pet is not something you multiclass. Unless it's another pet class. It's ok to come one level behind full pet scaling, but that's about it. 4 levels(8 with boon) will get you a glorified pack mule. That's it.

Amazing build. I just reached lv 20 and I noticed that the wisdwom cognatogen does not work. All other cognatogens work. Tried different characters with cognatogen and a different savegame as well. Just doesn't do anything. Not even the reduced dex. Turned off mods. Didn't change a thing. Is this a bug or am I doing sth. wrong?

yeah. That's a relatively recent bug afaik. CBA to go back and edit everything. Maybe owlcats will fix it one day.

there pretty much isn't such a thing as a summoning-based build. 3 best summoning spells are animate dead, elemental swarm and creeping doom. Neither of them benefit from any summoning feats and two of them don't even have an item that would boost them to boot. So pretty much any cleric is a decent summoner, almost any arcane caster can do it too. Strictly speaking Wiz7/Dru3/Theurge10 is the best summoner since he can have both animate dead and creeping doom and some control/necro stuff on top. As to something usable - your generic necro sylvan is perfectly fine for the job as well. Can summon animate dead, has hands free for the staff for them and doesn't suck all game.

Started on Varnhold's Lot (first time), and took on the companions we get, thinking they have conversations or otherwise story interaction. Doesn't seem like it. They've been silent so far. And they're kinda crap. Think I need to start over with my own crew, also because I've seen some posts about Varn and Cephal running off at times, and I do need a way to deal with traps.

May something like this work? (on challenging)

MC Fighter - falchion. It seems like a good option with the base fighter class, with weapon group and armor training. Then maybe Power attack + Cleave, unless that buggers AC and to-hit too much. Went heavy into strength, with:
20 STR
16 DEX
14 CON
7 INT
11 WIS (1 leftover point, hence 11)
7 CHA

Bard - traps, some buffs, songs. Maybe Thundercaller? Bard seems mandatory in this game
Cleric - definitely needed, the DLC seems hard
Sword saint maybe?

This would be a bit melee heavy and possibly lack a wizard type if Cephal buggers off, but I hope it would be allright. Can then use Outflank and such on the MC and Sword saint, and hopefully they'll have decent enough AC so enemies don't carve through them.

for challenging most anything works. I'd suggest having some CC with your party, but overall it shouldn't be too hard. There is a varn party I personally like posted. If you find managing booter too hard you can use a dwarven TSS5/V4 or something since there is a decent dwarven waraxe you can get for free.

I've looked at that party and taken some inspiration from it. With CC, can a bard or Cephal do the trick, or is he gone too often, and a bard too weak? I've never tried a Sword saint or freebooter, but was thinking to try the sword saint here, though I think that's mainly a melee/tank?

Felt very strange to not control where we travel and rest, but I should try out this DLC at least once. Btw, can we import the save back into the main game and thus get some XP from the DLC, or it mainly about story and some items?

tank, damage, spells... you name it.

Once you have the save you can import it bit after season of the bloom ends. It doesn't matter what save you chose at the start - it only affects the looks. You can inject the save into as many games as you like. Exp effects on the main campaign are pretty minor. You will get a tiny bit of reactivity and items. That's pretty much it. The dlc is decent as it has better itemization than the main game and the story is serviceable.

Thanks. I'm setting up a team now and will hopefully not make too many mistakes. The bard will probably be a near carbon copy of yours from that party anyway, so that one should be fine at least. I'm intrigued to try out a Thundercaller. Looks quite useful once she gets access to that spell/song-thingy.

Setting up a team is an arduous process for those of us who don't know the game and mechanics so well, but it's kinda fun too. Sure is different with these rulesets than in the more straightforward BG / 2.5 world.

I'll probably write what I end up with, but it's going to take a few hours probably :D So many pictures to look through too, with the Heroes of the Stolen Lands mod.

Some hours and a pizza later, and my team is set up. Very similar to your lot, so I hope that will work out well.

MC Fighter
Human (CN)

21 STR (+1 at 4)
16 DEX
14 CON
7 INT
11 WIS
7 CHA

Feats: Dodge, Power Attack, Combat Reflexes, Seize the Moment, Heavy Armor Focus, Outflank, Iron Will.
Weapon Training: Heavy Blades (ie. Falchion)

No specialisation yet, but I do get the same bonus from weapon training, and will probably pick up weapon focus next. Blew a ton of money on this guy and didn't want to redo everything, so he has a +2 STR belt, +2 cape, +1 ring, +1 natural armor amulet, and Full plate +1 armor, and Falchion +1. That gives me 27 AC.

========

Magus (Sword Saint)
Human (LN)

7 STR
20 DEX (+1 at 4)
13 CON
15 INT (+1 at 8, for 16)
7 WIS
14 CHA

Feats: Improved Unarmed Strike, Crane Style, Dodge, Weapon Finesse, Slashing Grace (Falcata), Outflank

Actually dipped into Monk (Scaled Fist) here, hence the CHA stat. Suppose I ought to try it out :P
Really like the Outflank combo up front, so have that here too, on MC and the Sword saint. Varn could get in on that too, but not sure if he's too squishy. Was a bit awkward to set up due to only have 20 point-buy, but this looks okay I hope. Seems like DEX is really important, so went heavier into that than INT.

=============

Cleric (Ecclesitheurge)
Human (LN)

7 STR
13 DEX
13 CON
7 INT
21 WIS (+1 at 4, and +1 at 8)
14 CHA

Deity: Gozreh
Domains: Water, Animal
Pet: Leopard (I do love cats)

Feats: Point-blank shot, Precise shot, Selective channel, Boon companion

Apart from Selective channel, this is a carbon copy of your build, so I'm sure it will be good. I like selective channel, though, so I can heal people during combat without healing enemies too. That's always annoying, and a pain with positioning.

===============

Bard (Thundercaller)
Human (NG)

7 STR
17 DEX (+1 at 8)
12 CON
7 INT
10 WIS
20 CHA (+1 at 4)

Feats: Point-blank shot, Precise shot, Rapid shot, Lingering performance, Weapon focus (Heavy crossbow)

Linzi mark II, with a thundering personality. Hope this will be cool.

========

Not planned out all further leveling, but the MC fighter has feats raining on him, so that one should be okay. May go with Cleave, but not sure. Saw you had Conjuration focus on the Cleric, which I guess must be only due to Smoking cloud. Maybe I'll go with Evocation or something instead, we'll see.

Got big hopes for the Sword saint, and he does look pretty darn OP, especially with the Monk dip. Probably not as crazy good here without (presumably) such awesome gear as in the main game, but should still get good enough AC and do plenty damage. Suppose we'll fight hordes of Wild hunt here too, so Blind fight may be required for melees.

Damn, think I messed up in Varnhold's Lot again. We can't go back to the City of Hollow Eyes, right? The journal updates said we were done there, so eventually I just left, thinking we could go back later, because it was pretty darn hard in places. Figured perhaps it was meant to be done later. But that was probably silly? Looked up the page on the [url=https://pathfinderkingmaker.gamepedia.com/City_of_Hollow_Eyes_(Varnhold%27s_Lot_DLC)]wiki[/url], and there's a ton of loot there which I'd like to get my hands on.

Also, does Piranha Strike work with Weapon Finesse + Slashing Grace + Falcata? I wondered about picking it up since it's a DEX build.

(Argh, stupid GOG forum that can't even make URLs without barfing all over the floor...)

Once you leave the area there is no going back. And anything you didn't find won't be imported into the main game.

Pretty sure you still need pa for falcata. As regardless of what you do you can't make falcata light. Although the game have enough 'oddities' that I wouldn't bet money on it.

Thanks. I'll have to go back and do the whole area then. Thought it was the main area, so we would go back there later.

PA? Power attack? I'll take it as a no in any case, which would make the most sense.

I've heard Vital strike doesn't work properly either, but maybe those posts were old and it has been fixed now. Strange they never sorted the crane wing and such. But at this point I don't think there are coming more patches, at least not anything big. All hands on deck for Wrath, and the game works really well anyway, apart from some minor niggles like that.

Crane wing is the least of everything that works wrong. It's mainly a crutch to make armored builds somewhat usable and, given WoTR fixes that, armored builds will be completely shafted altogether. Yay for balance. Everyone will be a saint monk from that point on.