Pathfinder: Kingmaker has found a path to The Epic Games Store, arriving as Pathfinder: Kingmaker Enhanced Plus Edition with all previous DLC, its soundtrack, and an artbook included. The critically acclaimed isometric RPG first released in 2018, with this enhanced version releasing not too long after. Now, it's available today for the Epic Games Store. 

What's more is that Pathfinder: Kingmaker will be launching at a discount from its regular MSRP of $19.99, with a 40% markdown until May 17. You can purchase Pathfinder: Kingmaker Enhanced Plus Edition for yourself on The Epic Games Store here.

Pathfinder: Kingmaker is the result of thousands of fans' support as the game originally started as a Kickstarter campaign before it was funded and released in 2018. It's an RPG inspired by the likes of Baldur's Gate and the first two Fallout games; it's also, perhaps most importantly, based on the popular tabletop game of the same name and universe. 

Since launch, it has seen six major updates and built a wide community of players. 

We reviewed Pathfinder: Kingmaker when it released on PC and said it was "a breath of fresh air in a fairly stale RPG landscape. It takes some seriously bold risks, and they pay off for the right audience. If you're a fan of tabletop RPG games, or you're looking for an unexpected challenge in the form of something truly different, you won't be disappointed."

More recently, we went hands-on with the early build for the game's sequel, Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous. Though we called it a "by the numbers" RPG, there's a lot for fans of the series to be interested in. 

Joining the likes of Steam, Fanatical, and Ubisoft, Good Old Games is holding its own sale to celebrate the Lunar New Year. From January 24 to January 31, more than 1,500 games and game bundles are on sale, some upwards of 90% off. 

Though the name might suggest these discounts are relegated to the ephemeral "old" games available on the platform, GoG has actually been selling newer games for a while now.

As such, highlighted deals include those on Disco Elysium, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Pathfinder: Kingmaker, Everspace, Greedfall, Vampyr, Age of Wonders: Planetfall, Children of Morta, and Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. 

Although it doesn't look like there are many, if any, deals on upcoming games like Cyberpunk 2077 or Vampire: The Masquerade — Bloodlines 2, GoG has helpfully separated its sales by genre and the cleverly useful "only the highest discounts" category. 

Here are some of the best deals we saw while readying our wallets for the inevitable mass exodus of money. 

That's only a small fraction of the games currently on sale during Good Old Game's Lunar New Year sale. Currently, there are dozens of DLC and expansion packs also available.

On top of that, legitimately good old games, such as those in the Warcraft, Caesar, Sim City, and King's Bounty series, are available at steep discounts. You can see everything that's on sale over at GoG.

Stay tuned to GameSkinny for more sales and discounts. And be sure to head over to Steam, Fanatical, and Ubisoft to see what's on sale for those storefronts and if it's cheaper than what's available here. 

Although the tabletop giant has been notably absent from PC and console in recent years, there's much more digital D&D in store for RPG fans coming very soon.

We already know about the Stadia-exclusive Baldur's Gate 3 coming from none other than Divinity: Original Sin crew Larian Studios. We also know a new Dark Alliance title developed by Tuque Games was just revealed at The Game Awards. A trailer for that newly-revealed title can be seen below.

That's just the tip of the iceberg, though, as we can expect multiple other titles to be revealed shortly.

According to an interview with Wizards Of The Coast President Chris Cocks conducted by Gamesindustry.biz, Wizards is greenlighting between seven to eight total Dungeons & Dragons games over the next few years.

While Cocks specifically mentioned the large amount of lore across each campaign setting, the exact settings and gameplay styles of those titles aren't clear yet. According to the interview, all of the D&D games will have some level of single-player experience. Cocks added:

We always think that our co-operative perspective, that forming a party with your friends and doing great things together — the party is bigger than individual components — will always be an important part of our secret sauce.

Aside from a smaller number of digital games, D&D hasn't been nearly as prolific on the hardcover book release schedule in 5th edition as in past versions of the game. 3rd edition, for instance, had a two book a month schedule that saw players struggling to keep up with new releases.

In light of fewer licensed D&D games releasing lately — with the poorly received Sword Coast Legends entirely yanked from the Steam store — rival system Pathfinder has picked up the slack with PC versions of full tabletop adventure paths.

That trend kicked off with Kingmaker last year, while developer Owlcat Games just revealed that the Wrath Of The Righteous campaign path is now in development as a full standalone game.

Stay tuned to GameSkinny for more news and info on these upcoming D&D titles as it drops. 

Half classic isometric RPG and half kingdom management simulator, Pathfinder: Kingmaker features a host of quirks you'll have to get used to while adventuring across the Stolen Lands.

However, due to a strict adherence to the tabletop rules, many players are running into a major problem. Out of nowhere, your party will suddenly slow to an absolute crawl, and won't move faster than a snail's pace -- even when their lives depend on it during combat.

Your first instinct may be to look for a run/walk toggle button, like one you'd find in many other isometric RPGs. That's not the case here, however, and you haven't accidentally toggled the running option off like you might expect.

Toggling Run In Pathfinder: Kingmaker

In this rendition of the Pathfinder rules, your party always defaults to the fastest possible movement speed. There are three main reasons why your party has suddenly slowed to an absolute crawl.

The group will only stop running and start walking if you've run afoul of the exhaustion, movement, or weather mechanics. 

These mechanics are very unforgiving on the basic difficultly settings, and there aren't reliable notifications to let you know specifically when and why you've suddenly lost movement speed.

Below, we cover all three possibilities and explain how to get back to running again.

Party Weight Distribution

Instead of individual backpacks, your party uses a shared stash system in Kingmaker. This means you don't have to juggle objects to make room in each character's inventory. Instead, it has an adverse side effect.

If you hit medium or heavy load (indicated by the yellow and red bar at the bottom of the inventory screen), the entire party slows down significantly. That's a problem because medium load is hit almost immediately just by carrying a single suit of extra armor or a few looted weapons to sell.

This system causes huge problems when you enter your capital or Oleg's Trading Post, where the game automatically switches to the main character. When you enter those locations, you have no other companions in your party.

If you are carrying pretty much anything at all, you will automatically be at heavy load with only a single party member to hold the inventory's weight.

This weight load mechanic may be true to the pen and paper source material, but it's also extremely annoying in a video game when you just want to travel from Point A to Point B an get on with the next quest.

To avoid this issue entirely, go into the Options screen and navigate to the Difficulty tab. Scroll down and turn off the option marked "The party's speed depends on the weight you are carrying." Boom, problem solved.

If that feels like cheating to you, keep in mind you can buy bags of holding from merchants to lower your weight, but that won't always solve the problem when you go into the capital and only have one character. 

Fatigue / Exhaustion

This is hands down the most likely cause of a sudden reduction in movement speed. Traveling on the world map causes fatigue and then exhaustion, which gives you negative status penalties and also reduces walking speed.

The icons to indicate fatigue and exhaustion are extremely tiny, however, so it's very easy to miss them. Check on the small squares next to each character's portrait to see if these afflictions are in effect. Fatigue is a small blue icon, while exhaustion is a dull yellow / orange color.

To get moving at full speed again, just set up camp for the night to remove the fatigue/exhaustion conditions.

Weather Effects

Have you turned off the party movement speed option and rested but are still moving at an unacceptable speed? Take a look at the weather condition of your current location.

Yes, sometimes adverse weather effects will slow down your movement even if no one in your group is fatigued and you have a light load. In particular, be on the lookout for thunder storms, which force you to move slower than the normal run speed.

--

Need help upgrading your kingdom, finding advisors, or picking the right class for your play style? Check out our other Kingmaker guides here:

• Finding the treasury advisor Jubilost
• How to upgrade your Kingmaker capital
• Pathfinder: Kingmaker complete class breakdown guide

There's more to Pathfinder: Kingmaker than just killing bandits and ridding the land of vicious trolls! Mixing together isometric RPG gameplay with a kingdom sim, you'll need to constantly keep a close eye on everything that goes on in your barony.

One crucial element to staying ahead of problems is to upgrade your capital from a village to a town so you earn more BP and have room for more buildings. 

Unfortunately, there's no button in the management screen for upgrading and no clear info on where to go to start the process. Advancing from village to town isn't tied to your barony stats like you'd expect, and isn't dependent on what buildings you've constructed in your capital.

To initiate this upgrade, you need to through a specific combination of adventuring and kingdom management elements. Let's get started!

Upgrading The Capital To A Town

After defeating the Stag Lord, claiming his fort as your capital, and being crowned baron or baroness of the area, you need to then fully claim two additional regions before the capital can be upgraded.

The first region is available to annexed almost immediately. After learning about the kingdom management screen and setting a few companions into the advisor roles, a project will pop up allowing you to start taking control of the Outskirts region to the north of your main area.

This process takes 14 days. Keep in mind if you are trying to upgrade your capital immediately that a curse starts taking effect 30 days after you begin your rule. You will take a -2 penalty to all barony stats while dealing with that issue, so be sure to keep an eye on all the events that pop up where your priests warn you about the curse's effects.

After annexing the Outskirts, go adventuring on the road for a few days and fill all five advisor slots (if you don't know where to find the treasurer, check out our guide here). When you return to the kingdom management screen, you will gain the ability to found a new settlement in the Outskirts.

Click "Events" (or any button besides the Maps section) and scroll up to the Outskirts, then click any of the flag icons there to select where you want the village to be built.

Set the village wherever you want a pick a name, which will start the official quest to upgrade your capital to a town. You still can't complete the task until you annex a second region and then build a village there as well.

The quickest way to get a third region is to head south from the ford over the River Skunk (the same area where Jubilost and his crew of gnomes are found) and go into the Dwarven Ruins.

Plunder the ruins and take care of the troll menace, and you can then spend another 14 days to annex that region. Note that you should take Harrim with you on this adventure, since he wants to know what happened to the dwarves in the area.

When the annexing process is finished, return to your capital and rest for 24 hours (or hit the Skip Day button when accessing the table in your throne room), which will allow enough time to trigger the next quest.

A new project will automatically pop up in the kingdom management screen prompting you to start the process of upgrading your capital from a village to a town.

That's all you need to know to upgrade your capital from a lowly village to a bustling town and start on the road to becoming a king of your own independent nation!

Need help with the rest of this unforgiving pen and paper-based RPG? Check out our other Kingmaker walkthrough material here:

• Finding the treasury advisor Jubilost
• Pathfinder: Kingmaker complete class breakdown guide

The arrival of a fully functional Pathfinder Online may be nothing but a pipe dream, but fans of realm building in Paizo's fantasy world finally have something to keep them busy with single player cRPG Pathfinder: Kingmaker.

Running a kingdom takes more than just a strong sword arm, so you'll need a list of advisors to keep your fledgling realm going strong while battling troll kings and dealing with the fey.

One critical role is the treasurer, who impacts your kingdom's economy. Simply finding the treasurer has many players stumped, however, as he's super easy to miss if you don't know exactly where to look.

Below we show you exactly how to find the treasury advisor and initiate a new string of economic-based kingdom events. Wondering which of the classes or sub-class archetypes to pick instead for your would-be king or queen? Check out our full Pathfinder: Kingmaker class guide over here!

Where To Find The Pathfinder: Kingmaker Treasury Advisor

Note that before you can find the treasurer, you have to first take out the Stag Lord and officially begin your rule over the the area (by completing the Stolen Land quest). To get to that point, first you need to follow these steps:

• Travel to the ancient hut to learn about the unnatural fog
• Defeat the guardian beasts at the Temple Of The Elk to disperse the fog
• Follow your rival to the ancient tomb
• Travel to the old sycamore and gain the two halves of the relic from the mite and kobold factions
• Confront your rival at the old sycamore
• Travel to the Stag Lord's fort and defeat his gang

When you are on the overworld map, make sure to check the "Show Location Names" box at the top-right corner.

With this feature turned on you see red exclamation points that reveal when a new event is occurring in a specific location. It also reveals specific names of river ford locations. These features make it much, much easier to find the treasury advisor. 

After gaining access to the kingdom management screen, head to the ford across the Skunk River (southwest from your capital and heading towards the Dwarven Ruins).

At this location you will be able to find the gnome named Jubilost in his wagon after gaining the ability to appoint advisors. He's not exactly happy you haven't managed to protect his wagon, and starts off quite belligerent towards the main character.

Some players don't immediately find Jubilost's overturned wagon in the river ford on their first trip to the area. This isn't a bug as expected, but rather just an issue with the event not triggering until a set amount of time has passed.

If he doesn't appear at that location, simply wait a few days for the event to trigger and come back again (a red exclamation point should appear at the ford).

In particular, Jubilost seems to spawn most frequently after activating the troll-based quest segment. Some players also get him to spawn by talking to the dryad.

Even when he does spawn, Jubilost won't immediately join your party. You will need to defeat the troll king and then inform Jubilost of the development and take him to the Dwarven Ruins. After inspecting the area, he will offer to join the party.

Update: if you pass the skill checks to pull his wagon out of the river and then pick the nice dialog options, Jubilost will join you immediately if you pick the option to ask him to team up to explore the ruins and you don't actually have to take him there.

After recruiting him, head back to the kingdom management screen and assign him to the role of treasurer.

Besides helping your kingdom's economy, be on the lookout for occasional events to trigger as well while Jubilost is in the role of treasurer.

Need help with either the adventuring or kingdom management sides of this D&D kingdom simulation game? Check out our full list of Pathfinder: Kingmaker guides here.

Ever since the Pathfinder RPG made its debut in 2009, it has won over fans of classic RPGs time and time again -- including Dungeons and Dragons, which Pathfinder owes its lineage to.

The Pathfinder tabletop game earned its popularity and devoted fan base by staying true to more traditional elements of Dungeons and Dragons. But does  Pathfinder: Kingmaker stay true to those same roots?

In a world where the RPG has been popularized and ultimately toned down by the likes of The Elder Scrolls and World of Warcraft, is there a place for the unforgiving nature of tabletop RPGs?

Spoiler alert: the answer just might be yes. 

Interface and Controls

For anyone who has played anything similar to a true roleplaying game in the last 15 years, Pathfinder: Kingmaker's user interface should automatically feel familiar. It features a small menu with different character management and game system options. The character screen offers a very familiar inventory and equipment management interface that centers around dragging pieces of gear around an animated model of your character.

On a more practical action based front, the camera controls are your standard WASD keys. Then the combat controls themselves come on a tried and true action bar.

That's really where the similarities end, though. Pathfinder: Kingmaker isn't the PC RPG (CRPG) that you're probably used to. Kingmaker is a tabletop RPG in digital form. It is your dungeon master, and you're playing much the same game you would if gathered around with a group of friends.

Such a relatively bold move presents a unique set of challenges when it comes to controls. Most gamers, even RPG fans, have never played a game that controls like a tabletop game. That means that the controls would need to be highly intuitive to your average gamer while still preserving the tabletop gameplay elements.

Pathfinder: Kingmaker mostly succeeds in its control design. There are elements of that pen and paper gameplay that translate very well into a PC game. However, there are others, like live action combat and formations, which feel sort of strange and out of place initially.

It never gets perfectly smooth, but it is possible to adapt to it and feel mostly comfortable down the line.

Gameplay

Diving deeper into its gameplay, you'll really feel how strange Pathfinder: Kingmaker seems at first. Your first instinct will probably be to dive in and start mashing the buttons on your action bar, much like you would in countless other RPGs. That's, of course, not the way Pathfinder works. It is a virtual tabletop RPG, and it plays like one. That includes automatic dice roll mechanics. Yes, it rolls virtual dice.

When you first engage in combat, time freezes and gives you a chance to plan out a strategy for your party. This part is well explained in the initial tutorial, and it works great. After you have your strategy in place, you unfreeze time and dive into the fight.

That's where things get a little weird.

After the live-action combat kicks off, it's not all that easy to manage your party anymore, and attempting to attack just feels clunky, especially with the dice rolling mechanic factoring into the combat as well.

That's why, in practice, Pathfinder: Kingmaker feels a bit like a cross between an RPG and a Real Time Strategy (RTS) game. That wouldn't really be the case if you were only controlling your one character, more like it's pen and paper origin, but it's also clear why that system wouldn't work all that well in the context of a PC game.

Altogether, the combat experience in Pathfinder is fun, but it definitely takes some getting used to, and there is a learning curve.

The game also features a fairly unique travel system that aims to replicate the experience of the tabletop game.

The map interface is nicely designed, and it cuts out a lot of what could be nonsense while retaining the adventuring feel present in a pen and paper RPG. Most of it is fast travel until you encounter a challenge on the road. At that point, you'll drop down to a ground-level view to fight.

Stopping also means setting up camp to rest and gathering rations. Rest resets your party's abilities and heals them up. You can also find interesting side content on the road that leads you down different narrative paths that build on the story and flesh out the world.

Art and Graphics

The art and graphical aesthetic of Pathfinder: Kingmaker are fantastic. The key here is not to go in expecting the same level of graphical polish that you'd find in a AAA title with a gargantuan budget. That's not what this game is, and it doesn't try to be.

Kingmaker's static artwork is essentially the same art that you'd associate with the Pathfinder or Dungeons and Dragons tabletop games. If you're not familiar, it's a painted style that takes advantage of a wide color pallet and a sense of motion. That same style is common in other media within the fantasy genre, especially with novels. It fits well with Pathfinder, and it really does help build the overall ambiance of the game.

The in-game environments are great as well. They expertly set the scene in the locations that you're playing through, and really do help with immersion, which is a huge deal in an RPG.

The game does a great deal with environment detail that helps to set the stage of the world, helping players understand bits about the plot and overall lore, without the need to play through any additional content.

There is one weak point with the in-game artwork, though: character models. They just aren't that detailed. In some cases, they even feel slightly out of place. The world itself seems more finely tuned graphically, while it's hard to shake the feeling that the character models feel dated.

Story

There isn't too much to say without revealing any spoilers, but Pathfinder: Kingmaker's story feels like a very well put together tabletop campaign.

It comes complete with a main quest line that brings your character along through a story complete with meaningful decisions and the ability to shape your own narrative. It even partners you with a bard character to chronicle your story, which is a nice touch. 

The story kicks off with your character attending a gathering of heroes and mercenaries, all of whom were brought together for a chance to claim a lordship of their own complete with land and titles.

Of course, there's a catch. The land is occupied by a somewhat mysterious warlord. Within a few minutes, things at the gathering go violently wrong, and your adventure kicks off prematurely and chaotically.

Customization, The World, and RPG Elements

No RPG is complete without real role-playing aspects. This is another area where Kingmaker really delivers. The first part of every RPG is character creation.

So, when you first start up your campaign, you're able to create your character. There are a handful of template characters that you can pick and get started with right way. Chances are, though, you're an RPG player, and you want to make your character from scratch.

Of course, that is an option, too.

The beginning of the character creation process is probably also the weakest. There aren't many playable character races to choose from. It would have been nice to see more options, especially in a landscape where RPG fans expect a broad range of options.

Once you do pick your character's race, you'll get to customize their appearance. Unfortunately, the available options are limited. It would have been nice to see more variation here, especially with how invested RPG fans tend to get in their characters.

Beyond that, the class customization options are great. Pathfinder: Kingmaker brings an impressive range of character classes and subclasses to the table. The classes do feel unique, and each variation changes the flavor of the class and changes the way you play.

Of course, you get to choose specific talents and abilities for your character and customize their stats. Stats are a huge part of creating characters in a pen and paper RPG, and they're still very present here.

The world itself feels very alive. There are secrets, items, and NPCs to interact with through the entire world. Some just give you interesting loot. Others provide additional side stories or enhance the main plot of the game.

A lot of the game is fully voice acted. While not all of it is great, there are some real stand out characters that help to bring the game to life and build investment in both the characters and the story.

The Verdict

Pathfinder: Kingmaker is a breath of fresh air in a fairly stale RPG landscape. It takes some seriously bold risks, and they pay off for the right audience. If you're a fan of tabletop RPG games, or you're looking for an unexpected challenge in the form of something truly different, you won't be disappointed.

It's important to note that the launch of the game was plagued with a really nasty bug causing saved games to fail to load. While there are some easy temporary fixes on Windows, Mac and Linux players are having a rougher time of it.

In reviewing this game on Linux, it was extremely frustrating having to start the entire game over every time the full party died because saved games couldn't load. That said, it's just a bug, and hopefully, it'll be fixed soon.

Pathfinder: Kingmaker set out to bring the look, feel, and gameplay experience of a classic tabletop RPG to the PC and, in that, is an absolute success. It's not without its flaws, but all of them could be corrected with additions and further content patches, which a game like this lends itself to very well.

You can pick up Pathfinder: Kingmaker on Steam for $39.99.

[Note: The developer provided the copy of Pathfinder: Kingmaker used in this review.]

Converting the Pathfinder tabletop rules to a single player cRPG for the first time, Kingmaker has no shortage of class options.

All the classes are quite similar to the pen and paper version of Pathfinder, so if you've been rolling d20s with your friends for years you already know the basics of what to expect.

In our full Pathfinder: Kingmaker class guide below, we break down each main class, as well as the three alternate class archetypes that swap out key features for more customization.

Like with the original Baldur's Gate, the game is over if the main character dies in Kingmaker, so survivability should be your focus. For new players, going with a fighter or barbarian is a good option. If you pick something squishy like a wizard or halfling bard, make sure to stay in the back row away from melee combat.

Starting companions

if you are looking for a well rounded party with no duplicate classes, companions are available from the beginning of the game with these starting classes:

• Barbarian (Amiri)
• Bard (Linzi)
• Cleric (Harrim)
• Fighter (Valerie)
• Inquisitor (Jaethal)

Keep in mind however that the party splits in two early on based on your alignment and decisions in the prologue, so you can't have all the party members together at once.  

Primary Class: Alchemist

Main features: Throw Anything, Poison Resistance, Mutagen, Bomb

High saves: Fortitude and Reflex

Class skills: Trickery, Knowledge (Arcana), Knowledge (World), Perception, Use Magic Device

Alchemist is a hybrid class offering both spells and mutagens for temporarily increasing the physical stats, making this a great well-rounded option for melee or ranged combat.

The main draw here is the bomb feature, which can be changed and improved as you level up and gives a constant stream of steady damage-dealing opportunities from a distance.

Grenadier

This subclass gains martial weapon proficiency and replaces poison resistance with the precise bomb ability, so your bombs don't affect allies. This is critical when you are throwing bombs into crowds.

Vivisectionist

A more evil version of the class, Vivisectionist loses the bomb ability entirely and replaces it with sneak attack, leading to a rogue/alchemist hybrid based on dealing high damage output while hiding ins shadows.

Chirurgeon

More focused on healing, this sub-class replaces poison resistance with infused curative, which lets you use status effect removing infusions on other party members.

Primary Class: Barbarian

Main features: Fast Movement, Rage

High saves: Fortitude

Class skills: Athletics, Mobility, Lore (Nature), Perception, Persuasion

Barbarians are all about front line combat, activating rage and wading into melee. They gain new powers while raging at higher levels, and eventually get danger sense to avoid traps and damage reduction to act as the party tank.

Armored Hulk

An even tankier version of the barbarian, this sub-class gets heavy armor proficiency, and swaps out fast movement for bonuses to CMD and speed while wearing heavier armor.

Mad Dog

The mad dog doesn't get the normal rage ability until level 4, and gains fewer rage powers. In exchange, this version of the barbarian gets an animal companion and gains bonuses in combat when you fight alongside that companion.

Invulnerable Rager

Instead of danger sense to avoid traps, this sub-class gets damage reduction immediately, and gains resistance to fire and cold damage starting at third level.

Primary Class: Bard

Main features: Cantrips, Bardic Knowledge, Inspire Courage, Detect Magic

High saves: Will and Reflex

Class skills: All skills

The bard is your jack-of-all-trades class, with some minor spellcasting powers, the ability to buff the rest of the party, and big bonuses to skill checks.

If you want to do well on Knowledge checks and stay out of harm's way, bard is a good class to pick. Note that if you are going the chaotic good route, you can just use Linzi as your bard instead.

Archaelogist

Instead of inspiring courage in other party members, the archaeologist gets luck bonuses on nearly all rolls.

Thundercaller

This archetype swaps out the bardic knowledge feature for a bonus to Nature Lore rolls, and also gains the ability to deal sonic damage with a thunderbolt starting at third level.

Flame Dancer

Beginning at third level, the flame dancer gains abilities related to fire, such as granting fire resistance to allies. Eventually this archetype adds fire-related powers such as fireball to his list of available spells.

Primary Class: Cleric

Main features: Channel Energy, Divine Spells, Domain Selection, Detect Magic

High saves: Fortitude and Will

Class skills: Knowledge (Arcana), Knowledge (World), Lore (Religion), Persuasion

A cleric's focus can vary widely depending on their deity, but in general act as the healers and secondary front line fighters.

If you want to be able to deal with undead, help out the party, and still swing a mace at the bad guys, this is your best pick.

Crusader

This archetype is more martial-focused and gains bonus fighter feats every five levels.

Herald Caller

The herald caller can swap out prepared spells to instead summon creatures associated with their deity.

Ecclesitheurge

The opposite of the crusader, this archetype loses weapon and armor proficiency and instead focuses on gaining bonuses through spells.

Primary Class: Druid

Main features: Nature Sense, Spontaneous Summoning, Nature Bond, Wild Shape, Detect Magic

High saves: Fortitude and Will

Class skills: Lore (Nature), Knowledge (World), Knowledge (Arcana), Perception, Athletics

The secondary healing class, druids have versatile spellcasting abilities, can summon magical allies, and eventually gain the ability to take on animal or elemental forms during combat.

Blight Druid

Focused on the destructive powers of decay, this archetype gains blight bond instead of nature bond, and eventually causes any enemies standing nearby to become automatically sickened during combat.

Defender Of The True World

This variant on the druid is focused around battling the fey, gaining damage bonuses against the children of the first world. This can be a big help in certain parts of the game where fey are plentiful enemies.

Feyspeaker

The opposite of the defender of the true world, this archteype revolves around supporting the fey. This sub-class gets fewer wild shape abilities, and instead gains enchantment and illusion spells. The feyspeaker also uses charisma instead of wisdom for spellcasting.

Primary Class: Fighter

Main features: Bonus Combat Feats, Bravery, Armor Training, Weapon Training

High saves: Fortitude

Class skills: Athletics, Knowledge (World), Lore (Nature), Persuasion

If you aren't sure what to pick, fighter is probably the best starting option due to the high hit points and ability to use the heaviest weapons and armor.

Fighters consistently gain bonuses to all armor and weapon options, so they scale well in combat-focused situations.

Aldori Defender

Instead of armor training, this archetype gains the defensive parry skill, which gives an armor class bonus when making full attacks with a sword.

Tower Shield Specialist

Instead of weapon training, this archetype gains major defensive bonuses while equipped with a tower shield, including the ability to defend allies from burst spells.

Two-Handed Fighter

Exactly what it sounds like, this fighter ditches armor training and instead gets big bonuses when wielding a two-handed weapon.

Primary Class: Inquisitor

Main features: Orisons, Stern Gaze, Detect Magic, Judgment

High saves: Fortitude and Will

Class skills: All skills

Somewhat like a hybrid of cleric and fighter, the inquisitor has fewer spell options, but gains bonuses to intimidation and pronounce judgment on specific enemies to gain bonuses in combat.

The inquisitor is focused on teamwork in combat as well, and can essentially give other party members free teamwork feats when they are in close proximity.

Monster Tactician  

Instead of the judgment ability, this archetype gains the ability to cast summon monster spells at each level.

Tactical Leader

This archetype loses stern gave and instead focuses on diplomacy over intimidation.

Sacred Hunstmaster

Instead of judgment, the huntsmaster gains an animal companion and has a bigger focus on teamwork feats to use with that companion.

Primary Class: Magus

Main features: Arcane Pool, Spell Combat, Detect Magic

High saves: Fortitude and Will

Class skills: Athletics, Knowledge (Arcana), Knowledge (World), Persuasion, Use Magic Device

A hybrid of fighter and wizard, the magus can channel spell energy to grant bonuses in combat, and can both cast spells and attack with a melee weapon in the same round.

Eldritch Scion

Essentially the sorcerer version of a magus, the eldritch scion gains arcane pool points based on charisma instead of intelligence.

Sword Saint

The sword saint is more focused on the melee side than the magic side, primarily using mystical abilities to pump up sword attacks. This archetype also gains access to some fighter-only features (at a slower rate than a normal fighter).

Eldritch Archer

This is essentially like the base magus, but using ranged attacks instead of a sword.

Primary Class: Monk

Main features: Flurry Of Blows, Improved Unarmed Strike, Stunning Fist, Armor Class Bonus, Ki Powers

High saves: Fortitude and Reflex

Class skills: Athletics, Mobility, Stealth, Knowledge (World), Lore (Religion), Perception, Persuasion

Monks are focused on up close combat but without any weapons or armor. They gain increasing abilities over time it they remain unarmored and don't equip melee weapons.

Eventually their standard fist attacks take on magical qualities, essentially bypassing the need for magic weapons.

Scaled Fist

Very similar to the base monk class, scaled fist swaps out the bonus feats available to grant access to feats like crane style and dragon style.

Sensei

Somewhat of a monk/bard hybrid, the sensei gains the ability to grant bonuses to other party members like a bard's inspire courage power.

Traditional Monk

This archetype loses the ability to choose specific ki powers when leveling up, but gains larger bonuses from the powers it can take.

Primary Class: Paladin

Main features: Smite Evil, Divine Grace, Lay On Hands, Mercy, Aura Of Courage

High saves: Fortitude and Will

Class skills: Knowledge (Arcana), Knowledge (World), Lore (Nature), Lore (Religion), Persuasion

Another fighter/cleric hybrid, the paladin is restricted to lawful good alignment and must behave selflessly to use their powers.

They gain the ability to heal and remove negative status effects over time by adding mercies to their lay on hands power.

Divine Hunter

Instead of focusing on a sword and shield style, this archetype gains access to ranged combat feats and abilities.

Hospitaler

The hospitaler gains additional healing abilities at the cost of a weakened smite evil feature.

Divine Guardian

The divine guardian archetype focuses on healing and guarding one particular party member at a time, rather than the group as a whole.

Primary Class: Ranger

Main features: Favored Enemy, Favored Terrain, Hunter's Bond

High saves: Fortitude and Reflex

Class skills: Athletics, Stealth, Knowledge (Arcana), Knowledge (World), Lore (Nature), Perception, Persuasion

The big draw to the ranger is the ability to focus on specific types of enemies, gaining big bonuses against those creatures.

Freebooter

Instead of taking a favored enemy, the freebooter can choose one enemy at a time to gain a bonus against, and grants that bonus to the whole party.

Flamewarden

The flamewarden focuses on adding flame effects to melee weapons, and eventually swaps out some spells for fire-focused ones such as fireball.

Stormwalker

The lightning version of the flamewarden, this archetype is also focused on ranged weapons over melee attacks.

Primary Class: Rogue

Main features: Sneak Attack, Trapfinding, Danger Sense

High saves: Reflex

Class skills: Mobility, Athletics, Persuasion, Trickery, Knowledge (World), Perception, Stealth, Use Magic Device

Your classic scoundrel, the rogue is all about disarming traps and dealing extra damage while remaining unseen.

Eldritch Scoundrel

This archetype slows down the sneak attack damage progression, but gains access to spells in exchange.

Knife Master

Instead of danger sense, the knife master gains a bonus against light blade attacks. Critically, this archetype loses trap finding, but rolls d8s for damage instead of d6s when using sneak attacks.

Thug

Instead of danger sense and trap finding, the thug focuses on demoralizing and intimidating opponents in combat.

Primary Class: Sorcerer

Main features: Spells, Bloodline, Detect Magic

High saves: Will

Class skills: Knowledge (Arcana), Persuasion, Use Magic Device

This charisma-based class has access to fewer spells than the wizard, but can cast them more times per day. You can also tweak your focus based on what bloodline you select.

If you want to cast lots of combat spells every day, this is the class to pick.

Empyreal Sorcerer

This archetype uses wisdom instead of charisma for spellcasting, and gains access to some cleric-style abilities like flame strike.

Sylvan Sorcerer

This archetype is a mashup of druid and sorcerer, gaining access to an animal companion and abilities like woodland stride.

Sage Sorcerer

This version of the sorcerer uses intelligence instead of charisma, and gains access to wizard abilities like magic missile and dimension door.

Primary Class: Wizard

Main features: Spells, Specialist School, Arcane Bond, Detect Magic

High saves: Will

Class skills: 

This is the classic spellcaster, using intelligence to channel magic. They have access to a much broader range of spells than the sorcerer, but can cast fewer spells per day.

Arcane Bomber

A mashup of wizard and alchemist, this archetype gains access to the bomb feature.

Thassilonian Specialist

This is the hyper focused version of the specialist wizard, ditching abilities from opposing schools of magic to get bonuses to a smaller number of schools.

Scroll Savant

The scroll savant loses access to bonus wizard feats every five levels, but instead gains increased powers when casting spells from scrolls.

What's your favorite Pathfinder class, and what sort of character do you intend to play while conquering the Stolen Lands? Sound off in the comments below, and be sure to check out our other Pathfinder: Kingmaker guides here on GameSkinny!

The first CRPG set in the celebrated Pathfinder universe is finally out. But before you can settle down and start adventuring, you're going to have to load Pathfinder:Kingmaker, a seemingly easy task that's proving difficult for some early players. 

If you're one of the unlucky few who's been stuck on the game's loading screen since you installed it, know that the developers have said they are working on an official fix. 

However, as of this writing, they haven't managed to push one out. So in lieu of that official patch, I've done a little bit of digging for some answers. While there's no guarantee these tips will work (as it seems these "solutions" are currently hit or miss), it can't hurt to give them a try. 

Pathfinder Takes a Long Time to Load

The very first thing you should know is that Pathfinder: Kingmaker takes an absurdly long time to load for some users. In fact, you may not even be experiencing a bug or glitch, but instead and ungodly long load time of four minutes or more. 

Taking a look at the game's Steam forum, it appears that even if you have the game installed on an SSD, the load times can be excruciatingly long. However, if you've been loading for 10 minutes or more -- especially with your load bar at 100% -- you're probably stuck. 

Before trying the fixes below

Before scrolling down and trying the solutions below, close the program and re-load.

Don't click anything or touch your keyboard as the game loads. Some users who have experienced the bug and tried this have gotten the game to load fine.  

Run Win 7 Compatibility & Change Time Zone

Steam user Wawi has worked out a potential fix that requires a bit of finesse to pull off. Although it, as of now, hasn't been confirmed to work for any other players, Wawi says they got the game to start after loading by following these steps: 

• Run the .exe in compatibility with Win7 
• Change your computer's timezone, date, and time to that of your computer's locale 

The second option is only applicable if your computer is set to a different locale from your local region.

How to Run in Win 7 Compatibility Mode

Here's how you can run Pathfinder: Kingmaker in Windows 7 compatibility mode if you are using Windows 8 or 10:

1. Right-click Pathfinder: Kingmaker in your Steam library
2. Click Properties
3. Click the Local Files tab
4. Click the Browse Local Files button
5. Right-click the game's .exe file
6. Click Properties
7. Click the Compatibility tab
8. Check the 'Run this program in compatibility mode for:' box
9. Choose Windows 7 from the drop-down menu
10. Click Apply or OK to apply the compatibility changes

Try once more to launch the game once you have completed these steps.

How to Change Your Time Zone

Changing your timezone is easy on Windows 10.

Right-click on the clock on your task bar and click Adjust date/time.

From here you can change your computer's timezone to your locale's timezone -- so if you've been playing some Japanese-locale games and have changed yours up, set your time to UTC+09 or whatever locale you have your PC set to.

For reference, here are the timezones for the United States:

• Eastern Daylight Time (GMT -4)
• Central Daylight Time (GMT -5)
• Mountain Daylight Time (GMT -6)
• Pacific Daylight Time (GMT -7)
• Alaska Daylight Time (GMT -8)
• Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time (GMT -10)

If These Solutions Don't Work

If none of these potential fixes get Pathfinder: Kingmaker up and running for you, the developers would like you to send them your logs. You should include: 

• All of your .txt files
• All of your .log files

Per the developer, you should be able to find these files in C:/Users/[username]/Appdata/LocalLow/Owlcat Games/Pathfinder Kingmaker. If you cannot find them there, you may need to enable logging. You can do so by: 

• Right clicking on Pathfinder: Kingmaker in your Steam library
• Choosing "Properties" at the bottom of the drop down menu
• Clicking "Set Launch Options" under the "General" tab
• Typing "logging" in the text field and hitting OK. 

Once you have the .txt and .log files, send them to  team@owlcatgames.com or technical@owlcatgames.com

Stay tuned to GameSkinny for more Pathfinder: Kingmaker guides, as well as our review of the highly-anticipated CRPG.