Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous, Part 6

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

3 minutes ago, Sarex said:

Playful Darkness is bs.

You managed to kill him yet?

[Sarex]

46 minutes ago, Space KP, Baby said:

You managed to kill him yet?

Just started, got him down to half health. But he got my party down to 0.

[Sarex]

Fuuuuuuuuuuuck.... Killed him but he got my main just before that.

But Lann plus quiver of marksman aid is the trick for me. Plus buffs, looooooots of buffs.

Nope that was not the trick...

Edited February 5, 2023 by Sarex

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

8 minutes ago, Sarex said:

Just started, got him down to half health. But he got my party down to 0.

 

1 minute ago, Sarex said:

Fuuuuuuuuuuuck.... Killed him but he got my main just before that.

You could say that the Playful Darknes fight is......unbalanced.

There's lots of tips, but in general I'd make dispelling him a top priority and feed some summons (swarms if you have them) to him to distract him. He's damaged by positive energy like an undead so the Pillars of Life spell will hurt him badly if you stack it and I think his will saves and touch AC are relatively low.

[Gromnir]

2 minutes ago, Sarex said:

Just started, got him down to half health. But he got my party down to 0.

is a slight spoiler, but you will be able to return to the midnight fane, so is possible to confront him after you level a bit.

many suggestions for beating playful is gonna revolve around multiple castings of creeping doom + mark of justice. the thing is, am recalling you kicked camellia to the curb, so to make such a strategy work you need daeran with nature or you has to have had the foresight to add creeping doom to ember, nenio or some other caster by means o' loremaster.

tell us what is your party config and am able to offer suggestions.

IF you got sosiel, keep in mind the pillar of life spells both heals you and does damage to playful as well as undead types.  no save. no spell resistance. no to-hit. the spell may be cast before combat and you may literal stack eight or more on top of each other. is a few bugs involved with meta feats and spells cast outside o' combat. am not sure if the devouring lust rod current works with pillars.

the goggles of pure sight maybe were purchased from the jewelry vendor in drezen? playful has a whole lotta buffs which may be dispelled. give your best dispeller the goggles and you auto roll a 20 at least once on a greater dispel cast. 

guarded hearth and mark of justice is gonna be beneficial regardless o' your party... if you have access to such.

HA! Good Fun!

[Sarex]

Just now, Space KP, Baby said:

 

You could say that the Playful Darknes fight is......unbalanced.

There's lots of tips, but in general I'd make dispelling him a top priority and feed some summons (swarms if you have them) to him to distract him. He's damaged by positive energy like an undead so the Pillars of Life spell will hurt him badly if you stack it and I think his will saves and touch AC are relatively low.

Yep dispelling it is def a priority, summons, mark of justice.

[Sarex]

Got the ****er!

https://imgur.com/lOrLM7E

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Just now, Sarex said:

Got the ****er!

https://imgur.com/lOrLM7E

I was just typing to advise you to have Arueshalae use instant enemy and share the bonus lmao.

[Sarex]

Just now, Space KP, Baby said:

I was just typing to advise you to have Arueshalae use instant enemy and share the bonus lmao.

That has become standard MO during the fights. But the first time I got him it was Lann doing all the dmg, kind of random. Should have protected the whole party from negative level though instead of just the tank.

[Sarex]

13 minutes ago, Gromnir said:

the goggles of pure sight maybe were purchased from the jewelry vendor in drezen? playful has a whole lotta buffs which may be dispelled. give your best dispeller the goggles and you auto roll a 20 at least once on a greater dispel cast.

Oh wow totally forgot I had those.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

7 minutes ago, Sarex said:

That has become standard MO during the fights. But the first time I got him it was Lann doing all the dmg, kind of random. Should have protected the whole party from negative level though instead of just the tank.

Honestly as good as pets are I couldn't see myself using a ranger without the party bond thing. Stackable bonus with (pretty much) infinite uses? Yes please.

[majestic]

Now reload and try on Unfair.

[Sarex]

1 hour ago, majestic said:

Now reload and try on Unfair.

Mmmmmmm, I'll think about it.

[Gromnir]

47 minutes ago, majestic said:

Now reload and try on Unfair.

the frightening thing being am not particular challenged by playful darkness anymore, even on unfair. is proof we have played wotr way too much 'cause am recalling how difficult the battle were when we first encountered playful darkness. pd is technical more difficult today than at release 'cause you need strip greater heroism to make fear attacks work and finnean is no longer brilliant energy in act iii and...

is just so many wotr exploits which make a mid or late game battle you may prepare for relative ez... if you know exact how the battle unfolds, all the enemy weaknesses as well as the innumerable pathfinder and owlcat cheese options.  shield maze bosses is tougher than midnight fane on unfair. example:  if you don't have a leopard, you are forced to kite and pray v. the water elemental. is just so few right options at low levels. 

if am able to prebuff, put down a guarded hearth, utilize the fortune and protective luck cheese, plus a dozen other options, then unfair pd is not so tough... save for when the rng choose to step in and smite us. 

inevitable darkness were much easier than our first encounter with pd and is not 'cause inevitable were less challenging. the thing is, after having played wotr multiple times, and with the benefit o' a level twenty party able to prebuff to the max, is our party which were genuine inevitable, regardless o' the foe. 'course we did purposeful build our inevitable excess party with a merged book angel main and a party designed to make the dlc combat a relative cake walk. more cheese.

HA! Good Fun!

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

9 minutes ago, Sarex said:

Mmmmmmm, I'll think about it.

I'll have to check, but I think the difference between difficulty settings is just the stat modifier. If that's the case, fighting Unfair Playful Darkness will be a lot like fighting the normal one in terms of tactics, with the obvious disclaimer that +8 to attack/AC/saves ain't nothing to sneeze at.

This is probably a relatively good thing, in that if Owlcat did something like Fire Emblem's Lunatic(+) modes and added various feats and buffs to enemies, the game would be unplayable on those settings instead of just extremely frustrating.

[Sarex]

13 minutes ago, Space KP, Baby said:

I'll have to check, but I think the difference between difficulty settings is just the stat modifier. If that's the case, fighting Unfair Playful Darkness will be a lot like fighting the normal one in terms of tactics, with the obvious disclaimer that +8 to attack/AC/saves ain't nothing to sneeze at.

This is probably a relatively good thing, in that if Owlcat did something like Fire Emblem's Lunatic(+) modes and added various feats and buffs to enemies, the game would be unplayable on those settings instead of just extremely frustrating.

Well so far I am not finding core to be that difficult apart from the few encounters. I could feel the difference in the early levels between normal and core in that crits from archers wrecked me, but now on higher levels I just steamroll most mobs without any tactics, I use Nenio for the skill check mostly, unless I need her for some fights. I sometimes want to add Wenduag as the third archer just to see if my front line would manage to get a hit in.

I would really like for Owlcat to do something like a Heart of Fury mode, where they actually add something to the gameplay and not only inflate the numbers.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

16 minutes ago, Sarex said:

Well so far I am not finding core to be that difficult apart from the few encounters. I could feel the difference in the early levels between normal and core in that crits from archers wrecked me, but now on higher levels I just steamroll most mobs without any tactics, I use Nenio for the skill check mostly, unless I need her for some fights. I sometimes want to add Wenduag as the third archer just to see if my front line would manage to get a hit in.

Wait until Nenio gets Weird.

In my opinion, Archers mow down stuff like nothing else. Full attack at 50 ft can be devastating. Still, having at least one mage for control spells is a very good idea. I'd keep Nenio.

16 minutes ago, Sarex said:

I would really like for Owlcat to do something like a Heart of Fury mode, where they actually add something to the gameplay and not only inflate the numbers

I agree. Maybe a "broken builds" mode where they all do monk dips.

[xzar_monty]

11 hours ago, Gromnir said:

the thing is, after having played wotr multiple times

Have you ever bothered to go for the so-called secret ending? There obviously is one, but after checking out some of the details, it seemed to me that it was a bit too tricky to actually get. Tricky in the sense that if you just play the game, like I prefer to, you're really very unlikely to make the kind of choices that would give you the possibility of getting there. And some of the things that lock you out of it seem a bit mean to me -- you really have to make the right choices even though you probably won't know when you're making them.

[Gorth]

12 hours ago, Sarex said:

Mmmmmmm, I'll think about it.

If you need a customized soundtrack for it...

 

https://www.medievalists.net/2022/02/flagellant-songs-middle-ages/

 

[xzar_monty]

@Gorth: Stuff like this always reminds me of that wonderful quatrain:

 

“There is a dreadful Hell,

And everlasting pains;

There sinners must with devils dwell

In darkness, fire, and chains.”

 

The icing on the cake is that it comes from a book called Divine and Moral Songs for Children (by one Isaac Watts). Kids these days, they don't even get to dig any good tunes.

[Gromnir]

11 hours ago, xzar_monty said:

Have you ever bothered to go for the so-called secret ending? There obviously is one, but after checking out some of the details, it seemed to me that it was a bit too tricky to actually get. Tricky in the sense that if you just play the game, like I prefer to, you're really very unlikely to make the kind of choices that would give you the possibility of getting there. And some of the things that lock you out of it seem a bit mean to me -- you really have to make the right choices even though you probably won't know when you're making them.

did once. extreme meta.

at launch and for sometime afterwards there were a few issues with the hand o' iomedae which am believing were bugs capable o' busting your secret end effort.  you also need advance the calendar by a significant amount which has the potential to wreck your crusade morale and stats if you didn't plan ahead or resort to advancing the calendar at threshold via ad nauseum resting. etc. it is a "secret ending" so am s'posing is difficult to complain if it is ultra sensitive and easily broken. 

the secret ending final battle changes, so is maybe worth the effort if you have already played the game at least once and are looking for something different. if you have already done everything wotr then do secret ending is likely a way to get a bit more mileage outta the game.

there is a secret ending for the treasure o' the midnight isles as well, but am believing you need do the dlc separate from the main game; could be wrong on that point as we never bothered to check. that said, is possible we give the dlc secret ending a looksee at some point... but not today, or tomorrow.

HA! Good Fun!

[Vaeliorin]

On 2/6/2023 at 5:56 PM, Gromnir said:

there is a secret ending for the treasure o' the midnight isles as well, but am believing you need do the dlc separate from the main game; could be wrong on that point as we never bothered to check. that said, is possible we give the dlc secret ending a looksee at some point... but not today, or tomorrow.

HA! Good Fun!

Technically there are 2 secret ending for treasures of the midnight isles.  There's a normal and secret ending in the main campaign (which involved one of the hardest battles in the game in my experience, simply because there's one enemy that if you don't kill it right away will wreck even an optimized party) and a different secret ending in the standalone version (which I've never done.)

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Compared to the other sekrit endings, the Midnight Isles one is very easy to get, at least as part of the main game. So much so I really have a hard time calling it a secret ending.

[Gromnir]

1 hour ago, Vaeliorin said:

Technically there are 2 secret ending for treasures of the midnight isles.  There's a normal and secret ending in the main campaign (which involved one of the hardest battles in the game in my experience, simply because there's one enemy that if you don't kill it right away will wreck even an optimized party) and a different secret ending in the standalone version (which I've never done.)

for the treasure dlc we did the optional battle where you fight 

Spoiler

the mucked up angel, nahyndri's shadowy balor form, the star rattle protean and a golem.

the battle is kinda pre end and is not particular hidden. we did both on hard and unfair. is sorta a secret end?  

based on the list o' achievements, there looks to be another secret end and am assuming is standalone dlc related, but am not certain. 

HA! Good Fun!

[Vaeliorin]

1 hour ago, Gromnir said:

for the treasure dlc we did the optional battle where you fight 

  Hide contents

the mucked up angel, nahyndri's shadowy balor form, the star rattle protean and a golem.

the battle is kinda pre end and is not particular hidden. we did both on hard and unfair. is sorta a secret end?  

based on the list o' achievements, there looks to be another secret end and am assuming is standalone dlc related, but am not certain. 

HA! Good Fun!

Yep, that is the one I referring to.  I actually missed it the first time through, loaded up a save and did it.  I thought I'd talked to the chain about everything, but apparently I missed one.

There's definitely one for the standalone version that involves that DC 40 something Religion check near where a new character starts the stand alone DLC.  Supposedly the fight is harder than Inevitable Darkness (who I've never fought, because I've only played Inevitable Excess once, and probably won't again) but I've never actually done it, so I don't know how true that is (the thing I was reading about it claimed a bunch of other fights that were super easy were really hard, so I take their claims with a massive grain of salt.)