Beneath The Stolen Lands is a DLC in Pathfinder: Kingmaker.
Features[]
This endless dungeon was added in Beneath The Stolen Lands DLC. It can be accessed both through main campaign and as a separate mode. There's no final goal and no final (deepest) level in rogue-like mode, you finish your journey when tired or stuck. As a side goal you will work your way to the Spawn of Rovagug to defeat him and get the final achievement for this mode through several runs (around 10-15). This is a good way to try new classes, new builds, new feats, new tactics and to test synergy between classes. Take this as an advanced version of Diablo!
Basics for a run[]
For rogue-like mode you have to create a new character (you can't import or export characters or gear to and from main campaign), then hire mercenaries if you need bigger party.
If you start a new run after retiring your previous character in this mode, you can get a boon: permanent buff for new party (or for MC only) or some gear from the previous run. Usually you have a choice of 4 possible random rewards: a number of magic belts/necklaces/hats/weapons/etc from X dungeon level of the previous run, +X CL/AB/AC for MC or for the whole party, bonuses for PCs with levels in alchemist/slayer/magus/etc class, а sum in gold or exp.
Only your MC gets epic points buy (25 points), mercenaries get usual 20, so create most MAD character for your party as MC. On the other hand, you don't know what high-level gear the merchants will have for sale in a new run, so creating a Sword Saint character without a good look at your weapon options may not be a smart move. You recruit companions via Xelliren, after that you can freely remove them from party and add back again (or retire the companion without refund) via armory stand near the dragon. You start with a bit less than 2000 
, suitable ordinary weapons and armor and a couple of low-level potions and scrolls. First level mercenaries cost 500 , so you can hire four. And this is the time to hire them, as your solo character will level up fast while collecting not enough junk loot to buy the same level mercenary. Otherwise you can postpone hiring mercenaries until you get level 20 and buy all the gear you need.
You can not respec characters in rogue-like mode. But you can hire a new mercenary, choose the same portrait and name and level them up the way you like anew.
Character builds may be very gear-dependent, while loot itemization is 100% random. It's not extraordinary to get to the dungeon level 30 with the same vanilla +1 falcata you bought from the Honest Guy at the beginning and specialized in. Smart move would be to aim at the best of what you have at hand. Xelliren and Honest Guy provide some random high to low level gear (from 4000 to 300000 ). The dragon specializes in magic rings, necklaces, belts and the like, while Honest Guy adds some high level weapons and armors. There's some unique loot for rogue-like mode that was probably removed from main campaign due to being overpowered (Weasel's Bite and Weasel's Claw).
Basic inventory the Honest Guy is guaranteed to have include ordinary and +1 versions of every armor and shield type, masterwork and +1 versions of every weapon, low-level variants of Cloak of Resistance, Bracers of Armor, Ring of Protection, Amulet of Natural Armor, belts and headbands, Amulet of Mighty Fists, Amulet of Agile Fists. Xelliren is supposed to have a predefined set of low and mid level mostly protection scrolls (healing upto Cure Critical Wounds, Cleanse and Restoration, Death Ward, Delay Poison, protection from every type of energy and resist to every type of energy, remove different conditions, Prayer, Dispel Magic, Inflict Wounds upto Critical) and all ordinary (non-crafted) potions (healing, ability enhancement, Barkskin, Blur, Displacement, Enlarge Person, Reduce Person, Heroism, Mage Armor, Shield of Faith, Vanish, Invisibility, Inflict Wounds), some random wands, flasks with acid and alchemist's fire, metamagic rods of every type, Bag of Holding (normal and small), diamonds and diamond dust, dinosaur bones (all scrolls, potions, flasks and dinosaur bones are 99 items each, metamagic rods are 1 item each). After you defeat an especially powerful monster (usually one of the Great Nightmares), merchants renew their assortment by 1-2 random items (usually a wand for Xelliren).
Note that you will most likely find all the most powerful items that merchants have in stock at the deep dungeon levels, so it's not unlikely to have 2 or 3 Hats of Mental Perfection deep down.
With these options in mind you definitely should have at least one party member to cast Resist Energy (since the scrolls will give you 10 resist only) and Protection from Energy. Haste and Greater Invisibility are to be expected from your casters only.
Useful character skills for this mode: Perception (to spot enemies, traps, secret rooms and chests), Trickery (to disarm traps and to open locked chests), all Knowledge and Lore skills (to identify monsters and to get boon from shrines), Use Magic Device (to read scrolls and to use wands). Athletics and Mobility are useless unless you are prone to fall into your own pits and webs. Persuasion is needed to demoralize only (Dazzling Display and Dreadful Carnage). Stealth doesn't work very good (monsters seem to have high Perception).
Dungeon levels[]
At first each level looks unique and randomly generated. This is due to different styling, different level effects and different monsters. In fact, there're not that many fixed patterns at work, but level map is always rotated anew to disguise it. Each level consists of 7 standard rooms, 1 secret treasure room and 1 possible secret room. One of the standard rooms is entry room, it never contains monsters and shrines, but in some very rare cases may contain traps and may have a hidden passage to secret room. An exit room has no restrictions in this matter.
Another one of the standard rooms is shrine room (random one of the six), it contains at least one shrine and no monsters. Some levels have a second shrine (in any of the standard rooms at random). To use a shrine requires a skill check (either Knowledge (Arcana), Knowledge (World), Lore (Nature) or Lore (Religion)), you have one try only (unless reloaded). If successful, all party members get the same buff, no matter how far from the shrine they stay. The buff can be any random one from the list (the exact bonus value X depends on the dungeon level):
| Name | Duration | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Cat's Grace | 30 min | as a spell |
| Bear's Endurance | 30 min | as a spell |
| Unyielding Spirit | 30 min | +X insight bonus to saves against Illusion and Enchantment spells |
| Nature's Grace | 30 min | +X circumstance bonus to saves against disease and poison |
| Foresight | 5 min | as a spell |
| Blessing of the Salamander | 5 min | as a spell |
| Aspect of the Wolf | 5 min | as a spell |
| Name | Duration | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Owl's Wisdom | 30 min | as a spell |
| Bull's Strength | 30 min | as a spell |
| Sacred Protection | 30 min | +X sacred bonus to AC |
| Bless | 30 min | as a spell + random healing |
| Bestow Grace of the Champion | 5 min | as a spell (no need to be lawful good) |
| Unholy Aura | 5 min | as a spell |
| Name | Duration | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Fox's Cunning | 30 min | as a spell |
| Eagle's Splendor | 30 min | as a spell |
| Energy Resistance | 30 min | as a Resist Energy spell for every energy type with 5·X steps |
| Mystic Assistance | 30 min | +X circumstance bonus to all saves |
| Protection from Spells | 5 min | as a spell |
| Brilliant Inspiration | 5 min | as a spell |
| Greater Invisibility | 5 min | as a spell |
| Heroic Invocation | 5 min | as a spell |
| Firebrand | 5 min | as a spell |
| 5 min | supposedly as a spell, doesn't work |
You get loot mostly from chests, some of those are hidden and require a Perception check to spot (or to reveal as a real chest, not part of background). Standard rules apply here: if failed a check, you can not make a new attempt unless levelled up. The number of chests on every level is random (around 5-10), a total number for current run is displayed when party dies. Chest content (5-10 items) is always random, but consistent with dungeon level (and supposed party level): masterwork weapons, gear with 1 enhancement (+1 weapon, armor or shield), low-level scrolls and potions at first levels; gear with 5 enhancements (+5 armor or shield, +5 weapon or weapon with 5 different traits and enhancements) at around level 30.
Secret treasure room is usually much smaller in size and contains 1 or 2 chests. Perception check is required to spot a secret room. To make things easier, secret treasure rooms can only be hidden behind the "external" level walls without doors. In fact, there's a fixed number of possible places for a secret room for every level design. One notable Cyclopes dungeons design has a "fixed" secret room every time, sometimes with treasures, other times without (but with a "real" secret treasure room on the level). Another Cyclopes dungeons design has no accessible secret rooms (but it's the only exception known). Level map can sometimes show glimpses of passages and room fragments behind the walls, these are irrelevant, just ignore them (though you can seldom literally walk through the wall or closed door due to bugs).
Levels go in groups (5 levels in a row) with different styling: simple medieval dungeons, rich medieval dungeons, Cyclopes dungeons. On top of that almost every level (except for a few first ones) have a special level effect that boosts monsters and changes floor appearance (levels with fire bonuses to creatures have lava-covered floors, while levels with battering bonus to creatures have water-covered floors, etc).
There's a random number of traps on each level. Some of them look reasonably placed (across a narrow passage between rooms or at the room entry), others not so much. The DCs to spot a trap and to disarm it (as well as an experience reward for the latter) and trap effects seem random, but consistent with dungeon level (and supposed party level): DC 10-15 at first levels, around DC 40 at 50th level.
Each room has 1 entry door and 1 to 3 exit doors (entry room and exit room have 1 less for obvious reason). One notable Cyclopes dungeons design has 4 rooms where each one is connected to the two adjacent (so you can circle through them). Doors are not locked outside of combat and stay open once unblocked, but closed doors can't be unlocked during combat.
You have access to one dungeon level at a time. Once you descend the stairs from the exit room, you gain access to a new level, but the old one is gone forever, so grab all the loot you may need before descending. You are free to ascend to the ground level (with merchants) and descend back to current level anytime.
Monsters[]
Most of the monsters you encounter in this mode are from main campaign, but there's at least one unique: Mud Golem with 10 ft Slippery Mud special ability (Mobility check every round or fall prone).
Mostly, there're creatures of one or two random types, but different varieties (for instance, Skeletal Archers, Skeletal Berserkers, Zombie Lords and Bloody Bones Beasts for undead) per floor, usually 4-6 creatures per room. Low-level monsters (Kobolds, Mites, Goblins, Nixies) roam first dungeon levels, while on level 30 you may encounter Wild Hunt Monarchs, Greater Autumn and Summer Golems. Casters are few and far between.
Apart from the first levels, creatures are afflicted with special level effect which gives them bonuses to attack and defense. The exact bonus value depends on the dungeon level (from +1d6 damage at level 5 to +14d6 at level 50).
| Fiery Creatures | have increased resistance against fire damage and spells with fire descriptor, deal additional fire damage and can apply fatigued or exhausted conditions |
| Electric Creatures | have increased resistance against electricity damage and spells with electricity descriptor, deal additional electricity damage and can inflict staggered or stunned conditions |
| Acidic Creatures | have increased resistance against acid damage and spells with acid descriptor, deal additional acid damage and can inflict sickened or nauseated conditions |
| Cold Creatures | have increased resistance against cold damage and spells with cold descriptor, deal additional cold damage and can inflict entangled condition |
| Battering Creatures | can use various combat maneuvers, like bull rush or trip |
| Enchanting Creatures | immune to enchantment spells and abilities, can inflict effects of fascinate, hideous laughter, dominate person and other controlling spells and abilities |
| Illusion Creatures | immune to illusion spells and abilities, constantly under effects that create a concealment miss chance, see invisibility or true seeing spells, can inflict blindness |
| Death Creatures | have increased resistance against negative energy damage and spells with death descriptor, deal additional negative energy damage and can inflict negative levels |
| Diseased Creatures | immune to diseases and can inflict various diseases |
| Madness-Bearing Creatures | immune to mind-affecting spells and abilities, can apply rage, confusion and other harmful effects |
Once or twice a floor you encounter a powerful monster ("champion"), a higher level corrupted creature. Corrupted Creature levels increase monsters' HD and HP, give them distinctive look and special abilities in form of additional spell-like attack or aura (mostly fortitude saves). Killing last monster in the room with corrupted creature spawns a rest point (8 hrs, full healing). Beside these one or two points per level you can rest at Xelliren's table (also once a level). This should give you enough resources to heal, buff and spam attack spells for a very long run. Defeated monsters drop usual loot, "champions" can also drop a number of powerful items (like a chest).
At around level 40 you'll start to encounter bigger groups (8-12 creatures per room) of low-level monsters with a number of Corrupted Creature levels (making their effective level high enough for your APL).
Once every run you encounter one of the Great Nightmares: The Weary Traveler at level 15, The Fallen Priestess at level 20, The Wicked Chanter at level 25 or The Captor and The Captive at level 30. They are in a random room on the level, assisted by their companions from main campaign: satyr bowmen and movanic devas for The Weary Traveler, goblins of different varieties for The Fallen Priestess, animals and magical beasts horde for The Wicked Chanter. The Captor and The Captive are assisted by the level inhabitants. As in main campaign, you must have 4 their special items in inventory for them to drop the last, 5th item. Otherwise they are supposed to drop a random item from all 16 collectibles, but always the one you still miss (no need to have collectibles in your inventory for that). Defeated "champions" can also drop a random collectible.
Once you've collected all special items (21) you can persuade Xelliren to assist you in the battle with Spawn of Rovagug. A portal to The Edge of Madness (special level with Spawn of Rovagug) will spawn from time to time after you've collected the last item. Confusingly enough, it can also spawn long before that moment (non-working, with description "A crack in space – still too narrow for you to enter. It reeks of death, horror and madness"). You don't have to visit The Edge of Madness immediately, you can as well descent further down for a number of levels or even postpone this decision to the subsequent runs.