Thanks Bud Im looking forward to it.And for the 2nd level of the Inferno Priest was Spell Spec-Magic Missles your choice the way you wrote was confusing Roahin?

Yeah, you're going to want to leave Spell Specialization with Magic Missile until at LEAST 7th level.

Thanks alot Roahin this exactly what I was wanting your the best bud.

This is so awesome I got the game about a month ago now. Crawling through it, but I bought the pathfinder books to understand more about the game and variations it has taken from core D&D of which I played for years, and many years ago. I do only PC and recently Console gaming, but love turned base RPG's. That said, in looking up guides I found the Min/Max guides mostly and just used them to dive in. When I caught some of your responses and then the companion guides I really appreciated what you were doing and believe the same philosophy, to more RP and not try to use the mechanics of the game (min/max) to gain leverage and miss the elements of the game as intended. D&D with a real GM is the truest form, but your thinking aligned with what I was looking for. Not that the other builds don't work, but I was looking for Main characters with that thinking. So I am so excited that you posted this and updated them recently. I almost want to start over as I enter Act 4, to start with your guides in mind, but nothing like having a play through to better understand the mechanics, so I think I will progress forward.

Anyway, my sincere thanks to your guide and thoughts, they are much appreciated and bring appreciation for the Pathfinder game overall!

Last of the Shattered Tusk
Role: Melee Damage
Race: Half-Orc
Alignment: Chaotic Good, Chaotic Neutral, Chaotic Evil
Final Build: Mad Dog 13 / Sacred Huntsman 3 / Two-Handed Fighter 4

Build Notes: I'm just a big fan of the Mastodon companion, probably more than any other companion you can get. Sure, there are some that are statistically stronger, like the Smilodon, but if you ever played a single playthrough using their Overrun ability you'd be addicted too.
The goal and general RP of this build is to create a Barbarian with a Mastodon pet. In my head, I see him as the last barbarian of a dead Kellid tribe traveling with the last Mastodon of his tribe. The build emphasizes synergizing the two as much as possible.

Starting Stats
Mad Dog-1
Animal Companion: Mastodon
18 Strength
14 Dexterity
14 Constitution
10 Intelligence
14 Wisdom
10 Charisma
Skills: Athletics +1, Lore (Nature) +1, Perception +1, Persuasion +1
Feats: Weapon Focus (Glaive)
Notes: Half-Orcs get a bonus to Perception and Persuasion (Intimidate) checks, so it's good to take advantage of that. We're taking the Glaive because it's one of a few available reach weapons in the game and does more base damage than the Longspear and has better critical damage than the Bardiche. This will help him be a melee damager in the back ranks

Leveling Stats
Level 2 - Mad Dog 2
Skills: Athletics +1, Lore (Nature) +1, Perception +1, Persuasion +1
Notes: You get Pack Tactics at this level, increasing your flanking with your pet to +4.

Level 3 - Sacred Huntsman 1
Deity: Gorum
Domain: Strength
Skills: Athletics +1, Lore (Nature) +1, Lore (Religion) +1, Perception +1, Persuasion +1
Feats: Power Attack
Spells: (1) Cure Light Wounds, True Strike
Notes: You could undoubtedly get more mileage out of Mobility or Use Magic Device than Lore (Religion), but I can't reconcile taking levels of a divine caster class and having no religion.

Level 4 - Sacred Huntsman 2
Attribute: Strength +1
Skills: Athletics +1, Lore (Nature) +1, Lore (Religion) +1, Perception +1, Persuasion +1
Spells: (1) Expeditious Retreat

Level 5 - Sacred Huntsman 3
Skills: Athletics +1, Lore (Nature) +1, Lore (Religion) +1, Perception +1, Persuasion +1
Feats: Intimidating Prowess, Outflank
Spells: (1) Protection from Alignment
Notes: This is a huge level for the Shattered Tusk. He gets Solo Tactics and Hunter Tactics, letting him share his teamwork feats with his Mastodon. Outflank and Pack Tactics go hand in hand.

Level 6 - Two-Handed Fighter 1
Skills: Athletics +1, Perception +1, Persuasion +1
Feats: Cornugon Smash
Notes: Our Mastodon's progress will temporarily fall of for a level here since we can't use a Fighter bonus feat for Boon Companion.

Level 7 - Two-Handed Fighter 2
Skills: Athletics +1, Perception +1, Persuasion +1
Feats: Boon Companion, Precise Strike
Notes: Big level for our guy here. His Mastodon gets a size increase and can now Overrun opponents (he's got a unbuffed CMD of +13 at this point). I recommend having him charge groups of enemies at every opportunity. You won't believe how fun this is. Meanwhile, all of yours and your Mastodon's attacks are doing +1d6 per attack when targeting the same foe.

Level 8 - Two-Handed Fighter 3
Attribute: Strength +1
Skills: Athletics +1, Perception +1, Persuasion +1

Level 9 - Two-Handed Fighter 4
Skills: Athletics +1, Perception +1, Persuasion +1
Feats: Weapon Specialization (Glaive), Improved Critical (Glaive)

Level 10 - Mad Dog 3
Skills: Athletics +1, Lore (Nature) +1, Perception +1, Persuasion +1
Notes: I don't usually like to take less than 7 levels of Two-Handed Fighter and get that delicious double strength damage for all attacks, but anything past that point and we're getting negative gains for our Mastodon and this build is as much about maintaining him as it is the barbarian himself.

Level 11 - Mad Dog 4
Skills: Athletics +1, Lore (Nature) +1, Perception +1, Persuasion +1
Feats: Dazzling Display, Lesser Beast Totem(Rage)
[i]Notes: I don't usually suggest wasting a turn on Dazzling Display unless there's a lot of enemies nearby. No, we're taking this mostly to unlock Dreadful Carnage at the next level-up.[i/]

Level 12 - Mad Dog 5
Attribute: Strength +1
Skills: Athletics +1, Lore (Nature) +1, Perception +1, Persuasion +1
Notes: Your Mastodon gets Improved Trip this level. It's slightly better against single targets than Overrun. Overrun has a CMD of +18 and Improved Trip of +20.

Level 13 - Mad Dog 6
Skills: Athletics +1, Lore (Nature) +1, Perception +1, Persuasion +1
Feats: Dreadful Carnage

Level 14 - Mad Dog 7
Skills: Athletics +1, Lore (Nature) +1, Perception +1, Persuasion +1

Level 15 - Mad Dog 8
Skills: Athletics +1, Lore (Nature) +1, Perception +1, Persuasion +1
Feats: Blind Fight, Beast Totem
Notes: You don't want to wait any longer than this to pick up Blind Fight. The endgame is too littered with enemies that have gaze attacks

Level 16 - Mad Dog 9
Attribute: Strength +1
Skills: Athletics +1, Lore (Nature) +1, Perception +1, Persuasion +1

Level 17 - Mad Dog 10
Skills: Athletics +1, Lore (Nature) +1, Perception +1, Persuasion +1
Feats: Extra Rage Power (Greater Beast Totem)

Level 18 - Mad Dog 11
Skills: Athletics +1, Lore (Nature) +1, Perception +1, Persuasion +1
Feats: Greater Rage

Level 19 - Mad Dog 12
Skills: Athletics +1, Lore (Nature) +1, Perception +1, Persuasion +1
Feats: Shatter Defenses, Fearless Rage

Level 20 - Mad Dog 13
Attribute: Strength +1
Skills: Athletics +1, Lore (Nature) +1, Perception +1, Persuasion +1
Notes: The unbuffed Overrun check of the Mastodon is +26 and the Improved Trip check is +28. Naturally, you've buffed him with spells and items and have been keeping bosses locked on perma-trip all game... haven't you?

A treatise on finding some Glaives as you advance.

MW Glaive is purchaseable from Oleg at the outset of the game.
Glaive +1 in the Stag Lord's Fort in the Shrike Hills.
Flaming Glaive +2 is a drop from the Nightmare Torpor at the Bald Stones in the Kamelands.
Unholy Glaive +3 "Detterence" is available in the Secluded Lodge during the Hellknight Questline.*
Glaive +4 along with all +4 weapons is sold by the Pitax Trader in Pitax.
Holy Glaive of Ultrasound +5 "Incorruptible Petal" found in the Pitax Royal Chambers.

*I strongly recommend acquiring Detterence and using it as your primary weapon for the majority of the game. +3 is high enough to beat most relevent Damage Reductions, and the weapon grants a +5 bonus on Intimidate checks that stacks with the Half-Orc racials.

Treasure Hunter
Role: Skill Hound / Melee Damage
Race: Halfling
Alignment: Any
Final Build: Knife Master 3 / Archaeologist 11 / Arcane Trickster 4

Build Notes: The general goal of this class is to have a character that'll easily pass Perception and Trickery checks to get all the hidden loot in the game, while still being competent in battle with a high Sneak Attack output. All the Bard spells are non-DC based so maxing Charisma is not a priority, instead the spell selection is geared more toward healing, buffing and cleansing.
In case you're a fan of Nok-Nok, this Knife Master focuses on daggers rather than Kukri. Having the pair of them feed off one another for flanking Sneak Attacks and acting as safeguard sets of eyes for traps and locks is a lot of fun, but the Treasure Hunter also eliminates the need of taking Nok-Nok altogether if he doesn't fit in your group.

Starting Stats
Knife Master-1
10 Strength
18 Dexterity
14 Constitution
14 Intelligence
10 Wisdom
15 Charisma
Skills: Mobility 1, Trickery 1, Knowledge (Arcana) 1, Knowledge (World) 1, Perception 1, Persuasion 1
Feats: Two-Weapon Fighting, Weapon Finesse(Free)
Notes: Why these skills? Halflings get a racial bonus on Mobility and Perception, and the Archaeologist levels are going to give a bonus to Trickery, World and Perception checks. Lastly, Persuasion is always a good idea when you have it in-class and on a Charisma character. There are just too much XP to lose to not take it.

Leveling Stats
Level 2 - Knife Master 2
Skills: Mobility +1, Trickery +1, Knowledge (Arcana) +1, Knowledge (World) +1, Perception +1, Persuasion +1
Feats: Weapon Focus (Dagger)

Level 3 - Knife Master 3
Skills: Mobility +1, Trickery +1, Knowledge (Arcana) +1, Knowledge (World) +1, Perception +1, Persuasion +1
Feats: Finesse Training (Dagger), Double Slice

Level 4 - Archaeologist 1
Attribute: Charisma +1
Skills: Mobility +1, Trickery +1, Knowledge (Arcana) +1, Perception +1, Persuasion +1
Spells: (1) Cure Light Wounds, Feather Step
Notes: We're going to stick with World over Arcana after this level, we're just taking the 4th rank of Arcana now to have Arcane Trickster unlocked down the road.

Level 5 - Archaeologist 2
Skills: Mobility +1, Trickery +1, Knowledge (World) +1, Perception +1, Persuasion +1
Feats: Accomplished Sneak Attacker, Skill Focus (Trickery)
Spells: (1) Unbreakable Heart

Level 6 - Archaeologist 3
Skills: Mobility +1, Trickery +1, Knowledge (World) +1, Perception +1, Persuasion +1
Spells: (1) Expeditious Retreat

Level 7 - Archaeologist 4
Skills: Mobility +1, Trickery +1, Knowledge (World) +1, Perception +1, Persuasion +1
Feat: Deceitful
Spells: (2) Cure Moderate Wounds, Sense Vitals
Notes: Sense Vitals DOES stack with Sneak Attack.

Level 8 - Archaeologist 5
Attribute: Charisma +1
Skills: Mobility +1, Trickery +1, Knowledge (World) +1, Perception +1, Persuasion +1
Spells: (2) Mirror Image
Notes: We could take our first level of Arcane Trickster at this level, but since it gives less skills than Archaeologist and no Sneak Attack while pushing off useful abilities for the Archaeologist by more levels, we'll put it off for now.

Level 9 - Archaeologist 6
Skills: Mobility +1, Trickery +1, Knowledge (World) +1, Perception +1, Persuasion +1
Feats: Persuasive, Combat Trick (Improved Two-Weapon Fighting)
Spells: (2) Heroism
Notes: This is a good level, you get Confident Explorer allowing you to always take 10 on Trickery checks. At about this point you should be able to auto-defeat any lock DC of 40 or so.

Level 10 - Arcane Trickster 1
Skills: Trickery +1, Knowledge (World) +1, Perception +1, Persuasion +1
Spells: (1) Vanish; (3) Cure Serious Wounds, Haste
Notes: This is a HUGE level for the build. All those skill feats we've been taking pay dividends this level when they double their bonus. Your Persuasion, Perception and Trickery should all be buffed in the 30's, possibly even low 40's.

Level 11 - Arcane Trickster 2
Skills: Mobility +1, Trickery +1, Knowledge (World) +1, Perception +1, Persuasion +1
Feat: Outflank
Spells: (3) Displacement
Notes: If you're running with Nok-Nok or really any other melee character, I strongly recommend they all have Outflank.

Level 12 - Arcane Trickster 3
Attribute: Charisma +1
Skills: Trickery +1, Knowledge (World) +1, Perception +1, Persuasion +1
Spells: (3) Good Hope

Level 13 - Arcane Trickster 4
Skills: Trickery +1, Knowledge (World) +1, Perception +1, Persuasion +1
Feats: Improved Critical (Dagger)
Spells: (2) Blur; (4) Cure Critical Wounds, Freedom of Movement

Level 14 - Arcane Trickster 5
Skills: Trickery +1, Knowledge (World) +1, Perception +1, Persuasion +1
Spells: (1) Remove Fear; (4) Shield of Dawn

Level 15 - Arcane Trickster 6
Skills: Trickery +1, Knowledge (World) +1, Perception +1, Persuasion +1
Feat: Blind Fight
Spells: (4) Dimension Door
Notes: That immunity to gaze attacks from Blind Fight will pay off heavily in the latter portions of the game.

Level 16 - Archaeologist 7
Attribute: Dexterity +1
Skills: Mobility +1, Trickery +1, Knowledge (World) +1, Perception +1, Persuasion +1
Spells: (3) Dispel Magic; (5) Greater Heroism, Joyful Rapture
Notes: Why Dexterity and not Charisma? Why Archaeologist and not Arcane Trickster? You need a 19 Dexterity to take Greater Two-Weapon Fighting at 17, and you need a higher BAB than Trickster can grant you. The loss of a die of Sneak Attack is worth the trade-off.

Level 17 - Archaeologist 8
Skills: Mobility +1, Trickery +1, Knowledge (World) +1, Perception +1, Persuasion +1
Feats: Greater Two-Weapon Fighting
Spells: (2) Glitterdust; (5) Mass Cure Light Wounds

Level 18 - Archaeologist 9
Skills: Mobility +1, Trickery +1, Knowledge (World) +1, Perception +1, Persuasion +1
Spells: (5) Greater Dispel Magic

Level 19 - Archaeologist 10
Skills: Mobility +1, Trickery +1, Knowledge (World) +1, Perception +1, Persuasion +1
Feats: Lingering Performance, Opportunist
Spells: (4) Break Enchantment; (6) Brilliant Inspiration, Mass Cure Moderate Wounds

Level 20 - Archaeologist 11
Skills: Mobility +1, Trickery +1, Knowledge (World) +1, Perception +1, Persuasion +1
Spells: (3) Communal Delay Poison; (6) Eyebite
Notes: You're unlikely to get be this level very long, but it's still worth noting that an interesting synergy becomes available at this point. Inspire Competence (+4 bonus) stacks with Archaeologist's Luck (+3 bonus). Normally activating one deactivates the other, but with Lingering Performance, you can have both active simultaneously.

There are a LOT of daggers to choose from in the game. Here are some good ones to find as you progress:

MW Dagger - Sold by Oleg
+1 Cold Iron Dagger - Old Sycamore
+1 Shock Dagger - Bridge over the Gudrin on Merchant Cart during Season of Bloom
"Arcane Protector" +1 Dagger, grants +3 Dodge - Can be found at Bridge over the Gudrin River in Kamelands
"Chaos Shard" +2 Dagger, Confuse on Hit - Can be found at Candlemere Tower in South Narlmarches
"Lightning Duelist" +1 Dagger, Shock/+1AC - Dropped from Stefano Moskoni
"Frailty" +1 Dagger, Speed/Ghost Touch - Crafted by Varrask
"Deceiver" +3 Dagger, has reach - Crafted by Nazrielle
"Troublemaker" +2 Dagger, Flaming/Anarchic/x3 Crit - Crafted by Nazrielle
+2 Speed Dagger - Sold by Skeletal Salesman after Varnhold for 18,500gp
"Edict" +4 Dagger, Speed - found in Abandoned Keep / Temple of the Elk chasing Tristan
"Dormition" +5 Dagger, Undead Bane/+1d6 Positive - Granted by Enneo in Jaethal's quest
"Dark Wind" +4 Dagger, adds die of Sneak Attack - Can be found in Whiterose Abbey in Pitax
+4 Dagger - Sold by Pitax trade for 32,000gp

Note that multiple daggers of speed don't stack.

Welcome back.

Yeah, at the end of the day I figured out that Alchemist (i.e. Jub) was really there for the Bombs and gave up on the Archery piece.

That said, Grenadier brings some unique things to the table like Martial Proficiency and Precise Firebreathing so I can't help thinking there's probably a melee build there with Feral Mutagen.

@Roahin
First off,I LOVE your builds. Im a new player who hasnt made it to act 3 but find myself restarting because I cant get behind the RP of my character or my companions because I keep hearing about min-maxing that has them dip into 5 different classes.

I really like the idea of using greatswords on a paladin, any thoughts on how to make one with decent AC? I will have valerie as a primary tank, and ekundayo will be around for his dog to melee range as well. Should I just try and play it out being enlarged and attacking from out of melee range, or could they be built tanky enough to survive as the game goes on?

Me too. I blame games like Baldur's Gate 2 and movies like Ironclad, but I always find myself equipping Paladins with greatswords. That said, while there's a ton of holy longswords and bastard swords, there's a dearth of options in Kingmaker for Paladin greatswords. There's only one 'holy' greatsword in the game and you get it in the House at the Edge of Time, when 90% of the game is over. Granted, nothing stops you from using Flaming or Shock greatswords until then, but it would've been nice if some vendor somewhere could've been bothered to stock at least one Holy Greatsword, y'know?

As far as your question about decent AC, it's a complicated question to answer. It sounds like he's not going to be primary tanking, but depending on your play style he may still need a good AC. A good example here is Nok-Nok. He's not a tank, nor do any guides ever really try to make him one. But he is distinctly melee-only. I think most of us try to acquire a reasonable AC for him, but we don't really work too hard on it to where his effectiveness as a frontliner damager is compromised. Ultimately positioning matters more than anything for frontliners.

Anyhow, all the old tricks work just fine with Paladins and some conceptually too. Aasimar make fine Paladins and have the racial feat for Wings to get a +3 AC bonus (though I personally prefer Human Paladins). Divine Guardians can Divine Troth themselves for free AC as well. Multiclassing opens up some options as well. Fighter levels can increase your max Dex bonus for easy AC as you find belts that enhance multiple attributes. Dragon Disciple also has a lot of synergy with Paladins (though again, I actually prefer straight Paladins). And finally, something that I've always strongly enjoyed doing but is woefully underutilized by most builders and players out there is taking advantage of Use Magic Device. The naturally high Charisma of the Paladin really helps, and that ambush fight is a lot easier when you can Mirror Image, Haste, Stoneskin and generally stack the fifty million scrolls clogging your inventory onto yourself.

First off I just wanted to say I just had to create an account to say how much these guides helped me, I have no knowledge of the Pathfinder system, and I was pretty lost in character creation after buying the game after being introduced to it by Cohh Carnage's playthrough...anyway

I do have a question, I don't know if you even still play this game, but I need to know, do you have any builds involving Kineticist? I liked the class from its description, but I have no clue how it works =P sorry to bother you with this just wanted to ask that and thank you again for the builds.

By the by, is the Sword Saint/Duelist the only Human build? Can the other races ones be adapted, or are they dependent of their specific races? >.< Sorry for the bother ._.

EDIT: Sorry, forgot to mention something, so I'm following the Human build, and at level 3 it says to take Aldori Dueling Mastery and Extend Spell, I can get Aldori Dueling Mastery well enough, but the Magus Feat Extend Spell doesn't show, I have Arcane Something something (a sword enchantment feat), Wand Wielder, and a third one I don't quite remember, but no Extend Spell...

Gears Rule isnt ring but bracers. But grenadier is most broken class in game :) And its absolute needed to endless dungeon becasuse his force bombs can trip that stupid broken golems. With 44DC trip there isnt anythink what he cant trip even on insane :D

I think he using Eldritch arcana mode. It little change feats and extend in magus arcanas is one of that. In base game magus cant take any feats instead of arcana. Only imbues or wands.

Hey Roahin. Any chance you could fine tune/finish this build. Looks like a lot of fun to play but I'm pretty new and would like to know where to take it late

Varnhold's Lot adds those.

https://www.gog.com/forum/pathfinder_kingmaker/confirmed_varnholds_lot_undocumented_new_class_features_list