Things you should know about Pathfinder: Kingmaker

Pathfinder: Kingmaker is a complex RPG with gameplay mechanics that cross the boundaries of the genre. The first experience can be rather intimidating and not being aware of certain aspects can lead to unsatisfactory outcomes. To that end, I wrote a few guidelines to help players in their adventurous quest through the Stolen Lands:

What is Pathfinder: Kingmaker?

Pathfinder: Kingmaker is an isometric cRPG using a real time with pause combat system. The game is based on Pathfinder, a tabletop RPG using a revised version of Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 rules set. Kingmaker’s gameplay is comprised of multiple fully fledged elements, including an extensive narrative spanning over multiple acts, a complex combat system, exploration and a kingdom management system. It’s quite an undertaking to mix all of these together, but the game does it in an elegant fashion that gives more depth for the player to tackle.

Trial and error

It has been a while since we got a proper Dungeon & Dragons cRPG, so it’s not surprising that many gamers are not familiar with this complex set of rules. If you are not willing to invest time in understanding how Dungeon & Dragons mechanics work, you might be in for a rough ride with this game. It’s not unlikely that you’ll turn a few characters to scrap before you get the grasp of the gameplay and its secrets. But that’s how cRPGs always worked. However, if you want to truly commit to what this game has to offer, you can find more information about it here:
Pathfinder[aonprd.com]
D&D Basic Rules[dnd.wizards.com]
Keep in mind that the Pathfinder: Kingmaker is an adaptation that has to work as a video game and it doesn’t include everything from the original tabletop RPG.

Choose the difficulty wisely

Dungeon & Dragons expert or not, you should choose your playthrough’s difficulty wisely. Pathfinder: Kingmaker is a challenging game, one that’s not shying away from mentally abusing its players. The levels of difficulty are not on par with what has become the norm for the industry. The Normal difficulty is designed for the players with knowledge, while the Hard and Unfair difficulty levels are probably addressed to masochists and self-loathers. With each level of difficulty the stats of enemies are inflated while other gameplay mechanics become more cumbersome. This will result in combat encounters that aren’t always in your control, relying heavily on the dice you roll. However, don’t panic! If you are looking for a more narrative driven experience, there is a difficulty level specifically designed for this. You can even be your Dungeon Master of sorts by customizing the difficulty the way you want it to be. Just make sure you don’t rush into showing your elitism without knowing what you’re getting yourself into (I learned this the Hard way).

Camping, a way to heal and chat

Camping is an important action in Pathfinder: Kingmaker which could be performed on the world map as well as on most explorable areas. The camping process has some depth to it. Each character in your party can play an important role in successfully camping without being disrupted. The hunting role is bringing in free food supplies. The camouflage role is decreasing the chance to be spotted by enemies while resting. There’s a cook that can prepare the default Hearty Meal or you can choose from the cooking recipes you have learned in your adventures. The Special Role allows a companion to get an extra benefit from camping (e.g. Amari is sharpening her weapon). Last but not least, you can have up to two character stand watch to avoid surprise attacks. The success of each role is decided by the stats of the characters assigned for the job.
No matter where you are camping, the health of your party will be restored based on the missing amount and the time spent resting. The daily based abilities of your party will also be restored. However, camping in an explorable area is more beneficial as it’s providing opportunities for companions’ banter and relationship development. When setting up camp in an area, two characters will engage in a conversation, sharing their thoughts about various subjects. After a successful camping, there’s a chance that a companion’s event will occur, offering a deeper understanding about them and helping furthering romances.

Certain enemies can’t be killed out right

I learned about this when I was engaged in an endless fight with a troll while playing Icewind Dale for the first time. I wasn’t sure what was happening, so after a bit of research I knew what I was up against and what I have to do to defeat it.
Certain creatures in the Pathfinder universe can’t be killed in the conventional way, some good examples of early on enemies are spider swarms and trolls. The former is immune to weapon damage and can be killed with AoE spells and items, while the latter has to be finished off with fire or acid damage. There are hints indicating this during the loading screen as well as in the actual game. Sometimes there are even conveniently placed items that will help to deal with such problems. But when you are setting on a new adventure, prepare for the worse.

Amari is a monstrous damage dealer

Pathfinder: Kingmaker’s combat is challenging and the starting companions don’t make it any easier. A common problem is their stats allocation. But unlike most of her peers, Amari’s base setup is pretty good. As a Barbarian, Amari has access to a wide variety of useful melee feats which gradually turn her into a killing machine. Combinations of active abilities like Lethal Stance, Power Attack, Cleave and Rage have devastating effects with groups of enemies being annihilated in the blink of an eye.

Kingdom management

As advertised by the prologue, completing the main quest of Act 1 will grant you with the title of baron and with it, your own lands. Having your own barony means more responsibility. You’ll have to take decisions which will have short and long term consequences. These actions are performed through the kingdom’s management interface which becomes available as soon as Act 2 starts.
Kingdom’s decision making is comprised of choosing your advisors, solving events, initiating projects and building. Appointing the advisors is the first task to start with as they are necessary to solve other problems. There are five advisor positions: regent, councilor, general, treasurer and high priest. Some of the companions as well as other characters met in your adventures can be appointed to one of these positions. Each character has specific stats and personality traits that influence the success and the way their tasks are accomplished, so choose them carefully. The advisors can be used to solve events and projects.
The events are time-based task that are usually triggered at the end of a month. The outcome of an event will positively or negatively influence the stats of your kingdom. While most events require an advisor, some take the form of hearing, in which certain characters visit the barony and will provide you information and even quests.
The projects are tasks that don’t have a time limit and usually require a longer period of time to solve. Most of them are tied to the kingdom’s economy or to specific quests. So, just because the projects don’t have a time limit, it doesn’t mean they can be ignored forever. Keep in mind that most projects will keep your advisors busy for a while, making them unavailable for events.
The building is how you expand your influence over your kingdom by creating new towns and improving them with new buildings. Each building provides stats for your kingdom, usually working in synergy with others which allows for more specific towns. The buildings can also be upgraded to increase the amount of stats gained. In order to build new towns and upgrade them you need BP (build points), a resources that is collected from various sources every week. Gold can also be exchanged for BP at a vendor in the center of your capital city.
The welfare of the kingdom requires proper management, good decision making and a bit of luck. With the end of the month being the busiest, calculate your time and plan your projects accordingly so you can solve as many problems as possible.

Movement speed

The movement speed is a tricky subject in Pathfinder: Kingmaker because there are different states of movement: exploration speed, combat speed and group speed.
While exploring areas, the party is never running, but all characters move at the same speed. Rain will have a negative effect over this speed, causing a party wide slowing effect and it would be advised to wait for it to pass when exploring larger areas.
During combat, the characters move according to their speed stat. Each individual character has a base combat speed which is affected by their race, class, equipment and other effects. Wearing heavy armor reduces the combat speed of the character by a factor of 10. Working your party hard can lead to exhaustion which also has a negative effect on the movement speed. Other spells, abilities and traps can affect the combat speed.
The group speed is a stat that affects how fast your party moves on the world map. The party’s encumbrance level is responsible for any slowdowns. However, those annoyed by this mechanic can turn it from the difficulty settings.
Aside of each individual character speed, there’s also a group speed. This is a stat that affects how fast your party moves on the world map. The party’s encumbrance level is responsible for any slowdowns. However, if you are annoyed by this mechanic, you can turn it off in the game’s difficulty menu.

Relics

Gold isn’t something one has in spades in the first two acts of the game and there’s quite the need for it. This could force players into selling every item that they don’t find worth using. Among these items there can be relics which are various trinkets and treasures of the past. Selling them will earn a decent amount of coins, but saving them for a certain storyteller would benefit you greatly.

Save often

I tend to repeat myself with this one. But it goes without saying that you should save often when playing an RPG, especially a cRPG. Pathfinder: Kingmaker is a great game, however, it’s not a polished game and bugs will occur quite often. Increase the number of quicksaves from the settings and use this feature as often as possible. Do a manual save before exploring each new area and starting any major quest or event, you never know what problems you might find.

Save scumming

There’s no surprise save scumming is a thing in a game having most mechanics based on rolling dice. The outcome of fights, skill checks and decisions made for your kingdom can be changed by the roll of a dice. Saving before such actions and reloading until you get the desired result is a strategy that works in Pathfinder: Kingmaker. However, I wouldn’t recommend spoiling your experience in such a way as the trial and error is part of the process that makes cRPGs great.

Beware the bugs!

You have been warned before, but I’m going to warn you again. Pathfinder: Kingmaker is a buggy game and I would recommend having some patience with it. Hotfixes are released at a high rate, yet it doesn’t seem to be enough and often new problems occur. If you want a better experience, you should wait for a few serious updates. However, if you are dying to play, make sure you don’t rush into Act 4 as things get even rougher there.

Ending note

This must be the lengthiest and more in-depth guide I wrote so far, yet I feel like I’ve only scratched the surface of what Pathfinder: Kingmaker has to offer. As I haven’t finished the game myself, I will return to this guide and update it with what I deem necessary.

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[Lord Haart]

THE WEBBY IS NULL N VOID N DAT

[Angered.Carrot]

This confirmed a lot of questions I had about this game and how true it was to the P&P version, great overview of what to expect.

[Nodrim]

From my knowledge, the game works great now.

[Lampros]

Is the game still buggy?

[The Rabid Otter]

I like this guide. It is a historical document explaining features in the earlier iterations of the game.

I do have one question: do the updates tend to create new bugs for old save games?

[Nodrim]

Then take it as such but with slight deviation to be better suited for this game.

[swordfish]

@author sorry bro
Do not mean hate
But this is not a guide
😂😂😂😂 this could be a General guide for RPGs

[Nodrim]

I actually said that "The outcome" "can be changed by the roll of a dice.", it's a big difference.

It's fine if you don't find the guide useful. This was written when the game was in a very different state and it's focused only on the basics.

[Kurosu]

I second what snakejishi said below. I have read this guide simply out of boredom. Everything that is included in this " guide " can be figured out easily at the start of the game. You can also figure out that the author has no actual insight about the game on the "save scumming" section. He says that fight outcomes rely on the dice rolls". The fight outcomes rely on your strategy / builds/ spell usage. A true guide would instead make part composition and build suggestions but as you can see its "missing". Not a coincidence.

[swordfish]

The most useless guide of the year. Very generic and targeting people who never played RPGs in their life, despite the fact that most of whom buy the game are RPGs veterans.
Your guide is good for gaming generally speaking, and not for this complex game