Tips for new Players - Party Composition and Companions.

[Biggie]

Hi,

So for those struggling with combat and what not. I have set my enemies to the most difficulty of ratings in both how they act and bonuses and have had zero issues with the game, as a matter of fact its often too easy if you ask me.

First : XP. You can turn off XP for all companions under options and only recieve XP for those in the actual party. This will give you double experience once you have all companions in the party and its massive how much faster you gain levels.
You want to use this cause there is a few companions you likely never will use after act 1.

Companions to use :

There are 2 companions that are so good you will never swap them out.

Valerie and Linzi

Valierie : take 1 level monk at level 2, get Crane Style, get her mobility to rank 3 asap and run her in defensive stance all the time.
Continue with Fighter if you wish, the fighter level 7 ability to not be encumbered by armor AND you can get more dexterity bonus from armor is very nice. Tower Shield however, you will find better heavy shields then tower shields so dont stare blindly at using tower shield. But the extra feats from fighter and the level 5 and 7 marks for tower shield specialist and armor specialist are really good. Movement speed in combat is a BIG deal.

From lvl 9 (7 fighter/1 monk) you can spec her however you want, she cant fail, personally I went stalwart defender but she almost never use the stance so I would probably splash in some rogue for more damage.
Make sure to take all defensive feats and team feats : Dodge, Heavy Armor master, Shield Master, Outflank and precision strike.
Also dont invest into her bastard sword cause she will run with heavy mace from lvl 5 until 20 more or less.

Linzi : Straight up bard. Focus on Arcana, World, Trickery, perception. And the other skill point what you want. Religion is not bad, making Linzi cover all skills in the game you need to roll skill checks for.
Linzis combat buffs stacks with everything, and late game she give everyone +4 dodge ac. She also has some of the best CC spells and get the better part of utility spells such as haste etc. Linzi will cover 3 classes in one since she also get good BAB and as such makes for an excellent marks man and not a too shabby damage dealer.

Regongar : Regongar is a slow starter. He seems weird at start. But once you have him to level 5 magus, then splash in 4 levels of Dragon Disciple (dont go beyond 4 levels) he is an absolute monster. Continue with Scimitar feats cause one of the better magus weapons is scimitar. But other wepons of note is : Duelist Sword : You will find great duelist swords and with it Regongar can pick up aldori defender feat. Kukris : You will inf insane Kukris in the game, Rapiers : You will encounter some very nice rapiers but they are leaned more towards dex based characters.
I would take improved critical on regongar later for scimitar. Yes you can pick Keen from arcane points but why not just add another D6 fire, lightning or frost instead. He will sit on more then enough feats as it is.
After 4 levels of Dragon Disciple continue magus, never a reason to take anything but magus. You can splash in 1 level of rogue for 2d6 sneak with ackomplished sneak attacker. It stacks with precision strikes which you will pick up.

Amiri : First off : Go into fighter with her. 2h fighter is a great choice but normal fighter is also great due to the armor feats. But 2h fighter is not bad. I would take 1 more level barbarian for Lethal Stance but leave her at 2 or maybe 4 for Swift movement.
You can also opt for Ranger on her if you wish. Its really not a bad choice at all. 2h ranger with a pet. Probably the best choice.

But again, weapon focus bastard sword, greater weapon focus, weapon spec, all into bastard sword but AFTER she have outflank and precision strikes.
Splash in some rogue, 2 levels of rogue is not bad.
Do NOT go into Vivisect on her, the bab drop is too much and she do not need those cocktails.
Vivisect alchemist 1 level is in general bad, the extra armor is the only benefit the stat bonuses do not stack with other enchantment bonuses.
You will be glad you went down the bastard sword line later in game. But I recommend you take up all other feats before pumping into bastard sword since early game you do benefit from picking up other weapons, She will likely be using great axes a great deal.
For feats : Its very tempting going into the cleave and greater cleave abilities, I did.
Let me tell you how often they was good : Maybe twice, in the entire game. Focus on single target nuke and defensive feats more then go down the cleave route its just bad. The toughest fights is single target or maybe 2, 3 mobs and cleave wont help, the minus to ac you get from using it on an amiri already lacking ac is too great of a risk.
You will use Amiri late game if you want it or not, you might as well use her from get go.

Ekanduy : Unless your main character is ranger archer, pick Ekan up.
You need ranged dps and Archers get their end game bow at level 5-6 already. If you dont have anyone using Longbow you will miss out on so much damage you have no right to call the game hard. Ekanduy comes with a ton of great skills as well, and can fill in your nature skills. His Camp ability is also great in dungeons if you are low on rations.
If your main character is a ranger archer, dont use Ekan.
Reason is there simply is not any good bows in this game apart from the one you find early. Late late yeah some but 2 pets is too much, dont make it too cheesy. Pets is already op as it is. Besides they tend to take up place for your melee characters but the main thing it makes the game too easy if you run too many with pets.
If your main character is anything but archer, use Ekan.

Main Character tips :
You will have strong tanks in the form of Valerie and later Regongar. Both will sit in the 40s of AC mid game. Amiri you need to position well she is fast and deadly but her AC will be 10 to 15 lower then Regongar and Valerie.

AC is king : AC and saves is what wins the game. Hands down. Linzi will provide everyone with a ton of saves, to hit and extra damage.

For a main character i recommend either a ranged, caster, archer, or a dps tank.

Monks are absurdly good but dont shine until mid game. Reason is monks needs 3 levels of rogue and for best results, 4 levels of rogue to really be powerhouses. Not so much for the sneak attacks but for the level 3 rogue finesse feat, allowing unarmed to do damage based on Dex. This is the ONLY way to get unarmed damage from dex. There are necks in the game, yes but they are +1 and you will find much better necks to use, and the AC from dex matters. Also makes easier to optimize the monk since all you need is Dex, a little bit con, and Wisdom or Charisma.
As Main character go Charisma. Wisdom gives more saves, correct. But you will find more charisma items and also items with charisma that stack with eachother, not much but you will end up with +2-+4 more in charisma stat then its possible to get in wisdom.
Taking 2 levels of Paladin for the saves is not a bad idea, but you will start to lag behind monk levels. For monk make sure your ki power is Bark Skin and Speed. Bark skin is not cumulative with +natural armor items but lasts for hours, and as such you free up slots where you otherwise wanted natural armor.
If you go Monk : Make absolutely sure you are Lawful GOOD. You will thank me later.

Paladin : Paladins is a great class in the game as there are plenty of evil doers. And also quite early some insane Paladin gear to be had.

Any class with a pet will make the game easier, and now Im talking about Smilodons.
Ranger, Druid, Inquisitors. it really puts the game down not just one notch but several.
Not sure if intentional but right now Pets are too strong.

You can play almost whatever you want as Main character you wont go wrong as long as you build the right companions around you. Valerie, Linzi, Regongar, Amiri or Ekun or both, will be a strong backbone to your party. If you build and itemize them correctly you can run around naked through the story in harder difficulties and take in the scenery while they do the job, but more often then not you will be required to assist and what this means you cant go wrong with almost any choice. But some choices make the game easier then others.

The toughest spells to face in game is fear and various poisons.
Paladins I think make for an excellent main character in above party as they also give heals.

So where is the healers : Tristian or Harrim. Both are good, Tristian is op. But after playing the game alot I realized I pop a heal from tristian once here and there. I built up valerie so strong early she even late late game dont even take any damage. Linzis heals was sufficient and as such I stopped going with dedicated healers and doing better since that means more damage.
If you do more burst damage, and the fights are shorter, you need less heals. Simple math.
Hence Paladin fills the gap great, or druid or Inquisitor.

Enough ranting.
Have fun.

[corisai]

Originally posted by Waagabond:

This will give you double experience once you have all companions in the party and its massive how much faster you gain levels.

No, it won't.

Even if you have 10 companions, all XP divided only by 6 (max amount of PC in party).

At least it should work - because this info taken directly from devs posts here.

[corisai]

Originally posted by Waagabond:

Valierie : take 1 level monk at level 2, get Crane Style, get her mobility to rank 3 asap and run her in defensive stance all the time.

Or just take Improved Natural Weapon feat instead of Monk level (she don't get anything from it).

Originally posted by Waagabond:

But again, weapon focus bastard sword, greater weapon focus, weapon spec, all into bastard sword

But... Why? Just @#$% why? Bastard swords are crap. Combine it with DR problem = she will often swap weapons. So no need to waste whole 2 feats only to get a bit "free" damage from her "free" oversized sword.

Originally posted by Waagabond:

Do NOT go into Vivisect on her, the bab drop is too much and she do not need those cocktails.

Facepalm. There isn't any drawback from it, only pure gain.

Originally posted by Waagabond:

and defensive feats

Holy @#$%. Why even take defensive feat on melee DD? She shouldn't get hit (plus will survive hit or two).

Originally posted by Waagabond:

AC is king : AC and saves is what wins the game.

Nah. We can't make AC strong builds here. So summons & magic buffs (mirror image & displacement) will work far better.

So in fact pets >> Reg >> Val as tank.

Originally posted by Waagabond:

dps tank

You make my day. There isn't exist anything like "dps tank" (except summon-based caster maybe).

[Richard]

Thanks for taking the time to put this together, Waagabond! ;-)

[Shadenuat]

There isn't exist anything like "dps tank" (except summon-based caster maybe).

Most optimized characters combine survivability with damage.

[Indure]

Good post. I wanted to mention you should save everything in the tutorial and sell it at the trading post to pick up mercenaries early game because it becomes harder to do late game. Either get one lvl. 2 merc or four lvl. 1 mercs for the 2k you make off selling stuff.

I would highly recommend an alchemist grenadier early game.

[Mimung]

@Corisai i think the OP is not refering to Amiris starter bastard sword

[Morgian]

Oh, you can make high AC tanks...mine has hit AC 48 now. But the strong enemies will hit you anyway, which is what you expect from minibosses. One of the golden golems almost onerounded Valerie with an unlucky crit. Late game magic can be a real pain, even with saves of 20+...the cellar ghost in Pitax got my main with prismatic spray, which gave her a permanent insanity buff, which you can only remove with greater restoration (nothing else worked). So I keep going with a dedicated cleric, as I need deathward, communal resist, restoration, and communal delay poison too often.

Otherwise my group is not unlike suggested: main monk, Valerie as fighter/rogue, Linzi as full bard, sorcerer merc (I am not a fan of Octavia with her low CON), paladin merc (I dislike Regongar and Amiri doesn't provide the pally benefits), and cleric merc (I wanted an armored cleric and don't like Harrim, who is quite acceptable otherwise). It is a preference of mine to have an arcane caster as artillery/utility, although Ekun is the better cannon, if you want pure DPS.

Even well geared I found some fights to be very tough. The higher level devourers, the ghost and the naga in the palace, the linnorm, and some ambush packs (wererats, hogars, werewolf) were hard. Many encounters are mostly harmless, if you have the right buff - the wisps are pushovers if you bring communal resist electricity. Hitting the very high AC on some mobs requires buff stacking, but between Linzi and a cleric that can be done. The level drainers are also walkovers, once you bring deathward to the fight.

On a side note: bastardswords are not crap. The high end versions of them are among the best (like the one that ignores armor in Pitax). The reason for Amiri to invest in hers is that it has good damage and later on gets improved. I would do so only if going fighter with her, when specialising into a weapon is not so expensive.

[corisai]

Originally posted by Shadenuat:

There isn't exist anything like "dps tank" (except summon-based caster maybe).

Most optimized characters combine survivability with damage.

AFAIK only few build able to reach AC60+ (this is passable for endgame AC-tank in this game on challenging+ plus because mobs stats are bloated a lot) AND able to deal notable damage. Most of them build around feats that don't exist in this game (plus anyway banned by any sane GM).

This is what most annoy me in this guide - too focused for normal difficulty, but in same time ignore few important things for hard-unfair. Plus very strange advises (like one-two levels of Rogue on Amiri is better then Vivisector o_O).

Also - OP think that monks are strong and don't even mention Rogues... =/ Knifefighter ~ equal for 2 monks =/

P.S. Well, hypotecally Magus could do this job ("dps-tank"), but it will burn a lot of his spells in single encounter so don't seem to be viable solution for "dps-tank" plus still depend a lot on random to don't get hit.

[amiablequinn]

Originally posted by corisai:

Originally posted by Shadenuat:

Most optimized characters combine survivability with damage.

AFAIK only few build able to reach AC60+ (this is passable for endgame AC-tank in this game on challenging+ plus because mobs stats are bloated a lot) AND able to deal notable damage. Most of them build around feats that don't exist in this game (plus anyway banned by any sane GM).

This is what most annoy me in this guide - too focused for normal difficulty, but in same time ignore few important things for hard-unfair. Plus very strange advises (like one-two levels of Rogue on Amiri is better then Vivisector o_O).

Also - OP think that monks are strong and don't even mention Rogues... =/ Knifefighter ~ equal for 2 monks =/

P.S. Well, hypotecally Magus could do this job ("dps-tank"), but it will burn a lot of his spells in single encounter so don't seem to be viable solution for "dps-tank" plus still depend a lot on random to don't get hit.

This is just wrong. You can optimize vivisectionist builds to get AC over 100.

3 knife fighter/1monk 16 viv will have a massive tank and do huge amounts of damage assuming you can flank your enemy, which is trivial to do in this game.

[corisai]

Originally posted by amiablequinn:

This is just wrong. You can optimize vivisectionist builds to get AC over 100.

Can you show screenshot of it (or at least something +/- nearby this AC)? Because I really doubt it's possible ingame, so many broken feats aren't exist here.

[Hobocop]

Only reason to stick with bastard swords is because there's quite a few really good ones in the game. One of the kingdom artisans can give you a +4 bastard sword called Oppressor that comes with a +6 enhancement bonus to Charisma which is completely ridiculous for Valerie.

[Ghiron]

I don't agree with going for Outflank in later levels. Outflank is ridiculously OP. All melee should pick up Outflank as soon as it becomes available to them. Due to how flanking works, it's basically an automatic +2 to attack rolls for melee. The free attacks of opportunity makes you just wreck everything. Give your melee characters Combat Reflexes and watch them just rip through every encounter.

[Ave]

i had build my Valerie like this:

and she is INSANE... f****ing awesome :D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NQR0x30GrU&t=982s

Str: 14 -> 16
Dex: 13 -> 14
Con: 19 -> 20
Int: 9
Wis: 10
Cha: 15 -> 16

Classes: Fgh (Tower) 15/Rog (Thug) 2/Monk (Traditional) 1/Alch (Vivisectionist) 1/Stalwart Defender 1

Feats:
1: Dodge, Toughness, Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Bastard Sword)
2: Weapon Focus (Bastard Sword)
3: Dazzling Display
4: Skill Focus (Persuasion)
5: Outflank, Crane Style
7: Power Attack
8: Bull Rush
9: Greater Bull Rush
11: Shield Focus, Armor Focus (Heavy)
13: Dreadful Carnage, Greater Shield Focus
15: Combat Reflexes, Shield Wall (only with another shield user with this feat)
17: Greater Weapon Focus (Bastard Sword), Weapon Specialization (Bastard Sword)
19: Greater Weapon Specialization (Bastard Sword), Agile Maneuvers

his Linzibuild is also great, but everyone prefers other playstyles..

i wish we would have a "normal" way ingame to respec , to try and "play" with the classes...

[Gregorovitch]

Originally posted by Waagabond:

Hi,

First : XP. You can turn off XP for all companions under options and only recieve XP for those in the actual party. This will give you double experience once you have all companions in the party and its massive how much faster you gain levels.
You want to use this cause there is a few companions you likely never will use after act 1.

This is incorrect information and I suggest you edit it out of your post.

With shared XP turned on all XP awards are divided by six and given to all chararcters on your roster whether they are in your party or not. This is why every character levels up at the same rate.

If you turn shared XP off then XP awards are divided equally between charcters currently in your party only.

Therefore if you run a party with less than six charcters or solo then you get accelerated XP awards, for example a four char party will earn XP @ 150% the normal rate.

If you have exactly six in your party then it makes no difference if you have shared XP turned off, they will still get 1/6th of total each.

This means there is no point whatever to turning off shared XP unless you specifically want to play the game solo or with a reduced party using the same characters throughout the game.

[amiablequinn]

Originally posted by corisai:

Originally posted by amiablequinn:

This is just wrong. You can optimize vivisectionist builds to get AC over 100.

Can you show screenshot of it (or at least something +/- nearby this AC)? Because I really doubt it's possible ingame, so many broken feats aren't exist here.

There have been a few theory craft reddit build on it, I have a level 3 character with like 33 or 34?

Anyway here we go: monkx(1or2)/vivsecitonist 16/ rest wahtever

Base Stats at 20 (aasimar +dex, +wis)

St: 7
Dex: 24
con:14
int 14
wis: 18
cha:7

Base:10
Base dex: +7
Belt of dex +6: +3
dodge feat: +1
combat expertise: +6
Bracers of AC +8: +8
Wisdom: +4
Dex grand mutagen: +9 (+6 natural ac +4 for +8 dex -1 for the wisdom loss)
Lawful good monk robes: +5 (this is dodge and stacks)
Fighting defensively with all the crane feats: +7 (you can lose 4 of this if they miss by less than 4)
Aasimar wings: +3 (melee only)
Deflection +5 ring or shield of faith: +5
Barkskin: +6 natural armor - stacks with mutagen
circlet of mental attributes +6: +3
Reduce person: +2 (+1 from size +1 from dex)
Prayer: +2
haste: +1
Heroic bard song: +4
Transformation: +4
Dagger: +3
Shield spell: +4

That puts me at 97 and I know I am missing a few things.

Edit: I remember! Magic vestments stacks with the bracers (it shoudln't). so that is another +5 putting us at 102. Transformation should not stack with barkskin either, so lets remove the errors and still puts us at 93. You can go higher with a tower shield instead of the spell, but again that shouldn;t work with Crane but does.