Kingmaker - The Combat Log

Pathfinder: Kingmaker will have a detailed combat log.

The Combat Log - It's how we roll!

Dear Pathfinders,

Battles are essential to the experience of Pathfinder: Kingmaker. Some of them are quite easy while others are very challenging. Many systems, such as character generation and leveling up, equipment and spells are part of the decisions you make about every character, and combat is where you feel the results of these decisions. It is the place to put your heroes to the test and understand what went right and what went wrong. For that, combat needs to have a very clear feedback about every aspect of the game mechanics. In order to solve this we are (as many other games in this genre) using a combat log. Our usual disclaimer applies to all of the pictures here, it is work in progress and does not represent the final state of the product, all specific names are used only as reference to the original Pathfinder Roleplaying Game (R) entities and could be subject to change in the Pathfinder: Kingmaker CRPG.

Every action in combat has a representation in the log: initiative rolls, to-hit, and damage rolls, saving throws or any appropriate checks. Each has its own line in the log. And for each of the lines, you will be able to see detailed information in the tooltip. For example, if you are attacking a wolf you will be able to see all of the bonuses and penalties for the to-hit roll and their sources. Starting from a simple bonus, like the strength modifier, and up to temporary effects, like being shaken. And you will be able to see your roll for this attack. Additional information will also appear in the tooltip if circumstances call for it. For example, on a critical threat roll, a confirmation roll will appear with same detailed information, or if a target has concealment there will be a mention of the miss chance.

All the information mentioned thus far is about your party's actions. But of course you will also want to know about how your enemies do. We have thought of two options here - one we will definitely have, the other one is an idea right now, and currently in discussion and development. We are not promising the latter will appear in the game, but we are very interested to hear your opinion about it. The first option is providing all the information about the enemy - AC, saving throws, the battle log will show it all. This is clear and concise and gives you all the information you need to understand what happens in battle and what changes you need to make to tip this fight into your favor.


The second option does not provide you with this information for free; it is based on the party's knowledge and lore checks. If you are successful, some information is provided, better results lead to more stats revealed. But if your fail those rolls - you will learn that information in the same way you do on the table. If you hit 34 AC and missed against 18, the creature's AC in the tooltips will be shown as ?19-34 - meaning, that your highest miss was against AC 18 and 19 could be hit, while your lowest hit was 34, so in the worst case scenario that creature's AC is 34. Same goes for other statistics, like showing that you dealt damage, but some DR was applied to it. Along with this goes showing the creature's health condition only after a successful check. This approach is a bit more hardcore and a bit more faithful to the tabletop experience.


But back to the log. Not only combat needs to have detailed information presented, but we also have dialogs and special events, kingdom and exploration. So we are expanding the log (as a lot of games before us) into those areas of the game as well. And to make it more readable, we separate information into several tabs: combat will have everything we discussed above, while a dialogue tab will have a history of all conversations as well as special events, along with choices and checks you made. Events tab will summarize everything that happens while skipping on detailed information on combat and dialogue represented in other tabs. There you will find information on the traps you encountered or items looted, orders you have made during a kingdom turn or new areas discovered on the global map. And all of these events will have additional and detailed information available via tooltips, with some information hidden if you so desire (like hiding DCs of the skill checks).

This concludes our approach to the log in Pathfinder: Kingmaker. While our solution may be similar to a lot of games in the genre, we are trying to provide even more information to you, and make it a bit more interesting and closer to the tabletop experience.
[…]

More information.

I like what PoE2 is doing with the combat log, where you can filter the information down to specific party members. Other than that, it might be interesting to see a graphical representation of the damage inflicted, rather than just a number. Icons can make it faster for the mind to process the information.

Looks like they opted for a Nwn-style combat log. Approved.

August 2018 cannot come soon enough…. This game is really killing me with the wait lol.

Originally Posted by purpleblob
August 2018 cannot come soon enough…. This game is really killing me with the wait lol.

Better prepare for an Xmas release. While they seem to be well organized I still would be surprised if they kept their schedule.

They will make about 4 great RPGs and then be bought out by EA.

Originally Posted by Caddy
They will make about 4 great RPGs and then be bought out by EA.

Their owner is already big enough to not care about EA. Google my.com

Originally Posted by Archangel
Their owner is already big enough to not care about EA. Google my.com

Rain on your parade : nobody is big enough not to be be bought out.
All 100 billion+ buyouts
Verizon
Exxon
Vodaphone
Pfizer
AOL

Originally Posted by purpleblob
August 2018 cannot come soon enough…. This game is really killing me with the wait lol.

Easy easy. Slow down there blob
No dying before its released and the wait JUST started.

Originally Posted by Archangel
Their owner is already big enough to not care about EA. Google my.com

Ha! Then they just become an Activision Blizzard!

Originally Posted by Wisdom
Easy easy. Slow down there blob
No dying before its released and the wait JUST started.

I know… but… but… this sounds like my dream RPG, I just don't know if I can wait for that long

Kingmaker vs. Deadfire…who will prevail?
No doubt Russian resourcefulness will give them a strong push, but I'll wager Sawyer will patch the game to no end to retaliate.

Originally Posted by BoboTheMighty
Kingmaker vs. Deadfire…who will prevail?
No doubt Russian resourcefulness will give them a strong push, but I'll wager Sawyer will patch the game to no end to retaliate.

I'll take both. But my bet is on Kingmaker. Since Pathfinder rules and lore is all fleshed out, there's not a lot of holes.

Worth mentioning there will be a toggleable option where combat does not provide you with this information for free; it is based on the party's knowledge and lore checks.

That's incline if I ever saw one.

Originally Posted by BoboTheMighty
Kingmaker vs. Deadfire…who will prevail?
No doubt Russian resourcefulness will give them a strong push, but I'll wager Sawyer will patch the game to no end to retaliate.

Kingmaker all day. Cuckfire has already failed. They are heavily focused on eye candy and other crap no one cares about in an RPG. However I reckon they'll snag more low-standard hipsters.

Originally Posted by BoboTheMighty
Kingmaker vs. Deadfire…who will prevail?
No doubt Russian resourcefulness will give them a strong push, but I'll wager Sawyer will patch the game to no end to retaliate.

If they keep PoE's mechanics it is already flawed. D&D is not perfect, but better.

Kingmaker indeed could be a dream RPG, if they pull off all that is promised. So far it looks very promising.

Battletech will hopefully tide me over till Kingmaker comes out.

Originally Posted by luj1
Worth mentioning there will be a toggleable option where combat does not provide you with this information for free; it is based on the party's knowledge and lore checks.

That's incline if I ever saw one.

Good RPGs seem to come naturally for those eastern hemisphere peeps.

Originally Posted by Caddy
I'll take both. But my bet is on Kingmaker. Since Pathfinder rules and lore is all fleshed out, there's not a lot of holes.

Yeah, Kingmaker probably will appeal more to retro and/or tabletop gamers. PoE mechanics and setting are a little too divergent for some people. Personally I'm open to both approaches; why limit your options?

Originally Posted by rjshae
Yeah, Kingmaker probably will appeal more to retro and/or tabletop gamers. PoE mechanics and setting are a little too divergent for some people. Personally I'm open to both approaches; why limit your options?

Life is like a mexican soap opera, rjshae. It gets dull if we don't fight, yell or try to screw over one another.

Originally Posted by luj1
Worth mentioning there will be a toggleable option where combat does not provide you with this information for free; it is based on the party's knowledge and lore checks.

That's incline if I ever saw one.

Nice. That's an idea I've posted about before.

I also thought it would be cool if certain AI is based on knowledge and lore checks. In NWN for example, a game where your companions do their own thing, it would be cool if the companions would act based on their lore and knowledge in any given situation. Just a thought I had while playing the excellent Swordflight module for NWN recently.

This game is easily in my top 3 of anticipated RPGs. ELEX, Bard's Tale IV, Kingmaker.