Guide version: 0.4

Game patch: 2.1.4w

Table of Contents

• 1. Introduction

1.1. Motivation

1.2. Audience and Scope

1.3. Platform

• 2. Fundamentals

2.1. TTRPG, Dice, d20 system

2.2. Ability Scores and Modifiers

2.3. Feats and Class Features

2.4. Stacking

2.5. The Party and Classes

2.6. Level: It means 5 different things

2.7. Game options

• 3. How to play: Navigation, Skills, and Inventory

3.1. Movement and the Camera

3.2. Skill Checks

3.3. Resting and Corruption

3.4. World Map Movement

3.5. Inventory and Encumbrance

• 4. How to play: Combat

4.1. Inspecting and the Combat log

4.2. Starting and Ending Combat

4.3. Initiative and Surprise

4.4. Controlling the Party in Combat

4.5. Actions

4.6. Saving Throws

4.7. Melee Combat

4.8. Ranged Combat

4.9. AC and its types

4.10. Aggro and Tanking

4.11. Animal Companions and Mounted Combat

4.12. Miss Chance and Concealment

4.13. Damage Types, Immunity, and DR

4.14. Combat Maneuvers

• 5. How to play: Spellcasting

5.1. To be written

1. Introduction

1.1. Motivation

Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous (WotR) is a complex game and hits new players with a ton of information all at once. This complexity is excellent for those who enjoy systems mastery and are familiar with the genre, but it creates a brick wall of knowledge that can leave players paralyzed by choice. There is an in-game encyclopedia, but that’s hidden away in a series of menus and the information is atomized into small articles, better used for reference than learning.

Despite looking around, I couldn’t find a comprehensive guide for new players. Plenty of scattered information exists, but it’s no collated in a manner that a new player could use to get up to speed. At best, you could link them to Pathfinder 1e’s Archives of Nethys, but that’s just leaving them to the wolves, and isn’t always applicable since the video game has plenty of idiosyncrasies because of the change in medium.

In the absence of a complete guide, I decided to just do it myself.

1.2. Audience and Scope

This guide will contain no story spoilers aside from the fact that you will fight demons, wield mythic power, and the classes of the companions.

I tried to make it readable to those who’ve freshly installed the game and have never played a fantasy Tabletop RPG such as Dungeons and Dragons or Pathfinder, but also searchable (using CTRL+F) as a quick reference for specific topics.

The early sections of this guide focus on the fundamentals, the basic mechanics, interactions and controls. Much of it can be skipped by those familiar with pathfinder 1e, but I’ve highlighted information specific to the video game in italics.

The later sections involve more detailed information that builds on previous knowledge. It won’t cover every character choice in detail, but suggestions for new players will be provided.

1.3. Platform

This guide is written for the PC version since that’s the one I’m familiar with, but more or less everything should apply to the console versions, except for the controls.

Additionally, the PC version has plenty of mod support, but this guide assumes no mods are installed. I’d highly recommend Toy Box, which has plenty of useful tools and options to tweak the game and fix problems and bugs (my personal favourite is the one where character interactions will play even for characters not present in the party). I’d also recommend BubbleBuffs which allows you to automate the casting of buff spells using an integrated menu. It saves tons of time, especially in the late game when you can cast dozens of daily spells with a single button.

2. Fundamentals

This section is written for those unfamiliar with Tabletop RPGs and their video game adaptations. If you’ve played DnD 3.5e/5e or Pathfinder 1e/2e, this section can be skipped, except for the video game specific elements in italics.

2.1. TTRPG, Dice, d20 system

Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous is a video game adaptation of the adventure path of the same name, which was developed for Pathfinder 1st edition, which itself is based on Dungeons and Dragons 3.5th edition. As such, it inherits the vocabulary and mechanics of these tabletop role playing games (TTRPGs), one of which being the use of dice to resolve effects where success is uncertain. The game uses its random number generator to replicate the behaviour of different types of dice: d4 for 4 sided dice, d6 for traditional 6 sided dice, etc. Rolling multiple dice and adding their results together is displayed as “n dS”: with n being the number of dice and dS being the type of dice. Thus, 2d6 means the game will “roll” 2 6 sided dice and add their results together.

One of the most common mechanics used to resolve effects is the d20 check, where you will roll a d20, add a number based on exactly what type of check you’re doing (called a modifier), then compare that result against a Difficulty Class (DC). If the result is equal to or greater than the DC, the effect succeeds.

This is used everywhere. Do I hurt the baddy when I try to hit them with my sword? d20 check. Do I spot the trap? Right to a d20 check. Do I resist a mind control spell? RIGHT TO a d20 check. Do I get blasted into dust by a mage’s disintegration ray? Believe it or, they make a d20 check. If that succeeds, then you also make a d20 check. Under DC, then over DC; if the dice say otherwise, you’re about to take loads of damage.

Some common examples are:

Attack Rolls: To harm targets with weapons.

Skill Checks: To succeed at solving a problem using a skill such as Persuasion or Perception.

2.2. Ability Scores and Modifiers

One of the most common modifiers to a check is your ability scores, which are determined at character creation. The baseline is 10, where the modifier is 0. For every 2 points above 10 (12, 14, 16, etc.), the modifier increases by +1. Conversely, every point below 10 and every 2 points thereafter (9, 7, 5) reduces the modifier by 1. The ability scores are:

• Strength (Str) measures physical power. It governs melee attack rolls and encumbrance.
• Dexterity (Dex) measures agility and precision. It governs ranged attack rolls, Armour Class, and way too many other things.
• Constitution (Con) measures endurance and tenacity. It governs your hit points and Fortitude saving throws.
• Intelligence (Int) measures abstract reasoning and memory. It governs skill points and some spellcasting.
• Wisdom (Wis) measures intuition, perceptiveness and insight. It governs Will saving throws and some spellcasting.
• Charisma (Cha) measures force of personality. It governs persuasiveness and some spellcasting.

2.3. Feats and Class Features

Modifiers are affected by more than just your ability scores. Feats are character choices that improve your character, many of which provide bonuses to modifiers.

Another source of power is a character’s class(es), which corresponds to a fantasy and/or gameplay role and provide class features (such as spellcasting, weapon training, sneak attack, etc.) as benefits. See Section 6 for more detail.

In this guide, feats and class features will be bolded for clarity.

There are also plenty of situations and effects that provide bonuses and penalties to modifiers, ability scores, and more game statistics.

2.4. Stacking

The complexity comes when determining the final modifier for a particular check, since there are so many sources of bonuses and penalties. Fortunately, the computer crunches the numbers for us: the final modifier is computed as the sum of the bonuses and penalties, with the caveat that (with very few exceptions), bonuses and penalties of the same type do not stack.

What does that mean? Most bonuses have a type, such as Enhancement (from magic), Morale (from good vibes), or Sacred (from deities). If two different effects provide the same type of bonus/penalty, only the most beneficial bonus/harsh penalty is used for that type. Bonuses of different types do stack and are added together, and the same is true of penalties.

For example, John Pathfinder has a Strength score of 18. He wears a Belt of Giant Strength +2, which provides a +2 Enhancement bonus to Str. He drinks a Potion of Bull’s Strength, which provides a +4 Enhancement bonus to Str. He then drinks a Potion of Enlarge Person, which (among other things) provides a +2 Size bonus to Str.

His Str begins at 18+2=20. After drinking the first potion, his Str is 18+4=22, since the belt and potion both provide the same type of bonus. After drinking the second potion, his Str is 18+4+2=24, since both potions’ benefits are of different types.

By combining bonuses of different types, you can get very large numbers for your checks, which will be necessary to face off against the increasingly dangerous foes. Section 7 will go into detail trying to stack numbers as high as possible.

2.5. The Party and Classes

The player character (PC) that you create in the character creator is the main character of the story, but you can recruit companions to join your adventuring team (called party). At any given time, the party consists of up to 6 members (not including each character’s mounts, animal companions, or summons). In addition to the recruitable companions, you can hire customizable mercenaries from the Pathfinder Society once you find their representatives.

Your player character and companions have a class, which is essentially their fantasy role and career. These classes are drawn from fantasy stories and archetypes: The combat-hardened Fighter, the magic-wielding Wizard, the devout Cleric and cunning Rogue. It grants them benefits (called class features), which define their abilities and role in the party.

Classes have multiple Archetypes that can be chosen instead of the base class. These usually alter one or two of the class features at the cost of others.

Additionally, some classes (called prestige classes) have prerequisites such as feats and skill ranks that must be met before being selectable.

2.6. Level: It means 5 different things

Another holdover from TTRPGs is the use of the word “Level” to mean different things in different contexts. I’ll spell these out here:

2.6.1 Character Level, Class Level and Hit Dice

Characters begin at Character Level 1, and they likewise gain a Class Level in whatever class they selected in character creation. As characters kill monsters and complete quests, they gain experience points, and once they’ve accumulated enough to pass a threshold, they “Level up” and gain a Character Level. They can then “spend” this level to gain more Class Levels in their existing class(es) and gain more benefits from that class. Alternatively, they can gain a Class Level in a different class to gain its benefits.

In either case, their Character Level is the sum of their Class Levels. Monsters don’t have a Character Level but instead have Hit Dice (HD), which is basically the same thing. Monsters sometimes have Class Levels, which are added to their Creature Type (Dragon, Undead, etc.) to make up their HD.

In addition to Class Levels, you gain additional benefits as you Level up:

• At 1st and every subsequent odd numbered Character Level (1, 3, 5, ...), you gain a feat.
• At 4th and every 4 Character Levels after (4, 8, 12, 16, 20), you increase one of your ability scores by 1.

Character creation, including classes, will be described in Section 6.

2.6.2. Caster Level and Spell Level

Your Caster Level (CL) determines the power of your spells, which are discrete magical effects brought into being by magically inclined classes. Your CL is usually equal to the Class Level of the class that granted you the ability to cast spells. There are a few rare and powerful ways of increasing your CL, which causes damage spells to inflict more damage, helpful spells to last longer and become more effective, and healing spells to recover more.

This is not to be confused with Spell Level, which indicates the rough power of the spells themselves: A novice conjurer has access to a spell that can summon a dog, an expert can cast a spell powerful enough to summon angels. The Class Level that grants access to higher Spell Levels depends on the class: a wizard gains spell slots to cast Mirror Image (Spell Level 2) at Wizard Level 3, while Sorcerers need to wait until Sorcerer Level 4, and Bloodragers need to wait until Bloodrager Level 7.

Spellcasting will be described in more detail in Section 5.

2.6.3 Mythic Rank

At specific events in the story, your character gains powers beyond even typical fantasy heroes. The amount of this power is called your Mythic Rank (MR). Generally, I’ve achieved Mythic Ranks at the following Character Levels:

Mythic Rank	My typical Character Level	Mythic Path selection	Benefits
1	5-6	Mythic Hero	Mythic Ability
2	7-8	Mythic Hero	Mythic Feat
3	9-10	Select Mythic Path	Mythic Ability
4	11-13	Advance Mythic Path	Mythic Feat
5	14-15	Advance Mythic Path	Mythic Ability
6	16	Advance Mythic Path	Mythic Feat
7	17	Advance Mythic Path	Mythic Ability
8	18	Select Mythic Path	Mythic Feat
9	18-20	Advance Mythic Path	Mythic Ability
10	20	Advance Mythic Path	Mythic Feat

The Character Levels vary based on your completionist tendencies, and 4 and 9 vary the most because they’re tied to quests specific to your Mythic Path (MP).

Your MP is the form that your player character’s mythic power takes. It's modelled after supernatural beings, and grants you unique powers associated with it.. Your first two Mythic Ranks are always in “Mythic Hero”: you only select your MP at the MR 3. At Mythic Rank 8, additional options for mythic paths become available, depending on your choices.

In addition to the powers granted by your MP, you and every member of your party gain a Mythic Ability at MR 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9, and a Mythic Feat or a Mythic Ability at MR 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10. These are further character choices that grant you special effects and powers beyond ordinary mortals.

Mythic Abilities and Mythic Feats gained by MRs will be discussed in Section 6, and MP specific effects will be discussed in Section 9.

2.7. Game options

For difficulty setting, I’d recommend Normal for new players, or even easier if you aren’t interested in the character building or optimizing aspects of the game. Once you’re more familiar, you can turn the difficulty up. The difficulty and controls are deeply customizable, so if there’s an aspect you don’t like about a difficulty or game setting, feel free to change it.

The game’s combat can occur either in real time with pause, or in turn-based mode. I’d recommend turn based mode while learning the game, when carefully aiming spells, and for boss fights. If turn-based mode is too slow, you can increase the speed of it in the options, or switch to real time with pause at any time (default key is T).

3. How to Play: Navigation, Skills, and Inventory

The next 3 sections will be going over the basic controls and mechanics of the game, which involve adventuring, exploring, and tons of combat since demons tend to attack first and talk later. If you’re already familiar with the Pathfinder ruleset, there’s still some good info for you: I’ve put all the video game specific elements in italics in case you’re only interested in those.

3.1. Movement and the Camera

Movement is straightforward: Click on the portrait or model of the character you’d like to move, then left-click on the destination. You can select multiple characters using holding Shift then left clicking, or select the whole party with CTRL+A. You can hold the Right Mouse Button to preview the movement and facing of the party, in case you want to precisely select your movements. Release it to start the movement.

Any movement command can be cancelled with G, after which characters act by their default AI. You can press H to make characters hold position (and attack at range).

Sometimes, the area you want to move is obscured by another model, such as a foe or ally. In that case you can hold CTRL then click to ensure that the game interprets your click as a movement input (rather than selecting an ally or attacking an enemy).

Every character moves by walking, even those who can fly. There are some contextual prompts that indicate the ability to move, climb, or jump over obstacles, they usually involve a skill check (see below). There are spells and effects that teleport you around, which becomes relevant in later chapters.

You can manually pan the camera around with WASD, the arrow keys or by scrolling to the edges of the screen. As it turns out, movement commands stack, meaning scrolling to the top of the screen and pressing W makes it move faster than either command individually. Alternatively, double-clicking a character portrait will force camera follow their movements. You can zoom in/out with the scroll wheel and rotate the camera with Q and E.

Additionally, there’s a minimap available by pressing M.

Movement, Camera, controls, and pause options can be fine-tuned in the Options menu.

You can change the relative positioning of your party using the Formations button at the lower left corner of the screen. You’ll want to keep your beefy tanks up front and squishy magic users in the back.

The environment is replete with Non-Player Characters (NPCs) to talk to, containers to pilfer and treasure to loot. You can press and hold the Tab key to highlight interactable objects and names of NPCs.

3.2. Skill Checks

Interacting with the world in ways other than combat is usually accomplished with Skill Checks: a d20 check to see if they succeeded in their attempt.

Some Skill Checks occur during dialogue to grant you extra dialogue choices if your party is smart or observant enough. Others occur in Illustrated Book Episodes, which don’t involve combat but instead involve choices and checks, like a choose your own adventure book.

When attempting a skill check, the game will almost always select the party member with the highest modifier. As such, it’s important to specialize, since only the highest modifier is used. Also, it’s helpful to build your party so that every skill is covered by someone.

A skill check’s result is given by:

Skill Check Result = d20 roll + Ability Modifier + Ranks + Class Skill + Modifiers

Ability Modifier: Each skill is tied to one ability score, whose modifier is added to the check result:

Skill	Ability Score	Skill	Ability Score
Athletics	Str	Lore (Nature)	Wis
Mobility	Dex	Lore (Religion)	Wis
Trickery	Dex	Perception	Wis
Stealth	Dex	Persuasion	Cha
Knowledge (Arcana)	Int	Use Magic Device	Cha
Knowledge (World)	Int

• Ranks: Characters gain skill points as they gain Class Levels, the amount of which varies by class, to which they add half of their Int Mod. Each skill point increases the Rank of a skill by 1, to a maximum of their Character Level.
• Class Skill: Classes have a pool of class skills that they excel at: if you have at least one Rank in a class skill, you gain a +3 bonus to skill checks for that skill. Certain backgrounds make certain skills into class skills, not matter what class(es) the character has.

Other common modifiers are:

• Feats: The Skill Focus feat grants +3 to a skill, or +6 if you have at least 10 ranks in it.
• Class Features: Some classes provide direct bonuses to certain skills, such as Bardic Knowledge.
• Morale: From spells such as Heroism.
• Competence: Your character’s background gives them a small bonus in certain skills. Additionally, many magic items grant large competence bonuses (+5, +10, even +15) to specific skill checks.
• Sacred: From class abilities such as a Cleric’s Touch of Good.
• Luck: From spells such as Prayer.

It’s common in Chapter 3 and onward to have enough bonuses for your skill check modifier to exceed the DC of the check, resulting in automatic success.

Only a few skills benefit from having multiple party members trained in them: Perception, Use Magic Device and Persuasion depending on your choice of feats. Additionally, skills ranks are sometimes prerequisites to unlock Prestige classes such as Hellknight, Arcane Trickster and Dragon Disciple.

Skills are used in towns and dungeons in the following ways:

3.2.1. Perception

Your characters will automatically search for traps, hidden enemies and secrets as they move around the environment. They will make a Perception check against the DC of the trap or secret, and the results are shown in the log. This makes an easy way to tell if there’s a secret around: if the log starts saying that people failed to detect something, it’s a sign that secrets are about. Once a Perception check is failed, that character cannot make another one against that target until the character levels up.

Perception is also used to detect hiding creatures.

3.2.2. Thievery and Traps

Traps have an invisible red activation square: anyone who stands in it will trigger the trap. Detecting this trap through Perception will show the activation square and a line to a disarming panel. To disarm the trap, you select someone with the Thievery Skill, and click on the disarming panel. If they pass the Thievery check, then the trap is disarmed, if they fail by 4 or less, the trap isn’t disarmed, but they can try to disarm it again. If they fail by 5 or more, the attempt backfires: the trap can no longer be disarmed and it damages the character who attempted the check (for example, by casting an explosive Fireball).

Locked doors work in the same way, although they don’t blow up in your face if you fail the check by 5 or more: they just prevent further attempts to unlock them.

3.2.3. Stealth

While your character is not in combat, you can activate stealth mode using the button to the right of the character portraits. While in this mode, your character will move at half speed enemies will need to pass a Perception check to see you, with a DC equal to your Stealth Check.

For exploring towns and dungeons, it’s mostly helpful to disable traps whose disarming panel is ahead of the party and in vision of enemies.

Perhaps I’m just unimaginative, but I’ve never considered Stealth that helpful for avoiding combat or sneaking up on foes for a few reasons:

1. You don’t want to avoid combat, since fighting gets your XP.
2. Every enemy gets to make a Perception check against your stealth roll, and the creature trying to hide gets spotted if any enemy succeeds, starting combat. The math is just not in your favour since they all need to fail their Perception checks, which is possible with enough training, spells and gear.
3. If you want to ambush your foes, doing so is easy without using Stealth (see the combat section ).

You can get sizable +20 bonuses to your Stealth checks using spells like Vanish, Invisibility and Greater Invisibility, which all stack with one another. Additionally, while Invisibility or Greater Invisibility is active, you can move in stealth mode at full speed.

Wearing medium and heavy armour imposes a penalty to these checks creatively called the Armor Check Penalty.

3.2.4. Athletics and Mobility

I’ve grouped these together because they’re used more or less the same: an obstacle such as a heavy door or a chasm is blocking your way, and you’d like to solve it with brute force, a nimble jump or deft balancing act.

Usually these involve creating alternate paths through an environment or exploring optional areas. Failing these checks usually results in damage, exhaustion, and at least one causes a game over when your botched jump results in a fall to your death!

Wearing medium and heavy armour imposes a penalty to these checks creatively called the Armor Check Penalty.

3.2.5. Knowledge (Arcana), Knowledge (World), Lore (Nature) and Lore (Religion)

I’ve also grouped these together because they do similar things: when first encountering a hostile creature, your party makes one of these checks to learn more about their foes. You can switch on inspection mode by pressing Y and inspect an enemy by hovering your mouse over and right-clicking them. You’ll get an extensive list of statistics, ability scores, abilities, active spells, immunities, and more. This knowledge is sometimes gated behind one of these checks.

Lore (Religion) deserves special mention for its ability to cure diseases. In the course of adventuring, your characters can contract diseased from infected rats, monsters, and worse.

If you have a First Aid Kit, you can use the Treat Affliction ability, which cures the disease if you pass a Lore (Religion) check against the DC of the disease. A spell called Cure Disease also does this, but that consumes a spell slot and uses the caster’s Caster Level rather than the (usually higher) Lore (Religion) Modifier.

3.2.6. Persuasion

Persuasion is used to convince NPCs with careful, well-spoken words (Diplomacy) or gruesome, violent threats (Intimidation). While both are tied to the Persuasion skill, some feats such as Intimidating Prowess will only help one of these rhetorical schools.

Without going into detail, it’s very, very important for your party to contain someone with Persuasion, since passing Persuasion checks can affect fights and quest outcomes.

3.2.7. Use Magic Device

On your adventure, you’ll find, buy, or create spell scrolls, which contain a single casting of a magical spell. Normally, these scrolls are only usable by characters whose class can cast that spell. However, a character with ranks in Use Magic Device can attempt a check to use the scroll even if they aren’t normally able to.

This is fantastic for non-spellcasters: if you desperately need electrical damage, your meathead Fighter can grab a scroll of Lightning Bolt and let loose. It’s even better with spells that power up the caster. A few examples:

Monks benefit from the protective effects of a Shield spell.

Rogues benefit from the combat prowess given by a Transformation spell.

A front-line tank appreciates the protection from the Seamantle spell.

These powerful spells can’t normally target anyone except the caster, even though their teammates would benefit greatly from them. Use Magic Device allows them to do so. If you’re ever unsure of how to spend skill points, Use Magic Device is a fantastic way to access more versatility and power.

3.3. Resting and Corruption

3.3.1. Resting

Your characters rest to regain abilities, spells and recover from harm. Unlike in Pathfinder: Kingmaker (the developer’s previous game), resting does not consume any resources. You can set up your camping spot by pressing R, placing the campsite, then clicking on it.

The game will suggest a recommended number of days to rest. Ignore this number and set it to the minimum. Certain events are timed, and spending days resting counts against the timer.

When resting, you can assign party members to certain tasks to help the party, which take the form of skill checks. It’s important for all 6 members to be able to cover all or most of these tasks:

• Protective Rituals: This Lore (Religion) check slows but does not halt the rate of corruption (see below).
• Camouflage: This Stealth check reduces the chance of being randomly attacked while resting.
• Night Watch: This Perception check ensures that some party members will wake the others if a random attack occurs. There are 2 shifts, so make sure you assign 1 party member to each shift.
• Cooking/Brewing Potions: This Knowledge (World) check attempts to cook one of the recipes that you’ve found throughout your journey. Each of these has a unique effect and consumes ingredients, with more recipes and ingredients being acquired by looting or purchasing them from vendors.
• Alternatively, a character with the Brew Potions feat and spellcasting can create a potion for a spell they know. These require a Brewing Kit (with a Spell Level of at least the spell being brewed) purchased from vendors and ingredients. Unlike scrolls, potions are consumable by anyone, but potions of Spell Level 4, 5 and 6 require the Mythic Brew Potions feat to be brewed.
• Scribing Scrolls: This Knowledge (Arcana) check requires someone with the Scribe Scroll feat and spellcasting. A scroll with a spell known to the scriber is created if the check is passed. These require a Scroll Scribing Kit (with a Spell Level of the spell being scribed) purchased from vendors and consume ingredients.
• Any character can be assigned to help another party member for a +2 bonus on their check.

3.3.2. Corruption

To prevent the party from resting after each fight to be at their strongest, Starting in Chapter 1, each time you rest, part of the Worldwound’s demonic corruption seeps into the party, inflicting them with some corruption. Once corruption exceeds certain thresholds, it debilitates the party with cumulative penalties:

• Corruption Level 1 inflicts a -2 penalty to Wis and Int, a 15% chance for arcane spells to fail, and -3 penalty to CMB and CMD.
• Corruption Level 2 inflicts a -3 penalty to Str, Dex and Cha, and removes the ability to Charge.
• Corruption Level 3 inflicts a -2 penalty to Str, Dex, Int, Wis and Cha. If you cast a spell, you must pass a concentration check with a -6 penalty or else the spell fails.

Corruption can be removed by resting in a sanctified area (typically your main base). In some areas, holy relics can be found, which purge the Corruption from your party.

3.4. World Map Movement

Starting at in Chapter 1, you gain the ability to leave an area and move around on the world map. If the path to a location is known (such as in the city of Kenabres, or if you’ve already explored the region), then clicking on your destination will automatically pick the fastest known path to that area. Accept the move and you’ll start travelling.

If the path to your location is unknown, you’ll have to explore down the paths manually by clicking the arrows to start moving in that direction.

Camera controls are the same as in locations: to pan the camera left, right up or down, bring your mouse to the edge of the screen, press the WASD keys or the arrow keys. Again, the camera pans faster if you use multiples these commands. I usually use WASD+Mouse. You also get a collapsible minimap to click on if you want to move faster.

The skill checks you use while resting also affect world map movement:

· Starting in Chapter 2, a passed Lore (Religion) check increases your movement speed for 30 minutes, at which point you make successive Lore (Religion) checks at higher DC to maintain that boost to movement speed. It lasts until you fail a check.

· The game rolls for random encounter periodically, and the character that is assigned to Camouflage makes the required Stealth check. While not as painful as Owlcat’s previous game, the random encounters are balanced to the region you’re in and not your level, so there’s a chance you get flattened by tough monsters.

· Hidden locations can be discovered by the character assigned to keep watch. Once you get close enough, you automatically make a Perception Check.

3.5. Inventory and Encumbrance

You can equip gear and use items from the Inventory screen (default hotkey I). To equip something to a character, select that character then click and drag the item from the shared stash to the appropriate slot. You can also double click.

You can also use consumable items such as potions and scrolls from the inventory screen. The target of the potion/scroll will be the character selected. Healing items can be used one at a time or until the character has reached full health. You can also equip these consumables to the hotbar for use in combat.

During combat, you can’t change equipment, with the notable exception of consumables, which can be equipped and unequipped whenever. It’s unrealistic but very convenient.

Each equipped item contributes to that character’s encumbrance, which is how weighed down they are by their gear. Their capacity is determined by their Str score, and exceeding it imposes increasing penalties to their movement, defenses, and fatigue:

Encumbrance category	Speed Modifier	Maximum Dex Mod to AC	Fatigue	Skill check penalty
Light	None	None	No penalty	0
Medium	-10 ft	+3	Yes penalty	-3
Heavy	-10 ft	+1	Yes penalty	-6
Overloaded	Cannot move	+1	Yes penalty	-6

At medium/heavy encumbrance, you lose 10 speed, which is typically 20 or 30. At max encumbrance you cannot move at all. Encumbrance limits how much your Dex modifier can benefit your AC. You also take penalties to Stealth, Athletics and Mobility skill checks, and how long you can spend travelling before needing to rest.

Encumbrance is also calculated at the party level, and is based on your party’s total Str. On higher difficulties, being heavily encumbered reduces your movement speed in locations and on the world map and reduces the time you can spend travelling before needing to rest.

If you’re struggling to hold everything, you can increase your capacity by getting an animal companion or purchasing Bags of Holding from merchants. You can also drop stuff from your inventory: generally, items worth less than 1gp per lb aren’t worth hauling around, even when money is at its tightest in Chapter 1. After that, start dropping non-Masterwork weapons and non-magical armours.

To be continued...

Insights or corrections to the guide are appreciated. Next time we're getting into combat, which is so long I need to split it into 3 sections.

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