a simple adventurer to fully istrating a barony.
The primary objective of chapter one is to stop the Stag Lord, a bandit claiming control of the Stolen Lands. He has an overwhelming army and trying to battle them head-on is near suicidal. As a diverse role-playing game, there are many options and tricks to dwindle the Stag Lord’s influence.
Party Skills in Pathfinder: Kingmaker
Instead of direct combat, players can make use of skill checks to destroy the Stag Lord’s supplies, pacify his troops, and sneak in for an ambush. Skills are rolled with a 1D20 + bonuses and the results immediately play out. Cautious players can save before using a skill to change the outcome.
- Athletics: the ability to complete physical tasks like lifting, climbing, and swimming. Improved with strength, but lowered when wearing armor and shields.
- Mobility: represents balance, acrobatics, and swiftness. Can negate Attacks of Opportunity and raise AC when fighting defensively. Boosted by dexterity, but penalized by armor and shield checks.
- Stealth: the character’s skill at moving quietly and blending in. Reduces movement to half while in this state. Increased with dexterity, but suffers an armor and shield check penalty.
- Trickery: how well one can disarm traps and pick locks. Uses dexterity, but often rolling a natural 1 will trigger the device or jam the door.
- Knowledge Arcana: uses intelligence to aid in understanding magical spells and items. Can help identify magical monsters, like dragons and golems.
- Knowledge World: the ability to understand maps, history, and people via intelligence. Can identify the weaknesses of humanoids.
- Lore Nature: uses wisdom to identify plants, wild animals, weather, and avoid random attacks on the world map.
- Lore Religion: one’s understanding of deities and the outer realms, based on wisdom. Can identify creatures unnatural to the material plane, including undead.
- Persuasion: how well one can command and negotiate through charisma. Can be used as diplomacy to make an agreement or intimidate to scare. In battle, one can demoralize against an enemy’s wisdom to penalize them for one round.
- Use Magic Device: allows a character to force their charisma and wield items they normally shouldn’t. Within a round, can attempt to use scrolls and wands restricted to other classes.
The main character will be able to bring five companions along to face the Stag Lord. Only four out of five of Valarie/Harrim/Jaethal/Linzi/Tristian can be recruited in chapter one. The final one (or two) met will suffer an injury and be sent to recover.
- Valerie: A Fighter tank that s Lawful characters, or is found in the Ancient Tomb or Old Sycamore. One of the toughest frontline warriors. Has great Persuasion, and good base Athletics but suffers from preferring heavy armor and a tower shield.
- Harrim: A Cleric that buffs and can tank reasonably well. s Chaotic characters, or is found in the Ancient Tomb or Old Sycamore. Has great Lore Religion and Perception, but likely suffers heavy armor check penalties.
- Jaethal: An undead Inquisitor that can deal high damage. Sides with Evil characters, or travels to the Ancient Tomb or Old Sycamore. Is great at most skills, but especially Athletics, Lore Religion, and Perception.
- Linzi: A Bard er that teams with Good characters. Like others, will be at Ancient Tomb or Old Sycamore if not recruited. Incredible Trickery, Stealth, Persuasion, and Use Magic Device. Has the option of wearing light armor and shield, but is better with a crossbow.
- Amiri: A powerful melee Barbarian that s all parties. Does fantastic damage, but low AC makes her a glass canon. Great at Athletics and Lore Nature checks.
- Tristian: An Elk Temple Cleric spell caster that knows powerful fire magic. High potential for Lore Religion and Persuasion. Also, his archetype doesn’t allow him to wear armor, so no related check penalties.
- Regongar: A spellsword Magus that can be rescued from the Technic League. High Athletics, Persuasion, and Use Magic Device.
- Octavia: A caster Wizard-Rogue captured by the Technic League. Doesn’t wear armor, making for high Mobility, Trickery, Stealth, Knowledge Arcana, and Knowledge World.
Thorn Ford in Pathfinder: Kingmaker
One of the possible first stops shortly into the first chapter is Thorn Ford, a forest with river crossing. Who is encountered here will depend if one came here before or after the Ancient Tomb. In the former, Akiros Insmort will have taken the priest Jhod Kavken captive. Players can talk down Akiros and get him to flee if they make a Lawful Good, Chaotic Good, Neutral, or Neutral Evil dialogue choice. However, his lieutenant Kressle will attack anyway. If one is an actual Good alignment (not just making a speech selection), they can further convince Kressle to leave. Coming here after the Ancient Tomb results in Akiros having already departed, but the situation with Kressle remains the same. For the best outcome, both of these enemies should be allowed to live.
Poisoning the wine
After dealing with Akiros and Kressle, a cache of wine can be found to the west via a Perception DC 18 check. When interacting with it, ing a Lore Nature DC 15 check will unlock an option to poison the supply (failing the check the first time will lock out this choice). Poisoning the wine now will make the Stag Lord nauseated when fought, making him unable to attack or cast spells for a few rounds. Otherwise the wine can be looted or destroyed for gold or experience, respectively.
Stag Lord’s Fort in Pathfinder: Kingmaker
There are multiple ways of approaching the Stag Lord’s base, with the front gate being the most dangerous. Upon arriving, players will meet Kressle (if alive) who will offer to their side. Agree, but advise her to wait instead of attacking right away. Next, one should head to the North West wall and discover a crack in the timbers. They can be leaped over with a Mobility DC 20 check or climbed through with an Athletics DC 20. Failing the latter will alter the whole fort, giving them a major advantage.
If they made it inside quietly, they will find a crestfallen Akiros nearby. With a Lore Religion 18 or Diplomacy 23 check he can be convinced to fight the Stag Lord. Intimidate 18 or being Lawful will convince him to simply leave. Otherwise, players will need to kill him.
Alarm Bell
There are multiple small squads of foes stationed throughout the fort. Every time one of them is dwindled to one member, they will flee to ring the alarm near the Stag Lord’s quarters. This has the same result as failing the previous Athletics check. One will want to attack the furthest enemies first, and catch the runner with free opportunity attacks.
Lieutenants and Owl Bear
Two of the toughest enemies, Auchs and Rovan, are in the North East. Auchs fights similar to Amiri with big damage yet very vulnerable. Rovan will spend a few turns buffing himself before trying to sneak attack. Dispatching them will also allow looting their gear, like a powerful Great Club +2 and Belt of Might Constitution +2.
An even bigger threat is the caged owl bear near the alarm bell. The cage can be locked with Trickery 14, or one can attempt to slay it with Stealth 19. Failure will result in it screaming, alerting the fort. Lore Nature 18 will tame the beast and get it on the player’s side. The cage can then be opened to let the monster rampage around.
Stag Lord’s Last Stand
If all of these steps were taken, the Stag Lord will be incapacitated, down to a few troops, and the hero will have warriors and an owl bear on their side. Players should pre-buff with spells like Shield, Bless, Aid, and Heroism. Priory to the fight, a melee character should stealth over to the Stag Lord’s balcony perch; they won’t remain hidden, as the guards have a +1000 Perception bonus.
Tanks should keep sword-shield bandits occupied. Players will want to use ranged attacks and spells eliminate the Priestess who can heal or buff. Next, focus on the Stag Lord and other archers, using debilitations like Hold Person or Blind as needed. If Auchs is still alive he should be killed off quickly, followed by Rovan. Any roaming squads that were not previously dealt with will come to reinforce in waves, with Alchemists being the main foe to kill. Once all the named foes are dealt with, help Akiros/Kressle to clean up the remaining melee bandits.
Pathfinder: Kingmaker is currently available on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
