Pathfinder: Kingmaker Question/Tips & Tricks Thread

Originally Posted by purpleblob
Yeah kingdom takes a while to get used to - I think it will be worthwhile reading some online tips and guide. Personally, I enjoyed kingdom management in my second playthrough + subsequent runs but I was rather lost in my first run too.

Well I've read a little, but I also don't want to spoil anything.

Quick question about the big castle in … There's a LOT of stuff in there that I don't want to lug around. I can just leave it on the ground but I'm not sure what will happen to the place afterward. Will this be a place I can go back into later with some strength belts and haul everything out or will this one get reset?

Just loot it all when you finish the castle. There is a merchant once you exit the castle that is standing next to the tavern.

If you get encumbered to the point of not being able to move a quick workaround is to drop enough and get to the transition point and then pick it up again when you exit.

Originally Posted by TomRon
Well I've read a little, but I also don't want to spoil anything.

Did you find any good articles with tips but no spoilers? I'd be interested if so. I got a bit overwhelmed by the kingdom management bit last time I played.

Originally Posted by Pongo
Did you find any good articles with tips but no spoilers? I'd be interested if so. I got a bit overwhelmed by the kingdom management bit last time I played.

Some, try googling PF:KM Kingdom management tips no spoilers. I found some Steam forum threads that were informative.

A few random tips…

The cards are the main thing. You'll be getting most of your points from those things. Buildings are nice but I think I worried way too much about getting just the right arrangement to maximize points. If you enjoy working that stuff out, by all means, go for it - but you won't be missing out on much if you just plop them down more-or-less randomly.

Missing opportunities doesn't hurt. Missing problems does, so give those extra weight. (Just don't go nuts. If you've only got a 5% chance to solve a problem, you're advisor's time is probably better spent on an opportunity than a failed attempt.)

You really want advisors. If you hover over the various stats, they will tell you what you need to get them.

Mercenaries you hire can work as any sort of advisor. However, they get hit with a -4 penalty. Also, they don't seem to give you the stories and choices the normal advisors allow. (This caused a bug in my game where I had a merc as an Espionage advisor. She would come to the throne like she was about to raise up a level but the dialog was empty. Every time I left the management screen, she would do the same thing! I fixed it by making the ranger the advisor for just long enough to get a proper dialog, then I sent him back to his warden role.)

Don't worry about curse research early on. You'll want to finish them by the end of the game if you can but I would leave them until you get 9 or 10 advisors. At the start, you just don't have the advisors to spare.

Most of your BP is going to come out of your own pocket. You'll want to balance buying nice magic items for your characters and buying BPs to spend on your kingdom.

Some events work out nicer if you've got one or two hundred BP sitting unspent.

You'll get a warning when one of those hilltop battles is coming soon. Once those start, they can pound your kingdom with minuses to multiple stats every day! When you get near one of those battles, start using the button to do one day at a time and stay away from the events that require your personal attention (like training and claiming regions). You might even want to head to the hill one day early and camp out there so you can get bonuses from cooking.

Started a game last night just to check it out. I went with a Human Male Fighter, or at least that's what I wanted.

So I finish the prologue, and at the end of it when Jamandi is giving her speech to me and Tartuccio, she keeps referring to me as "she" and "her". I thought it was a bug at first and then I finally realized my character was actually female.

So I guess I forgot to click the male symbol during character creation since I was focused on the portrait and other things. Yet the game still allowed me to choose a male portrait and male voice.

That's pretty dumb design if you ask me. I'm all about people having options, but the voices at least should be restricted to the gender you chose. It's not a huge deal since I planned this to be just a test run, but I'm still quite annoyed by it.

I don't feel like going through the prologue again, so I'll probably just continue with my manly female fighter for now. I'm thinking about going Fighter with Aldori Swordlord or Eldritch Knight as a prestige class or a Druid when I eventually start a real playthrough.

Talk about nitpicking

Originally Posted by JDR13
I'm thinking about going Fighter with Aldori Swordlord or Eldritch Knight as a prestige class or a Druid when I eventually start a real playthrough.

I played an Aldori Swordlord fighter into Act II. But then went back and restarted with Sword Saint instead with the Aldori dueling sword as my chosen weapon and I liked that class for my main a lot better for what it's worth. I thought the trade off of having just one weapon was better with the Sword Saint because you also get the spell casting. Having a fighter build just tied to one weapon wasn't to my liking. I think the one the best parts about having a fighter as your main is having another character in the party that can use a wider variety of the cool weapons you find during the course of the game. Just my two cents.

What's the advantage of masterwork weapons? Do they give you a +1 to hit like in D&D? I was looking at bows in Oleg's inventory, and a composite longbow and masterwork composite longbow have the exact same stats and price which is somewhat confusing.

Also, I noticed the AC bonus from bracers and rings of protection doesn't stack like in D&D. I'm guessing they're useless then for anyone other than monks and wizards?

Originally Posted by JDR13
What's the advantage of masterwork weapons? Do they give you a +1 to hit like in D&D? I was looking at bows in Oleg's inventory, and a composite longbow and masterwork composite longbow have the exact same stats and price which is somewhat confusing.

Also, I noticed the AC bonus from bracers and rings of protection doesn't stack like in D&D. I'm guessing they're useless then for anyone other than monks and wizards?

Masterwork is +1 to hit only, +1 weapon is +1 to hit and to damage. Also masterwork isn’t magical so it wont harm enemies that require magical weapons whereas +1 will.

Haven’t played long enough to figure out what stacks or not.

Originally Posted by sakichop
Masterwork is +1 to hit only

Ah ok, so it's the same as in D&D. Weird that you can purchase some of them for the same price as the non-masterwork versions.

Originally Posted by JDR13
Ah ok, so it's the same as in D&D. Weird that you can purchase some of them for the same price as the non-masterwork versions.

I never noticed that. Not saying it isn't the case but I thought from Oleg all the masterworks were 400 gp each while other plain regular weapons were much cheaper.

You can always read the more detailed descriptions on any item - it will explain each quality assigned to it. I.e. right click and read the more information. It says what masterwork is. Same when you see things like "Agile Rapier of Fencing" it will explain what agile means for the weapon, same for keen, cold iron, etc.

Bracers of AC I find only useful if not using armor. They don't stack with armor so really want them for non-armor folks or folks with low strength to avoid them getting encumbered. You want, ideally, for every companions gear to always keep them in "light" encumbrance. You get penalties for higher levels. Valerie was always in Medium and so I always focused on getting her strength up and lighter armor to start (kept tower shield as its her specialty).

You can use amulets of natural armor with Bracers of AC though - that helps a lot and they stack.

EDIT TWO - See post by Drithius. I had the ring of protection wrong (bad memory). I was confusing them with cloaks of protection I think.

EDIT: PS - if you hover over your AC, your saving throws, etc, a pop-up tells how it is calculated so you can use that with adding/removing items to get a good feel for how things either stack or use the highest value.

Bracers provide an armor bonus (same bonus as from actual worn armor)
Rings [of Protection] provide a deflection bonus (and no save bonus).

Both of these will stack with one another.

Generally speacking, AC = Armor + Deflection + Natural + Shield + Dexterity. Each of these values only counts the highest bonus you have. Dodge bonuses will stack but are harder to come by.

There is also a size bonus/penalty and many spells also contribute to AC. But keep in mind that if you're not building a character optimally for AC from the start, it's going to quickly lose its luster as the game progresses. So instead rely on spells such as mirror image, displacement, greater invisibility, and stoneskin.

Nice to see you playing, JDR. The game is amazing once the initial befuddlement fades away.

Originally Posted by Drithius
Bracers provide an armor bonus (same bonus as from actual worn armor)
Rings [of Protection] provide a deflection bonus (and no save bonus).

Both of these will stack with one another.

Generally speacking, AC = Armor + Deflection + Natural + Shield + Dexterity. Each of these values only counts the highest bonus you have. Dodge bonuses will stack but are harder to come by.

There is also a size bonus/penalty and many spells also contribute to AC. But keep in mind that if you're not building a character optimally for AC from the start, it's going to quickly lose its luster as the game progresses. So instead rely on spells such as mirror image, displacement, greater invisibility, and stoneskin.

Nice to see you playing, JDR. The game is amazing once the initial befuddlement fades away.

Thanks for the better information. I should have checked on the rings of protection. Will edit that. So that probably answers my confusion - that cloaks add to saving throws and rings to deflection. I was trying to remember the difference and obviously remembered wrong.

Originally Posted by wolfgrimdark
I never noticed that. Not saying it isn't the case but I thought from Oleg all the masterworks were 400 gp each while other plain regular weapons were much cheaper.

You can always read the more detailed descriptions on any item - it will explain each quality assigned to it. I.e. right click and read the more information. It says what masterwork is. Same when you see things like "Agile Rapier of Fencing" it will explain what agile means for the weapon, same for keen, cold iron, etc.

Maybe it's only the composite longbow then. I just looked again, and that's the only one where the regular version is the same price as the masterwork version, at least at Oleg's. Perhaps an oversight by the devs?

Originally Posted by JDR13
Maybe it's only the composite longbow then. I just looked again, and that's the only one where the regular version is the same price as the masterwork version, at least at Oleg's. Perhaps an oversight by the devs?

Certainly possible, unless they just set the cost that way but unlikely. You have a good eye for detail.

How are the DLCs btw? I'm definitely getting The Wildcards for the additional race/class and the companion. What about the other ones?

Originally Posted by JDR13
How are the DLCs btw? I'm definitely getting The Wildcards for the additional race/class and the companion. What about the other ones?

My favorite was the Tieflings of course - so few games let you play them. I think you could in NWN2.

I own all the DLC's but have not done the dungeon crawl one beyond two levels. Mostly because I am not a big dungeon crawl person these days - at least not massive ones. Second was the color lighting scheme. At least in the first two levels. It is meant to be sickly and represent madness and decay I think - if so it fits but still didn't like it much. But since it is the only major content I have not done slowly trying to get through the levels.

By far the race DLC is my favorite. I did enjoy the side adventure DLC where you are the general for Varnholds Lot. I played a melee druid for it. It was fun and cool but slightly unhappy with the ending. Also it was supposed to then be incorporated into the main story. I followed the suggested guideline of when to stop the main game and do the DLC so it would bring in the most stuff … and something was busted some place as nothing came over at all. Maybe I screwed something up or maybe it was a bug. Or maybe I missed something (if so then what was carried over must have been very small and minor).

I wasn't really bothered, just a little annoyed, as I did enjoy the DLC. But the ending and issue with the carry-over was enough for me to not rate it high on my end. I may try it again but since its done with a new character, and not your main, I felt a disconnect from it. Especially with how it ends. So doubtful. Plus the final dungeon was a bit of a slog for me. Fun but long and complicated and wore me out. I would have died of frustration if I had to do that long dungeon turn based lol. Even RTwP it was long. I also played on a harder mode than I normally do so that added to the length.

My two cents is if you like dungeon crawls, plus a bit of added story and context, then pick up both.

Maybe some other players will have different insight to provide.

My Tiefling Wulver Blackfur:



His team. The big guy is Thrynn. I used a mod to make Thrynn bigger, with the accompanying penalties and bonuses, to match his character story. Wulver's wolf companion (from Sacred Huntsman) I turned into a Worg (with another mod) but that is just cosmetic. It seemed more fitting a Tiefling would have a Worg companion, even if he is CG/NG. I also found a mod let let me rename the animal from Wolf to a custom name which was also great.

Is there a mod that does away with the kingdom building? I loved the first chapter of the game and just got dreadfully bored once I got the stupid keep or whatever it was. What about timed quests? Is there a mod that does both?