Search for a simple viable build

[helsing.van]

Hey guys, thanks in advance for reading this.
So I'm loving this game, but unfortunately, I've never played Pathfinder and am really struggling to build a viable character. I'm roughly 20h in and I've yet to complete Act 1 because with all my builds, I eventually run into some kind of wall. Too squishy, too little damage, wrong spells at the wrong time... And I'm not even trying to play on hard or anything like that!

So, after a lot of struggling, I've decided to finally take a look at the archetypes and every single one of them does something, that seems at the very least strange to me. Therefore, I'm afraid (unless you guys convince me ;)) I'm back to doing my own build.

As every groups needs a boring lawful good fighter at the front and I don't like Val that much, I've decided that I'd rather like to replace her with my main character. However, I'm unable to piece together even the iconic Big Stupid Fighter! Sword & Board in this game seems to suck, so I'm tempted to grab a double handed weapon, but doing so makes my charakter rather squishy once again...
Can you point me to a good guide (I myself haven't found a pathfinder pen&paper guide that seems to translate well into the game, yet) or give me a decent build for something (not necessarily a tank) that works? Thank you very much...

[BoringORacale]

I'm not very familer with Pathfinder enough to recomend you a build but what I can offer is an adjusment to the difficulty as shown here https://www.reddit.com/r/Pathfinder_Kingmaker/comments/9jw7z1/enemy_difficulty_vs_enemy_stat_adjustment/ beacuse based on this post the game is not exectly normal on normal

[kensw]

Also not to familiar with DD Pathfinder so after much trial and error I also decidfed to go basic Fighter
Note: This is at Lev 2
1/2 Orc
Fighter Tower shield specialist
Str 20
Dex 10
Con 16
Int 10
Wis 10
Cha 8

Armor focus - Shield Focus - Weapon Focus Warhammer ( Just because I liked Idea of Orc with a Hammer )
I am concentrating on armor for Tanking

Armor Class is at 24 (without Full Plate yet )
Melee +8

I like this build because I do not need to babysit him - just let him charge in and spend your time handling your backrow Casters
I Hired a Alchemist grenadier to fill my party and she can really tear up the enemy if handled manually

[Marcos_DS]

I would recommend against the tower shield specialist. Reason is you buy your tower shield path at the expense of weapon training, which gives you +4 to hit / +4 damage in the end. Even if you keep using a tower shield (-2 to hit), you get +2 to hit / +4 to damge by not taking the tower shield specialist class! But i would just take the regular heavy shield instead....

Also, some dex isn't a bad idea for fighters since armor training allows you +5 dex bonus in full plate! So starting with dex 14 or 16 makes sense for a fighter.

lvl 1 Human Fighter (Regular)
Feats: Shield Focus, Armor Focus (Heavy), Weapon Focus
Str 20
Dex 14
Con 14
Int 14
Wis 7
Cha 7

Why Int 14 ? Requirement for combat expertise which gives -1 to hit / +1 dodge AC (scales to -5 to hit / +5 dodge later). If you don't plan on taking this, can instead go wis 14 for a bit better will saves.

[Jaeger Pilot]

Unless you really want to min/max, it's not that hard to make a viable build. And Val does an incredible job being a tank. At level 5 she has 30 AC with only +1 or non-magical items. If I put her on defensive stance, most mobs can only hit her with a natural 20. It's not her job to do damage, but her attacks are okay if you give her some strength buffs.

[Azunai]

a plain old strength based fighter with a longsword (or other midsized weapon spec) is about as simple and reliable as it gets. can always stash away the shield and get bonus damage holding the sword in both hands for mowing down lesser stuff (trash encounters) and whip out the heavy shield and play tank otherwise. you get plenty of feats to unlock all kinds of combat skills. if plain old hitting is too boring, you can also unlock special skills like cleave or sunder so you can do a bit of micro management etc.


if fighter is too boring, a paladin can do the same job but with a slightly different focus. you'd go for charisma and strength and you get less feats and do less damage. but you get some spells, some divine stuff (heals), some buffs that affect your party etc. and due to high str and cha you can pick up some intimidation skills and demoralize everyone involved in combat. later on you also get that gimmick ability to give your substantial "smite evil" bonuses to all your teammates. so basically a more versatile tank/support hybrid character.

[helsing.van]

Thanks for your help so far! I went back to the Character Creation once again and came up with an Archer build I'll try, but I feel like I'd prefer a melee charakter, a double handed (is that the righter term?) fighter, somebody using a big sword to wreck havoc ;)

Problem is, is it worth taking the Two-handed subclass? It seems to sacrifice a lot of survivability (and I want to be the off-tank at least) for litte damage. Could it even be worth it to take the Armoured Hulk Barbarian? My impression of Amiri so far was pretty positiv, so I could imagine this to be pretty tough to kill and capable of dealing a lot of damage...

Furthermore, does a fighter (regardless of the class) need 13 Int to get access to Combat Manoveurs? I didn't like the sound of them and I think it would be better to babysit the casters - but am I right? As a double-handed fighter, should I pick up a falchion and some of the Critical hit feats or am I better off focusing on other feats, like for example Vital strike, therefore being less depend on the dice?

[Jaeger Pilot]

Why not make a character you WANT to play, and not one that is the most uber?

[CrazyOdd]

Every build work, its just a matter of which difficulty it works for.

[bkgamingacc]

There is much more to tanking then the armor and shield.
One of the best tank builds actually wears robe and uses parry.
Your save rolls are equally important as AC if not more.
And damage reduction too.

[Juno]

I've tried about 8 or 9 different classes so far through the prologue all the way to Oleg's and the fight there. Nothing has stuck with me as far as "wow I want to keep playing this character", until I tried monk. I'm really enjoying that class a lot. I also added one level of sorceror (emperion) per someone elses suggestion (for mage armor spell) and it's been really great.

I think what it really boils down to is strategy. I was trying to play the game like Diablo 3 -- just plow in with my party and run over the enemies. That doesn't work at all... not even close.

The best success I've had so far is by setting up a tank or two to hold the enemy players and fire while ranging down with my other party members in the back. Even then there are some fights where I have to buff up to the nines and then it can still be a bit shakey.

A well used spell or scroll can be very effective. I happened to put the shield spell on my main tank after she was popped with a magic missle. That worked great because the same mob launched missle after missle and that shield spell kept my tank alive.

[SeverianWolfe]

Barbarian War Dog with any pet. Get 18 str and 16 dex/con. Easy mode. Get Power attack and then Cleave as feats.

[nshawmc]

do your own thing and figure it out yourself.

Best way to enjoy the game.

But doesn't hurt to see what other people do to get some ideas- just don't have to stick to them.

ps i also made like 6 characters so far but finally killed the stag lord last night on one of them at level 5.

[nshawmc]

also i found fighter and ranger to be boring at least at low levels. not much going on at all but might be good for someone new to the game.

[Elazul]

I made a Dex Tank. A Half Elf Aldori Defender(Fighter). Going to pickup Duelist as soon as I can as well. RP her as Chaotic Neutral sometimes with some slight Evil tendencies. Though she does take care of her team because she knows she can't do everything herself. They are important valued assets used to enhance her own ambitions.

[Graygan]

I love Monks... so this is my main character monk build which is just fantastic. It's easy enough to just go up straight 20 levels as monk.

Monk-Normal

Plume-Kin Aasimar (Human works just as well, put your +2 in Wis)

Str 16
Dex 16
Con 12
Int 12
Wis 18
Cha 7

Naked AC 17

Lvl 1 Wpn Focus - Unarmed Strike
Improved Initiative

Lvl 2 Dragon Style

Lvl 3 Blind-Fighting

At level 1, your to hit is only +5, but it gets better quite rapidly. The key is to use your other party members and potions to buff him/her. Mage Armor, Bull's Str, Cat's Grace, Owl's Wisdom bring the AC up to 25... with a certain present from a little guy, it's 26. Your to hit goes up to +7. +9 if flanking. Normal damage is 1d6+3. With Bull's it goes up to 1d6+5. Not much? Nope... but that's only at level 1. At higher levels it gets nastier.

If you have a druid in the party, cool. Add in magic fang(I don't know if it works in game, but it should) if you've not gotten an amulet of mighty fists yet.

At higher levels, the sky is the limit. Your damage dice get much higher later on. With a ki pool, you get an extra attack if you need it. With Flurry of blows, you get at least 2 attacks a round if you're not moving.

Once you hit 5th level or so, you become truly awesome. Especially with some good items and/or buffs from the party.

*************************

If you're looking for complicated and willing to put in the long-term effot....

Lvl 1 - Scaled Fist Monk (change stats to make Cha 12, I usually go drop str/dex/int a bit to do it)

Lvl 2 - Sorceror

Lvl 3-5 Scaled Fist Monk

Lvl 6-15 Dragon Disciple

Lvl 16-20 Scaled Fist Monk

Flying, Breath spewing, clawing/biting Monk of Death is what you become.