Pathfinder Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous Beta Thread [GAME RELEASED, GO TO NEW THREAD]

[Daidre]

and Blasts are 3/4

Early game is not a big difference. Mid game it's a problem, I agree. Late game it's irrelevant, you never target AC anyway.

Kineticist gets +1 attack and +2 damage/every 3 levels (needs AB bonus = burn for it) from the Elemental Overflow ability that is designed to compensate for the loss of +x weapon enchantment progression. And the same Overflow ability also gives Size bonus to DEX/STR/CON.

Beside, Attack and Damage bonuses from Amulets of Mighty/Agile fists affect kinetic blasts too so together with Elemental Overflow Kineticist could get his AB really high even comparing to full bab classes with +5 weapon. (Could be a bug or oversight of course)

 

[Lawntoilet]

Weapon itemization is much improved compared to early Kingmaker.
Way fewer +1 generic items, way more choice of weapon type, and way more special effects.
For example there is a cool (but expensive) falcata you can buy that is designed for a Dazzling Disploomer build (does 1d8 damage to any foe intimidated by a Dazzling Display).
Lots of weapons with special effects on crits too.

 

[Desiderius]

Bowling infusion, and it's the only one that matters.

Good to see we're in agreement then. I'm not sure what the point of everything else is.

 

[Desiderius]

Beside, Attack and Damage bonuses from Amulets of Mighty/Agile fists affect kinetic blasts too so together with Elemental Overflow Kineticist could get his AB really high even comparing to full bab classes with +5 weapon. (Could be a bug or oversight of course)

That changes things. Didn't know that.

This is of course very strong:

That's Kalikke trying out her new Diadem at lvl 13. It's also a Composite Blast, which isn't something you're spamming until late, and Big Cleavers can get similar numbers in a level or two.

 

[Lilliput McHammersmith]

Does anyone know if you can hire mercenaries in the Alpha?

 

[Haplo]

Well, Magnetic Infusion is really nice for party play. Particularly in early game.

Could see Synaptic useful for scary enemies... then again, there are usually better CC options available.

 

[Lawntoilet]

Does anyone know if you can hire mercenaries in the Alpha?

You can hire them after you get to the Crusader camp (once you finish the Grey Garrison assault) but I don't know if you can get them any earlier than that.

 

[Lilliput McHammersmith]

Does anyone know if you can hire mercenaries in the Alpha?

You can hire them after you get to the Crusader camp (once you finish the Grey Garrison assault) but I don't know if you can get them any earlier than that.

The Grey Garrison assault is the first five minutes right? You're talking about the Tavern, or do you go back to the Grey Garrison?

 

[Lawntoilet]

Does anyone know if you can hire mercenaries in the Alpha?

You can hire them after you get to the Crusader camp (once you finish the Grey Garrison assault) but I don't know if you can get them any earlier than that.

The Grey Garrison assault is the first five minutes right? You're talking about the Tavern, or do you go back to the Grey Garrison?

You go back to the Garrison, it's the climax of Chapter 1.
Sorry if that was a spoiler but Irabeth starts talking about it with you pretty shortly after you start exploring the city.
There may be someone in the tavern area that you can hire from, I never found them but I also wasn't looking to hire mercs.

 

[Desiderius]

Well, Magnetic Infusion is really nice for party play. Particularly in early game.

Could see Synaptic useful for scary enemies... then again, there are usually better CC options available.

Like this:

Kin is a fine, if uneven, class. There are lots of them in P:K. Saying it's the strongest doesn't make sense, unless you're referring to the persistent AoE, but that's not just Kin.

 

[Desiderius]

There may be someone in the tavern area that you can hire from, I never found them but I also wasn't looking to hire mercs.

It's not a merc kind of game. There are more than enough Companions to scratch whatever itch you have.

If you're wanting to play IWD in every game until you die, I'm sure they'll be added, and suck, at some later date.

 

[Lilliput McHammersmith]

There may be someone in the tavern area that you can hire from, I never found them but I also wasn't looking to hire mercs.

It's not a merc kind of game. There are more than enough Companions to scratch whatever itch you have.

If you're wanting to play IWD in every game until you die, I'm sure they'll be added, and suck, at some later date.

Sure, but some people like making their own mercs. Nothing wrong with it.

In Kingmaker, Amiri is one of the most annoying people in the world, so it makes sense to replace her with someone far more palatable. Her VA is like nails on a chalkboard.

 

[NJClaw]

There may be someone in the tavern area that you can hire from, I never found them but I also wasn't looking to hire mercs.

It's not a merc kind of game. There are more than enough Companions to scratch whatever itch you have.

If you're wanting to play IWD in every game until you die, I'm sure they'll be added, and suck, at some later date.

Sure, but some people like making their own mercs. Nothing wrong with it.

In Kingmaker, Amiri is one of the most annoying people in the world, so it makes sense to replace her with someone far more palatable. Her VA is like nails on a chalkboard.

You will never be able to persuade Desiderius on this one.

He hates mercenaries so much you would think one of them stole his fiancée.

 

[Lawntoilet]

Personally I don't really like playing with mercs either, but in a game with as many build possibilities as Pathfinder I think it's a fine feature to have.
The Tenebrous Depths scratches that itch now in Kingmaker, but before it came out mercs were the easiest way to try out things without starting the game over.

 

[Lilliput McHammersmith]

There may be someone in the tavern area that you can hire from, I never found them but I also wasn't looking to hire mercs.

It's not a merc kind of game. There are more than enough Companions to scratch whatever itch you have.

If you're wanting to play IWD in every game until you die, I'm sure they'll be added, and suck, at some later date.

Sure, but some people like making their own mercs. Nothing wrong with it.

In Kingmaker, Amiri is one of the most annoying people in the world, so it makes sense to replace her with someone far more palatable. Her VA is like nails on a chalkboard.

You will never be able to persuade Desiderius on this one.

He hates mercenaries so much you would think one of them stole his fiancée.

It's just funny. Who said anything about IWD? The first game had mercs, so it makes sense to ask if the second game's Alpha does as well. It's a dumb thing to get upset over, anyways. It's an optional feature.

Not to mention, basically every D&D game until Baldur's Gate had you making your own companions.

 

[Desiderius]

Sure, but some people like making their own mercs. Nothing wrong with it.

In Kingmaker, Amiri is one of the most annoying people in the world, so it makes sense to replace her with someone far more palatable. Her VA is like nails on a chalkboard.

And then she gets her just desserts. If you're too impatient to get to that part, there are 11 other companions.

The companions are an integral part of the design whether you like it or not. All y'all are missing the whole point of restrictions and how they pleasurably spur creativity.

If you want complete freedom to do whatever shit you want, there's always RL.

 

[Lilliput McHammersmith]

Sure, but some people like making their own mercs. Nothing wrong with it.

In Kingmaker, Amiri is one of the most annoying people in the world, so it makes sense to replace her with someone far more palatable. Her VA is like nails on a chalkboard.

And then she gets her just desserts. If you're too impatient to get to that part, there are 11 other companions.

The companions are an integral part of the design whether you like it or not. All y'all are missing the whole point of restrictions and how they pleasurably spur creativity.

If you want complete freedom to do whatever shit you want, there's always RL.

I mean clearly not. They offer the mercs, so it can't be that integral. And the mercs have restrictions as well. MC has a 25 point-buy and mercs have a 20 point-buy. Not my fault that Kingmaker's companions suck butt. They have annoying personalities and annoying VAs. Linzi and Amiri are the worst offenders. Tristian and Harrim are pretty ok, as is Jaethal, but they're all pretty meh overall. The only companion that I actually liked as a character was Kaessi/Kinerah.

 

[Desiderius]

I don't like unwarranted assumptions, especially when they impede enjoyable gameplay.

The hurr-durr companions suck crowd are the worst offenders, especially in the context of P:K where the opposite is the case whether you like it or not.

Not only is this game designed around companions, it's designed around switching them in and out skillfully to match up with the different challenges presented by each chapter.

If you're playing mercs you're missing a big chunk of the design and the appeal.

 

[Lawntoilet]

They have annoying personalities and annoying VAs. Linzi and Amiri are the worst offenders.

No, the worst is Octavia and always will be Octavia.
Personally I liked the rest of the companions but I can see how they wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea in terms of personality.

I realize that you're not saying they're mechanically weak, so this is a digression, but I've seen that argument quite a bit too and it's wrong. All the companions can be built effectively.

 

[Lilliput McHammersmith]

I don't like unwarranted assumptions, especially when they impede enjoyable gameplay.

The hurr-durr companions suck crowd are the worst offenders, especially in the context of P:K where the opposite is the case whether you like it or not.

Not only is this game designed around companions, it's designed around switching them in and out skillfully to match up with the different challenges presented by each chapter.

If you're playing mercs you're missing a big chunk of the design and the appeal.

Brah you're making your own unwarranted assumptions.

The companions have bad writing and bad voice-actors. It's bad enough that it put me off the game for a while. Their combat prowess is decent to good. Valerie is a great tank, Amiri is a great off-tank and so is Jaethal. Tristian/Harrim are invaluable for what they offer (especially Tristian). Linzi is a great bard, Octavia and Regognar are great damage outputters, plus Octavia has great utility as well. Too bad their prowess in combat can't overcome their terrible personalities and voice acting. Like I said, Tristian is palatable, as is Harrim and Jaethal. The rest are pretty annoying.

 

[Desiderius]

I mean clearly not. They offer the mercs, so it can't be that integral. And the mercs have restrictions as well. MC has a 25 point-buy and mercs have a 20 point-buy. Not my fault that Kingmaker's companions suck butt. They have annoying personalities and annoying VAs. Linzi and Amiri are the worst offenders. Tristian and Harrim are pretty ok, as is Jaethal, but they're all pretty meh overall. The only companion that I actually liked as a character was Kaessi/Kinerah.

They added the mercs because people whined and cried. Can't believe someone as CE as you are didn't like Nok-nok. There are of course several others you haven't mentioned either. The companion writing is completely consistent with the writing overall - if you don't like that you can jut click through and turn down the voice. De gustibus and all that, but you're in the minority hating the writing so viscerally.

Like I said, I'm sure you'll have your Mercs by release and they'll probably cave and give them a decent buy this time around. And you'll miss about of third of the intended experience.

 

[Lilliput McHammersmith]

Kingmaker has the exact opposite problem as Pillars of Eternity for me. I really enjoyed the companions, but you definitely had an easier time if you hired mercs, because they weren't the most optimized as far as stats go. Still manageable at higher difficulties, but I really liked the characters so I kept them.

 

[Shadenuat]

High difficulties should cap amount of mercs u can make

 

[Lilliput McHammersmith]

I mean clearly not. They offer the mercs, so it can't be that integral. And the mercs have restrictions as well. MC has a 25 point-buy and mercs have a 20 point-buy. Not my fault that Kingmaker's companions suck butt. They have annoying personalities and annoying VAs. Linzi and Amiri are the worst offenders. Tristian and Harrim are pretty ok, as is Jaethal, but they're all pretty meh overall. The only companion that I actually liked as a character was Kaessi/Kinerah.

They added the mercs because people whined and cried. Can't believe someone as CE as you are didn't like Nok-nok. There are of course several others you haven't mentioned either. The companion writing is completely consistent with the writing overall - if you don't like that you can jut click through and turn down the voice.

I have heard that Nok-Nok is great, but I didn't get far enough in to grab him (or maybe I missed him?) I have played KM a lot, but I haven't ever really progressed very far after getting the Barony. Keep restarting with different builds and playing a lot of Tenebrous Depths

 

[Desiderius]

Kingmaker has the exact opposite problem as Pillars of Eternity for me. I really enjoyed the companions, but you definitely had an easier time if you hired mercs, because they weren't the most optimized as far as stats go. Still manageable at higher difficulties, but I really liked the characters so I kept them.

Heh. You do have unique taste then.