custom characters as advisors

[scarhunter@live.ca]

I would like to be able to assign my custom characters to advisors, currently it doesn't work properly, they all have minuses to their attempts some from -1 and the lowest being -7 this greatly disrupts my attempts to assign them to my advisors, I hope these can be fixed, (although I haven't tried it with the last dlc that came out) (BTSL) (in the mean time i'll try it, I just purchased the dlc yesterday and haven't tried it yet)

[PantherX1412]

Beneath the Stolen Lands won't affect the custom characters serving as advisors. If you use a custom character as an advisor instead of one of the pre-created companions or NPCs, they take a -4 penalty to their checks (if it seems lower than that, then you might have assigned somebody to a role that uses one of their lower stats). I don't think that the developers have officially said why this is, but I think it's because you could create a custom character for an advisor role and focus on one stat while ignoring all of the others to the point that the other characters are just strictly worse. The -4 penalty is supposed to make sure that the pre-generated companions and NPC advisors still have a chance to be good at their roles instead of being ignored for min-maxed custom mercenaries.

[scarhunter@live.ca]

so can the negative score for the characters improve then too or do they stay at that level,(i.e. -1 /etc. can improve over time?) and if that's the case are there any recommendations or suggestions on which characters to use in each role

[jsaving]

For most advisor slots, the game provides three possible choices. One is a good-aligned character who will look out for the best interests of the people, even when it isn't best for you. One is an evil character who will look out for you at the expense of the people. Then there will be a neutral character whose approach won't be good/evil but will follow personal leanings like law (Valerie) or practicality (Jubilost).

A common mistake people make is to choose advisors based on who has the highest bonus instead of whose outlook you want to be shaping your kingdom. An extra wrinkle is that each advisor will tint the information they provide based on their own outlook, to make their recommendation seem more reasonable than it actually is. This has led more than a few players to agree with evil advisors throughout the game only to be surprised by how cruel their kingdom ends up becoming.

This surprise shouldn't have happened since each advisor's "card" gives a one-sentence summary of what their outlook will be. But min-maxers often ignore the text and just pick the highest bonus.

Why do merc get a -4 penalty when resolving kingdom issues? It is exactly as @PantherX1412 says, without that penalty you could just create 10 mercs who are used only for kingdom governance who max out whatever stat you need for each role.

Having said all of that, what can you do to improve your chances somewhat? The main thing is to note which stat is needed for each advisor role and then make sure your advisors are wearing items that boost the stats they need. For example, let's say you put Valerie in a "charisma" role. Then you'll want to make sure she is wearing a charisma headband when resolving kingdom issues. (If you don't know what stat is used for a role, then mouse over the bottom of an advisor's "card" and it will say.)

Unfortunately this doesn't work for NPCs like Jhod or Kesten because you aren't able to have them equip items. However it's not like a +4 charisma headband does a whole lot, anyway. So this is a minor issue, though again one that will matter for min-maxers.

[scarhunter@live.ca]

I find there isn't enough characters based on alignment(alignment is my guide line)

I would like to see pathfinder use a template like this (just my rough idea doesn't have to be these, it's what I would like to see

4 Lawful Good +1 Lawful Neutral & 1 Neutral Good

4 Neutral Good + 1 Lawful Good or 1 Chaotic Good & 1 True Neutral

4 Chaotic Good +1 Neutral Good & 1 Chaotic Neutral

4 Lawful Neutral + 1 Lawful Good or 1 Lawful Evil & 1 True Neutral

4 True Neutral + 1 Lawful Neutral or 1 Chaotic Neutral &1 Neutral Good or 1 Neutral Evil

4 Chaotc Neutral + 1 Chaotic Good or 1 Chaotic Evil & 1 True Neutral

4 Lawful Evil + 1 Lawful Neutral & 1 Neutral Evil

4 Neutral Evil + 1 Lawful Evil or 1 Chaotic Evil & 1 True Neutral

4 Chaotic Evil + 1 Neutral Evil & 1 Chaotic Neutral

(I hope this helps give some ideas if developers haven't thought of this kind of play or to allow it in the difficulty settings)


(added on September 11, 2019) -->These are just my examples of what i'd like to see, the template may vary for different play styles (I hope this helps)

[scarhunter@live.ca]

my thought for this is if I were to play a paladin, he or she wouldn't employ any evil characters no matter if it were to benefit him or his kingdom, in employing them (the only exception would be if those people would reform a good and/or lawful life style