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Perhaps the greatest frustration for me (In a game that's laden with frustrations) is that the difficulty is representative of what the OwlCats found fun, not the actual difficulty of the adventure path. Back in May I gave up on balance because I was told directly that the difficulty was where they wanted it. I liken the Owlcats to that DM that everybody's had, but everybody hates - the one that feels the only way to have fun is to repeatedly kick your behind while giggling behind the GM screen.
But lo! somebody went through the effort to find the correct settings to put the difficulty at core Pathfinder rules! LINK
Between a deliberate difficulty hike and an oddity in the code the poster identified the following settings (details of how he got there in the original link):
Core Rules Set Enemy Difficulty to "weak" and Enemy Stat Adjustments to "normal" for mostly-accurate Pathfinder experience, in terms of encounter balance.
Enemy Stat Adjustment only seems to influence Regeneration and Immunity bypass (no or reduced damage from non-magical weapons), and from what I can find in the code, only when choosing "somewhat easier" (half regen) or "much easier" (no regen) options. Any other option, such as "much tougher enemies" doesn't appear to actually be used anywhere I've found in the code. Comically enough, this even means choosing the "moderately easier" option is exactly the same as "much tougher" when it comes to this (which is all I can see it actually getting called for).
Enemy Difficulty changes the modifier scores (but not the base values) of the main attributes, skills, AC, Attacks, and Saves, by -2, +0, +2, +4, for weak, normal, strengthened, insane options accordingly. I'll go into why below, but you might notice attacks and AC get double-dipped due to the way the math is handled. I'm not sure if that's intentional or not, but it results in a rather steep increase in certain key stat values.
If you're getting frustrated by difficulty the above changes WILL help!
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Difficulty is weird, and sometimes produces odd results.
I started on Challenging but with normal enemy stat adjustments (which isn't used by any base difficulty setting).
I've since dropped it to 'somewhat weaker monsters' and thought this was reasonable. Tested a random encounter troll's numbers in game and they largely matched up to the bestiary entry (except a random weapon focus: claw). But close enough, I thought.
Well, I just fought a 'Ferocious' Devourer in a tomb (a set-piece battle). Compared to its bestiary entry had:
33 AC rather than 25,
+25 to hit rather than +18,
1d8+23 damage rather than 1d8+9
And something north of 245 HP rather than 133.
Dex was 20 rather than 16, and Strength was giving a +13 bonus rather than the +8 of 28. And rage is unchained, so was calculated separately (+2), not boosting strength.
Granted, some of that is whatever 'ferocious' is [it isn't a template I can find anywhere], but it seems to include rage (which is already factored in to those numbers).
But it's still a completely ridiculous boost that shouldn't be happening when the current difficulty settings are Enemy Difficulty: Normal and Enemy Stat Adjustments: Somewhat easier enemies. Especially the latter. +10 Str and +4 Dex is 'easier' stat adjustments? What?
I'd much rather a few more enemies to balance encounters than whatever this nonsense is. d20 rolls don't balance sanely with +/- 7 or 8.
On the other hand, the next location was filled with wolves, and the dire wolves were straight out the bestiary. +7 to hit, 14 AC (+2 dex, +3 NA, -1 size).
So, the buffs aren't consistently applied.
Erg.. reading through that reddit thread it seems that at normal setting the everyday fights are close to the PF rules, but the boss fights are very OP.
however, on easy setting the boss fights are close to the PF rules whereas the everyday fights are far too easy.
This scaling might be even more problematic as we get to higher levels.
Erg.. reading through that reddit thread it seems that at normal setting the everyday fights are close to the PF rules, but the boss fights are very OP.
however, on easy setting the boss fights are close to the PF rules whereas the everyday fights are far too easy.
This scaling might be even more problematic as we get to higher levels.
It is. I'm level 11 at the end of chapter 3.
The game suddenly became really stingy with gear (A few +3 pieces from encounters, nothing from shops beyond +6 belts/headpieces (single stat only)). And I've cleared absolute everything in all three regions of the Narlmarch, Kameland, and the start regions as well as Varnhold.
And the monsters are just giant HP bags, with high AC and bonuses around +28 and 40-50 damage per hit. And have great cleave and use it a lot.
I can get Valerie to 37AC unbuffed, but it isn't really enough. It turns into weird fights in choke points with blade barrier, a blocking elder elemental and spamming AoE damage to trim things down so my tanks can actually finish things off. Because they can't effectively tank this stuff.
Even outside questline stuff, I've run into weird, weird, bonuses.
A lizardman king is probably my oddest:
+27 to hit and 1d8+34 damage per hit. Using a normal shortspear.
This scaling might be even more problematic as we get to higher levels.It is. I'm level 11 at the end of chapter 3.
Yuck. I'm towards the end of Act 2 and it seemed like things were getting better around levels 7-9.
I have to say, though, the crushing tidal wave of spiders with a 20% miss chance and Con-damaging venom in the dungeon at the end of Act 2 is absolutely absurd.
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I haven't actually had much problem with difficulty before the tomb at end of Varnhold Vanishing and main reason for that is that if you didn't realize to stock up on items and rations before entering it, well uh, I just changed difficulty to story instead of reloading much earlier.
At least with waves of waves of spider you have option to avoid most of them and if you somehow realized to stock up delay poison and other suck items they are easy to deal with.
Anyway, yeah I don't feel like enemies are big hp bags because as far as I see, haste and Ekun just nuke everything
Erg.. reading through that reddit thread it seems that at normal setting the everyday fights are close to the PF rules, but the boss fights are very OP.
however, on easy setting the boss fights are close to the PF rules whereas the everyday fights are far too easy.
This scaling might be even more problematic as we get to higher levels.
(why yes I'll reply to myself lol)
So I redid my party. I dropped the shield fighter, the barbarian and the armorless cleric. Replaced them with a custom half-orc paladin, a crusader cleric and an alchemist. I play a wizard.
I kept Linzi and Octavia. Their personalities mesh with mine best, anyways.
Suddenly, everything is fine. Encounters seem level appropriate now and I'm hitting and doing damage. Which is annoying because having really suboptimal companions makes it seem like the devs did a whole lot of work for nothing.
I suppose with a saved games editor I could alter the companions' stats to bring them more in line with what common sense players would roll up. That might be a good idea when I replay this. Till then, I'm happy as I am.
This scaling might be even more problematic as we get to higher levels.It is. I'm level 11 at the end of chapter 3.Yuck. I'm towards the end of Act 2 and it seemed like things were getting better around levels 7-9.
I have to say, though, the crushing tidal wave of spiders with a 20% miss chance and Con-damaging venom in the dungeon at the end of Act 2 is absolutely absurd.
more spiders, eh? Must've gotten them wholesale or something...
yeah. its FUBAR. "mature" leopard with a +13 to hit whereas the d20pfsrd has a +6 to hit. Moreover, my pally hits it for 17 points of damage and the HP bar barely budges.
It takes 5 level 5 characters going nova to take out a CR 2 creature.
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So I redid my party. I dropped the shield fighter, the barbarian and the armorless cleric. Replaced them with a custom half-orc paladin, a crusader cleric and an alchemist. I play a wizard.
Funny, Valerie is actually well built (and has waaaaaay too many attribute points). As long as you can get the AI to target her, you should be fine.
This is true until book 3, in my understanding. then the enemies have scaled so much that having her in any prolonged melee still means you die.
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Not really true, she still tanks damage. Issue by chapter 3 is poison and negative level enemies since her having lot of hp helps nothing with those :p
Except her enormous constitution helps with both, as does her AC well into the 30's. Her touch AC is also much better than you'd expect due to the tower shield specialty.
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Are you guys not taking advantage of Delay Poison (Communal) spells? Solves that poison issue right quick.
So I redid my party. I dropped the shield fighter, the barbarian and the armorless cleric. Replaced them with a custom half-orc paladin, a crusader cleric and an alchemist. I play a wizard.Funny, Valerie is actually well built (and has waaaaaay too many attribute points). As long as you can get the AI to target her, you should be fine.
She isn't well built at all. For purposes of stats that actually matter to her role, she's effectively 17 point buy. 20 if you actually care about that odd Con mod, but getting her out of medium encumbrance penalties is difficult enough without tossing good stat increases after bad.
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Wow...I can't disagree more.
First off - I've yet to have her fail a con save. Between her enormous constitution, fighter levels, and liberal use of delay poison (which works for once!) poison can be a non-entity in this game.
Regarding her stats. First off her high CHA is fantastic for her build. As a 1-handed fighter it's nice to have other uses - and she is a debuff machine. Between Dazzling Display and Cornugon Smash there's hardly a person on the battlefield not taking large -2 buffs. That right there makes her CHA worth it. Sure, I'll give you the odd CON isn't ideal, but even discounting it to 16 she's at a 24 point build. And lastly I don't need her out of medium encumbrance penalties, since she's going to have them in heavy armor anyway.
She is literally the tip of my spear formation so I can get her into combat first, and her very being keeps the rest of my party alive by nature of not being who gets hit.
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Mostly I like the idea of leaving Valerie at the Capital as my Regent...storywise there is no one I trust more than her to run the kingdom.....
Now this I get. I don't take any of my inner circle out in the field with me. Verisimilitude-wise it makes no sense that somebody is occupied with state business for 60 days, but out exploring some dungeon with me.
As an example, if I spend time helping an advisor for 15 days, time fast-forwards for me. Why doesn't it for them?
Verisimilitude-wise it makes no sense that somebody is occupied with state business for 60 days, but out exploring some dungeon with me.
"The treasurer requests an audience in the throne room." Can't we just talk in this tent we're sharing?
Teleport would be ok to include, I suppose, provided they stick close to the actual spell (complete with being off target, and mishaps). Including a 'familiarity' meter with an area you've been to at least once would be kinda cool. Not sure how difficult it would be to implement (and do it well) but it would be very nice.
Better yet maybe after level 10 (or maybe a bit higher) you get the option to teleport between town's that you've founded. Or, perhaps more balanced (if you lacked the ability yourself) to include it as a perk of the Mage's Tower or Arcane resources for your Barony/Kingdom.
^ Arcane Kingdom Stat effects for inter-town Teleport (and maybe specific locales based on current Event) seems plausibly in-line with game mechanics/ethos.
I don't understand the OP's point. How do the easier Difficulties not solve his problem? Who cares what they CALL each Difficulty tier?
You claim the Devs have not responded to Difficulty critiques, yet in very thread you link it's mentioned they lowered Save scaling in 1.0.7 patch. You reference the Reddit OP's claim "weak is real normal" but don't acknowledge the follow-up commenter's analysis showing that normal is in fact accounting for 6 member party similarly to how normal table top rules do. That still leaves some double dipping at higher difficulties, but that isn't even your focus to begin with AFAIK.
(IMHO, even if same range of difficulty scaling is desired, more fine tiers with 0 double-dipping would be better, and game should more accurately describe what different difficulty settings do, as well as separately handle non-enemy DCs e.g. skill & kingdom checks)
Anyhow, thankyou for the link which was informative, in that I'm much more heavily inclined to drop to Normal difficulty from current Difficult. Which I've been managing fine with (although I now Modded Kingdom DCs -2 to approximate Normal while Enemies are on Challenging),
but I now feel alot more open to using Normal either generally or just on Boss fights that are tough.
I have noticed I am so far intuitively averse to using Power Attack although it IS pre-req for nice stuff. E.g. Cleave. Trip is alot better than tabletop because it ensures they WILL provoke further AoO standing up (which also wastes action?). Albeit same issue as tabletop re: big melee / multi-feet enemies remains re: Trip in particular :-)
I've heard that load times are a big hassle as the game goes on due to the corpses/items still hanging around and thus more to load(Pick up every dagger!)
I'm not sure of technical reason(s) but load times are indeed heavy, both for travelling and Kingdom management. And the game will routinely make you leave and re-enter Kingdom managment in order to "talk to advisor or visitor in person" in your throne-room. Like... Why not just pop up the same dialog pane directly from Kingdom management mode? Similarly you can get Kingdom-mode notifications while travelling for certain urgent issues, that force you into Kingdom mode (req'ing reload) only to tell you to go to capitol to resolve issue in-person. Does triggering a message window really require TWO re-loads back and forth? I mean, it COULD notify you to enter Kingdom mode, so why not just go a bit further?
I have heard the problem you cited is indeed one cause (although not only one, as simply switching between travel map and kingdom mgmt is serious load) and am aware of Mod allegedly addressing some of issue (removing bodies and campsite remnants), although I haven't tried it yet myself.