oh that. here is why. we do need monk 11 for 2 hit flurry. that is set. 9 left. we do need at least duelist 5 for AC stacking. that leaves us 4 levels in which we can take whatever. it is true that it could be rogue. problem is if we take rogue 4 we are missing 4 AC from duelist. and we are stacking AC, remember? it will also push out our second monk flurry hit to level 19-20 that is not realistically happening in this game. with my split we at least get it if we do everything. 18 is kinda realistic. 19 is only achievable with grind. so we might as well abandon monk or duelist levels in that case. as it is monk concept we'd abandon duelist, losing at least 5 AC.

now to damage. rogue 4 would give us 2d6 sneak dice. = 7 average precision damage. duelist gives us 5 damage for 5 levels. so essentially we are trading 2 damage for 5 AC. I will not take that deal.

vivisectionist mutagen is always good. problem is it is not always online. if we take rogue4/vivisectionist1 we get 11.5 avg damage and 3 conditional AC. still not worth it due to conditional part.

now good part of that is we'd be able to drop bard. still the AC loss on AC stacking build is painful.
TL:DR if we were able to get to 20 at all it would be monk11/ro4/duelist5 build.

I see your points. but it's not where I like to be. If you can't finish a modern Crpg with guile and tactics instead of raw power what's the point...Anything that calls itself an RPG needs multiple paths.

not sure what you mean. I optimize my builds to be use-able at any point and with the current state of game. that means they must be strong all game long, get things going as fast as possible, etc. My position on the question is to offer those who care as optimal and smooth progression as I possibly can, given the limitations of some classes to begin with. Should they choose to modify it as they see fit - great. all those guides are meant as a framework to give ideas and/or as a guidance to completely new players should they need it.

you can beat the game with any sensible build, it just might make you suffer at some point. It is not my place to say if players should be able to get to lvl20 in a timely manner. should that ever change I will come back and re-do some of my builds according for that. as of now I plan for lvl18 and add 2 levels on top just in case with the goal of achieving most of the potential(if possible) by 15.

there is more than one way to skin a cat. There are several things you can do with monk. What I offered is one of them, although my point in monk being a much better 1-2 level dip than a main class(that I mentioned in the build itself) stands. Classes in PF were not created equal to begin with.

ps. forgot to answer: I use Niedzielan's CE table. I do, however, take into consideration gear available in the game and test mechanics thoroughly before posting. It is just not realistic outside of companion builds to playtest everything. there is no training module you could fire up and go against hardest opponents to test all builds in action.

Pretty useful stuff, thanks.

How do the alchemist bombs interact with the critical mechanics, have you tested that out? Splash damage and all? If the whole damage is getting multiplied, that's all kinds of crazy. Though I guess if they put sneak attacks on every single ray attack in a volley and every separate elemental kind of damage, might as well break that too.

If they followed pnp rules, it should be only the first d6 that's getting multiplied. That's why I skipped critical feats on Jubilost. That, and more delicious delicious Extra Bombs. It's kind of crazy to see him go all nova.

that's an interesting question I will further test it as I don't really remember the numbers by now. I thought crit doubled the dice except the dice from item. now that you mentioned it I am in doubt as i might've fooled myself with wishful thinking.

will get back at you when I'm done.

sneak attack is not something alchemists can realistically do with bombs - their main focus is control bombs with int stacking for crazy high DC's and you need pure class for that. Vivisectionists lack added elemental damage spells as well - they are beastly for other reasons than pure damage olympics, I didn't feel the need to test sneak attack interaction with bombs for that reason. it won't add sneak attack to every dice if that's what's the question was. it will add sneak to every bomb though. not sure abotut sneak attack bomb AoE. it's a pita to test with no real benefits as that would hardly be ever applicable.

update on your question. I was correct. crit doubles all dice. so my math stands. 2 more extra bombs feats is 11% potential damage over rather long time. getting crit is 5% extra damage but is not stretched in time. I chose the latter. mechanically speaking improved crit+extra bombs might be better than imp crit+crit focus, but given crits on 19-20 I would rather not risk botching crit confirm roll.

upd. done testing. image attached.

Well then, that's even better on a custom grenadier as it synergizes with the Staggering Blast ability. I guess I know what I'm playing as next time.

The double damage might get patched out at some point though. Same goes for the sneak attack on each ray and elemental damage type.

sneak on every ray is hardly game-breaking. as it is a full-round action. at best you can do 2 of those with quicken spell. damage on melee attacks and elemental assessor is kinda broken though. as far as I'm concerned it's all fine. you can choose to use it or not and to what extent. I don't think nerfing everything that works like Obsidian does is a correct way to go about single-player games. let the players feel smart for finding ways to abuse the game, imo.

Can you list off all the gear you used for this by name?

1. Jaethal. Sure, you can do it instead of power attack line, but it will come rather late and she has higher priorities. I prefer 2-handers to do damage. Valerie can take care of intimidation as she doesn't have anything better to do anyways and you will have her in the party, unless you run mercs. Not so many half-decent tanks in the game by default.

2. Tristian as a theurge will waste all that juicy charisma (theurge does not bump channeling at all). Also he has sone nice evocations as a cleric and a few evo domain spells, so keeping him pure will allow him to nuke things eventually. And it saves me the trouble of reverting him to pure cleric when they finally fix theurge domain spell bug.

3. Harrim is useless as pure cleric. Unlike tristian, he has no charisma to speak of, so it is only logical. given his domains I chose necromancy, so his domain spells are not only good for conversion, but would be actually used. He can be a druid, yes. that will get you a pet, so that's nice, given pets are kinda OP. I try to keep the characters lore-friendly if at all possible, though. And I'm not a huge fan of druid spell-list, compared to arcane one. That's basically why.

Also I like the fact that going theurge you get an arcane caster AND a divine caster in one guy, so you can pack more actual damage-dealers. Necromancy fits rather nice, due to plethora of control effects it has. I have minor adjustments to Harrim build in terms of feats - those will be done today.

Blind run Scion

Role: Damage Dealer/Tank

Race: Human
Alignment: Any
Bloodline: Draconic*
*Doesn't matter which color you pick, Although acid is nice for corrosive touch and acid is the least resisted element. Electricity is nice for shocking grasp but there are too many resistant enemies later on.

Stats:
Str: 19 > 24
Dex: 13
Con: 14
Int: 7
Wis: 8
Cha: 16

Final Build: Magus(Eldritch Scion) 15/Dragon Disciple 4/Alchemist(Vivisectionist) 1

Main skills: Mobility 3, Knowledge: Arcana 5, Persuasion
Suggested secondary skills: Use Magic Device(spare)*

*For Lead Blades Wands

Detailed leveling breakdown:
Lvl 1: Magus - Dodge // Improved Unarmed Combat
Lvl 2: Magus
Lvl 3: Magus - Crane Style // Arcane Accuracy
Lvl 4: Magus
Lvl 5: Alchemist - Accomplished Sneak Attacker
Lvl 6: Magus - Weapon Focus: Scimitar*
Lvl 7: Magus - Outflank // Enduring Blade
Lvl 8: Magus
Lvl 9: Dragon Disciple - Crane Wing
Lvl 10: Dragon Disciple - Improved Initiative
Lvl 11: Dragon Disciple - Dazzling Display
Lvl 12: Dragon Disciple
Lvl 13: Magus - Shatter Defenses
Lvl 14: Magus - Ghost Blade
Lvl 15: Magus - Crane Riposte
Lvl 16: Magus - Weapon Specialization: Scimitar
Lvl 17: Magus - Blind Fight // Devoted Blade
Lvl 18: Magus
Lvl 19: Magus - Empower Spell
Lvl 20: Magus - Bane Blade

*Can also be longsword or whatever 1h you fancy. Scimitars have nice synergy with magus, so here we go. There are some good longswords late, but it might be a bit of a suffer.
**Can just go for 2 more magus levels. Will give you bane blade, so that's good.

Spells by level in order of importance:
Lvl 1: Shield, Shocking Grasp, Enlarge Person, Corrosive Touch, Vanish, True Strike
Lvl 2: Frigid Touch, Mirror Image, Cat's Grace, Glitterdust, Effortless Armor
Lvl 3: Displacement, Haste, Vampiric Touch
Lvl 4: Dimension Door, Greater Invisibility, Stoneskin, Shield of Dawn
Lvl 5: Vampiric Shadow Shield, Cloudkill*
Lvl 6: Transformation, Heroism(Greater)
*Will require Delay Poison(Communal) from your cleric, but otherwise is a potent tool to kill enemies faster
**Or any other spell - you will use those slots for transformation anyways. Could also be dispel or true sight.

Gear:Heaviest armor you can wear(Heart of Valor early, Mithral +5 late), Scimitar, +AC items, +Stat Items.

Imp. crit is skipped to save feats. Use keen from arcane weapon instead.

Good option for a blind run. Pretty much needs a decent scimitar (which a plenty) and a mithral armor to function. Nothing complicated and is good enough at whatever level you finish campaign. Doesn't rely on metagame, really. You can miss most things in the game and still be in a decent enough shape.

Doesn't do anything spectacular, but should be a smooth run.

Will step on Reggies toes, so there's that.

Turn off spellstrike if you are not spellstriking to get 1.5 str scaling.

what's the point? you grab heavy armor with the most AC you can find, Aldori sword with the best bonuses, there are quite a bit of light shields with good enchantments. There is one you find near Varnhold that is +3 and gives +3 more against melee attacks - it will be a mainstay for the most of the game. Gear changes all the time depending on where you are at in the game. decent aldori swords can be found in witch's hut guarded by 3 very angry owlbears and there is +3 during season of the bloom(if I remember correctly). there is always +4 one at the tournament too.

otherwise you will use +6con/str belt +AC ring and amulet for most of the game. Nothing rare or hidden needed for success.

a word of warning: this build will be 2 AB/Damage weaker than it should be cause fighter weapon training is bugged and is not working at all.

"As far as my guide is concerned I just liked the game and wanted to minimize the chances on new players getting lost/discouraged, so I made that to help them. It also might give some ideas to seasoned players to implement in their games, so that's nice too." (https://www.gog.com/forum/pathfinder_kingmaker/hotfix_1014_october_29th_2018/post9)

It definitely helped me to understand how the skills complement each other, how AC and AB stack, and how some of the rule changes since I played have affected play.

In addition it helped me decide to play a monk on my restart since I could then justify my lawful companions learning crane style from me while wandering in the middle of the stolen lands :-)

I like monks in this game. I'm not sure I like where pure monks(or even main class monks) are on the power curve, but the class itself is fun. they have quite a bit of tools to break the monotony and end up with solid AC no matter what.

glad my guides helped you.

upd. still thinking how can I break the game with staff str monk. can't break good AC with it.