Pathfinder: Kingmaker

Yeah, Kingmaker isnt too hard, so long as you mind the time limits. When Kingdom Management unlock, remember to revisit the capital frequently. That and like, know the Pathfinder rules, save often.

I did say it was about WOTR's early game, though admittedly I should have mentioned that at the top of the post as opposed to the bottom.

So I just gave Regill Bismuth as his mount during the Battle to take Drezen. Mostly because he's the only one who could immediately ride Bismuth due to his small size. Coupled with the Lunge Feat, Regill has suddenly become much more useful.

The Battle for Drezen in this playthrough feels way easier and shorter than it was in my first playthrough despite playing on Core Difficulty. I guess it's a combination of actually knowing where everything is, having a more optimized party with almost everyone on a mount, and not sleeping on buffs this time. This time around I also made sure to get the Outflank Feat on all of my melee party members asap. So many Attacks of Opportunity...

Derr remembered wrong.

Edited by Ghilz on Aug 22nd 2023 at 12:28:48 PM

Started a new game of WOTR and the game's already unwinable? Literally at the starting party at the start and none of the events are interactable with

So I went to Pulura's Fall for the Angel Path Mythic quest stuff at level 11. Pretty simple for the most part...until I got that 21 Daggers quest. I'm not sure what I was expecting when I completed it...but I didn't expect to get 23,000+ exp in one go. My party immediately leveled up to Level 12. So that was fun.

Now I guess I'm going to the Desolate Hovel to get Mythic Rank 4.

Edit:

Really liking the Angel Path. One problem with my previous melee Azata run was that my Knight Commander mostly just used Pounce charge against all foes. With this Oracle Angel Knight Commander I've got more options. Though admittedly I have taken to spamming Bolt of Justice. That spell made the dragon hunt in Act III a pushover compared to my previous run. That dragon never had a chance to inflict any damage on my party — I had Protection From Fire Communal up so the fire breath did nothing and I didn't give it a chance to attempt melee attacks. It felt pretty cathartic chasing the dragon to the top of the tower when it tried to flee and finishing it off with one more Bolt.

Edited by M84 on Aug 25th 2023 at 12:04:39 AM

And now I've got Storm of Justice.

...If Bolt was busted, then an area of effect Bolt is super busted. It even does full damage against swarms. I haven't even played around with maximizing or empowering rods yet.

I feel like I'm using the fucking Hammer of Dawn in a crpg.

Finally got the game to let me pass the intro.

Child of the Manticore shifter is broken AF? Like, level 5, you have 6 attacks per turn? Im level 11 now, and the damage output this puts out is insane. You get so many attribute bonus each spike is like 1d8+20 damage, and there's 6 or 7 of them! It's like you're a machinegun. I turned off turn based mode for the tavern defense and it took 2 min to complete and it was like watching Normandy D-Day beach storming. Going Azata coz I never did the azata plotline, but im picturing someone going trickster/legend as a child of the manticore and how you'd break the game in two that way. use the trickster feats to get insane crit range on the spikes, then tackle a few levels of fighter and slayer or rogue for sneak attack damage on the spikes?

Edited by Ghilz on Aug 26th 2023 at 1:37:29 PM

It's a DLC class, it better have something op to offer.

Heck, Ulbrig's unique Griffon form — while not as broken as the Manticore — is still pretty powerful. It's got a unique Charge that lets him ignore obstacles in the way and he learns Pounce around level 9 or so. So Ulbrig can basically leap on to any enemy from anywhere and maul it to death.

Edited by M84 on Aug 27th 2023 at 2:45:55 AM

yeah I know about Ulbrig I got him too. He's fine. The charge is nice though the game is sometimes jank about what it considers his line of sight but then again that's also true for ranged characters sometimes..

But trust me he's got nothing on the Manticore. The huge number of attacks, along side the fact that they are ranged so they don't "waste" attacks as much when an enemy dies leads to some absurd shit. And like I said, part of me wonders how insane shit gets when its "optimised"

And that's Blackwater dungeon done a second time. Still as bad as I remember from my previous playthrough.

It was easier this time at least. Sure, most of my attacks still whiffed against the augmented demons, but at least Storm and Bolt of Justice were as reliable as ever. And the boss was a total pushover this time since I had Dimension Door ready.

I'm starting to see why Grave Singer has such a reputation. The special effect isn't all that interesting, but that crit range and multiplier? Hoo boy. Even the fact it's only +2 isn't a big deal in a game where Greater Magic Weapon is a thing.

I imagine it'd be even sillier if I was a Trickster, considering the crit shenanigans the Trickster can pull off.

Finished Act 3 for my second playthrough on Core. The Midnight Fane was (like everything else so far) way easier despite being on a higher difficulty setting now that I know how powerful attacks of opportunity are. Being able to spam Bolts and Storms of Justice maximized with the Devouring Lust rod helps immensely too.

Tackling the two secret encounters in the Midnight Fane in Act 3 before getting more levels or Mythic Ranks was an experience. This time around I was at level 15 and had Mythic 4. The swarms weren't too bad thanks to Storm of Justice. It was still a hassle since I had forgotten they Confuse you. But after trying again and applying Unbreakable Heart it was a pushover.

Playful Darkness...I had forgotten how vicious it was in melee. I had also forgotten to bring more Dispel Magic users. Still, with Death Wards making everything else a non-issue, Guarded Hearth, other buffs, and maximized Bolt / Storm of Justice, the Playful Darkness went down. It did manage to kill Camellia though (fortunately I had Raise Dead).

Now I'm going into Act 4 again. I gotta admit, I'm not all that thrilled. Navigating the city is honestly one of the low points of this game.

Edited by M84 on Sep 4th 2023 at 2:08:06 AM

Act IV done on my Angel run.

It...actually wasn't that bad this time? I still remembered where everything was and how to navigate the city. I also had Ember in my party at all times so I could Dimension Door for loot.

This time around I made a point of rushing for Mythic Rank 6, then going back to tackle the rest of Act IV's content with the increased power. I also made sure not to miss out on the secret achievement "Abyssal Conspiracy". I was unpleasantly surprised in my previous run when I found out too late that I had locked myself out of it.

One thing that was still as bad as I remember were those. Damn. Crystals. A hard to resist aoe stun, high health, and petrifying attacks? The only strategy I could think of using was summoning Creeping Doom swarms to distract the clusters while spamming Storm and Bolt of Justice.

Baphomet was pretty easy this time too. I didn't even play optimally — I forgot to activate Sword of Heaven beforehand. Still, the Bolts of Justice did the job.

By the end of Act IV my party's already at level 19 and at Mythic Rank 7 (soon to be 8). The builds are nearly complete now. My Angel Oracle in particular finally got Greater Enduring Spells, meaning all of his 1 minute / level buffs are now 24 hour buffs.

Edit:

I also took out that one bonus boss dragon in the mines and got the achievement for beating it on Core. I actually messed up this time — I forgot to use AC lowering stuff and kept whiffing. Fortunately, Bolt of Justice carried the day again.

Edited by M84 on Sep 11th 2023 at 12:13:00 AM

Got level 20 last night. Combined with Mythic Rank 8, that means I've got level 10 spells in my merged Angel spellbook.

NGL, having Army of Heaven, Fortress of the Faithful, Ward against Weakness Communal, Burst of Glory, Holy Hymn, Eagle Soul, and a whole bunch of other buffs on my Knight Commander and party all at once — all at 24 hours duration — is pretty great.

The only thing my Knight Commander can't do is cast Haste. I'm kind of wishing I specced so that he could, since that would mean I could have 24 hour duration Haste on my party too.

So yeah, with all of that Iz was a breeze. Deskari himself only lasted a couple of rounds. I'm not sure he actually dealt any damage to my party either.

Gonna hit the Ineluctable Prison next. Right now I'm prioritizing getting Angel Mythic 9. Unfortunately, unlike Azata, I have to actually progress through the story dungeons in Act 5 to do so.

I'll hold off on how I feel about Angel vs. Azata after I actually finish this playthrough.

Trailer for "Lord of Nothing", the 2nd part of "Through the Ashes"

Looks like the protagonists get to meet.

Edited by Ghilz on Sep 28th 2023 at 2:30:53 PM

I'll keep an eye out for that dlc.

On another note, I beat the Enigma again, and this time I got the Grain of Sand achievement. My better party build made the fighting much easier, but the dungeon was still pretty annoying.

Started another run, aiming for full Trickster this time. I'm about to tackle Drezen again.

This run if anything has been even smoother so far than my previous run. I've also been using rtwp more often for fights, mostly so I can start them off with a mass Charge.

I've also finally realized that the easiest way to handle enemies that drain levels and stats is to just send one party member instead of the whole party. A single Death Ward scroll or cast is all that's needed to trivialize such encounters. My main equipped with Finnean riding a mount (meaning two Death Wards are needed for both) could even handle the Ashberry Hamlet bonus fight encounter all by herself. Granted, that encounter was a bit trickier since said boss ghost tries to start off a fight with a Rift of Ruin. But I got lucky — I started off with a Charge to get right in its face, then got lucky crits that took it out in one round before it could do anything. Afterwards, the Corpulent Spectres accompanying it tried to drain stats and levels to no avail thanks to Death Ward.

Oh man, Persuasion Trick 2 is almost too good. So many encounters are a joke (fitting I guess for a Trickster) when they start off with the enemies paralyzed. Even if they break out of it in one round, that one round gives your party a huge advantage.

Fought against Playful Darkness again. This time was probably the easiest and cheesiest. I didn't realize until now that Playful Darkness can't actually hurt the summoned Spider Swarms from Creeping Doom. That combined with Mark of Justice made him ridiculously easy. He wasted his turns dealing 0 damage to the Spider Swarms while they kept eating away at him and his stats.

Ah, The Lord of Nothing DLC was released. I'm gonna hold off on getting it for now until I finish my current playthrough.

It also came with a patch and new Mythic abilities and feats I think? I'll look those up on my next playthrough too — my current one is already level 20 and Mythic 9.

New Archetype. Dunno if it added any new mythic stuff.

New archetype for every class

Seems the general consensus of the various changes is that they somewhat nerfed blaster builds.

Ah well, I never really liked that kind of gameplay anyway. My next build after my current Trickster run will be giving Aeon Monk a try.

Edited by M84 on Nov 24th 2023 at 5:19:39 PM

so there's new mythic stuff. Including a mythic feat to make heavy armor viable. So that's nice. Lets you add your str mod to your AC when using heavy armor, unlimited by the armor's max dex bonus to AC.