Pathfinder: Kingmaker and Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous General Discussion, Playthroughs and Minimal/No Reload Thread

[alice_ashpool]

Next:

1. Return to Old Sycamore to clean up (and Level 4 - Tartuccio 1st should net this)
2. Riverine Rise (might not appear)
3. Endless Plains
4. Oleg's
5. Stag Lord

Provisional additions following Stag Lord:

1. Trail in the Hills(?)
2. Old Mesa
3. Glade in the Wilderness
4. Tuskgutter's Lair

Then return to Olegs.


Edits: Glade in the wilderness is probably too touchy for no reload without higher DC grease - iirc Silent is tough. I always have trouble popping Trail in the Wilderness in act 1 too. It never seems to want to appear. Old Mesa should be fine for Level 4. Tuskgutters at this stage is a pain because it means either bringing Amiri to Stag Lord's or going back to Olegs then making the trip out which is an extra c3 days. Amiri is fine in Stag Lord but I prefer to Have Regongar for Shocking Grasp on Dovan and/or Auchs. It can be tight to clear the whole fortress in 1 rest otherwise. Not that there is anything lot by going outside and resting 9h, except my pride.

Revised revised route for Act 1 2nd half:

1. Return to Old Sycamore to clean up (and Level 4 - Tartuccio 1st should net this)
2. Endless Plains
3. Oleg's
4. Thorn Ford to attempt to Poison Wine (I left this first time I visited due to high DC checks)
5. Stag Lord
6. Trail in the Hills (if possible)
7. Old Mesa
8. Tuskgutter's Lair
9. Oleg's
10. Oak That Strayed
11. 2nd half of Fangberry Cave
12. Oleg's to end chapter at around 28 days

Glade in the Wilderness (Silent) and Rivering Rise (Water Elemental) really benefit from the jump to Level 5 which will come from cashing in Act 1. However, Oak that Strayed is quite possible with little issue at level 4 and this only takes around 25 days up to this point so we can chuck an extra encounter or two in, plus it is really out of the way up in the top left; likewise for Fangberry.

Areas not visited in Act 1 which can be:
Rivering Rise (Water Elemental) - Quite possible at lvl 4 with buffs but easier to leave to act 2 due to the its proximity to Tuskwater
Ratnook Hill (Wererats) - No way
Glade in the Wilderness (Silent) - Possible but easier to leave to level 5
Tranquil River Bend (Boggards) - The above ground is slightly too hard and the tunnels are really tough at level 4

 

[Antimatter]

Well, I guess it depends on your school specialization. But I've played P:K with conjurers, so Grease is an absolute no-brainer for me. That spell is very effective and continues to stay helpful until the very end of the game. Agree about Reduce Person and Enlarge Person.

 

[alice_ashpool]

Like wise for Shocking Grasp on the right character can be useful all the way to level 20.

My thing about Grease is that 1) No dismiss Spell in Kingmaker so it can be quite annoying. And 2) I like to transition to higher level spells, and I know it can be Heightened but sorcerer gets enough casts that I want to be using higher level spells on principle, which is a personal preference.

 

[mlnevese]

I often use reduce person as a defensive spell for my tanks. They don't need to deal damage; they just need to be hard to hit

 

[alice_ashpool]

I would be interested to hear anyone's Level 2 picks. I am planning:

4: Blur
5: Burning Arc (and Hideous Laughter from Fey Bloodline)
7: Mirror Image
9: Glitterdust

That leaves 1 pick at 11. Those 5 above basically cover everything I need from this level. Blur for essential party buffing, Burning arc as a No-attack roll attack spell to go with Magic Missile, Hideous Laughter as Single target disable and Mirror Image as an essential self only defense. Glitterdust is handy for dealing with invisible stuff.

Beyond this I would normally pick Stone Call for having a source of Difficult Terrain, but Entangle (Fey bloodline level 1) gives Difficult Terrain so there is no need so I essentially have 1 free spell slot.

It's tough because there are so many other options I could take all very different but no stand out.

Edit: part of me is tempted to try to get away with no Glitterdust - my druid merc has Fairie Firewhich does the job without the risk of accidentally blinding yourself. I might be tempted with another source of Resist Elements.

 

[alice_ashpool]

Also I am stupidly pleased with this, my almost flawless run through Stag Lord's Fort on Challenging. Whole thing no-reload in 1 rest. I had been really looking forward to this and it all came together exactly as I had hoped. The only problem was the Owlbear did not play ball to join the fight (DC18 check faied with a lore nature of 14) but otherwise all 100% as planned.



^_^

 

[mlnevese]

I would be interested to hear anyone's Level 2 picks. I am planning:

4: Blur
5: Burning Arc (and Hideous Laughter from Fey Bloodline)
7: Mirror Image
9: Glitterdust

That leaves 1 pick at 11. Those 5 above basically cover everything I need from this level. Blur for essential party buffing, Burning arc as a No-attack roll attack spell to go with Magic Missile, Hideous Laughter as Single target disable and Mirror Image as an essential self only defense. Glitterdust is handy for dealing with invisible stuff.

Beyond this I would normally pick Stone Call for having a source of Difficult Terrain, but Entangle (Fey bloodline level 1) gives Difficult Terrain so there is no need so I essentially have 1 free spell slot.

It's tough because there are so many other options I could take all very different but no stand out.

Edit: part of me is tempted to try to get away with no Glitterdust - my druid merc has Fairie Firewhich does the job without the risk of accidentally blinding yourself. I might be tempted with another source of Resist Elements.

Sense vitals for extra damage?

 

[Xzarloxara]

I never used Burning Arc much; seemed too low on damage... I like Scorching Ray a lot though, especially on later levels.

A question about Burning Arc though: Do secondary targets all take half damage or does damage decrease further for each additional target, i.e. the primary target takes full damage, the second target takes half, the third target takes quarter, etc.?

Oh, and I just

Spoiler

defeated Vordakai in my game. I will have to reload and fight him again, though, because some dope ran off with some of my most valuble equipment...

 

[alice_ashpool]

Burning Arc will cap at 10d6 at level 10 (reflex half)
Scorching Ray will cap at 3 x 4d6 at level 11 (ranged touch attack)

You are correct that the additional "jumps" for burning arc damage dice are halved each time it jumps: 10d6 -> 5d6 -> 2d6 -> 1d6

The advantage of Scorching Ray is that it does not allow a save - if you hit touch ac you are golden. The advantage of Burning Arc is that it does not require an attack roll at all. You can guarantee a hit, though many enemies will make their save meaning it is only 5d6 damage to you immediate target. In addition you have to contend with Evasion/Improved Evasion. For Scorching Ray it is also nessessary to contend with (lack of) Precise Shot - either through burning 2 feats to get hold of it or careful aiming for non-engaged enemies.

Both are strong candidates for a Lesser Empower/Lesser Maximize Rod.

Basically there are pros and cons to both!

 

[Xzarloxara]

Another question:

Spoiler

I am still in Vordakai's tomb. After having killed Vordakai I used Dimension Door to gain access to a room that I had sealed earlier at Tristian's insistance. I wanted to look around it without Tristian bugging me. There is a statue/alter to daemons or something.

Anyway, I apparently can either steal the gems in its eyes and fight the daemons guarding it, or sprinkle my blood to appease them or something. My question is (without spoiling me too much) what does sprinkling blood actually do? All I see is a cutscene where the daemons seem to give me their blessing and I can't tell what happened. I don't plan to do this option anyway, because it is likely a very evil thing, but I still want to know what benefit it gives me...

 

[alice_ashpool]

minimal spoilers: iirc it means that a serious trap in the tomb will not damage you, and there is a permanent (minor) buff to your MC

 

[Xzarloxara]

Sounds like I would be better just fighting them for XP and stuff... (which I did!)

 

[alice_ashpool]

I would be interested to hear anyone's Level 2 picks. I am planning:

4: Blur
5: Burning Arc (and Hideous Laughter from Fey Bloodline)
7: Mirror Image
9: Glitterdust

That leaves 1 pick at 11. Those 5 above basically cover everything I need from this level. Blur for essential party buffing, Burning arc as a No-attack roll attack spell to go with Magic Missile, Hideous Laughter as Single target disable and Mirror Image as an essential self only defense. Glitterdust is handy for dealing with invisible stuff.

Beyond this I would normally pick Stone Call for having a source of Difficult Terrain, but Entangle (Fey bloodline level 1) gives Difficult Terrain so there is no need so I essentially have 1 free spell slot.

It's tough because there are so many other options I could take all very different but no stand out.

Edit: part of me is tempted to try to get away with no Glitterdust - my druid merc has Fairie Firewhich does the job without the risk of accidentally blinding yourself. I might be tempted with another source of Resist Elements.

Revising this completely:
4: Blur
5: Web (+ Hideous laughter)
7: Mirror Image
9: ???

Im taking (G)SF: Transmutation so its sensible to take Web even if webs are awkward.

 

[Antimatter]

Well, I preferred these spells:
Blur
Blindness (my usual picks for the wizard/sorc were Conjuration, then Necromancy focus)
I was convinced about neither Burning Arc nor Scorching Ray, they are better on someone with sneak attacks like Octavia and/or someone with the Evocation focus
Mirror Image
Protection from Alignment, Communal
Resist Energy

Web was on Octavia

 

[Xzarloxara]

I was able to restore a cursed artifact, but I am not sure it is worth the power I would gain by using it. If I were to wear it, my necromancy spells would be more powerful by quite a bit, but my constitution would severely drop to only 6 and I would only have 50 HP max... What do you think?

 

[mlnevese]

I was able to restore a cursed artifact, but I am not sure it is worth the power I would gain by using it. If I were to wear it, my necromancy spells would be more powerful by quite a bit, but my constitution would severely drop to only 6 and I would only have 50 HP max... What do you think?View attachment 108

50 HP at the point of the game you get to level 16 is asking for trouble... A nice item if you were a llich

 

[Antimatter]

I would disagree. 50 or 70, or even 80, if enemies target your wizard at that stage of the game and you don't have protections such as Mirror Image and Blur, you're dead anyway. The benefits of the cloak vastly outweigh the HP penalty in terms of the caster level bonus. However, if the cloak kills the wearer and summons a hostile lvl 9 summon, I wouldn't use it.

 

[Xzarloxara]

I found out that trying to remove the aforementioned cloak and failing to do so multiple times summons an INSANE enemy upon the group... This thing was the greatest challenge I have ever faced in this game to date. It was level 31 and as nasty as that number would make you think it is...

That said, I somehow managed to kill it.

I think, despite this epic victory, I will reload. I am currently in an inconvenient place for facing this thing...

 

[mlnevese]

I would disagree. 50 or 70, or even 80, if enemies target your wizard at that stage of the game and you don't have protections such as Mirror Image and Blur, you're dead anyway. The benefits of the cloak vastly outweigh the HP penalty in terms of the caster level bonus. However, if the cloak kills the wearer and summons a hostile lvl 9 summon, I wouldn't use it.

True... if anything CAN hit your mage at this point, 50 or 80 hp will not make that much of a difference. Maybe only time enough to run

 

[Cahir]

I found out that trying to remove the aforementioned cloak and failing to do so multiple times summons an INSANE enemy upon the group... This thing was the greatest challenge I have ever faced in this game to date. It was level 31 and as nasty as that number would make you think it is...

That said, I somehow managed to kill it.View attachment 109
I think, despite this epic victory, I will reload. I am currently in an inconvenient place for facing this thing...

This most powerful enemy I have fought thus far was monstrosity called Playful Darkness. It had over 550 HP, AC 53, SR37 and could kill my entire party in one round. I has able to beat it by swarming it with summons and repeatedly hit him with ranged touch spells (its touch AC was slightly over 20). Boy this was an epic battle.