Pathfinder CRPG: A portmanteau of meatshield and death. It's a lich build after all.

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Pathfinder CRPG: A portmanteau of meatshield and death. It's a lich build after all.

Fritz the Horse: Dec 26, 2019; ... of course!

New to this game, true to Baldur's Gate style form I've rerolled a ton and spent way too much time theorycrafting builds. I think I've settled on something like:

1 Monk
4 Knife Master (Rogue)
5 Duelist
10 Vivisectionist (Alchemist)

with a sai for Flurry of Blows attacks. Probably go Motherless Tiefling for the extra bite attack? Alchemist feral mutagen gets me an additional bite and a claw attack, Knife Master a bunch of 1d8 sneak attacks and good AC from Monk and Duelist. General idea is a high-AC tank with a ton of attacks.

edit: Aasimar would give a lot better Dex and Cha or Wis than Motherless, the extra bite is probably not worth the worse stats.

Fritz the Horse fucked around with this message at 23:18 on Jul 20, 2020

# ¿ Jul 20, 2020 23:12

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# ¿ Apr 26, 2024 21:20

Fritz the Horse: Dec 26, 2019; ... of course!

I'm on the main quest bit tracking down the "seeds" infecting people, fighting through the big Goblin Fort. My party is level 10. About how far into the game am I?

So far it's alright. The combat (turn-based mode which feels right) is challenging but mostly in a good way once I got the hang of the system. My main complaints are how many repetitive trash mob fights there are and the writing is rather bland. Probably the closest recent game to compare it to is Pillars of Eternity and PoE has much much better characters and storyline.

# ¿ Aug 2, 2020 01:32

Fritz the Horse: Dec 26, 2019; ... of course!

Tindahbawx posted:

This is turning out to be one of those games where I keep making new characters in an endless loop and not actually playing the game, because I go and read some poo poo about a cool build.

FYI You can do a full respec for free, I think I was around level 7 when that became an option? Maybe earlier. Not long after you set up your own barony.

# ¿ Sep 2, 2020 22:00

Fritz the Horse: Dec 26, 2019; ... of course!

I completely forgot to do the Varnhold DLC.

I just started Chapter 5 (The Twice Born Warlord). Can I still do the Varnhold DLC or should I have done that right when Varnhold Vanishing started?

# ¿ Sep 6, 2020 19:09

Fritz the Horse: Dec 26, 2019; ... of course!

JamMasterJim posted:

You have to do it before you actually enter the town during Varnhold vanishing chapter, IIRC . Most people do it when the Bloom ends.

Dammit. I'm annoyed that it never popped up a message "hey do the DLC now."

I'm not enjoying this game enough to roll back to a save right after the Bloom. Oh well.

# ¿ Sep 6, 2020 19:18

Fritz the Horse: Dec 26, 2019; ... of course!

Drunk Driver Dad posted:

Can someone help me understand this game and the timers or whatever? I remember reading they generally aren't an issue, but in Act 1, I just kind of enjoyed myself, explored a little and got familiar with it, but just barely beat the Stag Lord with about 1 or 2 days to spare, which could have sucked(isn't that game over?) I'm not sure if I'm missing something, but anytime I travel anywhere, I have to rest like 1-3 times depending on how long it is, and that eats up a lot of time.

I'm in Act 2 now, Troll Trouble is the main quest AFAIK. Got a little confused with what I needed to do, but I figured it out and now have the Troll den place on my map. However, I also noticed I have about a month before the bald hilltop curse thing reaches full power. Is there some kind of trap that can end my game here? I set all my kingdom stuff to automatic because I'm not interested in that.

Are you resting as soon as your party is fatigued?

Maybe I'm doing it wrong but I always ignored the popup "everyone is fatigued want to rest?" and kept going until a few party members were exhausted and a couple of the shorties were overencumbered from the strength penalty.

edit: the Fatigued condition isn't bad, you'll be fine with random monster encounters though I wouldn't do harder fights with it. Exhausted is pretty crippling, though. I push my party until a few are Exhausted, then rest.

Fatigued is -2 to STR and DEX. Not too bad.
Exhausted is -6 to STR and DEX and halved movement speed. Linzy, Jubilost, other characters with low STR will become overencumbered and cannot move at all.

Also, if you're hunting that takes a lot of time. You can click "use rations" and that will shorten your rest time but consumes rations.

Fritz the Horse fucked around with this message at 00:29 on Sep 7, 2020

# ¿ Sep 7, 2020 00:24

Fritz the Horse: Dec 26, 2019; ... of course!

Drunk Driver Dad posted:

I mean, I didn't spend some crazy amount of time exploring around that I recall. I was probably just resting too much, I guess. I did swap the game to beta to use turn based before the official patch came out, but I don't think anything buggy happened that I'm aware of. Who knows. If I can, I'm going to use the bag of tricks mod to try and mitigate some of the time wasting stuff. Maybe using the bag of tricks mod for free rations, and lowering carry weight will help enough to make the time limits not a big deal.

All that said, the time limit thing still isn't clear, I need to know if I'm currently hosed or not. I am at the point in the main quest in act 2 where I need to clear the troll lair out, and I have about 2 weeks before the bald hilltop curse reaches full power. Am I screwed, or is this not a game ending type event?

You're fine just go deal with the trolls right away.

This game is... rough in a lot of ways. Think of it like the original Baldur's Gate (not BG2: Shadows of Amn). Lots of outdoor stuff, kinda rocky, but there's something there that makes you want to reroll endlessly.

# ¿ Sep 7, 2020 03:33

Fritz the Horse: Dec 26, 2019; ... of course!

Jubilost eventually can get a feat that allows him to chuck multiple bombs per round, same number as attacks he'd have instead of just one. They basically always hit and there's a few items that increase bomb damage and DC so he gets really ridiculous. IMO the most powerful companion.

Magus gets really tanky when you buff them up. Shield, Mirror Image, Barkskin, etc. Tankier than Valerie, even. 4 levels of Dragon Disciple for Reggie is a good pick.

# ¿ Sep 9, 2020 18:42

Fritz the Horse: Dec 26, 2019; ... of course!

DeathSandwich posted:

Yeah, I just hit level 7 so I'm getting to the point of the 3.5 / pathfinder "melee scale linearly, casters scale exponentially" spectrum where buff durations, spell slots and scaling are really allowing me to play with the big boys a lot easier than I had been. Walking up and ganking someone with a crit shocking grasp is hilarious.

I haven't had a whole lot of time to get acquainted with it, but I'm also really really liking the kineticist companion so far. I like that they didn't just flatly rip off 3.5 warlock and they went in a really interesting different direction with it. The damage seems surprisingly good even if you're not pushing burn for the extra effects. Them being classed and geared separate is both really neat and also kind of frustrating at the same time because now I need to scrounge up another constitution belt and armor and the like.

In case you haven't figured this out already, I recommend toggling off turn-based mode for generic trash mobs. Unfortunately the game throws a lot of repetitive, relatively easy fights at you and it's tedious and unnecessary to do that in turn-based.

# ¿ Sep 9, 2020 19:10

Fritz the Horse: Dec 26, 2019; ... of course!

You can just Enlarge Amiri and then she effectively has reach with her bastard sword. And it's pretty in character to have a Giant Angry Amiri.

# ¿ Sep 10, 2020 13:26

Fritz the Horse: Dec 26, 2019; ... of course!

Node posted:

Anybody have advice for someone completely new to Pathfinder? I've never played a game with it.

I'm looking for tips on how to build characters. The only thing I want is to have a paladin as my main character.

The metagame is complicated and really tough to anyone unfamiliar with this particular edition of Pathfinder.

It's sorta like Baldur's Gate where you need to know a ridiculous amount of poo poo to make your character good.

Also there are a lot of boring trash mob fights. A LOT. Ideally, you want a party that rolls through trash mobs but is good at painstakingly round-by-round taking apart boss fights which are actually hard.

# ¿ Sep 12, 2020 07:03

Fritz the Horse: Dec 26, 2019; ... of course!

DeathSandwich posted:

Ekun and Nok Nok already do the finely diced chunks thing without much provoking.

I respecced Octavia and dropped rogue to 1 with the improved sneak attack feat and then dropped her straight into arcane trickster and she's a beast now. The moment I get two melee on anything she pitches empowered scorching rays or the force blasts and it falls over dead. She was a lifesaver against the greatsword cyclopses in the tomb.

I think I ran into another bug though. With Nok Nok, he's got like a +8 mod to dexterity, but when I throw my suit of +3 padded armor on him his AC goes down because for some strange reason padded armor on him caps his dex armor mod to +3. Unless there's something about it I'm missing. I just wound up giving him a set of +4 bracers of armor and his AC is 5 higher than with the Padded armor +3.

So without spoiling anything about the new campaign, what are all of the known companion classes thus far? I kind of want to play something separate from what is already available as a companion. I never take Regongar for anything because my MC is a Magus and they just step on each others toes in terms of capabilities.

edit: nm, it's probably encumbrance and you're asking about the new campaign, I missed that bit

Fritz the Horse fucked around with this message at 17:42 on Sep 21, 2020

# ¿ Sep 21, 2020 17:37

Fritz the Horse: Dec 26, 2019; ... of course!

Cantorsdust posted:

Again for those who are wanting more time to gently caress around and explore, if it�s really bothering you like it does me that there is a theoretical time limit (even if practically it is long enough that you can easily do everything before the game ends), then get Bag of Tricks and Kingdom Resolution and pause the quests and the Kingdom timeline. Then you can gently caress around to your heart�s content.

Another two related points on kingdom management:

You can access kingdom management outside your capital in regions you have annexed, so you won't always need to travel all the way back to the throne room to handle events.

It's totally okay to miss out on or ignore some problems and opportunities. You really really don't want to put off the main quest and Ancient Curse because they start slamming you with a bunch of point losses if you wait too long to resolve them.

# ¿ Oct 14, 2020 20:19

Fritz the Horse: Dec 26, 2019; ... of course!

JamMasterJim posted:

Scorching ray and autocasting acid splash for damage.
Grease and Pits for Reflex based CC. Web for reflex and slowing opponents. Stinking cloud for Fortitude based CC.
Blur and Enlarge Person for buffs. Also , invisibility for ranged sneaks without flanking.
Summon monster for emergency bait/distraction may be considered, but you should have a cleric throwing Animate dead at this point as well.

Stinking Cloud + Delay Poison (Communal) is an ace CC combo

# ¿ Oct 19, 2020 22:34

Fritz the Horse: Dec 26, 2019; ... of course!

Node posted:

Am I doing something wrong if I don't multiclass my characters? I'm new to Pathfinder, and I don't know any of the classes that combine well, besides a paladin/scaled fist monk.

I'm no Pathfinder expert, but:

Casters will want to go mostly pure class, you'll gimp your spellcasting too much if you're multiclassing a bunch. One level of Monk for Cha/Wis casters does help with AC for unarmored casters, if you want. Regongar only loses one caster level going 4 levels of Dragon Disciple.

Martial characters make more sense to multi-class, what's your PC set up so far? A few levels of Vivisectionist is very nice for martial types, that gets you sneak attack, mutagen, and a bite if you want. 4 Vivisectionist is a good place to stop.

I don't think Paladin dip is worth it. 2 levels get you Cha bonus to saves which is... nice, but 2 levels is a big investment for a so-so reward.

Most of the companions are fine just going straight class with the big exception of Octavia. She very badly wants to go Arcane Trickster.

# ¿ Oct 25, 2020 18:02

Fritz the Horse: Dec 26, 2019; ... of course!

This is a really good but extremely grognardy/minmax character build guide with a bunch of builds for companions and PC: https://www.gog.com/forum/pathfinder_kingmaker/ineffects_guide_v2/page1

Just follow some of those if you want really strong builds without trying to memorize a bunch of Pathfinder minutiae yourself.

# ¿ Oct 25, 2020 18:13

Fritz the Horse: Dec 26, 2019; ... of course!

Guildenstern Mother posted:

So I'm doing my end of chapter two wanders and I've come on two areas that I seemed over leveled for up until the last fight. First one was the three iron golems in the tomb, and the other was a giant serpent in a cave called crag something. Am I not prebuffing properly or are these meant for later?

Those are tough but doable fights. You just have to use the right buffs and tools.

The crag linnorm can only be killed with cold iron. Don't bother trying to fight it unless you bring a couple cold iron weapons and equip them in an alternate slot. You'll get it to low HP but won't be able to finish it off without cold iron.

It's basically a kind of dragon. Buff your party with the cleric/wizard spells to resist fire damage, that will help massively. You can always come back later you're not missing anything much by skipping it for now.

# ¿ Oct 25, 2020 20:52

Fritz the Horse: Dec 26, 2019; ... of course!

Guildenstern Mother posted:

Thanks, I figured out the delay poison trick, and I just got force bombs on jubilost, so we'll go back and see what's up with that. I think I have to go somewhere else anyways, there's a big door that said something about a key between two rivers and the strongest so I think it might be story gated or I have to go find a mcguffin.

yes, that comes up much later

# ¿ Oct 25, 2020 21:34

Fritz the Horse: Dec 26, 2019; ... of course!

Excelzior posted:

Spells that make you check your Reflex, Fortitude or Willpower saves have a Difficulty Class - that is the number being checked against the save roll. Those are DC spells.

As a magus you have a DC of 10 + Spell's level + Stat modifier
As an Eldritch Scion, Reggie uses Charisma instead of Intelligence (Eldritch Scion is to the Sorcerer as the base Magus is to the Wizard)
So Reggie's DC will be 10 + Spell's level + his Charisma modifier

The problem with using DC spells is that Reggie is a melee fighter who will also need to have high Strength (and thus a high attack bonus) to actually land blows and get the most of the free attacks he gets with Spellstrike. It's hard to progress in both of the necessary stats (STR and CHA) enough - especially on the higher difficulties where endgame monsters get ridiculous saves and a DC in the high 30's or 40's is required to reliably land spells

You're better off using direct damage spells that don't have a DC with all of the Magus type.

Also doesn't magus have slower spell progression and a more nuke-focused spell list as opposed to CC spells? IIRC magus only gets up to level 6 spells.

# ¿ Nov 9, 2020 00:45

Fritz the Horse: Dec 26, 2019; ... of course!

I'm just starting Act II, doing the melee sorc build with Lich path.

I kind of want to try an Ecclesitheurge of Erastil with Animal, Community domains then pick up Nobility domain with mythic feat. That's gonna end up an absurd amount of support plus you can mount your animal companion to be pretty tanky.

# ¿ Oct 7, 2021 00:44

Fritz the Horse: Dec 26, 2019; ... of course!

FuzzySlippers posted:

You're gonna be weaker than just going arcane caster. I rarely rest and I still have way more spells to cast than I need as a Lich. Adding Theurge is just a lot more spells you probably won't get around to casting and you are giving up a *lot* of spell DC that can break through those insane later game defenses.

If this is core or higher than I think making a support MC is a bad idea. Your MC has unique options that can make them very powerful compared to your party. Better to lean into what they can do specifically and let your party play support or fill in the cracks. The idea of being flexible is fun but in practice you are limited by action economy. You can do 1-3 things a turn and on harder difficulties those should be impactful.

If it's normal or lower than you have a lot more room to do whatever since your mythic stuff builds to a huge advantage regardless.

Oh I didn't mean adding ecclesitheurge levels to the melee sorc, I meant it would be an interesting standalone option.

I'm pretty much going with the Ineffect neoseeker build. Playing on Core difficulty.

edit: Lann with Animal domain added through mythic feats is great for a cleric anyway.

Fritz the Horse fucked around with this message at 01:36 on Oct 7, 2021

# ¿ Oct 7, 2021 01:33

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# ¿ Apr 26, 2024 21:20

Fritz the Horse: Dec 26, 2019; ... of course!

Are summons in Crusade battles broken? I'm just starting out some fights with my crusader army, my general leveled up and got Summon Monster VIII. I use it, animation plays, a pair of wings appear and it... does absolutely nothing.

edit: Glitterdust also does nothing.

Fritz the Horse fucked around with this message at 03:21 on Oct 8, 2021

# ¿ Oct 8, 2021 03:13

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Pathfinder CRPG: A portmanteau of meatshield and death. It's a lich build after all.