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

[alice_ashpool]

You can see in the above that there were plenty of chests which I did not open. This is because killing enemies gives little XP, combined with the rogue-lite setup regarding conserving resources means that if you see a dangerous enemy and you think they are not on the main route then it is a wise move to avoid killing them (unless you are desperate for gold).

Also the MC did 57% of all damage. Part of that is that they were in the party longer, but the other part is just having a Legend Slayer with a longbow is a damage machine. Highly recommended for the DLC.

 

[Urdnot_Wrex]

You can see in the above that there were plenty of chests which I did not open. This is because killing enemies gives little XP, combined with the rogue-lite setup regarding conserving resources means that if you see a dangerous enemy and you think they are not on the main route then it is a wise move to avoid killing them (unless you are desperate for gold).

Also the MC did 57% of all damage. Part of that is that they were in the party longer, but the other part is just having a Legend Slayer with a longbow is a damage machine. Highly recommended for the DLC.

Thanks for the explanation, I was wondering about the unopened chests, if it's a mechanics thing. Now if you say it's because fighting some people was a bad risk/reward ratio and therefore you didn't get access to these chests, it makes total sense.

 

[alice_ashpool]

Doing a "No mythic powers" run at the moment- currently on island number 23.

Had some really dicey stuff early on (tank dead for half a chain until I could hire a new merc), but am currently ripping with 2x Eldritch Scoundrel Monks and then ranged Slayer, Zen Archer, Life Oracle, Fire Kineticist. Having 2 invulnerable melee and 4 lots of EZ ranged is pretty good.

Progress is slower because i've restarted work for the autumn term, teaching is the real ironman run

 

[m7600]

Progress is slower because i've restarted work for the autumn term, teaching is the real ironman run

I see your teaching woes, and I raise you the woes of having an article rejected for the 5th time by yet another peer reviewed journal. But surely the 6th time is the charm!

 

[Urdnot_Wrex]

I hear you guys. Real life is the true no-reload challenge, maximum difficulty setting, no magic, sometimes poverty run, definitely heavily randomized, and no or only amateur storywriters apparently!
Some awesome NPCs though.

Good luck for your game, and to all of you for the real challenge out there. All the more reason to have some fun whenever possible.

 

[alice_ashpool]

Getting ready for the EE. Planning a Demon Witch Enchanter/Necromancer playthrough.

The witch spellbook takes some getting used to since it is a hybrid spell book, supplemented with patron spells. Overall it is not a popular class, judging from the lack of "builds" online. So I am having a little look.

Overall either Enchantment Specialism or Necromancy Specialism is the way to go.

Looking at Patrons (grant extra spells)

Agility: Expeditious Retreat ,Cat's Grace, Haste, Freedom of Movement, Polymorph, Cat's Grace, Mass Polymorph, Greater Polymorph, Greater Polymorph, Greater

Unless you desperately need Haste and don't have Nenio or Woljif that's a hard no.

Ancestors: bless, aid, prayer, shield of dawn, burst of glory, greater heroism, Bestow Grace of Champion ,Angelic Aspect Greater ,weird

Not the worst spells in the world but a strange mix. Aid, Prayer, Greater Heroism are all good spells but outshined by some other patrons.

Deception: Vanish Invisibility Displacement Confusion Phantasmal Web Serenity Invisibility, Mass Angelic Aspect, Greater Weird

A mix of enchantment and illusion spells. Weird and Phantasmal Web are nice and probably the best bet for rounding out an illusion witch spellbook.

Devotion: Divine Favor Invisibility Magical Vestment Confusion Flame Strike Bull's Strength, Mass Bestow Grace of the Champion Holy Aura Heal, Mass

An ok mix: Divine Favour to help rays hit, Heal, Mass; still lacking imo

Elements: Shocking Grasp, Acid Arrow, Fireball, Dragon's Breath, Flame Strike, Acid Fog, Caustic Eruption, Polar Ray, Icy Prison, Mass

A very nice mix of offensive spells if you want an Evocation Witch

Endurance: Stunning Barrier Bear's Endurance Protection From Energy Thorn Body Spell Resistance Bear's Endurance, Mass Restoration, Greater Polar Ray Seamantle

Spell Resistance is useful through the game - watching regular enemies spells bounce off you is nice. Unfortunately not much else to offer beyond the high level addition of Polar Ray and Seamantle

Healing: Remove Fear, Restoration, Lesser, Remove Disease Restoration, Cleanse, Pillar of Life, Restoration, Greater, Cure Critical Wounds, Mass; Heal, Mass

Some nice additions for a healing focused Witch (c.f. Hex Channeler).

Insanity: Color Spray Hideous Laughter Hold Person Confusion Mind Fog Serenity Insanity Cure Critical Wounds, Mass Overwhelming Presence

All sorts of fantastic Enchantment spells which will see use throughout the game (immunes excluded). A very nice selection which would be more useful for a Spontaneous Witch. However Hideous Laughter is a very nice add for any witch.

Mercy: Shocking Grasp Eagle's Splendor Remove Curse Restoration Cleanse Inspiring Recovery Resurrection Euphoric Tranquility Heal, Mass

A weaker equivalent to Healing patron.

Shadow: Vanish Blur Displacement Shadow Conjuration Shadow Evocation Phantasmal Putrefaction Shadow Conjuration, Greater Shadow Evocation, Greater Shades

The obvious choice if you want to do a Shadow based Witch. I am not sure if the Shadow Evocation spell DCs are still janky or not.

Strength: Divine Favor Bull's Strength Heroism Divine Power Righteous Might Bull's Strength, Mass Legendary Proportions Frightful Aspect Heroic Invocation

Fantastic spell selection. Especially useful for a ray-slinger with Divine Power. Almost everything here is useful.

Transformation: Longstrider,Bear's Endurance Beast Shape I Beast Shape II Beast Shape III Dragonkind I Dragonkind II Dragonkind III Shapechange

If you want to be a dragon... if not...

Winter: Snowball Resist Fire Protection from Fire Ice Storm Icy Prison Cold Ice Strike Ice Body Polar Ray Polar Midnight

Honestly painful. I hate this so much.

I think on the face of it, depending on your main focus, Strength, Insanity, Deception, Shadow, Healing, or Elements are the strongest, based on your specific desires for the witch.

 

[alice_ashpool]

Level 1-5 Enchantment Witch Build ideas.

Race: Human (Alternative could be Elf)
Class: Witch
Str: 10
Dex: 16
Con: 12 (or 10)
Int: 19
Wis: 10
Cha: 10 (or 12)

Background: Healer (Int instead of wisdom for Lore checks.)

Familiar: Raven (+ Persuasion) or Hare (+ initiative)

Patron: Either Insanity for more Enchantment Spells, or Strength if you want to do an Enchantment-Necromancy hybrid so you can hit things with your rays.

Skill points: (initially 5 human, 4 otherwise) 2x Knowledge, 2x Lore, Persuasion

Feats
1: Spell Focus Enchantment; Greater Spell Focus Enchantment
3: Spell Penetration
5: Greater Spell Penetration

Hexes:
1: Evil Eye
2: Slumber
4: Cackle

Key Spells:
Command; Hold Person; Web; Deep Slumber

 

[alice_ashpool]

Overall I think the Witch is just not interesting enough to me to be worth the effort even though I really wish It was. If there was a sub-class that gave a couple more feats like Seeker class (to take advantage of metamagic with sufficient tempo - example 2x spell focus feats 2x spell pen feats, point blank and precise shot all kinda needed for rays - so only then can you start to think about reach metamagic inflict. It's just not worth it), or if there was a greater number of actually interesting pnp Hexes (the major and grand hexes really lack any sort of enjoyment in the game), or even some way to better scale Hex DC to cope with the game, I might consider it. Shaman just seems to do a lot more.

 

[alice_ashpool]

Haha they nerfed Elemental Barrage at last. Now just get rid of the Expanded arsenal DC stacking exploit and the Protective luck +cackle stacking exploit pls.

 

[mlnevese]

Enhanced Edition is now out. It's a 12GB download and it's free if you already own the game.

 

[m7600]

Well, I finally found the time to finish my second run. I used the Kingdom Resolution mod for it. The party almost reached level 20. I had shared experience on, even with NPCs that are not currently part of the team. For my next run, I'm going to turn that off, just so I can hit level 20.

Overall, I think that the Duelist prestige class is pretty cool. Your intelligence adds to your armor class, up to a max of 10. And it adds up with your dexterity. That's why I gave Charname high int and dex.

 

[m7600]

I'm playing the Varnhold's Lot DLC. You start at level 5 in Jamandi Aldori's mansion, right after the Stag Lord has been defeated. You're part of Maegar Varn's team, and you actually have him and Cephal Lorentus as companions in your party. Pretty cool.

Charname (Gwyneth) is a Scroll Savant. For this run, I intend to use a party of mercs for the most part, just because I want to try some classes for which there are no standard companion NPCs, such as Druid, Paladin, etc.

 

[Antimatter]

That's cool! I can admit I haven't played the Varnhold's Lot because it's a separate adventure. For one reason or another, playing a short separate adventure with a different character just didn't feel that appealing, when the main campaign is already 200-h long. Maybe if this DLC was a part of the main game and could be played by the main character, I would have tried it.

 

[Serg_BlackStrider]

Even though Varnhold's Lot is a separate adventure it worth it to play it during main campain after finishing 'The Season of Bloom' for some plot and unique items you could import from it into the main campain.

Quote from kimagure's guide:

IMPORTANT NOTE: Leave the game and play the DLC Varnhold's Lot before continuing! It is a separate scenario that involves separate saves. However, you will be able to import data from one of your DLC saves into your main game at the beginning of Act 4. You need to complete the DLC before you leave the throne room after the Act 4 title page comes up, or you will miss out on some plot and some nice unique items!

 

[Antimatter]

Yeah, that is true, but I never felt like doing that, actually. They want the player to basically stop the campaign, go play something else, in order to receive some nice items in that main campaign? And for this, the player has to know about it in the first place. I mean, if it's the first-time player, why would they start with a DLC instead of the main game (which has a tutorial etc), while they still don't know what Varnhold is, who Varn is etc. If it's the game in progress, I find it a bit odd the player would want to stop following the main campaign with its mystery (especially since it's about the time of The Season of Bloom when the story starts to make sense and becomes interesting, IMHO) and go play something else for meta items.

I guess I would do exactly the same as @m7600 does - play the DLC only after finishing the game (and in this case, it might be even not the first-ever finish of the game that precedes it, but more playthrough experience first). But I personally didn't feel like playing that DLC even in this case - as I've already seen the main story, so finding out some additional information about events related to the main plot from a side adventure wouldn't matter that much. So in my opinion, the Varnhold's Lot DLC is more for players who want more Pathfinder gameplay.

 

[Serg_BlackStrider]

I see your reason and it makes a lot of sense =) I also prefer when DLC are merged with main campain. At least it seems that Owlcats are moving in right direction with implementing their DLCs in Wraith of the Righteous.

 

[Xzarloxara]

I played Varnhold's Lot. It was a lot of fun, but very difficult as I remember. I played with a Kineticist as the main character (which turned out to be less than ideal), and a Thundercaller and some kind of cleric. I recall there being some kind of barbarian at some point too... It got really challenging especially toward the end where your party starts to shrink due to the plot.

 

[m7600]

It's extremely difficult so far! But it's also a lot of fun! : )

I'm playing in turn-based mode, and I really like Varnhold's Lot so far. The Dunsward area was brutal!

 

[m7600]

Well, I just finished Varnhold's Lot. This is an amazing DLC. I'm very impressed. It's almost a different game altogether. If I had to compare it to something, I'd say it's similar to Siege of Dragonspear. But it's not that long, it's actually quite brief. That being said, despite it's brevity, it's completely story-oriented, and it's really good. The story is full of unexpected twists. Let's just say that even if you played the main campaign, this DLC will still surprise you.

As for the dungeon design, I really liked Lostlarn Keep. It even reminded me, in some ways, of Watcher's Keep from BG2: Throne of Bhaal.

So, I totally recommend Varnhold's Lot. You can finish it in a couple of days, and you won't be disappointed.

 

[Xzarloxara]

I just got WOTR, and am struggling to decide on what kind of character to make. I want to make a magic user of some kind, but am not sure what kind of characters are available to recruit in the game, and I don't want too much redundancy. I was thinking about something along the lines of a Sorcerer, Druid, or Witch, but I would be open to other classes. Does anyone have any suggestions?