[PF] King Maker - table for two please (spoilers)

[Blyte]

a friend of mine is running me and another through king maker, and we are narrowly surviving or absolutely dominating nearly every fight so far..

this is our first time playing kingmaker, but the DM has been through all 6 APs as a player. I have listened to a bit of the "strand gamers" king maker pod casts.. so I have a little knowledge of the first AP now, although I just recently heard the pod casts and we are nearly up to the stag lord fortress. Been playing without spoilers till now.

we are currently clearing the mites nest under the tree, and recovering after being beat down badly in the Giant tick + Giant centipede encounter.

I am playing a very offensive sorcerer I am trying to model after a 3.5 warlock, using magic missile as my eldritch blast, and the other player is a stout paladin. We are currently level 4.5 (it's nice only splitting xp 2 ways)..

We have somewhat befriended the fairie dragon and grig, and are butchering the mites and likely to butcher the kobolds (the paladin is lawful stupid).. since he has already butchered the imprisoned kobold because he detected evil.......

When we are making our move against the Stag Lord I was planning to ask the fairies for help and also the men-at-arms at Olegs, although I've not been working on any relations with them, other than turning in a few live bandits.

if we can get them to assist, I was planning to use them just to subdue any would be escapees anyhow, and use the fey to recon and then snipe with me from the walls/towers.

I was planning to buff spider climb and use a potion of protection from arrows 10/magic and snipe from the top of a guard tower. Have the Paladin just move in and start butchering stuff in the court yard while I rain death from above.

thanks if you have read this far, and any suggestions are WELCOME!

[Ravenica]

using the faeirie kin for recon is a good idea but might be a difficult sell, they aren't stupid XD

depending on how bright your dm plays the fort your tactic may work but I would work on a back up plan in the event they decide not to come out and let you shoot at them, or if they rush you... Don't want to spoil it for you but the fort has some nice tactical options

[Blyte]

I could use any suggestions you might have for flushing them out.. I was hoping to not burn the place down, but I suppose I could have the pally with spider climb chucking oils and alchemist fires (conservatively) to draw them out due to threat of burning.

[Ravenica]

flushing them out will likely be less than effecient, you might want to consider infiltration

[Blyte]

ya, I was hoping to just play king of the mountain with the arrow protection, because with only 2 of us, it's so hard to keep the bad guys off my squishy sorcerer.

the DM always ignores the guy in platemail and runs to butcher the guy in robes.

perhaps I will try and order a wand of shield other through Oleg's... assuming we can raise the cash between here and there... and also assuming you can order a wand through Oleg's.. might just take a quick trip to the next major city.

we did that to score me a ring of sustenance.. fully resting 2 characters doesn't allow for much adventuring :(

[Skysaber]

ya, I was hoping to just play king of the mountain with the arrow protection, because with only 2 of us, it's so hard to keep the bad guys off my squishy sorcerer.

Unless you sold it, you have a horse from your first encounter. A horse + Magic Missile and you have speed plus range. In any kind of outdoor encounter you ought to be untouchable.

To say nothing of summoned monsters, I mean meatshields, in close quarters.


the DM always ignores the guy in platemail and runs to butcher the guy in robes.

Are you not able to cast an illusion of plate armor? How about an illusion of a guy in robes behind you that you are playing 'meatshield' for? If your robed illusion looks blurry, and your familiar controls it so that it can cackle madly about "once again your attack fails against my Displacement!" Then you ought to be golden.

I mean, I can see NPCs attacking the caster as the greater threat and easier target, but you can use that in-game logic against them with a little know-how and preparedness.

Even share a Change Self with your (hopefully winged) familiar, so you are the guy (apparently) in plate armor on the ground, while he is the flying 'wizard' above.

Oh, and I'd personally explore every hex you can legally explore before you take on the Stag Lord. There are reasons, and things you may find that could help you out.

I wouldn't want to spoil anything, but some of the best allies you could meet may start out dead - and that's fixable.

[Blyte]

I tried the riding and casting thing and the dm had me making insane ride checks, and I did not invest in the ride skill.

I don't posses the illusion spells. I am a dual bloodline sorcerer 4th level. So my spells are limited and thus far no illusions but vanish.

My familiar is a scorpion.

I could get some illusions when I hit 5. I could also buy some scrolls if the dm allows.

He is actually ramping up the encounters so we struggle with our two players. Thus far I have noticed he upgraded kessels stats and hp considerably and also upgraded a shambling mound to over 120hp

I am more a combat monster at this point, but am starting to develope my tricks. Regardless of illusion. Having 2 targets who are often ambushed makes it hard not to eat a lot of dirt as a squishy.

[Ravenica]

hmm you're dm may need to reread his magic section, the ride check doesn't change for casting. There is however a concentration check

[Blyte]

hmm you're dm may need to reread his magic section, the ride doesn't change for casting. There is however a concentration check

Yes he was also having ride checks to control unwartrained horses with monsters in pursuit. And it was in turn causing causing more difficult concentration checks, so if I managed to stay in the saddle I would likely still lose the spell. And that was only even worth attempting on plains. He would rule I lost LoS/LoE basically if I got outside monster charge range in hills and woods.

I am trying to addapt and live under these conditions. I thought spider climbing and perching, with a good sniper spot would help, especially with protection from arrows.

I can definitely suggest we bypass the fort to try for more allies, but its looking like the mites and Kobolds will be a wash and they fey are the only ones we have had a pleasant encounter with, so far.

Edit..
And I tried the mobile caster technique with expeditious retreat, and it is effective on the plains only for the aforementioned reasons.

[Skysaber]

Sounds like it's more a DM problem, and when "problem exists between chair and DM screen" there is little to do but endure it. They will punish what they feel like punishing, regardless of what the rules say. And the hill does not exist that automatically breaks LoS and LoE at 60ft no matter where you stand on it - they get that rough they are called Badlands, which I'm going to bet is not the terrain type listed in the adventure.

And I'm going to bet he hasn't penalized monsters for the difficult ground they'd have to cross to reach you, either - and it would have to be difficult to break LOS that soon. Fog spells only do it marginally better than he has the ordinary terrain do?

Anyway, just as he punishes things he should not, most people favor other things unreasonably. If you can find those, build your strategy around that, even if it means retiring this guy and writing up a new character.

Games should be fun, and frankly that doesn't happen when the DM has a feud going on against the style of character you are building.

[Blyte]

I am considering bringing in a kobold summoner and take the kobold eldritch bloodline for landmine runes, and really give him some headaches. Probably make him a master summoner and make a high ac little kobold looking bodyguard. And summon more speed bumps as needed.