Druid Harrim - using respec mod

[SIONOS]

Respeccing Harrim as a druid seems to work way better than trying to make him work as a crippled cleric IMO . What do you do with your Harrim?

[Frostfeather]

Always kick him out asap and never regret it.

[Steelfleece]

He's a little tall to be a good end table, but I made it work.

[FunkyMonkey]

I make him a Crusader with a respec and I always take him instead of Tristian. I like my Clerics in the frontline and since Clerics don't really need almost any feats to be useful, I can give him teamwork feats and such and he can make a great frontliner with someone like Val.

[ptirodaktill]

I leave him in the cap as "adviser" . In combat that dwarf is just useless.

[FunkyMonkey]

Originally posted by ptirodaktill:

I leave him in the cap as "adviser" . In combat that dwarf is just useless.

I find Tristian even more useless, Harrim is great.

[grognardgary]

I have Tristian in the party for only one Mission, Amari's great boar hunt even at third level I find there healing circles can keep Amiri alive long enough to kill tusk gutter. add to that Linzi singing and Tusk gutter doesn't have a chance at least on normal

[Frostfeather]

Originally posted by FunkyMonkey:

Originally posted by ptirodaktill:

I leave him in the cap as "adviser" . In combat that dwarf is just useless.

I find Tristian even more useless, Harrim is great.

Tristian "respeced" into the exact same thing but with Fire as his primary Domain is quite decent.

I'd take that over Crusader Harrim personally, but objectively... they're both around the same level of usefulness. They just achieve it differently.

[FunkyMonkey]

Originally posted by night4:

Originally posted by FunkyMonkey:

I find Tristian even more useless, Harrim is great.

Tristian "respeced" into the exact same thing but with Fire as his primary Domain is quite decent.

I'd take that over Crusader Harrim personally, but objectively... they're both around the same level of usefulness. They just achieve it differently.

That's true, I just prefer my Clerics on thr frontline and Harrim is a lot better in that than Tristian. I've found that even with respeccing and picking better domains, Tristian doesn't have enough spell slots to be a good blaster. All Harrim needs is Archon's aura to already be useful because he is close to enemies to affect them with it. Later in the game you can buff him even more with Holy aura and Dreadful aspect (or whatever that spell is called). And if you give him Necromancy focus, he can blast people with Boneshaker and Boneshatter. The good thing with those spells is that they don't compete for slots against the important Cleric buffs.

Or this is just how I play, but I've never been happy with Tristian in my party. And his banter and personality are insufferable.

[grognardgary]

I'm not real fond of either of Tristian might be a bit better if anti undead channeling were more useful without adding a lot of feats you don't want to use on a cleric

[alexschulzweil]

Suboptimal attribute distribution + wasted skills

I suggest to ignore that he has the heavy armor trait (he will never be a good tank) and that he is a cleric (he will never be good at channeling)
but he can be a decent supporter/controller
I would only add 1 level in cleric ( Spell Focus: Necromancy) for three in total (you get him at lv.2 IIRC) and than 3-4 levels of Empyreal Sorcerer. that should be enough to unlock Mystic Theurge.
Necromancy has some nice damage spells, like Boneshaker or Horrid wilting. Probably specialise in them. Put in a bit metamagic (empower, extend) and you should end with a competent support combat caster/back up healer. Damage spells during battle, and patches you up after that.
Give him the Cloak of Lost Souls (the cursed robe you get after collecting the 16 scraps), that might help. Otherwise stat imprving gear.
Pump only wisdom, after you maxed out 10 levels of theurge, add more sorc levels.
Weapon just something with distance, crossbow or something like that. does not matter, you use spells ^^ defence wise use him like a sorc, meaning mirror or concealment spell and no contact with the enemy.

[FunkyMonkey]

Originally posted by alexschulzweil:

but he can be a decent supporter/controller
I would only add 1 level in cleric ( Spell Focus: Necromancy) for three in total (you get him at lv.2 IIRC) and than 3-4 levels of Empyreal Sorcerer. that should be enough to unlock Mystic Theurge.

I disagree that Harrim isn't a good tank, he can be fine, maybe not your main tank but he is a great off-tank, IMO.

Empyreal sorc into Mystic theurge is a really interesting option, normally you see that recommended for Tristian only. But Harrim is worse than Tristian for that, his DEX is worse and he can't wear armor as Sorc or Mystic theurge without spell failure chance. But, if you want a make a caster out of Harrim and don't want to be a full Cleric, this is a decent option.

[Frostfeather]

That's why I'd prefer Fire Domain Tristian (if I'm even using a Cleric at all, and even using companions at all) - he's already a pseudo-Mystic Theurge, but without the delay in spell progression. MT isn't very good in Kingmaker without Call of the Wild, which adds Lesser Spell Synthesis.

And he's not really a "blaster", exactly. More of a blaster/support hybrid. He'd be spending some of his time using Blessing of the Faithful. Other times strategically blasting with different damage types (Fire, Sonic, Force, Divine) in more difficult fights only... and even then I think he works well supplementing the blasting of one or more other characters more designed for the role.

[FunkyMonkey]

Originally posted by night4:

That's why I'd prefer Fire Domain Tristian (if I'm even using a Cleric at all, and even using companions at all) - he's already a pseudo-Mystic Theurge, but without the delay in spell progression. MT isn't very good in Kingmaker without Call of the Wild, which adds Lesser Spell Synthesis.

And he's not really a "blaster", exactly. More of a blaster/support hybrid. He'd be spending some of his time using Blessing of the Faithful. Other times strategically blasting with different damage types (Fire, Sonic, Force, Divine) in more difficult fights only... and even then I think he works well supplementing the blasting of one or more other characters more designed for the role.

I think it's a playstyle difference really. Tristian isn't better or worse than Harrim on paper, they have different strengths in how they play and I prefer Harrim, because I like Clerics in armor and in the frontline or near it over being in the back and only sling spells.

[Frostfeather]

Oh, I agree. I think of Tristian as more of a cloth-wearing "Priest" rather than a "Cleric", really.

Also, maybe Tristian is a slightly better turn based option since he requires a bit more micro, whereas Harrim more of a real time one. I do like Crusader Clerics for real time or if I'm switching between the two.

[FunkyMonkey]

Originally posted by night4:

Oh, I agree. I think of Tristian as more of a cloth-wearing "Priest" rather than a "Cleric", really.

Also, maybe Tristian is a slightly better turn based option since he requires a bit more micro, whereas Harrim more of a real time one. I do like Crusader Clerics for real time or if I'm switching between the two.

Fair. And a great point on the difference between real-time and turn-based. I play mostly turn-based, but often switch to real-time when the fight is more or less decided to save time. Also, I like to build my teams to have at least two, often three, melee characters and in that situation, Harrim is the better option.