Managing your kingdom in Pathfinder: Kingmaker is no small feat. It’s a deep, intricate system that demands attention to detail, careful planning, and a balance between expansion and stability. If mishandled, your realm can quickly fall into disarray. This guide will walk you through the basics of kingdom management, providing insights on how to effectively govern while avoiding common pitfalls.

The Fundamentals of Kingdom Management

At its core, the kingdom management system revolves around three key elements: Building, Advisors, and Events. Your ability to balance these aspects will determine the success of your reign.

1. Building and Expanding: Constructing buildings in your settlements raises your kingdom stats. Every 20 points in a stat allows you to rank up the related advisor.
2. Advisors and Their Role: Assigning and ranking up your advisors ensures they can successfully resolve kingdom events.
3. Events and Stability: Prioritizing problem-solving events over opportunities is crucial to maintaining a stable kingdom.

Balancing Growth and Stability

Expanding your kingdom too quickly can lead to instability. If you claim too many regions before strengthening your existing settlements, your barony may become “worried” or worse. A steady pace ensures long-term stability and smoother management.

• Claiming New Lands: Each region you claim allows you to build a settlement. More settlements mean more buildings, which in turn increase your kingdom stats.
• Upgrading Your Capital and Settlements: Your capital starts as a village, but once you’ve established three villages, you can upgrade it to a town. Later, with additional villages, it can become a city.

The Importance of Ranking Up Advisors

Advisors are essential in handling kingdom events. Each advisor governs a specific stat, and their ability to pass difficulty checks determines the success of your kingdom.

• Advisor Success Rate: An advisor’s success is based on a d20 roll plus their bonus. The higher their bonus, the better their chances of succeeding in resolving an event.
• Rank-Up Strategy: Rank up advisors as soon as possible to ensure they can handle more difficult events. Ranking up takes 14 days, so plan accordingly.
• Advisors’ Loyalty: If you frequently disagree with an advisor, they may leave permanently. Choose advisors whose decisions align with your playstyle.

Handling Events and Crisis Management

Events come in two types: Problems and Opportunities. Problems should always be addressed first to avoid kingdom penalties. Opportunities provide benefits but are optional.

• Checking Difficulty Levels: Some events require high rolls to succeed. If an advisor has a low bonus, they may struggle with tougher difficulty checks.
• Timing Matters: If your kingdom faces a crisis, postpone ranking up advisors and instead focus on resolving pressing matters.
• Using the World Map: You can assign advisors to events from the world map, but ranking up advisors must be done from your capital.

Researching Curses and Economy Management

• Curse Research: Researching curses improves your Divine and Arcane stats, strengthening your kingdom’s magical foundations.
• Economy and Building Points: Selling unwanted magical items can provide extra building points, which are used to construct new structures. Buying building points regularly helps ensure steady expansion.

Visiting Settlements and Unlocking Unique Crafters

Each settlement has special crafters who appear once it is built. Visiting these settlements early allows you to complete their quests and unlock their crafting services.

• Crafters Provide Special Items: Once their buildings are constructed, crafters may give you unique items or allow you to request specific gear.
• Crafting Rewards: Even if you don’t need the crafted items, selling them can provide extra funds to invest back into your kingdom.

Maximizing Your Time and Avoiding Wasted Turns

Time is a crucial resource in Pathfinder: Kingmaker. Mismanaging it can result in failures, missed opportunities, and lost kingdom stability.

• Avoid Over-Resting: Hunting for food can take up to 13 hours, plus an additional 9 hours to rest. Use rations instead to limit resting time.
• Prioritize Urgent Quests: If an NPC warns you about an imminent danger, handle it immediately. Kingdom management can wait.
• Best Time to Rank Up Advisors: The start of the month is ideal for ranking up since it takes 14 days, allowing you to resolve events afterward.

Conclusion: The Path to a Prosperous Kingdom

Mastering kingdom management takes time, but once you understand the mechanics, it becomes an engaging and rewarding experience. By expanding steadily, ranking up advisors, prioritizing events wisely, and using your time efficiently, you can maintain a strong and prosperous realm.

If you’re struggling, don’t worry—trial and error is part of the learning process. With experience, managing your kingdom will feel natural, and your rule will flourish. Good luck, Baron (or Baroness), and may your kingdom stand the test of time!