Thank you so much for your fast responses and help. Also thank you very much for all your work. I honestly appreciate it.

Was my bad for not double-checking. Happens sometimes when you retouch old builds with new cheese. Have fun there.

How gimped would this be if you dropped the monk level and switched Aldori Defender over to Invulnerable Rager? I know DR/HP tanking doesn't work in this game, but it seems like at first glance it might trade some defense for more offense while still being a semi-decent backup tank.

Problem would not just be that DR doesn't work. There is also a question of feats. motherless Barb8/V12 is something that can be done, but It would be really hard(or impossible) to fit in both defensive and offensive abilities.

That and the build you quoted needs some rework. It's like 6month old now. Were I to do that today it would be Aldori9/Booter6/M1/V1/Stalwart3 likely. I am going through the old builds and fixing them, but I don't have the time to do all in one go. And I want to see what the DLC patch would bring as working on something that feat-intensive is always a lot more time-consuming.

Trip Vivisectionist

Race: Tiefling(Motherless)

Alignment: LG

Stats:
Str: 18 > 22
Dex: 14
Con: 12
Int: 12
Wis: 17 > 18 @20
Cha: 7

Final Build: Monk(Sensei) 1/ Alchemist(Vivisectionist) 12 / Bard(Archaeologist) 2 / Dragon Disciple 4 / Magus(Sword Saint)

Main skills: Mobility 3, Persuasion (Max),
Suggested secondary skills: Perception (Max), Trickery(Spare)

Detailed leveling breakdown:
Lvl 1: Monk - Dodge // Crane Style
Lvl 2: Alchemist
Lvl 3: Alchemist - Combat Expertise(+2 int item) // Feral Mutagen
Lvl 4: Alchemist
Lvl 5: Alchemist - Trip // Combat Trick > Outflank
Lvl 6: Alchemist
Lvl 7: Alchemist - Crane Wing // Combat trick > Combat Reflexes
Lvl 8: Alchemist
Lvl 9: Magus - Dazzling Display // Chosen Weapon: Fauchard
Lvl 10: Alchemist - Combat Trick > Shatter Defenses
Lvl 11: Alchemist - Greater Trip
Lvl 12: Alchemist - Crippling Strike
Lvl 13: Alchemist - Improved Critical: Fauchard
Lvl 14: Alchemist - Greater Mutagen
Lvl 15: Bard - Fury’s Fall
Lvl 16: Bard - Opportunist
Lvl 17: Dragon Disciple - Crane Riposte*
Lvl 18: Dragon Disciple - Toughness*
Lvl 19: Dragon Disciple - Accomplished Sneak Attacker*
Lvl 20: Dragon Disciple
*Or Intimidating+power attack+dreadful carnage. Especially if you don't have someone to shatter.

Alchemist Spells: True strike, Shield, Restoration(Lesser), Stat spells, Haste, Displacement, Heroism, Echolocation, Greater invis,
Magus Spells: True Strike
Bard Spells: Remove fear, Cure Light wounds, Vanish, Mirror Image, Sense Vitals, Glitterdust.

Gear: monk robes, fauchard(Mastery), stat items, AC items, Monk robe, cloak of winter wolf, opportunist’s boots

A variation of trip vivisectionist. Lots of AB, lots of bites good damage, loads of AoO’s and so on.

Has sensei so you can drop a bard if you want to. You get at least some of it back. If you plan oh keeping a bard around - take traditional monk instead. Also would

Can Dazzle himself, but prefers not to.

Can make use of CE helm early-game.

Crane Wing/Riposte work with whatever on the current patch.


Credit to haplok for build concept. I just tossed things around a tiny bit to my preference, and streamlined the build notes. Posted it here mostly for reference.

I have a question regarding this build. Since I wanted to play it initially but I couldn't immerse myself playing an Halfling(So I choose the Arcane Warrior Build).
Is there any other race that can be picked and is close in power? I would like to give it a try on my next run.

Musetouched Aasimar is mostly the same, except he takes wings instead of cautious fighter. Human will do alright as well.

That's awesome. I hope I'm not too annoying but since cautious fighter is lvl 3 and wings require character lvl 10 how would I exactly shift the feats around? Sadly I don't have any mods installed so I have a hard time planning it and I also lack the knowledge to do so. If you don't have time for this then I totally understand.

Very competent tank but having one around in the early part of the game before uber items you are stat starved somewhat and I find the most pressing need is to boost Int with a +2/+4 stat helm is a must to maintain the AC while under strength mutagen/ enlarged. The Int helm therefore outweighs the combat expertise helm.

I mean CE helm is an option. Free AC is free AC and there are long lasting stat boosting spells to bump wis. If you are playing unfair any free AC is welcome.

Yes but starting at 12 iNT means you already need a +2 Int item to use crane feats and trip feats - otherwise they are greyed out/ do nothing when you are in combat. If you use Str mutagen and enlarge person you need further increase in INT to offset those penalties. Basically get Fox Cunning spells/items as soon as possible and have a +INT on standby otherwise all those nice crane feats and trips can't be used as soon as you actually buff up with the str mutagen and enlarge.

Yeah. It's a choice between AC and spells. I am of the opinion that till you get level 3 spells there is little reason take off CE hat. It's mildly inconvenient, but the benefits are clear. For hard I wouldn't bother with all that and would've just kept the int helm.

Easy Kingdom management and Priority assessment.

As per usual, RP/fun/immersion are not a consideration with this one as those are not measurable units. I really hoped the kingdom management will get a major rework, but that doesn't seem the case, so there you have it.

Part 1: Kingdom.
1. Be Lawful. Build Bulletin Boards in every province. They don’t stack. Kingdom management is rich get richer scenario. Nothing kickstarts you like “free” +2 to all events. And do not accept the deal during coronation. Free Shrine is nice if you can convince the cleric to do it. Pick Surtova for spoiler reasons.
2. DO NOT build. Or rather don’t build unless you absolutely have to, but don’t hesitate to invest if you do need to build something.
Things you should build: Bulletin boards, Aviaries, Teleportation circles, and minor +skill buildings.
Also you will have to build relation buildings(predominantly ports) and spy buildings(goblins and mansions). Apart from that building flat bonus buildings is only worth it if you have less than 2 promotions in the backlog.
Buildings are an absolute minority in your total stats. Most of that comes from events. You do not need to build everything. That being said accelerating your kingdom stat to 40 or 60 is not a bad thing to do and makes your places to look prettier, just don’t break the bank for it(a few thousands here and there are fine).
3. Claim regions ASAP. If you have to buy BP for it - do it. Place settlements on river banks. You need dem ports. Layout doesn’t matter much. Pace towns neighboring your capital as close to it as possible(while still being on the riverside) to cut time on artisan quests.
4. Visit Claimed regions and talk to artisans(except the 1st one. You will get a mini-quest to visit Bokken). Build their buildings and do their quests ASAP. Everything can wait if you need to do that.
5. Do not waste your BP on useless projects. Calculate how fast any trade deal will pay out. You don’t have infinite time. “Cheaper buildings” projects are all a trap - they will never pay out.
Most QoL projects are useless as well. Immunity to poison AB and all that are nice in theory. In reality by the time they are done you’ve done fighting and exploring in your regions. Just don’t bother and use spells instead.
Curse projects are needed for secret ending, otherwise don’t worry about those too much. Especially don’t before you get full advisor roster. That being said they do give you kingdom stats, so are not a total trap.
6. Only really important choice about your kingdom is level VII(if I recall correctly) economy decision about taxation. Choose lower taxes here.
7. NEVER go into negative BP. If you ever do - buy BP to fix it. Negative mood will kill your barony faster than any monsters do and nothing ruins mood like negative BP does.
8. Budget your investments. If you want all the good toys from Pitax merchants you must save up quite a lot of cash(around 500k before the tournament for an extra ring of circumstances and other goodies as trader inventories respawn the 2nd time you get access to them).
9. Companions are always the best option for an Advisor as you don’t have to waste time training them. And they benefit from items. Pick Advisors with better stats, not alignments. Most decisions are inconsequential apart from taxation and mostly provide an extra building that you won’t build or a project you won’t benefit from. Don’t override your advisors too often or they will leave the position and leave you in a world of hurt.
10. Do not waste time. Rest efficient party will do you a service. Jubilost camping ability is the best, followed by Ekun for that reason. Always have rations and 'use rations' box checked. Still hunt, but the rations will help you avoid spending 10 hours hunting. Travel light. Don't carry useless 10gp items around they are not worth the time wasted.
11. There is no comeback mechanics. Rich get richer. If you fall behind the expected curve it'll become progressively harder to fix things.

Part 2: Artisans.
1. As mentioned above, always do their quests fast. Only exception would be Bald hill events. Or if some crisis went far enough to start doing bad things to your kingdom.
2. Artisans bring you better toys as you improve your kingdom:
Reddit post detailing interaction between kingdom and artisan levels
3. They are a major source of money in your pocket. Those guys are better than all your taxpayers combined. Treat them as such.

Part 3: Priorities.
1. Bald Hill Events. Be somewhere near 20 days before the timer runs out or things will get bad. Fast.
2. Claiming Regions. The world can wait for those.
3. Artisans. Again, the benefit outweighs the opportunity cost.
4. Crisis. If you drag those for too long it will start ruining your kingdom with progressively harder events. Don’t go exploring when you have some murderous thing of doom knocking at your gates.
5. Someone’s life is in danger. Even if there is no timer, quests that directly involve rescuing someone won’t be there forever. Bad things will happen to those people with time. The world won’t wait for you.
6. Companion Quests
7. Advisor Promotions, Other quests, and Exploration. More or less in that order, but a lot more lenient.

Does the "No fun allowed." mean it's a "boring" to play build meant to power through Unfair difficulty?

Depends on what you find fun. It mostly refers to the fact that once kineticist gets 13 he can solo the whole game and won't break a sweat doing it. And it's not like he's not one of the best before that.

Kineticists in general are broken that way and tend to make the game too easy for you.