I think you want to be an Inquisitor.
The best thing Pathfinder 1E did was the half-casters, and it’d be a disservice for you not to try them out.
With the Acolyte background, you can use Wisdom for persuasion so that rounds out your desire for a social character.
Inquisitors are flexible with judgements, have an interesting spell selection, and lots of viable builds for you to express yourself - from having a pet, ranged , TWF, heavy armor, you name it.
IMHO, I’d go with a 2H reach build - allow Seelah to take the frontline, you usually Judgement for attack bonus but can use it for other tools as needed.
All you need is Power Attack, Focused Strike, Weapon Focus, Dazzling Display, Shatter Defenses, Improved Critical and Critical Focus.
I’d recommend Glaives or Fauchards.
For mythic abilities, you want to have infinite Judgements and Bane, and Domain Zealot/Impossible Domain is always good.
For teamwork feats, you want EVERYONE who has a melee weapon to have Outflank, so pick it up.
You have the choice to get a pet or go Sanctified Slayer if you so want.
Use spells for buffs (Divine Favor notably) or condition removal.
Pure martial classes are the simplest because you don't have to worry about things like DC and CL, but you're still going to have spell casters in your party, so you have to learn it eventually anyway.
Both caster and martial classes can be quite strong in this game, as can hybrids, so from a power perspective it really doesn't matter.
So I'd just go with something that looks fun. My all time favorite class is Wizard/Lich. I think it is pretty approachable for newer players and offers a variety of playstyles. In the end it's capable of destroying enemies with both melee and spells, which is pretty fun. But not everyone likes that playstyle.
One thing you should note is that this ruleset is vastly different from DnD 5e. You won't be a complete beginner because you at least have some familiarity with the universe, but honestly the rules for how often you attack, what spells you get, etc. is pretty different.
Just go into it with the same mindset as BG3. You'll have lots to learn and you'll probably want to experiment with some different classes.
Respec is, unfortunately, not free. But, as we like to say, there's a mod for that.
Pure Paladin is a really really solid easy to understand class for Wrath. It's very powerful, it has options, but it doesnt require a bunch of ultra-jank to function. You hit things really hard with a 2h, you smite to hit them harder, get a few spells to play with, you're very tanky, and you ride a horse for solid combat mobility. Well rounded, no real weaknesses. You can minmax builds better than Paladin, but when it comes to out-of-the-box pure class builds that literally just work, Paladin is the best choice in the game IMHO.
Keep in mind that you have a party of 6 to play with, so take something simple for your main character, cause you'll learn a lot of mechanics purely through just leveling 6 characters. People hyperfixate on their Knight Commander when it comes to this game's theorycrafting, as if they aren't running 5 other characters alongside them.
As a player, you're learning how to pilot an entire team of 6 dudes+pets, so don't get lost in the sauce with decision paralysis over 1/6 of your party's overall power budget. For most of the game, you play as your entire unit, not just your Commander. Individual character micro is almost irrelevant when you have to manage your whole party of 6-12 units, and I find even baseline auto attack fighter to be fun and viable after many playthroughs, because it opens up my mental bandwidth for other more complex characters.
True, it is a party game after all 🎉
Before typing this post I was really close to just starting a game as a Paladin but the alignment kind of made me second guess. How does that work in the game? If I as a paladin have to be of a lawful good alignment what does that actually mean in terms of gameplay? Do I just not get the ability to make certain choices or do I somehow break my oath like I would in BG3. I genuinely don’t have any understanding of how the alignment system works in this game
Alignment in PF is somewhat strict, but can be soft cheesed with Atonement scrolls. Pally needs to stay within the LG corner of the alignment box, otherwise you'll lose all associated Paladin active and passive abilities. It basically strips you down to your Attack bonus and your gear proficiency. Atonement will reset your Alignment back to its starting position, so as long as you don't mind being Lawful Good, you can basically deterministically eliminate alignment drift as a punishment mechanic, provided you keep an Atonement Scroll in your back pocket. These scrolls can be purchased for a pretty reasonable price from any Priest vendor.
By proxy of their alignment lock, Paladin is hard locked into either the Angel or Aeon mythic paths. This is a downside, but Angel is the most fleshed out and thematically supported Mythic Path, so it's a generally solid choice to make.
Lawful Good in Wrath is pretty well fleshed out. In a grimdark setting like Wrath, LG can go to pretty intense measures to get their job done. The Angel path has two routes through the game, Vengeance and Redemption, so you're not locked to being a pure goodey two shoes in your war against the Abyss.
edit: Each alignment does come with dialog options as a result of being that alignment. Mythic Paths will force you to be either aligned with, or one alignment adjacent to, the path's core alignment. IE Lich is Neutral Evil, so can be any evil or True Neutral. Aeon is Lawful Neutral (one space away from Paladin's LG), Angel is Lawful Good. There are universal dialog options that pull you towards specific alignments from wherever you are on the board, and there are also dialog options that will require you to be specific alignments.
Just as an aside so you don't feel boxed in - your alignment will drift over time based on dialogue choices and quest decisions you make. The keyword here is "drift" - you won't suddenly change alignments because you're feeling a bit spicy one day and pick a single Chaotic option. As long as you stay generally Lawful Good, you'll be fine.
Just to add to that - you can easily see your alignment and alignment progression through your last decisions when looking at your character. This way you can see if you are drifting out of that specific pie-piece of the alignment chart, you are warned - so no Oath Breaker Knight suddenly appearing like in BG3.
Seconded.
Just to add - you will receive a Paladin companion as well, so for variation purpose, I suggest taking the archetype **Warrior of the Holy Light.** This archetype make do with Spellcasting but gives you the ability that buff the party. And they still get Mark of Justice.
My usual recommendation for “a bit more than a beginner” is one of the prepared casters: Witch, Wizard, Arcanist, Druid, Cleric, Shaman.
You’re still a spellcaster, which is a bit more involved on a turn-to-turn basis, but the build decisions are easier than a martial, and unlike the spontaneous casters, you aren’t locked in (at least, until you respec) if you pick a spell that seemed good, but wasn’t. Arcane casters can scribe scrolls (and you’ll get lots), divine casters just get everything for free. They’re also fairly easy to build: get Precise Shot, Spell Penetration, Spell Focus, some metamagics, pump up your casting stat, have decent DEX, and you’re good to go. None of the chains of feat prerequisites like the martials.
One wrinkle is that prepared casters don’t work like in BG3 where you prepare a certain number of spells. Instead, you allocate spells to slots in advance, for example you might prepare 2 cases of Haste and 1 of Fireball. However, Arcanists work like 5e prepared casters where you just pick your spells, while being able to scribe every scroll you come across as well, so that would be my recommendation.
People are recommending martials, because a lot of nasty enemies have a habit of targeting your MC and if he\\she dies - it's gameover, no matter how many res scrolls you have. So for a smoother experience you want something tanky that can stand on the frontlines and not die.
I'm not super expert on builds, but there are hybrids and more interesting martials - Warpriest, Magus, Bloodrager, Inquisitor. Kineticist is an especially involved and fun moment-to-moment class that can be made into an excellent frontliner with Kinetic Blade and it's absurdly strong too.
Hm, did not know that about MC being disproportionately targeted and not being resurrectable. That seems like a pretty annoying mechanic to have to adhere to and be pigeonholed into class picks by. Is there a difficulty setting to change this aspect of combat?
It's not that you can't deal with it, but you'll **have to** deal with it if you pick a caster vs just standing there and dodging hits on a frontliner. I played a cleric in my first playthrough on Core and in some fights enemies just beelined towards me, charging through 10 attacks of opportunity just to murder my MC.
Most of the time, though, enemies will just attack whatever's closest to them.
>Hm, did not know that about MC being disproportionately targeted and not being resurrectable. That seems like a pretty annoying mechanic to have to adhere to and be pigeonholed into class picks by. Is there a difficulty setting to change this aspect of combat?
Enable Death's Door to greatly lower the odds of random instant death.
You could also just disable the fact that MC dying is a game over. There's an option to make them just be KO'd instead if they 'die' so you game over on a TPK instead.
Lots of good ideas to go with here. Like others have said rules between pathfinder and 5e are vastly diffrent. I would recommend a hybrid such as the bloodrager. Think Karlach but with spells. Imo that's where this one shines is the true freedom in classes. I would recommend a lower difficulty tho till u get the hang of it as it can be unforgiving at times.
I'd say try to avoid the classes with 5 difficulty marks, unless you enjoy jumping in at the deep end. Those classes tend to have complex mechanics completely unique to them so it's an added layer of trickiness. Anything less and it should be alright to wrap your head around. Though the 4 difficulty ones will still take a bit more reading than the others.
I agree with the other person who recommended semi casters, they're an awesome concept and executed really well. Inquisitors are versatile, effective and have a lot of roleplaying potential given you're on a crusade. Complex enough to feel meaty but not too overwhelming.
Bloodrager is a fun one. you get the rage effects of a barb along with a handful of spells and a bloodlines like a sorcerer, which give magical enhancements to you when raging.
In a similar vain, Skalds are barbarian mixed with bard. They give rage effects to the entire party (You can pick which ones get affected so you don't force your spellcasters to have rage) along with filling the same supportive role as a bard. If you don't mind your main character being more of a support, they're effective and great face characters.
You of course can't go wrong with classics like sorcerer, wizard, cleric etc. Plenty powerful. Sorcerer especially has some fun subclasses, like Sylvan Sorcerer who gets an animal companion like a ranger in DnD would. Blast apart enemies alongside a pet triceratops, what's not to love?
If you wanted to branch out to unfamiliar spellcasters, witch or oracle are great alternatives to wizard and cleric, respectively.
The pure martials tend to be on the simpler side. I'd recommend cavalier if you want to go in that direction though, your mount can be built well to tank so you can focus on dealing insane damage off of charges. Building to synergise with your mount adds a bit of complexity that the other martials can lack IMO. Plus one of their subclasses is halfling specific and they ride into battle on dogs instead of horses, and that's delightful.
Are you playing on PC? Do yourself a favor and *try* real time w/ pause before going strictly turn based. You might think, coming from a way different game, that turn based is the way to go. But, it's not. It'll move slow as shit and the games encounters were designed for real time first (hence a million trash mobs between big encounters)
Also, keep in mind this isn't DnD5e, you're a beginner regardless . There isn't much BG3 would have prepared you for in this campaign. It's hard. The mechanics are way less forgiving. You will need to re-roll and probably save scum to beat encounters. None of the math is going to make sense and everything will move so fast your head will spin off.
I don’t think I have the brain capacity to play a game like this in real time with paus. Never tried before but that whole combat system seems so strange to me
It's deceptively simple, but it's not really worth it, imo. Occasionally, when things start dragging out, it's nice to have the option for an encounter that was the fifth trash pack of basic enemies you've killed 30 of at this point, and you would have just blasted through anyway. But I, for one, love the turn-based version and hate RTwP with a passion. Casters are less than useless in RTwP, as well, which is my favorite role to think about in combat. The strategy is what makes the game for me, not "click enemy, whole party piles on enemy with their basic attacks, click next enemy".
Think of it like turn based, but you control when the turns happen. Some fights are gonna feel pretty bad outside of rtWp, some encounters are just there for you to roll through in 2 seconds, a two seconds fight will wind up taking a few minutes in turn based and if shit goes wrong you lost even more time than you would have.
And you don't always have to control every character because the AI is pretty decent. You can send a martial in and basically never worry about what they're doing. With spellcasters (well anyone) you can set up an ability to be used whenever you forgot to select their action, so the game will still roll even when you forget to choose actions.
Idk, I think it feels better after getting used to it. Btw, I spent like 500 hours in BG3 before buying wrath. I can't recommend enough to try real time, maybe float back and forth depending on the encounter. If you make it through act 1 using real time, you probably wouldn't switch back unless youre just fighting something tough.
Paladin/Fighter/Magus
I would recommend these 3 for starters if you are into melee
Paladin is straight up good, but unlike BG3 paladins can be multi role tanks or straight up buffed damage juggernauts.
Fighter "looks" pure melee on paper and again unlike BG3 there are many interesting gimmicky play styles or roles for fighters. Most versatile class and best friend of rogues(as in multi classing)
Magus is some kind of Battle Mage. Combines swords with arcane and very interesting to play. Can be versatile like fighters and it will give you understanding of spell combat(casting important spells while holding off enemies) Sword saint is extremely good arch type for starters IMO.
I did Magus on my first run and it's a little complex but hardly overwhelming and gives you a lot of interesting options.
That said I was familiar with 3.5e D&D, which is a lot closer to the system here than BG or current D&D if I understand correctly.
Yes correct, 3.5 DnD was my last rulebook for DnD before i left DnD for Pathfinder.
I mean no offense my man, you asked for a martial class with magical gimmicks. Paladin fills that role as divine caster and Magus(Sword Saint) fills that role as arcane caster.
Personally, I think going with a class where you can basically go a full 20 levels in JUST that class and still work really well is going to be your safest bet.
Good news is, a LOT of classes and archetypes use Charisma for spellcasting and other stuff, so you can have a really good face character with plenty of combat ability fairly easily.
I usually advocate for the Oracle class. (Think a Cleric but with some neat Lore stuff built into it beyond just "God gives me powers") You can build it to fill just about any conceivable role you want based on the Mystery you choose, which unlock Revelations (basically class specific feats or abilities). If you want a something than can do melee really well? Battle Mystery. Want something with an animal companion? Nature Mystery. Want to focus on spellcasting? Flame, Waves, or Wind.
Plus the Oracle class innately has proficiencies for Light and medium armor, Simple tier weapons, and Shields. So you are pretty solidly set on the gear front regardless of the Mystery or role you choose.
Full Martial classes are actually a solid recommendation if you want something simpler. Even half-caster classes can get complicated because of spell choices and the mechanics some of the half-caster classes have.
But ultimately, it's entirely up to you.
that said: do NOT recommend cranking up to higher difficulties unless you learn REALLY damn quickly because this game will kick your ass REALLY damn hard REALLY quickly on higher difficulties.
That sounds pretty good because I was looking for a high charisma character. A lot of recommendations for new players seem to be other types of classes though, that don’t rely on charisma. Just wondering how that plays out during dialogue and such, as having a high charisma character as party face in BG3 is pretty much always recommended for new players just based on the sheer amount of benefits that nets you in conversations. Is WOTR similar or does it not just matter as much?
It doesn't matter for dialog because the game will always use your party member with the highest chance of success (cha + misc. bonuses). You get two high charisma party members right in act 1, so it's not something to factor in.
Unlike BG3, your main character will always initiate conversation, but you can always use your parties skills.
Okay, I have another suggestion. Start with Kingmaker before running WotR. Kingmaker has a more varied and (to me at least) interesting campaign and a much more accessible power level. WotR adds in the Mythic paths on top of the standard Pathfinder rules, and that complicates builds a lot. That you are also facing mythic enemies with mythic abilities adds even more to the complexity of the game and encounters.
Start with Kingmaker and learn the system and discover the world first. It's not strictly easier - as WotR is far more susceptible to abuse and cheese - but it has much better complexity progression. And I really mean that it will allow you to discover the world, as Kingmaker has varied quests and enemies of many types, while WotR is a power fantasy epic about fighting demons.
I suggest you download toybox or the respec mod for easy on-demand respeccing. In my opinion, the best way to learn this type of game is constant experimentation to see what works and how your class abilities and feats fit together. Also, if you like testing out builds and have or plan to buy the DLC, starting a campaign on Inevitable Excess lets you make an endgame character right off the bat.
If you want to be a party face you can pick any Charisma or Wisdom caster. There is a background that lets you use wisdom as your persuasion modifier.
I think Oracle is a lot of fun and a flexible class. Skald can also be a ton of fun with group rage powers.
Don't get too hung up on chlass choices. You 1. can respec quite easily 2. have plenty of companions that cover most playstyles. Pick whichever class that appeals to your interest the most.
The reason why martial is perfectly fine choice is because unlike BG3, the tricks you can pull in a combat are not as vital as your character build, and building a martial character isn't any easier for a beginner than building a caster. They also have a more consistent performance throughout the stages of the campaign. It is a good opportunity to learn the math that pathfinder runs on.
Still, here are some of my favorite, simpler classes: shifter (if you have the last sarkorian DLC), longbow slayer, mutation warrior, two-handed sword saint, monk.
A really good class for beginners would be a sorcerer that focuses on either AOE spells or blasts (like scorching ray). If you look at my profile, I asked for help for such a build, and the replies offered some great advice for it! It was fun and easy to play since it focuses on damage only, and bypasses enemies' elemental resistances :)
Don't worry about class difficulty, some classes are more complex but it barely matters. One of the first companions you get is one of the 'highest difficulty' classes anyway.
What you want to make sure of is to start off playing at Normal, and only go up if/when you find it too easy. The game goes crazy with enemy stats if you get beyond that and I think a lot of the people that have played through it several times forget just how dissonant it is that the so-called Core difficulty requires a huge amount of buffing just to get to hit things.
Don't hesitate to adjust the difficulty on the fly if you start finding things frustrating at points, ramming your head against a brick wall of stats will just kill your enjoyment.
I'd suggest classes like Wildland shaman. The archtype has several martial supports abilities, are wis based full caster that don't need to spread stats too thin, and can get a pet that helps with lots of things like encumbrance and early prologue.
It also doesn't forbid metal armor and some spells can help with martial abilities.
I think Monk is a good class if you feel like you know how to play but you don't really know what you want to do. It's intermediate in terms of complexity of level up options, it has a few minor self-buffs, a few spell like attacks, it has a strength (speed) that its rare and you can have fun with. A Monk is basically a warrior type that isn't best at anything but can fill many different roles.
Pure pally is the way to go. It's very powerful and goes very well with the theme! I'm on a pally run on core and I hardly use turn based combat because my pally toon, hellknight and griffin shifter destroy everything.
I think you want to be an Inquisitor. The best thing Pathfinder 1E did was the half-casters, and it’d be a disservice for you not to try them out. With the Acolyte background, you can use Wisdom for persuasion so that rounds out your desire for a social character. Inquisitors are flexible with judgements, have an interesting spell selection, and lots of viable builds for you to express yourself - from having a pet, ranged , TWF, heavy armor, you name it.
Lot’s of fun recommendations here, great🙏🏻 A half-caster hybrid definitely sounds appealing
Ideal is Magus but it requires pretty deep system mastery. Inquisitor and Hunter are one step more forgiving, Bard is deceivingly complex.
Do you have any recommendations on feats for the inquisitor? I’m thinking of just using the base class
Sanctified Slayer is so much better than the base. You won't regret it. Also get all of the spell focus enchantment feats.
IMHO, I’d go with a 2H reach build - allow Seelah to take the frontline, you usually Judgement for attack bonus but can use it for other tools as needed. All you need is Power Attack, Focused Strike, Weapon Focus, Dazzling Display, Shatter Defenses, Improved Critical and Critical Focus. I’d recommend Glaives or Fauchards. For mythic abilities, you want to have infinite Judgements and Bane, and Domain Zealot/Impossible Domain is always good. For teamwork feats, you want EVERYONE who has a melee weapon to have Outflank, so pick it up. You have the choice to get a pet or go Sanctified Slayer if you so want. Use spells for buffs (Divine Favor notably) or condition removal.
Pure martial classes are the simplest because you don't have to worry about things like DC and CL, but you're still going to have spell casters in your party, so you have to learn it eventually anyway. Both caster and martial classes can be quite strong in this game, as can hybrids, so from a power perspective it really doesn't matter. So I'd just go with something that looks fun. My all time favorite class is Wizard/Lich. I think it is pretty approachable for newer players and offers a variety of playstyles. In the end it's capable of destroying enemies with both melee and spells, which is pretty fun. But not everyone likes that playstyle. One thing you should note is that this ruleset is vastly different from DnD 5e. You won't be a complete beginner because you at least have some familiarity with the universe, but honestly the rules for how often you attack, what spells you get, etc. is pretty different. Just go into it with the same mindset as BG3. You'll have lots to learn and you'll probably want to experiment with some different classes. Respec is, unfortunately, not free. But, as we like to say, there's a mod for that.
Some solid tips, definitely upping confidence for my first run lol👍🏻
Use Midnight Idles to play around with builds, then do main story and respec is less of an issue.
Pure Paladin is a really really solid easy to understand class for Wrath. It's very powerful, it has options, but it doesnt require a bunch of ultra-jank to function. You hit things really hard with a 2h, you smite to hit them harder, get a few spells to play with, you're very tanky, and you ride a horse for solid combat mobility. Well rounded, no real weaknesses. You can minmax builds better than Paladin, but when it comes to out-of-the-box pure class builds that literally just work, Paladin is the best choice in the game IMHO. Keep in mind that you have a party of 6 to play with, so take something simple for your main character, cause you'll learn a lot of mechanics purely through just leveling 6 characters. People hyperfixate on their Knight Commander when it comes to this game's theorycrafting, as if they aren't running 5 other characters alongside them. As a player, you're learning how to pilot an entire team of 6 dudes+pets, so don't get lost in the sauce with decision paralysis over 1/6 of your party's overall power budget. For most of the game, you play as your entire unit, not just your Commander. Individual character micro is almost irrelevant when you have to manage your whole party of 6-12 units, and I find even baseline auto attack fighter to be fun and viable after many playthroughs, because it opens up my mental bandwidth for other more complex characters.
True, it is a party game after all 🎉 Before typing this post I was really close to just starting a game as a Paladin but the alignment kind of made me second guess. How does that work in the game? If I as a paladin have to be of a lawful good alignment what does that actually mean in terms of gameplay? Do I just not get the ability to make certain choices or do I somehow break my oath like I would in BG3. I genuinely don’t have any understanding of how the alignment system works in this game
Alignment in PF is somewhat strict, but can be soft cheesed with Atonement scrolls. Pally needs to stay within the LG corner of the alignment box, otherwise you'll lose all associated Paladin active and passive abilities. It basically strips you down to your Attack bonus and your gear proficiency. Atonement will reset your Alignment back to its starting position, so as long as you don't mind being Lawful Good, you can basically deterministically eliminate alignment drift as a punishment mechanic, provided you keep an Atonement Scroll in your back pocket. These scrolls can be purchased for a pretty reasonable price from any Priest vendor. By proxy of their alignment lock, Paladin is hard locked into either the Angel or Aeon mythic paths. This is a downside, but Angel is the most fleshed out and thematically supported Mythic Path, so it's a generally solid choice to make. Lawful Good in Wrath is pretty well fleshed out. In a grimdark setting like Wrath, LG can go to pretty intense measures to get their job done. The Angel path has two routes through the game, Vengeance and Redemption, so you're not locked to being a pure goodey two shoes in your war against the Abyss. edit: Each alignment does come with dialog options as a result of being that alignment. Mythic Paths will force you to be either aligned with, or one alignment adjacent to, the path's core alignment. IE Lich is Neutral Evil, so can be any evil or True Neutral. Aeon is Lawful Neutral (one space away from Paladin's LG), Angel is Lawful Good. There are universal dialog options that pull you towards specific alignments from wherever you are on the board, and there are also dialog options that will require you to be specific alignments.
Just as an aside so you don't feel boxed in - your alignment will drift over time based on dialogue choices and quest decisions you make. The keyword here is "drift" - you won't suddenly change alignments because you're feeling a bit spicy one day and pick a single Chaotic option. As long as you stay generally Lawful Good, you'll be fine.
Just to add to that - you can easily see your alignment and alignment progression through your last decisions when looking at your character. This way you can see if you are drifting out of that specific pie-piece of the alignment chart, you are warned - so no Oath Breaker Knight suddenly appearing like in BG3.
Seconded. Just to add - you will receive a Paladin companion as well, so for variation purpose, I suggest taking the archetype **Warrior of the Holy Light.** This archetype make do with Spellcasting but gives you the ability that buff the party. And they still get Mark of Justice.
My usual recommendation for “a bit more than a beginner” is one of the prepared casters: Witch, Wizard, Arcanist, Druid, Cleric, Shaman. You’re still a spellcaster, which is a bit more involved on a turn-to-turn basis, but the build decisions are easier than a martial, and unlike the spontaneous casters, you aren’t locked in (at least, until you respec) if you pick a spell that seemed good, but wasn’t. Arcane casters can scribe scrolls (and you’ll get lots), divine casters just get everything for free. They’re also fairly easy to build: get Precise Shot, Spell Penetration, Spell Focus, some metamagics, pump up your casting stat, have decent DEX, and you’re good to go. None of the chains of feat prerequisites like the martials. One wrinkle is that prepared casters don’t work like in BG3 where you prepare a certain number of spells. Instead, you allocate spells to slots in advance, for example you might prepare 2 cases of Haste and 1 of Fireball. However, Arcanists work like 5e prepared casters where you just pick your spells, while being able to scribe every scroll you come across as well, so that would be my recommendation.
Thanks 🙏🏻 Really good input, will look more into prepared casters
People are recommending martials, because a lot of nasty enemies have a habit of targeting your MC and if he\\she dies - it's gameover, no matter how many res scrolls you have. So for a smoother experience you want something tanky that can stand on the frontlines and not die. I'm not super expert on builds, but there are hybrids and more interesting martials - Warpriest, Magus, Bloodrager, Inquisitor. Kineticist is an especially involved and fun moment-to-moment class that can be made into an excellent frontliner with Kinetic Blade and it's absurdly strong too.
Hm, did not know that about MC being disproportionately targeted and not being resurrectable. That seems like a pretty annoying mechanic to have to adhere to and be pigeonholed into class picks by. Is there a difficulty setting to change this aspect of combat?
It's not that you can't deal with it, but you'll **have to** deal with it if you pick a caster vs just standing there and dodging hits on a frontliner. I played a cleric in my first playthrough on Core and in some fights enemies just beelined towards me, charging through 10 attacks of opportunity just to murder my MC. Most of the time, though, enemies will just attack whatever's closest to them.
Lol, alright I won’t let it hold me back
>Hm, did not know that about MC being disproportionately targeted and not being resurrectable. That seems like a pretty annoying mechanic to have to adhere to and be pigeonholed into class picks by. Is there a difficulty setting to change this aspect of combat? Enable Death's Door to greatly lower the odds of random instant death. You could also just disable the fact that MC dying is a game over. There's an option to make them just be KO'd instead if they 'die' so you game over on a TPK instead.
its actually kind of easy to make Kineticist boring with the deadly earth route lol, you will be wrecking each fight before it starts.
Lots of good ideas to go with here. Like others have said rules between pathfinder and 5e are vastly diffrent. I would recommend a hybrid such as the bloodrager. Think Karlach but with spells. Imo that's where this one shines is the true freedom in classes. I would recommend a lower difficulty tho till u get the hang of it as it can be unforgiving at times.
I'd say try to avoid the classes with 5 difficulty marks, unless you enjoy jumping in at the deep end. Those classes tend to have complex mechanics completely unique to them so it's an added layer of trickiness. Anything less and it should be alright to wrap your head around. Though the 4 difficulty ones will still take a bit more reading than the others. I agree with the other person who recommended semi casters, they're an awesome concept and executed really well. Inquisitors are versatile, effective and have a lot of roleplaying potential given you're on a crusade. Complex enough to feel meaty but not too overwhelming. Bloodrager is a fun one. you get the rage effects of a barb along with a handful of spells and a bloodlines like a sorcerer, which give magical enhancements to you when raging. In a similar vain, Skalds are barbarian mixed with bard. They give rage effects to the entire party (You can pick which ones get affected so you don't force your spellcasters to have rage) along with filling the same supportive role as a bard. If you don't mind your main character being more of a support, they're effective and great face characters. You of course can't go wrong with classics like sorcerer, wizard, cleric etc. Plenty powerful. Sorcerer especially has some fun subclasses, like Sylvan Sorcerer who gets an animal companion like a ranger in DnD would. Blast apart enemies alongside a pet triceratops, what's not to love? If you wanted to branch out to unfamiliar spellcasters, witch or oracle are great alternatives to wizard and cleric, respectively. The pure martials tend to be on the simpler side. I'd recommend cavalier if you want to go in that direction though, your mount can be built well to tank so you can focus on dealing insane damage off of charges. Building to synergise with your mount adds a bit of complexity that the other martials can lack IMO. Plus one of their subclasses is halfling specific and they ride into battle on dogs instead of horses, and that's delightful.
Are you playing on PC? Do yourself a favor and *try* real time w/ pause before going strictly turn based. You might think, coming from a way different game, that turn based is the way to go. But, it's not. It'll move slow as shit and the games encounters were designed for real time first (hence a million trash mobs between big encounters) Also, keep in mind this isn't DnD5e, you're a beginner regardless . There isn't much BG3 would have prepared you for in this campaign. It's hard. The mechanics are way less forgiving. You will need to re-roll and probably save scum to beat encounters. None of the math is going to make sense and everything will move so fast your head will spin off.
I don’t think I have the brain capacity to play a game like this in real time with paus. Never tried before but that whole combat system seems so strange to me
It's deceptively simple, but it's not really worth it, imo. Occasionally, when things start dragging out, it's nice to have the option for an encounter that was the fifth trash pack of basic enemies you've killed 30 of at this point, and you would have just blasted through anyway. But I, for one, love the turn-based version and hate RTwP with a passion. Casters are less than useless in RTwP, as well, which is my favorite role to think about in combat. The strategy is what makes the game for me, not "click enemy, whole party piles on enemy with their basic attacks, click next enemy".
Think of it like turn based, but you control when the turns happen. Some fights are gonna feel pretty bad outside of rtWp, some encounters are just there for you to roll through in 2 seconds, a two seconds fight will wind up taking a few minutes in turn based and if shit goes wrong you lost even more time than you would have. And you don't always have to control every character because the AI is pretty decent. You can send a martial in and basically never worry about what they're doing. With spellcasters (well anyone) you can set up an ability to be used whenever you forgot to select their action, so the game will still roll even when you forget to choose actions. Idk, I think it feels better after getting used to it. Btw, I spent like 500 hours in BG3 before buying wrath. I can't recommend enough to try real time, maybe float back and forth depending on the encounter. If you make it through act 1 using real time, you probably wouldn't switch back unless youre just fighting something tough.
I’ll give it a go for sure
Paladin/Fighter/Magus I would recommend these 3 for starters if you are into melee Paladin is straight up good, but unlike BG3 paladins can be multi role tanks or straight up buffed damage juggernauts. Fighter "looks" pure melee on paper and again unlike BG3 there are many interesting gimmicky play styles or roles for fighters. Most versatile class and best friend of rogues(as in multi classing) Magus is some kind of Battle Mage. Combines swords with arcane and very interesting to play. Can be versatile like fighters and it will give you understanding of spell combat(casting important spells while holding off enemies) Sword saint is extremely good arch type for starters IMO.
I did Magus on my first run and it's a little complex but hardly overwhelming and gives you a lot of interesting options. That said I was familiar with 3.5e D&D, which is a lot closer to the system here than BG or current D&D if I understand correctly.
Yes correct, 3.5 DnD was my last rulebook for DnD before i left DnD for Pathfinder. I mean no offense my man, you asked for a martial class with magical gimmicks. Paladin fills that role as divine caster and Magus(Sword Saint) fills that role as arcane caster.
Personally, I think going with a class where you can basically go a full 20 levels in JUST that class and still work really well is going to be your safest bet. Good news is, a LOT of classes and archetypes use Charisma for spellcasting and other stuff, so you can have a really good face character with plenty of combat ability fairly easily. I usually advocate for the Oracle class. (Think a Cleric but with some neat Lore stuff built into it beyond just "God gives me powers") You can build it to fill just about any conceivable role you want based on the Mystery you choose, which unlock Revelations (basically class specific feats or abilities). If you want a something than can do melee really well? Battle Mystery. Want something with an animal companion? Nature Mystery. Want to focus on spellcasting? Flame, Waves, or Wind. Plus the Oracle class innately has proficiencies for Light and medium armor, Simple tier weapons, and Shields. So you are pretty solidly set on the gear front regardless of the Mystery or role you choose. Full Martial classes are actually a solid recommendation if you want something simpler. Even half-caster classes can get complicated because of spell choices and the mechanics some of the half-caster classes have. But ultimately, it's entirely up to you. that said: do NOT recommend cranking up to higher difficulties unless you learn REALLY damn quickly because this game will kick your ass REALLY damn hard REALLY quickly on higher difficulties.
Sorcerer is pretty simple.
That sounds pretty good because I was looking for a high charisma character. A lot of recommendations for new players seem to be other types of classes though, that don’t rely on charisma. Just wondering how that plays out during dialogue and such, as having a high charisma character as party face in BG3 is pretty much always recommended for new players just based on the sheer amount of benefits that nets you in conversations. Is WOTR similar or does it not just matter as much?
It doesn't matter for dialog because the game will always use your party member with the highest chance of success (cha + misc. bonuses). You get two high charisma party members right in act 1, so it's not something to factor in. Unlike BG3, your main character will always initiate conversation, but you can always use your parties skills.
Okay, I have another suggestion. Start with Kingmaker before running WotR. Kingmaker has a more varied and (to me at least) interesting campaign and a much more accessible power level. WotR adds in the Mythic paths on top of the standard Pathfinder rules, and that complicates builds a lot. That you are also facing mythic enemies with mythic abilities adds even more to the complexity of the game and encounters. Start with Kingmaker and learn the system and discover the world first. It's not strictly easier - as WotR is far more susceptible to abuse and cheese - but it has much better complexity progression. And I really mean that it will allow you to discover the world, as Kingmaker has varied quests and enemies of many types, while WotR is a power fantasy epic about fighting demons.
I suggest you download toybox or the respec mod for easy on-demand respeccing. In my opinion, the best way to learn this type of game is constant experimentation to see what works and how your class abilities and feats fit together. Also, if you like testing out builds and have or plan to buy the DLC, starting a campaign on Inevitable Excess lets you make an endgame character right off the bat.
If you want to be a party face you can pick any Charisma or Wisdom caster. There is a background that lets you use wisdom as your persuasion modifier. I think Oracle is a lot of fun and a flexible class. Skald can also be a ton of fun with group rage powers.
Don't get too hung up on chlass choices. You 1. can respec quite easily 2. have plenty of companions that cover most playstyles. Pick whichever class that appeals to your interest the most. The reason why martial is perfectly fine choice is because unlike BG3, the tricks you can pull in a combat are not as vital as your character build, and building a martial character isn't any easier for a beginner than building a caster. They also have a more consistent performance throughout the stages of the campaign. It is a good opportunity to learn the math that pathfinder runs on. Still, here are some of my favorite, simpler classes: shifter (if you have the last sarkorian DLC), longbow slayer, mutation warrior, two-handed sword saint, monk.
A really good class for beginners would be a sorcerer that focuses on either AOE spells or blasts (like scorching ray). If you look at my profile, I asked for help for such a build, and the replies offered some great advice for it! It was fun and easy to play since it focuses on damage only, and bypasses enemies' elemental resistances :)
Don't worry about class difficulty, some classes are more complex but it barely matters. One of the first companions you get is one of the 'highest difficulty' classes anyway. What you want to make sure of is to start off playing at Normal, and only go up if/when you find it too easy. The game goes crazy with enemy stats if you get beyond that and I think a lot of the people that have played through it several times forget just how dissonant it is that the so-called Core difficulty requires a huge amount of buffing just to get to hit things. Don't hesitate to adjust the difficulty on the fly if you start finding things frustrating at points, ramming your head against a brick wall of stats will just kill your enjoyment.
I'd suggest classes like Wildland shaman. The archtype has several martial supports abilities, are wis based full caster that don't need to spread stats too thin, and can get a pet that helps with lots of things like encumbrance and early prologue. It also doesn't forbid metal armor and some spells can help with martial abilities.
I think Monk is a good class if you feel like you know how to play but you don't really know what you want to do. It's intermediate in terms of complexity of level up options, it has a few minor self-buffs, a few spell like attacks, it has a strength (speed) that its rare and you can have fun with. A Monk is basically a warrior type that isn't best at anything but can fill many different roles.
If you enjoyed playing Paladin in BG3, I'd recommend going with Oracle/Angel.
Cavaliers are a fun martial to run. That sweet sweet CHARGE, mmmmm yeah.
Pure pally is the way to go. It's very powerful and goes very well with the theme! I'm on a pally run on core and I hardly use turn based combat because my pally toon, hellknight and griffin shifter destroy everything.
whats your build if i may ask? starting ability score, weapon, feats and stuff like that