Advice for character creation

[Riffle]

Can anyone give me any advice for character creation for a fun story experience? I am familiar with D&D 5e and used to be familiar with 3.5 so I thought this would be somewhat familiar to me but character creation is already stressing me out and I feel lost.

I really don't feel the need to make the most powerful character or anything so if there are any races / classes that give a more entertaining story then I am very interested. That being said... I have read that this ruleset is less forgiving than D&D so I would like to avoid making a character who is total trash if I can.

I was leaning towards alchemist just because that's something I haven't seen in D&D but I usually play more charisma based characters because I like being able to advance dialogue possibilities in computer games. Any advice?

Thanks in advance

[talemore]

Lucky Luke

monster tactic inquisition.

Pathfinder has guns but they're not in the game.

Gunslinger is a class in pathfinder but for now. enjoy the best class in the game.

You're a cowboy and you know how to use long range weapons and daggers.

You came to the court because a druid wolf been eating the cows.

You're a friend of nature and walks with your trusty companion dog.

Your faith is Erastil who believes on the countryside and hates cities.

You know how to handle animals and how to summon them.

[Frostfeather]

I'd say to go with what seems fun to you, then just don't multiclass much, if at all. If there's anything that's going to gimp your character, it would be taking too many different classes without having a decent understanding of the system.

Fortunately for you, it just so happens that Alchemists are very strong in Kingmaker and very popular partly for that reason (Vivisectionist and Grenadier are particularly popular, decide if you like Sneak Attacks or Bombs better). And you can easily still be good at Persuasion even if it's not a class skill. You can have decent starting Charisma and later, there is headgear that increases all mental Ability Scores, so you'll get both the Int and Charisma you want at the same time. Plus other gear/Feats for Persuasion.

Most of the time, the game uses the highest Persuasion in the group, and a number of companions have Persuasion. So you don't even need it at all. And if you're really stuck on this idea of having it on the main character, you can effectively "homebrew" your character by using a mod to change your Persuasion to what it would be if you'd been able to take Int to Persuasion Traits (a fancy way of saying to cheat for what would have been available in tabletop).

Or maybe even use a mod that adds Traits. You have a number of options.

[Drivol]

Alchemist is not a bad choice. Depends on the difficulty level you are playing at. The game is over if the main character dies, so a ranged main will last longer than melee ones unless you perfect your build. The archetypes can help make things more interesting, which combines the class with cleric, fighter or rogue talents. If you really like the dialog aspects of the game, you can always train persuasion and give your main the skill focus persuasion feat. As a matter of fact, certain dialog/character is only available for the main character who has the skill, so its worth the investment. I'd also say that trickery is a nice complementary skill to take as an alchemist, as you will need to open locks in the game. (plus certain treasure chests in town ONLY the main can open). Kingmaker is quite unforgiving when it comes to knowing which container is locked or unlocked, and once the check fails, you can't try again until you level up. Having a backup lock picker is nice to prevent constant save scumming.

[Immortal Reaver]

There is Alchemist missable companion in chapter 1 (recruited on 5 - 7 level). So if you want to do Charisma character you can and still get to play Alchemist, just later.
Paladin, Sorcerer, Bard, Eldritch Scion Magus and Scaled Fist Monk are only calsses that use Charisma.

Out of them archetype Sylvan Sorcerer is easiest to play as first pick and not get wrong IF YOU READ WHAT YOUR SPELL DO, AND THEIR LIMITATION. For example Sleep only affects 4HD of creatures, it becomes useless after lvl 3, and sorcerer cannot change spells.
Animal Companion will greatly help with encumberance and with combat.
Rays (Fire Ray, Hellfire Ray) use DEX and need Point Blank Shot and Precise Shot feats.
There are Green Thumbs up next to stat that are important for class.

[forkofspite]

One of the magus archtypes is based on charisma - but, in case it matters, one of the potential companions is that class.

[Mork]

A grenadier would be a great choice but one of the companion is a base alchemist. So a high STR melee alchemist vivisectionist would be something to consider if you don't want to overlap.

[Riffle]

Thanks for all the helpful answers everyone. I now know what I am going to do and can make an informed decision.

That being said:

Originally posted by talemore:

Lucky Luke

monster tactic inquisition.

Pathfinder has guns but they're not in the game.

Gunslinger is a class in pathfinder but for now. enjoy the best class in the game.

You're a cowboy and you know how to use long range weapons and daggers.

You came to the court because a druid wolf been eating the cows.

You're a friend of nature and walks with your trusty companion dog.

Your faith is Erastil who believes on the countryside and hates cities.

You know how to handle animals and how to summon them.

Are you drunk?

[granada777]

I'm playing a pure Bard and it's great, you can't mess up this build. You'll be the team's buffer (Inspire Courage song, Good Hope, Blur, Haste, etc), and can a specialist enemy disabler if you take Enchantment-boosting feats and equipment. His spells use Charisma as their save modifier so as long as you max CHA during creation and at level ups, you're OK.

You'll be the worst damage dealer in the team. But if you select the Thundercaller subclass, you trade a couple of songs for a great AOE damage+stun bard performance (so unlike a spell, at level 10 you can use it 40 times per rest).

You'll still need to look up guides so you don't mess up the companions. This is a great guide because it doesn't try to optimize too much, most companions stay single-classed or play the same as the original class but with more defense: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/pc/242460-pathfinder-kingmaker/faqs/78307/main-campaign-companions

You can respec at the tavern later on, so just do whatever you want until you're at the capital's tavern.