Kingmaker Pathfinder: Kingmaker Question/Tips & Tricks Thread

Pathfinder: Kingmaker
I'm not sure if any mods have been recommended yet. Here's the ones I'm using so far:

  • Respecialization: Build your NPCs like you want, fix wrong choices. IMHO every party based RPG with recruitable NPCs should have BG-like "Level 1 NPCs" built in.
  • Exit to Map: lets you go directly to the world map from any area. You just need to make sure to at least sometimes got the long way from the throne room to the city exit since there can be scripted scenes tied into some quests.
  • Cleaner: helps keep savegames a bit smaller
  • Bag of Tricks: cheat tool I'm using for minor conveniences (I overlooked an artifact piece on some map and instead of traveling to three different branching maps looking in every corner again I just gave it to me).
  • Vendor Progression: makes vendors get better stuff based on your kingdom stats, which in turn makes kingdom management more rewarding and should fix some class builds that rely on specific weapons types for example. I'm playing a wizard who has very limited access to spells otherwise, defeating the purpose of the class.
  • Scale XP. Supposedly lets your 6-man party finish the game with level 20 as opposed to the usual ~17. Set to exponential with factor 1.4. Early level progression stays more or less the same, which is just fine since they seem to be properly balanced.

Anything else?

Thanks for the list. Can you also add the links to the mods?

I don't usually play with mods at least first few times. There is also a fear that a patch may break the save game. But once the game is fully patched, I think I will play with some of the mods you listed - sounds like good QoL additions :)
 
Thanks for the list. Can you also add the links to the mods?
Done.


As per request in the other kingmaker thread, here's the party I'm using for some well rounded balance. I originally tried to use my regular LMK+P party with reversed genders, consisting of a sword & board fighter (Valerie), ranger (Ekundayo), wizard (me) and healing priest (Tristian) but eventually decided to branch out and use a full-fledged 6-man party. In effect I added an offensive warrior (Amiri) and bard (Linzi). Since I like my party members to specialize they each got their very own niche tied to a main attribute.

1. Valerie. CON. Tower Shield Specialist / Stalwart Defender. Bastard sword + tower shield. Pure defense plus BAB bonus feats so she can actually hit stuff.
2. Amiri. STR. Barbarian (Reckless). Greataxe. Melee carnage against many targets and some related debuffs. Also takes care of distant enemy archers and spell casters.
3. Ekundayo. DEX. Ranger (Archery). Composite longbows. Stealthy single target sniper for priority targets.
4. Linzi. CHA. Bard (Enchantress). Rapier & small shield. Mind-related spells, i.e. Enchantment & Illusion. Buffs friends, debuffs foes, defends casters. Mistress of skills.
5. Riann. INT. Wizardress (Evocation). Dagger or Quarterstaff. Elemental-related spells, i.e. Evocation & Conjuration. Magic AoE damage. Can summon elementals.
6. Tristian. WIS. Ecclesitheurge (Healing/Good). Light crossbow. Healing & physical defense related spells, i.e. Conjuration & Abjuration. Can summon monsters.

By giving everyone a relatively narrow focus they have a more defined identity.
I use team-based feats sparingly. Outflank for Valerie/Amiri and allied caster for Linzi/Riann. Linzi stays at range via the autocast of cantrips. Tristian is making do with a crossbow for now since I won't let him use purely offensive spells, with the exception of banishing demons or healing undead. Riann on the other hand won't cast defensive spells except if Linzi or Tristian don't have them in their spell repertoire, like Stone Skin.

Since I adjusted their stats a bit, leveled them up from 0 and use the Scale XP mod to reach level 20 with everyone, I increased the difficulty setting to Hard, which works well for me. I actually have to keep my party buffed now. I use the 1 min/level buffs at the start of every new map, which last comfortably long at level 11.
 
Joined
Aug 30, 2006
Messages
3,486
Nice one Arhu. I'll share my "go-to" party when I feel the encounters will be really tough.

My main character, an Archaeologist 5/Rogue 4/Dragon Disciple 6. His STR bonuses from DD are very nice, he gets a free 2d6 energy damage bite and plenty of sneak attack damage. Plus Arch 5 gives him a +2 Luck bonus to pretty much everything, including weapon damage and attack bonus and then some.

Valerie (Stalwart Defender) - I made her an SD as soon as I could. She can wade into battle and take the enemy's attention while my fighters sweep up behind her. She also ahs a nice BAB, highest on the team and can consistently hit stuff.

Amiri (Barbarian/Two Handed Fighter) Just gave her Two Handed Fighter for the Chop ability, but she's using a 6 ft. Glaive she's specialized in. She can stand behind Valerie attacking without getting into melee range, and she uses Reckless Stance for extra damage. She can also Inspire Ferocity in her teammates meaning we all enter Rage for tougher battles.

Nok-Nok (Knife Master) What can I say? He's a killing machine. I gave him a Dagger Focus and specialization so he's very good with daggers with a high crit range as well as Kukris. He's a quick killer type but can go down easy if not careful.

Linzi/Tristian. Depends on if I feel I'll need advanced Cleric spells or not. Linzi is nice with her singing and uses ranged weapons in the meantime. Tristian uses a crossbow and can sometimes spam Channel Energy to keep the party alive in very tough encounters.

Octavia (Arcane Trickster) Boy has she become good. She uses her ranged Acid Splash + sneak damage for great attacks, but she can transform into a full-fledged Dragon and go right into melee with plenty of attacks and damage output. Plus she can still cast her spells from Dragon form, making her a real force to be reckoned with.

I also switch in Ekun, who I made a Divine Archer (Paladin class), and it's worked well. Harrim I multi-classed into a Sacred Huntsmaster and he has a Mastadon pet who is just a melee and tank BEAST that helps us a lot when Harrim is in the party, although his Cleric spells suffer. Jubilost is typical bomb thrower but he can bolster the party with mutagens and cast stuff like Stoneskin and other helpful potions on the party. Regongar has an extended melee range and can deal some good damage while using his touch attacks, and I've been using the DLC character Kalanah a lot, who can output major damage with her specialized spells. I think that's everyone.

I like to switch things up to make it interesting, but my stalwart defender Valerie never leaves the party. She is the only one who is non-replaceable for me as her AC is so high and she's my sworn bodyguard, so she stays. Others get switched in and out to try new things and keep it fresh. Works so far for me but I haven't played as I have to upload a bunch of my videos to YouTube, but I'm near the end of Chapter 5 where the difficulty has ramped up a bit.

Love how much excellent character building in the game. It really is a treat.
 
Joined
Sep 5, 2018
Messages
1,603
Valerie (Stalwart Defender) - I made her an SD as soon as I could.
Pondered that and decided to wait until after level 9, because then the Tower Shield Specialist gets the Tower Shield Defense feat, which increases her defense against touch attacks -- one of her weaknesses, along with low will saves.

(..) [Amiri is] using a 6 ft. Glaive she's specialized in. She can stand behind Valerie attacking without getting into melee range (..)
My mage keeps her big with Enlarge Person, which increases her STR and more importantly her range, even with a greataxe. So there's no need for a reach weapon, although with a glaive I guess she could stand even farther away.

Nok-Nok (Knife Master) What can I say? He's a killing machine.
Would have picked him if I didn't have Ekun and if he wasn't evil, but same function I suppose. :)

The other characters haven't leveled up since I picked them up, with the exception of Octavia, who is my Magister with increased INT. I prefer to keep the others out of the loop in order to keep them fresh in case of a replay.


Love how much excellent character building in the game. It really is a treat.
Indeed!
 
Joined
Aug 30, 2006
Messages
3,486
Good idea on getting Valerie the touch defense, I may take another level of TSS to do that now.

Keeping Amiri enlarged is just as good and a great tactic. I would do that if I weren't using a Glaive. I now have the spell I believe is called "Epic Proportions" which makes characters enormous :D. That one is fun to give to my main character as he's like 5 times the size of a golem sneak attacking and doing massive damage.

Nok-Nok I often replace, not for the evilness but to keep that slot open for Jaethal or even Linzi, going with a backline of Linzi, Kalanah and Octavia. Or Linzi, Tristian and Octavia. But the mainstays are Valerie and mostly Amiri, since her Inspire Ferocity is such a powerful ability when all characters can rage and just wipe out mobs faster than they can attack.
 
Joined
Sep 5, 2018
Messages
1,603
@Arhu; interesting that your mage is using melee weapon instead of ranged.

I'm less adventurous so I didn't really multiclass many of companions - sort of playing them as how the developer described them.

I always end up using same party composition regardless of my PC's build:

Valerie (tank) - warrior/stalwart defender. I normally see her as just a tank but this time around I gave her flaming bastard sword and she's contributing quite a bit of damage now too.

Amiri (melee dps) - barbarian. I read Fluent's comment and gave her glaive this time which is working out well - she doesn't get hit often this way and deals great amount of damage.

Ekunayo (ranged dps) - ranger. He's great with any bow, love this character. He also comes with the dog!! <3

Tristian (heal/buff) - ecclesitheurge. I use him mainly for healing and buff, but also memorised a few fire spells (his flamestrike can do some serious damage) since he has fire domain. Gave him a cross bow.

Octavia (ranged dps) - arcane trickster. She's a bit jack of all trade. Decent damage with both bow and spells but mostly there to unlock chest and disarm traps.

I sometimes switch out Octavia with Jubilost and Linzi. The bomb damage and bard songs are pretty sweet.

My mains:

Fighter/mage/eldritch knight - jack of all trade type, secondary tank with ok damage. I liked EK a lot better than magus (too much micromanagement).

Crusader - love clerics <3 again a bit of jack of all trade. Acted as secondary tank, heal/buff and dps.

Empyreal sorcerer - perfect for aasimars (me think), a sorcerer with a bit of divine twist.
 
For Regongar's Eldritch Scion I just right click a spell until he depletes it, i.e. Frigid Touch, Vampiric Touch, etc.. And use the 1 minute arcane weapon buff usually. That mitigates some but not all of the micromanagement, makes him at least usable.

Sounds like a nice party though, blobby. Glad you discovered the Glaive awesomeness. :D The Fauchard is also really nice but you don't find good ones until later in the game. I love the 6 ft. range so Amiri doesn't have to worry about AC and can just Outflank + Precise Strike anything Valerie is hitting, dealing major damage from behind the tank. Works pretty well I find. And when she does get into closer melee range she starts biting people. Crazy Amiri. :p
 
Joined
Sep 5, 2018
Messages
1,603
… I can actually picture her biting too… lol. Same with Nok-Nok :lol:

She can't resist...even with a 6 ft. weapon sometimes she gets in there and starts biting away, haha. I think she'd probably scratch (grow claws) if she could too, but then you'd have to unequip her weapon or give her a one-handed one. :p
 
Joined
Sep 5, 2018
Messages
1,603
@Arhu; interesting that your mage is using melee weapon instead of ranged.
Mostly for thematic reasons. Mages are supposed to use staves or maybe daggers. My casters are using their weapons only for the passive bonuses they provide and protection. This way they can fully concentrate on magic-related feats. Hopefully there are some proper caster weapons at some point that they can make better use of.

For example, my mage Riann has the Arcane Protector, a dagger that gives +3 dodge bonus to AC and immunity to the nauseated condition. Linzi carries a small shield for protection and also to improve the Shielded Caster feat that she and Riann are making use of.
 
Joined
Aug 30, 2006
Messages
3,486
A question regarding artisan:

Can you choose more than 1 artisan per region or are we stuck with just one? I encountered Nazrielle and Varrask in Kamelands and wondering if I can get both of their services
 
A question regarding artisan:

Can you choose more than 1 artisan per region or are we stuck with just one? I encountered Nazrielle and Varrask in Kamelands and wondering if I can get both of their services

You can get both. Some regions have two that you can get, others have one, some have none.
 
Joined
Sep 5, 2018
Messages
1,603
Hey, they really added some great feedback to the game with patch 1.2 (testing beta at the moment) :D

The game warns before the ancient curse start to hit the kingdom 2 weeks before, and the dialogue now shows what changes will happen with your decisions (screenshots in the spoiler tag)

oGgqNwx.jpg

ZpNbxrt.jpg
 
Hey, they really added some great feedback to the game with patch 1.2 (testing beta at the moment) :D

The game warns before the ancient curse start to hit the kingdom 2 weeks before, and the dialogue now shows what changes will happen with your decisions (screenshots in the spoiler tag)

oGgqNwx.jpg

ZpNbxrt.jpg

That is really cool. I'm glad they added that!
 
Joined
Sep 5, 2018
Messages
1,603
Nice. Speaking of feedback, is there a way, when shopping for new spells as a wizard, to see which ones you know already? Am I missing a hint or something?

edit:
Another quality-of-life mod I'm using is Faster Menu Book Zoom: "Speeds up the fade in and zoom on the book containing the main menu when the game first starts up."
 
Last edited:
Joined
Aug 30, 2006
Messages
3,486
Nice. Speaking of feedback, is there a way, when shopping for new spells as a wizard, to see which ones you know already? Am I missing a hint or something?

Not as far as I know =.= it's silly. The only way to check which spells you have is either looking through spell book or click on each scroll and see if you there is a "learn" option.
 
No way to hide the hud to take some cool screenshots?

Only way I know is the mod that lets you do it by CTRL H. Can get the mod on Nexus.

https://www.nexusmods.com/pathfinderkingmaker/mods/52

By the way for people who don't want to use the Unity mod manager, which requires re-install after each patch, there is this mod:

https://www.nexusmods.com/pathfinderkingmaker/mods/20?

"This is a passive mod loader framework specifically designed for Pathfinder: Kingmaker. It is designed to not modify core game files, and thus will survive updates and patches in-tact. Currently bundled with Better Portrait Selection and Player Goblins. Now with Unity Mod Manager integration! See the details in the full description. "
 
Joined
Jun 4, 2008
Messages
3,959
Location
NH
Back
Top Bottom