Later this month, the beloved Kingmaker Adventure Path makes its Pathfinder Second Edition debut with a slate of over a dozen products, both updating the fan-favorite campaign to the new rules set (as well as updating the Pathfinder First Edition rules and expanding into D&D 5E) and incorporating content from the bestselling Pathfinder: Kingmaker computer game from Owlcat Games.
In the computer adaptation of the campaign, a single-player experience, the protagonist meets, befriends, and comes to rely upon a cast of NPC companions who help form their adventuring party and rule their eventual kingdom. When we set out to bring content from the computer game into the tabletop version, we knew we wanted to include these characters, but weren’t quite sure how to do it. After all, a typical play group already has multiple PCs who do what the companions in the CRPG did.
The result was the Kingmaker Companion Guide, a 128-page sourcebook to provide GMs running Kingmaker (or any campaign, really) the tools they need to integrate more than a dozen fully fleshed out NPCs into the campaign as optional expansions to the already massive 640-page Pathfinder Kingmaker Adventure Path. Additionally, the guide presents rules for an optional camping system, complete with new downtime activities for players to use while exploring the Stolen Lands, and expanded weather rules.
: Tristian channels Sarenrae’s light to destroy a crypt of undead.
Illustration by Florian Stitz
Using Companions
Seven primary companions—the barbarian Amiri, the ranger Ekundayo, the alchemist Jubilost, the bard Linzi, the rogue Nok-Nok, the cleric Tristian, and the fighter Valerie—are presented in full detail. Each has two sets of statistics—one for use when the companion first encounters the PCs, and one at a higher level for use during that companion’s personal quest. These statistics were built using the rules for character creation, not for NPCs. As such, if your group takes a shine to a companion, that NPC can level up alongside the party as if they were a PC. In that case, the choices you and your players make for that NPC take precedence over the higher level stats given for a companion.
No statistics are presented for the five secondary companions, as their roles in the Kingmaker Adventure Path are limited to downtime activities and kingdom management roles.
Befriending Companions
Companions won’t necessarily trust the PCs when they first meet. They never start their initial encounter hostile, but they need to be influenced to friendly before they’ll be comfortable allying with the PCs. Each companion is presented with a brief influence encounter, the rules for which can be found on pages 151–153 of the Pathfinder Gamemastery Guide.
Each companion includes several character options that have the uncommon or rare trait; once the PCs have befriended a companion, these options become available, and the PCs gain access to them.
Adventuring With Companions
Companions that have joined the PCs don’t need to accompany them on every encounter. They can be held back in reserve to guard a campsite, left to perform downtime activities, serve as leaders in the kingdom, and so on. But at times, it may make sense for one or more companions to accompany the PCs on their adventures. If you allow this, you’ll want to adjust encounters to account for the increased number of characters in the party, as detailed on page 489 of the Pathfinder Core Rulebook.
Personal Quests
The seven primary companions each have a personal quest as part of their storyline. Though some companions provide foreshadowing to the PCs beforehand, each quest formally begins with a specific event timed to coincide with particular developments in the Kingmaker Adventure Path and also to a specific character level for the companion. (In order to avoid the party becoming distracted with multiple personal quests at the same time, each quest triggers at a different character level.)
Whether the PCs decide to accompany the companion on their quest is left to the players to decide. However, this book assumes that the PCs join the companion, who takes a full role in the PCs’ party through the events and encounters of the short adventure. These companion quests are therefore designed for a party of 5 characters rather than the standard 4, so encounters in these quests are slightly more dangerous than comparable encounters in the Kingmaker Adventure Path.
If the PCs choose not to accompany a companion on their personal quest, it’s up to you to determine the ramifications. A companion might try to tackle their quest on their own (in which case, that companion’s disappearance might serve as an additional hook to lure the PCs into that quest), they might choose to let the quest slide and not pursue it, or they might even abandon the PCs to seek help elsewhere—such as from potential rival settlements like Drelev or Pitax. In such a case, a former companion could well show up as an antagonist working against the PCs later in the campaign!
The ranger Ekundayo is one of seven fully detailed companions in the book.
Illustration by Mayra Luna.
Camping
In many campaigns, what happens during a party’s 8 hours of rest between adventuring is hand-waved and handled “off screen,” but the Kingmaker Companion Guide provides fun new downtime activities to bring this daily activity to life at your table. Whether you’re using the time to learn a new feat, spell, or other rules element from one of your befriended companions or cooking one of the 27 special meals presented in the book (from level-0 jeweled rice to level-20 First World mince pie), what your party does around the campfire will influence them upon waking.
Amiri tells a rousing campfire tale—a critical success!
Illustration by Elisa Serio.
As far as I know, there’s never been a book quite like this for any tabletop RPG, and if players and GMs like it, I could see us doing similar books in the future, both as companions to other Adventure Paths or simply presenting new casts of exciting characters to enrich any campaign.
Make sure to pick up your copy of the Kingmaker Companion Guide on October 26 (also available as a leatherette-bound Special Edition and on Roll20), and let us know how the characters and rules expansions within make your campaign legendary!
Mark Moreland
Director of Brand Strategy
Welcome New Companions!
Friday, October 7, 2022
