Kingmaker Pathfinder: Kingmaker Question/Tips & Tricks Thread

A former colleague (spelling ?) had been playing the pen & paper campaign "Kingmaker". He warned me not to take "that dwarf" into the party ... And he told me exactly why, but I don't want to spoil anyone here.

Alrik Fassbauer said:

A former colleague (spelling ?) had been playing the pen & paper campaign "Kingmaker". He warned me not to take "that dwarf" into the party … And he told me exactly why, but I don't want to spoil anyone here.

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Spell check OK

I don't remember a quest where I went alone, yet I might have done it before my very extended break. I've so many bags of holding that storage isn't really a problem, and most of my gang are wearing strength belts that put a few of them above twenty. My storage container in my kingdom room is a serious mess, though!

Redglyph said:

Spell check OK

Spoiler

Let me guess… Harrim? Because of his mirthful disposition?

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Bingo !

I almost went with Harrim because I just love a saucy dorf, yet Tristan won that one healer spot hands-down. He's just a good bloke!

I found Harrim more fun that Tristan goody two shoes.

I prefer Tristian, though Harrim can do a lot of damage thanks to his Groetus inclination. But him alone is not always enough to heal and dispel bad spells.

I got a bit tired of Harrim's comments, too

I did have Harrim in the group for a few sessions, just to give him a full and honest vetting. Tristian simply worked out better in my crew.

Wrong Pathfinder tips & tricks thread.

I ran into the first of those tile puzzles last night. It confused me. The symbols are so tiny.

JFarrell71 said:

Wrong Pathfinder tips & tricks thread.

I ran into the first of those tile puzzles last night. It confused me. The symbols are so tiny.

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Damn! Thanks! :lol:

I moved it to the correct thread.

Hi, newly registered here, so hope the thread isn't entirely dead. Been playing this game again lately after going through it a couple times a few years ago. Mostly been fun, but then I haven't arrived at the hated house yet. It's a great game up to that point. Anyway, I decided to try out the standalone DLC dungeon because I never had. Don't see a thread for it (seems to almost only be Wrath related threads now?), but saw a user talk about it many pages back, playing through it 19 times or something like that.

Am I alone in thinking it is quite routinely wildly unbalanced? What kind of group are people using?

I'm not using the Last Azlanti mode, and my first group did get wiped a couple times, but instead of tossing the mode away, I decided to try again a few days later, and then got past what killed us. Think it was a huge fire elemental or something like that, on level 8-9. After that, my group managed to get to level 15, where we suddenly met one of the bosses, and thankfully won (didn't realise it was a boss until the tutorial popup thing). Think we were only level 10-11, and it finally felt like the characters were getting decent. However, I retired them since it seemed pointless to keep going given the info the game was giving me. Had also gotten two lore pieces.

Today I tried again with a new group, the same characters, but I must say it was terribly frustrating to see a total party wipe when we had just become level 5. So far the fire-based levels seem horrifically out of whack, and that is what happened to us here. Fire level with a bunch of dread skeletons and suchlike, who are spamming firesnake all day long, plus weapons with (iirc) 2d6 fire damage per hit. And I have characters with 30-40 hp, think the tank had 43 or thereabouts. Naturally we go down pretty fast, despite having gotten a pit wand that took out a couple of the 5-6 nightmares for part of the fight. Felt like we had precisely zero chance to withstand them. And every room was like this, we had already gotten past one or two rooms, but they had less enemies.

Maybe this will just read like a moan, but I'm having a hard time to find any decent info on this part of the game, everything talks about the main game dungeon. What kind of group are people using?

I made a new Sword Saint/Duelist (build by Roahin on the GOG forums), because I was using that in the main campaign this time, it felt pretty strong and fun, so wanted to try it again. Then made five characters that were:
*Fighter->Stalwart Defender (never got that far this time, tho). With shield, feats for AC, and whatever found weapon was half-decent
*Rogue - kinda tried to build it like Nok-Nok, but early on used a crossbow
*Bard - Keep reading a bard is required, so set one up
*Cleric - Went pure cleric with Pharasma deity. Unsure on feats, but mostly she stayed back with a crossbow, tho in the first run she used a shield and mace, but not doing very well with it
*Wizard with Evocation school

A fairly standard setup I suppose, but we got utterly destroyed early on, and it felt like we had zero chance. Wasn't great to meet an alchemist as level 1s either, nor some of the 5-6 attacks per round animals as level 2 or maybe 3. Some of the AC is through the roof so early, and same with the traps tbh. But I got around the latter, at least partially, by using skill specs into Perception and Trickery.

I jumped back in with some slight changes. Dropped the bard, and made the cleric ranged. Trying out a slayer instead of the bard, and I've quite enjoyed her. Not a bad class.

Has gone better this time, and we're currently in level 25. Very, very nearly died when the Fallen Priestess suddenly showed up. The poor cleric legged out of there as fast as she could, while all the others died brutal deaths. My main got instagibbed at -185 HP. Nasty. But the cleric revived everybody with expensive dragon magic and we took down the boss when going back in.

Now I've started to face summer and autumn golems, and those things are hard as nails. I've heard about those, and worse types, so may not be able to go much further. However, I haven't found any lore pieces so far. Are they not guaranteed, or is it possible to find something further down?

Very chaotic fights now, and playing with AI on probably isn't the best. They keep running places they shouldn't be. But at least I won't forget to issue new commands for 5 rounds or something, haha

Oh wow, it's been so long since I last played Kingmaker but I will try my best to explain how BtSL DLC works.

In standalone version of BtSL, each run will spawn 1 of the 4 mini bosses randomly.

In case you want to know who these 4 mini bosses in BtSL are:

Each mini boss will drop a special item every time you kill them. They each have 4 unique items they drop. Once you collect 4 unique items for each boss then fight them again, they will drop a super special item which gives you clues on what is happening to the dragon outside.

For example, you face Weary Traveler 4 times and collect 4 special items relevant to him, then you fight him again so he drop a super special item. Repeat that for all 4 bosses because you need these 4 super special items to unlock the true end boss.

So in summary, you need 4 bosses x 4 special items + 4 bosses x 1 super special items = 20 items all up before you can face the "true end" boss.

Once you kill any of the mini boss, there is no reason to continue the current run because no more boss will spawn - what you should do is, retire your party members by exiting the outdoor area and import the current save to next run (this will result in the game giving you nice buff or item depending on how far you went with current run in terms of dungeon level). Then you roll new party members and do the same thing again.

Hope what I said made sense lol

Personally, I wasn't a big fan on this mechanic but I had mad fun trying out different class build using BtSL.

BTW, which difficulty are you playing on?

I played on normal and my default party was following:
Paladin tank
Cleric/Crusader off-tank/off-heal/melee dps
Eldritch Knight buff/melee dps
Arcane Trickster buff/ranged dps
Sorcerer buff/spell dps
Empyreal sorcerer heal/buff

Probably not the most optimal party composition but worked ok enough for normal difficulty. Yes, I had a lot of trouble with some of bosses, mainly Wicked Chanter and Captor & Captive.

purpleblob1 said:

Each mini boss will drop a special item every time you kill them. They each have 4 unique items they drop. Once you collect 4 unique items for each boss then fight them again, they will drop a super special item which gives you clues on what is happening to the dragon outside.

For example, you face Weary Traveler 4 times and collected 4 special items relevant to him, then you fight Weary him again so he drop a super special item. Repeat that for all 4 bosses because you need these 4 super special items to unlock the true end boss..

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I'm starting to understand why that DLC has such lukewarm reviews.

JDR13 said:

I'm starting to understand why that DLC has such lukewarm reviews.

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I haven't even described the best part - they can drop same special item more than once

Do anybody know how many posts are required before I'm not subject to moderation queue? Can take a long time before I see them show up

purpleblob1 said:

Oh wow, it's been so long since I last played Kingmaker but
Each mini boss will drop a special item every time you kill them. They each have 4 unique items they drop. Once you collect 4 unique items for each boss then fight them again, they will drop a super special item which gives you clues on what is happening to the dragon outside.

For example, you face Weary Traveler 4 times and collect 4 special items relevant to him, then you fight him again so he drop a super special item. Repeat that for all 4 bosses because you need these 4 super special items to unlock the true end boss.

So in summary, you need 4 bosses x 4 special items + 4 bosses x 1 super special items = 20 items all up before you can face the "true end" boss.

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Thanks
I'm only on my third run, but I suspect this has been changed since you played? Also a great reason to try out the game again, haha. I didn't get any items from the two bosses I fought (15th and 20th level), but have now four different items (one dropped in level 27-28 in current run, after that post). They have all dropped from random enemies. Suppose the boss still drops the more tricky fifth item once you have the other four first, but the first 16 seem to drop very randomly now.

BTW, which difficulty are you playing on?

I played on normal and my default party was following:
Paladin tank
Cleric/Crusader off-tank/off-heal/melee dps
Eldritch Knight buff/melee dps
Arcane Trickster buff/ranged dps
Sorcerer buff/spell dps
Empyreal sorcerer heal/buff

Probably not the most optimal party composition but worked ok enough for normal difficulty. Yes, I had a lot of trouble with some of bosses, mainly Wicked Chanter and Captor & Captive.

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I'm playing on Challenging difficulty. It seems to be most in line with Core difficulty that I am more familiar with from the Baldur's Gate games. Tried Hard once in the main campaign, but that was overly painful.

That party looks pretty intense on wizardy magic. Is that required?

The current group I'm using is composed of this lot, which I quite like:
1) Sword Saint/Duelist Main char. Eventually gets very tanky
2) Fighter/Stalwart Defender. Tank obviously. I've taken feats into AC and defence, but also some damage. The honest guy also sold a sick +3 falcata, so she's using that now
3) Slayer (pure). Specced into Fauchard for reach weapon, as it otherwise got a bit crowded. Kinda weird to "waste" a feat on exotic weapons for two people, but it made sense to me there and then. Went into Power attack and cleave. Serious damage at times. Gets sneak attacks too
4) Knife master (pure). Nok-Nok was the inspiration, love that little dude. We can't get as much DEX, but it's still very deadly. Was able to purchase a sick +5 kukri, but sadly just a vanilla +1 in the offhand still.
5) Cleric (pure). Bit odd perhaps, but I've taken a bunch of bow feats. Unsure how wasted it has been, but at least there is some damage here and there, because otherwise it's mostly to buff up the party before opening doors. Human + Erastil, so didn't need a feat for using longbows
6) Sorcerer (pure). Changed from wizard from before, because I mostly use a few spells anyway, and sorcerers are fun to play Taken feats into Evocation and spell penetration. Can be pretty deadly, and I've tried to take diverse spells, so it's possible to deal damage on various floors. All into fire would be bad for those floors, although it's usually very good in the main game (hello Tristian).

Wish it was possible to find diamond dust, diamonds and dinosaur bones in the dungeon itself tho. Seems weird Owlcat haven't put this into the drop tables. Weapons have seemed a bit monotonous too so far. Enemies just drop what they use, which is mostly +1/+2 greataxes and the like lately. Hidden rooms can have something, but I've been unlucky in this run I guess. My guy is still sporting a +1 duelist sword, and the fauchard girl has thankfully found a vanilla +2 one. No good kukris either, apart from the one in the shop that was there from the beginning.

I'm really poor at using metamagic. What are people's take on that? Is it good, despite raising the spell levels of spells? That whole metamagic UI is confusing to be honest.

Have had fun with this run, though, and figured I'd try to keep going a bit longer, see if I can get them to level 20. Know I won't get any more bosses, and probably not more than that one lore item either. However it's fun to see what gear you can pick up, altho we've been unlucky with weapons so far.

Last post hasn't showed up yet, however I have continued downwards. Takes easily an hour per floor I think, even in RTWP mode (the other is much easier too, so that's a no-go). A better than +1 kukri finally dropped for my knife master, which doesn't show here, but I wanted to show the exquisite weapons the Honest Thief sold. Felt good when I could afford them.

Hope it works to post pictures here


Check out the underlined... It's only for the first attack, but still pretty sick -- on top of extra crit multi. Don't think that kurki is in the regular game, so very fortunate to find it here. Otherwise it doesn't look like the guy gets any decent stuff as we descend. The only exception I've seen so far, unless I missed it originally, is the Crown (+6 mental stats).

The Falcata is pretty sweet too, due to the extra fire damage, but otherwise just a regular +3. It's the reason the tank got it, though, as otherwise could have gone for a longsword or something.

Just reached level 31, and now have the misfortune of facing off with a bunch of Wild Hunt chaps. Plus a reminder of that awful room in the House of HATE (I find that more accurate, heh) of a gajillion Ankou that are spamming prismatic spray. Probably what the later golems will do, from what I've read. Luckily a few characters had gotten Blind Fight in the level 15 levelup, and I took yet more at 17, which is where I am now. Want to try and go further down since it has taken this long already, instead of starting over. Maybe from the next runs onwards, I can try to just locate lore pieces and bosses. Though that will still take a lot of hours if the other bosses are at level 25 and 30. Gulp :-o

Quite like this crew, though, and maybe I can write a little more about them if I can get them to level 20. Am sure I haven't picked the greatest feats along the way, but don't think it's terrible either. Hopefully

Well this is futile. If the site wants to remain a closed shop and not accept new users, just let us know from the off. Disable user registrations or something. It takes days for post to show up, which makes it pointless to even try to engage with this community.

The dungeon is getting ridiculous too. "Only" level 34 and I'm getting real tired of all the buffing needed, just to hopefully clear out one room filled to the brim with Wild Hunt, including Monarchs, plus their dozens upon dozens of meatshields and casters. It's just like the HATE, or even worse, which simply feels like a horrible slog to wade through. Plus it's pretty darn difficult of course. Despite being buffed to the teeth.

Well, good luck to those of you who happen to be in the inner circle here. Pretty pointless for us outsiders to try to engage. It was a nice thread to read if nothing else

Pangaea said:

Do anybody know how many posts are required before I'm not subject to moderation queue? Can take a long time before I see them show up

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Posts required: 7.
Until the 24th I checked every day twice(!) a day (usually it is just once a day). So if you posted just after I checked it could have taken 12 hours (normally within 24 hrs) for your post to show up.
After the 24th I have been rather busy and had other priorities than checking for spam (that is what this 'mod queue' is about), so has every other person with the ability to (dis)approve posts I guess.
Mind you none of the moderators/administrators get paid for this job. We all do this in our spare time, for free.

Pangaea said:

Well this is futile. If the site wants to remain a closed shop and not accept new users, just let us know from the off. Disable user registrations or something. It takes days for post to show up, which makes it pointless to even try to engage with this community.
[. . .]
Well, good luck to those of you who happen to be in the inner circle here. Pretty pointless for us outsiders to try to engage. It was a nice thread to read if nothing else

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I understand your impatience and your problem with having to wait.
Sometimes it takes longer, most of the time things are handled within 24-48 hrs. See the above.

I remember the probation period, it's never fun. But a necessity to protect the forums from bots and trolls, unfortunately.

You're almost there @Pangaea;!