even bested the final boss on Unfair and really feel like I accomplished something.
PnP Pathfinder people recommend Normal difficulty with slightly weaker enemies to get as close to tabletop as possible. There is a very solid game here if you tailor the difficulty appropriately. I believe this was the dev’s intention and that’s why they provided so much difficulty granularity.
I get why this would be an issue with a no/minimal reload play, but the game autosaves before you enter an area. If you wandered into somewhere you can't handle, you can always leave and come back later at a higher level or with better gear. I know that's not an answer for when you're stuck in a long dungeon run for the main quest, but the areas on the map, like the wererat lair don't need to be done just because you can get there. I love this sort of thing, it gives exploration a real risk. I do wish they had a way to flee from combat, though.
I thought I was going to lose this fight, but I pulled through. I almost noticed too late that there was a big boss spider among the swarm of a dozen or so regular giant spiders. They had a spellcaster supporting them, so I thought the spell caster was the biggest threat, and took him out first. He landed a Hold Person on Valerie and me. Then, the big boss spider suddenly killed Valerie, all the way to Death's Door. That's when I realized the big boss spider was the big boss threat.
As I said, I thought I was about to lose the fight, but I was able to pull back Harrim when he got down to red, so he could heal himself (AoO missed), and I was able to pull myself back and heal myself when I went down to red (AoO missed).
Octavia's Magic Missiles helped against the spellcaster, but didn't get through the big spider's spell resistance very often. I'm going to need to start giving her Spell Penetration when she gets her next feat. I had given her Point Blank Shot intending to give her Precise Shot, so she could do some good with her crossbow while not casting. That was a mistake. I wasn't expecting to encounter spell resistant enemies so early in the game.
Both Valerie and I were poisoned with a really bad poison from the big spider. Tristian cast Delay Poison, Communal to save us all from the poison.
Harrim got the kill shot against the big boss spider.
Party Level: 5
Reloads: 1 (wererat cave)
BTW: We also encountered a gnome and tried to help him save his cart. We failed. It was a storybook quest, and it gave me a hint that I was missing some items needed to succeed. I decided to try to pull the cart out of the river without the items. Bad move. Lo and behold, a bit to the southeast, there were a rope and a crowbar in a crate in a kobold camp. I assume they were Chekhov's rope and crowbar. Oh well, hopefully I'll remember next time to go get them before approaching the river. I wish merchants sold common adventuring items like that.
Crowbars and ropes are available from Oleg and one of the merchants in the capital, too.
EDIT: Okay, I see them now. I'd better stop scrolling merchant inventory using the "all" tab, and look through the sorted tabs instead, to make things easier to see.
I tried having my front line fight in melee at the edge of the Web area, and that was a mistake - they got stuck. I'm glad it wasn't a more dangerous fight, but that's why I thought I needed to experiment with some less dangerous monsters. I guess you have to do as in BG and shoot ranged weapons into the Web, and only have your melee fighters engage if an enemy gets out of the Web.
Party Level: 5
Reloads: 1 (wererat cave)
We ran out of spells, so I tried to rest and hunt. We got attacked by 3 Greater Tazlwyrms, which were way stronger than the lesser ones we had encountered on the map. We had already used our communal poison protection before trying to rest on the Lesser Tazlwyrms, so this was a disaster. Valerie got poisoned and went down almost immediately. Tristian kept healing frantically. Octavia was out of spells and could do nothing but fire crossbow bolts into melee at -4. Harrim went down. I went down, and there were two Tazlwyrms standing. Luckily one was almost dead.
Amiri saved the day! I thought we were done for, and this would surely be a reload, but we pulled through.
We had to limp back to the capital with most of us at severely reduced Strength and Dexterity. It took days of resting to recover. This experience has taught me that resting in unexplored areas is very, very dangerous. We'll have to start returning to the capital to rest on a daily basis until we get a lot higher level.
It's a cheap trick, but I may have to resort to running in circles on the world travel map until every party member is fatigued and I'm able to rest on the roads. Resting on maps is proving too dangerous.
Party Level: 5
Reloads: 1 (wererat cave)
Stealth doesn't help. That roll happens after the hunting roll. The problem is being attacked while hunting, before any other camping rolls happen. Amiri has maxed Knowledge:Nature skill. But we're only level 5, and it's only at +8 or +9. If this is a roll based on Knowledge:Nature skill, then there's always going to be a very good chance of a hunting attack until we have somebody with the K:N bonus high enough to make (Attacked While Hunting DC-K:N bonus=0) . And even then, we can always roll a 1. That's the rub with the 3rd edition DC system. (BTW, does anyone know the DC of avoiding attacks while hunting?)
For camouflage, we have Octavia with a +9 stealth bonus. Tristian and Harrim are handling the watch with +8 and +9 each. I have Knowledge:World bonus of +8 as our cook, but I never pass the roll for that against DC 20. Either I have the worst cooking luck ever, which would mirror real life, or that roll is bugged. I've never passed it. Not even once, out of at least a couple of dozen rests as the cook.
Okay, onto my playing session so far today. I hope nobody minds, but I like to post a few screenshots and several reports during my breaks on a day long play session in separate posts, rather than trying to wait until the end of the day and sorting through a whole bunch of screenshots and trying to remember what I wanted to share about all of it at once. It also helps me check in and respond if anyone said anything to start a discussion while I was out.
We found a cave to the east of my barony with a level 16 dragon in it. I didn't stick around to try to figure out what color it was. It was chaotic evil and marked hostile. Good thing I had Octavia scout that cave without being spotted. Needless to say, our hearts stopped, and we got the hells out of there, breathing a prayer of gratitude and relief to Iomadae once we were back outside (or to Groetus in Harrim's case, or Saerenrae, in Tristian's case. Has anybody noticed Tristian's name is a lot like "Christian"? I keep calling him that in my head.)
The main thing I came here to post: The fight against the dire wolf Silent.
He came around his cave network and attacked my backline while I was attacking some of his pack near the end of the cave system, thinking I was working my way to him. Well played, Silent. Crafty, sneaky dire wolf! I admire your tactics, and it made me hate to kill you.
Tristian went down almost immediately. I managed to get Octavia back away from aggro, barely. I worried we might be in trouble with no healer who could cast freely, but we prevailed, mainly because wolves have bad AC, and our AC on our frontliners is through the roof. (I have 30, Valerie has 29, Amiri has 28, and Harrim has 24. Harrim's will go up to 26 if I can ever find a fourth tower shield for him.)
I got several messages in my throne room that things are getting very out of hand in troll territory. It's supposed to be my marshlands, but it's overrun with trolls. So I thought the game was hinting really strongly that I'd better start heading west and fighting trolls. I hope I can handle trolls at only level 5. I've prepared with a bunch of ways to do fire or acid damage.
I like how this game is making me work like a dog for every tiny xp increment towards a level. It really gives me the feeling of playing tabletop with a group of real life friends, because those kinds of sessions also move very slowly, and leveling even one level takes forever. But I like that, and it increases the feeling of accomplishment upon gaining a level. Also, both that slowness of leveling and a lot of these combat scenarios are feeling a lot like Baldur's Gate 1.
Party Level: 5
Reloads: 1 (wererat cave)
So depending on how you've levelled him, Tristian can have a higher Lore Nature skill than Amiri, just because his wisdom's a lot higher.
You're on the right track, keep pushing into the Narlmarches and try to locate where the trolls are coming from.
He was badly wounded, and we had to send him and his "dog" back to the capital to heal. Sadly, I almost never can take any "Johnny Come Lately's" in this kind of game. I like sticking with the people I first meet to the bitter end (Loyalty is a Lawful Good value). Also, I really can't afford a third squishy character like a ranger into my party. I don't like to carry more than two squishies, because our current four heavily armored frontliners are having trouble enough holding a front, and I find that thing pretty universal in D&D games.
(In PoE, my usual party of choice is me as paladin, Eder, Kana, Durance, Aloth, and Sagani/Itumak. I guess that's really three tanks and three squishies, but Itumak kind of counterbalances Sagani being a ranger squishy.)
Shoot, I'd really like to use that ranger and his "dog" if I can get them into my party. But who could I lose to do that? Octavia is my only rogue function character, and arcane magic character. She stays. Tristian is my only Clericzilla who can cast from the back line during combat without AoO's. He stays. It would have to be either Valerie, Amiri, or Harrim. And I doubt I'm going to give up Harrim, since my philosophy is "the more Clericzilla's, the better." And, Valerie and Amiri are both super-tanks so far, the way I build my fighters and clerics.
Don't worry about spoiling me with advice. Since I am playing minimal reload blind (I am constitutionally incapable of playing any game any way but minimal reload. The thought of save-scumming makes me physically sick), I appreciate any and all advice about how to avoid any coming ambush-style reloads. I can RP that you are all valued subjects of my barony, and I frequently consult you. I wish I could assign some of you as advisors in my barony.
Speaking of which, I can find no one who can be my treasurer. I have a bad feeling that it was supposed to be the gnome that I pissed off by failing to save his wagon wares from the river. Am I right about that? (Again, spoilers are just fine by me.) He's got an entry in my journal to report back to him when I find the dwarven ruins. Can I get him as my treasurer then, or am I now permanently screwed for a treasurer because I failed to save his caravan goods? Will I meet anyone else to be my treasurer any time soon?
So, I met my first troll. It turns out, you don't need fire or acid to finish off a troll in this game. The only thing fire or acid does is to stop their regeneration, which isn't that high for the basic dudes. Plus, I was given a hint that the trolls here don't even care about fire for some reason. Okay, good to know. I was being overcautious and over afraid about trolls due to my BG2 experience.
I have to add though that for the part of the game you are in Harrim has some great content just for him, and so does Ekundayo. Maybe drop Valerie temporarily during the troll invasion section of the game.
Akiri is my Knowledge:Nature person. Does Ekundayo have maxed Knowledge:Nature? Since he's a ranger, I would think that he should.
Jubilost is also easy to overlook and has a bit of content in this chapter, too. You just need to make sure to get infusion on him, so he can cast spells on other people. That means he can cast shield and bark skin on Amiri of Ekun's dog. The acid bombs are so sweet against the trolls and a lot of other enemies, especially ones that are magic resistant. Just take extra bombs for almost every feat.
EDIT: Oh, wait, is Jubilost the gnome I couldn't recruit because I didn't have a rope and crowbar, and pissed him off by not saving his wagon goods, and apparently my only potential treasurer? LOL. Yep, that particular consequence of refusing to reload without a game over is quite a bad consequence.
Ekundayo can cover your lore nature needs as well or better than Amiri.