Developed by Russian studio Owlcat Games, Pathfinder: Kingmaker is an excellent party-based isometric RPG, which draws heavy inspiration from classics like Baldur’s Gate and Neverwinter Nights.
The fantastic pen-and-paper RPG franchise finds new life in Pathfinder: Kingmaker. Set within the Stolen Lands – a part of the River Kingdoms – it lets you carve out your own realm by conquering the wilderness as a minor lord, managing your kingdom parallel to your epic adventuring.
But if you’ve already played through the campaign and would like to switch things up, mods are always a great way to go.
From new character portraits to full additional classes, you’ll find something here that’ll get you back interested in the game again.
Note: Before you do anything, you’ll want to get the Unity Mod Manager. Refer to this video for instructions on how to use it.
There’s a lot of equipment and skills to uncover in Pathfinder: Kingmaker. But it’s unlikely that you’ll ever reach a high enough level in time to enjoy most of these in a single playthrough.
The Scale XP mod should improve the situation by helping you level up faster, especially at higher levels where each new ascension takes twice as much time as the previous one.
The rate at which XP scales is entirely up to you. So you can either look up (or design) complex settings that’ll feel somewhat balanced in-game. You can also just multiply all earned XP by 500% and blitz through the campaign like a beast.
Fixed camera angles and limited zoom options are a staple of the isometric RPG genre, but it doesn’t have to be that way.
Zoom Unlocked – as its title suggests – lets you zoom in or out as much as you want in-game.
This way, you can better appreciate your character’s look. It’s also pretty useful for taking some awesome screenshots.
If screenshots are what you’re after, don’t forget to install the Clear View mod to remove Fog of War, and the Hide UI mod to emulate a bona fide photo mode.
In the same line as our previous entry, Camera Rotation will let you freely move the camera around your character rather than staying put in the original fixed isometric perspective.
Not only is it great for screenshots, but it also makes the turn-based combat mode much more comfortable, offering different points of view from which to plan your next move with better situational awareness.
Whereas most “Fast Travel” options in games let you teleport straight to your destination, this convenient mod for takes a different approach.
With it installed, you’ll be able to speed up time when out of combat, so you don’t have to spend so much time just staring at your party walking from point A to point B.
Alternatively, you can only raise your speed and blaze through the maps, but some might consider that “cheating”.
It works in Exploration and Global Map modes – but also in Battle.
This way, the mod doubles as a speed-boosting cheat that’ll let you skewer your enemies before they have time to react.
The Pathfinder Editor isn’t a mod, but a tool that lets you quickly alter your save files’ variables.
With it, you can change your total funds, raise your party’s stats, move companions around, and even tweak your alignment.
Of course, it’s also possible to mess with your character’s skills and abilities, which may help create unique builds or turn your character into a bloodthirsty combat god.
The base Pathfinder: Kingmaker UI doesn’t offer much in the way of customization.
So this UI Extensions mod is a must for those of us who like a personalized experience in every game.
This nifty mod lets you toggle text showing HP and combat information, add portraits for your pets, and scale the UI size to your liking, among other things.
Since we’re personalizing our game’s overlays and camerawork, why not go all the way and customize our characters too?
This Visual Adjustments mod is about the only visuals-enhancing mod available for Pathfinder: Kingmaker.
But rather than replace textures or apply after-effects, it lets us freely change the way our party members and playable characters look.
It’ll allow you to toggle backpacks, hats, helmets, and cloaks at will. It’ll also generally help you change class outfits, their primary color palettes, and even your character’s body type.
When it comes to role-playing and immersing yourself in a game’s world, good character portraits for you and your party are surprisingly important.
They tell a story and help shape characters in our minds.
There are way too many mods adding new character portraits to Pathfinder: Kingmaker to list just one. But I’d say the Portrait Pack 2024 that’s linked at the top is the most varied – counting a truly absurd amount of portraits from all over.
I’d also recommend checking out the Various Portrait Pack (which favors monks) and the XYZ Portraits (for some bad-ass female portraits).
Now that we’ve dabbled in superficial improvements, let’s get down to some nitty-gritty stuff.
If you’re a pen-and-paper Pathfinder series veteran, you’ll have noticed several differences between the video game and the tabletop rules. Among these, the system regulating the flanking mechanic might be the most egregious.
Proper Flanking 2 attempts to make this mechanic much closer to its original counterpart, making teamwork and spatial awareness much more meaningful. It also reinstates soft cover.
Along with these changes, the author made sure to add plenty of new feats related to these new mechanics – and even a new Rogue talent that makes use of them!
As the crystallization of several ideas seen in previous vendor mods, Better Vendors is the ultimate merchant improvement for Pathfinder: Kingmaker.
Once installed, you’ll be able to keep several vendors in your Throne Room for easy shopping. It also adds a Merchant Guild – accessible from the Throne Room – where you’ll find 14 new vendors with rare items you couldn’t previously acquire with money.
Other than these convenient additions, my favorite feature is vendor progression, which expands the wares you have access to with each vendor as you level up your realm’s stats.
If there’s something I hate, it’s missing loot while passing through an area.
From unseen caches to corpses I forgot to loot, this small inconvenience is the bane of my existence.
Loot Checklists is a fantastic tool for those of us lacking in the looting department. It’ll display a list with all the loot present in a given area before you exit, going so far as to include enemy inventories and hidden items.
If you’re worried about spoiling yourself with so much information, don’t worry. The list is entirely customizable, and you can hide anything you don’t need to see.
Once you’re done robbing the corpses of your fallen enemies of their valuables, you should consider cleaning up afterwards.
The Cleaner mod is all about increasing performance and reducing load times, which it achieves by clearing maps of corpses, enemies, drops, and all manner of useless objects once you’ve left. These things would otherwise clutter your save file.
Don’t worry about it accidentally cleaning up something important, though. Initiating the process is manual, and you’ll get a chance to choose what leaves and what stays.
Just be careful not to remove any unique NPCs and hidden creatures, as they may be necessary for quests further down the line.
If there’s something I love to see in any RPG, it’s a full-fledged crafting system.
And the Craft Magic Items mod provides just that for Pathfinder: Kingmaker.
This mod adds several feats from the Pathfinder pen-and-paper game to Kingmaker, including Scribe Scroll, Craft Wand, Craft Wondrous Items, and Forge Ring.
Of course, it’ll also let you Craft Arms and Armor.
All of these feats require gold, resources, and time to complete – but they’ll let you enchant many items you couldn’t improve before, and it’ll give your characters access to new skills by wearing magic equipment.
I love taking care of my growing realm in Pathfinder: Kingmaker. But for others, it’s just one more thing to worry about that detracts from their RPG experience.
Kingdom Resolution tweaks the system so that it’s easier and less of a chore.
You can make everything automatically successful, complete Kingdom Events on a single day, get rations outside of claimed regions – and even pause the Kingdom Timeline if you want.
Now, you can go back to being a hero rather than managing state affairs.
Still, we’ve all found ourselves in that one situation that’s so bleak – so undeniably annoying, troublesome, and unfair – that we’d rather cheat a bit than continue suffering.
The Bag of Tricks mod brings with it over 200 cheats, tools, and tweaks that’ll let you do anything from spawning items and units to fast-traveling, and everything in-between.
Whether you want to break the game with a stupid amount of cheats or just slightly personalize the experience to your liking, this mod is a no-brainer.
One of the essential mods for anyone trying to have their unique adventure in Pathfinder: Kingmaker is Respecialization, which lets you respec both the main characters and their companions at will.
It can change their race, gender, and even their character portrait too!
It’s something the developers explicitly left out on purpose, but once you’ve cleared the game at least once, there’s no point in respecting their restrictive creative decisions.
Experiment with builds and make your companions more interesting!
It’s also handy for any newcomer who failed spectacularly at building their characters due to a lack of knowledge. Now you can respec your characters rather than restarting the game.
An extension to the well-known Call of the Wild mod, A Touch of Magic introduces the Arcane Archer class for those of you who love hybrid classes in RPGs.
It’s as close to its pen-and-paper counterpart as Pathfinder: Kingmaker’s engine will allow, including staples like Enhance Arrows, Imbue Arrows, Seeker Arrows, and a slightly overpowered Hail of Arrows with no target limit.
It also includes the Deadeye Devotee as a standalone prestige class, replacing Seeker Arrows with Energy Arrows, which work with prepared Inflict or Cure spells.
One of the most famous and popular expansions to the vanilla game is the Eldritch Arcana, which adds an Oracle class with new abilities, traits, and a favored class bonus.
This mod also introduced new Archetypes like the Crossblooded Sorcerer, Bloodlines like the Orc Bloodline, and several new spells and feats for your character and their party to learn.
All of this is, of course, based on the pen-and-paper Pathfinder series.
Keep in mind that these new features’ creative use can make your character a tad too powerful. So I’d recommend using this in Unfair difficulty if you still want a challenge.
While Eldritch Arcana is a fantastic and varied mod, its scope isn’t all that wide.
Rather than focusing on a single new class, the massive Call of the Wild mod introduces many more including Hunter, Witch, Bloodranger, and Skald – in addition to more unique ones such as Holy Vindicator, Investigator, and Warpriest, among others.
This is a beast of a mod.
But rather than just dropping in a bunch of classes with new feats and spells, the mod’s creator also implemented several key balance tweaks so they’d all fit together nicely without breaking the game.
A version without these balance changes is also available, if you want new classes without changing the gameplay.
I highly recommend reading through the mod creator’s thoughts for a better experience with this one.
But either way, give this a try. Well worth the time.
Nelson Chitty is a Venezuelan expat living in Argentina. He’s a writer and translator passionate about history and foreign cultures. His ideal weekend is spent between leisurely playing games of Civilization VI and looking for the next seinen anime to marathon.
