Recommend a Pathfinder Kingmaker build/party for me

[asf]

play solo

[J1M]

Godspeed you lunatic, this game was hard.

Doesn't feel that way with this party. Though I do remember when I tried to play it the first time my group only had one character with a torch for splash damage and the first spider encounter was a wipe.

[Valter]

Godspeed you lunatic, this game was hard.

Doesn't feel that way with this party. Though I do remember when I tried to play it the first time my group only had one character with a torch for splash damage and the first spider encounter was a wipe.

What difficulty you on? I went with the one a step below the ones that say "IF YOUR BUILD AT CHARACTER CREATION SUCKS YOU'RE GONNA GET BRICKED ******" it was very intimidating

[J1M]

Godspeed you lunatic, this game was hard.

Doesn't feel that way with this party. Though I do remember when I tried to play it the first time my group only had one character with a torch for splash damage and the first spider encounter was a wipe.

What difficulty you on? I went with the one a step below the ones that say "IF YOUR BUILD AT CHARACTER CREATION SUCKS YOU'RE GONNA GET BRICKED ******" it was very intimidating

I have it set to Normal with companions levelling up automatically. (So the difference should be that enemies deal 20% more damage to you and you have to use a more expensive scroll if someone dies?)

PS: I wouldn't go with the automatic builds for companions if you intend to use them for more than cheerleaders.

[J1M]

The end of this Kingmaker turned into a bit of a slog, but overall I'm glad I played it because it does a lot of things well and is above average quality.

You may have seen some comments online about Blind Fight being a mandatory feat for martial characters. This is correct. I even took it on my Alchemist.

Of the 4 characters I built, 3 of them were absolute powerhouses through to the end, even though in the final stretch the animal companions became mostly ineffective due to not having Blind Fight. The Barbarian was hitting for 45-174 damage but the Ranger probably did more damage overall due to being more efficient at being able to hit secondary targets. The Alchemist's ability to deal fire/force/holy damage while ignoring spell resistance was also extremely strong. The final boss was felled primarily by 15 force bombs over 3 rounds.

My only real disappointment in the character building department was the monster tactician. It was able to deal some melee damage all the way through thanks to equipment and bane weapon, but the summons that were fantastic at lower levels when they were simple melee creatures that attacked well enough and effectively absorbed hits turned to dogshit by the end. Later the summons that are available have self-buff spells and they place extreme priority on casting them and they can't hit anything either.

[Classix]

I have an all (hardcore, first playthrough ) Paladin/Cleric/Fighter playthrough I've neglected for months. I don't like using premade companions/recruitables in most games like this. Haven't gotten too far in as far as I am aware. I did get my stronghold or whatever after beating the Stag Lord, think I stopped shortly after that. Characters are all custom for me, brother, cousins and a family friend, mostly melee, some ranged ( crossbows/bows )and casters/buffs. Need to get around to this at some point. Thoughts on Melee heavy/physical ranged @J1M and anyone that's played without giving away too much? Brother asked me about this, would like to tackle it soon.

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[J1M]

I have an all (hardcore, first playthrough ) Paladin/Cleric/Fighter playthrough I've neglected for months. I don't like using premade companions/recruitables in most games like this. Haven't gotten too far in as far as I am aware. I did get my stronghold or whatever after beating the Stag Lord, think I stopped shortly after that. Characters are all custom for me, brother, cousins and a family friend, mostly melee, some ranged ( crossbows/bows )and casters/buffs. Need to get around to this at some point. Thoughts on Melee heavy/physical ranged @J1M and anyone that's played without giving away too much? Brother asked me about this, would like to tackle it soon.

► Show Spoiler

As I mentioned earlier in the thread, the archer I had was my biggest damage source. Pounce (full attack after charge) was the reason I went barbarian for my melee character. Either way, you'll want to have blind fight on all of your martial characters for dealing with Fey.

I wouldn't consider myself an expert on magic in 3e, but enlarge person and legendary proportions were useful for increasing damage dice. The way I tend to play is to go as long as possible without resting so spells that deal damage are less appealing to me.

There are some points where you might want some other damage types, but enchanted weapons might be enough. Personally I relied on an alchemist since they have several damage types including force damage.

[Classix]

@J1M Yeah I got Blind Fight earlier in my builds, some suggest damage feats and such but Idgaf about those, I like "what if" feats. Alchemist wise I dipped into it on a few test characters and the potion/before combat buffs ( enlarge ) was very helpful/useful. Might dip 1 level on this on a couple of my front-liners. Thanks for your input my man.

[J1M]

I don't know if there is much value in an alchemist dip when the game has abundant wands/scrolls/potions. Alchemist really benefits from putting all your levels into it for extra bombs and infusions.

[Classix]

Yeah I forgot about grenade/tosseables.... Brother and I think cousin char has Lore for wands/scrolls.... That's what I like about this stuff but also a bit of a curse.. the possibilities lol. Thanks again brother.

[J1M]

Yeah I forgot about grenade/tosseables.... Brother and I think cousin char has Lore for wands/scrolls.... That's what I like about this stuff but also a bit of a curse.. the possibilities lol. Thanks again brother.

Make sure you take the Grenadier flavor. It is strictly better and the perk that prevents friendly fire is very valuable.

[Classix]

@J1M Thanks buddy, I'll write it down.

[J1M]

@J1M Thanks buddy, I'll write it down.

I have some recommendations for character builds if you go back about 10 posts. I'm sure there are many others that will work well.

[Classix]

I'll check'em out.

[mynameismortis]

Eventually settled on a core party of 4 mercs that can handle anything with two open slots for companions for specific quests or just to act as cheerleaders.

The game plan is to charge + trip everything and rely on summons and animal companions to soak hits.

1. Mad Dog Barbarian: animal companion, enlarged reach weapon, charge with full attack
2. Monster Tactician Inquisitor: animal companion, summons buffed with teamwork feats
3. Archer Ranger: animal companion, top single-target damage
4. Grenadier Alchemist: ignore spell resistance, consistent on-demand damage, splash damage, multiple damage types

Combat is a breeze with this group. The three animal companions are so strong you've basically added 3 Fighters to the group. The party will become exhausted from travel before they run out of resources. The only way I know of to alleviate this would be to add a Paladin to the group for the Lay on Hands rider that removes those conditions. There is no Paladin flavor that offers an animal companion, so just add it as a 5th core member.

The Leopard is the best animal companion. It has Pounce, which allows it to perform a full attack after charging, significantly increasing its damage. Also, similar to a Dog, it attempts to trip the target with its first attack. So against a weaker foe or with some good rolls, your pet can use its turn to charge 100 feet across the battlefield, knock down an enemy (forcing a wasted move action next turn and an opportunity attack) and hit it multiple times. This party has 3 leopards.

1. The focus of the Barbarian is being able to attack over the front line with a reach weapon and increasing the damage that will do by getting the Beast Totem rage powers so he has the same Pounce ability as the animal companion. Enlarge person is somewhat mandatory for increased reach, but it will also increase damage dice. Other buffs worth considering are Leaded Blades and Bull's Strength. Recommend light armor for movement speed.

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TORZAN
Class Barbarian (Mad Dog)
Race	Human
Stats	(19,16,14,7,10,7)
Skills	Athletics, UMD, Perception
1	Power Attack, Exotic Weapon Proficiency - Fauchard
2	
3	Combat Reflexes
4	Beast Totem 1
5	Outflank
6	
7	Blind Fight
8	Beast Totem 2
9	Improved Critical
10	
11	Beast Totem 3
12	Lethal Stance 1
13	Sieze the Moment
14	
15	Lethal Stance 2
16	Lethal Stance 3

2. The tactician brings summons similar to a full caster, but they are stronger due to the teamwork feat traits, can heal or remove status effects, and with a simple reach weapon like a spear can do some decent melee damage thanks to Bane. His leopard will be stronger than the others, if you care to know which is which you can mark it with the Light cantrip. Due to the summoner feats, you generally want to use a summon spell that gives you more than one creature.

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PATCH
Class	Inquisitor (Monster Tactician)
Race	Human
Stats	(17,14,14,7,16,7)
Skills	Perception, Religion, Nature, Mobility
1	Erastil, Animal Domain, Spell Focus: Conjuration, Augment Summoning
2	
3	Superior Summoning, Precision Strike
4	Leopard
5	Boon Companion
6	Outflank
7	Blind Fight
8	
9	Combat Reflexes, Seize the Moment
10	
11	Martial Weapon Proficiency (I didn't find any simple +3 reach weapons)
12	Coordinated Maneuvers
13	Shake It Off
14	
15	???, Back to Back
16	

3. The main thing to note here is just how important Clustered Shots is. This feat will give you 30+ extra damage for a full-round attack when an enemy has damage reduction. The other thing to note is that we do not want Deadly Aim. It's a "win more" choice and won't help with fighting higher level creatures. Prefer a bow with elemental damage dice on it over a higher enhancement bonus due to the number of arrows that will hit. Prepare Hurricane Bow in all of your level 2 spell slots. Also pre-buff with Enlarge Person. This will bring up the base damage of your weapon significantly since it will be treated as two sizes larger. The build is basically complete at level 11 so do whatever you please with the feats after that.

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ARCHER
Class	Ranger (classic)
Race	Human
Stats	(16,19,14,7,14,7)
Skills	Stealth, Trickery, Mobility, Nature
1	Point-Blank Shot, Precise Shot
2	Rapid Shot
3	Weapon Focus - Longbow
4	Leopard
5	Boon Companion
6	Point-Blank Master
7	Clustered Shots
8	
9	Blind Fight
10	Manyshot
11	Improved Precise Shot
12	
13	Critical Focus
14	Improved Critical
15	Blinding Critical
16	

4. My favorite class in Kingmaker. Has interesting options without being overly complicated. Can learn spells from scrolls to provide buffs like Enlarge Person or prepare healing for topping people up between encounters. Pair with a Speed weapon for an extra bomb throw on full attack. When other classes are unable to hit something, the Alchemist has a reliable answer to shut down a monster. I made this the player character because I found a portrait I liked.

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BOMBER
Class	Alchemist (Grenadier)
Race	Human
Stats	(12,16,12,19,12,7)
Skills	Arcana, World, UMD, Trickery, Perception, Persuasion
1	Extra Bombs, Extra Bombs
2	Tanglefoot Bombs
3	Point-Blank Shot
4	Explosive Bombs
5	Precise Shot
6	Infusion
7	Ability Focus - Bombs
8	Fast Bombs
9	Rapid Shot
10	Force Bombs
11	Extra Bombs
12	Blinding Bombs
13	Extra Bombs
14	Cognatogen 1
15	Extra Bombs
16	Cognatogen 2

on normal or up? Want to do full merc run because i hate these ******* companions but i don't really know how to build characters , my knowledge is enough to make a fighter with big sword survive

[J1M]

Eventually settled on a core party of 4 mercs that can handle anything with two open slots for companions for specific quests or just to act as cheerleaders.

The game plan is to charge + trip everything and rely on summons and animal companions to soak hits.

1. Mad Dog Barbarian: animal companion, enlarged reach weapon, charge with full attack
2. Monster Tactician Inquisitor: animal companion, summons buffed with teamwork feats
3. Archer Ranger: animal companion, top single-target damage
4. Grenadier Alchemist: ignore spell resistance, consistent on-demand damage, splash damage, multiple damage types

Combat is a breeze with this group. The three animal companions are so strong you've basically added 3 Fighters to the group. The party will become exhausted from travel before they run out of resources. The only way I know of to alleviate this would be to add a Paladin to the group for the Lay on Hands rider that removes those conditions. There is no Paladin flavor that offers an animal companion, so just add it as a 5th core member.

The Leopard is the best animal companion. It has Pounce, which allows it to perform a full attack after charging, significantly increasing its damage. Also, similar to a Dog, it attempts to trip the target with its first attack. So against a weaker foe or with some good rolls, your pet can use its turn to charge 100 feet across the battlefield, knock down an enemy (forcing a wasted move action next turn and an opportunity attack) and hit it multiple times. This party has 3 leopards.

1. The focus of the Barbarian is being able to attack over the front line with a reach weapon and increasing the damage that will do by getting the Beast Totem rage powers so he has the same Pounce ability as the animal companion. Enlarge person is somewhat mandatory for increased reach, but it will also increase damage dice. Other buffs worth considering are Leaded Blades and Bull's Strength. Recommend light armor for movement speed.

Code: Select all

TORZAN
Class Barbarian (Mad Dog)
Race	Human
Stats	(19,16,14,7,10,7)
Skills	Athletics, UMD, Perception
1	Power Attack, Exotic Weapon Proficiency - Fauchard
2	
3	Combat Reflexes
4	Beast Totem 1
5	Outflank
6	
7	Blind Fight
8	Beast Totem 2
9	Improved Critical
10	
11	Beast Totem 3
12	Lethal Stance 1
13	Sieze the Moment
14	
15	Lethal Stance 2
16	Lethal Stance 3

2. The tactician brings summons similar to a full caster, but they are stronger due to the teamwork feat traits, can heal or remove status effects, and with a simple reach weapon like a spear can do some decent melee damage thanks to Bane. His leopard will be stronger than the others, if you care to know which is which you can mark it with the Light cantrip. Due to the summoner feats, you generally want to use a summon spell that gives you more than one creature.

Code: Select all

PATCH
Class	Inquisitor (Monster Tactician)
Race	Human
Stats	(17,14,14,7,16,7)
Skills	Perception, Religion, Nature, Mobility
1	Erastil, Animal Domain, Spell Focus: Conjuration, Augment Summoning
2	
3	Superior Summoning, Precision Strike
4	Leopard
5	Boon Companion
6	Outflank
7	Blind Fight
8	
9	Combat Reflexes, Seize the Moment
10	
11	Martial Weapon Proficiency (I didn't find any simple +3 reach weapons)
12	Coordinated Maneuvers
13	Shake It Off
14	
15	???, Back to Back
16	

3. The main thing to note here is just how important Clustered Shots is. This feat will give you 30+ extra damage for a full-round attack when an enemy has damage reduction. The other thing to note is that we do not want Deadly Aim. It's a "win more" choice and won't help with fighting higher level creatures. Prefer a bow with elemental damage dice on it over a higher enhancement bonus due to the number of arrows that will hit. Prepare Hurricane Bow in all of your level 2 spell slots. Also pre-buff with Enlarge Person. This will bring up the base damage of your weapon significantly since it will be treated as two sizes larger. The build is basically complete at level 11 so do whatever you please with the feats after that.

Code: Select all

ARCHER
Class	Ranger (classic)
Race	Human
Stats	(16,19,14,7,14,7)
Skills	Stealth, Trickery, Mobility, Nature
1	Point-Blank Shot, Precise Shot
2	Rapid Shot
3	Weapon Focus - Longbow
4	Leopard
5	Boon Companion
6	Point-Blank Master
7	Clustered Shots
8	
9	Blind Fight
10	Manyshot
11	Improved Precise Shot
12	
13	Critical Focus
14	Improved Critical
15	Blinding Critical
16	

4. My favorite class in Kingmaker. Has interesting options without being overly complicated. Can learn spells from scrolls to provide buffs like Enlarge Person or prepare healing for topping people up between encounters. Pair with a Speed weapon for an extra bomb throw on full attack. When other classes are unable to hit something, the Alchemist has a reliable answer to shut down a monster. I made this the player character because I found a portrait I liked.

Code: Select all

BOMBER
Class	Alchemist (Grenadier)
Race	Human
Stats	(12,16,12,19,12,7)
Skills	Arcana, World, UMD, Trickery, Perception, Persuasion
1	Extra Bombs, Extra Bombs
2	Tanglefoot Bombs
3	Point-Blank Shot
4	Explosive Bombs
5	Precise Shot
6	Infusion
7	Ability Focus - Bombs
8	Fast Bombs
9	Rapid Shot
10	Force Bombs
11	Extra Bombs
12	Blinding Bombs
13	Extra Bombs
14	Cognatogen 1
15	Extra Bombs
16	Cognatogen 2

on normal or up? Want to do full merc run because i hate these ******* companions but i don't really know how to build characters , my knowledge is enough to make a fighter with big sword survive

Yes, I played on normal and used the turn-based combat mode. Feel free to ask questions if instructions are unclear.