2021

My mind got seriously blown when I realized what getting +6 to BAB does. Totally hooked on the game now.

Are there any good resources to quickly read up on the core combat mechanics and when individual classes generally get these big jumps in power? Preferably something that doesn’t involve 50 pages of table data.

On a side note, Ekundayo is absolutely spectacular at level 7 relative to the rest of my party.

2022

It’s every 5 BAB that you receive a new attack at +0. The combat is basically 3.5 D&D. Here is a wiki that covers super basics.

2023

Thank you!

2024

And if you need to figure out what certain combat maneuvers do this is helpful. The different types are on the bottom right. Not all are supported in the game but the ones that are should be applicable.

https://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/combat/

And I think it’s been stated a number of times, but you should be aware you are dealing with Fae so things that deal with concealment should get prioritized as you enter the last 1/3 - 1/4 of the game.

2025

I started this with an Xbox One controller and everything seems to work well with it.

Of course, very early in the game there seems to be some geometry issue causing my main character to be stuck in a room unable to go through the door.

Moving the other characters around I can trace an invisible square in the hall blocking the door.

So that’s something.

2026

I’m trying to beat a large fire elemental on floor 8 of the Tenebrous Depths with a level 6 party. I bought a lot of resist fire potions but that doesn’t seem to be enough, what else should I be doing?

2027

nm I just tried again and had better rolls so it worked :)

2028

So I’m trying this again, using turn-based mode and it is much better than my brief trial on release. I’m enjoying it as a crunchy tactical/munchkin RPG.

I’m a bit concerned about being the right level for where I am in the story. My party is level 2 and I just recruited the level 3 Tristian but I’ve had 3 fights recently where the enemies were “skull level” and nasty (Tuskgutter, which I had to restore a save and defer, the first Technic League encounter which I won due to a lucky Sleep on their main mage on round 1, and the Bear-Like Treant who I beat, but who was, well, a bear.) I have some other side quests but I cannot quite tell where to go to level up a bit.

Is there a walkthrough that’s not too spoilery but would give me a good framework of what to do in what order, generally speaking, to avoid blundering into massively over-leveled opposition?

2029

I used this guide: https://www.gamerguides.com/pathfinder-kingmaker/guide for this exact purpose.

2030

You mean the skulls in the turn order at the top of the interface? I don’t think those are levels, just a way to indicate they’re hostile/engaged in combat with your party.

2031

The issues you’re having are to be expected. That you beat the Treant Bear at level 2 is a good sign. :) The Technic League ambush is, imo, the hardest fight in the game. It’s so hard, in fact, you’re sort of supposed to lose it. You even get more xp that way. So I’ve been told. I’ve never lost it, because, fuck those guys. Well, I mean, I’ve lost it a LOT. Something like 40-50 times over many playthroughs.
But I would always reload. It’s REALLY difficult on the higher difficulties where all you can do is pray the RNG gods.

There’s a tree to the south, called the Old Sycamore. It’s a big area that will offer you tons of xp to overcome most encounters in Chapter 1.

Most. ;)

2032

Let’s just say after that fight I immediately limped my ass back to Oleg’s and rested. 3 of my 5 troops had Near Death experiences and I was pretty much completely out of spells, potions, hit points and luck. What saved my butt was a Wand of Cure Moderate Wounds I had found and Linzi succeeding on almost all of her Use Magic Device rolls.

I’ve now managed to level up to level 3 and with Tristian added to my party I just beat the Man Eating Troll at the Old Oak and although I’m pretty sure he was meaner than the Bearlike Treant, he went down easier.

Thus far I am mostly happy with the party I’ve built: myself (Neutral Good Sorceress), Valerie, Amiri, Linzi, Tristian and that undead Elf Inquisitor. The Inquisitor is my least-favorite of the crew plus she’s evil so I want to replace her.

Next up, the Technic League camp which the intertubes tell me will provide some more NPC options.

Side note: Tristian is an awesome healing Cleric, but he can’t wear armor? Like, no armor at all? I mean I can’t argue with the healing but I already have Linzi as my support-bot. Can a party of 6 accommodate two characters that don’t do much direct fighting? I guess we’ll see. Amiri seems capable of handling Linzi’s share of the damage dealing thus far, and Valerie is really quite tanky despite a non-optimax-munchkin build…

Second side note: at first I was somewhat disgruntled with the non-optimized nature of characters like Valerie and Amiri but they are growing on me…

Third Side Note: i just looked at the clock after posting this and it’s 3:15 am my time. So I wasn’t playing until quarter to three but Quarter After Three. Yay?

2033

I beat the game using my PC (paladin using greatswords), Valerie, Tristian, Octavia, Linzi and a flex slot where I mostly used Ekundayo or Amiri. Definitely possible to beat the game with both Linzi and Tristian. I did not respec any of the NPCs.

Harrim is a lot more tanky than Tristian but not as good a caster and not my type of NPC. Octavia is really incredible as a damage dealer, you should definitely get her and make her an Arcane Trickster as soon as possible.

As mentioned earlier in the thread, sneak attacks are very powerful in this game. You just need to have a target engaged by two melee characters. Positioning does not matter. So you should really consider sneak attacks when picking feats and when moving characters during combat. Having a target engaged by two melee characters also makes teamwork feats (e.g. outflank) pretty good.

2034

You mention Octavia as a damage dealer - My party is…level 7 I think now, and even when she sneak attacks with her acid spell, she deal 10-13 damage, thats it - And she misses quite a lot as well.
This is turnbased, but that shouldn’t matter, should it?

My point is, she isn’t (For me, at least) a very good damage dealer.

Oh, and yeah - the Technic League ambush is…horrible! There is a trick that helps a bit. Hit the main antagonist early, and he leaves. That makes the fight a lot more manageable, since otherwise he spams summoned wolves.

2035

Octavia isn’t too powerful right away, but she ramps up quite quickly with levels.
There are some feats that are important:

  • Accomplished Sneak Attacker - increases sneak attack damage and allows you to get the Arcane Trickster class without wasting more levels on Rogue.
  • Precise shot - Removes the -4 penalty when hitting an enemy engaged in melee (works on ranged touch attacks).
  • Point blank shot - +1 attack and damage with ranged weapons up to 30 feet (works on ranged touch attacks).
  • Weapon focus (ray) - +1 attack on ray attacks.

The last 3 feats can combine to a total of +6 attack with ranged touch attacks which could explain missing a lot with Octavia.

2036

I have all of those - Do you use Turnbased combat? I have an idea that this decreases the amount of rounds combat takes, where normally you just “things run loose a bit”, but here, every swing will count and you will finish combat faster than in RtwP combat mode.

2037

I completed the game in early 2019, way before the option for turn-based combat was added. So could be that it makes a difference.

Still, missing a lot sounds strange considering that ranged touch attacks ignore armor. Have you checked the combat log to see what the calculations are?

2038

I don’t quite get how this metamagic stuff works, considering there’s zero explanation in the game. Any clues?

Still, I only just discovered (after 35 hrs of play) how to memorize additional spells for magic users (ok, I only recently started getting magic users in my party). Of course, this is D&D, I should know this stuff, but I’d somehow blanked on it completely, and the game didn’t mention it.

Was trying to kill some giant boggit but getting my ass handed to me, supposed to be heading to the Stag Lord but I’m not sure I’m supposed to be in this cave yet!

2039

Thanks - I’d completely forgotten that the log is easily viewable - I’ll take a look!

2040

Let’s say you have the Metamagic (extend) feat and you want to use it on Enlarge Person to double its duration. Enlarge Person is a level 1 spell and Metamagic (extends) adds 1 level to the spell. That means you have to memorize it in a level 2 slot. IIRC there’s a Metamagic button bottom right in the spell memorization interface that lets you do this by essentially creating a new level 2 spell which is the level 1 spell with the feat applied. Then you can use this “new spell” when memorizing.

Btw, there’s also several metamagic rods that you can find/buy in the game that allows you to use a specific metamagic feat a limited number of times/day without spending a higher level spell slot. Those rods are very powerful.