Pathfinder: Kingmaker Question/Tips & Tricks Thread

I did two endings. The first was ending at chapter 6 by letting Nyrissa get the last grain of sand. Smug LK was happy and let me go. Everything went according to his plans for the most part. Even Nyrissa got what she wanted - to be an eldest. Although being the Eldest of dust and trampled hope (or something like that) sounded pretty bad. I wasn't a bad ending though. Kingdom is saved and you can let the fey and their schemes and amusements stay in the first world. Makes you wonder if Nyrissa would seek revenge now that she is an Eldest and a pretty negative one at that.

Then I went with the far harder ending in chapter 7. While I did not romance Nyrissa (and certainly never will) I did give her the briar back (CN to see what happened) and then convinced her to side with me against the LK.

The final battle against the LK took me over an hour and a couple tries. At the end … I had 4 options. One was "Finish the battle" which I really wanted to do but was afraid what would happen and after so many attempts to try and defeat him I so didn't want to try it again. Anyone try it? Can you kill him? He says something about not wanting to die and then reviving in FW because the other elders always use that as a chance to play pranks. Curious what happens if you select that line.

Immortality with Nyrissa? Nah. While I do feel bad for her I don't like her and certainly don't want to get into an eternal fight with her against the LK. An eternity plotting and scheming against an Elder … not my idea of fun.

Immortality as the LK's herald. That had a lot of appeal at first. My character is a Sylvan Sorcerer and fey touched. Having his kingdom partially linked to the First World, becoming immortal, and being the LK's herald would fit him. But … eternity is a long time and from what I read only immortal while in my own kingdom - as that is what was tied to the FW. If I died outside my kingdom it was unclear what would happen. Hence making the kingdom eventually feel like a gilded cage. More to the point - the LK is not human and eventually I suspect my characters morals would get into conflict with those of the LK. Nor am I big on being involved with schemes for eternity with the fey lords. Lastly Nyrissa would be forgiven by the LK but she states she would continue to fight him … and I would be his champion. Just not comfortable with it.

So went with the last option, similar to chapter 6, be mortal and tell the LK to leave me and my kingdom alone. Pretty rough ending for Nyrissa as one of the cards stated "Now and then Fenn (my character) would have dreams of Nyrissa dying by the Jabberwocky and being reborn again and again and again. An eternity of that - pretty horrible even if I didn't like her that much.

So "Eldest of dust and trampled hopes" or "Dying over and over in a constant fight" … no idea which is worse but suspect the second.

From what I can see there are only two ways to get a decent ending for Nyrissa. The best for her is the romance. But that is impossible for my character as he simply doesn't love her - so its not true love and won't work. He can barely tolerate her. In his mind he was a temporary ally to defeat the true enemy - the LK.

The next best is you both remain allies for eternity - you are immortal thanks to Nyrissa and you get your kingdom but you also will be fighting the LK with Nyrissa for eternity. So maybe good for her but not me.

I suppose the third is you could kill Nyrissa in chapter 6 which would end her suffering for good. That sounds better than being Eldest of dust or dying over and over. Course then you have to fight the LK on your own.

Did anyone kill Nyrissa, then do chapter 7 and fight the LK? Does Nyrissa stay dead if you kill her in chapter 6? Or does she resurrect in First World so you have to fight her and the LK instead? Fey can't be killed so I am very curious if you do kill her in chapter 6 if she stays dead for some reason.

All in all a great game. I may try to kill her and then do the ending again. She gets peace that way (if the death is permanent) and I get to smack down the LK a little. Just not looking forward to those endless fights at the end.

Curious what others did if they did NOT romance Nyrissa.

I don't think I ever got an option to fight LK to the end… Strange. Would love to see what happens in chap 7 & ending slides if you just kill Nyrissa in chap 6. Maylander already unlocked the secret ending which I'm trying to go for this time but I don't know - romancing Nyrissa just doesn't sound right to me. Can I really love a fey who brought down all the horrors on me and my subjects? I don't think it will be easy. I would love to see her throwing the curse right back at LK jerk but… At the same time, I feel that mortals shouldn't be interfering with higher power, lest you end having similar fate to Nyrissa.

For the House at the Edge of Time - the fog barriers for worlds A and B (reality and irreality as one explained) was somewhat annoying but the only *really* annoying one was that last room where there was one fog barrier … then just a few feet later a second fog barrier and that was the one needed. So much needless random teleporting and running around. They just made that too complicated IMO. But the rest of the house was okay. I also was on easy so the combat wasn't as bad for me - although the Wild Hunt was always a struggle.

Then for chapter 7 when you have to fight your way through the castle area to reach the LK … that was very irritating. I had weakened the curse but never did get full access to my high level spells which was annoying as that is half the fun of being a caster. Also the WIld Hunt was brutal.

Still I played the game on easiest mode (hate lots of drawn out combat) so for me it wasn't too bad … but still time consuming. I can only imagine how painful it would be for someone playing are hard. The Wild Hunt hit hard, were difficult to kill, and being paralyzed was a big PITA. especially with so many of them.

Then that final battle with the LK. I put everything on easy as possible and it still took me two tries to bring him down … and the battles were long and drawn out.

If I redo the ending, by killing Nyrissa, and then going through all of that reclaiming of land, clearing the castle, and fighting the LK again, I will come back and let you know.

Still I think my canon and official ending was my first choice in chapter 6 - let Nyrissa take that sand and be done with the tricky fey and their cruel amusements. Such a waste to reach 999 kingdoms and countless lives destroyed and not let her take it - then the curse is lifted, she has no reason to destroy more kingdoms, and the mortals get left alone. She also got what she wished for if in a cruel way … but she did a lot of cruel things curse or no curse (and Ivar and Evandra, and one other sister) showed the curses could be fought or even made good in the case of Ivar. I just couldn't see forgiving all that and becoming her BFF and ally. At best I could see accepting she was under the influence of a curse and just tell her and the other fey lords to leave me and my people alone.

since the tiefling lady is really two, not one person. Hmmm…

in Armag's tomb with the guardian cleric

I also found I had missed on region to reclaim which made the final battle earlier extra hard as I was still under part of the curse. This time I had full access to my spells and was level 20 for the final fight. But this was mainly to see what would happen.

So in chapter 6 I killed Nyrissa. Not totally out of anger though. It was a mix of anger and sadness for what had happened to her. I wonder if this was the best option (short of romance) as the other two seemed pretty hollow and empty - Eldest of dust and trampled hope … or having to keep fighting the Jabberwocky and living and dying over and over. At least death brings her peace and maybe her soul would go to Pharma.

Anyhow what happened. After she died the LK was pissed. So I went to chapter 7 where the worlds merged. It was exactly the same as if I had asked Nyrissa to be my ally - only Nyrissa stayed dead and did not come back. So I had to do it without her.

I did the final battle with the LK and got the same dialogue MINUS the option to become immortal with Nyrissa and fight at her side in an eternal fight against the LK.

I then choose the line [ATTACK] Fight and finish the LK.

The response wasn't what I expected. Instead of fighting the LK said lets stop this pointless exercise (since he can't be killed permanently in this case). So that just removed the fight/attack option and back to the other two options - become his herald or tell him you would forget about him and he would forget about you - after restoring things to normal.

So same ending pretty much except Nyrissa is dead versus fighting him or stuck in a life/death cycle.

All said and done now I think this is my favorite ending as I think death, after all she did and her hollow life now, seems the most fitting. Plus I gave the smack down to the LK

Followed extremely closely with the ending in chapter 6 where Nyrissa gets what she wanted and becomes an Elder. She refused my offer to return her soul (briar) as well. So I wonder what kind of Elder she would be. To my mind not a very nice one considering her title. But who knows. Regardless she got her position, the LK got his ending, and I … I got my kingdom back.

So once I decide on my canon ending I will delete the others, back up my saves, and start my Ranger Tiefling

I did BF first and found Kassil dead on the battle ground, right next to Jamandi. So is it confirmed that he actually dies if I don't do HoR first or is it a bug (he's my most favoured General, sigh).

Also, I'm trying to find Armag's tomb before the timer expires this time - I passed all athletics check with the boatman, but still can't find his tomb via perception check. Can I still make it on time if I finish the kingdom project that increase chance to discover his tomb?

At the end of the day, the Lantern King is free to continue as before. Even the other elders apparently agree that his games have gone far enough, because in the secret ending they help you find out how you can strip him of his immortality, even though this knowledge could be also used against them.

As for Nyrissa being an elder, the game seems to deviate from the original story. There is no lost love, instead she wanted her kingdom for the independence it would give her & her friends from the elders. I recall a dialogue where she talks about not having to live according to their whims anymore, or something like that. Which, once you learn to know LK better, is not really surprising.